Chapter 37: Power Leveling
Okay, now that I've got all the loot is logged. Let me check and see if that quest is ready to turn in and while I'm at it, I can use the level-ups I've accumulated recently.
Finished going through everything, I opened up my Pip-Boy freezing time mere moments later. And right as everything came to a complete stop, a holographic screen appeared in my vision, displaying my current stats along with a few new quests.
| Tank Assembly | Objectives: Put the chimera tank back together. Rewards: 5 Repair, 2,500 exp.
| Anchorage Simulation | Objectives: Complete the anchorage training simulation without dying. Rewards: Perk One Man Army, 7,500 exp.
| Secret Armory | Objectives: Open up the armory at the VSS Facility. Rewards: Perk Mobile Armory, 5 Lockpick, 5,000 exp.
Cool, some of my S.P.E.C.I.A.L.s have gone up a couple of points, and several of my skills have also seen a decent improvement as well. So I've made some fairly good progress in my brief stint out here in the capital wasteland. Honestly, the gains aren't too bad for really only taking out almost 300 hundred raiders. I'll definitely have to pay another visit to the Fairfax Ruins at a later date. Although only once I modified one of the power armor frames for my use since I am way too large to fit in any of them, unfortunately.
Also, while I'm at it, I might as well upgrade my AER 18 LMG and make some modifications to the T-60 set of power armor... Or you know what, I'll just make a whole new custom set of power armor because I know I can design a set that's a hell of a lot better than any set they could produce back in the day.
My future plans aside, these quests look like they provide some pretty decent rewards for not much work other than the Anchorage Simulation, of course. That simulation is probably going to take quite a bit of effort to make it out of that war zone alive with no deaths now that this isn't a game any longer. I'm going to have to Rambo that shit if I want to complete this quest. The quest's difficulty aside, I wonder if I'll gain any xp from killing the Chinese forces in there... probably not since it's a simulation.
Alright that's enough about that, it's time I've spent those level ups. And as soon as that's taken care of, I can turn in the Secret Armory quest for the maximum amount of gains.
When I was done planning out a couple of new upgrades, thinking about my new quests, and what I was going to do, I selected level up on the holographic Pip-Boy screen. Upon doing so, I was prompted to select how many of them I wanted to use, so I chose to use 3 of the 14 level-ups I had saved up. Since I wanted the extra skill points, I would receive from my intelligence going up by 2 points from the High Human Perk.
Locking my selection in the holographic screen immediately changed to the perk selection menu with the perks I've yet to take and a variety of new perks available to choose from.
Level 28 Perks
| Basher | Requirements Level 28, Strength 8, Guns 50, Energy Weapons 50: Ranged weapon bashing damage +25%.
| Gray Matters | Requirements Level 28: Your head takes 25% less damage.
| Metal Detector | Requirements Level 28, Perception 8: Acquire the ability to sense where metals you consider of value are located within a certain radius. The distance you can sense metals increases the higher your perception.
| Rad Absorption | Requirements Level 28, Endurance 7: -1 Radiation every 20 seconds.
| Roughin' It | Sleeping outside gives you the well-rested benefit.
Level 30 Perks
| Almost Perfect | Requirements Level 30: All S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are raised to 9.
| Burden To Bear | Requirements Level 30, Strength 6, Endurance 6: +100 Carry weight.
| Implant GRX | (Ranks 2) Requirements Level 30, Endurance 8: You gain a non-addictive subdermal turbo (chem) injector. This perk may be taken twice, with the second rank increasing the effect from 2 to 3 seconds and the uses per day from 5 to 10 (activated with thought).
| Tech Junkie | Requirements Level 30, Intelligence 10, Repair 100, Science 100: Gain immediate understanding and production knowledge of any technology when touched, no matter if its origins are human or otherwise.
From the new perks, 3 of them immediately stood out to me, those being Gray Matters for the damage reduction for my head, Metal Detector for being able to locate resources, and Tech Junkie for gaining immediate understanding and production knowledge of all technology I encounter in the future.
Marking those 3 as potential candidates, I left them aside for the meantime and looked through the long list of perks I had available. Nevertheless, I eventually circled back and selected the 3 new perks that stood out to me and finalized my perk selection. As soon as I did, the screen swapped over to display the skill distribution menu.
