Right as I caught a glimpse of the creature, the massive bulkhead door came down the rest of the way and engaged its multiple locking mechanisms, sealing the mine shut and ensuring our safety. The adult crab worm was none too pleased about the closure and immediately began ramming into and banging on the thick gargantuan door, much to my newborn pups' dismay. But no matter how much that mega sized alien lobster raged and beat on the bulkhead, it didn't move a centimeter nor show any signs of damage nor weakness.
Relieved that the gargantuan door was holding up strong, I moved to the elevator, stood by the control panel, and watched the mine entrance intently, ready to press the button and take us to the ground floor if that big bastard broke through. Luckily for me and my 5 new companions, the beast gave up and discontinued its useless beating on that solid piece of metal.
"Phew, it looks like I won't have to confront that biological tank... For now."
Over the moon that Dahl's former defenses held up against that literal monster, I took my pups to the locker room, which had basically become my safe room at this point. Once there, I dropped the little guys off in the caged area where I found my armor atop a handful of relatively clean rags, restocked my depleted incendiary proximity mines, and washed off all the blood that had accumulated on my suit in my wild adventure through the mines.
The minute I was finished scrubbing that filth away and washing up, I extricated myself from the suit, stowed it away in my inventory, and cleaned the skag pups next. Once those rascals were as spotless as I could get 'em, I cleared the caged space, laid out a few more of my cleaner bits, and put the pups on top.
I know these aren't the best arrangements, but this is the best I can do for the moment.
As I was about to turn around and leave them to take care of my own cleaning, the five of them started wining together nearly in sync. Worried, I approached the cluster of them and investigated the issue and quickly heard the sound of their tummies rumbling.
Looks like they're hungry... What do skag pups even eat?
As I was giving their food, some thought the fully blacked out pup I was holding up looked about ready to cry, so I returned him/her to the bundle of them and went straight to my super useful ECHO communication device in search of answers. Good thing for the little guys it didn't take me long to find what I was searching for.
Oh, so they prefer meat for its high protein content but they can eat just about anything no matter the age. That's honestly pretty sweet.
Happy to discover that these little runts could devour and digest just about anything I set in front of them, I went and whipped them up a tin of canned meat and a bowl of water. The moment the meat had cooled down enough that it wouldn't burn them, I set it down along with the mater and watched them go to town on the meal and in the blink of an eye, everything was gone.
"Damn, y'all must've been starving."
Seeing all them with plump little stomachs, I got them a bit more water and set it out for them and finally turned my attention to my very own belly that was crying angrily for food. With my own hunger needing to be satiated, I left the tired puppies to nap whilst I headed off to my kitchen of sorts. Rummaging through my supplies here, I took note of how much food I had available between here and different piles of loot I had managed to scrounge up across the different levels of the mineshaft.
I really don't have a ton of food, all things considered, but I should be able to hold out for a week.
Staring at the bit of substance I had available and recalling what I had looted on the different levels, I couldn't help regretting my actions.
Haa, I wish I knew what I knew now. If I did, I could've moved a few of those larva crab worms into here and had more than enough food for myself, plus the several other mouths I've picked up. We won't be able to last long on what I gathered, so what am I going to do?
I suppose I could attempt another dive into the tunnels, but seeing how I just pissed off a literal biological tank, that's covered head to tail in hard carapace and whose only weakness is its singular eye, that's probably not the smartest idea, especially if I plan making it out of this shithole alive and in one piece.
I'd honestly be better off taking on the army bandits above this time and grabbing that vault key fragment for myself than trying to deal with that beast that can most definitely shrug off bullets like they're nothing and spew globs of acid that can melt through rock... Yeah, I think I'll take my chances with the bandit boss Sledge and his merry band of bandits. Now that I've decided on my next course of action, I believe it's time to use all those skill points and badass tokens I gained in my slaughter of Pandora's wildlife, but before I do that let's whip something up real fast and fill my stomach.
