"Talking"
"Thinking"
(Timeskip/Scene/Author)
[Images]
{Writing/Audio}
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⫘+☢️~POV: 1st ~ 3 Days~☢️+⫘
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"Merde! Danger close, Sarge!" Vaulting over a dilapidated concrete wall, I quickly duck as the area behind it explodes before siting up with an annoyed glare at the Mr.Guttsy who's now my boss.
Looking over my cover, I grab a bunch of large rocks off the ground and fire them using
"What the hell is that thing?!" I shout while getting back behind cover as it throws a rock my way
Sarge: "That big bastard is called an Infiltrator. It's a Japanese Robot. They couldn't get the funding for full robots, so they used their own willing soldiers and took inspiration from the Robobrain project. Fusing them into unholy puppets of stretched muscles and flesh in metal suits"
Wincing at how bad the surgeries for something like that would be on morale, I quickly reach into my inventory and take out three glass bottles full of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Apple, which I got from one of my bronze rolls.
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Hunter x Hunter - An ornate spring fountain that flows with water perpetually; any water taken out of the spring turns into a high-quality alcoholic drink of the user's choice. The water will only transform if it has been taken out of the spring for an hour. Returning the transformed alcohol to the spring will return it back to its water state.
Your body holds an inordinate amount of blood, approximately 5 times the average person. This does not affect your body in any noticeable way... somehow.
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I don't know how The blood one is a good thing, but maybe it'll help in the long run? Like selling my blood for money?
Got the tickets from when I lied to Sarge about my vault origin, and the second one from scrapping my first robot along with a point in my novice mechanic skill which I need ten to level up.
Which just proves that car sized thing I saw crawling through the streets that night was some creature I never want to know about since it ripped one of the Protectrons in half.
"Well, if it's flesh in a metal suit, I wonder how they thought about overheating~" I quickly swap my ability to
Lighting a small flame on the cloth near the top, I toss them at the infiltrator. One landed in its mouth and the other over its chest.
I have to cover my ears as it lets out a scream that sounds like the cry of a child being scrapped through an old and glitched out radio, as it flails and slams its head against a pillar to put the flames out.
"Sarge, kill this thing already!" I shout over while swapping back to
Flying over, Sarge throws a grenade into the Infiltrator's screaming mouth and flies back as fast as possible as the chest cavity of the thing explodes, silencing the thing as it falls forwards and crashes to the ground.
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An exact replica of your body down to the most minute detail, but damaging it reveals that even though it looks like you, it has no DNA or genetics, more like a flesh puppet made to look like you.
OR
You can create, communicate with and control plants in your range. You can make grass grow on fertile dirt, make roots dig through concrete, ripen plants, change their shape slightly, make trees grow fast enough to create natural barriers and harvest the bounty of nature.
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Sapling, why the hell would I not take Sapling? Being able to grow healthy food in a radiated wasteland is both a reputation, survivability, and barter gain. Plus, there is no place on earth you can hide with a person able to communicate with the surrounding plants.
Slotting
<"Good day">---
Opening my eyes, I shake my head to clear the rest of the little voices before standing up and walking over to the destroyed protectron. "Might as well see what I can salvage from its chassis"
Flipping the bot over, I open its maintenance hatch and begin digging around the wires and servos. "Ah! shit" Shaking off the zap from a loose wire, I pull out the fission battery from the bot and put it in my inventory.
Honestly, I want to take one of its blaster arms, but I don't think I got the Str stat for that yet.
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Name: Axel Apostolos - Age: 16 - Race: Human
HP: 94% MP: 83% Inventory: 0/80lbs
Str: F+ / End: F- / Dex: E / Int: E- / Mag: E
Str: 98 sit-ups[98]-push-ups[98]-Curls[78]
End: 31 hits taken (3%) [25]
Dex: 130 Kilometers jogged [23.8%]
Int: 117 minutes of study [27.7%]
Mag: 118 Spells used (6%) [40]
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Speaking of the Str stat, I should finish that right now, actually. Taking a gallon jug full of more Jack Daniel's out of my inventory, I quickly do the last 20 curls for my mission, causing another message to pop up.
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Nice. I'll save the bronze tickets from ranking up stats and see if I can combine them later or if I need to group roll. For now, however, I guess we get back on the road.
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⫘⫘⫘+[☢️]~12~[☢️]+⫘⫘⫘
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Yeah, a large settlement town built under one of those superhighways is about what I expected in an alternate Fallout universe.
The name was Flawford, which has a population about 456 people in it, with an extra 122 being repurposed robots. So definitely doing better than Diamond City with its population of only 300 and security with the robots.
It took another three hours for us to get there, but when we did, I just followed Sarge to their security outpost and was rewarded with a black and golden 45 long colt revolver named the {Smith & Lesson} by a man named Martin, who's in charge of organize the robot's scouting parties.
Yes, that's my primary weapon currently. I have roughly 32 shots before I need to fight up close, but I'll save the bullets for when I meet a D or higher rank enemy.
Most of the shops there were for clothing, though, so by selling the parts I scrapped from the protectrons I bought a nice olive green trench coat that I'll upgrade with metal plates later, and some Carmel sweatpants.
