“Where’s our first stop?” Isaac asked, looking at the list of shops Nor had provided.
“How about “Checkmate Pawn”?” Charles suggested. “Pawn shops are great “one-stop shops”, and can stock some really nice gear. Anything we can’t find there we can probably hunt down at any NPC-run store.”
In agreement, the two men began navigating the crowds of people towards the location marked on their in-game map.
“Hey Charles, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Isaac started, stepping a little closer to him nervously. “Is there some kind of cult in this first town or something?”
“What makes you ask?” Charles asked, unobtrusively darting his eyes over the crowd.
“I’m seeing a LOT of figures in hooded black cloaks,” Isaac answered, cringing as one such figure brushed past him. “They all seem to be wearing varied outfits and equipment underneath, so I’m guessing they’re not NPCs.”
“Oh, THAT’S all you were worried about?” Charles laughed painfully loud.
“Shhh Charles, some of them are looking at us!” Isaac elbowed his boisterous friend in the ribs.
“You’ve got the completely wrong idea, man,” Charles replied, still chuckling. “Those are all new players, trying to go for the “mysterious traveler” look. You know, the one that breaks up a bar fight using an epic skill or helps you take down a ruffian in a back alley and later joins your team?”
“Are you serious?” Isaac asked, breaking into a laugh himself.
“Everyone wants to play the “cool lone wolf” role,” Charles continued, “but it's pretty much become the calling card of clueless beginners trying to get recruited into a strong party.”
“Well, I guess that’s what generally happens when people try to “be unique” or “break the mold”,” Isaac mused. “You end up just like everyone else.”
“Well, it works out in our favour,” Charles explained. “At least we know which players to avoid when looking for new allies. If I was to choose someone fit for our team, I’d look for someone not trying to show off or stand out. Someone confident enough in their skills that they’re not looking to impress anyone.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open,” Isaac promised. “Once we do find someone, how do we actually recruit them? Just walk up and ask them?”
“Nah, that’s a rookie move,” Charles shook his head. “Once we meet up with Tenshi, I’ve got a sure-fire plan to recruit a strong player, so look forward to it.”
“I…have my doubts.”
Pausing at an intersection, Isaac checked his map again. “Hey, it looks like Checkmate Pawn is right around this corner! Can we sell all the monster drops we picked up there?”
“For free exchanges, go to any NPC-manned shop,” Charles suggested. “The only way to turn drops into gold is through the game’s own shops, so any other stores charge you a service fee to take it to the NPCs for you.”
“I’m probably going to have to owe you, then,” Isaac sighed, hefting his miserably small bag of gold. “At least until we reach an exchange spot.”
“Don’t worry about it, bro. I’m pretty flush from sidequesting,” Charles boasted, opening the door to the pawn shop. “C’mon, let’s find you a real weapon.”
*******
Inside, the store’s air was palpably heavy, and filled with the mingled aromas of at least a dozen different air fresheners. Isaac wrinkled his nose upon entry as the thick, scented air hit him like a wall. Walking up to the main desk which was dominated by an obtrusively large American flag, he found it already occupied by a thin, wiry kid dressed in the now familiar black cloak, who was engaged in a heated argument with the owner.
Upon noticing their entry, the owner flashed them a pained smile and pressed a buzzer on his desk. “Peter, you take these guy!” he yelled into the back of the room.
Carrying a large box of various dull-colored glasslike stones, a kid about two years younger than Isaac with a crew cut emerged from a staff door. Dropping the box on the ground unceremoniously, the kid sized up the pair with a dissatisfied look.
“Left your cloaks at home, did you?” He smirked.
“I wore mine out actually completing quests,” Charles quipped, undaunted.
Emitting a short hybrid between a scoff and a chuckle, the kid walked up to the pair. “Peter Adams, assistant owner of Checkmate Pawn at your service. What can I get you two today?”
“I’m mainly just here to browse your Periapts,” Charles shrugged, pointing over to Isaac. “He’s the one that’s looking for a new loadout.”
“Here to buy yourself some skills, hmm?” Peter smirked. “Well, you came to the right place anyhow. No matter where you’re headed, we got just the right stuff to reduce your chances of dying miserably.”
Ignoring the teen’s jabs, Isaac explained what he was looking for.
“A weapon suitable for a Minioneer?” The kid’s eyebrows raised. “You don’t say. I’m a Minioneer too.”
