Chapter 10: First Level Up

The days continued on from then and on October 7th 2250, the 63rd day since I was reincarnated into this world, I completed my 63rd daily workout quest, finally earning enough exp for a level up.

*Haa..haa..haa…*

Finally, I'm able to level up. I just need to turn in this last quest and I'll be able to level up immediately afterward.

Settling my breathing, I opened up my holographic system menu and navigated over to the quest section to turn in my just completed daily quest.

I wonder if there will be any other changes from the games... Though now that I'm thinking of it, I already got 4 perks that never existed in any of the 3 games right out of the gate. So the chances of new things being introduced are quite high. Hopefully, the changes include a variety of new useful perks and other cool shit that I can use to my advantage.

After that thought, I turned in my daily workout quest gaining another 16 exp as my reward, finally pushing my total exp over the required 1,000 exp for the next level.

Level Up!

Okay, here we go, time to level up for the first time and get me a perk.

Taking a brief look through my status, I noticed no changes.

Everything is unchanged. Time to use that long awaited level up.

With my status appearing the same as it has been minus the pending level up I now had at the top of the screen, I selected the level up on my status screen and as soon as I did the screen changed and presented me with a perk screen.

[ Perks ]

Perk Points Left: 1

Level 0 Perks

| Ambidextrous | Requirements Level 0, Perception 8: Gain the ability to use both of your hands as if they were your dominant hand.

| Bookworm | Requirements Level 0, Intelligence 4: Your reading speed will double and in addition to that, you'll better understand the knowledge you gain, leading to faster skill gain. +100% to reading speed and +25% to skill gain speed.

| Speed Loader | Requirements Level 0, Agility 6: Loading and reloading has never been better, gain the ability to load magazines at a substantially faster speed and see a decent increase to your reload speed. +50% to magazine loading speed and +35% to reloading speed.

| Talented | Requirements Level 0, Intelligence 9: Become talented and absorb experience like a sponge and learn from your experiences faster than ever before. +2 skill points gained per level up.

Hmm, that's different from the games. I would normally only have three new perks to choose from, but now there are four with the inclusion of Ambidextrous, so that's new. In addition to that, from what I've read from the perk descriptions, the perks also have some changes from their game counterparts, but the changes in their descriptions are all positive, so that's good. Hopefully that remains the case going forward. It would suck if I couldn't take a perk due to a shitty change by this system.

Quickly discovering those differences, I spent a few more seconds looking to see if I could spot anything else changed from the games and when I didn't; I continued on.

That seems to be all the changes for the moment, now what perk should I take for my first level… The first perk that really stands out to me would have to be Talented due to two reasons. Reason one being because I take it every time I play a Wastelander game and reason two, the real reason is the earlier I get the perk, the more benefits I'll see from it in the long run.

However, since this isn't a game any longer, let me check the other perks again, along with the new perk to see which of them I want to take for my first level. The new perk Ambidextrous isn't too bad of a choice since I could see it being exceptionally handy in many activities, situations like crafting and combat, to name two. It could also prove useful in situations involving the bedroom as well, but that's too far off into the future for me to bother thinking about, with me being a baby and all.

Moving onto a different perk, we got Speed Loader. This perk is pretty good, but I currently don't meet the requirements, hence I can't acquire it at this very moment, plus it wouldn't be of any real use to me, given my current state and situation. That aside, it'll definitely be a perk I'll pick up in the future for sure.

Likely before I head out into the wastes simply because I have no doubt it'll show it's worth later on when I'm in the thick of it out there fighting bandit groups and clearing mutant nests. Although with a new perk appearing, that isn't a guarantee, since there could be a number of new perks that are hands down more useful, which may or may not end up changing my decision.

Taking that perk off the list of choices, we have the perk Bookworm. This perk should help a great deal in my goal of acquiring as much knowledge as I possibly can before I set out into the wasteland, so this will be essential to take if I want to make that goal of mine a reality.

Despite that, I can't use it properly right now since I'm unable to get my hands on books of any actual value or substance besides children's picture books, which are absolutely useless to me. Thus, I'll unfortunately have to pass on this perk until I can gain access to real books and not the ones that mainly consist of colorful pictures and small bits of very simplistic text.

Now that all the perks have been evaluated, I suppose I'll be going with Talented simply because it makes the most sense to take with it, providing an extra 2 skill points every level up.

My decision made, I selected the perk Talented and confirmed my perk choice and right as I did, the holographic screen changed once again, now displaying the skill distribution screen.

