The four of us enjoyed the lightening of the mood and the minute we were done we got serious. Whilst I was silently preparing myself for what was to come Alice and Rei swiftly got into position and cast their healing spells ahead of time, so they would be prepared for and be able to heal any minor damage I sustained throughout the leveling process. And at the same time my two lovers were making their preparations, I brought up my system window and navigated to the level-up section where the real fun would begin.
Well, here goes nothing.
[ Level Ups Pending: 20 ]
[ Do you wish to level up? ]
[ Yes ] - [ No ]
I wasn't expecting to advance that much on my way over here, but I really didn't do too bad for a short foray through the mountains... Though it'll be incomparable to what I'll gain once the girls and I remove all the hostiles from here and lay claim to the installation and all it holds within. I mean, if I was able to gain 20 levels on my way up here, I can only imagine what I'll have after destroying all the bots throughout the base and slaughtering all the mutants flying around up top.
Knowing I would be in for quite a reward once everything was taken care of here at Fort Kern, I didn't hesitate any longer and initiated the level up and the next thing I knew the perk screen had showed up once more along with a bunch of new perks to choose from.
[ Perks ]
Perk Points Left: 60
Level 128 Perks
| Robotic Army | Requirements Level 128, Intelligence 100, Repair 1,500, Science 1,500: Your ability to manage your robotic forces has resulted in a multitude of benefits. First, your robots have gained the ability to use more advanced tactics and can switch between these new tactics rapidly if need be. Second, your robots have gained the basic ability to learn, adapt, and improve their tactics over time all on their own. And if you have | Mechanical Domination | all robots integrated into it can share this information amongst all robots connected to you, and if that is the case, you will gain +1 to Intelligence for every 10,000 robots connected to you. [ Additional Information ] This Intelligence gain is permanent, but if you lose robots, they will have to be replaced before you can gain more Intelligence via this method. +100% to all robot parameters.
| World Runner | Requirements Level 128, Agility 100, Endurance 100: For every minute you spend running, your movement speed is increased by 1%... At least until you stop. On top of that, +100% to stamina, stamina regeneration, and movement speed.
Level 132 Perks
| Steady Hands | Requirements Level 132, Agility 9, Perception 9: Gain exceptionally steady hands. +50% accuracy and +20% work speed.
Level 136 Perks
| Can't Touch This | Requirements Level 136, Agility 39: +40% dodge speed, roll speed, and movement speed.
| Efficient Movement | Requirements Level 136, Agility 40, Endurance 40, Perception 40: Your movement and actions will become more efficient than ever before. +10% stamina, stamina regeneration, stamina efficiency, jump height, and movement speed.
| Stamina Enhancement | Requirements Level 136, Endurance 34: +50% Stamina and stamina regeneration.
Level 138 Perks
| Atomic Power! | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 138, Intelligence 51, Repair 1,000, Science 1,000: All nuclear power plants that you own and operate will now be more efficient and produce 100% more power. On top of that, all things that are nuclear-powered that you own will receive a boost of 20% in all parameters.
| Chip Production Speed | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 138, Intelligence 43, Repair 500, Science 500: Upgrade your chip production methods. +25% Chip production speed.
| Enhanced Leg Muscles | Requirements Level 138, Agility 25, Endurance 21: Enhance your leg muscles. +25% jump height and movement speed.
Level 140 Perks
| Night Owl | Requirements Level 140: You thrive at night, +3 to Perception when it is nighttime and +30% energy levels when it is nighttime.
| Reinforced Bones | Requirements Level 140, Endurance 19: Your bones will become significantly stronger and more durable than they were previously. +15 DT, +50% bone durability and bone strength.
Level 142 Perks
| Hardened Muscles | Requirements Level 142, Endurance 37: Acquire harder and more durable muscles. +15 DT, +10% health, +20% stamina, and +25% stamina regeneration.
