Chapter 133 – Florida Man Distributes Guns to School Teachers and Students for Self-Protection. Multiple School Shooters Reported 10 Minutes Later.
After the interview, Leo took notes on everybody's specialties. He then assigned tasks to them.
Xu Nuan and half of the sanctuary girls were assigned as unicorn grooms, and they were now in charge of feeding 100 thunder unicorns and grooming them if needed.
Yao Qiqi and Esen were grouped together. Leo ordered them to follow Cat around and make sure she wouldn't randomly go anywhere or cause problems.
The rest of the girls were sent to the clothing store, where the automaton tailor tirelessly mass-produced men's clothes. Their job was to help the mannequin set up a proper store and manage the clothing store's stocks.
Dongfang Mei and Hua Jiashan got a strange job. Leo called them "Bouncers", and he sent them to protect the mystic realm platform. They only needed to be there and make sure nobody could enter Orlando Planet without permission.
Wu Buyi, Gao Yan, and alchemists from Life Sword Sect received permission to build a new alchemy warehouse and herb farm anywhere in Leo's domain so that Leo could expand his farms without using the system.
Tiger Swordsman, Han Hao, Han Meng, and seven elders of the Life Sword Sect were put into the same team. Leo gave them the prototype matchlock rifles and told them to practice using them.
As for the rest of the disciples and deacons, Leo divided them into three groups and let them work in an 8-hour shift. Their job was to plant seeds and harvest crops as Leo's system farms produced crops nonstop, and the automaton farmers couldn't harvest the ripened fruits, vegetables, and plants fast enough.
Once everybody got a job, Leo reminded them of their pay.
"As promised, I'll pay your monthly wage in essence stones. But if you don't like them, you may exchange them for the products that I sell in my store. Of course, the new prototype weapons and clothes are included."
Leo pointed at the group of elders, who held strange rods in their hands. They flipped the rifles around as if they had never seen them before.
"What is this artifact, senior?" Asked Tiger Swordsman.
"A gun."
"A… gun?"
The elders still didn't understand what they were for. On the other hand, Gao Yan gulped as he was envious of the elders.
Because of his curiosity, Gao Yan asked Leo and brought out the level-8 pistol, "Sir, are they the same as the gun you gave me?"
Leo glanced at Gao Yan's gun and nodded. He explained, "Your weapon is a bit different since I made that. As for those prototype rifles, they are the mass-produced version that I will be selling in my store in the future. For now, I need you to learn how to use them first. When you master those, you can teach our future customers without relying on me."
"Oh!"
"Also," Leo remembered that he forgot to mention the danger of those firearms. He reminded them, "Those rifles use spirit stones or essence stones as ammunition. You can add your Qi into the ammo to increase its destructive power, but I haven't tested how far you can add."
Leo grinned while the expressions of the elders turned white. They realized that Leo used them as guinea pigs to test his new artifacts.
"Umm," Han Meng raised his hand. "You said something about using spirit stones as ammunition. Do we have to use our spirit stones to practice using it?"
"Well, it won't be fair if I let you use your money to test my weapons. Of course, I'll be providing you my spirit stones."
"I-I see."
Han Hao's team was relieved as they wouldn't need to squander their precious cultivation resources and money to complete their assignments.
Still, nobody in the world would be willing to work for someone for free. Dongfang Mei, Hua Jiashan, and Han Hao wondered if Leo could fulfill his promises.
"Lord Florida Man," Hua Jiashan stepped forward. "About the promise, can we enter your domain's mystic realm freely?"
Leo nodded, "You may enter the domain if it's your day off or when you're off your shift. During working days, nobody should be entering that place!"
"I see!"
Hua Jiashan and Dongfang Mei were delighted. As they only needed to work 40 hours a week, they had plenty of time to enter the mystic realm and cultivate.
With just that information, both leaders no longer felt bad that they had abandoned everything to serve Leo. They were happy with the treatments, the jobs, and the pay.
.
After assigning jobs to his employees, everybody was dismissed to get familiarized with their tasks.
As Xu Nuan was experienced in communicating with beasts and monsters, she didn't need Leo's help. She guided her people to the barn and introduced herself to the 9th-stage monster beasts.
The thunder unicorns received her well. Even P.Hub and Taxi liked her.
Hua Jiashan and Dongfang Mei also had no issues with their job since they only needed to be on the platform and protect the portal. Both sat in front of the permanent portal on the platform, gazing at the three giant statues and meditating in peace.
Yao Qiqi and Esen laughed and rode on Cat's chomper head. The plant monster ran around the domain, showing them everything they needed to know. The loli trio seemed to be playing instead of working.
The clothing store team seemed to be having fun as well. Leo and others could hear their squeal from outside the store as the girls got overexcited from seeing the even dresses in there. They would be busy in the store for a long time.
The alchemists had no issue with their assignments at first. But when they tried to chop iron pine lumber to build a new house, they failed to cut through the thick wood. Only when Gao Yan pulled out his lightsaber and cut the lumber with it, they could continue working.
Wu Buyi only watched the team working on a new workshop. He didn't tell Gao Yan or others that some of the lumber was sacred wood, which got mixed into the lumber. As a lot of sacred wood lay around in the lumber field, Wu Buyi stopped caring and let everything run its course.
The farmer team had no issue as most of the disciples were originally born from farmer families. Only the chilies farm workers seemed to be hesitating as they were afraid of touching the crops.
As the new farmers were afraid of exploding chilies, Leo purchased rubber gloves from the online store system and distributed them to all workers on the field, including the off-shift employees.
With rubber gloves, the employees tried to touch the chilies.
Upon touch, the chilies didn't explode. Everybody was relieved that their lives wouldn't be at risk anymore, and they had no issue working.
Every group adjusted to the new environment and quickly settled in, except the group of new riflemen.
.
Leo ordered Han Hao's team to follow him. The group arrived at the west of the domain, where they could see a long stream. Leo put a long table there and covered it with a white sheet. Then, he lined a hundred small sacks of gunpowder on the table.
He also brought out a bin full of spirit stones. As these stones came from dead thieves, their quality was average. They were perfect materials for practice shooting.
Once the arrangement was ready, Leo ordered them.
"Stand in one column. Bring out the guns I gave you."
"…"
Han Hao and others brought out the rifles from their spatial rings and awkwardly carried them in their arms.
Leo also brought out his rifle. He showed them how to safely carry a rifle without pointing the muzzle at their teammates.
"This is how you carry a long rifle. Use your arm and shoulder to support it. Don't forget to point it up or down at the ground for safety even though there's no bullet in it. Discipline is a must if you want to master advanced firearms in the future…"
The crowd mimicked Leo's action. As they were cultivators, they were fast learners. In a few minutes, they could rotate the long rifles like a modern tomb guard, except the weapon was different.
Seeing how they could adjust to the rifles well, Leo moved on to the next lesson.
"See the little sacks here? Break one of them in half and pour the black powder in here. Then, you put a spirit stone into this hole and use this shaft to push it to the end of the tunnel…"
Again, after one demonstration, they perfectly copied Leo's technique. However, the group was disappointed as the techniques seemed too easy.
Han Hao complained while he loaded a spirit stone into the gun barrel.
"Umm, Lord Florida Man. Isn't the technique a bit… mundane? Even a commoner can do this. Is this really a useful artifact?"
Leo rolled his eyes. He directly touched a spirit stone and dropped it into his rifle's barrel. After loading the bullet, he aimed up and lighted a cord.
BANG
Without using his Qi, the newly made essence stone transformed into a laser beam and separated the clouds in the sky. The bullet vanished into space and disappeared.
"…"
The students gazed at the laser beam and dropped their jaws. Doubts and questions in their mind vanished.
Leo tilted his head and gave them a meaningful look.
"Do you still think it's not useful?"
"N-No, senior! T-That element Qi… was too strong! I-I think it can vaporize any soul formation cultivator, no, any soul transformation cultivator! I don't think sect master Hua can take that shot!"