After that, I met back up with Martin and took a mission to activate a radio tower within an abandoned police station, nice payout of a place to stay and I get more combat experience and stat points with my magic.
Looking at the metal gates of the station entrance, I glance at the rose bush seeds in my hand before closing it and using
A green magic circle appears around my wrist as the seeds begin glowing as I send a mental command for their growth before tossing them at the ground and watching as the vines and roots spew from the ground and wrap round each other as they form a ramp over the gate.
"Sweet~ I wonder if I can grow sentient plants with a higher magic stat? Things to look into once this is over"
Landing on the ground with a huff, I grab another handful of rose seeds and slowly make my way into the station, which looks like a tornado went through it. Which, in fairness, this place probably got ransacked first for weapons, armor, and ammo.
The air in here is stuffy as hell. I got to lift my collar over my nose just to breathe. I could use
Looking around the place, I find five rounds of 5.56 ammo and a police cap with the Japanese kanji for justice sowed on it, which I'll try to sell.
Stepping over the carcase of a dead and rotting rad-roach, I look into a gated room and watch as the loose wires from the ceiling arc onto random parts of the wall before shutting off.
"This place still has power somehow. Since the controls for the radio tower aren't in here, I'll have to try the roof"
Walking outside, I spot a bunch of vines along the side of a neighboring building and smile as my green magic circles appear over my wrists again.
Landing with a huff, I look up at the deactivated radio tower before spotting the lever at its base, which I quickly walk to and flip.
Only for it to not work, causing me to roll my eyes as I open the maintenance panel on the side of the lever and take some pliers and duct tape out of my inventory.
Cutting a power wire and the activation wire, I put a small fuse I scrapped from a protectron and taped both wires on opposite ends, causing a few sparks to fly as the lights flashed green.
Looking up, I watch with a smile as the tower groans as it unfolds and extends into the sky with its red blinking lights and radar dishes moving into position.
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Nice~ two birds with one stone. Now, should I roll this now or just go back... Nah, knowing my luck, I'd get hit with a damn mortar or trip mine if I did... I gotta risk it. Trait roll.
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They almost always land on their feet when falling. In addition, you are immune to all fall damage; even falling from space to Earth will not hurt your legs.>
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I'll take it! Rushing to the edge, I jump without hesitation and grin as the wind flows through my hair before landing with a crouch and small cracks in the cement before beginning to make my way back to Flawford.
<"Look Out!">--<>"Building to the right<>--<>"Dive Now!"<>--<>"Dodge"!<>
I dive to the side without hesitation, rolling out of the way of a spike of earth to pierce the area I was just in, causing me to bring out my gun and press my back to the office wall as I hear a voice echo out.
Raider: "Come on out, kid! Just gonna put a bullet through your head. Quick and easy"
"Yep, just my luck" I make sure the safety is off on my revolver before looking around and thinking of a plan. Enclosed space, minimal light, dusty office cubicles, slight signs of plant life.
Spotting something further in, I smile before making my way through the cubicles with silent steps and a condensed green glow under my sleeves.
Stepping into the office with a huff, the raider raises a flashlight in his offhand and a scrapped together pipe gun in his other.
Raider: "Alright kid. I'll play a little hide and seek with ya~ Think of it as a reward for not screaming or crying like others would"
Walking through the place with a sly smirk, the man kneels down and places his hand on the ground as a brown magic circle the size of a car tire appears under him and sends a pulse around the office.
With a grin, the man slowly makes his way over to a far cubicle in the darkness, ignoring the hole in the ceiling where a massive tree is growing out of the ground and through the building.
Raider: "Well, kid, it was fun for a while, but I got organs to sell and caps to make. No hard feelings, just how things are out here"
Pointing his gun at the coat, he walked around, seeing me sitting Criss Cross applesauce with a smile on my face as I raised my hands in surrender.
"If it's too much to ask, Can I get one final say?" I ask while lowering my hands to my lap.
Rolling his eyes, the man thinks for a bit before nodding.
Raider: "Sure, kid. I don't see why not"
"Thanks. I just wanted to say thanks for the game~" With a smile, I point a finger gun at him and wink "Bang~"
{BANG!}
The man drops to the ground with a hole in his head, revealing the roots of a tree wrapped around the grip and trigger of my smoking revolver.
"Thank you very much, Miss Redwood~ You have impeccable aim~"
Taking my revolver back, I check the man's pockets while trying to ignore the bile that's trying to rise from my stomach at the smell of his gray matter.
Guy had a diluted Stimpack, a Pipe Rifle, and 8 .38 ammo, and mushed Mutfruit, which he can keep. Using
<"Good luck, child. May mother Gaia and her children watch over you">
Nodding with a small smile, I make my way out of the office and begin to move carefully from building to building to avoid something like that from happening again.
