Steel Waste

Afton nods to himself after double-checking everything, he considered raising his Charisma or Intelligence a bit more, but decided his survival came first... Being smarter wouldn't help much right now, and he'd never be able to utilise it if he was killed as soon as he this bunker.

He selected confirm and immediately new knowledge bored itself into his head, new knowledge on creature's he'd never heard about, how to skin them, prepare their meat to eat, appeared in his mind. Not only that, but his knowledge on Energy Weapons expanded greatly, he somehow how to operate weapons the Brotherhood had never heard about before.​​

Seems like increasing your skills via the system improved you across the board, not just in certain aspects... He wondered what getting one to a hundred would feel like, as of right now his mind felt scrambled into a paste and regurgitated into his head.

He breathed a sigh afterwards though, the peculiar feeling faded and only leaving behind the knowledge it'd bestowed.

It wasn't all positive though, he could feel some strength in his body leave him, probably due to transferring a stat-point into luck. It was a worthwhile trade in his opinion, he only hoped luck wouldn't just be for gambling...

With that, he got up and brushed himself off, hefting the Gauss Rifle and opening the door which immediately allowed dust to wash through the hallway like a tsunami. Covering his face with his forearm, he left.

He wished that he'd brought some goggles or something similar, as it was difficult to see as it is, let alone constantly having sand blown in your eyes.

Afton walked in a single direction, hoping he'd not be attacked by some unseen creature, at least until he left the dust storm. Unfortuantely, it seems like lady-luck was not on his side. He took another step but felt that the sand was firmer than usual, his eyes widen at he glances down.

He barely had enough time to move his leg back, causing the small rad-scorpions stinger to barely miss him. Afton had no idea how potent its poison would be, he knew he'd survive it, but not the specific effects...

He quickly shuffled backwards while aiming the Gauss Rifle at it, pulling the trigger without hesitation and causing the insect to explode into a fountain of green blood. Afton wiped some of the green fluid from his face with a grimace.

[3 EXP Gained]

Afton looks at his Pipboy, seems like he hadn't turned off the EXP notification with the others. The only notifications he wanted to see were skill checks like Science, Repair, etc, as knowing if he failed or succeeded in more complicated subjects would be invaluable.

Once he finished fiddling with his Pipboy he continued, fortunately, the dust storm eventually faded, leaving him on some sort of highway he'd never seen before. Afton considered himself lucky he hadn't wandered into Helios One, as he didn't know if the NCR would recognise him... Though, his current clothing would be a dead give away.

Over in the distance, he could see a brightly lit spire illuminating the sky, that was New Vegas alright, and it looked like a straight road from here onwards... He didn't know if that was the right place to go, but it seemed to be the centre of the Mojave, so he'd likely find some leads on what he needs.

He glances behind him and spots a group of men dressed in what seem to be prison uniforms, they were almost definitely bad news so he started briskly walking towards New Vegas... Though, when he heard the ground beginning to shudder from something, he knew he was in trouble.

Noticing movement in the corner of his eye he turned and saw a 10ft scaled humanoid with gigantic claws sprinting at him, its mouth opened and released a roar, Afton was sure if his past self was here they would have pissed and shit themselves.

He throws himself to the side as the beast's claws swing through the area he'd previously been, again like he had done with the Rad-scorpion he raises his Gauss Rifle and releases a shot into its chest.

Its scales are torn apart by the powerful shot and a deep wound forms as blood splatters from it, but the Deathclaw doesn't seem fazed in the slightest. Afton quickly shuffles backwards while trying to reload the Gauss Rifle, but pushes it forwards in an attempt to deflect the claw headed for his neck.

For a single moment he thought that the gun might've held it back, but when two halves of it started sliding apart, he knew he was in big trouble... Not because of the Deathclaw, but because the Microfusion cell had been damaged...

Rolling backwards he throws the gun at the Deathclaw and starts running towards the group of men he'd initially tried to avoid. He'd rather be shot than eaten alive by this giant lizard!

*BOOM!*

Behind him he could hear the unstable Microfusion cell detonate, taking a glance he could see that it'd caused the Deathclaw to stumble as metal shrapnel buried itself in its scales and face. Trickles of blood left the small wounds, but it was still far from dead.

He was happy to see that they hadn't immediately pointed guns at him, but the emotion was short lived as he saw them light up what looked like sticks of dynamite... Fortunately, they didn't see to be aiming for him, the red sticks being thrown over his shoulder at the Deathclaw that was following him.

*BOOM!**BOOM!*

Multiple explosions go off and the shockwave causes his flies past him, causing his hair to defy gravity for a moment. The Deathclaw roars at them, but its scored legs and large amounts of blood covering it made it clear that it was injured.

It growled and started sprinting back towards the direction of New Vegas, allowing Afton to catch his breath.