Wasteland Conqueror

Almost eight months later.

"Ahh, I need a break." I thought aloud, walking over and spreading out on the couch.

As I lay there, I let my mind wander and at some point I began looking over what I've gotten done in the last year.

It's been nearly a whole ass year since I've taken this facility as my own. I honestly find it unbelievable how fast time has flown by this year. I suppose it's because of all the accomplishments I have made in this period.

Over these many months, I kept busting my ass grinding slowly but surely towards my goals, spending just about every bit of time I had available productively, building more and more robots and automating the various machines I had at my disposal.

For my efforts, I no longer needed to assemble them by hand and could pass the task off to my minions to assemble their kin. I even got that blast door up on the mine tunnel entrance and cemented my grasp on this place sooner than I had initially expected.

Even though I had control of the entrance, I still couldn't utilize the mine with the molemen awaiting beyond the rubble. I did get some mining done at the public mines to gather resources for production and other projects.

However, that didn't last all that long and eventually, I stopped that and just sold off some of my bulk stock to Alice's father David, and my father Robert to gather the funds I needed to purchase the resources I required to run my operations here.

The reason as to why I did that instead of just spending my time and effort continuing to mine was simple: it was just too lucrative selling ammunition, turrets, and weapons. It's not something I can do forever since I've already supplied the two of them with a ton of weapons, ammo, and all the other related attachments and weapon magazines.

I only have one more shipment to make, and then that's it. So all of my weapon and most of my ammo selling will be discontinued after I get the mine cleared of molemen and restart my mining operation to collect resources. Although this time around in my very own personnel mine.

And in the event I need more funds in the future, I can expand my business into selling ammo and weapons to the various wasteland explorers and whatever groups they are associated with. Though I'll be sure to sell none of the powerful weapons I'm producing, I don't need the weapons I made that can take out power armor and tanks pointed at me if some sort of conflict erupts between myself and them.

Actually scratch that, I have other avenues I can explore that don't have the possibility of being used against me. The only issue with them is they require more space, which is something I'll be severely lacking in the next 5-6 months at the rate I'm pumping items and resources at.

Besides all that and my business with my dad and future father-in-in-law, I hooked gramps up with an arsenal to pay back at least a small portion of the help I'd gotten from him. I did the same for his battle brothers, the men he used to explore the wasteland with once I found out they'd been keeping an eye on that little rat, William. They didn't need to since I was already keeping my own tabs on him and his activities. Nonetheless, I appreciated the help even though it was unneeded.

Stuff regarding the facility and paying my gramps and his buddies back aside, I didn't skimp on other areas in this period and have continued my brutal training and studying regime alongside Alice. Thanks to that, the two of us have grown even closer somehow and have raised our physical abilities a ton. Besides that, her little sister Bella has been going through everything alongside us as well and has improved a ton across the board compared to when she first joined our small group.

The little squirt has grown quite a bit in this period. I hope she continues to stick with it. But seeing how the determination in her eyes continues to grow day by day, I don't believe I'll have any concerns about whether she'll truck on through everything for much longer.

Other than making progress in those areas, Alice and I kept in touch with the duo Big Tom and the little genius Bob and met up with the two of them occasionally to change things up. Can't be grinding 24/7, have to take a breather every now and again.

Though the times we did meet up, Bob seemed to figure that something was going on. Likely due to us not meeting up as often as we used to and would ask us what we've been up to, obviously trying to find out what we were up to.

However, since what we were doing needed to be kept on the down low, I would blow him off and tell him we've been doing the usual serious studying and training, which is true just not entirely. Pretty sure he didn't believe I was telling the whole truth, but what could he do when I didn't want to tell. After the first couple of times, he got the hint and gave up not inquiring further. As for Tom, the big lug was just happy to see us.

I'll let the boys know one day down the road, but now is not the time. I haven't made nearly enough preparations yet, not to mention the molemen threat I have lurking in the mine. Maybe I'll tell them after I've dealt with that threat and see if they want to get involved. The two of them have potential and seem like loyal guys, so it would be nice to have more people I could rely upon besides Alice and my family to have my back out in the wasteland.

That's about the gist of it. The only other thing of note is I established a company named The Bulwark for my business dealings and changed the unrememberable name of this facility to Genesis Foundry. Overall, I would say it's been a solid and very productive year for me. Hopefully, this remains the case in the years to come down here.

