Chapter 19: 2.3

Kid couldn't see who was talking but he had to admit to himself that he wasn't expecting to hear...well...that.  The voice sounded both young and incredibly cheerful, like a child greeting their favorite uncle after a year of absence.   It left him feeling a little confused and his ego rapidly deflated along with the disappearing thoughts on how to act calm and polite he had arranged earlier.

"Hehe.  You'd be surprised how many have thought almost the same thing the first time they talk to me.  A little secret: even good old Rand Rand was like that the first time."

"Um..."

That he could actually talk when he couldn't move surprised him a little.  It added to his confusion of the whole situation, as well.  He just wasn't sure what he was supposed to do or say anymore.  He was also fairly certain that the strange god was reading his mind.  If that was the case he could only hope that he didn't think anything too rude like wanting to check out other gods.

"Yup!  I'm totally reading your mind right now.  Don't worry about that whole wanting to know about other gods thing.  I totally get it.  You're new here and want to try and be smart with your choices.  No worries, I'm not going to hold that against you at all.  In fact, I say go for it!  I'm absolutely certain you'll still choose me in the end so you might as well go see how stuffy and annoying the others are, first.  Then you'll appreciate me even more!

Anyways, we can talk about that later.  For now, let's just be friends!  You seem interesting and I totally want to be your friend.  It sounds like fun, right?"

The few thoughts Kid was still thinking grinded to a halt.

"You don't want to be my friend?"

"Is that even allowed?"

"Ohhh.  There it is!  The rare occurrence of talking without even thinking!  Why wouldn't we be allowed to be friends?  There's no rules against it.  Just because the others want to be all formal and stuffy with the way they do things doesn't mean I have to be as well, right?  I mean, sure, a lot of them think I'm a little too carefree and allow sacrilege because of it and all that, but why should I care if they don't like me just because I prefer having my followers be my friends, too?"

"Wait.  That's the reason other gods don't like you?"

"Pretty much.  Kind of stupid, huh?  You think so, too.  I know it.  I mean, really, if they would just be a little friendly with all you non-god types then maybe they'd end up having less fanatics that run around murdering innocent people and all that.  At the very least I wish they'd stop blaming me for their guys going insane and trying to find some way to get rid of me...

Okay, yup.  This got dark.  Sorry.  I tend to ramble sometimes.  So, about the friend thing: what do you think?  Want to be my friend?"

He thought about it briefly.  At least, he tried to.  It really didn't take too much thought.  Who says 'no' when a god asks to be your friend?

"Oh, you'd be surprised.  Had one guy try and kill all my followers one time right after I asked, calling everyone heathens and heretics and all that.  Silly.  To calm your future worry, too, I'm not asking you to be my follower at the moment, either.  Okay, well, I am asking that but it's separate.  You know what I mean."

"Okay.  I want to say yes..."

"But..."

"But friends are supposed to help each other and stuff, right?  Not really sure how I could help you."

"Oh, that?  Don't worry about it.  Just let me watch you for a while.  It's really not nearly as exciting as it sounds being a god.  Well, not with as few followers as I have anyways.  Most of any actual work I have to do is done in about 5 minutes and then I'm free for years or decades.  Maybe, on occasions, something exciting happens and I spend a few seconds here or a few seconds there but...I'm just so bored.  Watching a new friend try to get ahead in life, though?  That's fun."

"Uh.  Okay.  Sure, I guess we can be friends, then?"

"Yay!  Since you'll be a great friend and let me watch you for a while then I guess I should be a good friend, too.  The pendant around your neck will let other gods and their followers know I'm watching over you.  It will also hide your status.  And!  It comes with a thirty day guarantee!  If you are not fully satisfied with my product, return it within thirty days and get your money back!  And that's pretty much my 1 second of talking time used up.  Bye bye for now.  Let's talk more next time!"

Before Kid could respond, the world brightened up and everything started moving once more.  He let out a small sigh at the ridiculousness of it all as he turned to look over at Terisa.  He saw her starting to smile even more as she looked down at his chest.  He glanced down as well and saw that he was wearing a necklace with some kind of small circular medallion on it.  He didn't get a chance to inspect it any further since Terisa suddenly lunged forward and hugged him.  He noted in passing that she felt softer than the appearance of her wood and metal outsides suggested she should.

"Oh, hey!  Congrats!  I didn't think you'd choose to be his follower already!  Now you see why he's so awesome, though, right?"

"I didn't become his follower yet, though.  He said I should go ahead and check out other gods, first, so I'd appreciate him more in the future if I do become his follower.  I do understand how you're so compatible, however."

"Oh.  Well, that's kind of disappointing.  I thought since he gave you the pendant with his mark..."

"We decided to be friends."

"Oh!  Then that's fine.  It's probably not as good as one you'd get if you'd become his follower but at least now you know that he likes you, right?"

"Uh...ya.  He said something like it would hide my status with a thirty day guarantee or my money back."

