Any other remaining bastions of civilization undoubtedly maintain their own records, but communication beyond the Lost Angels area is nearly impossible. Perhaps someday we will discover a mechanism that allows our researchers to establish radio contact, or maintain mana entanglement, through the effect of the mana gradients surrounding the Wastes. Until then, relying on what remains of the historical record here, the details we can give about the Wasted War itself are sparse.
In the early days of the System, pre-System technology still functioned normally. Now often referred to as historical tech – h-tech, or e-tech – due to its reliance on electricity as a source of power; this technology enabled instantaneous global communication. These communication channels were filled with stories of wars across the planet. In the last preserved messages, we find a rising panic about the potential deployment of atomic weapons.
Speculation was rife as to which nation would be first to deploy these so-called city killers. Evidence suggests that wagers were being placed on the outcome, with the ‘favorites’ to escalate being the nations of India and Pakistan, at approximately -250 odds. It is unclear whether any bettors were able to collect on their wagers or even who was correct.
What we can extrapolate from the records and accounts of travelers from distant lands is that, regardless of who ‘went nuclear’ first, everyone else swiftly followed.
- Rufus Veres, Level 37 Verbose Historian, A Brief History of the System
“System, give me my item!”
The Essence I’d accumulated from the monsters I’d killed was pulled out of me, coalescing into a small, softly glowing white ball a bit smaller than my first. Awesome, my first mod! I laughed as I reached out and grabbed it. It was slightly warm and felt almost like glass in my hand as I examined it closely. The glow seemed to pulse in a soothing, random way.
“System, what kind of mod is this?” I asked excitedly.
[YOU MUST USE YOUR IDENTIFICATION SKILL TO DETERMINE THE TYPE OF A MOD!]
I blushed at the reminder. Right, I can only use Inspect on myself and my Class Items, but it’s free so I can use it anytime. Identify works on other people, monsters, and unknown items, but it costs mana. I hope this works better than it did on the stupid scorp!
I concentrated on Identify and channeled mana into the Skill.
Item: Weapon Modification
Level: 1
Effect: Unknown
OK, not very helpful. I need to use this on my shotgun, or maybe my bandolier.
“Will a weapon mod work on my bandolier?”
[IT DEPENDS, CITIZEN! YOUR BANDOLIER IS CONSIDERED PART OF YOUR WEAPON AND WORKS WITH MANY WEAPONS MODIFICATIONS! BE AWARE THAT YOU CAN ONLY USE A TOTAL OF FOUR MODIFICATIONS ON EACH CLASS ITEM AT TIER 0!]
“So I can have four mods on my armor, four on my gun, and four on my bandolier?” I asked hopefully.
[INCORRECT! YOU MAY ONLY HAVE FOUR TOTAL MODS BETWEEN YOUR WEAPON AND YOUR BANDOLIER!]
I sighed. So much for that idea.
I picked up my gun with one hand and touched the mod to it with the other.
[TOUCHING A MOD TO AN ITEM WILL ATTUNE THE MOD AND REVEAL ITS EFFECT TO YOU WHEN YOU INSPECT IT! ONCE A MODIFICATION HAS BEEN ATTUNED, ONLY YOU CAN USE IT! SHALL WE PROCEED?!]
“Yes!”
The mod pulsed and the color changed to a soft blue. I Inspected it, and a System message appeared.
Item: Weapon Modification – Attuned
Level: 1
Effect – Weapon: Infused Barrel – infuse your shots with the effect of a Cantrip or Tier 0 Spell when fired.
Type: Active
Cost: variable / shot
Effect – Ammunition: Infused Munitions – infuse your shotshells with the effect of a Cantrip or Tier 0 Spell when conjured.
Type: Active
Cost: variable / shotshell
It sounded good, though I didn’t know any Tier 0 Spells yet, only Cantrips. I tried touching it to my baselayer, but nothing happened.
Hmm, they’re almost the same. I guess if I use it on the gun, I can change the effect of the shots whenever I want by changing the infusion. But it would cost me mana every time I fire a shot. With the bandolier, I pay the extra mana up front when I conjure the shells. So I could have a bunch of infused ammo ready before a fight. I could even have multiple different kinds ready for different situations. That sounds great, but I’d have to fire or eject all the shells in the magazine before I could change to something else.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Waste it, this is a hard choice! If I wasn’t stuck in this fucking Tutorial, I could ask for advice, but I don’t have that option right now. I have no idea what I’ll be running into from here on, so I need to stay flexible. I can always remove it later, right?
