82 Shrae's Request

QJ continued to ignore his buzzing hud; Robin and his family would come to his shop if there was an emergency. 

Over the next two hours, he finished the push blade. Possibly because of its simplicity, it had only achieved Grand Master quality. After that, he knocked four of the [Incisor] rifles made from Waylo Maelstrom's blueprint. The genius of that weapon was that it was made with all standard parts. He managed to add range and a few bonuses by swapping in higher-quality parts.

QJ held the black leather belt in hand, extending it to the maximum length of 25 inches. The push blade doubled as the belt buckle and could quickly be drawn. A knock at his shop door interrupted his train of thought; it pushed open to reveal a familiar face. 

"You've been busy, QJ."

"Hey, Dixie."  QJ smiled at his visitor. 

"Dixie? Why not Annabelle?" 

"A woman named Anna helped raise me, and my first sexual experience was with someone named Belle. This lessens the confusion since you're the only Dixie I know."

"Acceptable. Dixie it is." She favored him with a lazy smile. "You've been summoned by the House of Lords."

"Since when do you work for the House of Lords?" QJ frowned at the statement. "Besides that, I'm too busy." 

Surprisingly, Dixie seemed pleased by QJ's answer. "I don't work for them; I was merely passing on a message as a favor." 

"Stand still," QJ reached around her waist and secured the belt he had made. After a quick adjustment, he clasped it. "What do you think?"

Dixie smiled sexily. "You should adjust it a bit more."

QJ snorted. "Nice try. Wait here." 

He walked to the corner of his shop, where a targeting dummy had been attached to a wooden stand. With little effort, he dragged it to the center of the room. "Approach."

Dixie's amber-colored eyes were filled with curiosity. "Shouldn't we relax on the couch? We could come up with some 'firsts' of our own.

QJ shook his head. "No time for that. Draw the weapon."

Dixie gave him a blank look. "What weapon?"

"What kind of operative are you?"  QJ gripped her belt buckle and pulled, exposing a five-inch steel dagger. "Take it."

"A hidden blade?" Dixie accepted the blade. "Sharp, but the handle is odd." 

"Give it to me," QJ gripped the horizontal handle; the five-inch blade protruded dangerously between his pointer and middle fingers. "Like this!"

He punched the dummy, and the blade stabbed through the hardened surface until his fist made contact. An instant later, the target flew across the room and bounced off the far wall. 

"What the hell?"  Dixie stared at the target, following QJ when he approached it. There was a small, smoldering hole through the center of it. "It's a gun?"

"It's called a push blade. I modified it to fire a single round." QJ showed her the spring-loaded breech, where she could load a 45-caliber round.

Dixie held out her hand, snapping her fingers when QJ smiled lazily. "Give it... Let me take a proper look." 

[Push-Blade] Grand Masterpiece

Single Shot: Swagger 

Description: A razor-sharp dagger perfect for close-quarter fighting. This weapon will always score an Exposed Wound Critical Hit when used. 

Additional Bonuses Armor Piercing, Bleeding Wound.

QJ stood the practice dummy back up and repositioned it in the center of the room. "What do you think?" 

Dixie inserted the dagger back into the belt sheath. "The name is horrifying." 

"What? That's a great name..." 

She approached the dummy; this time, she gripped the blade and punched with a single motion; a moment later, the target was blasted across the room. 

Dixie stared at the smoking dummy while reloading the swagger. "I can think of at least a half dozen times where this would have come in handy in the past year." 

"Perfect," QJ moved the target to its original location in the corner of his shop. 

"Thank you, QJ." Dixie replaced the weapon in the belt and followed him back to his workbench, where he started cleaning up. Unexpectedly, she hugged him from behind.

"What does the House of Lords want?"

Dixie released her grip. "You've created 4 Magnum Opus. I'm sure it's about commissioning your work." 

"Hard pass," QJ replied.

"May I see the Crimson Thorn?"  Dixie asked. 

QJ shrugged helplessly. "It was a gift to a friend who broke their weapon. I already sent it to her." 

"A gift?" Dixie's eyes widened. "You could have easily sold that to one of the Lords for 10 million credits." 

"Doesn't matter. If it keeps one of my friends safe, it's worth it."  QJ walked her to the door, pausing when he remembered something. "Just a sec."

QJ opened his hud and displayed a map of the lake Baron Schrae owned on every other server. "Who owns this property?"

Dixie tilted her head sideways. "Why the interest? Baron Schrae is seeking to purchase it from the crown. He claims he already had a deal to buy it."

