I returned to Eden six and spent the next few days until my deadline arrived preparing for my trip to Pandora while practicing with my new powers. Maya’s powers were excellent for single targets but groups proved troublesome for it though that could be somewhat mitigated by creative use. For example you phase lock an enemy and them use their mass to create a burst of strong attractive gravity centered on them that dragged enemies towards them. This left the enemies in a nice neat group to be cut down.-

I was of course testing this in the sim room as it was the most cost effective way to do so. My only real gripe with the powers was that I couldn’t sustain prolonged usage as it then cost me more than I earned. On the plus side of things the powers were straight up broken if you fueled them with enough energy. I had full on phase locked one of those floating mountains near the manor for all of about a second at the cost of nearly ten thousand units of lifeforce. Frighteningly I could go even fucking bigger and target the gas giant planet Eden six orbited if I was willing to pay the price.-

On a different but related note I had increased the number of targets I could have at a time to three after all this effort “digesting” the trait with Dido’s writings help. My preparations didn’t just extend to my new powers however as I also collected resources I felt I may need or find useful. Things like money, food, water, bullets and medical supplies. While I doubted I’d need the second and third of those things due to my house I felt it prudent to have them in my inventory which was about half full at this point. –

If my echo was one of the basic ones it would be way past capacity already but the old man had made sure it had all the “backpack” upgrades available when I got it. Still no matter how much I prepared I was really fucking nervous when the day came and my house left my inventory on it’s own and opened up while a pulsing sound rang out from it, it was time to go. Clay, Wainwright, Hammerlock, Baldrin and the old man were all there and gave me their encouragement before I stepped into my house and it automatically teleported away to Pandora.-

When I stepped out of the portal of my house again I was immediately assaulted by dry hot air and the scent of dirt and rust. Looking around I saw that there were four people gawking at me in shock.

“So you lot are the ones I’m supposed to help, good to meetcha, names Alex.” I said with a grin as my house closed up and returned to my inventory on it’s own.

I ignored that to take stock of my new compatriots and I had to say, I wasn’t super impressed. The first was of course the gorgeous redhead who I immediately noticed was a siren from the tattoos on her left arm and boob window. She had yellow eyes and short red hair that on her attractive face left her appearance memorable. The next up was a dark skinned man with a muscular body and stern features and clothes that I noted had pieces of crimson lance armor attached to. He held a cheap assault rifle of Atlas brand and serious glaring brown eyes. The next person I immediately identified as my favorite of the bunch as he had a sharp chin spike beard and narrow but sharp facial features.-

He had on a luchador mask on with red goggles and braided hair out the back. His clothes were neutral colored and the way he held himself plus the alien bird he had sitting on his shoulder told me he was a hunter of sorts, a man after my own heart. He also had a cheap sniper though still holstered as he observed me with a serious look. The final person caught me off guard I admit as he was a mountain of muscle and scars a bit over seven feet tall. He wore a barely fitting tank top and ragged black pants and boots while his fists were covered in makeshift bolt brass knuckle gloves.-

His face was wide and scarred with a buzzcut haircut but unlike the others he didn’t look wary of me but more curious than anything, not out of stupidity but confidence. Not that I could fucking blame him from what I could see. All in all they looked like a capable group but very fucking dysfunctional.-

“Soooo, anyone want any snacks?” I asked awkwardly as they all stared at me in silence.

The big ones eyes lit up and he walked forward to tower over me “What you got?” he asked with a deep but friendly voice.

I grinned “Potato chips, beef jerky and fruit leather.” I said honestly with a grin as I took out some of each.

“Aw hell yeah! I love jerky!” the big dude said with a wide grin as he snatched up the bag of jerky and dug in. “I’m Brick by the way.” he said pausing slightly during his feasting.

The other three looked at each other with unsure expressions before the dude with the bird shrugged and walked over. “Mordecai and this is Bloodwing, I’ll take the chips.” he said with a slightly accented voice and I handed them over to him with a grin before looking at the other two with a raised eyebrow.

“Fuck it! I’ll take the fruit leather. Names Lilith, siren.” the redhead said giving up on caring as she walked over but she studied my reaction when she mentioned the siren part.

“Before any of that I want to know what that was.” the soldier dude said seriously and the others also looked on curious at what I’d say.

