Coming to a stop panting slightly from the exertion, Derek and James found Tom standing in front of the vending machine in the third-floor breakroom. But it wasn't the same machine that had been there before. The previous machine had been a normal-looking device that had a massive decal on one side that showed a bag of chips bursting open along with a bottle of soda spewing open after the cap had been twisted off. What stood before them now was almost a work of art.
It appeared as though it was some form of antique metal machine with amazing inlaid designs and delicate silvered filigree all over it. The front of the machine was a deep red color with the side of the machine almost sky blue. There was an oversized coin slot above the retrieval bay near the bottom of the machine with a digital touchpad on the right side of the machine, clearly for making selections.
A soft glowing ethereal light shone from the inside of the vending machine. However, there did not appear to be any light bulbs or LED light strips for the light to be emitted from. There were four rows of items in the machine. All the rows held cans in individual slots ready to be dispensed.
Each one appeared to be about a twenty-four-ounce tall can like the ones that many of the popular energy drinks were sold in. On the front of each of the cans was an image that seemed to depict what was inside of them. A battle axe, a sword, a bow, a quiver of arrows, and many more items could be found.
"Hello, how may I help you today?" The machine said in a female voice that sounded like all the other automated assistant voices.
"It talks?" Derek asked.
"If you would like to make a purchase, place your hand on the touch screen to begin." The machine said again.
Tom reached forward to place his hand on the screen.
"Wait, dude! You don't know what that will do!" James exclaimed trying to stop Tom. But it was too late. Tom's hand touched the screen.
"It appears you have not yet selected a class. At this time I can only offer you basic selections of starter gear instead of being able to tailor your selections to your class. Please make a selection and enter the appropriate number of Monster Cores to complete your purchase. Or you may select a class, retouch the screen, and I can give you an updated selection of items." The vending machine explained.
"Incredible! It is way more advanced than I had assumed. I wonder how it gets stocked?" Tom said, his hand still touching the screen. "I don't see guns as an option though."
As he said this, the machine began to glow brighter. It reconfigured itself so that one of the items in the machine drew back into itself and then was replaced by another row of cans. This time the picture on the front of the can was a handgun. After this change, James pressed his face up against the glass, pushing Tom to the side slightly.
"Are you shitting me?!" James said, practically drooling on the glass and he smooshed his face into it in an attempt to get closer. "You know we could just break the machine and take all of these things."
"I would advise against that course of action." The machine suddenly said. "Any act of aggression taken against a machine will be seen as a violation of the Grand System rules and will be met with swift and harsh punishment."
"Or we could not try to conduct a smash and grab on something that was created by a powerful entity completely unknown to us," Derek said. "Seriously dude, you need to see about getting some help for your kleptomania."
"I am not a klepto! I just don't like paying for things. Big difference." James said trying to defend himself. "Besides, I'd never liberate things from someone who needed it. Only from those who have more than their fair share. Think of me as more of the Robinhood of this tale."
"How magnanimous of you," Derek replied, with not a small amount of derision in his voice.
"It looks like the gun is three monster cores," Tom said looking at the numbers next to the cans letter and number combinations. Pulling up his inventory selected the monster cores and imagined three of them. They appeared in his hand out of thin air, as if materializing suddenly. "That is pretty cool. They are bigger than I expected as well."
Each of the coins was a dull silver color and was about three times the size of a silver dollar, making them quite cumbersome to carry.
"I guess that explains why the coin slot here is so much bigger too," Derek pointed out, looking down at the opening beneath the glass.
Tom reached down, put one coin in the slot, and released it. There was a metallic sliding sound and then the telltale thud at the bottom that showed it went into the coin repository.
"One common core entered." The machine said and a number one appeared on the screen next to the word common, while zeros still remained next to the other rankings to indicate how many cores were put in.
Placing the remaining two cores in the slot, Tom entered D-six on the keypad, the number for the can with the handgun. Falling from the slot it was held in, the can clanged into the bottom of the machine and a new can slid into the place where the one had been dispensed. Reaching into the bottom receptacle, Tom grabbed the can and pulled it out to inspect. It was cool, but not cold to the touch. He held it out to James.
"Are you sure? Those are your monster cores man. I don't want to steal your thunder." James asked.
"Of course you do, you kleptomaniac." Derek jabbed.
James gave him a dark glare as Tom and Derek chuckled at the joke.
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"It's for your class. Use it. We are a team here," Tom said. "I just want us to have the best chance of surviving this so I will buy our first round of gear. You can always pay me back later if you feel you need to."
James accepted the can, almost reverently. He looked up at Tom and smiled.
"Thanks, man. I never really had friends like you growing up. We weren't well off and struggled for anything we got. A lot of people looked at my parents and thought they were lazy or something was wrong with them, so they treated us badly. The truth was they just came from poor families as well so they barely graduated high school before having to go right into the workforce as they had to leave home to make it easier on their families," James explained. "I was the first one in my family to ever go to college and I only got to go because I got a scholarship. I still send money to my parents from time to time. That's why I don't have a bunch of savings."
"Dude, you're like my best friend," Tom said, placing a hand on James' shoulder. "It's OK. We're in this together. Also, I would be remiss in my duties as a friend if I didn't say, stop your whining you little bitch."
All three of them laughed at this.
"You couldn't just let it hang could you," James said. "I really thought we had a moment there. Finally got past all that you're a man, and I'm a man bullshit and found something special. Guess not."
"Oh stop with the sap and just open it already," Derek said.
James took the can and popped the top open. There was the familiar and satisfying "Chhhhttssssssss" sound that comes from opening a pressurized aluminum can and then a "POOF" as a cloud of smoke erupted around Jame's hands. When the smoke cleared he was holding a Glock G17 9mm handgun.
"Holy shit it worked!" James exclaimed, waving the gun around in his hand.
"Hey hey hey! Point that thing down you son of a bitch!" Derek yelled. "Didn't anyone teach you gun safety?"
"Nope," James said smiling evilly.
"Rule number one, never point it at someone unless you are willing to pull the trigger. Number two, James doesn't get any more guns," Derek said reaching to take the gun from him.
"Nuh-uh! This is mine! Tom gave it to me," James said dancing away and pulling the gun to his chest. "Besides, there's plenty of things I'm willing to shoot right now."
Rolling his eyes Derek said, "Fine, but you have to learn how to use it properly. Plus you only have like fifteen shots with that thing. You're going to need more magazines and bullets."
"Don't you mean a clip?" James asked.
"No, I don't. That's why I don't think you are ready for this," Derek replied. "A magazine holds the bullets in your gun. A clip is used to load the bullets into a magazine that then goes into your gun. Just let me see it for a moment. I promise I won't keep it from you, I just want to check it out."
Reluctantly, James handed the gun over to Derek. Looking over the outside of the gun carefully, Derek turned his body so he wasn't facing the others, took out the magazine, and pulled the slide back. He spent about two minutes looking it over and then placed the magazine back in the gun and handed it back to James.
"I thought it was a Glock 19. Apparently, it's a Glock 17," Derek said. "So it has a seventeen plus one capacity which means it can hold seventeen rounds in the magazine and then one in the chamber. We still need to get you some more rounds. Are there any in the machine?"
All three turned back to the machine to look through the available options. It did in fact appear that there were some bullets down at the bottom. Though it didn't say how many came in a can. The picture of the front of the can just seemed to be a generic picture of one bullet standing up and a pile of them lying down behind it.
"I guess we'll just have to buy them to find out. It's only one monster core so here goes nothing." Tom said. He summoned another core from his inventory and put it into the slot in the machine. Selecting G-1 on the keypad the can for the bullets dropped into the bottom of the machine.
James reached in and took the can. Turning his head back and forth in confusion for a moment, he then put the gun in the waistband of his pants and opened the can. Derek facepalmed.
"You're doing this to piss me off aren't you?" Derek asked.
"Oh definitely," James said, opening the can.
This time when the cloud of smoke appeared the sound of metal tinkling as it hit the ground sounded over and over. The smoke cleared and James was holding two handfuls of bullets with quite a few more on the ground. James began to stuff them into his pockets.
"Use your inventory, you moron," Derek said.
"Oh, right," James said, looking sheepish.
He then touched a bullet and all the bullets disappeared into his inventory.
"So, how many did you get?" Tom asked.
"Looks like I got two hundred," James replied, his eyes unfocused and clearly staring at a screen the others couldn't see.
"That's a pretty good number. But it's hard to tell if that's a good price. I assume it is based on the fact that it only costs one common core, which is the lowest rank of the cores." Derek said.
"Let me see the gun for a moment James," Tom said, having an idea.
James handed him the gun and Tom used Inspect on the weapon.
Item:
Handgun
Item Type: Weapon, Ranged
Durability: 50/50
Attack: 8-10 damage
Item Quality: Average
Item Rarity: Common
"It's not great, it's definitely a starter weapon. But I assume once you get a class they will become better and do more damage," Tom said. "Here, use your own Inspect skill on it to see the stats."
James took the weapon back and used Inspect. He frowned slightly looking at the stats.
"Well, it's still a weapon I didn't have before. Besides, I'm sure a headshot will be lethal to most smaller monsters," James added.
"True, and speaking of that, Derek what kind of weapon do you think would do well for you?" Tom asked, looking over to Derek this time.
Derek stepped up to the machine and looked at all the options. After a moment he stepped back and pointed at one of the options.
"A mace. That is the standard starting weapon for most Clerics, and I think I would love to go with a Warhammer at some point, so let's start with that. It looks like the best option in the starter gear for that line." Derek said.
Tom pulled out three more monster cores, put them into the machine, and selected D-1 on the keypad. The can dispensed and Derek reached in to grab it. Popping the top without waiting the typical "poof" sounded with a cloud of smoke that dissipated and Derek was left holding what looked like a basic flanged mace.
The mace had a wooden handle with a leather-wrapped grip, a metal flanged head with eight protrusions, and a spike on the top of the weapon. It definitely looked like it would be painful to get hit by.
"What weapon are you going to choose Tom?" James asked.
"I'm still not entirely sure what I want to be. I'm leaning toward Spellblade since I can use both weapons and spells," Tom said. "It just feels like a big choice to make, considering I can't change it."
"What about paladin?" Derek asked.
"I think if I was going to go the route of tying myself to someone I'd rather go Warlock. The ability to summon creatures sounds pretty cool too. Though Paladin is on my shortlist." Tom replied.
"It sounds like you might be able to get either a sword or battle axe for any of those choices," Derek said.
"Wouldn't a warlock use a staff?" Tom asked.
"No. They could if they went purely magic-based. But most warlocks can also do some up-close combat. It all depends on the pact that is made," Derek replied.
"You sure know a lot about this stuff, Derek," James said.
"I was on the team that did most of the research into classes and races for character development in the last several games we released," Derek replied.
"Well, then I think I'm ready to decide my class!" Tom exclaimed.