Third-person POV
Later, that near noon, in a magical commuter train to Vall, Roel and Kazaki finally spilt the beans on what had happened in the northern grass plains of Greystadt. Leon and Reina were shocked; their faces became pale. Leon felt protective of his younger brother and his friend, while Roel and Kazaki remained vigilant of their surroundings as the train rattled slightly on this short trip. Leon and Reina knew that their siblings were now targeted by the fanatical, demon-king-worshipping cult whose headquarters remained unknown.
By 12:18 p.m., the train arrived in Vall's small, Romanesque station, and the four got off with their haul of school supplies, food from Greystadt's markets, and a few household supplies for their households. But just exiting the station, they saw a show of 5 elite AOBF soldiers in the middle of the street. A crowd had gathered, and Ron and Kazaki's father, Tyler Kazan, was among the village guards who inspected and examined the 5 cadavers. According to the people in the scene, less than an hour ago, the squad raided the small town for its resources of grain and rice and hostages for sacrifices to the demon lord.
But what caught Roel's attention wasn't the identities or the bodies of the attackers, but rather, their combat attire. Roel's face turned pale, remembering the exact details of the gear: they were replicas of the gear of the Wolf Brigade of "Jin Roh". To everyone in this world, they are just unique, Otherworlder-style gear, but for Roel, these are iron-clad and crimson-eyed, especially very intimidating at the eye, and they also include the iconic guns and other equipment, and those are very familiar to Roel.
"Oh, flip, that stupid dystopian Japanese film!" Roel's mind hissed.
But since they were considered spoils for the victory against the AOBF, Roel had an idea: he would apply the practical method of sublimation, which is to take an impulse or a negative stimulus into something creative, positive, productive, and practical. Roel knew this concept from his past life. Back then, despite being a junior high school student with Kazaki in Cebu City, Roel dove into psychology and found the concept of sublimation both useful and clever. So, he let out a slight grin. "Dad, I wanted that attire."
Ron then looked at his son. "You want that? That looks intimidating for those who tried to stand in your way."
"Yup!" Roel chirped, before moving over to grab a set of the 5 attires. "These are mine, cool as flip."
Leon couldn't believe his eyes, and Kazaki, sensing the creative and practical way of using them, grabbed a second set.
As the other 3 sets of attire were set to be sold to scavengers and dealers for Vall's money, Roel and Kazaki headed home with these gear sets in tow, alongside their older siblings.
In their homes, they ate a light lunch, then scratched out the sigil of the AOBF on the gear, and studied for the entrance exams on Friday, which was 3 days away. They also did some training without the Wolf Brigade suits for the combat part of the exams, utilizing their magic to their advantage.
Now, finally, at 3:11 p.m., both headed to the northern forests in those newly scavenged heavy suits. They raised their rifles at a horde of hostile red slimes and a pack of dark red direwolves. The red eyes on the headgear were activated by their mana, giving an intimidating look to the mobs. And then, both opened fire at the monsters.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The bullets were continuous and fast as the Unlimited Ammunition blessing kept the chain-like line of bullets fed into the guns. They were infused by their magic, and the sounds of the gunfire resonated across the forested area.
In seconds, the horde was down, and their raw materials can be collected for crafting or to be sold for money.
Both levelled up to Level 11 fast; most of the points came from adopting the heavy suits with an achievement called Sublimation Method.
"Yes!" Roel celebrated.
"Man, that was fun…" Kazaki let out a big sigh of relief.
They then cleared a few more hordes of monsters for the next 10 minutes, integrating smoke canisters and Kazaki's RPG to repel stronger ones. After that, the duo went to the convenience store in town for a snack break. Aife was in the store already for a snack break of a slice of meat pie and a bag of homemade potato chips, which is healthy and light. She was astonished to see the scary suits her new friends had scavenged from the dead hitmen of the AOBF. Her mother had revealed all the details of the attack by the squad because she participated in the defence of Vall.
"You know…" Roel chuckled while sipping on his locally made fruit juice in a light and recyclable tin can; his helmet was on the table with the eyes turned off, "…Kazaki-kun, if I were to confront the real Wolf Brigade in my dreams, I'll say to their faces that I had repurposed their gear of warfare and oppression into a gear for hunting, combat, and adventuring.
Kazaki doubled over hard, slamming his fist on the table hard. "Ah, yes! They would be horrified that you, a literary restorationist, or rather, a cultural restorationist, would have the audacity to say that."
Aife had no idea what Roel was talking about.