“That is a bit of a story. Not that I mind sharing since we’ll be working together from now on but maybe we’d best get settled in first, where ever this is.” I suggested looking around finally.

It looked like we were at some sort of bus stop motel at the edge of a town though the road was cracked and broken and the motel itself looked abandoned. I spied a red colored chest peeking over the top of it and the neon sign for the place was barely functioning. The “walls” of the town if you want to fucking call them that were just sheets of metal welded haphazardly together.-

Nearby I spotted a CL4P-TP robotic steward unit waiting impatiently for the group that I was admittedly holding up.

“Name’s Roland and I expect to hear that story when we get settled.” The dude said but didn’t ask for any snacks as he walked off towards the bot.

I shrugged “Can’t win em all I guess.” I mutter before jogging over to the side of the motel and crouching down. With a forceful leap I cleared the top of it in a single bound while all four of them watched in astonishment.

Kicking the latch mechanism for the chest at the top the thing whirred mechanically as it opened up to show me the goods inside. Unfortunately it was just a white or common quality shotgun and a green or uncommon quality pistol. There was some ammo too but I didn’t need it so I scooped it all up and casually stepped off the side of the building.

“Anyone want this stuff?” I asked as I walked up.

“You just gonna ignore the fact you jumped over a building?” Lilith asked with a raised eyebrow and I chuckled.

“It’ll make sense once I tell my story. Now does anyone want this loot or not?” I asked again.

“You want the pistol Lilith?” Mordecai asked the siren and she shook her head.

“Knock yourself out.” she said and I tossed the gun to him.

“I’ll take the shotgun if nobody else wants it.” Roland said and seeing as nobody else wanted it I tossed him the gun and ammo for it that was in the chest.

“Cool, now that that’s settled we should probably-” I started saying before loud engine noises were heard.

The robot freaked out and bolted at the sound and five car machine things jumped over the metal gate to the town while the people in it yelled excitedly before they drove off.

“Right exposition later, town now?” I asked and they all nodded with Brick grinning excitedly as he cracked his knuckles.

We all ran towards the metal gate as the robot came out of it’s hiding place.

“Are.. are they gone? Whew, thank goodness! Those bandits really have it out for us Claptrap units, using us as target practice is not part of our programming!” the bot complained as it opened the gate. “Aaand open!” The gate slid open and the bot got ahead of itself and ran into it “Ow”.

I rolled my eyes at this and we followed the robot into the town only for it to freak out when it saw there were bandits crawling the place.

“Tear em apart!” one of the oddly identically dressed bandits yelled when he saw us.

They started shooting at us and the four other scattered to avoid getting hit since they didn’t have shields. 

‘One, two, three, four, five bandits. Time to show off a bit.’ I thought with a grin as I drew my gun and fired five precisely placed shots creating five bloody mists and five corpses without heads.

“Holy shit! I’m glad you’re on our side, that was incredible!” Lilith exclaimed as she and the other gathered around me since I’d already killed all the bandits.

“What’s up with that gun, blew their heads clean off!?” Mordecai asked in amazement as he looked my gun over.

“Again I’ll explain later, theres more bandits ahead. You guys take care of it this time since I want to see what you’ve got.” I said pointing up the sand path into town.

All four of them were more than happy to take up the challenge and ran ahead eagerly.

“Come on now open up! We need your girl to give us a hand eheh. Don’t make me come back here with Nine-toes!” I heard at bandit threaten a locked building that they couldn’t get into.

‘Disgusting wastes of fucking space.’ I thought as I watched with glee as my new friends quickly rectified that problem.

Mordecai took out his sniper and put a hole in the first bandits head while Roland gunned down the second. With them dead the bot stopped cowering and went to the red chest just sitting there.

“Please open the storage device! There may be something within it to help deal with the bandits!” it said and Brick didn’t need to be told twice as he flipped the latch. 

It was just two white quality pistols that nobody wanted so I stashed them in my inventory for my armory. 

“These controls appeared to be malfunctioning, I’m sure I’ve got this though!” the bot said optimistically as it hammered on the clearly busted consoles buttons yet failed to achieve anything. “This isn’t working!” it said angrily slapping the console with it’s clamps.

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

_______________________________________________

Alexander Drake

Lifeforce: 130,512

Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade], [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], [Quick thinking], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade], [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X2,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade], [Strong circulation-Epic grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade]

Stored traits: 

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep