Gibson

QJ walked through Exodus, leaving after breakfast to check out one of the collector stores in the music district; the streets were surprisingly empty, given that all the Exodus games were closed.

Nestled neatly on the corner of Beethoven and Van Halen Drive, Guitar Heaven was well known for its spot-on replicas of classical guitars. The red cobblestone walkway seemed especially dark, where it slammed into the white walls of QJ's target.

As QJ's gaze fell upon the store, he was immediately struck by the vibrant stained glass windows and the pristine white exterior reminiscent of a grand cathedral. 'If the salesman is dressed in a white robe,' QJ mused, 'it would complete the illusion.' 

"Welcome to Heaven," a grave voice called from behind one of the back-row shelves. "Be right with you." 

The store's four walls were lined three high with all sorts of guitars, and more two-tier shelves spanning the store's width like stripes on a zebra. 

QJ stopped in front of the only glass-cased guitar in the shop. "Oh baby, you're the one, but that price... yowsa." 

"Do you like it?" A middle-aged man wearing a black suit walked forward from the back of the store. "All the guitars in this shop are virtual replicas of the real thing, with guaranteed copyrights. None of these will ever appear anywhere else."

"Right, but 50 million credits?" QJ sighed heavily. 

"I'm Tucker, the owner of this establishment. Do you know the history of this guitar?"

"Sure, it's a replica of Jimmy Page's Double-necked Gibson with 12 strings on the top and six on the bottom." QJ grinned at the man's surprised expression. "Didn't think I knew who Led Zeppelin was?"

"Most kids don't," Tucker said, taking a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiping a fingerprint from the glass case. "You look familiar."

"I'm QJ Riley." The OP leader leaned closer, trying to envision the alterations he could make.

"QJ? You're the kid from OP, Quinn's boy." Tucker grinned from ear to ear. "Is this for him? If he came in and posed with it, I could give you a thirty percent discount." 

QJ shook his head. "It's not for my Dad, but for thirty percent, I'll drag him in here and make him pose. It's for Bo Jangles."

Tucker's smile dropped, and his pupils shrunk to pinpoints. "Don't fuck with me, boy." 

"Is there a problem?" QJ couldn't tell if his Uncle's name was good or bad. 

"My shop... Bo Jangles is going to play a guitar from my shop?" Tucker's voice shook slightly. "The Grandmaster wants this guitar?"

"I'm going to alter it, turn it into a Guitargun, the only one of its kind. It won't change how it sounds, and Uncle Jangles will definitely play it."

"That's right. I watched your Gaia stream; that Swordgun of yours could easily double the price of this guitar." 

"You mean [Roll Credits]?" QJ nodded in agreement.

"Would it be a named weapon? One of those Magnum things?" Tucker asked.

"Magnum Opus? Without a doubt." QJ said confidently. "The price will have to come way down for me to consider it." 

"Can I have replica rights?" Tucker brought up his hud and began running numbers. 

QJ chuckled. "Can you claim that on the replica of an altered replica?"

Tucker nodded. "Once it's altered and named, the provenance on replicas is broken. Usually, that's really bad, but in this case, we start a new provenance."

"And the price?" QJ asked. 

"Eight million credits," Tucker replied. "With the new provenance and copyrights included in the payment."

[OP: Ringo] Where are you?

[OP: QJ] Coughing up a lung in Heaven's Guitar Shop.

[OP: Ringo] How big of a lung?

[OP: QJ] Eight million credits.

[OP: Ringo] That's a big lung.

[OP: QJ] We started at 50 million.

QJ nodded. "I'll take it. Have it delivered to the Songbird." 

QJ left the shop after paying for the double-necked Gibson, his thoughts wandering from everything to inner mechanisms to ammo. "It has to be something light and minimal caliber." 

Less than a minute later, QJ brought up his hud and keyed Remmy's ID.

"QJ!" Remmy's bright pink hair was standing up in typical fashion. "I saw Angel today! She said she ate your dog."

QJ laughed. "It's a wolf. If you have a blueprint for a needle gun, I'd really like to see it."

"Needlegun?" Remmy's dimples deepened. "Leah used one years ago before she upgraded. I did copy the schematic; let me see. I'll link the stats first." 

