The Rifleman - Ch.43 (Patreon)

Chapter Forty-Three

Gearing.

Wesley looked down at his uniform and over at the two upgrade orbs. It was tempting, but his M1 needed more than just a single weapon mod. It had only been upgraded once, only once, since he arrived here, and it was only his new skill that kept it relevant at all. In a couple more tiers, he would be a rifleman without a rifle. 

Of course, he could upgrade it later, especially now that they could actually make the cubes, but that assumed he didn’t run into anything too powerful between now and whenever he could make the next cube.

“Hey, Malia?” Wesley called. “Should I add the mod before or after the upgrade to my rifle?”

“After!” She called back. “Otherwise, the mod will be for a less powerful version of the weapon!”

“Thanks!” Wesley nodded and made sure to attach his new bayonet to the rifle before he even touched the cube. It was a mistake he had made before, and he was in no hurry to repeat it.

M1 Garand (Tier 3)

Rifle

Mods: 1

Mod: Mecha-Bayonet (Tier7)

Applying Upgrade Cube (Crafted)

Disparity detected….

Choose one:

Add an additional tier to rifle and skip mod upgrade.

Upgrade both rifle and mod.

Wesley reached out and tapped his finger on the chalky writing for the first option. Having a Tier 5 rifle was better than a Tier 4 one with a Tier 8 bayonet.

Proceeding…

Bonus effect triggered +1 Tier.

Second bonus effect - failed.

M1 Garand (Tier 6)

Rifle

Mods:1

Mod: Mecha-Bayonet (Tier 7)

Wesley whooped with joy as the change flowed over the rifle, causing it to become even more ornate, and then, once it was done, he picked up the weapon mod and placed it next to the new rifle.

Weapon Modification Module detected!

Choose one:

Burning ammo - Ammo catches fire as it leaves the barrel.

Whisper Mod - Reduce weapon noise by 50% (Passive) or engage to reduce weapon noise by 100% (Active)

Hammer Mod - Increase impact force by 25%

Wesley ignored the first option immediately. His Improved Flare shots did that already, even if they didn’t actually trail fire. 

The whisper mod sounded just about perfect, but he had to admit the idea of more force behind each bullet was attractive. It would certainly help with his relative weakness against solid targets, like the Golem or stone elementals. 

On his own, Wesley would have chosen the Hammer mod, but he had seen the pained looks that Malia tried to hide whenever he fired the rifle in an enclosed space. Sure, he could heal away the damage to their ears, but it was hardly the point. 

M1 Garand (Tier 6)

Rifle

Mods:2

Mod: Whisper Mod

Mod: Mecha-Bayonet (Tier 7) 

The rifle's barrel shifted, elongating as a complex silencer grew from the end, with gas ports on the back. He stroked his hands over the completed rifle and picked it up, checking its weight and balance. 

Once again, he felt that sense of holding a real rifle rather than a toy, just like he had when it first upgraded. The sense of coiled power in it was palpable, and he couldn’t wait to try it out. 

Hopefully, not on something living.

Moving on, Wesley had a choice to make. First, he could upgrade the basic armor that he had acquired in the dungeon. It was a basic leather set, with some parts lost along the way, or he could try to upgrade his authentic World War Two outfit, which was made entirely of cloth. 

The intelligent thing to do was to upgrade the leather gear. It was already Tier 3, and it was thicker. 

Deciding to just go for broke, Wesley shimmied out of both and laid them out, leather pieces inside the cloth, and got out his remaining upgrade orb.

Unrecognized armor configuration….

Are any additional components available for use?

“Well, that’s weird,” Wesley frowned. Not sure what to add, he put both the reinforcements and the last leather scraps and two steel bars, just trying to see what would work.

Analyzing…

Name set: Rifleman’s Gear?

“Sure, why not?” Wesley shrugged, beginning to think he might be on to a winner.

Additional information needed…

“Oh, shit!” Wesley gasped as pain invaded his mind. It was just like when he had been assigned the rifleman class, just slightly more focused. He saw army uniforms blurring past his eyes, then police and sports uniforms. You name it; he saw it all blur past until his head felt like it would burst.

Just when he thought his head really would burst from the pressure, it disappeared, leaving him leaning on the table, gasping. 