[ Skills ]

Skill Points Left: 14

Ballistic Weapons: 42

Energy Weapons: 42

Explosives: 32

(T)Heavy Weapons: 44

Leadership: 37

Lockpick: 30

Medicine: 52

Melee Weapons: 35

Piloting: 31

(T)Repair: 42

(T)Science: 42

Speech: 25

Stealth: 31

Survival: 32

Trade: 25

Unarmed: 35

What skill should I increase… Medicine could grant me more knowledge about the human body that may or may not help me out with my training. However, seeing how I'm in a world that is significantly more advanced than my previous one, the answer is probably yes. I guess if I don't find a better skill to put my skill points into, I'll just throw them in medicine and be done with it.

Continuing on from medicine, combat skills are still unneeded at this moment, thus I'll be skipping those as well. Social skills can also be skipped over too simply a baby has no need for any of those types of skills. Piloting and survival are useless here too, because one I don't have a car or some other kind of vehicle. Two, I'm a baby being taken care of by my mom and dad in a city that isn't lacking in really anything aside from power armor. How unfortunate.

I'll definitely have to acquire a suit of it when I venture out of the undercity.

I would like to make a suit before I start my journey, but there is no realistic way I'll be able to invest the time I would need to make all the equipment and machinery required to even produce it. Not to mention all the time needed for designing a custom power armor suit that would fit my future size.

Well, it's not the end of the world. I'll just hit up Fort Kern and grab the many suits sitting there and modify one of them after I gain ownership of the Cyberdynamics Robotics Facility. Just gotta be able to get past the many robots guarding the fort and the armored blast door blocking access to the main armory.

Getting back to distributing my skill points, the only other skill I can see being worthwhile at this moment would be stealth simply because I could use it to sneak around the house at night and seek out some books to read or perhaps either of my parents laptops both of which should have access to the undercity network. Yeah, that's not too bad of an idea, if I can gain access to one of their laptops I can use the undercity network, from my understanding it is pretty similar to the internet back in my previous world to begin learning as much as I can.

Doing that will help me out with dealing with my boredom at night and accomplishing what I need to get done before I set foot out into the wasteland earlier than expected. I'll just need to make sure that I don't leave any evidence behind that I was using one of their laptops. That shouldn't be all that difficult to do.

With a plan made, I dropped the 14 available skill points into stealth and as soon as I finalized the distribution, my head started throbbing intensely in pain as a plethora of information involving several assassination techniques, multiple ways of staying hidden, and many other such stealth related skills and experience were being stuffed into and absorbed by my brain.

As I was dealing with the effects of the extreme headache taking place, the holographic screen in front of me unbeknownst to me changed back to my status screen, displaying my new perk Talented and increased stealth skill.

…

Haaa, that shit fucking sucks. It better improve later on, if not, I'm going to need to get my hands on some really strong painkillers. I'm already going to be working on fixing the issue with the Maxigen drug and eventually producing it along with Medstims. So I might as well add a painkiller to my future drug manufacturing project because it seems I'm going to be needing them in the future and quite frequently at that if this is what I'm going to have to go through every level up.

As for what painkiller to produce, I'll probably go with P-Dex since it was supposedly the strongest pain suppressant in all the wastelander games with minimal side effects. It also sells for quite a few dollars out in the wasteland due to its effects, so I could make a good bit of money off it as well…

While I'm on this topic besides producing drugs to deal with the pain I experience when I'm leveling up, those medstims should be useful in my workouts due to the drug's ability to facilitate rapid regeneration of the body. In theory, they should allow me to recover faster from my future workouts.

If it works how I think it does, I should be able to utilize the Medstims to increase my body's ability to regenerate and repair itself, thereby increasing the speed I'll be able to raise my agility, endurance, and strength attributes. Combine that with the modified Maxigen drug I'll be producing in the future, I'll be packing on tons of muscle and raising my stats stupidly fast, getting right back to where I was strength wise previously in not too many years.

The Medstims don't have a single negative side effect to my knowledge, therefore I can start using them as soon as I get a hold of some. With that said I won't be able to produce any of my own drugs until I'm a decent bit older so I'll need to figure out a way to source a consistent supply of them…

Well I can't think of any real solution at this very moment…Hmm, wait, actually I might have a way, my other grandpa Henry Todd Woods founded and entirely owns the company Future Medical, I can probably just source the Medstims I need in future from there. 

And from my understanding of the conversations that were had in front of me, Future Medical researches and produces all sorts of chemicals, drugs, and medicines for the undercity government and the many businesses that operate down here in Undercity 7.