Snapping his fingers twice, a pair of knee-high green toy soldiers appeared, flying oversized star-spangled banners from their backpacks.
“What’s with all the stars and stripes, anyways?” Isaac asked wryly. “We are still in Canada, right?”
“Wyndvale’s widely seen as an easy town to begin at, with fairly low-level dungeons and quests in the neighbouring area, along with a safe route to Delphont, one of the largest port towns in this part of BRYZ,” Peter explained. “My old man knew it’d be a good spot to set up shop, so we moved here from an American starter town called Hilgroth. Still, even in a foreign land, we will never forget our patriotism!” Striking his breast, Peter saluted the large flag above the front desk with the other hand, his toy soldiers following suit.
“From one American to another, when in Canada, do as the Canadians do.” Charles laughed.
“It’s all good, Canada’s gonna become part of the ‘States eventually,” Peter grinned surely. “Don’t think we couldn’t Manifest Destiny the hell outta them any time we wanted.”
“Hmmm, remind me again, who burned the Whitehouse down in 1812?” Isaac mused sarcastically, rising to the challenge.
“You’re just lucky we didn’t go through with War Plan Red, or Atlantic Canada would be Atlantic America,” he shot back.
Charles flashed a pained smile, quickly moving to cut the two off. “Back on subject, if you’re a Minioneer as well, you probably have a good idea of what Isaac should equip, right?”
The kid shrugged his shoulders, relaxing. “Really, no class has weapon limits, and the Minioneer least of all. You can learn melee skills, magic skills, gun skills, whatever you feel like. Whatever skills you can’t use yourself with your current equipment, you can just summon a minion to use instead, so you can change your weapon before every mission and still perform roughly the same.”
Opening his menu, Peter equipped a star-spangled AR-15. “I mainly use this for defending myself,” he explained. “As a Minioneer, you generally don’t want to get into the thick of combat. Your minions are there to soak up hits for you, so I would recommend staying back and supporting them from a distance.”
Scanning a gun case, Isaac’s eyes rested on a collection of pistols and revolvers. “Got anything good as far as sidearms go?” he asked.
Peter scratched his head in thought before rushing over to a safe behind the main counter. Typing in a passcode, he swiveled the circular lock and began to rummage through a pile of weapons inside. Finally setting his hands on the one he was looking for, he returned to the pair.
“Whatcha think of this one?” he grinned, tossing an oddly snubbed revolver to Isaac. “That’s one of our few weapons that’s player-created, not a random drop.”
Hefting it in his hands, Isaac examined the curious armament. Unlike a regular revolver, the cylinder was directly above the grip, which was also far closer in shape to that of a pistol’s, being a slightly angled rectangle as opposed to a beveled curve. In place of where the cylinder would normally be was all barrel, meaning that the barrel didn’t extend far out of the front of the gun, and with the firing mechanism pushed back, the entire weapons had a distinctly squared look.
Opening the revolver to examine the cylinder, Isaac was surprised to see no slots for bullets inside. Instead, the cylinder was closer to a large-toothed gear. Further, the grip of the gun was hollow, as if to receive a magazine.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand how it works,” Isaac admitted.
“I can’t really blame you for that.” Peter shrugged. “It’s not a gun that could exist in real life.”
Taking it back from him, Peter flipped the safety off. Immediately, a chain of bullets rolled out from inside the handle cavity, dangling down from the weapon. Opening the top of the revolver, Peter inserted the first bullet of the clip between two of the cylinder gear’s teeth, closing it again.
Pointing at a target on the far side of the wall, Peter cocked the long hammer with his thumb and pulled the trigger, snapping off a .45 bullet into the center of the target. As Peter cocked the hammer for a second shot, the cylinder rotated, chambering a second bullet. In response, another bullet popped out of the bottom of the handle on the end of the chain. Loosing another pair of shots, Isaac noticed that the empty chain on the opposite side of the gun fed into a small out-jutting cavity on the right side, into which the chain mysteriously disappeared.
“Where are the bullets coming from?” Isaac asked, noting the seemingly endless chain.
Walking back to the safe, Peter pulled out a small metal box with a belt attachment. Flicking the latch, he showed Isaac the contents.
Inside the box was a length of the same type of bullet chain that fed into the gun, vanishing into a murky pool of shadow at either end of the case. As Peter fired another shot at the target, Isaac noticed the chain in the box shifted in synch to the chain on the pistol. As the empty slot on the chain popped out of the pooled shadow, a replacement bullet fizzled out of thin air, reloading it.
“Magic?” Isaac questioned
“Skilled craftsmanship,” Peter shook his head, closing the lid and pointing to the three gemstones imbedded on the lid of the case, two ebony and one sullen gray. “The two black gems are low-level Wormhole Periapts, responsible for linking the portals in the box to the belt-feeding system in the gun. The grey one’s a Skill Periapt with the Gun Skill “UNREALOADING” tied to it.”
“But UNREALOADING should only reload when the weapon’s not in use,” Isaac objected
“You know your stuff,” Peter acknowledged. “However, seeing as the box itself is separate from the gun, the game views it as “not in use” even while the gun is being fired, and thereby continues to reload the belt, allowing for infinite shots.”
As if to accentuate the fact, the teen launched a string of bullets at the target, each bullet hole vanishing a couple seconds after impact.
Seeing his confusion, Peter explained. “Since towns are seen as “non-combat zones”, weapons can only be used in areas designated as “training zones”, such as this shop. Part of the rules that go along with “training zones” is that weapons can’t actually damage anything.”
“Makes sense,” Isaac nodded, surveying the gun. “Anyway, I think I’ll take this one. Anything I should know before I buy it?”
“There are a couple disadvantages to this kind of weapon,” he admitted. “Firstly, it’s a sidearm, so you’re looking at small caliber only, with .45 being the best you’ll get. Secondly, you have to dismiss the ammo chain with the safety button to holster it, meaning you can’t just draw and shoot” He warned. “You gotta load the belt before you even start firing. Also, it’s single-action only, so you have to hand-cock the hammer before each shot.”
“However” — he pointed the barrel at the target on the far wall — “that DOES mean you get to do this!” Holding his left palm over the long hammer of the revolver, he began to use it to flip the hammer back repeatedly, fanning the pistol and sending a hail of bullets raining on the target and the wall it hung on.
Finishing his demonstration, he shrugged and chucked it over to Isaac.
“In the end, a weapon is only as strong as its wielder,” he smirked. “It’s a good choice to start off with, but if you think a new gun is all it takes to survive out there, you’ve got another think coming. I’d be sure to brush up your shooting skills at the local range before you set foot outside these walls.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Isaac grinned, hefting his new weapon.
*******
After Charles had paid for their new equipment, the pair decided to head to the meeting spot early and review their information about BRYZ.
“So, according to Summer_BRYZ’s handbook Summary_BRYZ, we’re currently in the Eryx region of Etrurium, along with all the rest of Atlantic Canada.” Charles pointed to the map in the huge tome of discovered BRYZ lore.
As he was speaking, a portion of the map filled in, revealing a small island near the base of the map. “Looks like she made an update.” Charles grinned. “Since this book is still just BRYZ data, it updates automatically every time she catalogues something new. Summary_BRYZ has pretty much become an essential item for every adventurer.”
“You don’t find it slightly eerie just how fast people are becoming accustomed to all this?” Isaac asked, sitting back in his café chair and looking around at the flow of people.
“Even if you say that, to the average person, nothing’s changed.” Charles shrugged. “There hasn’t been a single recorded case of a city being attacked, so anybody that doesn’t want to fight can just stay inside their city’s walls and use its facilities like usual.”
“…Which is something we’re going to take advantage of.” Isaac grinned, snatching the tome from Charles. “C’mon, let’s browse the world data until Tenshi gets here.”
“You made whole thing, why would you want to look at the data anyways?” Charles asked.
“It’s because I made it that I want to see just how much they’ve discovered, and how BRYZ adapted to contain both my world and the original BRYZ world at once! There, look at that!” He pointed to a section on the map excitedly. “The Vysklands contain the coldest parts of almost every continent, including Canada, Europe, Asia, and even the southernmost points of South Africa! That means people who lived only cities apart in the real world could be in completely different regions in BRYZ! Also, look at this entry, they’ve misclassified the male and female versions of this monster as two separate species! Not only that…”
Charles could only shrug to himself as he gradually got dragged into the pace of Isaac’s excited browsing.
ns18.191.103.248da2