[Pins and Needles]

Needlegun: Heroic

Description: Requires a

Ephryn Cartridge. Bracer

can fire five times before

reloading.

Additional Effect: Damage to

eyes from Pins and Needles is

permanent. 

QJ grimaced at the weapon but smiled widely when he received the schematic from Remmy. "This I can work with, but I'll drop the Ephryn Cartridges."

"What are you making?" Remmy asked. 

"A Guitargun," QJ answered. 

Remmy's eyes grew round. "A Guitargun? C-Can I help?"

"I'll need a place to work," QJ pursed his lips slightly. His shop and all his tools would be closed. 

"My shop!" Remmy clapped her hands excitedly. "You can work in my shop!" The gnome's cute face turned as pink as her hair. "What do you need?" 

"Sakri steel, some of the wax from the Bee caves, and crystals. Do you still have the samples I sent?" When QJ gained his Kingslayer title, he discovered two essential items: wax that virtually eliminated all sound vibrations and crystal that significantly amplified sound. 

Remmy nodded. "Yes. I went back a few weeks later and collected more but haven't found a use for it yet."

"We're golden. I have class until 1500. Want to meet in Ravenwood when I'm finished?"

Remmy gave him the thumbs up. "Our first project together!" The pink-haired gnome waved and shut down her hud.

"Hey!"

QJ glanced to his left, spotting a group of Exodus Academy students wearing red jackets. A woman with rainbow-colored hair offered a friendly smile, so QJ responded with a greeting. "Morning." 

The familiar foursome of Roman, Rori, Ella Yi, and Galaxia narrowed the distance between them until they were walking together. 

"Looks like you're coming from downtown. Were you shopping?" Galiaxia's bright smile nearly outshone her hair. 

QJ shook his head. "Meeting one of my mistresses."

Three of the group stared at QJ like he was serious, while Galaxia laughed like he had said something funny. 

"It's funny because it's probably true," Galaxia noted. "I got to know most of the Songbirds pretty well last night. Those are some awesome chicks."

"They have their moments," QJ deadpanned. 

"Have you made any stock slinger weapons?" Roman waited until there was a pause in the conversation before asking. "We've seen a lot of your work in class, but it seems so elaborate and often dual-purposed."

QJ shook his head slightly. "One of our early raids secured a large cache of high-level armor and weapons. I have yet to do much work for the guild regarding stock weapons; mostly, it's been ammo."

"Freeze, Fire, AoE rounds, Grappling Rounds," Roman cataloged some of QJ's recent munition achievements. "Just the freeze and grappling rounds give substantial crowd control."

QJ raised an eyebrow, sensing something suspicious. "You guys are well informed. What did you mean when you said you've seen my work?"

"It's in Damon's QJ catalog," Galaxia laughed at the look on QJ's face. "It lists everything you've ever made, even the early trial weapons." 

"QJ catalog?" QJ felt a cringe moment approaching, but he headed it off by changing the subject. "I hope to open a Gunsmith shop in Exodus soon."

Roman stared open-mouthed for a moment before snapping his teeth shut. "Prices for lots in Exodus are crazy high. Even the Academy can't afford one."

"True," QJ acknowledged. Even with several windfalls, including dragon flame, mineral oil, black market shops, the casino, and his monthly stipend from OP and the crown, QJ would still come up short in that kind of purchase. Anna kept the lion's share of his funds invested within Obreen's Corporate interests and Exodus's virtual investments. "I'm hoping to partner up in some capacity with an existing shop." 

QJ parted ways with the 2nd years when he entered the Exodus Academy, making a short detour to check on Scorch. A familiar form was moving into the empty stall on the other side of Lotte's horse, Viento. "Don't we have stable hands for faculty?"

Ringo grinned at her Ace. "Yeah. I was riding this morning, so just giving him a good rub down."

"Well, there's nothing like a good rub down." QJ stepped onto the rail and leaned over Scorches stable gate, scratching the stallion's ears. "Did you talk to the Academy Board?"

Ringo nodded. "They're lodging a formal complaint. The [Red Player] fiasco will become a huge deal, QJ. Not only with the LAI Accords but also with manipulation and confidentiality violations; these are things that none of the top guilds will tolerate."

"I think so, too," QJ agreed. Devs had an inside track to data no one else had; using it to stage a publicity stunt was unacceptable. "Maybe it was purposeful; they expect a slap on the wrist but, in return, manage to spotlight the [Red Player] patch." 

