Mantle of the Gods

It smelled like oil.

Compared to the clean and tidy exterior in the front, the back looked like a few monsters had died on the handful of workbenches and not vanished into smoke.

“Excuse the mess." He pointed over at what looked like a counter. "You can try out your weapon over there.” Fine turned to the women. "And if you ladies will follow me…” He began looking over the workbenches. "I know it’s around here somewhere…”

I walked over to the counter and saw a target at the end of a long hallway. As soon as I stepped on the mat I could feel that my skills were no longer sealed. I looked down at the magazine and pistol in my hands. I knew that spells could be loaded into mediums like Wands, Staves, or Guns, but I didn’t know how to so it. I turned so that I was looking down the hall and held the magazine out in my hand. “Electric Shot.”

A sizzle fell off of my hand and vanished as it hit the ground. That wasn’t the way to load spells. I should have looked it up before I came in but that was something that I’d have to ask Oz’s uncle about. I shook my head as I thought about the comment he’d make about it.

I put the magazine in the pistol and aimed it down the hall at the target. “Electric Shot.”

Two bolts of electricity zipped down to the target on the other wall. It felt like there was a little more power behind the shots than when I was using just my hands.

I decided to try out the other two shots as well. “Earth Shot. Fire Shot.”

Two marbles and a small bullet of fire shot down to the target and hit right where I had aimed. It was definitely more accurate than I was used to.

“It’s only a level two gun, but I could modify it to level three if you want.”

I turned around and saw Fine standing behind me.

“Why aren’t you using the magazine?” The older man raised his eyebrow as he looked at the gun in my hands.

“I’m not sure how to load it.” I took the magazine out and looked at it. "Could you show me?”

The black-haired man muttered under his breath as he walked over to a cluttered workbench and started digging around. He came back with a piece of paper.

“Learn this.” He handed me the ability.

I looked down at the paper. It simply read LOAD. It wasn’t flashy like the other skill I’d seen, which had videos attached to the cases they were in that displayed how the ability was used and well as a description written somewhere on the crystal.

“You’re just giving this to me?” I held up the page.

“Giving? Ha! Grandma Vanya would skin me even if it is just a few All.” He put his arm around his niece and squeezed her in a side hug. "I’ll add it in with the rest of the stuff you’re buying today.” He held up his hand before I could speak. "Don’t worry, I’ll give Ozlet here the family discount.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Okay…” I tore the page and got the notification that I’d learned the skill. "Now what do I do?”

“Hold the magazine in your hand and use both skills at the same time.”

The confusion I was feeling must have shown on my face, because he expanded on his directions.

“You say Load and whatever spell you want to load into it. Just don’t try using a spell that’s not a shot. It can hold a couple of them, but you probably are only going to get away with it a dozen or so times before it melts down.” He shook his head.

“The weapons will break down?” It was something that I hadn’t considered before.

“How do you think we’d stay in business if weapons and armor lasted forever?” Fine motioned at the workbenches. "Bows are one thing, but the guns…” He pointed at a rifle that had the barrel folded inside out halfway back. There were jagged edges where the material had to tear in order for such a feat to occur. "Guns take a lot of wear channeling spells. Use a spell that’s a higher Tier and you’re likely to melt it in your hand. Have the holder try to shoot a spell that’s a higher Tier and…” He walked over and picked up the rifle. "You’re lucky if this is all that happens.”

“What about regular bullets?” I looked over at Fray. It might be worth it to keep one as a backup in case someone needed extra protection.

“Combustion weapons?” Fine tossed the rifle back on the table. "Outside the dungeon, sure, you can use them against a Mundane, but against a monster or Tier two or higher Adventurer?” He shook his head. "You upset them less and do the same amount of damage if you just spit on them.”

Fine pointed at the magazine in my hand. "This is your normal medium. You spend half the mana the spell costs to load it into the magazine, then you spend the other half when you pull the trigger. It lets you dump your mana faster and throw around twice as much of it in for burst damage, but…” He looked at the other two people with me. "Try to use it without enough mana or try to fire one of these that’s above your level or… Gods forbid… above your Tier…” He looked over at the broken rifle. "You’ll be lucky if that’s the least that happens.”

I thought about the turret that we had on the RV. I knew it’d done damage to Bandits that were higher Tier than we were, so there must have been a different type of enchantment on the weapon. I thought about asking him about it, but saw Oz tap her crystal band. We had time constraints, which meant questions would have to wait.

“Thanks.” I smiled, then looked back at the magazin. "Load Electric Shot.”

A yellow dot at the base of the magazine appeared to let me know that the spell had been loaded. I loaded the magazine into the pistol and pointed it at the target down the range. The gun seemed to pull itself towards the center of the target, where I was looking. I smiled as I pulled the trigger and an arc of electricity zapped out of the pistol and hit the exact center.

“I could get used to this.”