The One Luna

While everybody was preparing, Luna utilized this time to install Rank 3 Upgrading Stations and Rank 3 Equipment Modification Stations. As long as people had the money for it, they could upgrade and modify their weapons. Rank 3 modification brought something that Luna had been keeping out an eye for: Guns.

Technically it was a modification to the Itak Tagalog. It looked like how it regularly would, but with a a gun barrel going along the top part of the blade, about three-fourths of the way. It looked natural, but the thing that confused Luna was the fact that he didn't see any magazine.

What type of bullets does it use? Where is the trigger? Can a scope be modified onto it?

After reading the description, he found out that it worked exactly the same as the automated turrets. It also had the same reloading mechanic as the turrets. There was no trigger because it responded to the person holding the weapon's thoughts. It was similar to how the nervous system would send a message to move parts of your body. A scope could be installed as well, the effective range was around 900 meters, and it could fire 10 rounds before needing to recharge for 30 seconds. As long as one dual-wielded these things, they practically wouldn't have to worry about too much downtime between reload times. Most importantly, it had a safety as well. It did however, cost 5,000 VIS per weapon. 10,000 VIS total if you're doing both blades.

Luna definitely did not have the funds to arm the 20,000 active human soldiers and the 40,000 active Elven soldiers. Not to mention the rest of the 30,000 humans in reserve and the rest of the 60,000 Elves in reserve, seeing as every citizen in the <Sovereign Nation> is pretty much required to grind out levels, essentially making their whole population a part of the Army. This has been Luna's goal from the beginning.

Nevertheless, he still had funds to spare to build 1,000 pairs which cost him a total of 20 million VIS. As soon as production started, he called Hans over.

"Lord Luna, you called for me?"

"Ah, Hans. Good, you're here." As he said that, Luna tossed over a pair of Gunblades to him. "How good of a shot are you?"

"Top of my class, Lord Luna."

"Haha! I knew you had potential, but this is even more impressive. Col. Hans Garica, I have a proposal for you."

"Yes, Lord Luna!"

"I want you to hand pick a team of 25 of the most elite. These men will be your personal guard, they will be known as the Black Guard. You will then choose the remaining 975 of the best sharpshooters in order to complete your regiment which will be under my direct command. I hope you accept this offer. Daunting as the responsibility may be, you've shown to be quite capable so far. I don't doubt that you'll be able to handle it."

"It is my honor, sir! I gladly accept! I just have one request, Lord Luna."

"What is it?"

"That we may have the privilege of naming ourselves 'The Luna Sharpshooters' as our motivation to stay the best of the best, sir!"

"This... Alright." If it was indeed awkward being called a Lord before, it was even more awkward for him to have a whole regiment dedicated to his name. Overtime, Luna has began to accept these things and could only hope that he lives up to being the Lord Luna that the people respect.

"Thank you, Lord Luna!"

After taking his leave, Hans did not hesitate to put the plan into motion. He was loved by the soldiers and was familiar with almost all of them, so picking out the men that he believed to be worthy was not too hard of a job. The men who were picked out were ecstatic, especially when they found out that they would be part of such an elite force directly under Luna's command.

This was also motivation to the rest of the soldiers. The people who skipped out on grinding extra hours for levels could only feel regret. After all, the concept of receiving free Gunblade upgrades before everybody else was quite enticing. They weren't entirely expensive, but when you put in the cost of upgrading your weapons and armor, paying even more for modification was quite expensive.

Once these Gunblades manifested their <Anito>, not only would the blades inflict more damage or additional effects, so would the bullets.

This would include but are not limited to explosive fire bullets, wind reinforced piercing bullets, or even the much rarer <Soul Anito> bullets that, while not as physically damaging as the rest, would cause damage on the level of the soul.

While not exactly lethal, but when fighting someone during a melee fight, having someone lose consciousness for even a second would be fatal. After all, physical and magical defense, while they could mitigate damage from other bullet types, were entirely useless against these bullets.

Of course, there was the question of grinding enough with the weapon to activate it's <Anito>, and in order to further upgrade it, the amount of grinding required would go up exponentially, and so would the cost.

After announcing that people could now upgrade their equipment further, the ones who could afford it started lining up. These machines weren't exactly cheap, so Luna couldn't just install too many of them, at least not yet.

Afterwards, he called for the Elder Aran who had been given a leadership position as well.

After a while, he heard a knock on his door. It was the Elder.

"Lord Luna, you called for me?"

"Ah, yes, Elder Aran. I wanted to make an announcement of sorts, but I wanted you to be a part of it. A broadcast of sorts."

"I will gladly oblige, Lord Luna. How may this old man be of service to you?"

"It has already started." Luna smiled. This was something that he wanted to be transparent with because he wanted everyone to hear his reasoning behind his actions.

"I know you explained to be the concept of Low-born and High-born Elves before. I didn't think to question it when it was first mentioned, because, as we both know, you came from another world, another culture altogether, so I didn't wish to impose my own concept of what is 'offensive' to you."

"I understand."

"During the celebrations however, I noticed that anytime 'Low-born' was mentioned I immediately noticed a subtle change in expression from the face of the so-called 'Low-born' Elves. With this in mind, I came to find that your world and mine isn't much different after all. As such, I would like to abolish that as a whole."

"You mean to call every one of us as Elves and eliminate the prefix of 'Low' or 'High', correct?"

"No and Yes. No because you will not be formally known as Elves. Yes, because the concept of 'Low' or 'High' will be eliminated."

"Lord Luna, what do you mean?"

"Different classifications of race divides us, Elder Aran. It always has, but only when there is malice in it. Unfortunately, having different classifications "

"Indeed. We Elves would know. After all, it's what caused us our demise." Elder Aran finally figured out where Luna was going with this. He couldn't help but praise this young man. He felt blessed to have ended up in this man's territory out of everywhere else.

"Which is why from now on, there will be no such thing as 'Low-born' or 'High-born' Elves. For humans there will be no 'Low-class' or 'High-class' humans. You get what you earn. Which is why from this point on, we will all collectively be known as the Sovereign People! There will be zero tolerance for discrimination."

"HEAR HEAR!" Elder Aran couldn't help but be ecstatic. This was one of his fears. That they could all be friendly now, but eventually, down the line, and Elf would still be called an Elf, and a Human would still be called a Human. He had witnessed it all, where certain arguments in between races would include insults like "Dirt Elf!" or "Dirty Human!" with no other basis besides the other person being of a different race. Or worse, when Elves practically alienated Dark Elves, primarily only because of their skin color, the same with humans.

Where has that brought them? Irreversible mistakes being made due to animosity between their world leaders who put in zero effort to understand the other side, and yet already had preconceived notions about them just because they were different. Alliances made impossible due to that. This whole time, everybody was tuned into their consciousness, as if watching the news on a Television set.

Just as this was happening, Alea who was waiting on the other side of the door couldn't help but contribute to the conversation.

"Yes, this is indeed a new beginning. We were given a new chance in this world, and if we mess it up this time around due to the same mistakes, that would be too unfortunate." She had suffered from this as well, despite being classified before as a 'High Elf'. She had tried to make friends with the others, but the moment they found out she was 'High-born,' whether they wanted to admit it or not, their behavior towards her would change. Always showing a slight hint of fear no matter how hard they tried to hide it.

As soon as she said that, everybody in the entire <Sovereign Nation> started cheering. The Humans and Elves who had already started making friendsh.i.p.s brought out the alcohol they had been keeping and started toasting to celebrate.

"WE ARE SOVEREIGN!" People yelled out in unison.

"SOVEREIGN BABY YEAAAAAH!!!!" Boni yelled out from on top of the walls lifting up Elise who was by his side.

"UUOOHHHHH!!!!!!!" People erupted into cheers after hearing that.

Morale was at an all time high. Luna had hammered this time and time again, and people had embraced it, including the Elves. The <Sovereign Nation> were united as a people. It was apparent that in the future, should a Dark Elf, or a Giant wish to join them, they would be welcomed with open arms.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world wasn't having such a smooth transition.