บท 113: The IMPERIUM'S info dump.
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 16]
Seems like killing an army of feral ghouls and a rad scorpion resembling Godzirra was worth enough for a couple levels. Afton wasn't complaining, he welcomed any boost he could get, maybe he should start looking around for somewhere in a similar state to Camp Searchlight.
He had 30 skill points to spend and was definitely going to max out his Repair. But, what to do afterwards?... Well, he had this new axe and Tamia wasn't going to mind if he used her gift for himself for a while. Not to mention how curios her was to see if maxing Melee Weapons would give him a Perk that'd make it more viable in actual combat... The saying "Bringing a knife to a gunfight" was seriously applicable here.
...
He could hold off on the other non-combat related Perks for now as he felt getting his capabilities as high as possible was a must before he started skilling into skills like Lockpicking or Science. He shoved the other 20 skillpoints into Melee and moved onto the Perk screen.
[Perk gained! : Mechanicus]
[Mechanicus] : Things gradually repair themselves in your presence, intensity depends on your intentions towards objects. +50 Condition to all things you use.
Afton couldn't help but smirk at the mechanical abomination Pipboy that appeared next to the notification, it still had that cheesy grin, but it was almost creepy now given that half of its body was made from machinery, it wasn't even wearing the typical vault suit, instead just wearing a blue and yellow robe...
As to his thoughts for the Perk itself? Incredibly overpowered, it was essentially a supernatural force that aided him, he didn't even need to put any effort into repairing his weaponry or armour anymore as it'd slowly fix itself... It was even better than that though, he didn't even need to contribute materials for the repairs to happen! This was definitely worth maxing Repair out, seriously.
Now, onto the Perk screen for level 16... Shit that rhymed.
[Action Boy] : +15 Action Points. Good, but as he'd mentioned before, he wasn't focussing on his VATS skills.
[Weapon Handling] : Weapon Strength requirements are now 2 points lower than normal for you. This Perk was kind of pointless for him, it was skin to two skill points in intense training set to strength. And he was sure it'd become useless if he hit 10 strength...
Afton shook his head and scrolled up to the past Perks he'd not used yet, selecting [Intense Training] and picking the S.P.E.C.I.A.L point to go in Strength.
After clicking confirm time hadn't resumed, instead he was hit with another influx of information from the Repair skill. It was actually even more intense than the last time, he knew that he could probably repair a nuclear reactor is pushed, though, by that thought he could simply repair it by standing next to it now...
The Melee Weapon skill didn't introduce much new to him, he knew what he himself needed to improve on... Instead, he felt like he'd training a couple thousand hours with various weapons. One would call it muscle memory, same thing for the Guns skill, the ability to reload and fire ballistic weapons than he could think.
That wasn't the worst of it, he felt his muscles tear momentarily before boiling energy filled them, he hadn't felt this when he decreased his strength, but perhaps it was more difficult to gain it than lose it? They bulged slightly as if he'd recently worked out by quickly went back down to their original toned size, now with larger potential strength behind them.
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 17]
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 18]
Afton was surprised that he'd level up four times in a row, he'd thought that his levelling would soon slow do to the exponential increase you needed each time. Though, he and Karl had exterminated an entire town of ghouls.
He spammed all his points into the Melee Weapons skill and moved onto Perks again,
...
There weren't any Perks he could get this level, the reason for this was that certain Skills weren't high enough to reach the minimum requirements. For example :
[Computer Whiz] : Needed INT 7 and Science 70.
[Concentrated Fire] : Needed Energy Weapons 60 and Guns 60.
[Infiltrator] : Needed PE 7 and Lockpick 70.
[Paralyzing Palm] : Needed Unarmed 70.
Not that Afton really wanted any of these Perks, they were either VATS related or situational, giving another chance to hack or unlock a lock that'd been previously broken. No, he turned to past Perks again and decided to try out [Jury Rigging].
[Jury Rigging]: Repair any item using a roughly similar item. He knew that in the game this would probably only concern weaponry and armour... But now this was real-life, he wondered if he could use it on other items... He'd try and find out in the next town he ended up in.
He confirmed his selection and was once again graced with information about the Melee Weapons skill... Huh, who knew he'd literally learn sword martial arts by upgrading this skill... Not that they'd be all that useful against ballistic weaponry, but each to their own.
Time resumed and he managed not to stumble from the sudden sensation or gravity working again. He saw that he was still engaged with Karl in conversation, he decided to nod at the man who, form what Afton recalled had an idea as to how not to get ripped off by the NCR...
Karl left to arrange whatever he had planned and Afton took one glance at his status to confirm his level had gone through.
Afton Parker
Level : 18
S.P.E.C.I.A.L :
Strength : 8
Perception : 7
Endurance : 7
Charisma : 4
Intelligence : 6
Agility : 7
Luck : 4
Skills :
Barter : 21
Energy Weapons : 55
Explosives : 20
Guns : 100
Lockpick : 10
Medicine : 40
Melee Weapons : 91
Repair : 100
Science : 44
Sneak : 20
Speech : 100
Survival : 30
Unarmed : 30
Perks :
[Trigger Discipline], [Heavy Handed], [Rapid Reload], [Torture Techniques], [Educated], [John Wick Style], [Toughness], [Stonewall], [Bug Stomper], [Lord Death v1], [Spies Guise], [Quick Draw], [Adamantium Skeleton], [Ranger Tactics], [Ranger Targeting], [Ranger Awareness], [Mechanicus], [Jury Rigging]
Companion Perks :
[Old Wisdom]
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Niggross
Niggross Ya, our boi's gettin stronk... Though levelling should start getting harder eventually... Right?