[ Skills ]
Skill Points Left: 75
Barter: 134
Energy Weapons: 141
Explosives: 141
Guns: 168
Lockpick: 135
Medicine: 204
Melee Weapons: 138
Repair: 251
Science: 257
Sneak: 235
Speech: 136
Survival: 133
Unarmed: 140
Hmm, what to spend my skill points on... Well, I'm going to be doing a lot more fabrication work in the near future. So repair is probably what I should be dumping my points into... Yeah, I think that's what I'll go with for now.
With my skill distribution figured out, I distributed all 75 skill points into repair, bringing its total up to 326. And the instant I finalized the distribution, the holographic screen changed again, displaying my increased S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, my new perks, and my upgraded repair skill.
Ignoring my increased stats, I chose to use 10 of my remaining 11 accumulated level-ups right away so I could get the additional skill point that would be coming from intelligence increasing again right as I hit level 40.
Level 32 Perks
| Aqua Boy | Requirements Level 32, Endurance 5: Water is your ally. Gain the ability to breathe underwater and no longer accumulate rads from swimming. In addition to that, you will become totally undetectable whilst underwater.
| Inspirational | Requirements Level 32, Charisma 8: Your companions do more damage, cannot hurt you, and are able to carry more weight.
| Penetrator | Requirements Level 32, Perception 9: Your attacks now have an added -15 DT.
| Rooted | Requirements Level 32, Strength 9: While standing still, gain +25 DR and +25% damage for melee and unarmed.
Level 34 Perks
| Armor Smith | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 32, Strength 8, Repair 100: All armors you've made or modified are now 20% better in all parameters.
| Moving Target | Requirements Level 34, Agility 6, Endurance 6: When sprinting and running, you gain 25 DR and your stamina drain while performing those two activities is halved.
| Refractor | Requirements Level 34, Endurance 10: When being attacked by energy weapons, gain a +10 to DT.
| V.A.N.S. | Requirements Level 34, Intelligence 1: Let Vault-Tec guide you! The path to your closest quest target is displayed via a holographic line that can be toggled on and off. +2 Perception.
| Weapon Smith | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 34, Strength 7, Intelligence 7, Repair 100: All weapons you've made or modified are now 20% better in all parameters.
Level 36 Perks
| Broad Daylight | Requirements Level 36: You receive no sneak penalty when sneaking in the light.
| Great Sword Preference | Requirements Level 36, Strength 10: Your preference for using heavy melee weapons has unlocked the ability to exert your carry weight behind your swings. Additionally, your damage output when using weapons of this type is raised by 25%.
| H.U.D. | Requirements Level 36: You gain a customizable and toggleable heads-up display.
| Lead Foot | Requirements Level 36: Any vehicle that you are in can go 25% faster and any damage you inflict with your legs is now increased by 25% as well.
| Quick Hands | Requirements Level 36, Agility 9: Your hands are now able to do anything they could do before, but twice as fast.
Level 38 Perks
| Auto Loader | Requirements Level 38: Any weapons you store in your item box are reloaded after a certain period. PS You are also required to have the ammo stored in the item box for this perk to work.
| Commander | Requirements Level 38, Charisma 8, Speech 80: You gain exceptional leadership skills and charisma. You'll also have a much easier time persuading others to join under you and finally a +10% to all damage done by all forces under your command.
| Death From Above | Requirements Level 38, Energy Weapons 75, Guns 75: Deal 50% more damage when attacking from above a target.
| Death Sense | Requirements Level 38, Perception 10: Acquire the ability to sense when danger or possible death is near. +2 to Perception.
| Flash Bang Resistant | Requirements Level 38, Endurance 7: You are no longer susceptible to being blinded by bright light or rapid changes in brightness.
Level 40 Perks
| Certified Tech | Requirements Level 40: +25% critical hit chance against robots and a very good chance of fully salvaging any destroyed robots.
| Gatling Gun Specialist | Level 40, Strength 10, Energy Weapons 80, Guns 80: All gatling-style weapons gain a +25% damage increase and can no longer overheat.
| Healer | Requirements Level 40, Intelligence 8, Medicine 85: Healing is 25% more effective.
| Regeneration | Requirements Level 40, Endurance 10: You've gained the unnatural ability to regenerate any part of your body as long as you're not dead. +100% to healing rate.
| Pain Resistance | Requirements Level 40, Endurance 10: You are now able to deal with an incredible amount of pain with little to no issue. +5 DT and +2 Endurance.
Man, I never have enough perk points.
Sigh. Let's see what would be best to get for the moment.
Bummed out at the fact that I never had enough perk points, I started going over the whole list to see what would be best to take at this current moment. After scouring the list of perks, I came to the decision to acquire Aqua Boy, Armor Smith, Commander, Death Sense, Gatling Gun Specialist, Pain Resistance, Quick Hands, Regeneration, Rooted and lastly Weapon Smith due them all being pretty good choices for various reasons.
Alright, I've decided on what perks I'm going with, it's time to move on to the skill distribution.
My perk selection decided, I finalized my perk selection, changing the holographic screen once again to display the skill distribution screen.
[ Skills ]
Skill Points Left: 260
Barter: 142
Energy Weapons: 153
Explosives: 153
Guns: 176
Lockpick: 147
Medicine: 212
Melee Weapons: 146
Repair: 334
Science: 265
Sneak: 243
Speech: 144
Survival: 145
Unarmed: 153
Hmm... I think I'm going to modify my plans a bit and split the distribution of skill points between repair and science. For the simple reason that science will keep giving me knowledge regarding all sorts of different technologies and other miscellaneous information. On top of the fact, it'll increase the power of Mechu-deru.
With a change in plans made, I distributed 130 skill points into repair, bringing its total up to 464. Finished with repair, I distributed the remaining 130 skill points into science, raising its total all the way up to 395. As soon as all the skill points were where they needed to go, I finalized the distribution, changing the holographic screen again to display my hugely improved stats.
Quickly glancing over my stats, I began the level up process again, immediately changing the holographic Pip-Boy screen to the perk selection one.
Following that, I looked over the perks I hadn't chosen yet, as well as some of the new additions. As I was looking over the perk list and thinking about what perk I was going to go with, I was drawn to Animal Friend perk for some reason or another.
| Animal Friend | (Ranks 3) Requirements Level 10, Charisma 6, Survival 45: Animals no longer attack you for no reason.
After a bit of thought, I could see a few benefits from choosing it, such as making most animals nonaggressive and making it easier to domesticate them. I also kind of wanted a pet deathclaw or something comparable, hence this perk should help with making that want a reality.
As I decided to go with the Animal Friend perk, I finalized my perk selection on the holographic screen, changing the screen to display the skill distribution menu. The second I was able to, I dumped all 27 skill points I had at my disposal into repair, bringing its total to 499. When I had all the points distributed into repair, I locked in my decision, bringing myself back to the stat screen.
Okay, those level-ups are spent. Time to turn in the Secret Armory quest and see what that Mobile Armory perk can do.
I browsed through my stats a slight bit longer and moved down the Pip-Boy screen where the quest section was located. Once there, I selected the Secret Armory quest and turned it in, receiving 15,100 xp, 5 skill points in lockpick, and the Mobile Armory perk as my quest rewards.
My rewards in hand, I navigated to the perk section and checked the Mobile Armory perk.
| Mobile Armory | You've gained the ability to store 5 suits of armor, 5 weapons, 5 vehicles, and 50,000 rounds of ammunition weightlessly in your item box.
Yeah, that's a damn good perk. It will for sure help with moving all this armory loot I just acquired over to my new home away from home.
Having seen the new perk effects, I began looking over the rest of the changes on my stats and right as I got to the pending level ups; I noticed I had 4 more level ups ready to turn in. Thus, I turned them in, returning to the perk selection menu with the previous selection of perks that I've yet to take, plus a number of new additions.
Level 10 Perks
| Animal Friend Rank 2 | (Ranks 3) Requirements Level 10, Charisma 6, Survival 45: Animals now enjoy your presence and are much more receptive to you.
