“Screw your ministry debt,” Maddox said as Gideon and the others walked around the large chamber that served as her workroom. “They’re never gonna collect at a time of war and if you do as well as you’re doing, they’ll probably give you a special dispensation or something. Or you could die!”


    “Thanks,” Gideon said, walking over to a nearby work bench and inspecting the various dints and scratches in the metal table. “Makes me feel a hell of a lot better.”


    “Look,” Maddox went on, “the fact is, all bets are off right now. We’ve been invaded by an alien species that outmatches us in every possible way. The chances of our species surviving is miniscule so the Ministry collecting on your ether debt is the last thing you should be worrying about right now. Survive the next year, drive back these aliens, and then maybe you can start thinking about the debt.”


    Gideon grunted. “By then it will be up in the millions the way I’m going.”


    “Regardless,” Maddox said, “we’ve got a couple of hours, and the Commander has asked me to assist you with augmenting your gear as much as possible. You’re still in a party together, so I’ll access your inventories and make a complete assessment first. Then, we can start dividing up items according to what builds and augments are going to be most advantageous.”


    “How will it work?” Mia asked. “On Artemis we’d need a workstation to start building gear, but how are the items we’ve found going to integrate with the stuff in the real world?”


    “Excellent question,” Maddox said, walking over to a larger workbench which stuck out from behind a huge machine which looked like something of an industrial nature.”


    “I’d like you to meet Biff. Biff Logan. In laymen’s terms, it’s a workstation calibrator. It’s what we use to test and troubleshoot problems with any new workstations that we’re shipping over to Artemis. But it also functions as a workstation in its own right. So, we can use it to augment your gear.”


    Gideon walked over to the machine. Its surface was battered and scratched but he sensed the air pressure rise a little as he drew close. When he reached out his hand, his fingers tingled as they moved to within a few inches of the machine.


    “Your echoes can sense etheric power,” Maddox said, pointing to the machine. “Feels a little like an increase in pressure. Won’t do you much good in a fight but it will help you locate sources of ether out there in the wild if you get stuck without it and need to harvest some.”


    She slapped her hands together. “Now, if you haven’t already thought about it, now’s the time to think about weapons and armor. Given that we’re limited with what we can work with on the armor front, we’ll start with weapons. Each of you needs to think about your current abilities and where you want to go with your class. Then, we can go through some weapons options with you based on the raw materials we’ve got to hand.”


    Maddox tapped on her wrist watch and a small holographic display opened up above it. She started tapping at the screen and a larger display appeared beside the workshop repair machine. It listed all of the combined items the group had in their inventory.


    “I’ll see what I can do with this,” she went on, beginning to group the materials on the screen. “In the meantime, you should assign any enhancement points you’ve got spare.”


    Gideon and Mia walked over to a pair of swivel stools and sat down. Red was already looking through his Core Attributes, assigning new points seemingly without a thought.


    “Wait!” Mia said, standing and rushing over to him. “Don’t just go dropping points all over the place. You need to think about this more carefully.”


    He shrugged. “I figured I’d just max out Strength and Constitution.”


    “You’ll need agility as well, now that you’re moving away from a pure tank class.”


    Gideon left them to their discussion focusing on his own stats as he picked up Bullseye and put him on the table next to him.


    “You have some decisions to make,” Bullseye said.


    “Yeah. I guess Strength, Constitution, Dex, and Grit, right?”


    The turtle nodded. “For the most part, yes, but you must think long term. You are more than simply a tank, more than a damage dealer. You are a leader, Gideon.”


    Gideon rolled his eyes. “Man, I’m getting sick of people saying that.”


    “They’re saying it because it’s true. Commander Moynahan recognized the fact immediately on seeing you, as did Booker. Mia and Red have both fallen into line behind you.”


    Gideon sighed. “Okay, so if I’m gonna lead, then I’m gonna crush it. How do I do that?”


    “Consider adding a little Charisma. It will assist in persuasion and increase your leadership potential”


    “Charisma, really? I always figured that was a nothing stat unless you wanna be a trade hunter or a sorcerer.”