Design complete

Set: Rifleman’s Gear incomplete.

Please place the item: Backpack on the desk.

Wesley did as it asked and watched a line of light pass from boots to helmet before there was a pop, a flash, and his uniform was replaced with a complete, new set of gear.

Wesley reached out and examined it. The tunic was much more sharply cut than before, looking like something out of a movie. It fastened thanks to a set of buttons on one side, like the old uniforms the military used. In fact, the whole jacket design was a mix of the old and new, but still in the same old tan. His fingers felt some kind of steel weave hidden beneath the layers of fabric and leather, with the trousers looking tailored and somehow sharp. The shapeless slacks he had before were replaced with something that looked like it belonged on a catwalk, albeit one that only showed tan clothes.

The boots were now armored and came up much higher than before, ending just below the knee. A matching pair of armguards and even a set of leather gloves, complete with hidden steel plates, were also present. 

The biggest changes were to his backpack and helmet. The old tin helmet was gone, replaced with formed steel that was covered in leather and cloth. He vaguely recognized it as being from some movie but had no idea which one. 

The backpack itself was now a streamlined-looking modern creation, which he noticed had incorporated his storage box into the design on one side. 

The opposite side of the pack contained his medical kit.

Finally satisfied, Wesley stood back and examined the whole thing, trying hard not to get too excited by the tan utility belt that looked like something a certain vigilante millionaire would wear. 

Rifleman’s Gear (Class Set)

Medium Armor

Tier 5

Increased resistance to stabbing and slashing attacks

Mod: Storage Box (3ft)

Tier 5 didn’t seem too great at first until you considered that he had only had some basic leathers since the gorger skin vest outlived its usefulness. Once you took that into consideration, the upgrade was incredible. 

“Hey, I think I’m done,” Malia said, coming over from where she had been upgrading her own gear. “How are you—Why are you naked?” She yelped and turned away.

“Sorry, I was just getting my gear upgraded!” Wesley yelped and started to drag on his gear as quickly as he could. 

“You better have!” Malia said with a definite tone of anger. “We do not have that kind of relationship!”

“I know,” Wesley protested, frantically pulling on his gear. “I didn’t expect you to come over here yet!”

“I can see that,” Malia began to laugh. “Remind me to find you some underwear. And a shirt.”

“Hey, I’m doing pretty good, thank you very much!” Wesley straightened and smoothed his new gear. The inside was soft and comfortable, snug without feeling too tight anywhere. “What do you think?”

“Well, you look a lot smarter than you did,” Malia said, giving him the once-over. “But we need to get it upgraded again soon. I want you to have armor of your tier, at least.”

“Agreed,” Wesley said with feeling. “Do you think it will do?”

“Sure,” Malia grinned. “Now, let's start planning our little gathering trip.”

“Food first,” Wesley insisted. “Then we can talk while we eat.”

////////////////////

“So,” Wesley said with a smile. “Where are you thinking we go?”

“First, we need an Outpost,” Malia said confidently. “Somewhere to trade in our contract on the Golem for something interesting. If we don’t check in somewhere, the Errant Rangers will come looking sooner or later.”

“Know anywhere close?” Wesley asked.

“Not really,” Maila admitted. “But if we head for the next zone, there should be one near the border.”

“They won’t ask why we didn’t didn’t head for the nearest city?” Wesley asked.

“As far as they know, we are,” Malia smiled. “That’s the story anyway.”

“Fine,” Wesley nodded. “Another Forgemaster zone?” 

“I have no idea,” Malia said. “But I doubt it. They keep these zones individual, so no one player has a power advantage. It’s how they share without constantly backstabbing each other. On the way there, we kill as many mechanicals as we can find. Get the gears, oil, and wheels numbers up before we cross and head for the nearest outpost. From there, we collect whatever is common to the area, do a couple of contracts to not look suspicious, then move on to the next.”

“Upgrade when we can, I get it. But what then?” Wesley asked.

“You have anyone you trust?” Malia asked.

“A couple of people come to mind,” Wesley admitted. “One in a place called Majora and a couple in the city I defended.”

“Great,” Malia nodded. “I have a couple of people I would bet my life on as well. They are who we give the information to.”

