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(BUS)Chapter 67: Mad Melted
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 16:37:17 +0000 UTCI repeated this with the Artillerists and was left with four minorly damaged Eridian robots with all the juicy pieces of tech still working perfectly. The thing about cutting off the power flow temporarily like this and not permanently was that once the flow was restored the bot still wouldn't wake the fuck up even if you punched it. It was a bit like unplugging a computer in that you still had to hit the "start" button before it actually kicked to life again. Thanks to this even after I removed the blade on my gun and restored the flow of energy the bots remained unresponsive.-
I opened up my house and dragged these goodies of mine inside and straight to my crafting room. The place had my tools set nice and neatly in their places and a couple of racks for storing the things I had lined up to work on. One such project currently on hold was my first true DRAKE brand original gun. While my current gun has that name according to the odd screen that pops up for stuff it's not really something I made from scratch so I didn't count it.-
For this true original though I only had the firing mechanism and handle finished as I needed Eridian metal or tech(either worked really) to complete it. As it turned out the Artillerists had the exact parts I needed for this particular gun prototype I designed. Naturally this meant those two were the first bots I dismantled. I was very careful as I popped off the metal armoring protecting the cores as well as the internal mechanisms in the arms and lower sections of the bots. I carefully removed the cores which I noted to be running about half full and then moved on to the other bits I wanted.-
From the arms I took the bits responsible for condensing and projecting the energy projectiles that the Artillerists are named for. They were rough and dirty in their usage in the bots as in truth their potency should be much greater. For mass produced Seraph guardians though it was adequate. With two sets of these parts(one per arm) in hand I had enough for my prototype to finally be made. I ignored that for now though as I still had some tasty bits to pick off these robotic corpses before I turn the rest into pure material.-
For example I grabbed the antigrav hover jets that let the things flit about in the air. I grabbed the "brains" of the bots that were low end hyper computers that had been programed far too simply and thus limited their potential. I also took the wireless energy transference nodes that if you didn't know what you were looking for would seem like a normal part of the bots metal though ever so slightly odd shaped. Considering how strange the designs of the bots were to begin with though this was easily missed.-
I could understand why the Eridians had disguised those parts so well as they were the key to the vast majority of the upper end technology that gave their tech it's mystical feel. The size and sheer usefulness of these parts were the stuff entire planets would be bathed in blood to acquire if the existence of it was found out. Thankfully I had no intention of doing so as this was going to be my own personal brand of tech. Anyways once I cannibalized all the juicy tech from the Artillerists that I wanted as is I stuffed the rest of them into my deconstructor thing to get broken down into pure Eridian metal to be shaped as needed.-
I then moved on to the Slashers that were much the same as the Artillerists in what I wanted so it was just the same process more or less. Finally though I finished salvaging everything and it was time to head back to the bar to meet up with the others. I could work on actually crafting stuff later when we no doubt had some free time as we finish up all the jobs currently available.-
I of course made sure to grab the artifact that this trial had as the reward before heading back up the lift. I hit a stupid psycho with my bike on the way back across the headlands to the bar. When I arrived I found the others waiting in the bar.
"Get anything for me?" I asked with a grin as I walked in.
"Yeah, put the bodies out in the empty encampment. They started to stink." Mordy said as he downed a mouthful of that swill beer that was apparently abundant.
"How about you? That dig site have anything interesting?" Lil asked from her stool.
"A bunch of Eridium in the pillars and stonework the Eridians carved that I ate. But the place turned out to be a warriors challenge rather than a treasury so the artifact was guarded by four Seraphs. I already brought them into my house." I said as I plopped my ass on a worn out stool.
"That artifact any good at least?" Brick asked and I nodded.
"Yeah it's an augment for weapons tech that adds additional explosive damage on top of whatever damage was already being done. Going to use it on my gun to upgrade it even further." I said honestly.
"Seems like a waste with how good your gun already is, might be better on a Maliwan or Torgue for that extra splash damage." Mordy said with a shrug.