Alright, that's enough lounging. I better get back to it and finish crafting my armor. When that's finished, I'll be ready to embark into the depths of the mines to clear them out and annihilate any creatures I come across within.

The instant my thoughts concluded I got back to work alone, a very rare thing that hardly ever occurs, not that I mind. 

...

Hours ticked on by and after five of them had elapsed, I was finally done adding the last of the finishing touches to my hefty armored suit.

"Haha, it's finished."

| Heavy Trooper Armor Set |
Resistances: DT 65, Radiation Resistance 20
Attributes: Perception +1
Skills: Stealth +20
Weight: 118
Class: Heavy
Value: 145,000
Item Description: A jet-black heavy suit made up of a synthetic breathable suit covered in many alloy plates paired with a jet-black heavy-duty fully encapsulated helmet. The helmet features two protected eye slots that have built in night and thermal vision, a built-in gas mask, and provides ballistic protection up to 30-06 ap. The protective suit is rated to stop the same 30-06 ap across all of its segmented plates, which have small gaps in between them to allow for flexible movement. The armor also features spikes on the hands, forearms, elbows, boots, and shins of the armor plates to provide the user with a violent melee alternative. There is also a micro fusion breeder cell located on the lower spine of the suit in an exceptionally armored enclosure that is used to power the helmet's night and thermal vision. Special attention has been paid to provide the utmost protection for the family jewels.

With the completion of my armor, I'm one step closer. I'm just waiting on the completion of the Seeker Of Knowledge quest now. As soon as that's ready to turn in, I'll be able to spend all the level-ups I've accumulated and head into the mines.

Nearly finished for the day, I picked up my heavy trooper armor and helmet and began equipping it to see how the fit was.

Looks like I got all the measurements right on the first try, sweet.

Removing the suit of armor, I made my way to the armory I had built months ago. As I got closer to my destination, I began hearing an audible thumping. Rounding the corner, I came across the large hulking robot my multibots produced last week.

| Crusader |
Armament: 2 x FBGL-6 Gatling Lasers, 2 x 24 Tubed 80mm Missile Pods
Carry Capacity: 2,000
Power: Fusion Breeder
Value: 7,500,000
Description: The Crusader is a Sentinel that has undergone numerous modifications by its designer turning it into a hulking bipedal emp proof robot meant to ruthlessly annihilate whatever it encounters with its dual FBGL-6 Gatling Lasers arms and dual shoulder-mounted 24-tubed 80mm missile pods. Besides having its way of moving around replaced with two heavily armored legs, the rest of it has been armored up and had electromagnetic shielding applied, making it immune to emp weapons of any sort. In addition to that, the robot has had its original fusion power plant replaced with a fusion breeder, one removing its need to ever be refueled again. Designed by Dom Mason Woods.

"Do you have any new orders for me, master?" The crusader asked in a very deep, intimidating, robotic voice.

"Negative, continue as you were."

"Affirmative."

Doing as I asked, the robot continued on its patrol route of the facility while I walked the rest of the short distance I had remaining till I reached the armory. Once I arrived at the heavily armored doors, they slid open for me immediately due to the numerous linked defenses of the facility recognizing me.

Strolling into the armory, I passed by many many racks of weapons, ammo, and explosives I had stockpiled over the year, and upon arriving at one of the mannequins I had in the back I quickly placed the armor on it and departed for home.

I didn't ask for a ride today, so I turned my journey home into an impromptu workout and began sprinting home at my fastest speed. I don't know how long it took me to get back home, but I know I made decent time. Back at home again, I headed inside and what would you know, Mom and Dad made it home before I did.

"Hey mom, hey dad, how was work today?"

"Pretty good, son." My dad answered.

"It was, wasn't it. How was your day, sweetie?"

"It was productive and entertaining enough, but Mom, when are you going to stop calling me that?"

She smiled and answered in her same old bubbly and upbeat voice. "Never, you'll always be my little sweetie, even when you grow up and become an adult someday."

Hearing her response, I sighed while my dad laughed at my misfortune. Not willing to force and possibly upset her, I moved the conversation along and after discussing a few things, the front door flew open and in came Alice.

"Couldn't even last a day apart from me, aye." I teased.

"Nope." She said before snuggling up next to me on the couch and latching onto my left arm.

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