I put Ladon up before I left the bar and hopped into my bike. As much as I'd like to keep the little death machine out it couldn't fly quite yet and couldn't run nearly fast enough to keep up with a vehicle. Speed was a funny thing really as the further you got from a thing the faster each of the same movements would seem from it. This was called relativistic speed and was why Ladon not being able to fly made all the difference. If it was able to fly it could cover more distance with the same amount of effort by simply going higher and thus keep up.-
Anyways I got my fire breathing lizard into my house and set off for the dig site Tannis left in the quest. I blew up a runner piloted by some bandits on the way but otherwise had no real issues on the way. I knew it was bandits btw because there was a fucking psycho hanging off the side waving his Buzzaxe around. The location of the dig site was a couple miles away from the bar so it didn't take me long at all to arrive. -
At first glance the place appeared to be a huge stone structure sticking out of the ground with an arching stone "bridge" overhead and everything. Upon closer inspection of one of the sides however you'd find an odd sort of mini canyon that lead to a rather deep and large hole in the stone going straight down. The rough hewn edged of the stone told me that this was not a natural part of the place but that didn't keep the bandits from shacking up here. There was two tents out at the start of the catwalks that three psychos came out of. -
"Housekeeping!" I said with a grin.
"Blood for our ghostly masters!" one of them screamed before all three of them got a bullet through the brain for their efforts.
I drained away their lifeforce leaving behind only dust as my boots rang out with each step on the metal grate of the catwalk leading to the generator building and freight lift. I ended up having to deal with two bruisers, a midget and three marauders with one of them being of the "badass" variety which was to say bigger and with better gear. I got a nifty trait from the dude too.
[Gun expertise-Uncommon grade]
This made sense as it was clear that this dude was a security officer before he became a bandit asshole. Obviously his training with his gun hadn't slipped at all so I got the benefits of his hard work as a result. The only person I had found so far with this trait was Clay and he was a gunslinger so that should tell you the sort of skill needed to have it pop up. If I had to guess though I'd say Roland and Mordy probably have it too but I'd have to check to be sure.-
There was no need to check the control room for the generator as the power was still flowing through the lift from the still running generator. I simply walked onto the lift and hit the switch to send it down before waiting for it to reach the bottom of the hole. On the way down my attention instantly snapped in a certain direction as I felt something odd through my powers. It was hard to explain but it felt like a sort of hum coming from behind the walls unlike anything I had ever experienced.-
The sources of this hum grew as I got closer to the bottom of the shaft until it felt as though an orchestra of cicadas were sounding off from every direction in my powers range. It wasn't unpleasant however but seemed almost like lifeforce waiting to be claimed but not exactly. Like I said it was hard to explain. Soon though the lift hit the bottom and a few marauders and psychos attacked me to stop me from disturbing the Eridian stuff down here no doubt. Bandits worshiping these alien constructs did not surprise me at all as in a way bandits were just that fucking primitive and foolish.-
Draining the lifeforce from the corpses I was stunned to find that the glowing energy from one of the exposed glowing Eridian pillars was pulled in as well.
3,000 units
That's how much the strange purple energy I took from the pillar gave me. Admittedly not a lot but the sheer fact it happened confused the shit out of me. Even worse is I recognized that a tiny part of the surrounding hum vanished when I pulled in that energy as well which made me grin and hold out my arms.-
I closed my eyes and focused my powers on grabbing the sources of that humming and dragging them to me. Immediately thin threads of purple energy flowed through the air from both visible and buried under stone sources before sinking into my body as my lifeforce reserves began to skyrocket.
256,000 units
Over two hundred thousand units of lifeforce from draining this odd energy from my surroundings and a thought occurred to me.
'Was this Eridium?'
The books from Athenas describe the stuff as a high energy purple metallic material that could enhance siren powers somehow. That fit really fucking well with what I had just experienced but I was confused why the Eridian carved stuff had Eridium in it. Obviously there was a deeper connection between Sirens, Eridium and the Eridians but as to the specifics I wasn't certain. The fact that the purple stuff was within the architecture made by the Eridians here on Pandora alone yet was absent from the other two places I had found it was equally confusing. I put this conundrum to the side though as it was time to go get me some alien robot parts.-
As I walked deeper into the large tunnel that was being held up by the Eridians architecture I felt more and more Eridium in the stuff that I helped myself to while making sure to observe everything as I went. That strange high energy crystal that I've found in a few places on this planet also showed up glowing and lighting the tunnel up even as the swirling lines on the Eridians stuff faded as I ate the Eridium within it. Soon the tunnel ended in a massive chamber with two statues shaped like the Seraph guardians strange forms with what appeared to be a miniature vault at the far end of the chamber.-
True to her word a dark purple artifact sat nestled in a bed of those high energy crystals right in front of this mini vault. As I approached the center of the room the two statues started to turn to face each other and burst into flames. The chamber shook for a moment and from thin air four Seraphs showed up, two Slashers and two artillerists.
'This isn't a storage area but a fucking warriors challenge with the artifact being the prize!' I realized immediately.
The two Slashers glided rapidly over the ground with their glowing blades out to try and cut me down but I carefully lined up my gun and fired two shots. The bullets struck true and the slashers crashed into the ground helplessly as the power transfer for their movement system was cut off by my two well placed shots. The model of Seraph was slightly different from the ones I fought on Baal 3, more human-like and intricate but the general tech remained the same. No power to the movement parts in the lower half and even if it wanted nothing more than to murder me angrily the Seraphs were helpless and unable to move without dragging their bodies by using their arms.-
I ignored the Slashers and turned my attention to the Artillerists that fired several pinkish energy projectiles at me that I dodged. These were a bit trickier to defeat than the Slashers without totally ruining the delicate tech they have. I started sprinting to the side while the Artillerists flew in different directions to attack from those angles. This was perfect as it separated them and made the chances of my shots effecting the other bot much smaller.-
I lined up my gun and pulled the trigger before lining up the second shot and sending it to it's target as well. There was two loud "BANG!" sounds as the bullets cut off the movement of the Artillerists like with the Slashers. With them now immobile and still I took aim at an even harder target, the thin upper "arm" of the bots right side just bellow the shoulder. My first shot missed due to the continued shooting the bots were doing but the second shot blew off the arm with the firing mechanism entirely.-
I carefully repeated this with the other Artillerist and holstered my gun as even though they were still active the bots were no longer a threat. The specific spots I had shot were energy channels for the bots functions and thus the mechanisms themselves were still perfectly intact. I walked behind the Slashers that tried to cut me with their blades and slipped my guns blade into a small joint at the top of their humped chests at the base of the "neck" which cut off the operation center of the bots from getting power causing the things to power down.
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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: 643,116
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],[Gun expertise-Uncommon grade]