I woke up my body feeling stiff, a woolen blanket was draped over my shoulders I shrugged it off and let it fall to the floor.

On the table where I had slept was a hunk of bread, still fresh and warm, beside it lay a small dish filled with creme and a glass filled with some kind of fruit juice.

as I was eating I saw the irritating flicker or the notification icon in the corner of my vision with a wave I saw the icon hovering beside the inbox and missions tab the inbox was my reward from the mission before. In missions was a new item

Scholar's Vice

Clear condition: rewards for ever 1MB worth of written or analyzable data

Failure condition: failure is impossible

description: Ooooooh that's the stuff

reward: 1 essence, 1 exp, dirty needle x1, burnt spoon x1

penalty: none

Time limit: none

first tinfoil hats and now this shit....

the system better not be trying to get me into heroin

continuing to chow down on the bread I tried to remember any notable aspects of the Thompson

It was a reliable weapon, but heavy. That makes it a bad weapon on the move but the spacial ring affords me some options for carrying it, even with enhanced strength its no a weapon I can just wave around, the drum magazines were fragile so the box magazines ended up being preferred by military personnel.

the Thompson came with a 20 round box magazine, it was also unloaded

checking the updated store left me disappointed, the weapons in the store didn't have any weapons manufactured past the mid 1920's the Thompson I received wasn't even there thankfully magazines were but only 20 round ones and there was a purchase limit of three

Item: Thompson sub-machine gun box mag (20 round)

Price: 1,300 essence (provisional price , provisional purchase limit of 3)

Type: accessory

Manufacturer: Auto-Ordnance Company

Composition: Steel

Description: Sturdy magazines for a sturdy gun these were the stock magazines that came with the base model Thompson sub-machine gun these were made by the Auto-Ordnance Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut

I opted to purchase the magazines and bullets after all 1911 handguns are chambered for the same cartridge, stocking up now was a good option

Item: .45 ACP steel ball military ordinance (600 rounds)

Price: 750 essence

Type: consumable

Manufacturer: Evansville Ordinance Plant, Indiana

Composition: Steel, Brass, rubber, smokeless gunpowder

Description: A standard can of military ammunition manufactured in The Evansville Ordinance Plant, was originally a Chrysler automobile factory but in response to the need for small arms ammunition this factory was converted in order to produce bullets for soldiers on the ground. The Evansville Ordinance Plant most notably produced billions of 45 ACP rounds for the colt M1911

I opted to buy 4 cans of ammunition for another 3,000 essence, wiping out over half of the reward I just received despite the inherent disadvantages of the Thompson sub-machine gun it far outclassed anything else I would own in the foreseeable future, even if it burns through bullets it provides me with a some much needed rapid fire and suppression that the 1911's wont be able to match when I get them.

But my experience as a shooter and gun enthusiast told me I needed 2 more items I crossed my fingers and looked through the store

Reloading press

Price: 2,000 essence

Type: Tool

Composition: Tool steel, rubber

Description: A must have tool for any reloader

Reloading die (.45 ACP)

Price: 500 essence

Type: Tool

Composition: Heat resistant enchanted mithril, rubber, oak

Description: Reloading die for .45 ACP

in the shop I found a no brainier item purchase while looking for the other items

Armory

Price: 1,000 essence

Type: System Tool

Use and Features: organize and reload magazines and ammunition , and store system weapons and equipment for automated maintenance

Description: while often unusable in combat the system provides various logistic services for the users convenience

I was left with 3,400 essence by the time all of my purchases were tallied but In return I took all of the necessary steps to leave the flintlocks behind and start using automatic weapons

finishing my breakfast I took a look at the Thompson it weighed a good 10 pounds, just enough to slow a person down, it was certainly heavy enough to prohibit mobile one handed use so gun kata isn't an option.

putting it in my new spatial ring and storing the ring in the system I got up from the chair and folded the blanket before putting it in the chair

Surly I need a spell model that is easy to carve and will provide a holistic improvement to a bullets performance without changing its nature too much, and a cheap but suitable material to match

Calculating Please wait.....

3 candidates

Anti coagulation

Element: Blood,

Description: causes profuse bleeding around the bullet

note: this requires some low level spatial runes, connection will be lost if a certain distance is exceeded this distance is dependent on the users mastery of hemomancy

recommended material: Blood Iron

Wind Blessing (modified)

Element: wind

Description: surround an object in wind elementium negating air resistance and increasing velocity

Note: a simple solid enchantment applicable to almost all magic items not related to flight

recommended material: Gale Copper

Water shock (modified)

Element: water

Description: excite the water elementium in the surrounding area, can be highly effective on lower level organisms with a high water content in their body, ineffective in damaging organisms capable of controlling the energies within their bodies, but it can prove a useful or even fatal distraction, this is only the case if the item remains within the targets body

Note: This enchantment is an offensive adaptation of the water-shock enchantment which is normally used to drive fish into nets by causing them discomfort

recommended material: Refined Aqua Ore

The system showed some diagrams and displayed some a rundown of the properties of the materials

taking a look at the diagrams I asked surly "could you print these by any chance"

Ding!