"Eh maybe but I'd need to find at least a legendary quality gun if I was going to do that or I really would be wasting it." I said helplessly.
"Can't argue with you there." Mordy says in agreement.
"Welp I'm going to see if those Scythids got any good traits before relaxing a bit." I said as I extended out my powers and felt the creatures corpses outside.
{Scythid(mutant)
Lifeforce: 750 units
Traits: [Boneless-Common grade]- 700 units, [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade]- 2,000 units, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade]- 7,000 units, [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade]- 7,000 units, [Ambush muscles-Common grade]- 700 units, [Keen nose-Common grade]-700 units, [Blind-Trash grade]-100 units}
{Scythid
Lifeforce: 500 units
Traits: [Boneless-Common grade]- 700 units, [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade]- 2,000 units, [Ambush muscles-Common grade]- 700 units, [Keen nose-Common grade]-700 units, [Blind-Trash grade]-100 units}
'Corrosion body, get!' I thought excitedly as I ripped that trait and the related resistance trait out of that corpse.
Other than that though I didn't see anything else really worth grabbing and just ripped out the lifeforce. I ended having to spend 8,750 units out of my own pocket even with the lifeforce I got from the corpses. A bit of a loss but I finally had the second to last of the elemental body types that I was aware of. All that was left to my knowledge was Cryo before I just needed to raise all of them to legendary and fuse them. Even without being at the same grades I could feel the synergy between the three body traits I had.-
"Besides the creepy lightshow any of that any good?" Roland asked.
"I actually lost some lifeforce on this but I got the second to last of the elemental body traits I needed. Cryo's all I have left before I can fuse them into whatever that results in." I said happily.
"Hey Mad Mel's crew are starting to get antsy so he needs to do something about you lot or they'll think him weak. Now's your chance to kill him as he can't run away. Watch out though , guy's a monster on a machine. Talk to the Claptrap to get through to New Haven once he's dead." Lucky sent through our echoes right after I finished speaking.
"Okay, this Mad Mel guy, I know him. He's the one that's been stealing all my runners and puttin them in the hands of those jaggoffs. Hey you go say hello from Scooter... and by that i mean you go murder the crap out of him, alright?" Scooter sent right after Lucky.
"You heard the fella's, Mad Mel's insides need to be made his outsides and we've got the job of seeing it done." I said and got collective groans since everyone was relaxing.
"We should call it a day when we get to New Haven, been at this for hours now." Mordy said and I nodded.
It was a reasonable plan as nobody was any good when sleep deprived and while none of us were there yet the fact remained we had been busy for at least seven or eight hours and it took a toll on us all. Not enough to interfere with our performances yet but that didn't mean the exhaustion wasn't creeping up on our asses.-
We all loaded up in our vehicles and headed to the waypoint that said where Mad Mel was. It appeared the be a sort of giant birdcage arena with two openings for entry and exit and a flaming area in the center of the arena that the waypoint said held Mad Mel. We entered the arena and immediately a gate fell to block us in and a couple of runners came out of the dark tunnels in the arena. They got blown the fuck up with no hesitation on any of our parts which seemed to force Mad Mel's hand.-
The flames died down an a huge vehicle came out with a bruiser in a funny hat sitting in the drivers seat. I'd like to say he put up a decent fight but I'd be lying, he died like a bitch. Fired off maybe two rockets before his ride was turned holier than Jesus and him with it. He had a thing of [Mechanical engineering expertise] though that I grabbed for 2,000 units of life force as we drove past the scattered chunks as the gates lifted back up.-
"Well ho-freakin-rah! Mad Mel is gone, bless his worthless piece-o-crap soul. You've become quite the little go getters out there. Drop by my shop in New Haven, I'd quite like to meet ya'll in person." Scooter sent almost right after we drove through the wire gate towards the thick tunnel gate blocking the way to New Haven.
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 633,366
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],[Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade],[Mechanical engineering expertise-Uncommon grade]
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another entertaining chapter