So with my grandpa's company seeming more than capable, I don't see why I couldn't source the Medstims I'll need in the future from there until I can start my own production of them. How I'll make that happen, I suppose I'm going to have to give a good bit of thought and come up with a good enough reason to convince my grandpa or either of my parents.

However, since my grandpa Henry seems to be a very logical and rational man, I don't think I'll have all that much trouble convincing him, thus I'll try to obtain the Medstims through him first before I explore other avenues. Apart from that, the main issue I'll have to deal with will probably be convincing my mom to let me inject myself on the regular… Yeah, I'll put off thinking about that until later.

My thoughts of becoming a drug kingpin in the wasteland and the future headache of how I'll convince my mom to let me do some odd and very suspect things with Medstims concluded. I refocused my attention on my status that has been waiting patiently all this time for my attention.

[ Status ]

Name: Dom Mason Woods

Age: 0

Height: 2 Feet 5 Inches

Body Weight: 15 lbs

Race: Human

Level: 1

Experience Points: 8/2,000 | Formula: Next Level# x 1,000

Total Experience Points Earned: 1,008

Experience Rate: 160% | Formula: 100 + (Intelligence x 5)

Health: 700 | Formula: 100 + (Endurance x 20) + (Level# x 10) x 2

Healing Rate: 0.0533 Health Per Second/3.2 Health Per Minute | Formula: (0.2 Health Per Minute x Endurance) + 1

Stamina: 1,360 | Formula: 100 + ( Endurance x 20) x 4

Stamina Regeneration: 0.8 Stamina Per Second/48 Stamina Per Minute | Formula: (1 Stamina Per Minute x Endurance) x 4

Carry Weight: 0/200 | Formula: 100 + (Strength x 50)

Critical Chance: 10% | Formula: Luck x 1

[ Effects ]

[ Armor ]

Body Damage Threshold 12 | Formula: Endurance x 1

[ Resistances ]

Radiation Resistance: 12 | Formula: Endurance x 1

[ Attributes ]

Strength: 2

Agility: 1

Endurance: 12

Intelligence: 12

Perception: 10

Charisma: 5

Luck: 10

[ Skills ]

Ballistic Weapons: 42

Energy Weapons: 42

Explosives: 32

(T)Heavy Weapons: 44

Leadership: 37

Lockpick: 30

Medicine: 52

Melee Weapons: 35

Piloting: 31

(T)Repair: 42

(T)Science: 42

Speech: 25

Stealth: 45 ⇮

Survival: 32

Trade: 25

Unarmed: 35

Skill Points Gained Per Level Up: 14 | Formula: (Intelligence x 1) + 2

[ Traits ]

| Gifted | - | Sex Appeal | - | Skilled | - | Take Another Rank 1 |

[ Perks ]

Active Perks: 

Passive Perks: | Champion Level Muscle Genetics | - | Human Supercomputer | - | Monstrous Physique | - | Rare Cardiovascular Genetics | - | Talented |

Combo Perks: 

[ Mutations ]

[ Gear ]

Weapons: 

Weapon Magazines: 

Armor: 

Clothing: 

Aid: 

Ammo: 

Miscellaneous: 

Money: 

[ Other Stats & Bonuses ]

Attribute: +150% to endurance gain, +50% to intelligence gain, +150% to strength gain

Body: +50% to blood circulation, +300% to ligament strength, +300% to ligament growth speed, +100% to muscle growth speed, +100% to muscle density, +300% to tendon strength, +300% to tendon growth speed

Brain: +100% to brain processing power, +1 to thought processes

Health: +100% to health, +1 health regeneration per minute

Sleep: Required Sleep 4 Hours

Stamina: +400% to stamina, +400% to stamina regeneration

Kill Counter: 0

[ Items ]

Weapons: 

Weapon Magazines: 

Armor: 

Clothing: 

Aid: 

Ammo: 

Miscellaneous: 

Money: 

Robots: 

Turrets: 

Vehicles: 

[ Quests ]

Ready to turn in: 0

Completed: 0

In progress: 11

(Daily) | Workout | Objectives: Complete your daily workout. Reward: 10 exp.

| Area 51 | Objectives: Gain access to Area 51 by any means necessary and explore the site from top to bottom. Rewards: Perk | Alien Researcher |, 40 Repair points, 40 Science points, 40 Medicine points, 450,000 exp.

| Maxigen Improvement | Objectives: Research, improve, and remove the negative side effect of the Maxigen drug. Rewards: Perk | Drug Researcher |, 5 Medicine points, 5 Science points, 2,500 exp.

| Nevada Conquest | Objectives: Become the undisputed number one power in Nevada and take control over the state in its entirety. Rewards: Perk | Territory |, 25 attribute points, 250 skill points, 10,000,000 exp.

