Earl then looked at as he stroked his beard. His eyes although aged had a powerful presence in them. After a mont of silence he asked in a fatherly tone.
"Are you in so kind of trouble John? You have always been a good boy. 10 grand is twice as much as this place makes in a day so that's fine. But until you tell why, I cannot agree. Do you need help?"
Even though I had a crappy family, it was thanks to presence of kind people around that did I not grow up a complete asshole. Earl had been the closest thing I had to a father figure.
While my old man would drink himself to death, he would work two to three jobs just to save up. All so his children got to go to a good college.
"I am sorry Mr. Simmons. I appreciate your concern but this is my problem," I declined sternly.
With how dangerous IRIS and Trinity were I couldn't drag Earl into the world of reapers. Yet my 6'5'' father figure approached and placed his large hand over my shoulder.
"John, don't say such bullshit, you are practically a son to . And although I couldn't ddle in your family matters, you do not have to face everything alone."
Earl's warm voice and strong presence granted stability during my darkest days. When he noticed I spent all my ti at the range he even gave free rounds just because. People like him were the reason society had yet to collapse.
"I appreciate the offer Mr. Simmons but allowing to use the range without anyone noticing is the greatest assistance you could give ."
"Well, a man's got to clean up after himself. That would be the only way to get strong enough to protect what you hold dear, I understand. Here are the keys, lock up and return them to when you're done."
Ecstatic at his acceptance of my deal I pulled out my phone about to transfer the money when he grabbed my phone and forced it down.
"Keep it son. I don't know what you are going through, but I do know you are not one to play gas. Your eyes already told all I needed to know. I am tight with the owners, I will just call-in sick today. You do what you need to."
Ugh, unknowingly tears started to fall from my eyes. In his own way this man always made feel I wasn't alone. My voice got struck in my throat as I struggled to utter a reply to him. Earl then embraced in a bear hug while patting my back.
"Whatever you are going through, just rember two things son. One, you must keep standing. That is the only way to protect anything. Just keep standing you hear? And two, no matter what happens know you always have a place under my roof."
I nodded silently as I tried to get my feelings under control. These past two days my feelings have been all over the place. Used to pain and suffering I was caught of guard by his kindness. I moved to Tempe over eight years ago, yet this man made feel like I never left.
Earl Simmons then got in his car and drove away without looking back. Despite our conversation being less than ten minutes long I felt more comfort than even an entire night of sleep.
Humans were truly social creatures. Left alone I wiped away my tears as I entered the gun range before locking the front door and putting up the sign "closed".
The Phoenix Rod & Gun Club had a simple layout. It had few anities but basically you had a huge area with nothing but gravel and dirt on it. This empty space would be where people would unload bullets in.
The isolated nature of this gun range allowed for unobstructed training. In here you didn't need to care about being too loud or your bullets injuring soone.
"{Withdraw} Armory."
At my command all the holsters and guns attached themselves onto my body. The ones originally in the duffel bag appeared in the bag complete with all the ammunition and grenades. I still had over 3500 souls even after my practice this morning.
Skimping on training now will only bite back in the ass so I intended to leave the minimum for battle and use all the rest today.
I clipped the PACT Club Shot Tir III I got from the service desk on my pants. This shooting tir accurately asured up to within a few thousandths of a second.
Also unlike regular tirs these also had the ability to start their count downs the mont it heard a gunshot. It then continues to listen and when the gunshots stop, the ti would be the asurent for the entire set. This was extrely useful to check the speed and accuracy of a shooter in competitive and combat scenarios.
I would need such asurents for the things I want to train today. First, I needed to organize the {fates} I had on into groups. Repeatedly chanting five or more {fates} was beyond stressful. I had to figure out a way to shorten it. Sothing like a soldiers load out in FPS gas would suffice.
If I needed to defend, I would load defensive {fates}. Likewise, if I needed to close combat, I would call {fates} that help in agility and sensory perception. I planned to create a {Kist} that allows to bunch them up together.
Second, I wanted to test drawing and storing guns into my subspace. I did a couple of tries as a base and each gun took around four seconds to manifest. That might sound short but in combat, a lot could happen in four seconds. The delay from thought to {fate} probably also contributed to this latency.
Finally, I needed to know the limits of my abilities. From how long I could fight to how long till my guns broke from strain. What scenarios would I pull which gun for and what order do I use them in also needed so thought. None of the questions had simple answers but hopefully by the end of the day I would.
In the heat of the gun range I stepped forward facing away from the store and looked at my {fates}.