Level 146 Perks
| Artificer | Requirements Level 146, Intelligence 8, Repair 125, Science 125: Anything that you directly had a hand in crafting is stronger and of better quality, +100% to all parameters in anything you had a hand in crafting directly. Adding on to that, for everything you craft directly, you will gain a certain amount of exp, depending on the amount of work it took to finish it and the quality of the end product. Example: A normal item that you spent 1 hour working on will net you 100 exp, and a fine quality you spent a couple of hours crafting would net you 500 exp.
Level 148 Perks
| Death's Hook | (Ranks 20) Requirements Level 148, Agility 100, Charisma 100, Endurance 100, Intelligence 100, Luck 100, Perception 100, Strength 100: Death is always lurking nearby no matter how safe things may seem and is just waiting for the opportunity to jump out from the shadows and rob you and everyone else of all you have. Gain the ability to conjure an unbreakable ghostly chain hook that can be used for a variety of different things, ranging from the usual repelling to sending it out to wrap and lock down a target. This ability has no cooldown. +25% Death affinity and death power.
| Enhanced Heart | Requirements Level 148, 10,000 Health, Endurance 100: Your heart will be enhanced to an almost unnatural degree. This will result in you gaining a multitude of benefits, ranging from your heart being able to pump a larger volume of blood throughout your body and get oxygen and nutrients to where they are needed faster and in larger quantities. Adding on further, all physical attributes will grow at an accelerated rate due to the multiple benefits that an enhanced heart provides to the body. +200% to health, health regeneration, stamina, stamina regeneration, muscle repair speed, and muscle growth speed.
| Magic Weapon | Requirements Level 148, Mana, Intelligence 10, Perception 10: Acquire the ability to imbue your weapon or weapons with magical energy, increasing its damage by 20% for 1 hour. This ability costs 20 mana and can not be used again until the hour duration has passed.
| Mana Regeneration | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 148, Mana: +50% Mana regeneration.
Level 150 Perks
| Corrosive Rounds | Requirements Level 150: All your ranged weapon attacks excluding thrown weapons will deal an additional 10% more damage as acid/corrosive damage, and if the rounds you fired penetrate the target's armor the target will be corroded for 5% more acid/corrosive damage every second for 3 seconds. This ability can be toggled via your will.
| Curb Stomp | Requirements Level 150, Strength 20, Unarmed 300: When you perform a stomp on your opponent's head with bone-crushing force, the damage of your stomp is increased by a hefty 250%.
| Plated | Requirements Level 150, Endurance 25: Your body's natural defenses are improved. +10 DT.
| Xeno Annihilator | Requirements Level 150: When you face off against races of alien origin that are not your own, gain a damage increase of 50% against them. This bonus is shared with all of your forces and all units under your control.
Level 152 Perks
| Corrosion Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 152: Your affinity with corrosive and acidic elements will increase by 20%.
| Fire Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 152: Your affinity with fire and heat will increase by 20%.
| Ice Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 152: Your affinity with ice and cold will increase by 20%.
| Lightning Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 152: Your affinity with lightning will increase by 20%.
Level 154 Perks
| Earth Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 154: Your affinity with earth elements will increase by 20%.
| Life Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 154: Your affinity with life energy will increase by 20%.
| Metal Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 154: Your affinity with metal elements will increase by 20%.
| Wood Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 154: Your affinity with nature and wood elements and energies will increase by 20%.
Level 156 Perks
| Darkness Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 156: Your affinity with dark elements will increase by 20%.
| Light Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 156: Your affinity with light elements and energies will increase by 20%.
| Poison Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 156: Your affinity with poisons and venoms and their related elements and energies will increase by 20%.
| Space Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirement Level 156: Your affinity with space will increase by 20%.
Level 158 Perks
| Death Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 158: Your affinity with death energy will increase by 20%.
| Demonic Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 158: Your affinity with demonic elements and energies will increase by 20%.
| Water Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 158: Your affinity with water elements will increase by 20%.
| Wind Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 158: Your affinity with air and wind elements will increase by 20%.