Level 42 Perks
| Bone Head | Requirements Level 42, Endurance 9: Become 50% less likely to be knocked out.
| Eagle Eye | Requirements Level 42, Perception 8: You've gained the ability to see out to extreme distances. This ability grows stronger the higher your perception.
| Leave Nothing Behind | Requirements Level 36, Strength 6, Endurance 6: +1,000 Carry weight.
| Road Warrior | Requirements Level 42: You are now able to shoot accurately while driving.
| Stat! | Requirements Level 42, Medicine 75: The speed at which you do anything medical-related is increased by 20%.
Level 44 Perks
| Human Warehouse | Requirements Level 44: +100% to carry weight.
| Merman | Requirements Level 44, Agility 8, Endurance 8: Double your swimming speed.
| Pleasure | Requirements Level 44: Acquire the ability to induce pleasure in others via touch. This ability can be controlled along with how strong you want the pleasure to be.
| Travel Heavy | Requirements Level 44, Survival 90: While wearing heavy armor, your max speed is increased by 10%.
I took a few moments to look over the perk list before I decided to go with Animal Friend Rank 2 for its ability to make taming and keeping a pet easier. Following that pick, I went with Bone Head because it will reduce my chances of being knocked out, which could end up being a possible game over for me if it ever happens, hence why I was taking this perk.
After that, I grabbed Eagle Eye since it'll improve my eyes significantly. And for the last perk point, I went with Human Warehouse for the doubling effect it had on my carrying capacity. That effect will certainly make transporting loot a hell of a lot easier.
Once I decided what perks I was going to go with, I locked my perk choices in changing the holographic screen to the skill distribution, one with 108 skill points ready and waiting to be distributed. Not wasting a moment to even think about it, I instantly poured into science, increasing its total to 510. I then evened off repair at 500.
Completing the skill distribution for the last time, the holographic window changed to the Pip-Boy screen.
Pip-Boy
Name: Harold Todd Woods
Age: 16
Height: 6 Feet 6 Inches
Body Weight: 296 lbs
Race: High Human
Level: 45
Experience Points: 2,362/6,800 | Formula: 25(3 x Level + 2)(Level - 1)
Total Experience Points Earned: 153,062
Experience Rate: 305%
Health: 1,860 | Formula: Base of 90 + (Endurance x 30) + (Level# x 20) |
Healing Rate: 9.8 Health a minute | Formula: (0.1 x Endurance + 2) x 2
Carry Weight: 1,144.475/7,400 | Formula: 150 + 350 + (Strength x 100) x 2 |
Critical Chance: 58%
| Resistances |
Armor: Body Damage Threshold 39, Armor Damage Threshold 226, Total Damage Threshold 265
Poison Resistance: 130% | Formula: (Endurance - 1) x 5 |
Radiation Resistance: 79% | Formula: (Endurance x 2) |
| S.P.E.C.I.A.L. |
Strength: 32
Perception: 25
Endurance: 29
Charisma: 19
Intelligence: 30
Agility: 23
Luck: 29
| Skills |
Barter: 150
Energy Weapons: 161
Explosives: 161
Guns: 184
Lockpick: 155
Medicine: 220
Melee Weapons: 154
Repair: 500
Science: 510
Sneak: 251
Speech: 152
Survival: 149
Unarmed: 157
Skill Points Per Level Up: 27 | Formula: Base of 10 + 2 + (Intelligence x 0.5) |
Traits: |Gifted|, |Sex Appeal|, |Skilled|, |Take Another Rank 1|
