Apocalypse: Generic System by Macronomicon (shoe dog free ebook TXT) 📕

Jeb split the large lens in half, then carefully crafted two sets of identical lenses, using the furnace to forge the steel of their wands around them.

For Ron’s he made it the same as before, albeit making the minimum focal point twenty-ish feet.

For the other wand, he was interested in pushing his creativity and skill to the limit, so after he was done with Ron’s wand, he made another one as the base.

He studied the two metal rods in his hand.

Crude training Wand of Fireball (Geysering) (Uncommon)

This training wand has an external mechanical range determiner, so that an amateur Myst user can practice controlling their range without accidentally harming themselves. The workmanship is rough, and someone has replaced the Cool Flame lens with a Geysering Flame Lens, making this training wand far more deadly than it should be.

Interesting. The description implied that wands like these already existed, and not only that, they suggested there was a way for a person to control the range of an effect even without the mechanism they’d invented.

That’s something I should look into.

Jeb took the myst capacitor and the myst engine from the scarab trap and started looking for ways to combine them with the wand. The capacitor was blocky, while the engine was small and round.

Hmm. He laid the wand on the ground and arranged the pieces. Wand, then the boxlike capacitor, then the engine hanging straight down.

Jeb drew an outline around them.

That looks like a gun to me.

Jeb flipped the capacitor so the trigger mechanism was facing –

Pop!

A giant worm appeared in front of Jeb’s face, writhing with disapproval.

“Gah,” Jeb swatted the worm out from on top of his work and scanned the surroundings.

He could make out some faint stifled laughter, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint where it was coming from.

“Everybody gets one!” Jeb said loud enough for them to hear him. “If it happens again, I’m confiscating it.”

No more worms.

Jeb got back to work. He melted some more steel and built a housing for the capacitor and the engine, then took his several feet of fiber-optics, cut them to size and used them to connect the engine in the handle to the capacitor, then spent the next half-hour figuring out how to make a decent trigger mechanism.

Once it was done, he closed the other side of the handle around it, and used the furnace to tack weld it together.

All told, it looked a lot like one of those old nazi pistols, a luger, or mauser, or whatever they were called.

It had a narrow tube at the front, with a blocky back end, and a rotund handle.

It didn’t look like one of those slick high-tech modern models, that was for sure.

Jeb inspected it.

Crude Guerilla Wand of Fireball (Geysering)(Uncommon)

Favored by rebellious peasants, these cobbled together wands carry their own stolen power source, and therefore do not require a proper Myst user to operate, making them ideal for insurgent forces acting against their rightful rulers. Carrying one of these wands is considered an act of treason in most countries and punishable by death.

This particular one has been enhanced with a Geysering Flame lens, making it particularly potent.

“Hmm…”

Jeb wasn’t immediately concerned with the whole ‘treason’ thing, although it did worry him a little. He was more interested in the scrap of information he’d been provided.

It seemed like Myst users were royalty? Or royalty had to be Myst users by default? Or Myst users were controlled by the government? There was no telling for sure, but it meant that Jeb was likely going to have an unwelcome amount of attention on himself, should they escape.

“Ah got it!” Casey said, her voice brightening for a moment, accent slipping through. Jeb glanced over at her. The raven-haired girl’s enthusiasm was short lived, withdrawing faster than he could witness it.

She gave him a flat stare.

“I got my Myst core working.” she said in monotone.

“One sec,” Jeb said, turning on the safety and turning to address her. “What’s your Myst core do?”

“Well, I was sitting there, getting bored with my eyes closed,” she said, rolling her eyes at him. “When I thought about the stories my mam– mom told me, about archangel Michael and how he’d vanquish evil with a flaming sword, and he was always watching over us.”

Oh, crap.

“And then it just clicked, I guess.” Casey said with a sigh. She closed her eyes and concentrated really hard. “Hopefully it’s not a pile of shit.”

A pillar of light descended from above, nearly blinding Jeb as something descended from above. He couldn’t look directly at it, the light was so brilliant.

A moment later the light was gone, and Jeb was finally able to open his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a cheerful looking man in a white toga, bearing a flaming sword, about the size of a toothpick.

“Salutations!” The little winged man said, flapping down to stand on Casey’s shoulder. The goth girl froze, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the angel on her shoulder.

“My name is Michael, but you can call me Mike,” Mike said, stretching out his hand.

Bemused, Jeb shook it gingerly as Casey buried her face in her hands.

“Blessed day, strangers! I’m Casey’s Guardian angel!” he said, holding his sword up like the highlander. “Sworn to guide and protect. Her destiny made manifest so that this wayward lamb might find her way back to The Light.”

“Oh my god,” Casey said into her palm, her entire face turning beet red.

“Now you’re getting it!” Mike said with a grin.

Chapter 17: Gear Up

“Ooh, magic gun!” Ron said, hovering around Jeb’s construction. He didn’t seem to begrudge him the half a Myst lens he’d used to make it, instead simply being over excited for the creation.

“I want to reiterate,” Jeb said, holding