I think she is a bit too enthusiastic about this… Alastair thinks to himself as he watches her stride to the lockers.

Stopping at one of the few unused ones, she opens one up and pulls out a basic military power suit that looks like it was used for space exploration…or at least it used to.

“Alrighty pretty boy, this is all yours. It should be a bit baggy on ya, but don’t worry, it’s been thoroughly vetted so you don’t have to worry about returning it once you are done. Put it on and let’s see how you look!” She says with a smile that screamed at him to turn around and head back to the safety of the elevator.

He looks at the suit and starts examining it. After a couple seconds of looking it over, he gets a pop-up.

Model:

Unidentified

Make:

Unidentified

Type:

Power suit

Durability:

20 /100

Overall

Quality:

Poor

An old Power suit that hasn’t

been used in decades

+1.5x Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Vitality

+3% Damage Reduction

*Upgradable*

It was a shade of faded grey, with a single white strip running down the sides of the arms. Harness clamps were built into the suit accompanied by a shoulder strapped PLCE Webbing and hip mounted power packs inlaid into the belt. Despite its rough and tumble appearance, he could tell that it used to be a highly made Power suit given the fiber-like armor woven into the suit.

“I think this is… alright.” He says before looking up at the two women with predatorial grins plastered across their faces. “Where can I change?”

“You can change in here. Now all that remains is your weapon of choice. You can either choose one of the premade weapons or you can make one yourself using spare parts lying around the workshop.” She says.

It takes them a while before both women realize that they shouldn’t be watching him, before walking around to seemingly count the number of grilles along the lockers. As Alastair starts putting on the suit, she goes over to the tool wall and presses some button hidden from view.

New walls of weapons drop down from the panels hidden in the ceiling. Rifles, shotguns, hand cannons, and high-powered repeaters. Each one as varied in design as they were in the different calibers of shots they would dish out. Melee choices were another matter entirely. Broad edged knives, stun staves, and sabers of every shape and size.

Thinking there were too many variations for him to choose from, he decides to turn to a nearby work table. Scraps of metal and pieces of leftover parts litter the top. Sifting through the pile, he starts putting together a mental image of what he wanted to make and started collecting the materials for it.

“Ahhhh, a fellow weapon smith we have here!” The gunsmith exclaims enthusiastically.

“Do I need some sort of skill before I can start making something?” Alastair asks, turning around with wide bore barrel in his hands.

“I could, but you have to promise me that you will show me the specs once you are done.”

“Only if you give me the basest form of smithing,” he says smiling, giddy at the thought of continuing his plan.

TING!

Skill Name:

Skill Rank:

Skill Level:

Skill Experience:

Smith Mastery

Beginner

1

0%

One of the oldest crafting arts still in existence.

+2% overall effects

*Component/ Tool Bag needed*

*for field modification*

Passive

“Alrighty, let’s get started!” He says with a determined look in his eye, “but first, pull up tutorial on weapon-smithing.”

A screen comes up with a list of subjects involved in the beginner stage. Knowing from experience what he should do when it comes to gun making, he flips through the tutorial while filing away the useful bits of information.

Returning his attention to the leftover pieces, he begins his self-prescribed task of search for the pieces that he would need for his weapon.

For the next hour and a half, he shifts through the pile, pulling and tugging pieces out of the pile. A power cell limiter here, a biparticle-rotation cylinder there, he kept pulling pieces out until practically half the table was segregated into piles of pieces that he had figured he would need in his head.

After the final piece had been collected, he begins the modification process. File and plasma-cutter in hand, he made his adjustments down to as far as his eyes could see. Each piece would be methodically changed before being set back down in the respective pile it came from.

“Well damn if it isn’t taking you a long time!” Derek’s voice calls from the doorway.

“Perfection calls for unwavering attention to detail.” Alastair says not looking up from his work.

Continuing on, he finishes the original piece before setting to work on the attachable parts. He hollows out a wide bore barrel longer, setting the file and plasma cutter to the part as he makes his adjustments. Having played around with a chemistry set in a gun factory in his youth, he couldn’t have made what he was attempting now in the real world. Having everything become factory-made, came the cost of decreased functionality and personalization.

