CH27: Mr. Wheeler

The village let us in without much of a fuss exposing Matt and me to wandering bands of goblins, trolls shopping, and an elfu surrounded by attentive guards. A few monsters gave us a look before turning away, ignoring two tamers among hundreds in the village. We weren't anything special, and by the way, a rank 2 tamer kept his eyes on us and the monsters with wandering eyes, we were under a measure of protection. That, of course, wouldn't come cheap.

Before that, Matt directed Arturia and his mount Jackie to a big store on the edge of the village. Two tamers wearing top-of-the-line battle suits stood at the entrance with their arms crossed.

"If my eyes aren't deceiving me, those are Maverik VIIs, only two models from the top-of-the-line IXs. That's why you can trust this place. They aren't dressing their guards in Sovereign IIs. You can tell by the rounded shoulders, and small wrist-mounted grappling hooks. Maverick Models only sized down after the Vis, and you can't tell they're on the IXs." Matt said.

I preferred the Sovereign models for their blocky but sturdy design, even if their liquid qi costs were outrageous. Unlike the Maverik models, Sovereigns didn't break down as often, and nearly any mechanic could repair them. I thought about buying my own Sovereign when I reached rank 2 and produced my own liquid qi.

One of the guards stopped us. "You guys look a little young to go into a place like this. What's your business here?"

"Mr. Wheeler is expecting us," Matt said, and the men nodded their helmeted heads.

We were close enough to see the small shield relays expanding the protective barriers around them. I felt the fillings on my teeth shift at their proximity. My hair started to stand on end, and I slowly reached for my knife in case this turned into a real fight. They were both rank 1s despite using their own armor. The rank 2 over them supplied the liquid aura their suits needed to run.

"Don't keep Mr. Wheeler waiting, come on in." The guard to the right said with a wave of his hand.

We entered the building and were greeted by an elfu in a maid uniform. Her light complexion, long pointed ears, and wheat-colored hair made her out to be a real beauty. Unfortunately, among elves, she would be considered a subpar waifu. The darker an elfu's hair, the stronger their magic. Light-colored hair meant less magic and more physical skills. While their physical skills were unique, they were also looked down on by elf lords searching for a partner. Often, they were traded to human tamers as rewards for quests, payments for resources, or if a family had too many mouths to feed. Still, the elf waifu looked good in a maid outfit.

"Greetings, young tamers, if you will, please follow me to meet the master." She said.

I walked beside Matt through rows of guns, ammunition displays, and a massive Juggernaut II built for tamers with more primal skill sets. It wasn't the battle suit that got my attention. In the suit's grasp was a Hydra Minigun. Four barrels were ready to rotate and fire delete rounds. Delete rounds were 1.00 rocket-powered rounds with armor piercing and incendiary capabilities. To top it off, a minigun was considered a heavy weapon, so my new skill from Moxie would help deal a little more damage. Add Anti-Health to the equation, and I had the makings of a great weapon.

Then I saw the price tag on the weapon, 3,000,000 credits, and each box of delete rounds was 10,000 credits. What really made my credit card ache was the number of rounds the Hydra could fire in a minute. 5000 rounds a minute with specially enchanted clips that hold 100,000 rounds each. It was a weapon I wanted more than anything, but I didn't have the credits to make it work. After we sold my unmarked guns and sold the day waifus, I might have enough to buy the weapon and a few boxes of ammunition.

But I couldn't justify buying it before I had the skills to make it work. I would be better off buying a Hrunting Model Rifle with a box of delete rounds. The Hydra needed a battle suit to work properly, and I couldn't produce the liquid qi needed to make one work. So, I needed lots of money and two ranks. That wasn't happening soon, but I could start saving by taking on quests I knew would be on the way.

I searched my memories of the message boards for any quests on the way and found a few. We could even go ahead and snag a night attribute while on our way. Once Arturia gave me the Nephilim power skill, I could take on the Qliphoth power skill. Afterward, it would be easy to snag the sephiroth power skill and create one of the strongest body foundations possible. Then when I reach rank 1, my build will really come together. Because I had an idea for my build, and it wasn't an all-rounder wild card. The only way to use the strategy I had in mind was to have the strongest base to build off imaginable.

We walked further into the depths of the gun store, where rows of heavy 8.00 single shot long barrel handheld rifles came into view. Their polished, almost coppery barrels were beyond impressive. And there was a waifu that could use them more effectively than I could even if my strategy worked.

The four most specialized debuff centaurifu fell in my lap, and I wasn't going to squander them. Debuffs had a percent chance even if I had a bunch of them. I didn't have their rank 9 skills and wouldn't for some time, if ever, but with a little luck, I would find the waifu I needed to bridge the gap to add debuffs to guns. From there, all I needed was a round per minute weapon to spray debuffs on enemies. With Raven's skills, there was a chance for curses like Final Countdown, Death, Strange Aeon, Death May Die, and Final Page, Sentence, and Word. Adding those to bullets to be fired in the thousands could topple even something with resistance like legendaries. That's why finding them was great, even if there were other debuff and status effect waifus I could have found. Having the four together was incredible.

We walked into a stuffy enclosed room with a man smoking a cigar. I couldn't sense Mr. Wheeler, which meant he was much higher than rank 5. His actual rank was beyond me.

"Matt, my boy, you came to the right place. For a small fee, I'll take your friend's nasty illegal weapons off his hands and give you a little store credit to replace them." Mr. Wheeler said before pulling a drag from his cigar.

My friend lowered his head, and I copied him. There was no point in making enemies with someone powerful.

"The tamers had their eyes on many of your toys; it was difficult herding them here. It reminded me of your grandson's first visit." Margrett the Elfu said.

"Mr. Zoran, what kind of weapon are you interested in? We have a little bit of everything here, including battle suits and fuel. For the right price, we could find anything you wanted."

Matt gave me a warning look. "I need a Hrunting Rifle heavy with a detachable scope, silencer, a box of delete rounds, Eagle handguns 1.00 with 25 boxes of ammunition, Hrunting Grenades scaled for rank 3s, and a disposable rank 4 rocket launcher. I'm willing to exchange day attribute waifus for the difference."

I heard Matt gnash his teeth while Mr. Wheeler pulled on his cigar. "A man decides, and a slave obeys; those are the words of my family's founder Douglas Arthur Wheeler and they have led my family for generations." The man looked in my eyes for a moment before blowing out a breath of smoke. "You decided instead of following your friend's example. A man decides but also lives with the consequences of their choice. A slave obeys without ever experiencing responsibility. We happen to be shorthanded and need two tamers to join a party under the command of an elf lord."

"Will we have a chance to add a wood attribute waifu to our harems?" I asked.

Matt kicked me under the table while Mr. Wheeler took a hit from his cigar. "We will do what we can to repay the debt we owe for your help," Matt said.

Mr. Wheeler waved us off. "Take what you can but don't let the elves catch you if you snag a dark-haired elfu. You'll accompany Ballad WindSong's party as some extra muscle; keep your mouths shut and follow his instructions, and you'll do fine. You'll look intimidating and shoot who he tells you to shoot. Do the job well, and you'll have a place with the family." Mr. Wheeler said.