    Bullseye nodded. “Trust me, Gideon. It may not be noticeable right away, but a little enhancement to your Charisma will go a long way. You never know when a situation might arise where you have to lead others, beyond your companions, or where you need to persuade an enemy to perform some action or other. Charisma combined with a high leadership skill level can go a long way toward smoothing your path in the future.”


    Gideon opened up his profile and began assigning points.


    ECHO PROFILE


    Name: Gideon Blackthorn


    Class: Shadowguard


    Level: Initiate


    Ether: 8750


    Royal Ether: 600


    Guild: NA


    Preferred Title: NA


    CORE SKILLS


    Constitution: 17


    Strength: 17


    Agility: 17


    Intelligence: 1


    Wisdom: 1


    Charisma: 9


    Grit: 15


    Etheric Aptitude: 7


    Gideon locked in the upgrades. He felt a little sick adding nine full points to Charisma but he trusted Bullseye. The AI might be an outdated version of the tutor, but the fact was Bullseye had enabled Gideon to adapt more quickly to the Artemis System and he’d kept him alive during the first few hours after the crash landing.


    True, the little turtle wasn’t the bravest individual, especially now that he inhabited his own body and was stitched into the System himself, but his advice had been sound so far and Gideon knew he’d be a fool to ignore the AI.


    Still.


    Charisma?


    “A balanced spread,” Bullseye confirmed with a nod as he considered Gideon’s choices.


    “Yeah, the thing is,” Gideon replied, “I never figured I’d go balanced. I was always thinking I’d max out agility and just crush from a distance. You know, boost crit chance and damage to insane levels and ramp up the evasion so that nothing can hit you if it gets close.”


    “A viable ploy,” Bullseye said, “if you were on Artemis competing in the Great Hunt. But this is not Artemis and you are not a ranger. You are a Shadowguard, and a leader, and as such balance will serve you far better. It will allow you to change tack when needed whilst leaning on your strengths. It will provide flexibility which is a valuable asset in times of war.”


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    “What about you?” Gideon asked. “You’re hooked up to the System now, so where are you putting your points?”


    “It is curious, but I don’t appear to possess the same Core Attributes as you and the others do. Mine relate more to by ability as an effective tutor. It appears that the System has identified my function properly and assigned relevant attributes according to that fact.”


    A box appeared in Gideon’s HUD showing the attributes Bullseye was talking about.


    TUTOR PROFILE


    Name: Bullseye


    Class: AI Tutor


    Level: 1


    Ether: 4100


    Guild: NA


    Preferred Title: NA


    CORE ATTRIBUTES


    Communication: 6


    Adaptation: 6


    Knowledge: 6


    Tactics: 6


    Optimization: 6


    Etheric Aptitude: 5


    “Like you, I have spread my points evenly as each of these aspects seems vital in preparing you for the dangers ahead.”


    Gideon examined the stats, frowning.


    “So, improving these will make you better at helping me?”


    “Precisely. The more adept I become in this tutor class, the better I will be able to serve you as both an ally and a tutor. While they don’t directly link to the abilities I have acquired, I can also continue to assist in that regard as well.”


    Gideon nodded as the stats disappeared. He wondered what actual difference he’d notice as the little turtle increased in these attributes. He could see the logic in it, of course, but it might have been more useful if Bullseye developed as a range fighter or continued to adapt his explosive capabilities.


    “It seems,” the turtle went on, “that my level increases will also function differently to the usual. I will simply increase when you do, which is a good thing because you are just sixteen enhancement points away from your first level up.”


    Gideon nodded. Sixteen points wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things. If he could pick up another couple of missions quickly, he’d be able to level up fast.


    “It seems that I will be able to add new abilities when we both level up.”


    “What kinds of abilities? Like, the bomb thing?”


    “Perhaps, yes. There are other possibilities though. When the time comes, I suggest we pool our knowledge and determine what the best course is for both of us.”


    Maddox clapped her hands and gathered their attention. The workstation machine behind her rumbled to life as she stepped in front of it.


    “Okay, folks, I’ve had a good look at what you’ve gathered and it seems like there’s some good shit here. The System has had time to catalogue most of it and adapt to these new materials and items. Now, before we start, here’s the rundown on crafting.”


    She turned to face Red.


    “For those of us who don’t know our heads from our assholes.”


    He offered her a salute as she continued.