"The crown owns it?"  QJ asked.

Dixie shook her head. "It was part of Morbin's holdings, which are currently tied up by a half dozen different claimants." 

"The crown has the power to award it?"

Dixie nodded. "Since technically, Morbin was an enemy of the state, none of his relatives would protest if they lost a small part. Besides  that, the land butts up against Schrae's property, and he's a very influential person." 

"I want it." QJ waited for a reaction, but Dixie's expression was unreadable, as expected. 

"May I ask why?"

"Sure. I want to create a Water Park." 

Dixie narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure what that is, but I can tell you the queen wouldn't deny you." 

"Please pass that on for me."  QJ grinned suddenly. 

"Fine," Dixie raised on her tiptoes and kissed his face. "Thank you for the swagger." 

"See? You like the name!" 

[OP: QJ] Going to grab some lunch. Made a new sniper rifle for our Riders; feel free to pick them up at my shop when I return. 

He took a moment to link the weapons. 

[Incisor] (Masterpiece)

+200 Damage, +200 Range

Increased Chance of Critical Hits.

Headshots result in double damage.

Chance to ignore Armor.

Description: This Sniper Rifle with Night Optics can hit targets up to 2 miles away. The first hit is always critical.

Additional Description: Optic Scope ignores stealth capabilities.

QJ exited his room's VR chamber a few seconds later and stretched his hands high overhead. He could hear talking from the kitchen. Sato peeked in shortly after. 

"Ordered some sandwiches from Dela Rays; should be here soon." 

"Perfect," QJ replied. "We can eat by the pool."

Lotte heard the conversation from her room. "Want to help me before the food comes?" She asked through the closed door.

QJ stood in the walkway between their rooms, smiling at her shut door. "Need any help now?"

There was a slight pause. "And if I said yes?"

QJ shrugged at the no-brainer, "I'd walk right in and give you a hand." 

"Oi! Help me get changed, too, QJ!" Breeze was standing at the rail, already wearing a white, one-piece swimsuit.

"Ask Sato!" 

Sato, Wu, Breeze, and Nina watched from the poolside ten minutes later. Lotte had just finished a set of water exercises and was leaning heavily on QJ while she caught her breath. 

Nina fiddled with a strand of her purple hair. "This part doesn't resemble any workout I know."

Sato hadn't taken his eyes off them. "More like making out." 

Lotte laughed against QJ's ear. "I continue to tarnish your otherwise sterling reputation."

QJ splashed some water at the group watching. "He's mad because we crashed the Legends server without him." 

"Damn you guys!"  Sato had his head down on the table. "I could have gone!" 

Breeze laughed heartlessly at him. "We didn't have a jetpack small enough to fit a halfling player." 

Lotte moved away from QJ and began treading water again. "Did you tell him the best part?"

Sato looked at the tall girl sitting next to him; for some reason, she loved teasing him. "Better than the stack of loot?" 

Breeze ignored him while she tied up her hair. 

"Tell me!" 

Breeze stood up and walked to the pool's edge before looking back at him. "Well... we've been given permanent access to Ravenwood."

Wu watched them interact with each other. He had it figured out already. Breeze liked Sato; he was the only one she never flirted with. "You guys deserve it." 

The sandwiches came a few minutes later, and the small group sat beside the pool to eat. Sato's face was already red from the Vegas sun, even though he hadn't been outside long.

Breeze shook her in amazement. "You should wear a hat, Sato. You're going to look like a lobster."

Sato had mashed both halves of his sandwich together and was eating them simultaneously. "Hats mess up my hair."

Nina laughed at the comment, her eyes moving to the pile of curly red hair on his head. "Oh... You're serious?" 

Wu brought up his hud and pulled up footage from their raid on Falcon's Pride, "I posted this about an hour ago; three million views already." 

"I asked Dixie about the Lake area that Baron Schrae dammed up on the Legends server. She said he doesn't own it yet but had a deal to purchase it from Morbin." 

"I'm curious to know who among his relatives has the best claim on Morbin's holdings." Wu speculated. "I bet Schrae already approached them." 

QJ nodded in agreement. "Dixies says he asked the crown to award it to him." 

Wu took a bite out of his sandwich. "And how did you reply?"

QJ gave him a deadpan look. "I said sure, just give it to him."

Wu laughed at QJ's face. "You asked for it."

"Yep," QJ didn't deny the obvious. "I might be all wrong about the Dragon Blood, but we can always sell it to Schrae later."