✩ | Pablo Escobar Jr. | Objectives: Establish drug production and earn 10,000,000 dollars from the sale of your products. Rewards: Perk | Drug Kingpin |, 10 Medicine points, 30,000 exp.

| Power Surge | Objectives: Win the battle for Hoover Dam and become the sole owner of it. Rewards: Perk | Power Surge |, 5 attribute points, 25 Repair points, 250,000 exp.

✩ | Seeker Of Knowledge | Objectives: Find a way to start acquiring this world's knowledge and accumulate an entire library's worth. Rewards: 3 Intelligence Points and 4,500 exp.

✩ | Suited Up | Objectives: Open up the armories at Fort Kern and acquire a suit of power armor. Rewards: Perk | Mobile Armory |, 5 Lockpick, 75,000 exp.

| Surpass Your Human Limits | Objectives: Reach a value of 11 in every attribute.

Rewards: Perk?, 10 attribute points, and 100,000 exp.

| Take Over The Cyberdynamics Robotics Facility | Objectives: Clear out all hostile forces and set up shop. Rewards: Perk | Certified Roboticist |, 5 Science Points, 25,000 exp.

| Wasteland Conqueror | Objectives: Conquer the wasteland and take over Earth in its entirety. Rewards: ???

Not too bad, I received a few new quests to work on and get rewards from, two more skill points to spend every time I level up, and some additional health. Again not too bad, for my first level up.

Following my level up, I went through my system's other tabs to see if there was anything else of interest. I didn't come across anything, thus I closed out of it and began training my perception, since I had already completed my physical training for the moment. After training for what felt like a couple of hours, I sensed my mom coming down the hallway to check up on me and to feed me. Pausing my training there, I got up and assumed position at my crib's wall.

Several seconds later, I heard the click of the door before it opened up a few inches and I saw her peek inside to see if I was awake. Spotting me awake at the cribs walls, she smiled and made her way over to me.

"Ma-ma." I said as she made her way inside, immediately causing her to come to a complete stop in place, astonished at what I had just called her before she raced over to me and brought me into her arms with a very excited look on her face.

"Can you say that again for me?" She pleaded with a look of anticipation practically displayed across her face.

"Ma-ma" I repeated, causing her to release a happy squeal of sorts and a couple of other excited noises.

…

"How was my little guy's nap?" She asked me in an exceptionally positive tone of voice.

"Ga-ga." I responded in one of my baby noises, causing her face to brighten slightly more.

"That's good. I'm glad you had a good nap. But now you're up, let's get you fed before I bring you out to the living to play with your blocks and after you've played for a little, how about we try to learn about your ABCs. How does that sound?" She responded.

"Ba-ba." I answered while pointing at her chest.

"Ehh… not quite, but very close." She replied, surprised at what I had said.

I didn't think she would want me to start learning this soon, but this is good for me.

After our little chat, she brought me over to the nearby chair in my room and fed me the usual way. Once I had a belly full of milk, mom brought me out into the living room to play while she worked away on her laptop on one of the nearby couches.

...

Two hours later, whilst I was in the midst of creating a new building with my collection blocks, my mom Jane paused her work and looked in my direction and asked eagerly with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Okay, I'm done with my work. Do you want to try learning your ABCs?"

"Ah." I responded with my back still turned as I placed the last block of my tower.

I guess I'll be entertaining mom for a while. As for how long I'll let this go on, I'll just progressively increase the amount of letters I know over a two-week period since I already have the monster genius card already. After that I'll wait for another two weeks before I begin using shortened versions of basic words, and when about a month of that has passed, I'll go to the next stage and so on and so forth.

And when I arrive at the latter stages, they'll probably begin getting me books, so that will eventually help me out with acquiring knowledge. Though that won't be happening initially, I imagine because I'm certain I'll receive kid books first before I come into possession of anything having to do with the sciences.

With a plan to increase my speaking ability and eventually acquire more knowledge without having to sneak around at night even though I'll probably still do that after the fact, I walked over to the living room coffee table and plopped my bum on the decently comfortable brown colored rug. From there, mom pulled out a number of learning materials from who knows where and began excitedly teaching me the alphabet I already knew.