I held the mod firmly against the side of my shotgun. After a moment, the mod softened and flowed like water over my gun, moving on its own towards the barrel and wrapping around it, before seeming to sink into the surface of the metal and disappear. I Inspected the result.
Item: Gunner Class Shotgun
Type: Pump-Action
Capacity: 2/4 + 1/1
Modifications: Infused Barrel
Condition: Dirty
Current Infusion: None
I noticed a small change to my gun. There was a new switch on the grip, similar to the safety but on the left side. I could just reach it with my thumb.
Awesome! My first mod! And wait, what? Dirty? DIRTY! I looked in horror at my beautiful shotgun, frantically brushing off the sand that had gotten on it. I tried Inspect again, still dirty. This is not OK!
“Why does Inspect say my gun is dirty? I just wiped all the sand off!”
[THERE MAY STILL BE DIRT INSIDE THE WEAPON! NOT TO FEAR GUNNER, YOUR CLASS WEAPON’S CONDITION CAN BE RESTORED AT ANY TIME BY CHANNELING YOUR MANA INTO IT!]
“OK baby, let’s get you all cleaned up!” I said in a definitely strong and dangerous voice.
[INPUT NOT RECOGNIZED! PLEASE REPHRASE YOUR QUESTION, GUNNER!]
“Not talking to YOU!”
I decided that the resulting silence meant PAST was sulking as he deserved. I channeled some mana into my shotgun, feeling just a couple of points drain away. I could see the difference immediately as all traces of sand and everything else disappeared from the weapon. Inspect confirmed to me that the status was now ‘Excellent’.
Whew, I feel much better now. Got to make sure I keep my weapon in perfect condition, I don’t want it to jam or anything! So, how does this mod work?
I decided Ignite was the obvious choice to test as I wasn’t really sure any of the others would do much to a monster. I tried casting the Cantrip towards the gun but that just resulted in a shower of sparks falling over it. On my next attempt, I touched the barrel first, and this time I could feel the gun pull on the spellform the moment I’d finished constructing it, before I could put mana in.
Weird, I guess it doesn’t take mana to infuse it, just when I shoot it.
Inspect confirmed that I had successfully infused Ignite, but didn’t give me any information on exactly what that was going to do. I figured I had better test it out now and see if it was worth it before I started spending extra mana in a fight. I aimed at a spot of wall about ten yards away and fired, feeling a slight tug on my mana as the infusion activated.
For the first time I got a good view of the way the pellets scattered from my shotgun. I could see them spark off the wall, striking an area over a foot across. I walked over to the stone wall for a closer look and saw what looked like smears of metal scattered on the wall. Curious, I reached out and touched one, only to pull back my finger with a hiss of pain.
Well, now I have an idea what Ignite does to my shots, and of how fast the pellets spread out… I looked around the sand below my target and found a couple of small, flattened metal pellets. I waited until they were cool enough to touch and picked one up. It’s so small, like maybe a quarter-inch across… but there’s a lot of them in each shell. Out of curiosity I inspected my bandolier again, focusing on the line about the ammo:
Current Ammo: 4BK x 27, 1250 fps
I still wasn’t sure about ‘4BK’ or ‘fps’, but 27 seemed like it could be the number of pellets in each shot. So I’m basically shooting 27 little bullets with each shot, awesome! Now, what does this new switch do?
When I slid the switch forward, it seemed to click momentarily and then sprang back without anything obvious happening. Confused, I Inspected my gun again and noticed that it showed no infusion. I tried the switch again to see if it would bring back the infusion, but nothing happened.
Alright, so if I want to stop infusing my shots, I use this switch, and then I have to re-infuse it again later if I need it again. That’s enough testing for now.
I looked around the room, still not seeing any way out other than where I’d entered. I noticed my last two spent shells lying on the sand near the dead scorp. Keeping my distance from the grisly corpse, I scooped up the two shells and put them in my bandolier. Making my way over to the spot where the scorp had crashed into the wall, I managed to recover one more shell, and I also found the one I’d fired with the infused shot.
The others must have ended up buried in the sand, and I wasn’t going to waste time looking for them. After reloading, I channeled mana into my bandolier, restoring it to full. Unsure what to do next, I started making my way around the room, looking closely at the walls for any hidden doors.
As I reached the part of the room furthest from the entrance, just past where the monster had been hidden in the sand, I heard a grinding sound. A section of the wall seemingly identical to the rest suddenly rippled, the uneven natural shape of the cave’s walls replaced by smooth stone, before it sank into the sand and revealed a doorway. Raising my shotgun to my shoulder, I moved slowly towards the opening.
