I got to work putting together my assault rifle. I started with the brace, and with all the prebuilt parts, everything was initially easy to put in place. There were multiple firing parts, and I could see the customization options already. I felt like it was a branching tree of different paths I could take.
To start with, I wanted an adaptable ammo type that was easy to change the propellent once I learned more about propellents later. I got a better compensator, and various parts, each needing no tweaking as all of these parts were made for this assault rifle. It was a ridiculously easy process, but it still took time as I wanted to learn about all the customization options there were.
Taking my time and making sure everything was perfect, I dove into the world of gun manufacturing on assault rifles and found myself intrigued with this rifle. There was so much to learn, and I took apart the gun as I built it and rebuilt it again slowly and meticulously. There was nothing I needed to weld or saunter at this time in order to make it work, and the tools I had were insanely useful.
Hours and hours went by as I went over everything and tweaked the settings of the gun more and more. I loved it and eventually took it all apart again to restart as I felt something wasn’t perfect. I dove into the task, and oil coated my hands as I worked. My sensitive fingers would easily find flaws in things, so I would take it apart and rebuild the gun again and again.
Upon some thought, I realized the reason why Rish’an Locktar was considered a more powerful race. I could feel if there were any problems as my fingers brushed over the parts of the weapon. It was almost like the game was telling me that there was an issue with the gun as I put it together, too, and I had to spend more and more time on that.
Still, I decided at least once to put it all together with the best attempt I could. I felt something minor was an issue, and I had no extra attachments at this time and limited ammo, so I couldn't live fire the gun; not that I would inside the ship, but complete. I smiled, brought it up to my shoulder, and looked down the sights with a grin as the brown assault rifle was temporarily complete.
I shoved an empty clip in and pulled the trigger. Hearing it snap in place, I started to check other things on the gun. I took my time and ensured everything was working to the best of my ability without actually shooting it, and I nodded, put it down on the table, and sighed in satisfaction.
It took almost the entire day in the game, but I felt great. I learned a lot, but I learned an important lesson in the fact that I had way more to learn. It was complicated, and there were extra parts in the box for further customization, and I noticed notifications in the corner of my sight. Quickly I brought them up, and my eyebrow raised.
—-
New trait unlocked: Beginner Gun Enthusiast.
Guns, inside and outside, you are going to learn it all.
—--
—--
New Trait unlocked: Meticulous.
Redo the same thing repeatedly, slightly differently, working toward perfection.
—--
—--
T9-847 Highly Customizable Assault rifle (Uncommon)
Well Manufactured and with few faults. Made with three firing modes and a thirty-bullet magazine, an amateur put it together with growing skills and with few flaws. Increased damage by five percent and five percent less recoil.
—--
With raised eyebrows and a large smile, I fought down the need to cheer as I looked at the stats on my new rifle. It was fantastic, and now all I needed was five-point sixty-two ammo. I couldn't help but wish I had somewhere I could shoot this rifle in space. I wouldn't shoot at the walls, and I looked around my workshop and knew I had nothing I could do here. I would have to find a gun range on planets and spaceships to fire my weapons to practice. I didn't even have the means to create better ammo in this ship nor the places to make explosives. These were all things that would have to be rectified in the future.
I put the rifle off to the side of the workbench and got up, and stretched. My stomach rumbled, and I realized I had been working for hours and was hungry. I decided that while I ate, I would look into some bounties for our next destination. I could cook and eat while I looked into these things, and I got up and left my workshop covered in grease. I popped my head into the bridge to see Ura working.
“Ura, I finished my assault rifle and just need to take it to a gun range to test it out after buying some ammo for it. So I am going to make some breakfast and look at bounty contracts while on the pirate station.” I told her, and Ura looked up and stared at me in disbelief.
“You haven't done bounties on the previous planets. But now, in a Pirate station, you want to start?” Ura said, and I froze.
