Slayin’ With a Strap

There I stood, within an open field that had been flattened either with magic or by the sheer foot activity it saw. Across from what looked to be a rather, finely dressed-up guy with a pair of bunny ears atop his head.

His arms were raised and he praised around where he stood, calling out across the field

''You should just give up! Have you not heard of the ta...."

We're just going to tune that out, for now, let's focus on the other guy.

Currently, he was operating some sort of piece of equipment, or well had just finished as he pulled back what looked to be two small levers on the side and brought it to a resting position against his shoulder.

This male was handsome, a bit of a large frame, standing about six feet, six inches he had broad shoulders, a large frame, with a fair bit of bulk to his form. Dark short hair that was pushed back with a few strands loose, he wore what looked to be a pair of dark brown pants. With a rather simple-looking t-shirt that showed it being a medieval piece of wear due to the strings just below the collarbone that held the top of the shirt closed, more tightly to his frame.

(That is 200 centimeters, and or 1.9 Meter's for our friends across the lake.)

Leather segments of armor up his legs, around his abdomen, torso, and arms, fitting together quite nicely to form a pretty basic starter gear. Other than the strange contraption he held nothing else stood out about him, handsome for sure but the look of boredom on his face made it hard to see him in a serious light for most.

Others, however, more experienced adventurers liked the odd's of this one, that bored look meant one of two things, the first, was that the person did not care for the ramblings of the other Bunny-type fellow, and would rather their fight say all that's needed.

The other option was, this man simply didn't care, even if the man did rant, he would be put to a swift end, and for many reasons, neither of the two options were necessarily bad for all those present.

The man looked up as he saw the bunny folk begin to unsheath his rapier, something about the noble man's weapon or other.

Standing firmly the bunny began to look to him before he charged forth with vigor! His sword within his hand and the cast of magic on his tongue, how could this commoner da--

*Click*

*THOOM*

(A/N: Sound effects? Yes.)

As loud as thunder those with more sensitive ears suddenly raised their hands, exclaiming out as they covered their ears

What a frightening sound!

Other more experienced ones did flinch at the sound but didn't move to cover their ears, some in fact looked far more interested.

There was a large amount of smoke, a beautiful blond unsheathed her sword and with a wave of her hand, the sword sent a small wave of air out, lifting the smoke quickly.

It hadn't even been 10 seconds since the event had happened, but there was a clear victor.

The man with a strange contraption looked to be going through the ritual all over again, seemingly finished seconds later, as just as he pushed the lever, the contraption vanished!

Across from him about 50 meters, was what was left of the poor bunny-kin.

Head popped like a grape as there was an entry wound of what looked to be a small round hole, but the exit wound was like a blast, leaving most of the back of the skull open, pieces laid across the field.

A dwarf that seemed standing with the other elites of the Familia spoke. ''Winner! Right Side!" He waved his hand to the standing man who was cracking his fingers, his eyes slightly vacant as if he was looking at something no one else could quite see

A short redhead had stars in her eye and a mischievous smirk across her face, had she just found another one who was abnormal like the others in her motley crew?

Afterward, things proceeded as usual, the rest of the fights happened as usual with a lot less flair than the one between the bunny and the large male.

He was now standing with his arms crossed across his broad chest who looked focused.

Before him was a holographic screen

[Mission Complete!]

-Beat your Opponent!

-Optional: Impress the Loki Familia!

Rewards

-Melee Variant

-Five GP

[Melee Variant]

The skill that enables the user to switch his weapons to a 'Melee' Variant. Depending on the weapon, depends on the affected stats!

The man flicked his eyes gently and the screen was sent away, vanishing before another screen appeared, it was the musket from before now in a screen.

{Musket (Loaded)}

Not the first, not the best, but it gets the job done.

Available Upgrades

5 GP-Automatic Reloading

[Automatic Reloading]

The musket will reload automatically in, or out of inventory. Time is compared to the fastest reload speed! (Current speed is 14.2 seconds.)

Upgrade [Automatic Reloading] purchased!

{Musket} has changed to {Musket+}

The man smiled as he watched the screen, dismissing all screens as it seemed that everyone began to move into the field, all the bodies that had gathered were being burned magically.

No one else had seemed to perceive the screen. Walking with the rest of the crowd he listened to the dwarf as he began to call out names, those called out left the field, a few tried to argue but it was silenced quickly.