Level 160 Perks
| Luck Of The Draw | Requirements Level 160, Luck 50: When drawing your weapon there is a certain chance that your weapon will trigger a damage boost of 100%, that will last 5 seconds, and the chances of this ability triggering will be dependent on your luck, so the higher it is the more frequently it will appear.
| Mana Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 160: Your affinity with mana will increase by 20%.
| Qi Affinity | (Ranks 10) Requirements Level 160: Your affinity with qi will increase by 20%.
| Revenge | Requirements Level 160, Agility 30, Strength 30, Melee Weapons 300, Unarmed 300: You're not one to let yourself be beaten up, and this perk more than represents that. When you take any amount of damage from an enemy, retaliate with an attack of your own with a +300% movement speed modifier and a +30% damage boost for that retaliatory strike. This ability will only trigger once per attack sustained.
Level 162 Perks
| Built Like A Tank | Requirements Level 162, Endurance 100, Body DT 250, 5,000 Health: You're built like a tank and because of that your body's natural defenses will be upgraded significantly along with your stamina and its regeneration. +25% Body DT, +250% stamina, and +500% stamina regeneration.
| Galactic Conquest | Requirements Level 162: For each new planet that you take over, gain 100 attribute points that you can freely distribute.
| Emergency Production | Requirement Level 162: Gain the ability to enhance all your production capacity by 1,000% for 3 days and after that 3-day period has passed, all your associated production capacity will ramp down to 50% production speed for 1 month, including any new production capacity added in the boost period.
| Enhanced Armaments | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 162, Intelligence 59, Ballistic Weapons 500, Energy Weapons 500, Melee Weapons 500, Unarmed 500: All of your armaments, including those used by your forces, will be enhanced. +20% to damage output for all weapons that you own and all the weapons used by your forces.
Level 164 Perks
| Energy Shield Proficiency | Requirements Level 164, Intelligence 52, Science 420: Your knowledge of and experience with energy shields will improve. +100% energy shield capacity and recharge rate.
| Lightning Rounds | Requirements Level 164: All your ranged weapon attacks excluding thrown weapons will deal an additional 10% more damage as lightning damage and the speed of the projectiles you fire will be increased by 25%, excluding those at the speed of light, which will further increase damage dealt. On top of that, if the rounds you fired penetrate the target's armor, the target will be shocked for 5% more lightning damage every second for 3 seconds. This ability can be toggled via your will.
| Profiteer | Requirements Level 164, Mr. Banks, Trade 500: You'll learn new ways to profit and as a result of that all things that make you money whether they be businesses, trades, or something else entirely as long as it makes you money it will generate an additional 10% more profit.
| Radioactive Cleaner | Requirements Level 164, Endurance 100: Your body now has the ability to cleanse harmful radiation and radioactive material from the surrounding environment around you. Adding onto that, this ability has a base radius of 100 meters and will increase in size by 1 meter for every point of Endurance you possess above 100. Adding on further, this ability will increase in potency the higher your Endurance rises and can be controlled via your will, so you won't have to worry about removing radioactive materials and radiation you wish to remain.
Level 166 Perks
| Improved Energy Shield Capacity | Requirements Level 166, Intelligence 34, Repair 305, Science 340: Learn how to drastically improve energy shield capacity. +100% to energy shield capacity for all energy shields.
| Strengthened Ligaments | Requirements Level 166, Endurance 50, Strength 50: Your ligaments will double in strength and durability. +100% Ligament strength and durability, and +5 to Endurance and Strength.
| Strengthened Tendons | Requirements Level 166, Endurance 50, Strength 50: Your tendons will double in strength and durability. +100% Tendon strength and durability, and +5 Endurance and Strength.
| Turret Expertise | Requirements Level 166, Intelligence 13, Repair 330, Science 330: Your love for turrets has made you an expert in all things turret, and this has resulted in you being able to improve and upgrade all of your turrets quite drastically. +100% to turret barrel durability, +30% to turret damage output and accuracy, +50% to turret armor, and shielding, +200% to turret cooling and overheating resistance, +25% to turret fire rate and projectile speed (Excluding those that fire projectiles that move at the speed of light), and +40% to turret tracking speed.
Oh, man, am I spoiled for choice or what?
Was all I could think of as I scanned the long list of perks. I ran through the new guys a few times before doing the same with the oldies and once I had; I considered what I wanted to grab.
