Woo! Free Stuff!

John took a moment to think about the potential benefits and downsides of the proposition before saying, “Yes, I would like to; you seem like the best option currently available to me, considering what you offer in exchange for relative freedom and opportunities to make money.”

Morgan nodded before pushing the physical copy of the document towards John, “Very well, all you need to do is sign everywhere applicable, and I mean everywhere.”

About 30 Minutes Later

John signed his name one last time on the contract that sat before him, “Alright, well, what happens now?”

Faith looked up from her phone once more, “We’ll evaluate your gear and the abilities that you claim to have. However, out of curiosity, what parts of your equipment do you think could use improving?”

John pondered this for a moment, “It isn’t so much improving, but my current lack of a melee and ranged weapon is what I have established as my main issues for the moment.”

Nodding, Faith gestured at one of the walls, where a panel slid down into the depths and a large printer like machine rose on the far side of the room, dwarfing the potted plant that was now to the right of it.

“Well, abiding by our policy of indoctrin-”, she was cut off by a sharp glare from Morgan before coughing slightly and continuing, “sorry, affiliation, we will be able to provide you with one item of your choosing and additional items at cost. Feel free to go and print something, we have an array of designs and materials to choose from.”

John stood up to inspect the machine, which revealed itself to actually be a highly advanced form of 3d printer, albeit larger than any one he had seen before.

The main body consisted of a white box about 4 feet in width just by itself, the front panel was made mostly out of a glasslike substance, revealing the machinery within. Peering inside the window, John was met with a complex array of minuscule gears and circuit boards that mostly occupied the lower section and extended further upwards towards the numerous black railings that each housed an extruder. Connected to these extruders was thick, metallic cabling that presumably carried the molten filaments for the machine.

Upon touching the transparent glass panel, it suddenly became opaque, displaying an array of options. However, John was slightly more distracted by the crafting panel that was suddenly pulled up. The main differences from the normal tech ones that he could spot was the addition of a “design” option, which revealed an incredible amount of options, although most of them were darkened to indicate that they were unavailable. Searching through the available options, he eventually settled on the “Mana Pistol Mk 1” as his design for the item. He needed a decent ranged option that didn’t entirely depend on his own mana levels after all, and he wanted to make his free one worth what he got out of it.

When it came to the raw materials, John just didn’t want to overdo it, and selected materials he was mostly familiar with to avoid getting anything incredibly powerful. Getting something for free like this felt like cheating in the first place, he didn’t want to **** the opportunity.

Hitting the create option once he was satisfied with the stats, John surprisingly experienced only a minimal mana cost of 13 points as the printer roared to life. After waiting a few moments, John was presented with his fully made pistol, complete with logo on the side.

Grabbing hold of the grip of the gun, John’s hand grew slightly cold as it sapped mana from him into its internal buffer. Noting that it had an empty slot on the handle, presumably for the gas canister, John frowned, “Where can I get the gas canisters for this thing?”

Faith just pointed at the wall next to John, having had just opened up to reveal a platform housing two incredibly shiny canisters of Xenon, also housing the logo on it.

Picking up the canisters themselves revealed their relative lightweightness. Upon closer inspection, the craftsmanship revealed itself to be incredible, almost lacking any seams at all.

“So how many shots should I expect to get out of one of these?” John asked, still rotating the canister under his fingers as if to detect a flaw somehow.

“There’s no exact amount, but on average you should expect around twenty to thirty, it just depends on how much you use per shot.”

John slotted the canister into the respective hole in the bottom of the gun, where it slid in with an acknowledging click.

In his peripheral vision, John could see Morgan putting a pen into the breast pocket of his suit, now having a filled sheet of notes, the contents of which he could not quite make out. “I believe the testing portion of the process is about to begin, so I take my leave as I have a very exciting meeting to attend about which color scheme to use for buildings in different cultures.”

Morgan pressed a button on his desk, and the hologram froze, before slowly deteriorating into individual strands of light.

“Alright… uh, how exactly do I shoot this?” John asked, mentally realizing that he had nothing even approaching physical experience with guns.

Faith facepalmed, “If I’m remembering correctly, that model charges a shot based on how long you hold the trigger. Beware of the recoil, it’s always more than you expect. Lastly, and most importantly, don’t point that shit at anyone; nobody wants to get accidentally shot because of a sudden and unexpected mechanical failure. I’m quite sure you know the rest.”

Running over those facts in his mind, which were incredibly varied in usefulness, John put the gun into his inventory and smirked, “I’ll do what I can with that information. I presume you want to see a demonstration of my barrier creation abilities?”

“Yes, in fact I do, but I am quite interested in that leveling ability of yours and I wish to see if it can affect others in your party. If it does, it would make you a very valuable asset to us.”

“I suppose so, and would you like to join my party?” John said, and as expected, a popup appeared in front of Faith, who accepted with a moment of hesitation.

John opened up his Barrier Dive menu and, upon finding that no change had occurred like he had initially hoped due to a higher average party level, began listing off the potential options.

Faith listened patiently before asking if he’d prefer something that he’d experienced before or go for something new to both him and herself.

After pondering about this for a moment, John replied, “New, I’ve been doing only one type so far, and with you here, I can probably survive the learning curve of doing another type of monster.”

Nodding, Faith said, “Alright, sounds good. Let me get my gear first, and let’s go with the rats after.” Having said that, she disappeared behind a wall.

After about a minute, Faith returned wearing black leather boots and with her long purple hair tied back into a bun. Seemingly putting something shiny into the inside pocket of her jacket.

Cracking her neck loudly and stretching her arms before she came to a stop in front of John, Faith said, “Ok, I’m good to go now; feel free to make the barrier anytime.”

Pulling up the screen for the rat barrier, John looked at it for a moment before tapping the “Yes” option.

Initiate Barrier Dive?
Enemy: Rats
Cost: 17 MP
Yes/No

Initiating Barrier Dive...
Populating Barrier…
Seizing the Means of Production...
Dive in Progress…

Feeling the slight shift of entering a barrier, John suddenly found himself floating, surrounded by inky blackness that dominated his every sense. A definite contrast to what he was expecting. His panicked attempts to open up his inventory, or any other facet of his powers for that matter, was met with an out of bounds error. Finding himself unable to do anything, John calmed himself down and began to ponder something.