“Makes sense,” Wesley nodded. “Distribute it as wide as possible, all while staying under the radar.”

“Once the word is out, NPCs will start gearing in a hurry,” Malia added. “We will just vanish into the crowd, head back to the Guild, rank up, and then take things from there.”

“So, when do we leave?” Wesley asked. 

“Now works for me,” Malia stood. “Let’s get moving.”

True to her word, Malia led him out of the Domain straight away. One of the great advantages of the skill was that home was always just exactly wherever you needed it to be. It made packing a rather simple affair. All he had to do was release his My Domain skill, and everything they left in there vanished right along with the rest of it, waiting in whatever limbo the game used until re-summoned. 

His improved M1 rifle slid smoothly into a custom-made slot on the backpack, and Wes constantly felt its absence, having become used to the weight on one shoulder. 

Malia herself kept fidgeting in her armor, which looked smoother and more polished but otherwise unchanged. He didn’t want to pry, so he didn’t ask about her own upgrades. Given the amount of weapons she had, he could only imagine that the modules she had taken hadn’t gone anywhere near as far as they had for him. Still, she seemed pleased, and Wesley caught her almost humming to herself occasionally as they headed in a zig-zagging route toward the border with the next zone, keeping an eye out for anything that might offer repair materials when killed. With only six remaining gears, eight vials of oil, and one iron bar remaining in each of those types, anything would do.

They were lucky that this game world never let you go too long without at least a token attempt to kill you. That held true for Malia and Wesley, so a little over half an hour from when they set out, the ground rumbled and split, pouring out a wave of mechanical ants to swarm them. 

The ants were tier 4 or five, but they had numbers on their side, at least at first. Malia got a chance to see what her new sword could do, scything several apart at once with its lengthened form. While Malia delightedly tested out her new sword, Wesley got a chance to try out his new bayonet.

The extra length it offered was a game changer, making all the motions of his stolen short-spear style much smoother and more effective now that he had the option of extending the blade by several inches. 

They made short work of the wave, and Wesley and Malia were rewarded with a few handfuls of gears, wheels, and even a few oil vials. They didn’t get much in the way of iron bars, but it was certainly a start.

Over the next few hours, they finished their trek across the volcanic ground and arrived at the zone border, having managed to encounter only a handful of mechanical beasts.

Nonetheless, they decided they had enough gears, wheels, and oil for now. While those materials were not as common as cloth or leather scraps, they were not something that would be too difficult to find in the future. As such, they made the decision to leave the zone and cross into the next area, which naturally came with a new biome as well.

Malia hesitated at the boundary, and Wes came and stood next to her. 

“Not a fan of forests?” Wesley asked, looking through the shimmering barrier at the darkness beneath the thick cover of densely packed trees.

“Not my favorite place,” Malia replied tensely. “Too easy to get lost.”

“Well, I do have this,” Wesley told her, showing her the Guide Stone. “So we can always get out, at least.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Malia said, hands bunching nervously.

“Okay, so we head south and choose another place.” Wesley shrugged. “Maybe we can find something to try out my new rifle on along the way.”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Malia asked. “I know it’s stupid….”

“I know you could manage it if we needed to go that way,” Wesley assured Malia, “But we don’t need to, so why intentionally go somewhere you don’t want to go?”

“Fears exist to be overcome,” Malia argued half-heartedly.

“No, they don’t,” Wesley said seriously. “Fears exist to warn us of danger. In a world like this one?” He shrugged. 

“Thanks,” Malia sighed.

So they turned south and followed the barrier's line until they saw the forest give way, at which point a new option presented itself. 

“Damnit!” Malia swore. “We better head back to the forest.”

“Why?” Wesley asked, smiling brightly.

“I can’t ask you to go in there,” Malia winced as she looked through the barrier. “No one likes that kind of zone.”

Wesley had to strongly disagree. Of all the options they could have gotten, Wes would have chosen this as one of his top three, at the very least.

The swamps and marshes packed with giant frogs, snakes, and copious amounts of undead may have been something that worried most people, but to him? Hell, it was like coming home.

“Naah, this is my kind of place,” Wesley laughed and stepped through the barrier.