"You could be right." Ringo rubbed down her mount, chatting with QJ until it was time for classes to start.

QJ glanced sideways at the OP Guild leader. "Did you know Damon has a catalog on me?"

Ringo laughed and nodded. In Damon's position, she would have done the same thing. "Dessi has one, too, but hers is less organized."

"Why don't I already know this?" QJ shook his head slightly. "We don't see Dessi much nowadays."

Tasked with heading the Branch OP Guild in Basara and building up the infrastructure in an undeveloped continent, Dessi was busy. 

"Can we make a change to today's curriculum?" QJ asked.

Ringo nodded. "We're slotted for the mount instruction, barrel racing, cross-country expedition, and track sprints. We'll be with the 2nd years again today. Damon won't appreciate us canceling."

"I don't want to cancel. Let's train the wolf pack." QJ held the door for Ringo as they entered the Academy. Their booted feet and spurs echoed on the tiled floor. "I'll need Dessi's wolf. Could you have her bring it here?"

Ringo grinned. "Fen would keep the rest of the pack in check."

"For sure," QJ agreed. Until he addressed the matter of Fenrir's status, QJ wouldn't bring him into Exodus. "Unfortunately, he's a puppy..."

Ringo chuckled and stopped outside their classroom. "Dessi usually pops into the faculty office before heading to Basara. I'll talk with her."

QJ glanced at the time; class started in 15 minutes. "Do you want me to get things started?"

 "It's like we use the same brain," Ringo replied.

"In that case, let's use my brain." QJ busted out laughing, "HAHAAHAH."

Ringo nodded in agreement. "Why are you laughing so hard?"

"That came out wrong," QJ admitted, still chuckling when he entered the classroom.

A few minutes later, the rest of the 1st year class began trickling in. No one thought to question QJ's presence behind the podium since he had already established himself as the class leader. After taking roll call, he informed them of the adjustment they were making.

[OP: Sato] No! My wolf is crazy! And he likes to pick fights.

[OP: Breeze] Mine has narcolepsy. 

[OP: Enju] Not good, QJ. Unless you're bringing the pup!

[OP: QJ] Nope. Let's head outside.

"What's going on?" Damon's dark face showed his disapproval. None of the 1st years had their mounts and were standing around waiting while the 2nd years were ready to go.

"Nothing," QJ replied. 

[OP: QJ] Summon your mounts.

An instant later, chaos erupted. Several wolves bolted while others began fighting. A few charged into the second-year ranks, scattering their horses. 

[OP: QJ] Grab your mount by the scruff and pull until you have eye contact. Don't yell or shout; calmly stroke his head. 

Sato's wolf latched onto the scout's arm with his teeth and started shaking him like a ragdoll.

[OP: QJ] Don't fight back or run, Sato. Get back on your feet and grab him, like I said.

When Ringo left the building a few minutes later, most wolves were calmed somewhat, including Breeze's mount, who was sleeping soundly. 

"What the hell is that?" QJ stared at the wolf Ringo was leading. It had to be Dessi's since the OP Guild leader's was black.

[OP: Lotte] Pretty. 

Ringo walked the wolf to QJ and handed it over with a smile. "Her name is Flame."

QJ placed a hand on the wolve's thick fur, rubbing its forehead gently. "Where did you get this coloring?" If not for Flame's size and shape, QJ would have guessed she was a fox. It had a striking orange-red coat with white underbelly and black tips on its ears and tail.

Damon frowned at the group of 1st years. "We're heading out."

[OP: QJ] Mount up.

QJ swung easily onto the red wolf's back. Instead of bolting or shying away, Flame's ears flicked forward, its keen eyes following the running horses.

"Doesn't that look good?" QJ grinned at the fleeing riders and leaned over Flame's neck. "It's dinner time. Get 'em, Flame. Go get 'em."

Flame shot forward like a bolt of lightning, her howl causing the rest of the pack's ears to prick forward. A moment later, the rest of the pack followed, the sounds of the hunt carrying on the wind as their soft padded feet tore up the distance between themselves and the 2nd years.

[OP: Sato] Hey. We're moving. 

[OP: Enju] We hunting something?

[OP: Ringo] Sure looks that way.