Ahhwa-aw "Damn, that was a great sleep." I thought aloud in the midst of beginning a nice big stretch.
As I was flexing and opening my eyes, a completely foreign and unknown scenery entered my vision, one I clearly rember not falling asleep in.
"Where the fuck did I wake up at???"
What I saw were walls that were made completely of darkish rusted orange fabric that looked to belong to so sort of tent and bare light khaki colored ground with all kinds of random junk strewn about. Examining my surroundings closer in an attempt to figure where the fuck I ended up at, my gaze passed over a large broken mirror fragnt hanging right above a red chest, a specific type of chest I'd opened tens of thousands of tis before.
Not paying any attention to the familiar object, I ignored it and rushed over to the reflection of the strange figure within the mirror piece.
…
There's no way this is happening right, right... Yeah, this has got to be a dream, definitely!
I tried to convince myself desperately as I stared into the reflection of an absolutely massive Bruiser who had surpassed at least 7 feet in height. Fixated on the figure in the mirror, I found the extrely muscular caucasian with sun-kissed skin and unique ruby colored eyes mimicking my every action and facial expression. Unwilling to accept what was happening just yet, I moved my thick and callus developed hand and pinched my new but foreign body's built forearm that had obviously grown both massively and unnaturally under the influence of performance-enhancing substances.
"Fuck, that actually hurts." I comnted in a voice that was quite a bit deeper than my original whilst rubbing the area I had just pinched for my impromptu test.
Knowing the pain I had just felt was way too vivid, it only further cented the fact that I had sohow ended up taking over a bruiser, a type of elite bandit in the world of Borderlands. If all I had to go off of was the body I was currently residing in, I wouldn't be so sure of where I ended up. But how could I ever forget the loot chests of Borderlands after opening them up, god knows how many tis back in the day.
How in the hell did I get here? It's not like I died or sothing in my original world or sothing... At least I don't think I did and even if I did pass in my sleep, that wouldn't explain fuck all about how I arrived here in the Borderlands universe of all places.
Playing back my most recent mories in my head, I rembered going to bed as usual, noting nothing out of the ordinary. I kept replaying my mories over and over again in a desperate attempt to find out how and why, but no matter how closely I studied what I could recall, I just couldn't find anything to explain my current circumstances.
"Haa, whatever man. There's no point in even trying to find a reason why I'm here, of all places. It's not like I'll be able to do anything with that information regardless, so why bother."
Begrudgingly returning to the ratty cot I woke up on, I plopped my ass down again and started thinking.
What am I going to do now, now that I'm here with no way of returning ho... At least none that I can think of. There are the sirens and their magical powers, I suppose, but I don't think any of them would be powerful enough nor have the ability to travel to different verses, let alone do it for a stranger even if they could.
That aside, would I even want to return. I an, it's not like I was close to my family or anything and life wasn't anything to write ho about back in my previous world. So why bother trying to go back when I've acquired a body that's one hell of an upgrade from my previous 5 foot 7 one. Plus, there's a world full of opportunity lying out there ready for the taking...
Playing with the idea in mind, I thought back to intro cinematic with the arms dealer Marcus narrating about the benefits of conquering the mythical vault of the first Borderlands ga.
Advanced technology, infinite wealth, fa, power, and won actually doesn't sound too bad now that I'm giving it so thought. In fact, I think I might just give vault hunting a try. As for where I should start, I guess I should see what I can scrounge up from this bruiser's possessions. After all, I can't be venturing through Pandora without a ans to defend myself.
But before I could get up and begin going through all the crap lying around this relatively spacious tent, a semi transparent holographic screen popped up within my vision, looking remarkably similar to the one from the gas.
[ Pick A Character Class ]
1. Berserker
2. Gunzerker
3. Hunter
4. Random
[Additional Information: All skill trees within a character class must be maxed out before another class can be taken.]
I guess conquering the vault won't be such a monuntal task if I get a class and its skill trees to utilize.
Pumped that I was going to be able to power up the longer I live in this world, I began deliberating on the options that were presented to and weighing the pros and cons of them.