Soon there were only four people standing in the field, the man with the musket and screen, and three others.

The dwarf called out. ''The three of you! Head with this guy here, his name is Lox! He'll give you a tour of the compound and set you up in your room, you!" He thrust a finger toward the large man. ''You're with me."

Without questioning anything he began to move, following the Dwarf as the others scattered, as they walked through the mansion, the decorations getting fancier as they went deeper, soon they were before two large ornate doors.

The dwarf stepped forward and with a heavy knock was called in by a cheerful voice.

Opening the door a redhead bullet rushed forward only to be caught by the back of her shirt which caused a comedic scene as she suddenly jerked back

''URGH!"

''Loki! Do not bother the new member before you even know his name?"

''Yes Mom!"

The elf scowled to that, dropping the Goddess back to her ornate red coach, though a grin worked across the Goddesses face.

''So, what is your name tall dark, and handsome?"

The man raised a brow but he didn't seem phased by the obvious flirt, which made both the elf and blond-haired pallum release a small sigh of relief.

"My name? Dale."

Loki and the others raised a brow, the elf is who spoke. ''No last name?"

Dale then grinned, Loki's eyes suddenly brightened as her eyes sparkled!

''I'll tell you my last name when you're ready to bare my children."

The Elf stared, gaped at how Dale held himself, the Dwarf roared into laughter while the Pallum snickered, shaking his head.

Loki's already present smile broke out into a grin as she used the distraction of the elf to rocket herself forward, tackling against Dale like a rocket, not budging the well-built man as she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

''We're going to get along great!'' Said the Goddess

The Dwarf roared from his laughter. "HEAR THAT RIVERIA? Finally someone willing to lay with you!" He fell back to the ground, rolling with laughter.

The elf's ear tips darkened at the words, her cheeks slightly darkening as she yelled out. ''I get plenty of letters claiming for love, but I am too busy taking care of you children! LOKI GET OFF THE NEW MEMBER!"

That is how Dale was introduced to the top brass of the Loki Family, and how he became one of the new favorite's of Loki herself, enjoying his humor and how he held himself.

As she slid down his form, she gave a passing grab to his rear, a smile split across her face as she noted how the man didn't flinch from her touch, and only grinned down to her. Damn, he actually was pretty handsome, might have another Ais situation on her hand, just with females now.

"You said to not bother him before I know his name! But now I know his first name, and I'm willing to hear his last name as well!"

Riveria's cheeks darkened more as she seemed to struggle to find the words before sighing heavily, rubbing at the bridge of her nose.

The Dwarf on the ground was slapping at the ground, tears in his eyes. ''I'm tearing up, ho this is so funny!"

The pallum walked over, helping the Dwarf up. ''Come on Gareth, get up. We might have to save Loki before Riveria tries to smite her."

Gareth continued to chuckle as he was helped up. ''You're onto something Finn, new kid! Dale, your name was? Welcome to the family, I feel you're going to be one hell of an addition, especially with that magic tool you used!"

Riveria, glad to have something to grasp to spoke out. ''Which reminds me since you're joining this family, are you willing to share the details of your magic tool? It'd help us get you better geared up if we knew how it worked, and if it was viable to use."

Dale chuckled, feeling he'd enjoy his time in the Loki Familia quite well. ''Of course, it's not a magic tool. Here, let me pull out the blueprint, I planned to sell it to Hephaestus once it becomes obsolete anyway.''

"Sell the blueprint? If it's as useful as you showed, it'll be quite the profit. Going through the Loki familial will also make it easier for you, but what do you mean obsolete? As far as I know, this is already groundbreaking if it's not a magic item."

Dale stepped forward, pulling a blueprint from a pouch at his waist that looked to be magic, rolling it out across the table and using coins to keep it from curling up again.

"Because where to you, it might seem a development, I am only starting. I already have ideas to make better versions of the weapons I have over time."

It was Finn who spoke this time. ''Weapons?"

Dale nodded, tapping at the blueprint, it showed two weapons, one was labeled a musket with a longer barrel, while there was also a smaller version labeled 'Flintlock Pistol'

"The Musket, the long one. Is made for ranged, their max range is about 80 yards before becoming wildly inaccurate. However, its range has a drawback as even someone like me, who you could consider a master at reloading. Reloading means how long it takes me to be ready to fire again is 14 seconds. Someone without experience could take a minute or more, as well as in the middle of combat?"