    “Crafting takes ether. More ether the higher your level and the more complicated the build. It doesn’t take much time because the system itself in combination with your echo will do the heavy lifting. But you need to think carefully about what you want to build and make sure you’ve got enough ether in reserve before you start building.”


    She turned to Red, who had his hand up.


    “Yes, genius?”


    He lowered his hand.


    “Do we know how much ether an upgrade will cost beforehand, or are we just guessing and it’s a role of the dice?”


    “You’ll know exactly how much ether is required because the System will tell you. But let’s say you’re building a new kind of rifle with a long-range scope. The rifle will have an ether cost, but so will the scope. If you don’t take both of those into account then you’ll either end up with a nice gun with no scope or a beautiful scope with no gun. Count the full cost. Also, if you spend all your ether in the workshop you’re not gonna have anything when you head into battle, so any abilities that depend on ether won’t work. It''s pretty basic, I know, but you’d be surprised how many hunters fail at this.”


    She brought up a display in front of the group which showed icons that represented the various items in their collective inventories.


    “Now, as far as I can see, there are three main resources that can be used for building new weapons or adapting existing ones. First though, let me say that adapting an existing weapon is a hell of a lot cheaper and more efficient, so I’d suggest doing that rather than starting from scratch.”


    The items on the display shifted and a description appeared beside each.


    Stalker Hide Scraps: Used to change physical parameters of a weapon or armor, increasing quality, strength, resistances, etc.


    Stalker Oil: A lubricant or fuel source to improve weapon efficiency, reduce armor weight, etc.


    Strider Resin: A binding agent, fuel source, or attribute modifier for weapons and armor.


    “You can combine these items with mundane materials like metal and wood to build a weapon or armor from scratch, but like I said, that will be hugely expensive and not recommended. Your best bet is to find an existing weapon and modify that. You’ll get much more out of the materials that way.”


    She closed down the display.


    “One more thing before you bring out your wish lists. Every act of creation or modification will produce an item or augment with one of the following quality levels.”


    A list of quality signifiers appeared on the display.


    Gray: Common [50-70% chance]


    Green: Uncommon [20-30% chance]


    Blue: Rare [5-15% chance]


    Purple: Epic [1-5% chance]


    Gold: Legendary [0.1-1% chance]


    Onyx: Mythic [0.001-0.01% chance]


    “These percentages are only indicative and they haven’t been adjusted to real world conditions considering our current circumstances, but they’ll give you some idea of how likely it is to get one of the higher rarity levels. Each time you craft there’s a chance you can increase in rarity, but fortunately the System maintains your previous item rarity, so you’ll never go backwards.”


    Once more, Red raised his hand. Maddox nodded in his direction.


    “What does a better rarity give me?”


    “Better stats on your weapon and armor. If you’ve got a sword which does twenty-percent additional bleed damage and you craft and upgrade which shifts it from common to rare, that might increase the bleed damage to fifty percent. At the highest levels you can even get unique items with one of a kind, or extremely rare and specific attributes.”


    She waved a hand in front of her.


    “Don’t even think about that though. There’s no way in hell any of you are going to be lucky enough to build anything at rare or above at this stage. Once you level up you’ll be able to start stacking luck and that should help a great deal with crafting.”


    “So, it’s gonna work the same as the Hunt?” Gideon said. “You only start getting luck from Initiate level onwards.”


    “Correct,” Maddox said, nodding. “At each level up, new skills will be unlocked and you’ll be able to start adding to those. Now, that’s the basics, so let’s get to your wish lists! We’re gonna focus on one primary weapon each. That can be a two-handed weapon, or two single handed weapons. Sword and shield, it’s up to you.”


    She pointed a finger at Mia.


    “Go!”


    “Ah, a rifle. But something that can include some of the venom attributes of the bow.”


    Maddox nodded, moving the finger to Red. He grinned.


    “I was thinking of adding spikes to my club. Something to make it easier to hit dudes in the head.”


    Maddox rolled her eyes. “We’ll add the hit dudes in the head better modifier then.” She pointed at Gideon.


    “Talon claws, or something like Wolverine.”


    That drew a few puzzled looks.


    “I keep dropping my swords or getting into situations where I need to grab onto something but also hold a weapon. I figure with the claws I can make sure I always have blades ready and they won’t go slipping out of my hands when I get covered in blood.”