What to take this round... I had thoughts about acquiring a number of these perks that appeared in the previous level ups, but now that I have all these new additions appearing alongside their many ranks, I think I'm going to have to switch things up here because I simply don't have enough points to obtain everything I wish. Yeah, it would be smarter to develop a plan instead of selecting perks willy-nilly.
So, with that said, I've got a few ideas for this. One I can go the self-improvement slash empowerment route, two I can focus on perks that will improve my overall forces and logistical means, or three I can focus on magic and see if I can't make some major progress on that front before I make my move on Area 51 and whatever lies on it and underneath it.
Each of these options all have their positives, obviously. However, I did tell my girls I would devote myself to learning magic and actually advancing along its myriad of paths, and since I've already faced death once before, I believe it would be wise to concentrate on that for a while... Or at least until I've managed to develop a means of ensuring I don't come so close to kicking the bucket again. Having established that, I can spare a small portion of my available perk points for those I find interesting and or could prove useful in the days that will follow.
With my mind made up, I refocused on the list in front of me and began scanning through it once more.
Where to start things off... Well, life magic appears to be the best at healing, so that'll most likely be the category of magic I'll be focusing on. Therefore, I'm going to grab all 10 ranks of | Life Affinity | to ensure I can make the most amount of progress possible in this field. Additionally, | Mana Affinity | will bolster my already high affinity with mana even further, which will in turn further ease the difficulty of this newest venture and accelerate my overall progress in the area, so I'll take every rank available for it as well.
Already down to two-thirds of my perk points, I kept going and zoned in on the next set of my perk acquisition.
The previous two were probably already enough to build a solid foundation for magic, but I'll enhance it some more and add 5 ranks of | Mana Regeneration | to the mix along with all 10 ranks of | Space Affinity | since I think they'll prove useful, especially that latter one. And that'll pretty much do it on the magic front, so what do I want to spend my perk points on next... More damage is always welcome, but I've already got plenty in that department for the wastes' threats, so I believe I'd be better off taking a combination of perks that'll improve my personal abilities and those of my forces.
Acutely aware of what would benefit me the most in the short term, I wrapped up my magic-based perk spending spree there and began selecting those that would increase my own personal prowess. Excited to continue boosting my absurd powers that I still hadn't grown used to, I took | World Runner | for the massive boost it would provide to my movement speed, | Steady Hands | to help me out in my personal workshop, | Can't Touch This | for its ability to increase my chances of avoiding unnecessary damage, and | Efficient Movement | for similar reasons to the former in addition to the stamina savings.
On top of those, I picked up | Stamina Enhancement | to upgrade my near-endless stamina capacity even more, | Enhanced Leg Muscles | to up the massive boost to my movement speed and jump height I would be receiving in a moment here, | Night Owl | to feel more invigorated and energized in those early morning hours I typically woke up in every day, | Reinforced Bones | to strengthen my defenses and durability that little bit more, and | Hardened Muscles | for the exact same reasons as the perk before it.
Sheesh, the points are depleting fast.
That group of perks was already eating into my dwindling budget quite a bit, but I nevertheless continued the spree. After selecting all of those, I grabbed | Enhanced Heart | to bolster my health numbers that already border on insanity and speed up my physical improvements even more, | Plated | to up my defenses a bit, | Built Like A Tank | to be built like a mother fucking tank, and | Strengthened Ligaments | and | Strengthened Tendons | to lessen the chance of sustaining nasty injuries whilst I was working with massive weights like pec tears for example.
Okay, that should be enough for the self-improvement segment. Time to head to the next one.
Once I was finished with my self-improvement selection, I transitioned to the next segment and started by taking | Robotic Army | since it would raise my Intelligence by 1 every 10,000 robots I infect and increase my forces capabilities and effectiveness by an unimaginable degree. In addition to that one massive perk, I also took all 5 ranks of | Atomic Power! | to improve just about all my tech and nearly everything in my arsenal and under my command, | Artificer | for the personal equipment I'd be crafting for me and my companions, 1 rank of | Chip Production Speed | to up production in that specific area, and | Emergency Production | just in case I ever needed to really ramp up my production in an incredibly short period.