Feeling more than a wee bit starved thanks to exerting myself in the tunnels and caves for hours on end, I didn't waste another minute and got another can of baked beans hot and ready, although this time a jumbo sized one. Unable to wait another damn second, I hoovered that meal up in no time at all.
"Ahh, that hit the spot."
With my hunger pangs finally relieved, I relaxed for several minutes and just simply kicked back and got my thoughts in order. When I was eventually good and ready, I called my system panel up and moved right to the skill tree where I had 20 skill points waiting to be spent, however I saw fit.
| ... |
[ Brawn Skill Tree ]
<Tier 1 Skills>
| Hard to Kill | (5/5)
+4% Maximum Health and regenerate 0.1% of your Maximum Health per second per level.
| Incite | (1/5)
Taking damage gives +6% Movement Speed and +5% Reload Speed for a few seconds.
<Tier 2 Skills>
| Asbestos | (0/5)
-8% Negative Status Effect Duration per level.
| I'm the Juggernaut | (0/5)
Kill Skill. Killing an enemy gives you a +4% Damage Reduction for a short time.
| ... |
Presented with all the same options as before, I chose to continue filling up Incite as planned and as soon as I had it maxed, access to the Tier 3 skills became available.
| ... |
<Tier 3 Skills>
| Ain't Got Time to Bleed | (0/5)
Whilst in your Gunzerking state, you will regenerate up to 0.8% of your Maximum Health per second per level depending on how low your health is.
| Fistful of Hurt |
Throw a heavy punch, dealing massive damage and knockback. This ability has a cooldown of 15 seconds.
| Out of Bubblegum | (0/5)
Gain +7% Fire Rate per level when your shield is depleted.
| ... |
I definitely can't pass on the opportunity to grab Fistful of Hurt, same with Ain't Got Time to Bleed since it's essential to increasing my survivability, tenacity, and tankiness, so that's a must have as well.
Eager to increase my power, I poured the skill points where they needed to go and right as Ain't Got Time to Bleed hit (4/5) I gained access to the Tier 4 skills. Ignoring them for now, I finished maxing the skill I was working on before turning my attention to the most recently unlocked skills.
| ... |
<Tier 4 Skills>
| Bus That Can't Slow Down | (0/5)
+10% Movement Speed per level while Gunzerking.
| Just Got Real | (0/5)
Gain up to +8% Gun Damage per level depending on how low your health is.
| ... |
I don't plan on abusing myself and dancing on the edge of a knife to take advantage of this skill, so Just Got Real is pretty worthless to me when compared to something like Bus That Can't Slow Down, which will improve my movement speed by a whopping 50% when at max level. That kind of movement speed will allow me to perform all sorts of insane actions and maneuvers. It would also assist me greatly with getting the fuck out of dodge if the need to ever arises, so there's that to consider too… I guess I know what I'm dumping points into next.
Having made my decision rather quickly, I dumped 5 skill points into the movement skill and the instant I did that, access to the Sexual Tyrannosaurus skill unlocked.
| ... |
<Tier 5 Skills>
| Sexual Tyrannosaurus | (0/5)
Taking damage gives +0.4% Health Regeneration per level for 5 seconds. This effect does not stack.
If this was still a game, I'd grab this skill in a heartbeat but it isn't any longer hence it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to take it. Reason being it depends on me putting myself in a rather precarious situation where I have to take damage to proc it. I mean, I could use that same reasoning for my Incite skill, but the effects from that particular skill are actually useful when artificially causing minute damage, unlike this one, which would only be useful when I take damage that bypasses my shields and armor both of which I'd prefer to prevent if I can help it.
It might be useful for muscle and bone strengthening since it does affect health regeneration, however I need a skill that will provide an immediate benefit right now and not later. Therefore, I would be better off going with a different skill, as for what skill I don't know, so let me give that some thought.
Observing the brawn skill tree, I weighed the pros and cons of each option and after running through every one of them my sight eventually fell upon I'm the Juggernaut, for one simple reason, its ability to reduce my damage taken by 20% when maxed out.