Perks: |Adamantium Skeleton|, |Adeptus Mechanicus|, |All Seeing|, |Ambidextrous|, |Ammo Depot|, |Animal Friend Rank 2|, |Aqua Boy|, |Armor Smith Rank 1|, |Bone Head|, |Bulletstorm|, |Commander|, |Currency Maker|, |Daddy's Boy Rank 1|, |Death Sense|, |Educated|, |Eagle Eye|, |Energy Weapon Fanatic|, |Explorer|, |Gatling Gun Specialist|, |Gotta Go Fast|, |Gray Matters|, |Herculean Strength|, |High Human|, |Human Skeleton Key|, |Human Supercomputer|, |Human Warehouse|, |Human Weapon|, |Intense Training Rank 6|, |Junk Rounds|, |Language Master|, |Lessons Learned|, |Light Step|, |Living Anatomy|, |Lurking In The Shadows|, |Martial Weapon Master|, |Mechu-deru|, |Medical Genius|, |Meltdown|, |Metal Detector|, |Mobile Armory|, |Monstrous Physique|, |Pack Rat|, |Pain Resistance|, |Quick Draw|, |Quick Hands|, |Rad Resistance|, |Regeneration|, |Resource Hoarder|, |RobCo Certified|, |Robotics Expert|, |Rooted|, |Silent Running|, |Silver Tongue|, |Size Matters Rank 1|, |Stimpak Addict|, |Stonewall|, |Swift Learner|, |Tech Junkie|, |The Power Of Atom|, |Walking Treasure Detector|, |Weapon Smith Rank 1|, |Wild Man|
Mutations:
Gear: 20,000x 7.62 rounds, 495x .50 MG rounds, |12G Laser Pistol|, |AER 18 LMG|, |Anti-Material Rifle|, 10x |10 Round Anti-Material Rifle Magazines|, |Browning M2 Machine Gun|, 3x |Browning M2 Machine Gun Magazines|, 2x |Combat Knife|, |Exterminator Armor|, |Exterminator Helmet|, 50x Food Stuff, 51x |Frag Grenades|, |Guillotine|, 2x Guns and Bullets, 100x Med-x Syringes, 20x |MFC Grenades|, |Mulcher|, 3x |Mulcher Armored Backpack Magazines|, 1x Nikola Tesla and You, |Purge|, 100x RadAway, 5 |Serrated Spears|, 100x Stimpaks, |War Belt|
| Loot |
Weapons: 1 7.62 Combat Rifle Sniper Configuration, 2 .32 Hunting Rifles, 12 5mm Miniguns, 50 AEP7 Laser Pistols, 60 AER9 Laser Rifles, 10 Anti-Material Rifles, 100 Bricks of C4, 10 Chinese Officer Swords, 500 Combat Knives, 106 Combat Shotguns, 5 Fat Man Mini Nuke Launchers, 10 Flamers, 1,000 Frag Grenades, 1,000 Frag Mines, 10 Gatling Lasers, 10 Gauss Rifles, 20 Grenade Launchers, 10 Grenade Machineguns, Jingwei's Shocksword, 20 Light Machine Guns, 10 M2 Browning Machine Guns, 1,000 MFC Grenade, 10 Missile Launchers, 401 N99 10mm Pistol, 110 R91 Assault Rifles, 20 Sniper Rifles, 5 Partial Gatling Lasers, 5 Partial 5mm Miniguns, 500 Plasma Grenades, 500 Plasma Mines, 50 Plasma Pistols, 500 Pulse Grenades, 500 Pulse Mines, 112 Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifles, 50 Urban Plasma Rifles
Weapon Magazines: 5 20 Round 7.62 Combat Rifle Magazines, 50 5mm 500 Round Minigun Drum Magazines, 10 5mm 1,000 Round Minigun Backpack Magazines, 50 8 Round Anti-Material Rifle Magazines, 100 10 Round Anti-Material Rifle Magazines, 508 Combat Shotgun Drum Magazines, 50 10 Round Gauss Rifle Magazines, 50 30 Round Grenade Machinegun Magazines, 100 Light Machine Gun Box Magazines, 50 M2 Browning Machine Gun Magazines, 2 Mulcher Armored Backpack Magazines, 2,001 N99 10mm Pistol 12 Round Magazines, 512 30 Round R91 Assault Rifle Magazines, 36 75 Round R91 Assault Rifle Drum Magazines, 100 10 Round Sniper Rifle Magazines, 523 30 Round Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifle Magazines, 18 75 Round Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifle Drum Magazines
Apparel: 10 Advanced Radiation Suits, Black Altyn Helmet, Black Hardened Metal Armor, 10 Chinese Stealth Suits, 50 Heavy Combat Armor Sets, 50 Marine Armor Sets, 20 Neural interface suits, 10 T-45 Power Armor Sets, 5 T-51 Power Armor Sets, 1 T-60 Power Armor Set
Aid: 5 Big Book Of Science, 1,000 Bottles of Buffout, 10,000 Bottles Of Modified Buffout, 5 D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine, 7 Dean's Electronics, 890 Food Stuffs, 2 Lying Congressional Style, 12,500 Med-x Syringes, 1 Nikola Tesla and You, 13,000 RadAway, 103,975 Stimpaks, 1,000 Psycho
