After I was done upgrading my gun and shield I went to show them off to the old man and he practically lost it.
"Well slather me in butter and call me a biscuit, that's a Pearlescent weapon!" he exclaimed as I set the gun on his desk and a huge silver-blue "aura" of light came off it.
"What's the difference between this and legendary? Besides the lightshow?" I asked curiously.
"Legendary weapons got unique effects as you know but Pearlescent is what a weapon or shield gets if it exceeds a certain quality while having a unique effect. Think of it as a higher form of legendary. They're rare boy, only twenty four known to exist in the six galaxies. Twenty six now." he said seriously as he looked over the gun fervently like he feared it would never be seen again.
"Extremely fucking rare got it. Jakobs ever made any of these pearlescent weapons?" I ask interested in comparing my stuff to something in the same league.
"Aye we've made four of the twenty four. An assault rifle, Bekah. A sniper, Bessie. A second sniper, God finger. And a pistol, Unforgiven. Don't ask for none of them boy can't give them to you, don't have them anymore. Only ever seen the pistol myself before a thief made off with it and it left Eden six. The rest have been lost for a long time." he said seriously.
"The first two sound like Jakobs weapons but what's with the last two names?" I asked confused about the epic but unJakobslike names.
"Bit of a tale to that, take a seat and I'll tell you all about it." the old man said surprisingly eager.
I did as he said and once I got comfortable he started the tales.
"It was during the life of Singleton Talbot Jakobs, the founder of the Jakobs corporation that the God finger was born. Tale goes that he sneezed while creating a rifle and caused the machine to make a mistake. Singleton was furious as a man who demanded perfection in all things but was professional enough to fire the rifle at least once before decommissioning it. To his great surprise the shot he fired grew more powerful the longer it flew and left a white line of smoke like the finger of god come to reap a life. The name God finger stuck." the old man spoke with a rare proud smile and paused to take a sip of his drink before moving to the next tale.
"The Unforgiven was both my greatest achievement and shame to date. It was some six years past when I was overseeing the production of our newest line of pistols. Nobody knows how it happened and we've never been able to replicate it but all the machines makin the parts malfunctioned simultaneously while producin a single piece of a gun before returning to normal. It slipped under the radar until it was too late and whether by coincidence or an act of god all these malfunction parts were put together to create the Pearlescent pistol. I barely got to see the shine of the weapon and move to get it when a worker stole it and bolted. Lead a two month man hunt for the rat bastard before learnin he'd been offed in a dispute and his killer took the gun and left Eden six. Christened the pistol the Unforgiven to make it clear that Jakobs would never forget the theft." he said seriously.
"Why does it sound like luck had a lot to do with the creation of both of those?" I questioned seriously.
"That's the way for all but a few Pearlescent items. Yours are amongst the privileged little to get the quality through intentional improvement." he said very sternly as if to press how important this fact was.
"Not for lack of trying I assume?" I ask and he nods.
"Many have tried to elevate legendary items to Pearlescent but only a few have succeeded. Some through luck and others like yourself through unique advantages." he said honestly.
"Hmm, kinda makes me want to take a crack at it with the other legendary I have, the one from the vault. Hyperion rocket launcher by name of Nidhogg that shoots a rocket that turns into six smaller rockets at a certain distance that shoot straight down. Not really my style as you can tell." I say honestly.
"Familiar with the line but I don't suggest it. Hyperion takes their copyrights seriously and might come after you if you tamper with it and they find out." he says gruffly.
"Good thing I didn't mess with it then, still kinda annoying that the first legendary I find as loot turns out to be one I don't want but it is what it is I guess." I say with a shrug.
He nods "That reminds me but what of your alien tech gun that you talked about?" he asked curiously.
I sighed at that "Need more Eridian metal to make it but Seraphs aren't exactly fucking common so I am at a standstill on that front at the moment." I said a little frustrated.