Finn nodded. "I saw you... Reloading it, at the start, it didn't look complicated but to someone new, it could take much longer, and combat is unpredictable..."

"Exactly, so for the first few floors of the dungeon, or in the open field? It's useful, sure. But later where combat becomes harder and harder, no."

''What about the pistol?" It was Gareth who spoke up, rubbing at his beard as he examined the blueprint.

''Pistol takes me 4 seconds to load, and I'm working on making it faster, I think the highest achievable would be 3. The Musket has range and power. The Pistol however has a range of 10 yards at its best, its power is still good as long as you keep within its range, but anything past if you ARE lucky enough to hit it, the bullet will do little to no damage at 50 yards or so.''

(I am not sure if that part is accurate. I know the proper range of the musket and pistol, but I'm not sure that if you could hit something past their range, how hard will it hit the further it goes downrange?)

"Is it just as complicated to reload as the musket?" It was Finn who spoke, his mind already working on how to make this a usable weapon in the dungeon or in combat as a whole, the reloading was a deterrent, but its power was unlike a bow and arrow. Maybe he could have a squad reload in shifts to decrease the time it took them to deal damage?

"Yes, but its smaller size makes it much easier to reload."

Loki was showing a serious face, having at one point sat on Dale's knee with her arms crossed, all of them had moved to sit down around the table he had put the blueprint on.

"This could be... A serious jump in Dungeon clearing, do you have an idea on the ones you plan to make after these?" It was Loki who spoke, despite her trickster personality, she knew the kind of implications this would mean, it could change how people entered the dungeon.

"Design improvements for one, a way to make them more accurate at longer range, compacting the process of reloading down into shells."

Riveria looked up from the blueprint. ''Shells?"

"Think of it as a casing, instead of needing to reload both round, and powder, the shell will hold both. When you fire, the shell will expel the bullet after its gunpowder is lit. Makes it so reloading is much more streamlined. Makes it simple. 'Put this hear, prime, ready.'"

Riveria nodded at that, understanding it better now.

"Also a way to include additional shots, so instead of reloading after each shot, you now can fire let's say five to six times before needing to reload, which would massively increase the amount of damage you could pump out."

Finn nodded along with this. ''If what you did earlier is any implications, using these guns on the first four floors would make it much easier... About how much is the upkeep?"

Dale grinned at that as he leaned forward, nodding his head to the four coins he was using to hold the blueprint down. Each was a Valis coin worth 5 ''You're looking at them.''

Gareth was the first to respond. ''20 Valis? How?!"

"The powder mixture? Dangerous, but cheap as all hell, you can get a sizable amount only for about 4 Valis, proper cleaning supplies can last you awhile, another 4 valis, the bullet itself is cheap to make, and many shops have tons of them just lying around, about 5 or so valis for about a 100, which if you know what you're doing? The powder you bought with the 4 from before will be enough to use."

"The most expensive thing however is the flint rocks, their 7 valis a piece or so, but they last quite a while."

''Flint, the fire starter rock?"

''Flint is what strikes across the pan, causing the spark which ignites the powder and allows it to fire. The smoke you saw was because of its ignition and blast. Blackpowder causes a lot of smoke."

Everyone leaned back, all in their own different thoughts. The first to speak up was Riveria.

''For now, let's get your Falna, and then after dinner, I'll fetch you and we'll talk in the study about how best to go about selling this, it may take you a while to make the next to-.''

''It'll take me a few days at best, a week at worst.'' Dale spoke, the ever-present smile still worn.

"So soon? How long have you been working on this project?"

Dale chuckled, shaking his head. ''A few years, but I struck rich on an idea and I've been riding it ever since, I've long since been looking to improve the firearms, this is only the start."

Riveria shook her head, muttering. ''Great, another Adventerur beneath the Loki Familia to take the world by storm."

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Few notes from the Author.

GP= Gun Points, real simple.

I will not be telling all about the system, I'm leaving it unexplained so I can adjust it as I see fit.

But what currently exists is as you saw, a way to receive and complete missions, an inventory, and the ability to use GP to improve his weapons, along with skills that come with it.