You really can't beat a 20% damage reduction that can be raised even further with the help of class mods.
Pretty certain what skill I wanted to go with, I gave things a bit more thought and poured my remaining 5 skill points into I'm the Juggernaut, granting myself a flat 20% damage reduction whenever I sent yet another entity to the grim reaper.
That's all my skill points out of the way: time to take a look at my badass rank and see if I can't afford that damn vitality of mine. If I can't purchase it this time, I'm going to be hopping mad.
With a bit of unease in my heart, I navigated to the badass section of my system screen and stared at my massive badass token total.
Badass Tokens Available: 2,494
| Bonus Stats |
Agility: +7
Intelligence: +2
Strength: +1
Toughness: +1
Vitality: +1
Critical Hit Damage: +0.1%
Elemental Effect Chance: +0.1%
Elemental Effect Damage: +0.1%
Fire Rate: +0.1%
Gun Accuracy: +0.1%
Gun Damage: +0.1%
Grenade Damage: +0.1%
Maximum Health: +0.1%
Melee Damage: +0.1%
Recoil Reduction: +5.4%
Reload Speed: +0.1%
Shield Capacity: +0.1%
Shield Recharge Delay: -0.1%
Shield Recharge Rate: +0.1%
Backpack Space: +1
Bank Space: +1
Ammunition Space: +700
Grenade Space: +1
If I can't increase it by a single point, we're gonna have a problem, a big fucking problem.
Taking a deep breath, I selected the stat and attempted to raise the stat.
[ Badass Tokens -1,000 ]
[ Vitality +1 ]
As soon as I dropped a point into vitality, I vaguely felt as if I possessed a smidge more energy and as if my upper limit had raised, weirdly enough. Unsure of what that really meant, I checked myself to see if there was some sort of physical difference I could see. However, I found nothing out of the ordinary, so I went right to my stats to see if any changes had taken place there. And sure enough, the one stat that hadn't seen any movement up to now had raised by a miniscule single digit.
[ Lifespan +1 ]
Although, I'm glad I'm finally aware how much it costs to raise my vitality now I wish I had put those points into something more useful that would actually help me survive and get through the current predicament I found myself in... Well whatever there's no use in crying over spilt milk.
With 1,000 of my badass tokens gone in the blink of an eye, I turned my attention to the rest of the badass stats and began contemplating what I needed.
Well, for starters, my OCD doesn't like the fractional numbers for my health and shield related stats, so let's fix that.
[ Badass Tokens -36 ]
[ Maximum Health +0.9% ]
[ Shield Capacity +0.9% ]
[ Shield Recharge Delay -0.9% ]
[ Shield Recharge Rate +0.9% ]
There, that's better. Now what should I spend tokens on next... My attributes are pretty good as they are but they could massively improve my capabilities if I dump a shit load of points into them so that's an option. Yeah, I do like the sound of that idea. That said, I want to boost a few of my cheaper stats that aren't going to make me undergo physical changes first before I look into boosting any of them further.
Putting off upgrading my attributes, I scanned the list and decided I might as well develop my shield stats further since they are my first line of defence. Thus, I began distributing point after point into them.
[ Badass Tokens -870 ]
[ Shield Capacity +29% ]
[ Shield Recharge Delay -29% ]
[ Shield Recharge Rate +29% ]
There are other stats that are going to need a raise too, so I'll stop there.
Content with their current 30% bonuses, I considered which stat would assist me the most in my mission to take down the army of bandits and take possession of the vault key fragment.
Recoil reduction is decent where it's at but I plan doing probably more shooting than I've ever done before, so I'll up it to a flat 10%.
[ Badass Tokens -46 ]
[ Recoil Reduction +4.6% ]
My accuracy is pretty good without any real bonuses affecting it besides my machine gun proficiency and the bit I get from pistols lvl 3 but I could use some more, so that's just what I'll do.