Leo nodded and explained, "This is an outdated weapon that I want you to try. In the future, my merchandise will be a lot more powerful and easy to use. Even a kid can use it to kill strong cultivators."
"…"
"Before that can happen, you need to know how to operate each gun so that you will have more experience in the field. When a gunfight occurs, you can outperform them and kill your opponents with the same weapons. Do you get it?"
"Y-Yes, senior."
"Good. Now, that you have loaded your ammo, I'll teach you how to aim. Copy my posture and look carefully at how I aim at the target…"
"…"
No one questioned Leo anymore. They listened and watched the demonstration.
.
10 minutes later…
BANG
BANG
BANG
Ten elders of the Life Sword Sect pulled the triggers in unison. The spirit stones transformed into long yellowish needles and pierced through iron pine trees.
Unlike Leo, the elders added their Qi into the spirit stones to increase firepower. Everybody smiled as they could feel the feedback from each shot.
They got addicted to the toys. Every time the targets were hit, they were elated.
Like a company of musketeers, their reload motions seemed like a choreography. Even when they aimed and pulled the triggers, everything happened at the same time.
Leo watched them from the back and secretly swallowed his saliva. He wondered if these cultivators were hidden geniuses.
'I'll be damned. Why are these old men so good at guns? I thought they would have fumbled a few times or shot their own feet. Welp, there goes the fun.'
Despite these thoughts, Leo was happy that they mastered the art. With this improvement, they could teach the other employees in his stead and reduce his workload.
Also, with these guys, Leo was confident that he could upgrade his general store to level 10 and remove the system's newbie protection.
He wondered if the system would unlock a PVP system or something similar. He could only pray that it wouldn't be that bad.
.
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Imperial Palace
Yan Xiang and Yan Luo gazed at the mysterious spaceship that the latter had salvaged from a ruin. They smiled from ear to ear as they waited for their subordinates to finish exploring it.
A group of elderly men came out. Surprisingly, the team's leader was none other than Tang Xuan.
"We have finished inspecting this artifact, your majesty," reported Tang Xuan. "This is a flying ship of an unknown country. We've found traces of commoners here, but we don't find any Qi sources or artifacts. However..."
"Yeah?" Both father and son were curious, "However?"
Tang Xuan hesitated if he should reveal the thing he had found. He closed his eyes for a moment and chose not to disclose the information. After all, he felt threatened.
"However, we've discovered that there were artifacts in this ship, but someone had already taken all of them."
Yan Luo smirked, "Yeah, Florida Man took them all and killed my brother. Or rather, Florida Man found everything, but my brother tried to rob him. He got his karma served."
Yan Xiang snorted, "Florida Man or not, he killed my son. Even if that brat is a disgrace to my family, his surname was YAN. Florida Man has to pay for his crime!"
"…"
Tang Xuan quietly sighed as he gave up on them. He could only pray for their quick demise.
Still, as a loyal servant of Yan Xiang, he tried to divert their attention by informing them of the urgent tasks. He reminded them.
"Before we think about revenge, how about we plan for the upcoming Jianghu Alliance Meeting in two weeks? All sects will bring their disciples to the capital for the tournament to show off their gains from the mystic realms. You have selected your representatives yet."
Yan Xiang and Yan Luo paused to think. As this event focused on their reputation, they couldn't ignore it.
"What was the age category again? 20?" Asked Yan Luo.
"It's 18 this year, your highness. The age limit is reduced because of the number of competitors last year."
"Oh, shame. Well, we have to pick someone from the army again. Say, can I borrow one of your disciples?" Yan Xiang thought of Tang Tian's disciple. He wondered if he could poach him.
"You must be joking, your majesty. He will participate as a representative of my Sixth Element Sect."
"I'm joking. I'm joking. Don't take it too seriously."
"Of course, I know."
Although their conversation seemed peaceful, Yan Luo secretly glared at Tang Xuan. He was envious of his sect.
"I guess we have to postpone the revenge business to another date," Yan Xiang grinned as he had an idea. "Say, Tang Xuan. Can you send an invitation to Florida Man if he will participate in this event? Maybe… we can humiliate him before our ancestors come down to kill the guy."
