The Legendary Junkmaster

"WOAH! Hold on there, slugger!" Syssie popped up in front of Jason, protecting the junk from his abuse. "You can't just go throwing shit together! Don't be so impatient!"

Jason was gobsmacked that she stepped in to stop him from enjoying himself. It really got to him that she was standing there with an exasperated look on her face. "Isn't that exactly how you make things? By throwing shit together?"

"Well, yeah, but…" Syssie sighed as she realised she would have to explain a bit more. "Look. First, you need to have at least a rough idea of what you want to make."

"That's easy, something that I can use to bash some skulls in!" Jason replied before he could stop himself. Only for Syssie to respond by rolling her eyes at him.

"Look, Jay. Can I call you, Jay? Well, that's what I'm going with anyway." Syssie began while barely keeping her cool. "What I mean is this. In the case of melee weapons, are you making something that will be wielded with one hand or two? Who's going to use it? Cause you'll need to adjust it for their size and arm length. You also have to consider if it will be used by someone in combination with their powers."

Jason began to get the picture. Initially, he was going with a one size fits all approach as he never considered these things. In hindsight, that was pretty stupid of him. Syssie saw the look in his eyes and nodded in approval. Jason had managed to reel in his enthusiasm for now.

"It's not all bad, Jay. Once you have the person in mind, their power, if they have one, as well as what they'll use to wield it. The Melee Schematic Skill will show what you can make that fits these criteria with what you have laying around."

Jason stared at the beaming smile she was giving him. There was one thing that she had said just now that was bugging him. 'Did she just say what they'll use to wield it? Like, instead of their hands?' His mind wandered to his Gramps and his tail. 'I see… Depending on what I make, it might not be suitable for someone who may use physical mutations like Gramps's tail to wield their weapon.

Having thought of this, Jason made up his mind. "I'm ready."

Syssie studied the calm and determined gaze in his eyes and finally stepped aside after feeling satisfied that he was in the right mainframe for the work ahead. Jason took a deep breath and began to focus his mind. 'I'm not strong enough to wield something with two hands. So that's out the window. I won't be using a physical mutation like Gramps, so that gets rid of quite a few contenders.'

As he narrowed down his choices, Jason's vision became more precise as the different schematics of possible weapons were cleared away. Now he was only left with a bunch of lightweight, single-handed weapons. When he took his size into consideration, the skill suggested weapons that had a bit of reach.

'That's no good. All these weapons are all too clunky. I need something compact for when I have to work in tight spaces.' Surprisingly, his skill reacted to this random condition as well. Which meant there were more parameters he could set that Syssie had not mentioned! 'I'll need to leave it for now and get used to those as I go along. For now, I should definitely keep it simple.'

He scanned through the few remaining schematics and found one that was to his liking. With a clear goal literally in his sight, Jason got to work. By combining his Scanner and Melee Schematics skills, Jason made short work of pulling out everything he needed to make his weapon from the different junk pieces. A few screws here, a couple of springs there, various sizes of cylindrical metal.

' Now I just need to shape them and do some cutting.' Jason was becoming eager when thinking about his first creation. He shifted the different components to his desk, where his metal file and a special handsaw sat. He was quite pleased to discover that his HUD even marked out the exact lines he had to create or follow as he began to shape the weapon.

The sound of Jason working away carried on for hours. Even as the sun began to set, Jason continued in his fervour. Jason sighed as he finally finished shaping the last component. His hand swept across his brow to remove the sweat that had appeared during the work. Only now did he realise how late it had become.

'Gramps must have left the house before I even woke up. Otherwise, he would have been yelling by now with all the noise I've been making.' Jason furrowed his brows into a deep frown as he considered pausing his work for now or just finishing it up. 'It's nearly finished anyway, so let's just get it done!'

Jason felt a bit clumsy as he began to slot the different pieces together into a single cohesive whole. Less than an hour later, he stood there with something that resembled an extendable police baton. Except for the end of it was spiked like a spear. Jason played around with the three separate forms that were included in it.

When it was full retracted, it was roughly the length of a short sword. In this form, it could be used as a blunt weapon in tight spots or on people if he only needed to subdue them. Its second form was a short spear which could be useful in a variety of situations. And finally, its final form was an even longer spear for maximum reach before it became too unwieldy for use with a single hand.

He had chosen this schematic because he did not have the skill or confidence to use a bladed weapon properly. With this, all he had to do was bash the enemy with its first form and jab them with the pointy end for the other two. It was perfect for someone with zero experience like him!

Just then, Syssie strolled over and studied his first creation with a critical eye. She looked so severe that Jason even wondered if she was the same person as before!

"Evaluation… F Rank melee weapon suitable for Novices that incorporates blunt and piercing styles for damage output. The strength required to wield it efficiently would be 0.1. Value estimated at fifteen copper credits." Syssie nodded along with each critique she gave. "So, what will you call it?"

Jason stared blankly at her when she turned her gaze on him. "Name it? What for?"

"Well, if you give it a name, then this schematic will be saved in a folder in my memory banks. Allowing you to produce the exact same thing from the same materials. If you ever commercialise it, then your customers would expect to receive the exact same thing as everyone else." Syssie gave him a look as though this should be common knowledge.

However, to Jason, it was not. In fact, it would not be the case for anyone in Highrise! They were so used to making do with whatever they could get their hands on! 'At least if the schematic gets saved, I can always look for suitable parts whenever I'm out scavenging.'

"Let us go with Self Defence Weapon Primal Series." Jason felt pleased with himself. Somehow, giving the weapon a proper title made the whole thing feel more complete. Perhaps that was just a side effect of his power, though. He could never be entirely sure about it anyway.

"Roger that. Schematic saved as SDW: Primal 001." Syssie responded with a rather chirpy attitude.

'Damn AI, don't go abbreviating it just to make it sound better!' Although he was grumbling about the minor changes, Syssie made to what he named the weapon. He had to admit that it would probably sound better than his own term to other people. "Hey, Syssie. What's with the 001 you put on the end there? Is that like a counter for how many I make?"

Syssie started giggling at that. "Of course not! That's the current version of I. If you come back to the schematic after finding a way to improve it, it'll get a new version number. Just makes it easier if you have to refer to an earlier version when making a new one."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Personally Jason really wanted to try the weapon out to find out just how good it was. The F rank that Syssie had given it did not inspire much confidence despite how good it looked. 'Is it because of the rust?'

Jason felt he had hit the nail on the head. He guessed that he would have got a better evaluation of his work if he used more preserved materials. 'Still, it's better than nothing, I guess.' Jason placed the weapon on his desk as he began to consider the process. 'It takes a bit of time, but if it sells for fifteen copper credits, then that's about double I would have gotten for the scrap alone.

'I need money to get my hands on better materials since I'm nowhere near experienced enough to survive going further out from town to collect them. Jason's eyes scanned the bedroom as a thought came to his mind. 'There are enough materials to make five more. If I keep one of the final six and sell the others, that'll make seventy-five copper credits!'

Jason's eyes began to shine with the light of greed. 'It'll take a few days, but the money will be worth it!'