In a good mood I put my house away again and returned to New Haven to really relax for awhile as Tannis worked to get us access to the Trash coast. I thought about perhaps going and seeing what methods the bandits were using to control access to that area but decided I honestly couldn’t give enough of a shit to do so. Of course my version of “relaxation” was not what any sane person would classify as it as I sparred and competed with Brick in the sim room.-

Not that Brick could really hurt me without his new weapon but the feeling of a bareknuckle brawl with someone close to my strength was just what I needed to relax.

“Punching you is no fun, it’s like punching a rock but harder!” Brick complained for what had to be the fifth time as I once again tanked a punch without any damage at all.

“My body is literally designed to tank bullets below a certain caliber, the fuck did you think punching me would accomplish? Besides this isn’t about my unpunchability but your sloppy fighting style. Honestly if you weren’t so fucking strong it wouldn’t even work. Your go to method of punching is haymakers and uppercuts leaving your body almost entirely unguarded on top of the fact you barely use any fucking footwork so you can’t even hit with full strength at all!” I said with an exasperated look.

The beefcake merely shrugs “Never had a problem with it before.” he said dismissively.

I felt my eye twitch at that and mentally strangled the brute before taking a deep breath and attempting to try this from a different angle.

“Why don’t I show you just how much harder you’d hit things if you actually had proper fucking technique. A simple matter of you copying how I throw a punch?” I suggested and he seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding in agreement.

I had the sim room create a stationary target with a gauge that showed how many pounds of force the hits had. I took my usual loose stance and threw out a perfect punch that utilized my entire body as I punched the targets face. The hard light constructs face caved in and exploded like a watermelon before the number 4206 appeared on the gauge representing the sheer force my punch had.-

I reset the whole thing and turned to Brick. “First punch the thing as hard as you can like normal so you know how hard you normally hit things.” I said and Brick just grinned and cracked his neck and knuckles before throwing out a powerful haymaker that also burst the sim targets head.

1275 the gauge read out which was not a surprise to me as I expected as much since he had a fully realized omega body. I then helped him get into a proper punching form and had him throw a punch as similar to my own as he could.-

2719 the gauge read this time and I laughed as he looked at the number like it had insulted him.

“That’s the difference between having proper form and what you do. Martial arts were made specifically to utilize the maximum potential strength the human body holds for combat. The reason your normal punches seem so much less than that last punch is because your normal punches use only your shoulders and arms while that last punch used your whole body. The difference couldn’t be more fucking obvious.” I explained with a grin.

Needless to say Brick became very serious about learning how to make all of his punches hit that hard. I didn’t bother putting him through a traditional training method as that would only serve to frustrate him. The beefy boy’s mind was not programmed for calm rigid training but more of a “just do it” wavelength. With this in mind the way I had him train was simple but perfect for him. I had the sim room filled with enemies with those impact gauges near them that I had him fight full tilt while keeping score of how hard his punches were.-

This allowed him to slowly adapt to using proper form when throwing a punch instinctively causing his average punch to slowly but steadily climb to the force he hit before. I didn’t even bother trying to get him to use his legs for kicks as he vehemently refused. After the first couple of hours guiding him I left the sim room as I was no longer needed there. He had understood what he needed to do and merely needed time to fully absorb it into his fighting style.-

While that was going on Roland, Lil and Mordy had left my house to go find something to do and came back with some interesting news.

“So Pierce is worried about these smoke signals coming from Old Haven that seem to be some sort of distress signal? Much as it grinds my fucking gears to admit I think she’s right to be concerned. Bandits might be superstitious but they aren’t fucking cowards most of the time. Anything bad enough that they’d send out distress signals over in a place where hundreds of them gathered might be worth figuring out before it potentially comes a knocking on our door as well.” I said seriously.

“Never thought I’d hear you agreeing with Pierce on anything but when you break it down like that I can’t say as I blame you either.” Lil said and the other two nodded in agreement.

“We gonna go check it out like Pierce wants then?” Mordy asked and I nodded.

“Yeah I want to know what went down there.” I said and that settled that.

Brick was brought in on it as well and we all got our vehicles and set out towards where our minimaps said Old Haven was.-

“You killed the ugly one. I insisted that Pierce grant you class A clearance but she denied me. I stole her robotic arm until she finally conceded and did so. You’ll likely find little trouble proceeding forward from now on. Are we friends? I think I would enjoy that.” Tannis sent us over the echo as we drove making me smile.

“Much appreciated Tannis and I think we could be friends if things continue as smoothly as they have been.” I sent back without missing a beat.

The drive to Old Haven was fairly boring as we only came across a few less than intelligent bandits and Spider ants along the way that got reduced to paste under our tires. The most interesting bits had to be the in heavy disrepair drawbridge guarded by a green and white claptrap and actually arriving outside the huge vault-like door to Old Haven. Unlike New Haven that had scrap metal walls Old Haven was fully surrounded by thick concrete walls and even the entrance was a massive steel vault-like door that lead to a fully metallic and more importantly enclosed hallway. This place ABSOLUTELY had the defenses needed to become a major pain in the ass to breach which made me a little concerned to be honest.-

The fact that there were four dead bandits who had clearly been gunned down fairly recently at the end of the hallway definitely didn’t help. I examined the bodies carefully and frowned at what I found.-

“Whoever did this was trained. Each shot is in a kill zone and there are no marks on the walls from missed shots either. Even worse none of these fuckers had drawn their weapons though whether that is because they didn’t have time or hadn’t expected to be attacked is uncertain. That Crimson lance banner kinda makes it clear who’s to blame though.” I said seriously as I took the remnant lifeforce from the corpses that was almost fully dispersed by now.-

Lifeforce doesn’t stick around for long if a body isn’t preserved and I guessed based off of this that these corpses were maybe a Pandoran day old at most. None of the bandits had any good traits either so I just snatched up the common quality loot they dropped and we entered Old Haven proper through the metal door that was still unlocked. My first impression of Old Haven when the metal door slid up and let us in was simply “quiet”.-

There was an eerie lack of any sound at all for a bandit stronghold like this, no gunfire, yelling, grunting or lunatic ravings at all just the sound of wind and burning fires. Focusing my hearing to the limit I picked up some softer sounds that I identified as movement.

“Pretty sure the Lance are still here for some reason so keep your guns spicy hot for these fuckers.” I let the rest of my group know seriously.

___________________________________________

https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro

_______________________________________________

Alexander Drake

Lifeforce:402,629

Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade]X4, [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,[Flame breath-Uncommon 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], [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade], 

Stored traits: [Flame projection gland], [Mechanical engineering expertise(degraded)-Common grade

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep