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(BUS)Chapter 22: Cockroach
🕑 Added 2024-09-29 13:52:36 +0000 UTC'Well my muscles and bones are already more than developed enough for now so perhaps I should focus on my survivability. I have two resistance traits so maybe i should grab the others as well. There is also things like my [energy projection] that directly improve the utility of my powers to consider. Or perhaps I should focus on accumulating as much lifeforce as possible so I can get any trait I want later. Fuck I have too many directions to choose from!' I thought with a sigh.-
My powers came with this irritating dilemma in that I had too many fucking options to choose from. I needed to go against all of my instincts and actually choose a single "build" which is to say how exactly I want my traits to stack up. I admit that I am kinda greedy and want to have all the options and if I wasn't on a deadline that would be fine but I've got four and a half months before my ass needs to get to Pandora. That being didn't exactly strike me as the sort to let me get away from whatever it had in mind so NOT fucking going wasn't an option since I kinda value not dying again.-
Or I could be totally wrong and the being didn't give two shits and wouldn't smite my tight ass for being cheeky(pun VERY intended). I wasn't going to risk it though so I had a deadline to hunt within.
'Ah shit how do I want to play this? Tank? Dps? Maybe rogue?' I thought with a frown.
I've played every position in video games imaginable and even some downright cursed mixes of a class so I was honestly familiar with every way this could go. It was a phase of course as once the adrenaline high from the pressure to "get gud" at playing those positions in a party or solo vanished so too did my interest.
'Now that i think about it perhaps I could do that build, I always loved playing it.' I thought with a smile.
Hydran
Odinia 4
Gigantes
With a build in mind I was able to narrow down my options to these three planets. Despite being vastly different they all shared a single detail that made the creatures on them perfect for taking traits from, they were hell planets. I'm not talking like somewhere that humans could reasonably live with serious difficulty but like where the entire planet was ravaged by endless storms, earthquakes, radiation clouds and shit so nasty that it was a miracle that anything could survive five minutes much less LIVE there.-
'Okay so Hydran has a breathable atmosphere but will require either a specialized suit or the devils luck to survive the perpetual radiation and lightning storm that rips across it's face. Odinia 4 on the opposite side of things is a frozen hellscape with an over abundance of active constantly erupting volcanoes that keep the air filled with soot that will need to be filtered to breath. Gigantes on the otherhand is a straight up toxic sea planet with all sorts of nightmarish conditions below it's rough waved surface.' I thought seriously.
Straight away the last option was taken off as oceans tended to be a bad idea as guns had trouble working under them and I very much doubt the place being literal acid would help at all. No gun meant I was effectively defenseless against whatever lived in those waters, so no thank you. -
Deciding between the other two proved a little more difficult but in the end I chose to go with Hydran as while I might be able to deal with the storms I was toast if I got caught in a volcanic eruption. Hydran was a sort of subterranean planet in how most of the creatures on it lived below the surface with only a few extremely hardy species up on the surface. Now that I had that choice settled I can now explain what build i was after. It was the cockroach build. The way the build works is that you effectively ignore any offensive aspects and instead focus your entire build on pure bullshit levels of unkillableness.-
Not to say it would make you immortal but rather it would make killing you so ass destroyingly hard that you may as well be immortal. The build was centered around three aspects, elemental immunity or resistance if that was impossible, physical sturdiness(not strength, Important distinction) and finally self healing. From these three aspects you build a being that laughed at any attempt at injuring it because even what little damage you manage gets healed faster than you can make it.-
This was one of those cursed builds that while not exactly difficult to play made any fight tediously long as you trade nearly all damage for damage reduction. The reason for this was that while not dying was great and all you also weren't doing much to kill your enemy either. Unlike in the video games however that's not how it would working in reality due to one key detail, GUNS. You see unlike in a video game were a weapon shows different levels of power depending on who used it that's not how guns work in reality. A gun makes no fucking distinction between a baby, a monkey or an adult, you pull the trigger and that bullet will always hit the same regardless of who or what pulled that trigger.-
Thanks to this the build stopped being cursed and went straight to being broken. Can you even fathom trying to fight someone like that? Nothing you did made any lasting impact and unless they ran out of ammo the same can't be said of you. It's an unbeatable scenario, an impossible to win battle without absurdly massive amounts of ordinance. The tricky part for me to make that build however was that I knew enough about evolution to know that the only place traits like that would show up in creatures is places of extremely harsh environments.-
"I'm sorry but I think I miss heard you boy, you want to go where?" the old man said in disbelief after I told him where I wanted to hunt.
