“So my personal growth is like a wibbly wobbly path or something situation and John’s is a more A to B situation…” Said a drunk Myles Endeavour.

“Yes, you seem to be the first user of your Trigger so you are the one who shapes it and yes, before you ask, the bunny rabbit theme is a direct reflection of you.” Said an equally drunk mentor.

“I’m quite happy with mine, all business. None of this faffing about like an overexcited child in a ball pit. Added John Marquis to the conversation.

“Can you even create anything on yours John” Asked Myles

The master and apprentice watched as the third of their number waved his hands in the air at something perceptible only to him. John Marquis stared at the space in front of him for a while, swiping and considering as he went.

“How come his seems responsive to his gestures? Mine was all over the shop” Asked Myles

“Legacy feature. Think of his Trigger as a fully grown adult that can find its arse with both hands. Yours is like a baby that is prone to smacking itself in the face and waking itself up when it farts.”

“Thank you for that beautiful image.” Said Myles

John Marquis poked a spot in the air, clearly selecting something.

“I have a sparse few things, a gun or some sort and an upgrade for the Scythe. but they are greyed out…”

“Because they will be automatically generated as part of the legacy once you get strong enough.” interrupted John Barrington.

“…The other two were just small weapons. A shield and a dagger, both of them will cost one thousand hours to generate “ Finished John Marquis

Myles nearly spat out his Castleford Extra at the time cost. The implication was clear, if the very basic things took so much time, anything more complex would be a colossal time sink. Still, with patience that wouldn’t be the worst downside to have.

“So what are the ups and downs of a legacy Trigger really.” Asked Myles

“Young John here will likely progress through to the Triggers apex form, in short order. A legacy is a well worn path, it knows where it is going… But, it is likely to not get any stronger than the level the original user reached. There is a bit of wiggle room, there always is, but it will be ending up in that ballpark.” Said John Barrington

“What exactly will these forms be old John?” Said John Marquis who was drunk enough to try clinking ice not there in his pint glass. Myles popped open another can of Castleford Extra and topped him up anyway

“The Cash Trigger has two upgrades. Next one is black and gold, not much else changes physically, but it does unlock a ballistic weapon. The apex form is gold with a black hooded robe… I think there was a death and taxes theme going on. But this one has more wiggle room than most thanks to that quirk of powering up with money.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes, old pre decimalised money.” groused John Marquis “I hope you were right about being able to shift it to a more contemporary financial paradigm.”

“Worst comes to worst we can hit up some auction sites, maybe rob a few museums, I am quite the dashing rogue.” Said John Barrington

“We will not be robbing museums.” said Myles

“Why not, I heard you rob garden centres.” Said John Marquis

“I robbed one garden centre, one time and gave the stuff back afterwards. Robbing museums is not the same.”

“Tell it to the judge Myles, we know who to call when we need a five finger discount on trowels and compost.” said John Barrington

“And I wouldn’t say no to a new shed. Don’t suppose your weird storage would let you fit a shed inside, one of the pre-built ones would be very handy.” Said John Marquis. “You can judge a man by the quality of his shed.”

“Now we have addressed Myles’ horticultural kleptomania perhaps he would be so good as to update us on his ventures into crafting” hinted John Barrington.

Taking his turn to stare at things the others could not see Myles brought up his menu and embarrassingly swished his hand through it trying to get the same smooth interaction John Marquis had managed. He succeeded only in frustrating himself and resorting back to concentrating really hard on the virtual interface. Fortunately there was a new option, the Triggers operating system… A.I or whatever it was had decided that for convenience he should have an option to view everything in progress in one place. Myles had a feeling it was taking pity on him. He checked on the progress of his crafting system.

??????: Repair 47% Synchronisation 78%

Neonblader Hilt [DAMAGED - UNREPAIRABLE] Extracting 25:31

Unidentified Thunder Magic Staff Extracting 18:26

Jetpack 124:59

Jetpack 187:46

Jetpack 268:43

A quick rundown of what was going on inside his Trigger was given to his friends. Myles had a theory about why the times were so choppy but wanted it confirmed nonetheless.

“It is like you thought. It is processing power and it is resources, like CPU usage or when torrents get slower because you have too many going at once.” said John Barrington

“How do you know about torrents?” asked a scandalised John Marquis who had regarded the cat themed Trigger user as far too cool to know about such things as internet piracy.

“Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do in order to see classic televisual programming. I knew my way around Bannanawire back in the day. I was particularly fond of a period drama about lady prostitute, what was it called?… Ah yes. Downtown Abby, I’ll never forget episode three when she saved the town orphanage by giving the Mayor a rim job.”

“Were you not worried about viruses?’ Asked Myles who had never seen Downtown Abby, but heard it had good reviews.

“You can’t catch anything when the sexual acts are on the television Myles, do we need to have a little chat about certain things”

“Computer viruses… Because of the torrents.” Corrected Myles who needed to cut that line of mischief off before it could get going.

“Oh! No, I know some people who are good with computers” said John Barrington

“Forget that.” Said John Marquis “I want to know why Myles has three jetpacks in the queue… John he’s blushing, make him tell us!”

Inwardly Myles cursed his stupid pale complexion and stupid emotions. He gritted his teeth and decided he might as well get this over with.

“Zara said she would not consider dating someone like me unless pigs flew… So I was hoping to stick one on a pig monster when we found one and you know… Aviate some porkers arse into the ionosphere.”

No pins were dropping, but if one had been it would have been heard by all present. The seconds ticked on.

“Myles…” Said his mentor is a very serious tone

“Yes John.”

“That has to be… one of the most… genius ideas I’ve ever heard!”

“Wait, so you think I might have a chance with..”

“Oh no, absolutely not. I just want to see you shoot a pig into space, it will be awesome.” Encouraged his mentor.

“I too wish to see some gammon with altitude” seconded John Marquis

“Myles my boy, when those jetpacks are ready, I know just the monster. I’ll even make sure Zara is there to see it happen… just incase.

“Thanks…” said Myles who was wishing he had just let John Barrington lecture him about sex things and avoided all this.

“One more thing though… Zara… How do I put this. Myles, do you like naughty pictures where the lady is stepping on the man?” Asked John Barrington kindly as he could manage,

“No!, where did that come from?”

“Because that’s who Zara is for Myles. I’m not saying don’t shoot your shot, but incase it works out, learn how to accessories around footprints.”

The chatter continued late into the evening. At one point it was even suggested that they raid the project site right now with all three present. This idea was shot down, not because they were all well past drunk by this stage, but because there were not enough clipboards available. John Maquis was peeled off the sofa and into a taxi home and John Barrington was given the spare bed for the night but not before being reassured that the door shut properly and he was not going to be killed in his sleep by a murderous ginger cat.

He had been hoping to have John Marquis with them on Saturday. Myles would be getting much stronger in future, but right now The Cash armour was a heavy hitter and its power would have been very reassuring back up. Myles could not count on his crafting to provide some magic solution. If he was honest he did not even know what exactly the problem was. But he soon would.