“Fair enough,” I said, “Still, I want to check things out and see if the pirates also put up a bounty. I doubt that they don't have at least a couple of bounties.” I told her, and Ura chuckled.
“That actually may be true. I am just wondering if they put it on the main Bounty hunter organization. I am interested to see if they have,” Ura said, getting up. “We have about another five hours before we hit the system and another hour after that before we will be able to dock. This station isn't exactly happy with those that slipstream or hyperdrive close. Anything that comes within a certain range will be treated with hostility and be fired upon immediately without restraint. They have made this public to all those traveling there and have shot anyone stupid enough not to listen. No exceptions.”
“Then let us get some food and see if there is anything interesting!” I said with a large smile.
“Go ahead and start cooking,” Ura said, “I have to finish some calculations. I have to pay some taxes to the federation and talk to a money launderer. I have a good friend that will help us pay all the taxes on our dark earnings. Also, Pirates that want you to do things tend to want to pay in Physical items instead of Credits. Unlaundered credits are costly, and they will have two sides to their business. On the Darker side, you may deal in credits, but you will have to launder them, so the Federation takes a cut. But if it is an Item, you can just use it. So usually, they run with something of equal value to what they owe you.” Ura told me, “I run only credits because I have a guy that owes me his life back on my homeworld and launders my money so I can pay taxes on it. You don't have that luxury.” She told me, and I nodded.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Only three things you can never escape, Death, Taxes, and learning new things,” I told her with a smile, “I guess I got hit by two of them this time,” I told her with a wry smile, and Ura chuckled. “I will start cooking, and come join me when you're done.”
I went to the back and started to pull out some food after washing my hands and arms. I still had some grease on me, but it wasn't anywhere it would affect my cooking, and I got to it. I cooked while thinking about the information Ura just gave me. It made sense that there were some things in this universe that I didn't understand, and now I started to realize what Gabin Corporation was doing with such a long Tutorial. It made sense in a way that I couldn't believe no one else didn't realize starting this game.
This universe was its own universe with an unreal level of AI. They felt real, as did Ura’s touch and feel. That wasn't all, though. Even more important was that this was a working society with Spaceships and logistics. Manufacturing companies and people are just trying to live their everyday life in it. Some were in the military, and some were pirates attacking Cargo haulers for that significant score. Some may run into bad luck and be on the wrong side of the law, while others hide behind corporate suits breaking the law in the darkness while smiling out in the open. Little common sense things we were allowed to break in other video games and RPGs may not be something we can do in this universe.
Ura telling me that I was trying to bounty hunt on a Space Station full of Pirates looking at me like a moron was a wake-up call. There was a working logic in this world, and I had to use my real-world common sense and not video game logic. Jumping in a fire in an old RPG to see if it would actually cause damage, you might do something serious like burn yourself for a long time. Breaking a contract might have authorities come to hunt me down. That Datapad had the intellectual property of a weapons manufacturer with research notes. It was corporate espionage if I got caught with it. These were things that I never considered when starting.
Maybe I could be a slave trainer or slaver, picking up slaves in this game and selling them for profit. But that came with consequences with the Federation that I was in the space of at this moment. These things would be common sense if you are thinking of this game as real life but not if you think of this like a Video game with all the logic and logic-defying things that can happen.
There was Magic in this world as well, which meant that there were consequences of that, just like I had a gun that could shoot a wizard or mage in the head before they could cast. I had to think of these things before they were in my face.
I cooked while my mind went over what Ura said, what felt like just five minutes ago. But Dinner was ready while my mind was still thinking about it. I realized that I was taking this game too lightly, and looking at Ura as she came into the back, she seemed to be looking at me oddly.
Then I realized that this was a world of genuine Role play again. I needed to start becoming Sleepy Wonder instead of acting like myself. I smiled as I looked at Ura and asked, “You remember where I put the bounty hunter tablet?”
Ura rolled her eyes. She got up, walked out, and returned a minute later with a tablet in her hand. She passed it over and looked at me sternly, “I don't want to clean up after you, Sleepy.” Ura said sadly, and I shook my head.