I don't know if I'll be able to get away with cheesing | Emergency Production |, but even if I can't, this perk can come in clutch if I ever need a massive boost to my manufacturing capabilities on short notice.
The moment that thought concluded, I stared at the last unspent perk point remaining.
Only a single point left, huh... Welp, | Death's Hook | looks intriguing, so I'll take that too, just to see what I can do with it. Maybe it'll be more powerful than it seems.
Having distributed every last perk point, I made sure I was satisfied with my distribution and as soon as I was; I locked in my choices and out came the skill distribution menu.
[ Skills ]
Skill Points Left: 24,080
(T)Ballistic Weapons: 2,468
(T)Energy Weapons: 2,567
(T)Explosives: 1,596
(T)Heavy Weapons: 2,566
(T)Leadership: 10,662
(T)Lockpick: 1,731
(T)Medicine: 1,773
(T)Melee Weapons: 2,152
(T)Piloting: 10,254
(T)Repair: 10,596
(T)Science: 10,601
(T)Speech: 1,172
(T)Stealth: 15,076
(T)Survival: 1,470
(T)Trade: 1,656
(T)Unarmed: 2,082
(T)Magic: 2,887
(T)Spirit Magic: 511
I guess I got to deal with this next.
Ready to get this over with, I thought about how I wanted to spend my points and after stewing on the topic I figured I could either begin to raise each of my skills to 10,001 to gain new skill perk effects and complete the chain quest that would no doubt appear upon | Grandmaster Of All Skills | completion. Or I could raise a skill like Leadership, which will speed up the progress of my projects back at Cornerstone Stronghold.
Hmm, the benefits of the former would be sweet, I'm sure, but I want to dig out the lower levels of my HQ as quickly as I can. so I can get the metro system linkage underway. Honestly, the sooner that project is finished, the sooner I can begin advancing some of my grander plans and ambitions, so I really should prioritize my forces' overall powers and capabilities above my own… At least at this stage in the game. I mean, my own personal abilities are nearing the territory of being without equal when compared to those I know of in the wasteland, so might as well allocate my skill points into a skill that will speed up my force's overall growth.
Although I could've gone the other way and boosted my own overwhelming powers even more, I came to the conclusion that my forces would be far more important than simply the abilities of one man, so I poured every damn skill point into Leadership and locked it in.
I could be making a mistake by allocating all my points to Leadership, but I truly believe a massive force with an equally massive and deadly army is far more important to my goals than my power alone.
Once that thought left my mind, a new menu made its appearance.
[ Mutations ]
Mutation Points Left: 1
| Acidic Blood | Your blood becomes acidic to the point that it can easily eat through stone and metal.
| Animation | Gain the ability to animate inanimate objects with the ability to move and act on their own.
| Beast Fusion | Receive the ability to temporarily fuse with another creature you are extremely close with for enhanced abilities and access to special powers that's dependent on the one you fused with.
| Biological Manipulation | Acquire the ability to manipulate all things biological.
| Bone Armor | Gain bone plating all across your body that you can freely manipulate however you wish.
| Brute | Transform into a brute.
| Cybermancy | Manipulate technology as simply as you breathe.
| Dragon's Breath | Gain the ability to release an explosive, fiery breath from your mouth.
| Earth Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate earth.
| Fire Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate fire.
| Flight | Gain the ability to fly as freely as a bird but with none of the effort.
| Fungal Symbiosis | An intelligent fungal colony will integrate itself with your body and form a symbiotic relationship with you.
| Ice Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate ice.
| Invisibility | Obtain the ability to turn invisible whenever you wish.
| Lycanthropy | Take on the traits of a werewolf, both those seen as positive and negative.
| Magic Vision | Your eyes will undergo an evolution and will in turn gain the ability to see mana and all manner of invisible magical energies.
| Magnetism | Control metal and magnetic fields as you see fit.
| Mana | Gain a beginner level of mana and some basic information about it, several simple spells, and knowledge about how spells are constructed and what not.
| Marked One | Transform into a marked one with a random set of abilities and have a certain percentage of your body covered in tattoo-like marks. You will have the ability to customize the color of your tattoos and their shapes.