"Hm.  That means it'll probably disappear in thirty days but at least you can go outside if you really need to now.  Nobody will bother you for your status as long as you wear that where it can be seen.  Of course, they'll probably bother you for wearing his symbol, instead..."

"So still try not to go out unless I need to, got it."

"Ya...it's why none of us wear his mark these days...but enough depressing thoughts.  We can still have plenty of fun here!  What do you want to do?  We can walk around in here some more, go back, check out a dungeon..."

"A dungeon sounds kind of fun but maybe we should go back for now.  I'd rather make sure I'm ready for a dungeon first and I was hoping you could teach me some stuff."

"Oh, sure!  Want to go back through another scenic route or just head straight there?"

"Straight there this time, please.  I have a month to look around, right?"

"Exactly!  Let's go."

It took only about 5 minutes to make it back to the still opened door leading to the living room.  Terisa closed the door behind them and they sat on the couches facing one another across the table.  Terisa still seemed pretty happy as she looked at Kid for a few moments before finally starting the conversation.

"So, should I go get you some more food while you figure out what you want me to teach you about?"

"Uh.  I'll be fine for today, I guess.  I probably should eat at least two meals a day, though."

"I'll make sure to grab that when you're sleeping then.  Got any specific questions you wanted to ask?  What is it you want me to teach about?"

"I don't know.  Everything?  There's so many things I still don't understand.  I don't even know where the light is coming from in here.  Every time I try to ask about that, something happens.  Why is each part of my status hated the way it is?  What can you teach me about guns?  I've already seen a few differences, but are there more?  Can I work on my Block Identify skill while wearing this necklace and can I even take it off if not?  What's up with clans?  I keep hearing about the Nightwind clan and I get that nobody likes them but what are even clans?  Are they like guilds?  Can I even join a guild while being me?  I just don't know...well...much at all, really."

"Uh huh.  That's a lot.  Okay.  As far as your pendant goes, as long as you keep it on you then you should be okay to take it off if you want to practice your blocking skill.  Then, where does the light in here come from?  Magic.  It's a special enchantment in the walls that makes everything inside glow just a little, even the air.  So there's the two easy questions.

Now, clans and guilds, huh?  Umm.  Guilds are like job places or something, I guess?  You join a certain guild based on how you want to make most of your money.  It's not exactly required but it does have a lot of benefits and when either that clumsy dwarf gets you a status blocking item or you get a good enough level and tier of a blocking then it should be fine to join several of the guilds.  Clans are something different, entirely.  You already know about parties and teams, right?  Clans are like the next step after that.  Think of them like really big, more permanent teams.  Is that all fine so far?"

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"I guess.  The light thing is kind of awesome and your description of clans felt a little vague..."

"Hmm.  Okay, let me ask you something.  What is a 'group of friends'?  Is it like coworkers?"

"Huh?  Uh...I guess it's...like a family that's not related?  Something like that.  Where everyone decided that the liked each other and got together instead of not having a choice."

"Really?  People choose who they marry, though, and not all members of all families are necessarily related to each other.  That's kind of my point.  Clans are a little hard to explain in exact terms.  You'll just have to kind of figure it out when you finally get out out of here."

"Okay, I guess."

"Then let's talk about guns next.  Talking about everything about you that's...well...wrong is just too much of past stories and everything and I'm not good at that.  I'll let someone else teach you about that.  Guns I know, though.  I can't tell you what all the differences between the guns you knew from where you came from to the ones here but I can at least tell you most of what you want to know otherwise."

"Like how many types of bullets there are?  The guns I knew had a lot of different bullet sizes and you had to match the bullets with what gun could use them."

"That seems a little silly to me.  I mean, unless you want a custom made gun with custom ammunition, there's only three main types here: handgun, shotgun, and rifle.  Obviously you can get all sorts of types of those as well, like cursed or enchanted bullets, too.  Hm.  Maybe I should just go over event he obvious things since they might actually be different from what you know.

Okay, so what we're calling a bullet is actually cartridge ammunition or an ammo round.  It's made of five parts.  First is the casing, also called the case, cartridge, or shell depending on what kind of gun it's used in.  It has an initiator, also called a kicker, at the back that makes the whole thing go off when hit correctly.  Inside there's a powered propellant, or pop, that pushes the actual bullet out of the casing and starts the bullet.  Next is the actual bullet, which sits at the top of the casing and is what gets shot out.  Inside of that is molding, which also has a lot of names but the most common one these days is glue, which keeps the bullet together once it gets hit by the pop.  Is all of that similar to what you know?"

"Most of it is but not all.  I can't say that it's the same but everything other than the glue was pretty familiar to what I know.  Hmm.  Maybe chemistry works different here?"

"Chemistry?  That's part of alchemy, right?  I'm not really much into that myself.  Way too much to try and remember without being useful enough.  Great for the smarter people who like to do nothing except think all day and stuff."