___
{Rewind} 00:00:00
{Save} 00:00:00
{Auto} 00:19:07
- {Reload} 00:00:00
- {Regen} 00:00:00
Souls Available : 3,517
{Fate} Level 3
Souls needed for evolution: 5,000
{Fates} Active
1. {Code} 709:28:23
- {Connect} 338:28:23
- {Shutdown} 146:28:23
2. {Perceive} 348:28:23
- {Aim} 348:28:23
- {Snipe} 348:28:23
3. {Listen} 348:15:43
- {Interpret} 348:15:43
- {Dampen} 348:15:43
4. {Withstand} 338:21:56
- {Endure} 338:21:56
- {Counter} 146:41:34
- {Suffer} 146:41:34
5. {Carry} 348:07:11
- {Pack} 348:07:11
- {Hike} 348:07:11
6. {Eat} 348:39:26
- {Gather} 348:39:26
- {Digest} 348:39:26
7. {Store} - 152:31:52
- {Retrieve} 152:31:52
- {Stock} 152:31:52
- {Withdraw} 152:31:52
{Kindred}
N/A
{Kist}
- {Identify} = {Code} {Perceive} {Listen}
- {Loot} = {Identify} {Gather}
- {Expose} = {Code} {Perceive} {Gather}
- {Sight} = {Interpret} {Endure} {Aim} {Pack}
___
Good grief this was getting too cluttered. I now had eight {fates} with over twenty abilities between them. The loan periods also clearly indicated which ca from blood and which from saliva.
"Let's try to clean up a bit. Code, organize the fate by family, owner, and convert the durations in to days instead of hours if its longer than a day. Do not show how the {Kists} are made unless I ask for it. Also try to make is easier to read."
I then felt a jolt of electricity in my brain as the status screen disappeared. After about twenty seconds a more compact screen showed up.
___
{Rewind} Lvl 3
Ready: {Save}, {Rewind}, {Reload}, {Regen}
Cooldown: {Auto} Ready in 18 M
Souls Available: 3,517 | To evolve: 5,000
{Fates} on loan
Expiring in 29 days
1. {Perceive} | Lvl 3 | Owner: Jas |Sub: {Aim}, {Snipe}
2. {Listen} | Lvl 3 | Owner: Jo | Sub: {Interpret}, {Dampen}
3. {Carry} | Lvl 3 | Owner: Robyn | Sub: {Pack}, {Hike}
4. {Eat} | Lvl 3 | Owner: Aki | Sub: {Gather}, {Digest}
Expiring in 14 days
1. {Code} | Lvl 3 | Owner: Bella |Sub: {Connect} , {Shutdown}
2. {Withstand} | Lvl 3 | Owner: Liv | Sub: {Endure}, {Counter} Sup:{Suffer}
3. {Store} | Lvl 4 | Owner: Lilly | Sub: {Retrieve}, {Stock}, {Withdraw}
{Kindred} : N/A
{Kist} : {Identify} | {Loot} | {Expose} | {Sight}
___
"Wow, well done Code! This is way easier to read."
So, talking to your {fates} actually worked? I thought I could only do that to {Rewind} since it belonged to . But it seed that the {fates} were sohow sentient.
'Let's check if that was true,' I said in mind.
"Store, I need a way to shorten the ti it takes you to get and hide my guns."
As if to answer I then felt a burning sensation on my neck as two {Kist} got downloaded into my mind. They were nad {Draw} and {Sheathe}.
{Draw} which combined {Retrieve}, {Carry} and {Endure}. As the {Store} family was based on weight, {Carry} reduced the pulling ti even further, while {Endure} reduced the strain on my body. Likewise, the second {Kist} {Sheathe} used {Store} alongside the sa combo.
"Perfect that is exactly what I wanted. {Draw} P30L."
Less than a second later the HK P30L appeared in my hands the best part? Despite being a {Kist} It only used 1 soul! {Kist} were generally more expensive than {fates} in terms of cost.
"{Sheathe}, You guys are amazing. Now I want you to create load outs for . I want one specialized for defense, speed, and offense. It would also help if you can do sothing about the soul costs too."
Less than a second later I felt a searing heat from my soulgem like I got branded with a hot iron. The blood in my entire body started to simr causing to feel like I was being burned alive.
In imnse pain I crumpled to the ground gasping for air. The eight {fates} in my body forged themselves anew as I was being tortured.
After the ordeal finished, I couldn't help but smiling from the {Kist} I acquired.
"You guys are the best," I praised in admiration.
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