As he finishes his final piece, he sets it down and begins putting everything together. The piles’ wither in size as he puts tiny piece after tiny piece into the frame. The clicking of pieces snapping together in place seems to satisfy him in some way as he continues with it. His hands fly over the frame, taking their time in adjusting every piece to perfection before he stumbles upon a problem.

“You wouldn’t happen to have some sort of rechargeable power cell around here would you?” he asks into the air, his eyes not leaving the frame as he continues his work.

“Hold on.” The gunsmith says as she searches through a drawer. Before long she returns and places a cylindrical tube about the size of a soda can next to him.

“This should last you a standard Terran month if used heavily and often. Otherwise, it should last you at least one cycle galactic standard.”

Grabbing it, he slots into the center of the frame and pauses to watch as it hums quietly. After a grand total of four hours of adjustments to the stock items he had taken, the finished form sits completed on the table with two extra attachments. A bipod and a lengthened barrel.

Finalizing the piece, he slots a magazine into the side. A low hum of energy purrs from the machinery, before the quiet glow of the number ‘90’ above the shot-switch, signals that everything was at a minimum level of working efficiency.

Looking up, he sees that Rilke and Derek were sitting in front of him watching in half-hearted amusement at what the Spacer in front of them is doing. Derek, having changed into something less ostentatious as the uniform he had been adorned with earlier, twirls a pressurized hammer between his hands.

“What?” Alastair asks.

“Are you sure you need all that? Most rifle types don’t require that many parts.” Derek says.

“Just wait and see. You’ll understand once I perform a test fire.” He says before collecting all the pieces along with the rifle.

“I see you have one of the classic suits! Good on ya! Now you just might survive the trip!” he continues seeing the suit Alastair is wearing.

“Yeah I was told that it has an adjustable weight distributer integrated into the suit, so that should make it easier on the amount I can carry.” Alastair replies getting up.

TING!

A skill has been upgraded!

Skill Name:

Skill Rank:

Skill Level:

Skill Experience:

Smith Mastery

Intermediate

6

45%

One of the oldest crafting arts still in existence

+10% to all traits

+2% return on system reverse-engineered parts

-5% part(s) stress/ cost

Passive

Your combined use of intellect, intense concentration, and the deftness of your hands to make finite details has granted you attribute points!

Intelligence +7, Dexterity +5

Achievement Unlocked!

Shop Class

+25N

“Hmmmm, what have we got here?” The gunsmith walks up behind him.

“Take a look, I haven’t tested it yet.” He says handing the rifle to her.

Flipping her goggles over her eyes, she inspects it for all of about 10 minutes before hurrying out of the workshop. Noticing that no one was following her, she sticks her head around the corner she had disappeared around before giving the universal signal to follow.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like this before! How did you make it?” she asks as she

“Trying to find my trade secrets are we? I’m sorry but I’m not ready to divulge that information just yet,” he says with a smile.

“Well here, time to find out.” She says as she hands him the items.

“Test it there or test it here, doesn’t matter which just test the damn thing already!” Derek growls coming over and taking the rifle from him.

As soon as he had the rifle, he started walking down the hall even faster.

“I’m sorry about this but can I have a couple extra power packs and solid slug magazines?” Alastair asks quickly to the gunsmith.

“Sure thing, just be sure to use them wisely because they can become depleted quite quickly if you don’t know what you are doing.” She says handing 4 packs over before watching him jog down the hall after Derek.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like that before Rilke. If he polishes that skill, he could become quite the famous inventor.” She says to Rilke beside her.

“I think this will be an interesting experience to say the least. Even more so when we come to hear about his exploits later on.” Rilke replies with a smile growing on her face.

Opening the doors to the gun range, Alastair is immediately assaulted by the smell of ozone and burning tires. He surveys the area with a curious expression, watching the operatives and agents who are practicing with their chosen armament. With the size of the room about the length and width of an American football field, there was enough room to pick an empty booth. He started wondering where within the building they were, but loosely remembered that being inside a military building they were bound to have some leeway into the underground portions.

He watches each agent standing in their booths shooting downrange toward a vaguely humanoid figure made out of hard gelatin. Each figure would register the shot before resuming repairing itself to a whole shape. Each one would have a hole left behind by the caliber of the weapon being used.