    “Wolverine!” Red said with a nod. “I like it dude!”


    Maddox turned to Bullseye. “And what about you my AI colleague?”


    “Lubricant!” Red blurted, barely able to keep the word in. “Seeing as he’s the team’s designated butt bomb, he needs something to make it easier to get into hard-to-reach places.”


    Madox frowned, confused. Bullseye turned to face Red, scowling.


    “You are a fool!”


    “Hey man, I’m just being practical. If we’re gonna keep killing monsters like Big Boy by going through the back door, you should craft something that’s gonna make it easier. Maybe a drill so you can dig your way in deep before you go boom boom?”


    Maddox looked from one to the other as the two spoke, still baffled by what they were saying. Red tried to explain.


    “They had to go in the back door to kill that last Strider. Stuck a bomb up Big Boy’s blow hole.” He pointed to Bullseye. “And there’s your bomb.”


    Red’s eyes grew wide. “Hey, we should rename you Bumseye!” he barked, laughing before he’d even finished the joke.


    The turtle looked like his head was about to explode, but Maddox intervened before he spoke.


    “You idiot,” she spat, “that wasn’t it’s anus, it was its mouth.”


    They all looked at Maddox.


    “But,” Red blurted, “it already had a mouth out front.”


    She nodded, rolling her eyes as though attempting to explain compound interest to a gerbil.


    “They have two mouths. The one on its head is for attacking and communications. The one below is how it devours its prey and feeds.” She turned back to Bullseye. “Now, what do you plan on crafting?”


    “A speed augment,” Bullseye replied. “I will need to keep pace with Gideon and I cannot do that easily in this body. If I am able to increase my speed, that will not be an issue.”


    Maddox nodded. “Okay, got it. Well, I think we can accommodate all of those. Let’s get to work!”


    She spent the next few minutes dividing resources up between the trio and advising on the most efficient way to use those resources in crafting their respective weapons. Gideon was already intimately familiar with the crafting mechanic and the interface used by the Artemis System to modify and build weapons and armor. He’d expected to be using common crafting items found on Artemis however, bones and organs derived from the monstrous beasts that inhabited the distant planet.


    The crafting workstation opened up a familiar enough interface which showed the basic materials required for the build and the amount of ether needed to perform it. Gideon watched Mia modify one of the Stalker rifles, using resin, scraps, and oil along with some metal rods and other components Maddox supplied. The result was a long-range rifle with several abilities which included single-target critical damage, burst damage, venom, and explosive burst.


    Once it was done, she’d exhausted almost all of her ether but held the weapon with a look of satisfaction. It had a longer barrel than the Stalker rifle and shimmered with pearlescent light. There was also a long scope on top and several metallic canisters positioned on either side.


    “Sweet!” Red offered, moving up and rubbing the side of the barrel. “You pimped the shit out of that rifle.”


    She smiled, opening up the stats of the weapon and displaying them to the group.


    WIDOWFANG RIFLE (UNCOMMON)


    A precision-crafted, chitinous firearm forged from an augmented Stalker rifle, designed to channel raw ether into devastating rounds.


    Ammo Conversions:


    Venomstrike Rounds – Inflicts corrosive venom damage over time, weakening targets'' defenses (-15% resistance for 10 sec).


    Voidpiercer Shots – Converts ether into high-velocity sniper rounds that ignore 30% armor and deal bonus headshot damage.


    Shatterburst Payload – Explosive rounds that detonate on impact, causing AoE splash damage and staggering enemies.


    Phantom Barrage – Rapid ether pulses that strike in quick succession, dealing burst damage to a single target.


    “Nice!” Gideon said with a smile. “Real nice!”


    Mia grinned. “Should give me plenty of options in a fight.”


    “Me next!” Red shouted, practically jumping on the spot.


    Maddox shook her head, pointing to Gideon.


    “Let the grown ups go first and then we’ll get to you. Their weapons are going to be more intricate to augment, so we need to get those sorted before working on your whacking stick.”


    Red frowned in mock offence. “Whacking stick?”


    Maddox nodded. “Just wait your turn, junior. I’ll get to you in a minute.”


    “Junior?!”