Miscellaneous: Assortment Of Automated Manufacturing Machines, 115 Stealth Boys, 20 Virtual Simulation Pods, 6,847 Duct Tape, 95,000 Scrap Electronics, 1,911,942 Metal, 13,563 Wonderglue 3,458,931 Other Misc. Stuff
Ammo: 823,100 7.62 rounds, 75,000 .50 MG rounds, 50,012 10mm rounds, 15,147 12 Gauge Shotgun Shells, 10,000 2mm Gauss rounds, 5,000 25mm Grenades, 1,000 40mm Grenades, 106,484 5.56 rounds, 388,502 5mm Rounds, 15,450 Flamer Fuel, 500 Fusion Cores, 120,000 Microfusion Breeder Cells, 155,000 Microfusion Cells, 100 Mini Nukes, 500 Missiles, 25,000 Small Energy Cells
Robots: Assualtrons 20, Hauling Bots 5, 2 Mining Bots, Mister Handys Maintenance Variants 8, Power Armor Compatible Assaultrons 10, Protectrons 459, Sentry Bot Mk IIs 12, Worker Bots 127
Vehicles: Chimera Tank Partially Assembled, Hauler
Turrets: 120 Gatling Laser Turrets, 20 Laser Turrets
Quests: 0 Ready to turn in, Many in progress, 7 Completed
Quests In Progress:
| Anchorage Simulation | Objectives: Complete the anchorage training simulation without dying. Rewards: Perk One Man Army, 7,500 exp.
| Farmer Bob | Objectives: Harvest two tons worth of crops. Rewards: Perk Green Thumb, 2,000 exp.
| Orbital Weapon Acquisition | Objectives: Find a way to gain access and control over the many orbital weapon platforms across the United States. Rewards: Perk Hand Of God, 25,000 exp.
| Save dad | Objectives: Prevent the death of your father, James Watson Woods. Rewards: New Perk? and 5,000 exp.
| Such Wealth | Objectives: Obtain 100,000,000,000 caps worth of assets by any means necessary. Rewards: New Perk?, 1,000,000 exp.
| Take Over Raven Rock | Objectives: Gain full control of the Raven Rock Bunker and eliminate all hostile forces. Rewards: Perk Enclave Secrets 100,000 exp.
| Tank Assembly | Objectives: Put the chimera tank back together. Rewards: 5 Repair, 2,500 exp.
| Undegrounder | Objectives: Clear all metros of hostiles and take control of them. Rewards: Perk Mole People, 20,000 exp.
| To The Void | Objectives: …
| Yer A Wizard …
Other Statistics:
Kill Counter: 846
Animals Killed: 463
Humans Killed: 341
Insects Killed: 30
Super Mutants: 12
That's a huge amount of gains I've made in an incredibly short period. But I did kill over 200 plus raiders along with a bunch of super mutants and ghouls on my way here, so it does make sense that I've progressed this much in such a brief amount of time.
Very satisfied with the progress I've been making since I've left Vault 101 behind, I inspected a couple of other things in my Pip-Boy before I decided to get back to reality. Thus, I exit out of my Pip-Boy, resuming time shortly thereafter.
As soon as I was back in the present, I had my robots begin helping me with gathering and moving all the materials spread throughout the facility to the armory for safekeeping. I had no way of possibly moving everything here over in one trip and there was no way I was going to let anyone waltz in here and take these valuable resources while I was away. Hence why it was imperative that I get everything secured here in the armory.
And if the Outcasts couldn't breach the security without the lone wanderer's aid, I doubt any wastelander running around the D.C. ruins was going to be able to. Therefore, everything should be here the next time I come to collect it all.
______
If you're looking for something else to read, that's similar to this, check out my other webnovel Wasteland Conqueror. It has a lot more chapters released.