| Qi | Gain a base of level qi and some basic information about it and how to cultivate it.
| Plant Manipulation | Gain the ability to manipulate plants.
| Psionic Power | Unlock the power of your mind.
| Random Bloodline | Receive a random bloodline.
| Random Mutation | Receive a random mutation.
| Random Perk | Receive a random perk.
| Solar Manipulation | Harness the power of the stars and use the power gained in all sorts of fantastical and mystical ways.
| Transcendent | Become a transcendent with a random set of powers.
| Transmutation | Acquire the ability to transmute matter and its various elements into whatever form and elements you desire.
| Vampirism | Take on the traits of a vampire, both those seen as positive and negative.
| Water Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate water.
Out of these guys I was eyeing | Biological Manipulation |, | Psionic Power |, and | Transmutation | in the previous selection before I decided to go with | Dimensional Rift |, so I think I'm going to pick one out from amongst these three mutations. But to be sure I'm making the right choice, I think I should give each of them a certain amount of thought before I pull the trigger on any of them.
With that established, I started thinking about the various benefits each of them may be able to provide me with, like | Biological Manipulation |'s ability to possibly modify and enhance my body, not to mention the plants and animals I would be farming and raising. | Psionic Power | isn't a bad choice either because turning my mind into a tool slash weapon could prove extremely useful, if not outright broken, especially when my massive Intelligence stat is added to the equation.
However, although I liked the images I was generating in my head, I knew something like | Transmutation | would be way more useful in the interim, particularly when it came to acquiring rare materials and those practically impossible to find here on Earth.
This mutation may not be the strongest out of what's available, but I'm certain it can compete for the number one spot in the most useful category, at least for my needs.
Finalizing my last choice, I waited for the flood of information and the pain that used to follow it. However, no pain came, and the ocean of information I was expecting was in the end nothing more than a blip in my mind before my brain had processed and compartmentalized every single bit of it.
That was certainly easier than most. Honestly, it was even easier than the last one, even though the density of information storming my brain wasn't that far off from the one that almost got me... I wonder if this will be the norm from now on as... I mean, I don't see why not, as long as I don't push the envelope too far.
Finished with my leveling, I turned to Alice and Rei, who were concentrating on their healing magic, which turned out to be unnecessary in this instance, and Mary, who was looking at me anxiously. "Alright, I'm done. You girls can cut the healing magic now."
"Really?"
"Are you sure?"
Finding worry in all three of their gazes, I tried my best to display my current superb condition. "Yeah, I'm fine... On second thought, scratch that. I'm actually doing even better than ever before because I just gained a load of stats that'll bolster my resistance to the harsh effects of the level ups going forward."
I could tell they were relieved following my first bout of words, but I wasn't finished just yet. "And along with that, I've acquired several new abilities, one of which will enable me to transmute various materials into those I need or wish to possess... Or at least I hope so, otherwise I just wasted that mutation point I get very infrequently."
The girls just stood there and observed me closely, and after doing so for a handful of seconds, they seemed to believe my words. "Well, you're not falling over or anything, so I guess you're fine. But we'll have to keep a close eye on ya to see if that's truly the case."
"If that's what will make you feel better, go for it. Just don't follow me into the bathroom or anything." I poked fun.
"And why the hell would I follow you into the john, you perv." The spunky, energetic cowgirl fumed.
"Haha, that's rich coming from the girl who's had her eyes set on me for a while now."
My antics with the wildflower caused my lovers to giggle and Mary to release a playful grrr, and once the light mood prior to the level up had been recovered, I got us back on the main mission. "Okay, that's enough joking around. Let's get up there and wipe the floor with robots and mutants duking it out topside."
"Lead the way then, tough guy." Mary shot back in kind, ready to get some payback for the shit I was giving her seconds ago.
Everything up to this point had gone without a hitch... Mostly. However, that was about to change because now it was time to confront the chaos that was happening up top.
______
Yo, this is gonna be the last chapter for a while since I'm going to be directing my focus to Fallout Wastelander for a minute and then Borderlands: Pandoran Warlord following that.