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46.4% Steel Waste / Chapter 329: Movin' up in the world

Chapter 329: Movin' up in the world

Upon getting back to the Think Tank and attempting to speak with Alfred, Afton was immediately greeted by yet more notifications.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 45!]

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 46!]

He sighs. Afton was pretty tired after fight Patient Zero and the rest of the fungel monsters, so if he were honest, he'd rather just get some rest and do this tomorrow. Regardless, its not like he can resume time without completing the level up.

He tosses 11 Skill Points into Survival to max it out before shoving the rest in Lockpick, the only remaining un levelled skill. A notification pops up indicating that his Survival had been maxed out, and a Vault Boy that looks vaguely similar to Tarzan stands next to it in only a loincloth...

[Survival maxed! Perk granted : Wild Man]

[Wild Man] : You have an instinctual link with the wilderness, +100% bonus to Trapping, Tracking, Taming, Foraging, and Stealth while in the wild. +2 Perception, +2 Agility while outside manmade buildings, and territory. Afton wasn't excited or disappointed with this Perk, it was just 'alright', especially considering the fact that most combat he'd be participating in would be outside of the Perk's effects.

Though, gaining Perception and Agility while potentially facing a Deathclaw did sound pretty good. After looking over the new Perk, he boredly scrolls to look at the other one's he could potentially grab, even despite the fact he intended to put it in Endurance. He had to stop himself salivating at the thought of the 10 Endurance Perk he'd receive.

[Flame on!] : 25% resistance to fire. Yeah, this would have been good a couple hours ago... Afton didn't intend to get it though, 25% wasn't worth his Perk points, especially since he only had a couple left before level 50... He still wasn't sure if that was the max level either.

[Spark off!] 25% resistance to electricity. Same problem, though, Afton wondered just what constituted electricity to the Perk.

[Untouched Magnificence] : +100% bonus damage when not injured, affected by poisons, diseases, or other debuffs. Hmm, this seemed like an incredible sniper Perk. Sitting a mile away safe as can be while sniping your enemies... Good.

[Wizard.] : You have fought off women and retained your virginity for so long! +5 to all Stats and Skills. (Must retain virginity to keep Perk), Afton felt like he was getting trolled with this one, there was no way he was going to stay celibate just to keep this Perk, no matter how broken it seemed.

[Seaside Old Timer] : When fishing you just find the darndest things... 20% chance to fish up random valuable objects. This one was interesting, Afton wondered what was considered 'valuable'... Could he fish up a nuclear submarine or something? Or perhaps lost pirate gold? Though, he hadn't fished in. well, since he came to this world, so maybe it wasn't the best choice.

[Mum's the word] : Your subordinates will be unnaturally independent and competent, and are unwilling to approach you should a problem present itself. This seems like it would be just as bad as it would be good... Having the folks in the Think Tank become more independent seemed like a one way ticket to fucked-creek.

[I have a dream!] : Set a goal once this Perk is taken, the more difficult the goal the bigger the reward you will receive after its completion. This was very vague. If it gave him some more info on just what the reward would be, he'd feel more confident in picking it.

He sighs, alright, let's see... He would use the scientifically proven best method to pick whether he wanted to take this Perk, or just upgrade his Endurance.

...

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." Afton says while pointing between the [I have a dream] Perk and [Intense Training]. Afton once finishing opens his eyes and spots that he had indeed picked the former...

"Hmm... I guess that's what I'm doing... Now to decide what his 'dream' would actually be. He could just choose 'tie his laces', but doubted the reward would be any good. Or, he could choose something like 'conquer the world', which, would be too difficult.

"Fucking Goldilocks." he grumbles. Thinking it over.

Destroy the NCR and Legion? He shakes his head, too difficult, not to mention tedious. He might literally have to kill every single legionnaire, even after he kills Caeser.

Become elder for the Brotherhood? No... While difficult (especially considering how he left), he didn't want to deal with managing everything afterwards... God, he was even creating the most sophisticated AI ever seen in this world just to pawn his chores off on it.

Kill Mr. House? Honestly, Afton didn't think that would be too difficult. All he had to do was gain access to Helios One, then point the Range Finder at New Vegas and wallah! A searing crater where Mr. House and thousands of other lives were lost. Nah, if he was going to kill the man, he wanted to know more about him before committing to it.

Though, that does bring something to mind... Conquer the Mojave?

...

Honestly, it wasn't too difficult or too easy. The Mojave itself was relatively small compared to the rest of the world, and all he'd need to do was drive out the Legion and NCR, something he intended to do anyway.

Though, that brought to mind what he'd do with House... Again, it was better to meet the man first before doing anything drastic...

You know what? That seems like a great one. Besides, even if he took control of it, he could just make another AI to manage it for him. Good for him, good for whoever he'd rule over, and good for the Perk.

[You have a dream. Conquer the Mojave to see it through, and claim the rewards.]

Afton nods to himself, now that he thought about it, he'd gained quite a lot of Perks lately. The Implants, the titles, and the challenges all buffering his Status. Time resumes and he realises that he'd forgotten what he was talking with Alfred about...