Random is too iffy for , hence I'm going to remove that one from the list right out of the gate even though there's a possibility I could potentially gain siren powers through it. Berserker has a solid amount of health regeneration, explosive and shotgun specialization and the ability to enter a rage that increases lee damage substantially. That's cool and all, but I'd much rather avoid danger up close and keep my distance and attack from afar, thus I'll pass on that class.
Hunter could be a decent pick because of the damage dealing bird that can be influenced by elents and the sniper and pistol enhancents its skill trees provides. On the other hand, when compared to Salvador's Gunzerking class, you really can't beat the insane sustain it has nor its ability to dual wield two weapons accurately and with next to no recoil. The 50% damage reduction it gets while gunzerking is pretty nuts too if you think about it... Alright, I think I have my decision.
Pretty much decided on which class I wanted to go with, I spent a minute more deliberating on it before I decided Gunzerker was the best class for given what I could choose from. Selecting the class the next second, I pulled the trigger and locked it in and as soon as I did; the screen changed again, this ti showing a kind of status page with a plethora of stats and information displayed.
[ Status ]
Na: Victor Atlas Colt
Age: 21
Lifespan: 100
Height: 7 Feet 3 Inches
Body Weight: 375 lbs
Race: Human
Classes: Gunzerker
Level: 0
Experience Points: 0/100
Total Experience Points Earned: 0
Health: 1700
Health Regeneration: 1.7 a second
Stamina: 1700
Stamina Regeneration: 5.1 a second
[ Attributes ]
Agility: 4
Intelligence: 5
Strength: 13
Toughness: 17
Vitality: 100
[ Skills ]
Actives: | Gunzerking |
Passives:
[ Weapon Proficiency ]
Pistol:
Submachine gun:
Shotgun:
Combat Rifle:
Sniper:
Machinegun:
Rocket Launcher:
Heavy Weapon:
Eridian Weapon:
Alien Weapon:
[ Badass Rank 0 ]
Badass Tokens Available: 0
| Bonus Stats |
Agility: 0
Intelligence: 0
Strength: 0
Toughness: 0
Vitality: 0
Critical Hit Damage: 0%
Elental Effect Chance: 0%
Elental Effect Damage: 0%
Fire Rate: 0%
Gun Accuracy: 0%
Gun Damage: 0%
Grenade Damage: 0%
Maximum Health: 0%
lee Damage: 0%
Recoil Reduction: 0%
Reload Speed: 0%
Shield Capacity: 0%
Shield Recharge Delay: -0%
Shield Recharge Rate: 0%
This status is quite different from how I rember things, but I'm not gonna to lie, it looks a hell of a lot better compared to what I got in the gas.
More than satisfied with what I was seeing thus far, I discovered so navigational tabs and changed it from the main screen to the skill tree one just to give it a look-see.
Good shit, I already have my action skill unlocked. Let see if it's any different from the Borderlands 2 actions skill.
| Gunzerking |
Go nuts! While Gunzerking you instantly regain 50% of your Maximum Health, gain 50% Damage Reduction against enemy attacks, and constantly regenerate health and ammo. Also, gain the ability to dual wield weapons at all tis regardless if Gunzerking is active or not.
That's one hell of an upgrade compared to the vanilla skill.
Happy as can be right now, I tried to see if I couldn't gather anymore information from the system screen.
[ Ding! Not Enough Skill Points ]
Well, I already knew that, so that's of no help.
Trying a few more ideas I ca up with on the spot, like asking the system questions vocally. I found all my ideas bore no fruit and were entirely unsuccessful, so I navigated back to the previous tab and played around with things there before figuring out how to close the aquamarine blue colored screen. Once it had disappeared, I fumbled around and eventually figured out how to recall it after so ti.
Nice, all I have to do is think about it and it will pop up.
Swiftly getting rid of it once more, I moved my attention to my previous task I was about to perform before I was suddenly interrupted. I went around the dark rusted orange colored tent and sorted through the various objects and junk and eventually located an ECHO communications device, which was basically Borderlands's version of a smartphone.