That did nothing to say for the reverberating sounds around the room. The booming of a light machine gun, the chink of a pistol, the whip of a silenced sniper rifle.

“Alright boy, time to test this little beauty.” Derek calls out over the chaos.

Noticing which booth he was standing next to, Alastair walks over to him and takes the rifle. He slots a power pack in, and sets the various attachments onto the booth’s tiny workshop table. Inlaid into the table is a panel with different settings for how far away the occupant would want the target. He selects the one showing 30m and turns to the front, watching the target come closer from the back.

Looking at the number gauge on the rifle, and it shows a bright 90 next to a burst round setting, as if it looks like it is ready to be fired. He sights the weapon, aligning its iron sights with the chest area of the target and pulls the trigger. The three round burst veers off a little before the entirety of the rifle clicks into place and centers on the chest. To those within the range, the sound of the shot shrieking as it passes, halts all other actions within. Operatives and agents halt their practice and start looking over to where the sound originated from.

TING!

Skill Name:

Skill Rank:

Skill Level:

Skill Experience:

Marksman

Beginner

2

37%

Practice makes perfect as they always say. Concentration and aiming increases your accuracy and damage.

+4% Accuracy added to all ranged weapons

+2% Damage added to all ranged weapons

Passive

Looking down, he reads the page that had just popped up in front of him before grunting appreciatively at the new skill gained before swiping it away.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” a senior male operative demands as he strides over from the booth next to him.

“That, dear lad, was the sound of an invention being tested!” Derek says coming over to the pair.

“Would you like to try?” Alastair asks, holding the rifle to the operative butt first.

“I would, but I can’t use regular rifles. My Agent Specialization only works on small arms and high powered Sniper rifles.” He says with disappointment growing on his face as he looks down at the offered weapon.

“Hold on.” Alastair says before reaching over to the attachments sitting on the table. Taking the bipod and the enhanced barrel, he clips one and affixes the other into place before thumbing the shot-counter to single fire.

“Apologies, I don’t have a Scope for you to use. Would this work?” Alastair says coming out with a distinctly longer weapon than earlier.

Puzzlement crosses the agents face for but a moment before recognition and a quick smile spreads as his specialization recognizes it as falling into the class’s requirements. Taking the rifle to his booth, he lays the bipod up and carefully sights the rifle at the gelatinous target further away than everyone else. He fires, and is awarded by a beam of energy leaving the ending of the barrel. The air sizzles as a finger-sized hole is burned through the center of the dummy’s head.

“Very nice! Light weight enough for extended operations, compact and detachable for ease of transport.” the operative states handing the rifle back to him. “What exactly is this anyway?”

Please name the model of your weapon…

Taking the rifle in hand, Alastair unclips the attachments, and says,

“This is called a Jackpoint Rifle. It is designed so that its internal parts can be utilized interchangeably to achieve any effect that the user wishes. This only works as long as you have the attachments or correct energy output.”

TING!

Model:

Jackpoint

Type:

Rail-Rifle

Parts-used:

Non-standard

Durability:

150 / 150

Overall Quality:

Normal

Energy Charge:

966 / 1000

A weapon crafted by Alastair Thawn

5 DPR - Rifle Classification

Single-Shot

Burst-Shot

Full Auto (Easily Overheats)

Consumes 1 Round(s) of Energy per round 70 DPR - Sniper Classification

*Attachments Required*

Single-Shot

+10% Critical Chance

+50% Critical DMG

Consumes 30 Rounds of Energy per round

DPR: Damage Per Round

*Upgradeable*

Current Adjusted Ability:

High Impact Bolt

Heavily envelops a bullet with

energy from the power cell.

Adds extra kinetic dmg to

core Round.

+10 Dmg: Rifle Classification

Consumes 10 Round(s) of Energy

He just stares at the rifle in shock. He hadn’t really expected the amount of feedback he would have from the system. Looking around, he notices the woman from the armory waltzing toward him with what looked to be a large pad and a stylus.

“I have a question if you wouldn’t mind.” She says stopping in front of him.

“Shoot.”

“How many attachments or internal parts can be used with this?” she asks.

“Ummm as many as you would want.”

“… Are you interested in creating a patent for it? The higher ups would like a base copy so that they can build off of it if need be.”

