On The Way To Nipton

So I began my journey to the town of Nipton, the town in which I didn't know which basic layout. The only thing memorable from that town was Vulpes Inculta and how difficult it was to beat him even with the mercenary grenade launcher. Then again, there were other players that simply beat him using a mere simple fist.

I followed the road until I stumbled upon a bunch of ruined buildings. What building was this? I didn't remember too much about it. I only got a notification on my peripheral vision, and I just discovered an unknown location.

[Location Discovered: Nipton Road Pit Stop]

*BANG!

A bullet pierced straight through my hand. Immediately, I noticed some people appear from the corner of the building. I noticed the bastard was holding a pistol. I immediately took cover while looking at my hand which was bleeding. I didn't know what hit me, but it hurt as much as the previous sting.

"Bloody hell, who the heck are these people?" I peeked from behind a wall.

Three people were shooting at me. What in the actual hell just happened? Where did they come from? I peeked from behind the cover and shot back at them. I pulled the trigger of my 9mm Pistol blindly at those people, in fear that one of the people shot my head.

*BANG! BANG!

The bullet from the 9 mm Pistol didn't manage to hit them, a single bit. I only made them angrier. Suddenly, I heard the sound of a submachine gun rattling. These people really put me in a corner here. I took the risk and aimed my pistol carefully.

I put my sight on one of them and pulled the trigger of my pistol as fast as I could. I emptied my whole magazine at one of them. The person dropped dead with just three bullets from my 9mm Pistol. I didn't know how many health points that person had. It was much less than me, definitely.

"DYNAMITE!" I ran from where I was hiding as the stick of dynamite landed next to my knee. I jumped away and lay on the ground.

*BOOM!

The explosion scattered its fragments and the blast hit me in my hand. Luckily, I didn't get hit, but it was not my main concern. The person holding the submachine gun immediately noticed that and rained down 9mm bullets at my body.

As I ran back to my cover, multiple pricks could be felt by my legs. I didn't bother and immediately went back to the cover where I was hiding. The pricks weren't ordinary pricks, but gunshot wounds from seemingly 9mm bullets.

I switched to my Varmint Rifle for more accurate shots. Somehow, the pistol wasn't accurate enough to engage the targets which were around 100 meters away from where I was standing. I aimed my Varmint Rifle carefully at the person holding the submachine gun since it posed the biggest threat.

* BANG!

The 5.56 bullet hit the target in the head, killing its instantly. All that was left was the leader. He only wore a piece of leather armor. I smiled and I immediately aimed my rifle back at him. I aimed right at his head and pulled the trigger again. The bullet flew to his head, but he wasn't DEAD!

"WHAT THE HELL?" I pulled the bolt of my rifle and pressed the trigger of my rifle.

The shot landed on his body. I pulled the bolt again and pressed the trigger, this time, the bullet immediately killed the man. I sighed in relief as everyone dropped dead on the ground, but something begged immediate attention.

The bullet holes on my legs. They began pouring blood out of my legs and I immediately felt the numbness on my legs. No wonder it was hard to stand up upright. It wasn't bleeding, the bleeding had stopped. I checked on my Pip-Boy.

[HP: 65%]

The pain in my legs was absurd. I controlled my breathing as I gritted my teeth as I felt my was butchered. It was like when you sliced a knife through your legs accidentally, but multiplied it by a hundred. Darn it. I limped my legs to the dead bodies.

Yes, sure. My legs hurt like hell, but loot must come first. After all, I really didn't think I'd survive the encounter. I looted the first body. It didn't contain much, it was the first person that I killed.

[10mm Pistol and 12x 10mm (FMJ) have been added]

He only wore a wasteland merc outfit, not something that was armored. He didn't bring any Stimpak either, but there were some candies inside of his pocket. I put the two mint candies in my pocket.

The next person that I looted was the bloody darn bastard that almost killed me with his dynamites and his submachine gun. I looted the body, he carried so much stuff with him. No wonder why he had the best weapon.

[120 Caps, 70 9x19 mm (FMJ), 9 mm SMG, 4x Stimpak, and 2x Psycho have been added]

That was quite a lot, but sadly, the bandit was only wearing a wasteland surgeon uniform. The last treasure was the bloody person that wore the leather armor. I only could assume that he was their leader considering that a headshot coming from a 5.56 rifle couldn't outright kill him.

[200 Caps, 20 5.56x45 mm (FMJ), Varmint Rifle, Leather Armor, and Med-X have been added]

After the combat ended, I laid myself on the wall, fully exhausted. These bloody bastards got me good, if I wasn't careful, I could die. Still, the loot from them could be said to be worth it. I wondered how many people they had killed.

[+120 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

[Welcome to Level 4]

Energy Weapons: ◄26►

Guns: ◄50►

Explosives: ◄26►

Melee Weapons: ◄18►

Unarmed: ◄24►

Barter: ◄16►

Speech: ◄30►

Medicine: ◄45►

Lockpick: ◄26►

Repair: ◄30►

Science: ◄45►

Survival: ◄24►

Sneak: ◄20►

[14 Points Left]

Where should I distribute these skills, hmm? I had a lot of Guns skills, so I didn't need to focus on that. I would just make the Medicine skill rise up to 50 alongside giving 4 to Barter and the rest would go to Energy Weapons.

Energy Weapons: ◄31►

Guns: ◄50►

Explosives: ◄26►

Melee Weapons: ◄18►

Unarmed: ◄24►

Barter: ◄20►

Speech: ◄30►

Medicine: ◄50►

Lockpick: ◄26►

Repair: ◄30►

Science: ◄45►

Survival: ◄24►

Sneak: ◄20►

[Intense Training]: With intense training perk, you can put a single point into any of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes.

That one would be useful, but as of now, I didn't need to increase my S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes since it didn't give me something else in the grand scheme of things.

[Lady Killer]: In combat, you do +10% more damage against female opponents. Outside of combat, you'll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with a female person.

This was an interesting perk and dialogue option. Man, it would be useful. I wondered what kind of thing would happen if I took this perk. Then again, for now, it was still a waste of time.

[Retention]: With the retention perk, the bonuses granted by all skill magazines last three times as long.

I never read magazines, so no.

[Swift Learner]: With each rank in the swift learner perk, you gain an additional 10% to total experience points whenever experience points are earned.

There were more than enough monsters and raiders in Mojave Wasteland to use to level up, so no, I wouldn't take this perk yet, it would be quite a waste.

[Cannibal]: With the Cannibal perk, when you're in Sneak mode, you gain the option to eat a corpse to regain hit points. But every time you feed, you lose Karma, and if the act is witnessed, it is considered a crime against nature.

HELL NO.

[Comprehension]: With the Comprehension perk, you'll gain double the bonus from reading magazines and one additional point from skill books.

Interesting, but still as same as the first one. I never read magazines or books.

[Educated]: With the educated perk, you gain two more skill points every time you advance in level. This perk is best taken early on, in order to maximize its effectiveness.

Interesting, one of the main obstacles to getting a better perk was that the skill points weren't enough to take a specific perk. I'd take this perk. It was the best choice.

[Run 'N Gun]: The Run 'n Gun perk reduces accuracy penalties with one-handed Guns and Energy Weapons while walking or running.

Em… Nope. I never run and gun in this world, It was not worth the risk.

After I Educated as my perk, time resumed as normal again. The injury on my legs also magically healed albeit there were some holes on my Vault Jumpsuit. Well, I could fix it later, I suppose? Besides, I got a new armor.

[Leather Armor]

DT: 6

DR: 12

Weight: 15

Value: 160

I equipped the armor immediately and continued my journey to Nipton.