The noonday sun beamed down making Henry sweat under the heavy leather armor. Through the scope of his rifle, he had a clear view of the ground for 500 yards in front of him. Over the rise at the edge of his vision charged a group of five Pygmie Warriors, larger than the scouts he had encountered on the first day. This group was the tenth and hopefully last to come running after he had started his shooting practice. They had all been drawn by the noise of the weapons, loud retorts in the relative peace of the forest.

Around the targets, Iggy had him set up, were the remains of the other pygmie groups. When they first showed up he had just sighted in the rifle and started on the pistols. Six pygmies had run right through his field of fire, he easily ended their miserable lives. The next wave had used some basic tactics, taking cover behind the targets and moving forward in pairs. The most difficult thing for Henry wasn't killing them, their meager armor was no obstacle to his high caliber rounds. The hardest part was reloading the concentration required to sight targets and conjure up bullets was exhausting. Eventually, he got the flow of it down and the tension between his eyebrows eased. After the fifth wave, he had discovered that he could create a solid projectile and force combustion in the chamber. With this discovery shooting became much easier and as an added bonus he gained Fire Affinity at 2%.

When the pygmies stopped their assault Henry's weapons were in pieces, the metal used to create them could not hold up against determined and constant use over the previous hours. It was all worth it as he checked his notifications.

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Congratulations!

Skill Learned: Rifles lvl 5

You are well versed in the use of long-range firearms and will become more deadly with time.

- Increase Accuracy +2 per skill level

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Congratulations!

Skill Learned: Pistols lvl 7

You're feeling pretty lucky, punk. Like an old western lawman, you can shoot down an enemy from 30 paces. Accuracy and damage will increase with skill level.

- Increase Agility +1 per skill level

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Congratulations!

Perk Gained: Trigger Happy Gunsmith [Silver]

You've created your own weapons and killed 25 sentients in the span of a week. You are more proficient with weapons of your own creation and creating weapons increases durability by 20%.

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"Not too bad hey Iggy, not sure how I feel about the perk. It'll be useful."

The attack over they needed to figure out how to repair or recreate the guns quickly. They didn't know if more enemies were on the way.

Rose had been walking for the better half of the morning when in the distance she heard gunfire. What the hell? There shouldn't be anyone with guns out here, this Zone is pretty exclusive to the Trail Rangers and they've locked it down for this 'Recruitment Drive'. The shots were still a few miles off, but any direction was better than wandering aimlessly through the woods hoping for an encounter. I've heard rumors about civilizations in the Zones like things out of legends. Dwarves, Elves, Beastkin, and all sorts of more monstrous races living in the divide between here and wherever they came from. I wonder if one of them could have modern guns instead of magic and alchemy. That'd be something else! Maybe they can help us to adapt the Incursion hit really hard 50 years ago.

When the Incursion hit Earth had been in a period of relative peace after the last war. A big affair between some big countries over the great oceans and the United States. The world was vastly different then, something the old timers called Global Trade had connected even the most remote parts into a complex system. She knew about some of the technology, everyone learned about that in school, but a much of the more complicated computer and infrastructure technology had been lost. Some of the big tech companies were able to keep a baseline going, but the world was separated like it hadn't been since the Age of Exploration. The fuels used to power the global economy had simply become too difficult to harvest and manufacture. Only a few oil fields in Texas and the Candian Flats were still in operation and only because of the brave men and women who fought and died to retake the land from Orcs and Trolls. Those particular monsters thrived in the barren strip-mined land that often surrounds refineries. The only hope rested in hybrid technologies and electric power, but the technology was sophisticated. Many who could create solar panels and battery banks had died early on. Those who remained were quickly recruited by the militaries and remaining corporations to maintain their tenuous power.

Most people the world over had returned to simpler lives farming the land and crafting good by hand. It was a good life and farming without machines easily feed the roughly 1 billion people left on Earth.

Rose snorted and shook off the darker thoughts. She was ready for a fight and started to run towards the sound of gunfire.

Henry and Iggy spent a little under an hour taking the guns apart and remaking them to better stand the pressure of constant use. They also took the time to add a few refiinements since Henry would be creating the combustion himself much of the trigger assemblies were no longer needed. Henry kept the triggers themselves because it help him visualize the results he wasnted from his magic.

Item Name: Peace

Quality: Uncommon

Durability: 150/150

Damage: 25-40

One of a pair of magitech pistols created by Henry Woodridge in the style of old western Peacemakers. This gun brings Peace to a troubled world. As the wielder of this weapon, you must spread Peace wherever you go.

Set Bonus: + 5 Accuracy when wielding both Peace and Justice.

Item Name: Justice

Quality: Uncommon

Durability: 150/150

Damage: 25-40

One of a pair of magitech pistols created by Henry Woodridge in the style of old western Peacemakers. This gun brings Justice to depraved souls. As the wielder of this weapon, you must spread Justice across the lawless lands.

Set Bonus: + 5 Accuracy when wielding both Peace and Justice.

Item Name: Woodridge Special AR-1

Quality: Uncommon

Durability: 300/300

Damage: 50-75

This rifle was created by the Gunsmith Henry Woodridge as a means of defending himself in all situations. Made to take targets at a range of up to 1500 yards the WS-AR 1 is effective from 50-1500 yards and has single shot and burst functions.

"I think we did pretty good, Iggy." Henry smiled as he held Peace and Justice, admiring the silver-blue color of the pistols. They were made of a special composite blend of metals that incorporated his nanites to make a far superior quality than his first model. He felt like a real gunslinger. "Now all we need is a Drak Tower and a few villains." He laughed.

"I don't think that will be a problem. Those shots could probably be heard for miles around. We'll be lucky if all the monsters in the area don't come down on us." Iggy was clearly frustrated with Herny's nonchalance even if the idea of wave after wave of enemies excited her.

"Okay, we'll move out." His sigh was so over the top it had to be theatrical.

They closed up Bear Cave and started off to the North where the mountains towered over the landscape. The few times during the journey they encountered any enemies Peace and Justice was more than enough to end the encounters quickly. It seemed that the wandering opponents were all a low threat level until they got within the shadow of the mountains. Here, the opponents were larger and gave off an aura of danger. Iggy assumed that they started near the outer edges of the Zone and had moved in the direction of its center. That was good because it meant that Bear Cave was as safe a place as they could find in the Zone.