[ Badass Tokens -99 ]
[ Gun Accuracy +9.9% ]
I'm under 500 badass tokens now, so I'll raise one more stat in this area and then take a squiz at my attributes.
[ Badass Tokens -99 ]
[ Gun Damage +9.9% ]
Alright, now I can move on to my attributes... Hmm, where to put the remaining 344 tokens. Well, they say speed is king, so even though I don't necessarily agree with that viewpoint entirely, I'll double it and bring its total to a hefty 20.
[ Badass Tokens -100 ]
[ Agility +10 ]
…
I was expecting to see at least some physical change for placing that many points into a single attribute in one go, but I suppose agility is the exception.
Moving my body around briefly, I didn't notice any physical changes occurring to my body besides a large increase in my speed, reaction time, and general control over my faculties.
Happy enough with the benefits provided that would no doubt aid me in my mission to come, I turned my attention to intelligence next.
I don't need to boost it per se, but I'll just even it out at 10.
[ Badass Tokens -30 ]
[ Intelligence +3 ]
After experiencing another large increase in mental clarity and a noticeable improvement to calculation and thinking speed as well as many other brain functions, I looked at strength for a second before blowing past it and moving to toughness.
It's probably unnecessary, but I'll splurge on this fella since I can't be a tank without a massive health pool.
[ Badass Tokens -120 ]
[ Toughness +12 ]
The second I deposited all those points into my toughness attribute, that euphoric feeling I experienced when I first increased it made its second appearance but multiple times more potent. I got to enjoy that comfortable, warm and cool sensation for a lot longer than the previous go and once it had come to an end, I inspected my body and instantly noticed my physique had undergone quite the transformation.
Standing up, I walked over to a mirror and saw a bulk of the muscles I possessed straining against my skin appearing to be more compact and denser than minutes prior.
So toughness increases my muscles, compactness and density, that's rad.
Impressed with the sight in the mirror, I did a couple of poses and began investigating further to see if I couldn't discover anything else. It's a damn good thing I did because I figured out my body's ability to prevent and sustain through damage had undergone a major upgrade... Although only after I caved in one of the steel lockers.
Alright, I guess it's time to give strength some love... This is going to hurt like a bitch.
Knowing what to expect, I undressed and proceeded right to the showers and took a seat on a bench. I sat there for a minute or two, dreading the pain to come, but I nevertheless manned up and got on with it.
[ Badass Tokens -60 ]
[ Strength +6 ]
The pain was just as brutal as I remembered it, but after all I had gone through in the mine, I was more than up for the challenge. I gritted my teeth as I did previously and was careful not to use too much strength so I wouldn't break them. The pulses of pain went on for a number of minutes, but they eventually subsided, just as they had done before, leaving me with an even more impressive body.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" I thought excitedly, as my typical bruiser body with underdeveloped legs was no more.
What replaced it was a properly proportioned build that was more akin to a monstrous super soldier than anything else. After having my fun, examining my figure from top to bottom, I brought up my system once again and looked at my remaining 34 badass tokens.
I'm sure I will be doing a ton of reloading in the coming battles, so let's toss the points in there.
[ Badass Tokens -34 ]
[ Reload Speed +3.4% ]
Okay, I'm finally done. Let's give my status one solid last look over and then take a nice long shower to remove all this sweat I just accumulated through my massive strengthening.