"Hydran, you heard me right. That planets got the perfect conditions for the creatures there to have the sort of traits I want. The sort that would make killing me a fools errand." I said seriously.
"You got jabbers banging on your head boy? That place is suicide, storm there would rip the life out of you in a blink." he said sternly.
"Obviously I took that into account, my skin suit and shield can keep the radiation at bay but that lightning will need special preparation." I say honestly.
"I'll tell you what boy, you choose a more reasonable planet and I'll shell out the cash to have the critters from that death world brought to you. I'll need to tighten the belt for a while but it's better than helping you kill yourself." he said firmly making it clear that was the best I was going to get.
"Hmm, it's not ideal but I can't deny that it would work. I'll still want to fight the creatures fairly though since I am a hunter and prefer when my prey has a chance." I say seriously and the old man thinks about it for a moment before agreeing.
"Don't you tend to shoot them critters in the head?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, but they were perfectly free and able to try and run or fly away or even attack me. I said a chance , never said they needed to take it. Ask Hammerlock if you want, he'll agree with me about this." I said with a shrug.
"No need to bring Alistair into this, I believe you. You got another planet in mind off the top of your dome or will you need more time?" he asked and I thought about it for a moment.
"Athenas maybe, echonet says the place has a deep history with sirens and even had one as it's queen a decade ago, Dido I believe it was. The local creatures probably don't have many good traits but it would be worth it so long as I can find any records about sirens there." I said casually.
"Well slap me with some butter and call me toast you actually said something smart for a change. Theres wisdom in trying to learn more about them powers of yours. I'll get Clay to drop you off there while your ship gets built from them parts. Speakin of I had an egghead do some work and they told me you can half the size of the implosion drive and thrusters since the rest of the ship would be so much smaller." he said and I was pleasantly surprised.
I mean it made sense considering the size of the ship that an implosion drive was MEANT to move compared to my theoretical ship. With that part being halved in size the thrusters also didn't need to be so massive to push it though I was only going to drop their size by a quarter since I still wanted that sick speed it would give me. I started packing for my trip to Athenas after that, not that it required much preparation really as the place was ruled by monks who all swore oaths of nonviolence and was little more than a tourist trap at this point.-
My preparations were simply a few boxes of ammo, some extra clothes and a last minute mass extermination of the Ratch colonies on Eden 6 to collect lifeforce since I and my still developing beast were hungry for the stuff. The old man was great for this hunt as he funneled all the reports of Ratch to me before having Clay and a few of his rogues join me on the hunt which sped up my speed drastically since as it turned out I could take lifeforce even from stuff I myself hadn't personally killed so long as it was within range of my powers.-
Anyways this wanton wholesale slaughter of the Ratch earned me a nifty 529,611 units of lifeforce. I doubted I would put a dent in that amount in my time on Athenas but I knew without a doubt that those creatures being grabbed from Hydran would give less lifeforce than I spent. Unless they had a bunch of shit traits, which I doubt, there was no fucking way I wasn't going to be spending lifeforce like it was sand slipping through my fingers. The old man seemed to understand this and that was probably why he only gave me a little trouble when dealing with the Ratch.-
"Ready to hit the road kid?" Clay asked me while I was going through my morning exercise routine in the sim room of my house.
It was a simple stand off program with me outnumbered ten to one and the enemies using cover and teamwork against me. I used to get wrecked by these sim enemies but now i could consistently win all my fights with them and it only be considered a light workout for me. If the enemies were humanoid I even sometimes forewent guns and used my muay thai to hunt them though I had a higher lose rate when I did since they were still using guns and I'm not faster than a bullet.
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 580,578
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]X3,[Enhanced senses-Rare grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]x4,[Superior bones-Rare grade],[Armored hide-Rare grade], [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade], [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Minor regeneration-Rare grade][Iron stomach-Uncommon grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade]
Stored traits: [Amphibious lungs], [Water resistance]
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another entertaining chapter, and I’m looking forward to how he completes the build he has in mind.
