“I’m eh …” Lana coughed embarrassedly. “I got point nine and made it to level four as well.” She glanced at Nathan who nodded at her. “Nathan too.”

Nori looked at Martin who stood vacant-eyed, staring at something only he could see. “You might want to select the Level Suppression racial trait. It’s not as good as the others, but it’ll allow you to use weapons that--”

“I’m done,” Martin said and looked at her with a smile.

Nori blinked in surprise. “Already?”

He shrugged. “It’s just like creating a computer game character. I used to be a gamer, so it wasn’t hard. I took the Tec Infusion boost, that should help me level faster.”

Nori sighed. “But you won’t be able to use any alien weapons. I guess we can continue looking for something with lower level requirements, but I don’t know if we can do it fast enough to protect your shelter.”

“Can I see that?” Martin pointed at the Disruptor at her belt.

Nori shrugged and handed him the gun. To her surprise, the man grabbed the weapon like a trained professional. He drew back a latch she never knew existed and examined it carefully. Then he aimed at a tree, thirty meters away, and fired. The blue energy hit the tree and bore a finger-wide hole through it.

Nori gaped at him. “How the hell did you do that?”

The man grinned at her. “I selected a Justicar as my Path. It allows me to use all personal firearms and security systems. The Disruptor’s prerequisite was only a score of five.”

“What?” Nori's face fell. “My score is 10, but I had to reach level five to use it.”

“That’s weird.” The man frowned.

“No, not really,” she sighed ruefully. “My path allows me to drive everything, even alien ships, but it wasn’t really meant to handle firearms.”

“What Path did you take?”

“Navigator.”

Martin nodded slowly. “It makes sense. You had to reach the secondary set of requirements - the one that is determined by pure level - instead of a Path’s score.”

Nori looked disappointed. “You sure know a lot for someone who just leveled up.”

Martin chuckled. “Told you already, used to be a gamer. Don’t be down. You came flying in this ship. If I tried it, I probably wouldn’t even be able to turn on the coffee machine.”

Nori’s lips curved at that. “I guess you’re right.”

“By the way, did you know the gun only has only twenty more shots left in it?”

Nori frowned. “No.”

The man nodded. “Says so right here on my HUD. Twenty out of eighty remaining. You better use it sparingly, unless you have more power cells.”

Nori shook her head. “We don’t.”

“That’s too bad. It’s one hell of a weapon. Here you go.” He handed her the Disruptor back.