System has reached a conclusion in regards to the user

Ding!

The system has determined that the user is an asshole

"Oh, Still sore about the printer thing, huh"

"just print the damn diagrams"

System preparing to print.....

retreiving process...

Processing PTSD....

instantiate object {Tears}= True

{user.Blackheartedness} > {vector.density of: the core of {Object.SupermassiveBlackHole}}= True

"oh and use some period appropriate paper will you"

:{

after all the shit the system put me through, I felt the need to kick it while it's down, after all if I let it get cocky who knows what will happen, the blasted thing gave me a death threat over some books, and now its acting like a spoiled child. hopefully this will take it down a few notches. I made a note to myself to print more things in the future.

Looking at the materials and diagrams all of the enchantments seemed sound so I decided to check with the Professor.

"Ah blood, have you found out what you need for a suitable first project, let me look"

I gave him the three diagrams I printed through the system

"this design, is this yours or did someone give you this"

The professor had the water shock diagram in his hand

"It's mine, why"

the professors face was still a bit pale

"it's a brutal way to kill something, cruel doesn't even begin to describe it, this spell literally tears the target apart from the inside out, you surprised me"

"Its a common spell and fairly easy to re purpose I'm sure I'm not the only one to think of this"

"that's what's so terrifying about it, but it's also a good mindset to have, sometimes winning comes down to just how merciless your willing to be"

"that doesn't sound like something a teacher should say"

"its because of the things I've seen that I can say that, One thing I know for certain is that mankind's capacity for wickedness is without equal. It's the only reason civilization has reached this point is because of the evil we are capable of exhibiting"

"I will not lecture you on morals, the high ground is soaked with blood, always is, I'm telling you that because I don't want to see you die pointlessly for the sake of some hollow honor or moral convention Like my students did all those years ago"

"The high road is what you make of it Blood, toying with an opponent is a good way to get yourself killed, every move should be made with the intent to kill, you should think ten steps ahead, while seizing the moment"

"you sound like you've seen war"

"I haven't but I've spent my entire life making weapons, Blood do you know the other name that enchanters bear"

"no"

"The Merchants of Death, you can dress it up as a noble pursuit of knowledge, but enchanting often means making powerful weapons of mass destruction more often than anything else"

"When you become an enchanter you WILL have blood soak your hands, the only difference is that be get to choose whose blood it is, this choice is made in the form of weapons, a good weapon means routing the enemy, a malfunction or overestimation of our items capabilities means a miscalculation by our general and the loss of countrymen. Like soldiers our skills are often tempered in the fires of war, the weapons we make decide who lives and who dies."

"Start with the water shock then move on to the others I will show you the process once and guide you through the process"

"show me the base Item if you have it"

I pulled out the 45 caliber bullet and removed the projectile,

"It will be identical to this I plan for it to be a low cost one time use magic Item, so we need a small and cost efficient spell battery."

"who said you needed to splurge on a spell battery, if its just a disposable item you just need something to provide an influx of appropriate energy, mana gems would serve that purpose, they aren't good for much except for exploding out with energy anyways"

"In that case If I could find a way to stamp the etching i could make a large number of them, but aren't those incredibly unstable"

"Only when exposed to mana or when activated in some other way, , so I can help you with that no problem, is this the path of enchanting you plan to take, my entire career has been spent trying to find ways to supersede the spell battery, you're looking at the foremost expert when it comes to finding ways around this particular issue "

"Stamping on the other hand is something that I am familiar with, the items made with them wont last long but your decision to treat magic items as disposable tools makes this approach entirely viable. though admittedly most people would think this approach is absolutely insane considering the typical cost of enchanted equipment,, something this luxurious is unheard of"

" I will accept any help you can provide"

"Good, but before I teach you stamping, you still need to learn the basics of engraving, building the mold for the stamp requires this as a prerequisite after all"

"Alright, I'll follow your lead"

The professor let out a laugh tinged with a bit of mania, the laugh of someone who has embraced their inner madman, it was unnerving and chilling, the sounds emitted by this ordinary old man gave one the urge to run for the hills.

"you are the first student, I've taught like this, forty years ago I would have thrown you out over that spell formation, any respectable teacher would have. But I know better now... come, come I will teach you how to ride the pale horse, for that is our craft"