[ Status ]
Name: Victor Atlas Colt
Age: 21
Lifespan: 101 ⇮
Height: 7 Feet 3 Inches
Body Weight: 395 lbs ⇮
Race: Human
Classes: Gunzerker
Level: 26 ⇮
Experience Points: 265/2,700
Total Experience Points Earned: 35,365
Health: 6,776 ⇮
Health Regeneration: 39.48 HP/s ⇮
Shield Capacity: 5,200 ⇮
Shield Recharge Rate: 1,300 ⇮
Shield Recharge Delay: 1.75 seconds ⇮
Stamina: 5,600 ⇮
Stamina Regeneration: 11.6 SP/s ⇮
[ Gear Effects ]
| Uncommon || Dahl | Heavy D.E.D. Mining Suit
Armor Rating: Level 8 (Resistant to crushing, slashing, piercing and up to rifle rounds)
Shield Capacity Boost: 2,500
Recharge Rate Boost: 700
Recharge Delay Reducer: -0.25 Seconds
| Epic || Tediore | Impenetrable Panacea Shield
Capacity: 1,500
Recharge Rate: 300
Recharge Delay: 2.75 Seconds
Health Regeneration: 3 + Level # Per Second
| Common || Vladof | Hoarder Class Mod
Team Ammo Regeneration: 1 Per Second
[ Attributes ]
Agility: 20 ⇮
Intelligence: 10 ⇮
Strength: 20 ⇮
Toughness: 30 ⇮
Vitality: 101 ⇮
[ Skills ]
Actives: | Gunzerking |
| Gunzerker |
Tier 1: | Hard to Kill | (5/5) - | Incite | (5/5)
Tier 2: | I'm the Juggernaut | (5/5)
Tier 3: | Ain't Got Time to Bleed | (5/5) - | Fistful of Hurt |
Tier 4: | Bus That Can't Slow Down | (5/5)
Skill Points: 0
[ Weapon Proficiency ]
Pistol: lvl 3 | Accuracy +6% - Damage +6% - Reload Speed +6% - Stability +6% |
Submachine Gun:
Shotgun:
Combat Rifle:
Sniper:
Machine Gun: lvl 39 | Accuracy +39% - Cooling Rate +39% - Damage +39% - Magazine Size +39% - Recoil Reduction +39% - Reload Speed +39% - Stability +39% |
Rocket Launcher:
Heavy Weapon:
Eridian Weapon:
Alien Weapon:
[ Badass Rank 2,763 ]
Badass Tokens Available: 0
Badass Tokens Spent: 2,763
| Bonus Stats |
Agility: +17
Intelligence: +5
Strength: +7
Toughness: +13
Vitality: +1
Critical Hit Damage: +0.1%
Elemental Effect Chance: +0.1%
Elemental Effect Damage: +0.1%
Fire Rate: +0.1%
Gun Accuracy: +10%
Gun Damage: +10%
Grenade Damage: +0.1%
Maximum Health: +1%
Melee Damage: +0.1%
Recoil Reduction: +10%
Reload Speed: +3.5%
Shield Capacity: +30%
Shield Recharge Delay: -30%
Shield Recharge Rate: +30%
Backpack Space: +1
Bank Space: +1
Ammunition Space: +700
Grenade Space: +1
[ Gear ]
| Guns |
| Epic || Atlas | 2.5xOPTLS Strapped Incendiary Pearl Havoc Machine Gun
| Epic || Vladof | RDLS Strapped Incendiary Havoc Machine Gun
| Rare || S&S Munitions | RDLS Explosive Fury Machine Pistol
| Uncommon || Vladof | LS Shocking Fury Machine Pistol
| Melee Weapons |
| Uncommon || Dahl | Old Veteran Combat Knife
| Grenades |
Incendiary Proximity Mines (10)
Shocking Transfusion Grenades (10)
Sticky Grenades (10)
| Grenade Mods |
| Rare || Vladof | Incendiary Proximity Mine
| Rare || Anshin | Shocking Transfusion
| Uncommon || Hyperion | Longbow Grenade
| Uncommon || S&S Munitions | Sticky Grenade
| Armor |
| Uncommon || Dahl | Heavy D.E.D. Mining Suit
| Clothing |
Chain Belt - Dark Gray Cargo Pants - Jet Black Combat Boots
| Shield |
| Epic || Tediore | Impenetrable Panacea Shield
| Class Mod |
| Common || Vladof | Hoarder Class Mod
| Meds |