Hope you like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
บท 114: Bloated Loot
...
Afton gave Karl a blank look as they headed north from Camp Searchlight along the highway, towards the nearest town which just so happened to be Novac. "How did you make this happen?" he asks in exasperation.
Karl shrugs, "I have no idea what you could mean?" he says, stifling a grin.
Afton just gestures behind them at the four sorry-looking NCR soldiers who were carrying their five backpacks full of loot.
...
"So, I might have offered Sargeant Astor a way out of our agreement. May have also let him know that I have contacts with some NCR higherups due to my former rank."
Afton raises a brow at the man, "You do?"
Karl shakes his head, "Not anymore, those shit-stains dropped me like a pregnancy test when I was imprisoned. But Astor didn't have to know that, did he?"
Afton nods, "I guess... If you didn't get their help I don't think we could've gotten all our loot to Novac anyway...
The four NCR soldiers were named Avery, Jacob, and Daniel respectively. All were new recruits and had only shot at feral ghouls up until now. This made Afton feel a little better about forcing them to carry their bags, they wouldn't be much good in a fight anyway.
"Any idea on what to do when we get to Novac?"
Karl spits on the ruined road nonchalantly, "No idea. Take a few more jobs, get caps, then try and head for New Vegas... We need gear enough to do what we want, Gunrunners'll probably have what we need." he mutters.
Afton raises a brow, "We both have several thousand caps, surely that'll be enough to buy whatever we need?"
Karl just scoffs at him, "No chance, for the best gear you gotta be willing to pay an arm and a leg. Our combined caps wouldn't even pay for a single top-grade weapon, let alone gear for the both of us."
The group continue walking along the highway, making small talk with the already exhausted soldiers while the duo keep an eye out for danger. Though, both Karl and Afton were surprised when something whizzed past their heads.
Both immediately throw themselves behind a nearby car wreckage, their four bag-holders doing the same behind a large rock.
"An ambush!?" Afton quickly asks Karl, having not noticed any signs of one.
Karl shakes his head, "No, worse."
What could be worse than an ambush?... "A deathclaw!?" he exclaims in fright..
The former-ranger just smacks him, "Hell no! You don't see me runnin' do yeah? That's what I'd do if I saw one charging me!... No, over there on the top of the hill near the campsite ruins, a swarm of Bloatflies."
...
Afton gives him a confused look, "Bloatflies? Aren't they like, really easy to deal with.", though, upon asking this he receives a fierce glare.
"Who the fuck told you that? Do you know how hard it is to hit a flying, moving target that constantly shoots back with acidic poison shit? Not to mention there's around fifteen of 'em, I'd rather fight a Legion patrol singlehandedly!"
Afton takes a glance over the car and spots that there is indeed fifteen Bloatflies slowly making their way towards the duo, all the while firing a barrage of acidic bullets. They don't seem to be able to harm the wrecked car they were hiding behind, but they'd eventually reach their position.
[John Wick Style is in effect]
He used VATS to make sure he wasn't at risk of any projectiles before shooting Lucky at them. Strangely the flies immediately started performing aerial manoeuvres when he pointed his gun at them, causing two of his four shots to miss. The two Bloat flies that were hit exploded into yellow blood and gore though.
"You four stay put! Don't peek you head out unless you want a ghoul makeover!" he shouts to their bag-holders. It wouldn't due for one of them to die... He didn't think they could carry all the bags on their own.
"Aye, Aye Capt'in" One shouts in response, somehow finding the courage to make a joke in this situation.
"What I wouldn't do for some bug-spray right about now." he mutters to himself as he continues popping over for an instant, using VATS and firing off a few shots before ducking back into cover.
Fortunately after Afton had picked a few off, Karl was able to find a chance to assist and eventually, all of them were knocked out of the air. The calibre bullets that the duo were using had reduced all of the flies to mush so even if there was something to loot from them, it was destroyed now.
The NCR soldiers look at bit rattled from it, but they'd been in combat before and would eventually recover. For now though the group had to keep moving, Astor may have reluctantly lent his troops, but he'd need them back relatively soon. Best not to ruin the cordial relationship they had with the man. Especially since the man had offered some very interesting information about Cottonwood Cove, the Legions hold on the West of the Colorado, as well as their main slave transportation.
Apparently, it wasn't just Camp Searchlight that had a problem with radioactive materials... One of the trucks that held the material had been lost on its way to Camp Searchlight before the Great War. That truck was currently located on the top of the hill overlooking the Legion's slave camp.
All they needed to do was sneak over, unlock it and dump all the contents on the Legion's head... The reason they hadn't immediately jumped at the chance were many, the first being that this would undoubtedly kill any slaves held in the camp... Now, Afton wouldn't mind the casualties but Karl's daughter might be down there, not to mention it'd strike too close to home to do something like that.
The second reason was that they didn't want to put the Legion on their toes, right now the duo were nothing but Mercs to them. But if they released the radiation on the camp Astor would have to report back to higher command, there the Legion spies would find out who's responsible and mark them for death. Something neither needs right now.
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Niggross
Niggross
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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