Back in his room alone, Mike had a realization: all fear comes from not having enough firepower.
Back when he lived on the family estate in that small Minnesota town, he'd messed around with shotguns for a while. His level-2 shooting skill was solid enough to hit close-range targets no problem.
The real issue now was where to get his hands on a big-caliber gun.
Texas might have that tough, gun-loving reputation, but not every house is stocked with firearms. And because they're so dangerous, the rules around them are pretty strict—regular folks can't just get one easily.
After thinking it over, Mike decided to call Lina.
In his mind, with her family owning that huge ranch, they were the most likely to have some defensive weapons stashed away.
He was just testing the waters, but Lina ended up giving him a huge surprise.
Right after noon, when the heat was at its peak, a girl all bundled up despite the weather showed up at Grandma Connie's door. She had a long black bag slung over her shoulder and knocked lightly.
"You're... Lina?" Grandma Connie opened the door, recognized the pretty girl right away, and waved her in warmly. "Come on in, sit down and cool off!"
Lina was carrying something dangerous, so she was super stiff about Connie's hospitality. Her eyes kept darting over her shoulder like she was paranoid.
She looked straight-up like she was pulling off some shady deal.
Grandma Connie clocked how nervous Lina was acting and smiled. "You're here for Mike, right? I'll go grab him."
In Connie's eyes, the girl's weird getup and jittery vibe screamed "snuck out of the house for a secret rendezvous with Mike."
With that knowing auntie grin, she figured she'd nailed the situation.
"Mike! Get out here—someone's looking for you!"
From his room, Mike heard the commotion at the door and came out.
The second Lina saw him, her whole body relaxed, like she'd finally found her rock.
Grandma Connie caught every bit of that shift in the girl's expression. Her eyes bounced between the two young folks in the room a few times, then it clicked. "Oh shoot, I almost forgot—I've gotta head to the bowling alley today. Mike, you're in charge of the house..."
She grabbed her sun hat and sunglasses off the rack, shot Mike a quick wink, and strolled out like a boss.
"Whew..."
Only after Grandma Connie was out of sight did Lina let out a huge sigh of relief. She'd been way too on edge.
Then she slipped the long bag off her back and unzipped it. "Mike, I found what you asked for. It was buried in my dad's storage room..."
Their ranch didn't really need weapons anymore. The double-barrel shotgun inside had been gathering dust in there for ages.
As Lina explained the gun, Mike stepped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and breathed in that unique scent she had.
Now this was more like it. Compared to that rotten stink coming off Serena, Lina's fresh fragrance was pure heaven for Mike.
"No... Mike..." Lina said shyly. "I gotta get back soon, or Mom'll figure out I snuck out."
"Lina, you know what? You smell amazing..." Mike murmured, complimenting her.
She put up a tiny bit of resistance at first, but then gave in.
"Not... here..." Lina's voice came out all soft and sweet—it sounded incredible.
"Alright," Mike said, scooping her up and carrying her straight back to his room.
Since she was in a rush, this time Lina was even more eager than yesterday.
A little over half an hour later, Lina bundled herself up again and slipped out of Grandma Connie's house.
...
During some downtime, Mike absorbed a few light orbs into his body.
Then, to his surprise, he spotted a new skill in his system panel.
[Holy Gun Lv1 (66/100)]
Once he'd caught his breath, Mike headed to the living room, grabbed the long package, and took it back to his room.
Inside was an old-school double-barrel shotgun. It weighed under four pounds, with some light wear on the stock and rifling, but nothing that'd affect performance.
That 18mm bore was no joke—it packed serious power.
Even the fiercest wild animal probably couldn't tank a single blast from this thing.
Like they say: in front of a scattergun, everybody's equal.
After getting a feel for the weapon, Mike finally had some confidence. If he'd had this baby earlier, he wouldn't have been scared at all.
...
Time flew by, and Monday rolled around.
Because of the interscholastic football schedule, Melford High's team had an away game this time.
With the whole school cheering them on, the football players and cheerleaders piled onto the bus and headed out to the other school.
According to the intel Coach George had gathered, their opponents this round were a public high school—not too tough.
And just to play it safe, Coach George had set up a dual-core strategy before kickoff.
Quarterback as the fortress, running back as the spear.
Mike's role in the playbook got a big upgrade for this game.
Of course, he didn't let Coach down. With his standout performance, he helped Melford High crush it for another blowout win.
Over the next few days, the team—now on a two-game win streak—got hero treatment from the entire school.
Mike especially, with his good looks and elevated role, became a campus legend. They even hung massive posters of him around school.
That was just the public stuff. Who knows how many girls were secretly collecting candid shots from his games.
And those photos? All sourced from Mike teaming up with the local reporter, Jack.
It was a win-win: padded Mike's wallet and lined Jack's pockets with some nice side cash.
With all the hype, even the guys who hadn't paid much attention to Mike before were now coming up to chat and buddy up.
For a hot minute, Mike was the king of campus—straight-up surpassing the "queen bee" from the hot girls' clique to become the most popular person in school.
...
One morning during practice, Mike went up to Coach George.
"Coach, mind if I skip one session to go to chemistry class?" he asked.
Truth was, ever since his physique hit 160, regular training intensity wasn't giving him those big gains anymore.
Instead of wasting time on the field, Mike figured he'd hit the chem lab to whip up some strong sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, stuff like that—to mix into aqua regia.
In his mind, corrosive physical attacks oughta give a vampire one hell of a nasty surprise.
Coach George, though, thought Mike should be grinding harder for that potential three-game streak next week.
But considering everything Mike had contributed in the last two games, Coach decided to cut him some slack.
With the green light, Mike changed out of his gear in the locker room and headed straight to the chemistry lab.