“…”

“Well?”

“I would be interested in that. But I would like to—”

“Don’t worry about the specifics,” she says handing the large pad over to him. Looking at it, it seemed to be a scanner with all of the specs that his weapon used as well as the Interchangeable Weapon System that he had brought up earlier. Price tags hanged over the parts he had used for the entire process as well a large question mark over the IWS.

“Our Minister of Defense is interested in what this could do for our Special Forces should they be allowed to utilize such a weapon.”

TING!

Warning:

Making a patent for a Unique weapon

will strip it of its Unique status until more modifications

are completed.

Are you sure?

Y/N

“Yes, I could have a patent made for it.”

“Great!” she says her eyes sparkling, “The cost for the parts that you used will be deducted from the processing fee that we would owe you considering that we are the ones asking for the use of the patent. All that remains is the fine details.”

“I think I’ll take care of that.” Derek says taking the pad from her.

“Hang on a sec, isn’t that MY portion.” Alastair huffs.

“Consider it payment for the training I’m giving you.” Derek replies with a shit-eating smirk.

“Damnit… Then I just have one teensy question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have some sort of strap?”

30 minutes later…

“All right so this is how it’s gonna work boy, everything that I say, you have to pay attention and comply to! No ifs, ands, or buts! I expect you to use your head because that is the most fundamental thing that you will ever need in the open wilderness! I expect you to revere and respect me as if I am your loving and doting father! Any questions?” Derek says ending his little speech.

“None, I’m ready to start this journey!” Alastair states excitedly.

Derek chuckles and turns around inside the foyer for Operational Headquarters hearing footsteps coming up from behind. He sees that it’s the gunsmith with an item in hand.

“Alright this should do it for the strap pretty boy. Make sure to treat it well.” The gunsmith says handing a black leather strap to Alastair. “As for the patent, expect the first deposit to hit your account by then end of the week, Commander.”

He takes the strap and starts integrating it to the butt of the rifle. Beside him is a small pack filled to the brim with essentials. Power packs, ration tubes, duct tape, and a bedroll.

“Ummm, if we are going into the wilderness, shouldn’t we be taking more than this?” he asks skeptically.

“What are you talking about boy? That’s where the training comes in! Mind you, it will take a week minimum to travel to our first destination. However, it is primarily determined on how long it takes you to get through the forest.”

“Hold on, are we going through the forest where the massive trees are for our first destination?!” He says looking at Derek incredulously.

“Caught that did you? Yes, we are going through the forest but our destination lies somewhere inside it. That means that after we finish up at the first destination, we will move on to the second. However, this all depends on how well you do.” He says in a hushed tone.

“….”

“Alright it’s time to leave!” Derek says with a wide grin on his face.

They both hoist their packs and head out the door to a parked convertible hovercar sitting outside with its top down. Getting inside, Alastair takes a look around and notices that it isn’t much different than a car in the real world. The only thing that is changed is a lever on the side indicating how high off the ground you want to go. Derek jumps in the other side where the steering controls are and cranks it in to high gear.

5 minutes down the road heading into traffic,

“So what happens at the end of the training?” Alastair asks looking over at Derek.

“Boy, do you really want to know that?” Derek says eyes on the road.

“I think that I would like to know what I get out of it, other than what I had originally intended to do.”

“Well then let me pose a question boy. What if I told you that you could have the potential to become something more, something… new? Something that no one has access to just yet.”

“…That depends on what I would be becoming. Is it something like a new species or gaining a class of my own?” He asks inquisitively.

“Well, sort of. I wouldn’t say that what you would be becoming a new species or such. More like an augment to your own base race.” Derek says quietly.

Alastair thinks for a bit before answering, “Hmmm, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

“But granted, in order to do that, I have to guide your body before it can undergo any such process. So you can pretty much kiss your ass goodbye because the training I give is more like the road to hell. It can break you or it can forge you. It depends entirely upon how well you can tough it out.” Derek says lightly.

“WHAT!?!?” Alastair yells out.

“Yup so buckle up Princess, cause we’re heading to ‘Dictator’s Demise’!”

TING!

A whisper from Elena Indie has been initiated

He thinks “Go ahead, but who the hell is this?” A telepathic voice pops into his head,