"Well, we didn't have alchemy.  So, what would happen if you didn't have the glue when you tried to shoot?"

"I don't advise it.  If you're lucky there will be a loud noise and the gun might get a little hot.  More often the entire thing just explodes, though."

"Well, that's weird.  I'll try to remember that, then.  Oh hey, maybe you can figure out something for me.  My belt let's me make mana ammo and one time I tried to make one while using a used casing from a regular round I had fired.  I could tell that something was trying to happen but nothing did."

"Let me see?"

"The whole belt?"

"No, just the casing you tried to use.  I think I might have an idea but I want to make sure."

"Okay.  I can't be sure this is the exact one but it should be almost identical."

"Ah, ya.  I see your problem already.  The kicker has been used but is still there.  Your belt is probably fairly cheap and is using a basic template so when if you have something that makes up for one of the parts it's trying to make it just uses the part you already have.  When it tried to do that for the kicker, though, it saw it as both there and not at the same time since there was something there but it's no longer a usable kicker so the round couldn't form right."

"I see.  So if I pull out the kicker then I can still use the casings."

"Sure.  Would be a bit of a waste, though.  Especially with a cheaper belt like that.  If you put as much of a bullet together as you can first and then use the belt to form whatever you have missing, you'll be getting a lot more out of it.  I have something similar, trust me."

"That kind of makes sense.  Maybe you can help me with that, then.  Oh, ya.  How come several people and books keep saying bows and arrows are better?  In my old world guns kind of made bows obsolete..."

"That's a bit easier to answer.  Your old world didn't even have magic much less the system, right?  Welcome to Aeon.  We have both.  What do you think is better for those in the higher levels?  A ranged weapon that you can use to control the projectiles speed, power, trajectory, and more with just a slight movement of the fingers and a thought or a ranged weapon where all of that is set beforehand and you just have to hope that the next projectile that flies out is what you need for the situation you're in?"

"Well then why would anyone ever use...well I guess handguns could still be good because of portability and shotguns because of the spread.  Why would rifles even be around anymore, though?"

"Same thing, in a sense.  Portability.  I prefer guns myself, remember.  I was just explaining why most people think bows are better.  For me, at least, guns have more benefits.  Rounds take up less room than arrows, you can fire off more of them quicker, and as a counterpoint to those who talk about how they can adjust their shot to the situation I don't have to.  I can use that extra moment I would be taking to consider what adjustments I need to make as well as the next moment where I would do the actual adjusting to instead just get more shots off.  That's most of us who use guns see it, anyways.  It's a trade off."

"So the gun itself has less importance than the rounds, right?  Unlike a bow where both have to be good for the shot to be good."

"No no no.  The gun is important, too.  Enchantments that you want in every shot, accuracy, fire rate, and more are all about the gun over the ammo.  Honestly, even I think it's a little weird for you to have a revolver handgun.  Revolvers can make some okay rifles that could be considered worth it but they're just a novelty as a handgun."

"Really?  I mean, I admit I originally got it just because it was supposedly higher quality than any other choice but I never had a problem with revolvers compared to other guns in my old world.  Maybe people just don't know how to use them as well in Aeon?"

"Pfft.  There's no 'use them as well' about it.  Revolvers are just the same as any other handgun except they take longer to reload and are easier for enemies to interfere with having the rounds exposed like they are."

"Hm?  I'll admit that there are some downsides but I'd be willing to bet that there are some upsides, too.  People probably just thought like you said for so long that they forgot about them.  Even if this is a whole new world...or place or whatever...I doubt the advantages of revolvers from my old world are completely gone."

"The only advantage I've ever heard of or known is that they tend to be a little easier for gunsmiths to make, which makes them tend to be higher quality easier or cheaper.  If you compare any other handgun with a revolver of the same quality, the other handguns will always win."

"Oh?  Want to make a bet?"

"Sure!  What are we betting?"

"I don't know.  I'm doing this more to prove a point.  I don't really have much considering I haven't even been in...or is it on...Aeon for a whole month yet.  I don't even know what I would even want from you much less what would be fair."

"It's in and that's a good point.  I already know I'll win, so it wouldn't be fair if I asked for too much.  How about a favor?  And if you win I'll owe you a favor.  Hells, if you could actually win I'll do you a couple favors as well as owe you one.  So how are you planning to prove it?"

"Well, I have one thing I could probably prove but I doubt we could trust me to be unbiased for it.  Is there some way we can temporarily have basically the same stats and skills for a bit or something?"

"There...might be a way to do that.  If you think you can actually prove it then I can probably get something ready in about a week."

"A week?  Then I might be able to get a few other things ready, too.  Uh, I might have to ask you to get some stuff for me though.  Also, you said guns of the same quality so either I'll have to borrow a revolver as good as-"

"I got that part covered already.  I can even set up a little target range if you want."

"Okay.  With distances that the handguns wouldn't be able to hit accurately."

"Oh, this will be fun.  I knew we were going to be the best of friends!"

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