“I don't want you to clean up after me. I tend to clean in increments. I will go a little bit without cleaning, then do it all at once. Sorry if that is hard on you; it is just what I am used to doing.” I told her truthfully. That was what I did in real life, and it always worked for me. I would let a mess pile up, then put some headphones on and clean all at once.
Ura sighed, “Okay, Just once a day, at least clean up the obvious and keep track of your things?” Ura asked, sounding resigned.
“I will try,” I told her, “And if you nag me, I will probably remember, but please don't nag me all the time, Okay?” I asked her in return.
Ura looked at me, a little surprised, then smiled a little with a little purple blush, “Okay,” She replied before poking at her food for a second and taking a large bite.
In return, I put down the tablet and opened it up. It immediately opened up to a menu asking for my login and asked for my credentials. After fighting with it for a bit while I ate and Ura chuckled, I finally logged in with my name. I opened up the bounties in the menu and started a search with the Space Station we were about to go to. With that, I was allowed to look at a super long list with over six thousand entries. There was an interesting filter and warning put up on top.
“Without sufficient strength and firepower, Do not Bounty hunt anyone with a Large P next to their name. Those with a Large P next to their names are protected by those on the station and the personnel on it. Please press the check box at the far right of this message to filter them out of their searches.”
The bright and flashing message forced you to read it, and I couldn't help but ask Ura about it.
“Federation Law prohibits filters on your searches that an organization allows you to see for any reason whatsoever. That means that bounty hunter office as well. So unless you willingly check that box, you can see All bounties believed to be on the space station. They legally have to, and so much to their credit, they make a large warning for everyone. Then if some stupid bounty hunter decides to go get a couple of easy scores,” Ura shrugged, “I think the term is called Cleansing the Gene pool.”
I started to laugh and hit the filter, and that list of six thousand turned to twenty. My eyes widened, and I opened up the bounties and quickly realized that none of the bounties gave federation credits. All of them gave either vouchers or weapons of a certain value. Since none of these guys were protected in the station, they were probably sucking up to someone to get protection or had protection withdrawn. There were other explanations, like a pirate put up the bounty too.
I leaned back in the chair and came up with an interesting bounty.
—-
Wanted dead or alive: Oxrock Trinador.
Wanted for magical malpractice in the Drow outpost at the borders of Federation space. Convicted and fled custody after being found guilty. He is found to be a Mage with some power behind him, and it is unknown how strong he is. The latest Intel from a person on the station was that he pissed off the wrong person on the station, revoking his protection, and a refreshed Bounty was placed on his head by said person.
The reward for Dead or Captured: Voucher for an establishment called Chains and Shackles.
No bonus for being captured alive.
—-
“What is Chains and Shackles?” I asked.
“On the Space station, we are going to? It is a Slaver Merchant. Although it sells itself out as an” Ura looked up from her food and scoffed, “Headhunting agency,” She chuckled, “they sell slaves, but I have to admit that I heard good things about them compared to other places. Why?” Ura asked.
“I found a Bounty I am interested in,” I told her, pushing the tablet towards her, and she looked down at it. “I think the reward is interesting, and we might be able to pick up two slaves instead of just one,” I told her with a smile.
“Mages are smart. He is a researcher too. Double difficult. Are you sure?” Ura asked, “We can stay an extra day or two if you want while I line up a package, but Mages are notorious for being slippery.”
“A challenge,” I said with a smile and pulled back the tablet, “I think this is a good challenge, and I prepare myself before I do it. I am interested and willing to take the chance.”
“They suspect he is dangerous, Sleepy Wonder,” Ura prompted.
“I know, but I want to try. I will back down if I don't think I can do it.” I told her honestly, “I want to hunt this guy at least down.” I told her more seriously, “Need to know I can.”
Ura looked at me and nodded, “Okay.”
With that, it was decided, and I felt myself getting pumped up as I opened up the file for more details.