Locked and Loaded

"Then that feeling right now…" Luna started. "Yes, that was me doing two level-ups for you. You are now level four." Luna stared at me for a moment before a single tear rolled down her cheek as she had a trembling smile find its way to her lips. Pulling a bit of clean scrap cloth from my Storage, I handed it to her to dry her eyes while waiting to see if she would explain her tears. Seeing the patient yet non-understanding expression currently on my face, Luna sniffled before explaining. "Sorry for worrying you with my tears. That bastard Igraff refused to let me access a stone to level up for the last ten years, so I am just so elated to be moving forward once again in my life finally... especially after all this time."

"Let us take a look at your status. I will tell you what your options are, and then you can decide which you want me to upgrade." I assured Luna. I pulled up her system, informing her that she had 1 Stat Point to invest, as well as 16 Ability Points. Luna quickly chose to invest her new Stat Point into Agility, bringing her total to 15. Next, we looked through her available skills. I used a stick to write them on the ground for her. The first thing she chose as I explained level costs to her was to invest 8 Points in Level 4 of her Spellrod Mastery. I quickly pulled up the tooltip on the Spellrod, as I did not know what it was. It described it as essentially a gun-shaped wand, that using a mana crystal, unleashes precise magical attacks.

For her next ability, she would have enough AP to level one skill to Level 3 or two skills to Level 2. We had narrowed the choices down to three abilities.

Scatter Volley (Level X): The skill holder sweeps their spellrod(s) along a 45-degree trajectory, firing a flurry of standard shots in a cone. Fires (Skill Level) x (Player Level) x 2 shots. Cost 20MP

Overblast (Level X): The skill holder overcharges their spellrod, unleashing a massive blast. Power of shot is equivalent to (Skill Level) x 3 standard shots. Cost 20MP

Backblast (Level X): The skill holder points their spellrods straight down and launches pure mana, bypassing the crystal out of the barrels. The blast launches the user up 3M and back 5M. If an enemy is within 2M of the user when cast, they are stunned for (Skill Level) seconds. Cost 10MP

Luna hmm'd and haw'd for several minutes before finally turning to me, "I know I want two abilities, the first being Scatter Volley. As party leader, I leave it to you to choose the second." Luna then faced forward, crossed her arms and nodded. Confident she just made the right decision by making me have to deal with it.

Scratching the back of my head, I reached a decision. "I would like for you to have Backblast for now so that you have an easy way to disengage in case too many enemies are focusing on you and you need to escape." A light blush tinges Luna's cheeks as she averts her eyes from mine. "You're consideration is quite flattering, Master."

Receiving Luna's consent to proceed, I selected and finalized the discussed choice. I watched as Luna's eyes lost focus, and she swayed a bit on the bench. I prepared to catch her if she lost consciousness. After a few minutes, she returned to her usual self.

"Now, if we find a spellrod for me to use, I will be able to help fight, Master!" Luna chirped, happy to be of greater use to me. "I may have a solution for that. But first, I have another secret ability. I don't know if you have heard of it. It is called Storage, and it allows me to store and retrieve items magically from a hidden place."

"That's incredible! How much can it store? You could be the world's greatest courier or merchant with that ability. And if an adventurer finds out about that, you will be even more desired for the top parties. I have heard that only the very wealthy can afford the magically enchanted Bags of Consequential Volume. These are bags that can hold much more than they should, and when inside, it only weighs a fraction of normal. But those can still be stolen as they have a physical presence."

"Well, you will get to see my skill in action, as I have a gift for you stored in mine right now." I smiled, retrieving the item in question. Luna tried to stop me, "Master, you do not have to give me any-" before she got cut off by her jaw-dropping in surprise. In front of Luna, a mirrored wardrobe just appeared out of a small purple cloud, which had appeared on the ground and moved upwards before vanishing. "Cool, eh?" I asked, much amused by her shocked expression.

I stood, grabbing her by her soft fluffy hand to pull her from her seat. Guiding her by the hand, I maneuvered her into position in front of the mirrored part. As I expected, the mirror flashed once. Then a warm light emanating from the mirror ran its way down over Luna's attractive body.

That's right; I had used my Generic Starter Equipment Set on Luna. Except now, as I examined the cabinet before me, it showed as a Spellslinger Starter Equipment Set (Canus) on my AR display. "Go ahead and open it," I encouraged Luna, who was a bit apprehensive after the light show. Feeling her uncertainty, from my position standing behind her a few steps, I moved forward and guided her hand with my own to the handle of the door. After getting her started, she opened the door on her own and gasped. "How about we get you started with this?" I smirked, showing off as if I had planned it all along. Suddenly I felt a bit winded as the air was squeezed out of me by Luna, giving me an impressive bear hug right around my waist. "Thank you, Master! I will make you the proudest owner ever!"

So excited by her new gear, Luna started taking her hand-me-down shirt off before I had been able to slip away to give her privacy. "Wait for me to look away and give you some privacy!" I choked out, quickly darting to the far side of the cabinet, facing the woods. "Sorry, Master, I did not mean to show you something like that and upset you." I heard the heart-wrenchingly sad words from the other side of the wooden box. "It is not that it upset me, Luna. It was more out of concern for you, as you are a beautiful young woman. I did not want to invade your privacy by watching you change." I explained to her, feeling my heartbeat get a bit fast.

"B-beautiful..." I heard Luna audibly swallow. "Do you truly find me attractive, Master? Even though you are a human and I am a Canus. You do not find my ears and arms and legs repulsive?" She asked in a hoarse whisper, the fear of rejection evident in her voice. "Of course not Luna, I think everything about you is adorable. And for your ears. I have never had to fight back any impulse as much as the one that makes me want to rub your head and ears at all times." I blatantly stated, hoping my admission of guilt would assist in boosting her confidence.

"Eek," I heard come from the girl standing somewhere behind me as air escaped from between her lips, failing to form a word. "You okay?" I asked, making sure the dog-girl was still fine on the other side of the cabinet.

After a long pause, during which I heard a bit of heavy breathing and shuffling clothes, Luna called out, "I am all changed, Master, you can come to see how it looks." Rounding the wardrobe, I spotted Luna in her new get-up. If she was cutesy before, she was sexy now. Layered on top of a form-fitting body glove that ended mid-bicep and mid-thigh was sculpted leather armour that supported and framed her bust, hips and caboose. The goods had never looked better. No, I need to get my mind out of the gutter. I ran my eyes along the other features, including matched leather holsters on both hips, each holding what looked like a pistol version of a blunderbuss. The strange thing about these gun-like devices was that each had a sizeable colourless gem in the open mouth, about the circumference of a rounded end of a chicken's egg.

There were also several small leather pouches along the belt of the outfit, holding who knows what. Very different from my starter kit was the leather circlet she was now wearing. It was designed to assist by keeping her hair back and out of her eyes. To me, though, the most significant benefit was how it accentuated her ever-adorable floppy ears. I walked up to her and examined all her great up close. Then, satisfied with how cool it all looked, I placed my hand on her head, tousled her soft fuzzy ears and said, "You look like you are ready to kick some ass, Luna!"