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

it away from the necromancer’s grasping hands, “That this is not a ‘magic gun’. There is no projectile. Exactly like your wand, it makes an explosion at a set range.”

Ron deflated a little. “Yeah, but yours looks cooler.”

Jeb fixed Ron with the withering stare he’d learned from his instructors in the army.

Ron withered.

“The key difference is that anyone can use this,” Jeb said, glancing at Casey. “What’s your level?”

The goth teen pointed at herself with a questioning look.

“Yeah, you, silly.” Mike said.

“Why should I tell you?” Casey asked, crossing her arms and scowling at Jeb.

Ah there it is. Teens had a tendency to confuse belligerence with toughness.

“She doesn’t have a level yet!” Mike said, the angel on her shoulder breaking the stalemate. “We’d be just tickled if you had an interest in helping my child.”

“Please stop calling me a child.” Casey said, jaw clenched.

“Alright, a couple quick tests, then we’ll see if we can…what was the word? Cheese Casey with this. You guys are probably going to want to stand back in case it explodes.”

Ron had raised his hand with a grin until he was reminded of the very real danger of self-immolation.

Jeb rested the pistol-shaped wand on a rock, set its range to max, then joined the rest of them hiding behind a nearby rock.

He reached a thread of Myst out and used it to pull the trigger.

BOOM!

In the distance, a huge explosion roughly three times the size of Ron’s original drop of Myst shone bright for a fraction of a second before pummeling their eardrums with its force.

The thousands of flying monsters circling the mountain grew agitated, but they didn’t approach.

I wonder what’s stopping them? Jeb thought, looking up at them.

Jeb jumped over the boulder and checked the state of the wand. No hot spots, no sign of any of the welds coming loose…

In light of the size of that explosion, I’m going to put another safety feature on this thing.

He quickly welded a metal stopper into place right at the eighty-foot range. Any closer than that, and the wand might cause some serious damage to the person firing it.

He checked the three hundred foot range, then eyed the sky,

That one looks flammable.

Jeb reached a single thick strand of Myst out into the sky and snagged a bird-like creature with three heads. It squawked and flapped furiously trying to escape his grasp, but he reeled it in with all the merciless force of an electric winch.

One it was three hundred feet away – give or take – he closed one eye, aimed the wand at the distant target and squeezed the trigger.

BOOM!

The explosion was off by a dozen feet or so to the right, which wasn’t bad, all things considered. The monster was still inside the explosion.

As the bird tumbled to the ground in a streak of flame, Jeb patted all sides of the wand, checking for hot spots before carefully unscrewing the handle and capacitor casing, making sure nothing had shifted or been in any way damaged.

It paid to triple check your weapon, especially in the case of a homemade one like this.

Once Jeb was satisfied the wand wasn’t going to blow up in anyone’s hand, he closed up the handle and motioned for Casey to approach.

The girl hesitantly approached and received the wand from him like it was a live snake. Mike looked on curiously from her shoulder.

He briefly ran her through gun safety tips  - in this case wand safety -  and she followed along as best she could, her eyes wide with fear.

“Okay, relax your grip a bit, it’s making you shake. You don’t have to be tense, this thing doesn’t have any recoil.” Jeb said, correcting her stance. “Line it up with your dominant eye, don’t put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to fire.”

“I know that.” She snapped in typical teen fashion.

Jeb kept going.

“Use the pad of your finger, not the crook,” Jeb said, pointing at his own finger to illustrate. “A lot of people have a tendency to let the trigger rest in that crook behind the knuckle, but that pulls the barrel off-target and makes your shots go wide.”

“God, I’m not dumb,” She said, shifting her grip to match his instructions while Mike put his fingers in his ears and whispered singsong about taking the lord’s name in vain.

“Now, depending on how dumb this System is, you should get experience just for pulling the trigger. Let’s get started.”

“Now!?” Casey asked, her eyes wide.

“You got a better time?” Jeb asked, raising a brow.

“You can do it Casey!” Mike cheered. “Draw your fiery blade and topple these ferocious beasts!”

Jeb reached out with his Myst and snagged another flier out of the air.

“Here he comes.” He said, pointing. “Wait until he’s about-“

BOOM!

Jeb winced at the early shot and waited until the echoes died down. “Wait until he’s at the same range that the other one was. This thing isn’t a gun. The explosion is always gonna be in the same spot.”

“O-okay,” Casey said, peering at the approaching critter. When she determined it was in the right spot, she pulled the trigger again.

BOOM!

I should make some earplugs or something, Jeb thought. Maybe our Body will prevent tinnitus.

The monster fell out of the sky, a smoking wreck.

“I got two levels!” Casey said, eyes wide.

“Good! Let’s try that a few more times, get you to level ten before we get you a weapon.”

“What?” Casey said, paling.

“You didn’t think you’d get to keep the training wheels on forever, did you?” Jeb asked.

“But I just got them!” Casey protested, clutching the wand to her chest, no longer afraid of it.

“We need to make sure you’re tough enough to run away