It all needed to be washed and researched but that was fine as I would have time after the vault was opened. Likely even before that in truth but the point still stood. With all this loot collected in my house we took a brief moment to stuff it in my armory to be sorted later before heading back to New Haven. I held my tongue during the reporting in to Pierce since Roland had nagged at me the whole way back not to escalate things unnecessarily. -
Unfortunately this meant not talking at all because you better believe I didn't have anything nice to say to the bitch. It also didn't fucking help that she was purposefully throwing jabs at me during the conversation making my trigger finger itch something fierce. Finally though we got to relax back in my house that was once again set up in Zed's spare room. The first thing I did was hit the shower to integrate and fuse my waiting traits. I started with the easiest ten stacks of [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade] that fused together with my four already existing stacks to form a three layered stack of the higher graded trait [Gun mastery-Rare grade].-
The change I experienced was much more dramatic than almost any other expertise type trait I had taken so far as not only had I pushed the trait to a higher grade but even got it to three stacks of the higher graded trait for a massive increase in effectiveness. The physical side of the change was small as my finger and forearm muscles shifted from the "countless hours" of practice with guns they suddenly got but the biggest difference was in my head. I winced as I remembered how I had previously handled my gun as it was like looking at a novice mistreat a masterwork.-
The next up on the chopping block was the ten stacks of [Mechanical engineering expertise-Uncommon grade] and one copy of the common graded degraded version I had. Since I already had the rare graded version of the trait though the improvement wasn't as dramatic but still substantial as the traits were fused and integrated. Finally however that left the [Flame projection gland] I had gotten from Mothrakk. Interestingly this trait could be fused with [Flame breath-Uncommon grade] to create the trait [Lesser dragons breath- Epic grade].-
'Hold the fuck up! Are dragons REAL!?' I pondered in shock because of this trait to an absurd level.
Like thinking it over it wasn't such a hard to imagine idea because the universe was vast as fuck and we humans had only ever been to six galaxies in it and even then we hadn't explored everything in these galaxies. To imagine that somewhere the evolutionary conditions had been just right for actual fucking dragons to come into existence wasn't that hard to do. Take the Saurians from Eden six for example that at their highest evolutionary form, the tyrants, could breath fire and were huge. -
A bit more evolution or a different evolutionary path and you'd get honest to gods dragons, likely without magic but that's besides the point. All dragons amounted to really were large intelligent flying reptiles that breathed an element of some sort, typically fire but there were versions with other types of breath. Judging from the fact that a "lesser" dragons breath trait was Epic grade I theorized that most true dragons had to be vault monster level existences and not weak ones either. By comparison Ladon seemed kinda lackluster and that simply won't do at all.-
My powers were evolution given form and sped up by like a fucking million so I refused to accept MY dragon being anything but the best. For now though I shelved that thought for later and focused on the changes my body had gone through after the fusion and integration of the trait. Besides hacking up some of my lung and feeling like my chest was being ripped open from the inside out the integration ended fairly cleanly. The new trait wasn't as simple as just spitting out fire though which made it clear why regular [Flame breath] wasn't enough to be considered draconic.-
The new trait allowed not only the standard stream of fire but also alternative forms of fire and even temperature control to a degree. While it was all fire in the end being able to control how hot the fire was made it a whole fuck ton more valuable. At least from a crafting perspective that is. Materials had different thresholds for heat and that meant the fires temperature needed to adjust to accommodate these thresholds, something standard [Flame breath] was incapable of. It also helped that now I could roast things even resistant to normal fire by cranking up the heat making me even more dangerous, though not by much admittedly.-
Breathing fire was cool and even dangerous in a close up fight but it really paled in comparison to my legendary grade fire body trait that let me emit flames hot enough to make a volcano blush. Like my body trait this new trait let me control the shape of my flames when breathed out so I am absolutely going to show off to the others when I get out of my bathroom. I washed off the grime on me and got dressed again before heading to my common area.-
"Anything good?" Lil asked as usual when i finished integrating new traits.
I opened my lips and blew out a blue flame in the shape of a ring. "What do you think?" I said smugly.
"That's awesome!" Brick said with a grin and bright childlike joy at the sight of my flames.
"But wait there's more!" I said dramatically before puffing out several different colored flames in various simple shapes. Blue was the hottest I could go but the others were much more visually stunning to see, like fireworks almost.
"I'm sure you'll be popular at birthdays." Mordy joked and I chuckled.
"Yeah and that's just the tame side of things. I can also bathe a large area in flames too, great for crowd control." I bragged openly.
"How big of an area?" Roland asked curiously.
I shrugged "Not sure since I haven't tested it yet, was actually about to do that if you want to watch." I said honestly.
"Sounds interesting." Mordy said getting up from his seat and stretching.
"It'll be good to know in case we ever need something like that." Roland agreed.
With that we all headed for the sim room where I had it simulate a large flat plain strictly so I could test my coverage. They all stood behind me as I inhaled deeply causing my chest to swell considerably before I exhaled with the trait active at my highest temperature flame. A cone of azure fire tore through the air for several meters as it spread from it's condensed form after leaving my mouth. The cone of flame covered nearly twenty feet directly in front of me and at it's widest part at the end of that range nearly ten feet from one side to the other.-
To put it simply the further away from me you were the harder it was to avoid so long as you were within this area of influence.
"Damn man, you could clear a room with a single breath like that. And did you guys feel the heat from that? We are behind him and I'm still sweating!" Mordy said astonished.
"A powerful ability, makes close range contact a bad idea. The collateral damage it could cause is a concern though." Roland said looking at the display from a soldiers perspective.
"It's basically just a powerful flamethrower, it's got it's uses on a battlefield. Burning supplies or bases for instance." I point out and he nods in agreement.
Flamethrowers were typically used for such things in wars after all so it made sense this was no different. After resetting the room I moved it onto the third highest setting for the horde mode and tested out my new prowess with my gun. It was a massacre. One shot one kill and even occasionally two kills per shot if the sim enemies were lined up. I effortlessly broke my previous record in this setting as the enemies died almost as fast as they showed up.-
Artillery support still proved annoying to deal with but even that could be dealt with if I caught the sound of their approach and shot the shells mid flight. Yes I was THAT good now, like I was born with a gun in my hand almost. I wasn't pushing superhuman limits with my gunfighting though, just close to the natural limit for it. In theory anyone could get this good at using a gun but not everyone had the same advantages I had such as my superhuman senses and quick controlled reflexes that let me move in ways that looked less like a man and more a murder machine.
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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
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Alexander Drake
Lifeforce:443,074
Integrated Traits: [Gun mastery-Rare grade]X3, [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Demi-supreme body-Legendary grade], [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X2,[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade],
Stored traits: