I look at Lucky oddly and he just shakes his head.
"Wasn't me, you just got power back to the thing so folks got work they'd like done." he said and I sighed.
I hopped back into my bike and backed it up a bit before jumping the ramp yet again(because why the fuck not) and headed for the bar. When I arrived I was surprised to see that the others weren't back quite yet and shrugged before walking over to the bounty board to see what was up. Once I synced my echo to it a screen was projected for me to see and I read the descriptions of each of the quests.-
The first quest was someone who was tired of the bandits in runners thinking they had the right to shoot anything that moves and thus keeping others from driving safely. The poster wanted whoever took the quest to blow up the fuel tanks of the bandits to effectively put them on house arrest. The second quest was ironically a dude with his own fuel piping system that thanks to all the gunfights needed maintenance that the poster didn't want to do on account of them fearing to become swiss cheese, which was fair enough I suppose.-
The third quest was from Tannis surprisingly who apparently had folks digging for an elemental artifact of the Eridian variety that she believed to be from the vault but her workforce had all scrammed on account of seeing "ghosts" or some such. She included the freight lift code for the dig site for whoever wanted to go get that artifact for themselves(me of course). I was pretty sure the "ghosts" were actually Seraphs which got me excited because that meant more Eridian metal and cores if I was careful.-
The next quest was another one involving finding scattered parts to a gun that the poster offered to put back together if you collected them all. The final quest however interested me for an entirely different reason. See there was an old race track here in the Headlands that was abandoned when the corporations pulled out of Pandora and had thus become infested with Scythids that the poster wanted removed so they could reopen the place. Naturally I was interested because of both the new possible traits and because I could fucking finally push my bike to the limit as most racetracks were smooth.-
'Though since it's on Pandora it's probably shitty too.' I thought with a shake of my head before I opened the door to the bar and found me a seat on a barstool.
I saw no point in grabbing any of the quests without talking with the others first and that meant hanging about until they showed up. I could have echoed them but it wasn't really that important and they'd no doubt also gotten that claptraps message. I merely let Ladon out of my house and sat with a bag of potato chips and bottle of root beer waiting for them to get back. -
Like usual I hear them before I saw them as their engines revved loudly before quieting as they pulled up the park next to my bike. Ladon sniffed the air at the sounds but after a moment registered who it was and lazily laid down to nap on the cracked floor. The door flew open as Brick pushed it too hard as usual and walked in with the other three following after.-
"Taken a look at the quests yet?" Lil asked and I nodded while ignoring the fact Brick just stole my chips and soda.
"Most of it looks like grunt work but there were a couple that I want to take myself." I said frankly.
"Really what?" she asked curiously.
"One of them wants someone to clear out an infestation of Scythids that had taken over a race track. The other is a dig sight that might have some Seraphs guarding and Eridian artifact." I explained.
"So traits and alien stuff?" Mordy asked and I grinned.
"You know it." I said with a chuckle.
"Haven't punched an alien robot before, sounds fun!" Brick said with a mouthful of chips.
I shook my head "I don't suggest trying, those things kill shields fast as fuck since they use energy weapons. Like this blade here." I said flexing my left arm just right so the energy blade I had taken from one of the Seraphs I'd killed previously activated.
"AWESOME!" Brick says excitedly as he grabs my arm to get a closer look at the pulsating blade.
"Why haven't we seen you use that till now?" Mordy asked curiously.
"I forgot about it to be honest." I said scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.
"How do you forget about an energy blade that comes out of your arm!?" Lil exclaimed.
"Look I've had a lot to keep track of so is it really any wonder some stuff gets temporarily forgotten in the mix?" I asked with a helpless shrug.
"He's got a point." Roland said and the others nodded in agreement.
"How does that work anyways?" Mordy asked pointing at the blade.
"I'd like to say I'm not an expert but that'd be a fucking lie. Like I know HOW it's made and how to modify it hence why it works for me but I am a little hazy on the details involved in it's function. Best I can explain it is that it takes in energy and then does something with that energy to turn it into a sort of hardened energy structure. The science is really really gods damn advanced and hard to explain without a long ass lecture." I said verily.
"Forget I asked." he said wrinkling his nose at the idea of so much science getting explained.
"Probably for the best. Anyways something like this will kill a shields charge in the blink of an eye if you get hit with it, watch." I said before pressing the blade against Bricks chest. Almost immediately the shield on him flares up to stop it before shattering an instant later.
There was a hiss of gasped breath at this even if I expertly stopped the blade before it could even graze Bricks shirt. I moved my arm and the blade fizzed out of existence as I brought my arm away from Brick.
"Despite how it seems the blade is only as damaging as a normal if exceptionally sharp one but it's energetic nature make it the fucking bane of all shields. The shots the ones that have that ability send at you are the same. Needless to say punching them is a really bad idea unless you are either really fucking flexible or cut proof somehow." I said simply.
"That means Bricks out for that quest unless he wants to use a gun." Roland said and I nodded.
"Good news is that theres a quest for blowing shit up which sounds right up your alley." I said patting the big dude on his back.
"Guess we'll take a look at the quests our selves before we make a decision." Mordy said before they went to do exactly that.
The bounty board was right outside of the bar so it only took them a a couple minutes to go out, read the quests and then come back. We discussed it and I had to accept that I was only going to get the corpses of the Scythids as we settled on an even split since there were five quests. Mordy and Brick got the demo and scavenger hunt quests. Roland and Lil got the repair and extermination quests while I got the quest Tannis put up.-
I kinda wanted to hunt the Scythids myself but couldn't argue that it wasn't entirely necessary for me to do so. Unlike with the Seraphs where my expertise on the things construction was absolutely needed to make sure we didn't reduce them to useless scrap. Well okay even as scrap they'd be very useful but you get the fucking idea. The tech that made up the Seraphs was extremely valuable so if I could avoid reducing some of it to raw materials alone that would be for the best. I passed out snacks and cold drinks which we all used to refresh ourselves before we set out again to take on our chosen quests.
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For those not in the know I am currently working on three stories at the same time.
Danmachi: Hell's forge, A random pokemon journey and Borderlands: Unnatural selection.
All three can be found on Scribble hub and Web novel, only the pokemon story on Royalroad however.
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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: 250,948
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]x4, [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], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X2, [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, [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[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], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Uncommon grade], [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3
Stored traits: [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade]X5, [Omega body], [Supreme armored hide], [Powerful vitality], [Energy projection], [Minor regeneration]