The next day, Chiba Academy, deep within the secluded alley.
Ren Amamiya arrived as promised, waiting for Hare to appear. The moment the clock hit the agreed-upon time, Hare materialized from the otherworld as if she'd timed it perfectly, opening the special passage to Mementos for Ren.
The scenery of the Chiba Academy alley distorted like ripples on water, then blurred like coalescing blobs of paint. When his vision cleared, Ren found himself once again within the desolate, eerie landscape of Mementos.
"Just coming back to Mementos makes me feel the power welling up inside."
The unsettling crimson background filled his vision. Yet, the constant surge of power he felt within Mementos gave Ren a stronger sense of security than being in the real world.
Ren rolled his neck slightly. A wave of blue-azure flame washed over his body, replacing his Chiba Academy uniform with the flowing, stylish black Phantom Suit. The white spirit bird mask silently covered his face.
"These are the weapons I obtained from that executive, Joker. See if they meet your requirements."
Hare stood quietly beside Ren, offering him the silver briefcase she held. She indicated for him to open it and inspect the weapons inside.
"The katana is called Raikiri. It can utilize lightning power for offense or defense. The dual pistols are called Mosin-Nagant Sunwheel; they fire powerful bullets with a fire attribute."
Opening the briefcase, Ren saw the melee weapon—the katana—and the ranged weapons—the dual pistols.
The katana, Raikiri, was purple-black.
Bright blue lines glowed on its mechanical-looking blade, and the hilt featured blue diamond-shaped protrusions for better grip. Ren gripped the Raikiri, swung it a few times experimentally, and quickly got a feel for the mechanical katana.
The arcs of lightning crackling from its slashes made Ren nod in satisfaction. According to Hare, the Raikiri could also generate a powerful electromagnetic field for protection, which appealed greatly to Ren, whose own body was a weak point.
Clipping the Raikiri to the belt of his Phantom Suit, Ren then picked up the remaining weapons: the Mosin-Nagant Sunwheels.
They had deep purple bodies, silver-grey grips, and embedded at the junction of body and grip was a crystal resembling a furnace core, radiating a lava-like crimson glow. These clearly weren't ordinary firearms; they looked like products of some kind of advanced, perhaps clandestine, technology [Black Tech].
Guns usually deal limited damage to Shadows, mostly serving a support role, Ren mused. Even high-tech ones probably won't help me that much. To maintain mobility, Ren hadn't planned on carrying much ammo. He'd originally only asked for one pistol, but Hare had brought him a pair, doubling his potential ammo consumption.
"Right, the ammo..." Ren realized. "Hare, I don't see any bullets for these pistols?"
Thinking about ammunition reserves, Ren noticed the lack of spare bullets. After taking out the Raikiri and the Mosin-Nagant Sunwheels, the silver briefcase was completely empty, with no hidden compartments. Without bullets, weren't these dual pistols useless? He couldn't exactly charge in pistol-whipping enemies, could he? Who dual-wields pistols for melee?!
"The Mosin-Nagant Sunwheel doesn't require bullet replacement like ordinary firearms," Hare explained gently to the perplexed Ren. "It can spontaneously generate its own ammunition for firing. Each pistol holds a maximum of seven rounds. Once depleted, it automatically begins producing more to replenish the supply."
"In this space," Hare continued, "you don't need to worry about ammo capacity at all, Joker. Even if you empty both magazines completely, by the start of the next battle, they'll likely be fully reloaded."
"However, in the real world, the Mosin-Nagant Sunwheel's bullet regeneration rate drops significantly. In extreme environments, it might not even regenerate one bullet per hour."
As special modified handguns embedded with Honkai energy crystal fragments, the Mosin-Nagant Sunwheels transcended the limitations of conventional firearms.
They could automatically draw Honkai energy from the surroundings via the crystals to produce new bullets. In a special environment like the Imaginary Space, where Honkai energy concentration was extremely high, the bullet replenishment speed was incredibly fast. Ren wouldn't need to worry about running out of ammo mid-fight.
While the real world [Eigenwelt] also contained Honkai energy, its concentration in normal areas was very weak, preventing the rapid bullet generation possible in the Imaginary Space.
"What kind of black tech is this...? No, wait. I get it! This isn't black tech, this is clearly Psience!"
Hearing Hare's explanation of how the Mosin-Nagant Sunwheels worked, Ren's eyes widened slightly. He was initially surprised, but then a flash of insight hit him, and he understood what was going on.
Ren had fallen into a mental trap earlier.
Because Mementos was a cognitive space, even if Ren emptied his gun's magazine in one fight, as long as he pulled it out against an enemy in the next fight, and the enemy didn't dare gamble on it being empty, the gun would automatically reload.
Ammunition capacity was never really an issue when using firearms in Mementos; Ren had just forgotten or overlooked that particular rule.
But the fact that these guns could slowly regenerate ammo even in the real world? That truly astonished Ren.
That cult worshipping the Evil God... are they also researching cognitive psience? Could they even be collaborating with Shido's research institute on cognitive technology?
Making guns regenerate bullets slowly, just like in Mementos... Although rudimentary, the phenomenon was familiar.
This was unmistakably the application of cognitive psience technology to real-world firearms!