Annoyingly Eridian tech was specifically designed with their strange materials in mind and since my bullshit alien engineering knowledge didn't extend to metallurgy I was kinda fucked without a source of the metal to use.-
The metal I got from the armor was barely enough to cover my upgrades to my gun and shield and I was left with barely enough to make a fucking fork from. I let the old man get back to work after that as I headed to the arena he got set up for me to fight the imported creatures. It was a cheap thing thrown together without any intention of it lasting very long but sturdy enough to keep the creatures from escaping in a short amount of time.-
Design wise it was a large thick walled circular dome with steel bars woven over the top to keep the stuff inside without costing a lot of money to create. I wasn't bothered by this fact though as I only needed to use it until I killed all the imported species that were left alive. Considering that there were only five to go through it wouldn't take long at all, maybe a day or two. When I got into the center of the arena the person in charge of the arena released my first prey item, a Bolter. It was easy to see where the name came from even if I thought it on the fucking nose.-
The creature in question looked a bit like a mix of a cheetah and alligator in that it had hard rough scaled skin and a lithe feline form that had a long flat tail attached to the back of it. The head was down right fucking prehistoric looking with a rounded skull and long snout with sharp teeth in full view. The reason I said the name was on the nose though was the sparks of electricity rippling across it's whole body making it glow dangerously.-
'Something like a jaguar judging from those neck and jaw muscles. The stance makes me think it's got some speed to it as well. That electricity might prove a bit tricky since the bullets are still magnetic to a degree. looks like I get to have some fun.' I thought sizing up the beast as it did the same.
I didn't draw my gun this time but spread my feet into a strong stance and held my arms at the ready. I was going to fight this thing bare fucking handed and I had no intention of losing.
I hadn't done this since my time on earth and I gods damned missed it! The adrenaline, my mistress encouraged me and I was ready. The Bolter seemed to sense my challenge and growled loudly before kicking off the stone floor of the area to charge me "GRRRRRR!". My stance shifted slightly with my right foot behind me on the toes and I waited with my muscles primed. What followed next was best described as a one sided beat down. The beast got within two meters of me and lunged for my throat. Quick as a whip my right foot lashed out and with a "crack!" struck the flat bottom of it's jaw.-
My shield flickered as it nullified the shock from the physical contact and switched to being resistant to shock while my gun got corrosive shots, not that I was going to use it here. The sheer weight behind my kick was more than enough to send the beast spinning through the air with me rushing it immediately without mercy. I snatched it's tail out of the air and full over the shoulder slammed it into the stone floor causing it to crack on impact. I then stomped on the back of it's neck between it's skull and neck vertebrae killing it instantly as the bones gave way to my brutal force.-
"Oh yeah that's the good shit!" I said with a grin as I stepped off the twitching corpse.
{Bolter
Lifeforce: 2309
Traits: [Shock resistance-Rare grade]- 5,000 units, [Predator muscles-Common grade]- 500 units, [Armored hide-Rare grade]- 5,000 units, [Crushing jaws-Uncommon grade]- 1,000 units, [Hard teeth-Common grade]- 500 units, [Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]- 5,000 units}
'Oh? That comes in a lower grade than Legendary?' I thought surprised at the [Elemental body(shock)] trait.
I wasn't surprised about the creature having the ability as the echonet had plenty of records of creatures with elemental bodies but I thought that series of traits was legendary at least due to the bug but it seems I was misunderstanding that it was the exception rather than rule. If this creatures trait was anything to go off of these type of traits were actually much less rare than I thought. Not that I minded at all as I didn't hesitate to grab that trait along with [Shock resistance], [Predator muscles] and [Crushing jaws] for a total price tag of 11,500 units of lifeforce.-
"Damn kid, remind me never to piss you off." I heard a voice say as the corpse turned to dust after I grabbed the traits and lifeforce.
I looked over to the source "When'd you get here Clay?" I asked my favorite dark skinned smuggler.
"Just about the same time you punted the thing across the air like it wasn't as big as me." he said with a pitying look at the pile of dust.
"So you got the whole fight then, whatcha think?" I asked curious about his thoughts on the matter.
"I think Pandora's not going to know what hit it. That thing didn't so much as make you break a sweat before you killed it, bare handed to boot!" he says clearly very impressed.
"Yeah I must admit to being a tad disappointed at how easy that was but I suppose that's the whole fucking point of these traits ain't it?" I said with a shrug.
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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
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Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 1,830,099
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]X3,[Enhanced senses-Epic grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade], [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Minor regeneration-Rare 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], [Amphibious lungs], [Water resistance],[Quick thinking], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade], [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade], [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade], [Radiation resistance-Epic grade], [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade], [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade]
Stored traits: [Energy reservoir-Epic grade], [Shock resistance-Rare grade], [Predator muscles-Common grade], [Armored hide-Rare grade], [Crushing jaws-Uncommon grade], [Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]