"Hopefully, I'll get over killing people soon. It sounds terrible to say, but when I'm in a world like this... I'd rather be alive than dead... I just have to remember that's never the only option"
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⫘⫘⫘+[☢️]~20~[☢️]+⫘⫘⫘
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Following Martin into an old warehouse near the back of the Security outpost, I shake off and pat down most of the ashes that built up on my coat. Apparently, Ashfall is a type of weather that can happen down here because of the Paektu Mountain.
An active volcano, constantly pumping ash into the sky from the nukes altering the area, and when wind picks up, it pushes the ash in different areas of Korea.
I mean, it helps grow plant life and food when the ash mixes with the soil, but is still harmful to humans and some robots during heavier Ashfalls since it clogs their vents or optics.
Martin: "Here we go, kid. This is an old robotics warehouse we use to store all the damaged robots we find or when ours go out of repair. Since you fixed up the radio tower, the Mayer thought it'd be good to have you work here to work on more complex stuff that could help the city."
"Thanks. I'll look over the blueprints tonight, and by the next day I'll have some up and running again~"
With a nod, he hands me the keys to the warehouse and leaves, probably to set up a watcher over the restored radio towers.
Opening the sliding door, I walk into the workshop side of my new 'home' and look at the state of the place, ready to make a list of things I'll need.
It'll be a long list. A hole in the ceiling, garage door to the warehouse opened about 30% and jammed by rusted gears, car lift stuck in the air because of lack of power, upper body of an Assaultron hanging up by a chain near a workbench, and the windows to the office were cracked and some smashed. . . I can work with this~
Walking around some old puddles of oil and other patches of moss I'll have to clean up, I open the door to the warehouse and look at the robots in the area, some lined up, others fallen over, others just parts in a large pile.
"This is gonna be both fun and a pain to figure out and fix this stuff. But hey~ Intelligence isn't knowing all the answers; it's the thrill of the chase when you don't~"
???: "A fine quote. Young apostle, it seems Eris found an acceptable Assistant"
Whirling around, I take out my revolver and point it right at the glowing green optic of the Assaultron with a glare, causing it to tilt its head to look past the gun right into my eyes.
???: "Quick on the draw as well for someone so new to this world. Yes, you will do well on the missions ahead"
"You know a lot about me, so I'm gonna make an educated guess and say you're the goddess of this world considering you know Eris and you haven't killed me immediately for being an outsider"
Putting my gun away in my holster, I look at the puppet being controlled by the one in charge of this world with a sigh but respectful nod.
Dues: "My name was forgotten eons ago; however, because of current circumstances, you may refer to me as simply Dues Machina, goddess of knowledge."
Throwing down a few seeds, I make them grow into an office chair before taking a seat and leaning my head on my hand.
"Hmm. God from the machine, understandable and a nice play on the situation at hand. So if you're showing up now, you must be here to inform me about your world and my mission?"
Dues: "Correct. I'll start with a brief explanation. A nuclear apocalypse has overtaken my world. However, from a miscalculation on my part, the magic I gave to humanity caused them to mix the two together, creating a new weapon that I could not foresee, causing the world to be in a state of chaos unseen in others like this one.
I can't help but tilt my head at that notion as I think about the implications of magic enhanced Nukes.
"Fasinating... The concept of enhancing a nuke with magic never crossed my mind. When you think of a magic superweapon, you think of a creature of death or large device that takes magic, not just supercharging an already deadly weapon we deemed as too M.A.D."
Dues: "Indeed, however, I believe it wasn't humanity on its own that caused the destruction of my world"
"And it couldn't be an apostle because you could confront the god or goddess that acted against you... Those crystals that were growing out of the zombies!"
Dues: "Correct. The term used for the crystals is called Flux. When magic is used, a byproduct is created that is referred to as corrupted mana. Usually, it can be purified naturally by the world itself; however, if someone uses all the mana they have and tries to use the surrounding mana..."
"They absorb the corrupted mana they just created, causing side effects within their body or even mind, and with so many people new to magic..."
Dues: "Lots of people ended up losing their minds from tests with the government trying to weaponise magic before their enemies could, leading to new weapons being created from that fear and many leaders falling to madness from the Flux"
Leaning back in my Chlorokinesis chair, I run a hand through my hair as I realize just how messed up this world got from one little addon causing all this chaos.
Dues: "Unfortunately, I am out of time to control this puppet of mine. I have left my three missions on your phone. Good day, little Apostle~ I do not test you to see you break. I test you to watch you dance The waltz of logic, the tango of reason, so show me your steps, for I shall watch with great interest~"
The green light of the goddesses' possession fades as the Assaultron goes limp, leaving me with my own thoughts on what to do first with this new information and the slightly ominous words she just left me with.
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<~I gave you whispers, answers in the night, To make you brilliant, burn with wisdom's light. So every thought you own, every theorem you find, Is just a branch of my own twisted mind~>-<+2 Silver Ticket>
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What the hell is with all these ominous poems?!
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Holy hell, writing is difficult. I understand why Coraline's dad was so fuckin tired and depressed all the time.
The next chapter I'm working on is the Damachi-x-Lob corp book. I'm also working on something from my childhood in the background as well, along with looking into redoing the Re zero book I have, but I'll wait on both for the stuff people actually want to see.
Ciao~