Sweet, another good find.
Picking up the blocky electronic that was full of retro vibes, the system ca again
[ ECHO Communications Device Acquired ]
[...]
[ Loading H.U.D. Elents ]
[...]
[ H.U.D. Elents Loaded Successfully ]
[ Backpack Unlocked ]
Once it was done integrating, I had Borderlands signature H.U.D. appear within my vision along with a few additions like a green bar for my stamina. The mont I was done inspecting each of the elents, I moved my attention to the device in my mitts for hands.
I have no idea where I am in the Borderlands tiline, so it would be wise to see if I can't find out via the ECHOnet to know for sure whether I've arrived too late to the party. Wouldn't want to go on a pointless endeavor hunting down the vault if they've already been hit.
Set on finding out where I was in the story, I began scouring the ECHOnet, although only once I figured out how to work the device. It took an hour of hard work wading through the overwhelming amount of information available online, but I eventually had a good grasp of where I was in relation to the ga events and that was a month prior to the story... I think so at least.
I an Fryestone hasn't been overrun by bandits just yet, hence I'm certain I've made it here before the original vault hunters Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, and Roland rolled up to the bus stop and began their adventure. Besides that, I've also discovered where I'm at and that's the Headstone Mine of all places where the first piece of the vault key is located. Lucky right, except I have to get through Sledge if I want it, aning I'm going to have to kill the big bastard to take it.
I've never killed anyone in my past life, so I don't know how I'll react when I do the deed for the very first ti. That said, I've always been fond of and a subscriber to the eye for eye, tooth for tooth way of thinking, so I don't believe I'll have much difficulty nor many ntal dilemmas when it cos ti to take a life.
Putting myself in an increasingly ruthless and vicious mindset that I was certainly going to need if I was going to achieve anything in this crazy and fucked up world, I returned to rummaging through what were now my personal possessions. I waded through the stuff and even though I tried my best in my scavenging efforts, I didn't find much of value besides rifle ammunition that all looked the sa, various types of grenade shells that had a slot for a grenade mod, healing kits, and dollar bills.
I was hoping to find a shield but I suppose it makes sense since it would be odd if a bruiser had one seeing how they don't use them and rely entirely on the toughness of their bodies, stupidly.
Throwing what I found into my "backpack" after I figured out how to do so, I looked to the only thing left to loot the fat reddish loot chest.
Looks like it's ti to open this bad boy... I wonder what I'll get from it.
Approaching the chest, I prayed to whatever god who would listen and pressed the obvious button located on the midsection of the loot container. The instant I did, the chest whirred to life and opened up, revealing a decent spec Atlas machine gun with five large box magazines, 1 already loaded in the gun and 4 spares.
"Not bad, not bad. It definitely could've been a lot worse."
Picking up the hefty machine gun that was sporting no optic and a signature matt white silver finish, I inspected the weapon from stock to muzzle, unloaded the magazine, and racked the charging handle and looked inside the weapon's chamber for any jamd rounds just in case. Not finding anything of the sort, I reloaded the weapon with the full magazine I had removed re seconds ago and sent the bolt forward, loading a round into the gun's chamber.
Content with my find, I moved the spare magazines to the conveniently placed pouches on my worn pants. As soon as I was done with that, I walked back over to the cot and sat down to work on getting myself into a specific ntal state.
There's a not so small chance I might need to kill my way out here, so I need to prepare myself.
I spent the next several minutes doing that and thinking things over and the mont I was good and ready; I picked myself up and moved for the tent's only exit, intent on making sothing of this new chance at life I was given.
[ Loot Acquired ]
Weapons: | Rare || Atlas | Stock Pearl Havoc Machine Gun
ds: Light Healing Kits (6) - Light Insta-Health Vials (3) - Insta-Health Vials (1)
Ammunition: 674
Grenades: 8
Dollars: 3,473
If you're in need of anything else to read, go check out my other two works, Fallout Wastelander and Wasteland Conqueror. I got another besides those two in the works, specifically a zombie apocalypse one, but it's only going to be available on Patreon for now since I need to stack chapters for it.
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