Afton's eyes widen at the Perk options before him, these were seriously game-changing... At first he was pretty certain he was going to pick [Hero turned Tyrant], but after thinking about it for a while he realised that it was probably the worst option...
[Hero turned Tyrant] would force him to cause fear to earn EXP... This doesn't sound all that bad until you consider how much fear would allow you to level up, you'd probably have to nuke a city in front of thousands of people to level up from such a system.
That wasn't to say the things it offered weren't good, but upon further inspection they held more negatives than you'd think... Just the mutation alone would basically force him to become a cannibalistic vampire, if anyone caught him using such an ability his allies and anyone else who followed him would quickly leave.
Had he allied himself with the Fiends or other similar tribes, such an ability might be viable... But in his current situation? Impossible.
[Hero's Promise] is another hard perk to take... Again, such a Perk would force him to go through extreme lengths just to level up. His current reputation wasn't a good one, and changing it after he and his group had just brutally butchered thousands of people wasn't likely at all.
Gaining EXP through Hope would force him to basically become the second coming of jesus... And while that might sound like fun to do for a while, he imagined it'd get bored very, very quickly. The +3 to Intelligence and Charism wasn't bad, in fact, it'd allow him to get the max Perk for Intelligence, but it still wasn't worth it...
The worst thing of all would be the bonus Health for Karma... What would happen if his Positive Karma dipped under his Negative? Would he lose health? The fact that he didn't know made him reject any notion of actually accepting this Perk.
Last but not least was [Stay the Path], which would essentially do nothing to his actions. He'd continue as he always had been without interference, levelling would stay the same, and he'd continue slowly getting stronger without having to deify himself or commit genocide.
The ability to see someone's Karma would also be incredible. It'd essentially allow him to see who was good and who was evil... The morally grey world would suddenly become black and white... Anyone whose Karma was overwhelmingly Negative deserved death, right?
Karma was an enigmatic thing if Afton were honest with himself... Would he lose Karma if he saved a murderer who then went on to kill many? Would he lose Karma for creating a medicine that many people overdose on?
He imagined he'd gained so much Negative Karma due to his various 'brutal murders', murder was 'fine' for Karma, but torturing someone? Definitely not.
He sighs as he looks over the Perks again, he still had no idea what Immunity to Criticals would do... A shot to the head would still likely kill him, but maybe a bullet to the heart wouldn't? Ah, so confusing...
After a couple more minutes he bites his inner cheek and finally decides what to pick... [Stay the Path]
As soon as he picks the Perk he feels his body burning, his muscles were getting denser, his senses were improving, his mental capabilities were speeding up, his heartbeat felt strong, unstoppable. He was THE superhuman in the Wastelands now, he doubted anyone even came close, even with all the mutations around.
He's about to get up from the grass but is interrupted but yet another notification...
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 51!]
[System has updated, Levelling has been updated.]
[Each level will grant one point that can be used in one of three categories, Stats, Perks and Mutations. Skills that have not been maxed out yet can be upgraded as well, one point equals 10 Skill points.]
Afton raises a brow at this, honestly he'd been expecting something to change soon... Skill points became useless once you maxed them out, a couple more levels and he would've done just that... Still, he didn't think he'd be maxing out Lockpicking or Bartering, Perks, Stats, and Mutations would be way more valuable.
Speaking of which, he immediately look at the various categories that'd appeared in his peripheral...
[Points : 1]
[Stats]
[Perks]
[Mutations]
He ignores the first two categories and selects Mutations, a scree appears before him and starts listing off a variety of things... Among them were upgrades to [Beauveria mordicana symbioticca].
[Beauveria mordicana firmissimi anguli] : Enables user to manipulate their arm into a variety of shapes.
[Beauveria mordicana duraferro] : User's arm becomes as hard as steel.
[Beauveria mordicana flagellum] : Enables user's arm to extend, stretch, and flex.
[Beauveria mordicana rasorium] : Enables user to form incredibly sharp blades on their arm.
There were numerous upgrades for his plant arm, each seeming to complement one another... WIth enough perks his arm would basically be the one Mercer has in Prototype... Perhaps with even more options.
Of course, there were more mutations available.
[Beauveria mordicana infestatio v1] : Enables user to manipulate plantlife.
[Beauveria mordicana corpus indiuiduo connexe v1] : Drastically increases the user's body's durability. (May cause physical changes)
Other than the various Beauveria mordicana, plenty of other mutations were more similar to supernatural powers...
[Telepathy v1] : Enables user to communicate with other willing minds.
[Telekinesis v1] : Enables user to move objects with their mind.
[Pyrokinesis v1] : Enables user to control fire.
These mutations were all game-changers... The only problem was that they didn't elaborate how strong they actually were... [Telepathy v1] might force you to touch foreheads to communicate, [Telekinesis v1] might only make you able to lift a feather...
Afton was excited about them, but was more confident towards the Beauveria mordicana Mutations as they had already proven to work... As such, he decides to bite the bullet and try a simple, but potentially useful Mutation, [Beauveria mordicana firmissimi anguli].
He could already think up a few interesting uses for it, aside from morphing his arm into a spear or something, perhaps he'd be able to transform his finger into a key to unlock something... Maybe he'd be able to transform it into tools? Regardless, he'd have to find out later on.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
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Chris Lindsey
Kingsprovince
At another part of Big Mt was Tamia who was currently looking after Carlos. The young boy had been distraught at the state of his mother and recently discovered grandfather, Tamia had spent a couple hours now trying to calm the child, but nothing seemed to work.
To be honest, she was considering just ditching him with the others so she could get some rest... Despite avoiding any injuries, she was still pretty exhausted after the whole ordeal at the Fort... It's not every day you waltz into the enemy base, kidnap their leader and kill most of their troops.
The other problem with the boy was his rather rude attitude towards women... The Legion indoctrination was easy to see in him, yet in his panicked state it seemed lesser than what it was. She had of course met the child when she first entered the Fort. He was amongst the group of children who were talking smack at her and Josie.
"Hey, look at that." she says, pointing at the large pack of Cyberdogs that were sprinting somewhere.
Carlos raises his head and stares at them, his eyes widening at the peculiar sight... Cyberdogs were usually only used in the NCR military from what he had heard... Yet there were so many of them before him.
A couple even approaches the duo, the dogs look intensely at them as if expecting a treat. Tamia raises a brow but pulls out some beef jerky from her bag, handing it to Carlos for the kid to feed. Unbeknownst to them however, the Cyberdogs were actually scanning both of them for Glados.
Tamia watches as the boy feeds the dogs and wonders when she'd be able to rest. She still had to process the things Caesar had revealed. She didn't think he had been lying, but she wasn't sure if she wanted it to be true or false... Knowing that she had a family somewhere was comforting in a way, more than when she was wandering around the wasteland solely bent on revenge.
She looks back at Carlos and lightly taps his shoulder, "Come on, we should find where our beds are... I'm tired as hell." she mutters.
"*Bzztch!* Your designated room is over in the dormitories, meat bag." a Glados controlled drone states from above them.
"Meat bag?" Tamia asks, wondering if she should take offense. It wasn't the first time she'd been called that today either.
"Indeed, meat bag. You are being made of flesh wrapped in a skintight bag, the only interesting part of you is your brain, which I have observed to not be the best amongst your kind." Glados explains.
...
Tamia just shakes her head, deciding not to think about it, "Whatever, just take us to the dorms."
Elsewhere :
Boone, Josie, Anja, and Veronica were having the time of their lives... They were all currently resting on sun loungers next to a large pool, Josie had had her leg stitched, wrapped up, and pumped with pain killers while the others had the various light scratches they'd received patched up.
All of them had been provided with bathing suits, bikinis and shorts... Except for Anja of course who was given a full-body bathing suit... Nobody wanted to see the body of a ghoul...
"If I knew Afton had a place like this I'd have begged him to take me here a lot sooner." Veronica mutters as she sips an ice-cold cocktail. "Do you guys think Karl's gonna be alright? I know Afton's robot-girl-AI-thing said he would, but I'm still worried.
"H-he will, with all the technology here I think it would be easier to list what they couldn't do..." Anja says, admiring what Afton had 'built' here.
Boone tries not to think about Karl's state and releases a long pent up sigh, as a soldier this situation is one he'd found himself in more often than he'd wish, the fate of his comrades is up to fate and the expertise of those operating on them. The fact that he can't do anything to help just makes it all the more bitter.
Instead, he watches the various women in what looked like maid outfits walk around the place, attending to various jobs that needed doing... One stands nearby to fix them up drinks or to help them with any problem they may have. There was something that stood out to him however, "I recognise these women... They're part of the group we rescued from the Legion..."
"Hmm, you think they like working here?" Josie asks, still slightly delirious from the large amount of pain killers she'd been given.
Veronica shrugs, "I don't know... Let's ask one," she raises a hand at the nearest maid, "Excuse me?"
"Y-yes, w-what can I do for you?" the maid stutters out awkwardly.
"How is it working here? I mean, I know it's probably better than being stuck in that camp, but what about the rest of the Mojave?"
The maid's voice is caught in her throat when she's about to retort that the camp provided more freedom than this, and was potentially less dangerous... She had learned her lesson however, even now she could feel the glowing orange eyes glaring at her back, Shani knew she'd be on the chopping block of she tried to escape again...
She'd attempted to leave twice now, apparently she'd been given three strikes... She really didn't want to see what would happen if she made a third attempt. Shani gives a forced smile to Veronica, slightly too toothy to be a sincere one, "N-no, it's great here! We get fed amazing food, we have amazing housing, and we are s-safer than we ever have been!" she lists off.
Veronica grins back at her, not noticing that Shani's smile didn't reach her eyes, she turns back to Josie, "See? Afton's got shit handled here, I might even take a dip in the pool once I finished my drink." she grins.
"Ah... Veronica c-could you..." Anja attempts to ask but hesitates.
"Yeah?"
"C-could you teach me how to swim?" the ghoul asks, having never gotten the chance before.
Veronica beams, "Sure! Come on, first you gotta kick your legs like a madman!" she exclaims while dragging Anja into the pool, not even taking notice of the gross texture of Anja's hand.
Shani just sighs as this all occurs, these people were ignorant to the atrocities that were being committed here... She wondered if they'd ever find out, and if they did, if they would do something to stop it. She shakes these thoughts from her head and turns to the only male of the group, "Is that all you need, sir?"
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Chris Lindsey
Kingsprovince
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