Super Healing Kit (1) - Super Insta-Health Vials (3) - Greater Healing Kits (5) - Greater Insta-Health Vials (10)
| Tech |
ECHO Communication Device
| Ammunition |
600 Rifle Rounds
[ Backpack: 15/22 ]
| Legendary || Dahl | HOLO Frenzied Corrosive Bulldog
| Rare || Torgue | 4xOPT Big Steel Helix Rocket Launcher
| Rare || Vladof | Workers Savage Combat Pickaxe
| Uncommon || Eridian | Lightning Sniper Rifle
| Uncommon || Maliwan | RD Obsolete Shocking Viper Revolver
| Uncommon || Hyperion | Crimson Stinger Submachine Gun
| Uncommon || Jakobs | Swift Revolver
| Uncommon || Tediore | RDLS Cheap Explosive Matador Shotgun
| Uncommon || Dahl | RD Surplus Raptor Pistol
| Common || Torgue | Stock Carnage Rocket Shotgun
Greater Healing Kits (5)
[ Ammunition: 2,000/2,000 ]
[ Grenades: 12/12 ]
[ Money: 326,693 ]
[ Possessions ]
Weapons: | Common || Generic | Basic Combat Rifles (42) - | Common || Generic | Basic Pistols (45) - | Common || Generic | Basic Revolvers (7) - | Common || Generic | Basic Shotguns (29)
Shields: | Uncommon || Maliwan | Balanced Shock Burst Shield - | Common || Generic | Basic Shields (18)
Class Mods: | Common || Generic | Basic Classless Class Mods (7)
Meds: Greater Healing Kits (2) - Greater Insta-Health Vials (9) - Healing Kits (13) - Insta-Health Vials (24) - Light Healing Kits (46) - Light Insta-Health Vials (52) - Minor Healing Kits (98) - Minor Insta-Health Vials (139)
Ammunition: 116,401
Grenades: 238
Those sure are some impressive gains.
Satisfied with what I had accomplished in the matter of not even a single Pandoran day, I was about to enter the shower when I caught sight of something out of the side of my eye. Striding over to the cracked mirror, I examined my head and found my hair had grown a slight bit and gained very faint crimson streaks throughout.
...That's cool, I guess.
Not minding the changes to my hair color, I marched back to the showers and started washing up and as I was just about finished; I had extreme hunger pangs come out of nowhere and overwhelm me.
Man, I'm starving.
Feeling absolutely ravenous, I swiftly completed my cleaning and flew to my temporary kitchen in search of a meal.
[ Status Changes ]
Lifespan: 100 → 101
Body Weight: 375 lbs → 395 lbs
Health: 5,284.4 → 6,776
Health Regeneration: 30.822 HP/s → 39.48 HP/s
Shield Capacity: 4,004 → 5,200
Shield Recharge Rate: 1,001 → 1,300
Shield Recharge Delay: 2.4975 seconds → 1.75 seconds
Stamina: 4,400 → 5,600
Stamina Regeneration: 8 SP/s → 11.6 SP/s
Skill Points: 20 → 0
Badass Tokens: 2,494 → 0
Agility: 10 → 20
Intelligence: 7 → 10
Strength: 14 → 20
Toughness: 18 → 30
Vitality: 100 → 101
Gun Accuracy: +0.1% → +10%
Gun Damage: +0.1% → +10%
Maximum Health: +0.1% → +1%
Shield Capacity: +0.1% → +30%
Shield Recharge Delay: -0.1% → -30%
Shield Recharge Rate: +0.1% → +30%
Recoil Reduction: +5.4% → +10%
Reload Speed: +0.1% → +3.5%
[ New Skills ]
Tier 2: | I'm the Juggernaut | (5/5)
Tier 3: | Ain't Got Time to Bleed | (5/5) - | Fistful of Hurt |
Tier 4: | Bus That Can't Slow Down | (5/5)
[ Skill Changes ]
Tier 1: | Incite | (1/5) → | Incite | (5/5)
[ Loot Acquired ]
Ammunition: 2,477