"Er, excuse me, the bathroom is calling." he says, quickly leaving the confused AI.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

Chapter 330: Bucket List

It's been a week since Afton had killed Patient Zero and oh boy has he been busy. From creating the hardware of his AI with Mobius to exploring the X-22 underground lab, and eventually filling out a bucket list of potential projects he wants to start.

The bucket list itself was just a computerised whiteboard that sat in the Think Tank and was linked with another that was in the Forbidden Dome, so any changes made on either side would happen to the other. This was needed as none of the Think Tank dared to directly communicate with Mobius... Afton hadn't told them about their memory wipes nor the recursion look they'd been stuck in, so they were still under the assumption that Mobius was still evil, but barely under the control of Afton.

Still, they worked together marvellously through the whiteboard, one half had been claimed by Mobius while the other belonged to the Think Tank. Afton himself stole a corner for himself and created a list of projects he wished to see completed, or at least, attempted.

The list currently consisted of :

Miniaturize forcefield technology.

Find a way to mass-produce/consistently produce Saturnite.

Create cloning technology. (TEST ON ANIMALS FIRST!)

Repair and expand the Holodeck in X-13.

Figure out a way to inhibit future hexagonal towers from sprouting.

Modify Proton weaponry.

Expand Hologram technology.

Expand outer defences (One tesla fence and an army of Cyberdogs/Robo-Scorpions will not stop the NCR or Legion! Let alone the Brotherhood with their Verti-birds.)

Modify and upgrade Power armour.

Deconstruct and analyse Y-17 trauma override harness.

Create a more advanced communication device.

Repair Big Mt!

The last one had many circles and lines written around it to emphasize how important it was. Most of the projects were ones that he wanted to be started, or at least considered. Obviously, he knew that many of them would likely take months or years to complete, but it was good to set goals, especially for scientists who had been bored out of their minds for centuries.

Most of the things on the list were only because Afton thought they'd be directly beneficial to himself, but the cloning facility was more for the scientists than anything. He'd found Higgs Village, an old settlement inside Big Mt where the scientists used to live when they were human.

Inside he found many samples that he'd be able to gather genetic information from (Hair, ancient faeces, etc). So one the cloning facility was complete, he'd be able to clone their actual bodies and put their brains into them.

Of course, he knew that Zero or some of the other scientists may be... Unsatisfied with their former bodies. So it wouldn't be surprising if they added a few ways to 'tweak' their clones. Afton smirks to himself when imagines Zero suddenly walking into the Think Tank with a penis so large that he can barely stand up straight.

As for miniaturizing forcefield technology? He wanted to somehow incorporate it into Power armour or something similar, perhaps wrist bands? If it could be done then he and anyone else he outfitted them with would be almost unkillable.

Speaking of which, he'd also discovered the 'joys' of Saturnite Alloy. He wasn't sure what it was made out of, or how it even functioned, but the positives of it made him want to find out... Essentially, it's a Ceramic Alloy that is incredibly strong, stronger than even steel, was able to retain heat for prolonged periods of time, and was able to hold an edge unnaturally well.

Afton even thought that Mono-molecular blades might be possible with the material. Though he'd have to test it further to see if that was really possible. The end game for him would be to create a suit of Power armour with Saturnite... Perhaps only outer plating though? Its ability to retain heat would enable someone to melt the user from the inside out with a flamethrower...

Indeed, he also wanted to incorporate Proton weaponry into power our... Wrist blades immediately sprung to mind, though he supposed you can have wolverine claws or a Proton dagger? It all hinged on whether or not you could alter the circuitry and power flow enough to allow such a thing.

As for the outer defences? Afton had finally discovered just where Big Mt was located. The jamming technology that refused to all his Pipboy access to the world map had been found and temporarily deactivated. Once he was able to see the bigger picture, he realised just how close to NCR territory it was.

The crater was located under someplace called Hopeville in the divide, the now uninhabitable pass that the NCR intended to use to gain access to the Mojave. He knew that if the NCR discovered this place they'd send an army to try and take it... He wouldn't put it past them to pull out of the Mojave completely just to try and gain control of it.

He knew there were likely mentions of Big Mt in other government facilities, so the NCR probably knew of its existence, but hadn't yet found it... Perhaps it being called 'Big Mt' had them looking in the wrong direction? No, that'd be stupid.

But the NCR wasn't even the people he feared the most... It was, funnily enough, the Brotherhood of Steel he feared finding this place. Their dogmatic doctrines would literally force them to pull all their forces in an attempt to claim or destroy Big Mt, the technology it held was simply too advanced and too valuable to be left alone.

Big Mt already had an Artillery testing range which held massive cannons, so it wouldn't be all that had to modify them into some Anti-Air weapons. The only real problem was the berserk 'Ultimo-Bot' that resided there. It was essentially a super version of the regular sentry bots, having Saturnite plating, advanced heavy weaponry, and prototype locking tech... Afton didn't want to try fight and risk destroying it, as if they could replicate it they'd have an incredibly strong fighting force.

No, instead, he'd create his AI and have it manufacture a virus to gain subsume it... It was a shame he'd set a two-month time limit for himself, if he had known what he might find he would have said 'Give me a year' to Anja before leaving. "hehe" he chuckles at the thought.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

Yeah, if you guys think I missed anything for the 'bucket list' let me know. It doesn't include everything as that'd be too long, but anything that might be usable in the near future should be on it.

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

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