Wasteland Conqueror

This excruciating experience continued for god knows how long. Time even seemed to slow down just to extend what I was going through. Despite that, it thankfully ended, and I managed to not let out even a peep throughout the entire experience.

Fuck, that pain was out of this world. I wonder how long it went on for.

Curious, I looked up at a digital clock I had set up on the wall and saw only 15 minutes passed by while I was going through hell.

Damn, I thought, hours had passed. I suppose the way I perceive time slows to a crawl when going through that sort of pain. That entire experience could have been a hell of a lot worse had I not had the foresight to give myself two healthy doses of P-Dex.

Ding!
Ding!
Din...

Oh, here come the skill perks. Let's see what I got.

Opening up my system quickly, I navigated to the perks section and was presented with a load of new perks.

| Bulletstorm | Requirements Ballistic Weapons 101: All your weapons that fall under the ballistic weapons category now deal 0.50% more damage for every skill point you have in your ballistic weapons skill instead of the previous 0.25%. Other than that, the velocity of all projectiles fired from your ballistic weapons increases by the same percentage without any additional increase in recoil. Besides getting a damage and projectile increase, you can now control how much damage your ballistic weapons do on the fly via your will. You can also do the same with your ballistic weapons' accuracy as well as their fire rate. Lastly, this ability cannot be used to raise your accuracy, damage, and fire rate above what you are normally capable of.

| Overcharged | Requirements Energy Weapons 101: All energy weapons you use now deal 0.50% more damage for every 1 skill point you have in your energy weapons skill instead of the previous 0.25%. Their projectile speed is also increased by the same percentage, with no additional recoil, the only exceptions to this bonus are laser weapons and other similarly fast energy weapons. Besides getting a damage and projectile increase, you can also control how much damage your energy weapons do on the fly via your will. You can also do the same for your energy weapons' accuracy as well as their fire rate. Lastly, this ability cannot be used to raise your accuracy, damage, and fire rate above what you are normally capable of.

| The Power Of Atom | Requirements Explosives 101: Your fascination and skill with explosives has earned you the ability to increase both the amount of damage all your explosives you use do and their radius by 0.50% for every 1 skill point you have in your explosive skill instead of just increasing their damage by 0.25%. Other than that, you can also control how much damage your explosives will do and how large the explosion will be on the fly via your will. However, you can't use this ability to increase either of those two things beyond what you are normally capable of.

Not bad, they're all basically the same as the heavy weapons skill perk Devastator minus The Power Of Atom, which gives a bonus to explosion radius. Depending on what kind of heavy weapon I decided to main, I could be benefiting from two weapon skill perks at the same time and if I want, I could use a ballistic heavy weapon loaded with explosive rounds, thereby utilizing three of the perks. 

I don't know if I want to go that route, since it would take quite a bit of carry capacity to lug around the kinds of rounds I could load with explosives. On top of that, I don't even have an idea what kind of weapon I would even use... Yeah, I'll throw the idea of utilizing those three different perks till a later date and stick with my original plan of either using a gatling laser or minigun as my primary weapon in the meantime.

| The Great Leader | Requirements Leadership 101: Those under your leadership are more efficient and effective, so for every 100 points you have in leadership, those under you will gain 1% in efficiency and performance. Additionally, when you gain the loyalty of your people anytime their loyalty increases, it will increase by twice the rate.

This won't be all that useful to me initially, but when I establish my own faction out there in the wasteland and begin amassing troops, it'll be a whole different story.

| Skeleton Key | Requirements Lockpick 101: You've unlocked the unique ability to gain an immediate understanding of any lock you encounter, no matter how complicated or difficult it may seem. Also, any new lock you unlock from here on out that isn't related to you in some way will now grant 10 exp that will increase by 1 additional exp for every 10 skill points in your lockpicking skill beyond 100.

Hmm, Skeleton Key seems kind of redundant. I can already open any modern lock I can think of... Hold up, now that I'm giving it some thought, it should come in handy. I'm planning on going against the Zetans in the future, meaning when I'm eventually raiding their ships, bases, and what have you, I should come across at least a few alien locks, thus it should be of use then.

There also exists some magic tomes out on the East Coast, so maybe I'll come across a magic lock or some other kind of mystical locks that can't be solved with conventional means. Other than those sorts of locks, I don't see where else this perk could shine.

The exp it gives is lackluster as well, so I don't see myself putting more skill points into it when there is no real positive besides increasing the negligible amount of exp I receive for opening new locks. It would be one thing if I could cheese it, but that's not possible going by the perk's description.

Pretty much writing that perk off for the moment, I continued to the next skill perk.

| Medical Genius | Requirements Medicine 101: You've gained the ability to magically regrow body parts and heal permanent injuries and marks of others as well as yourself once a day stupidly fast. The number of times you can use this ability in a day will increase by 1 for every additional 100 skill points in medicine after 100.

Nice, I can get rid of the faint scar I gave myself when I tested the defenses of my skin however long ago. That aside, I don't believe I'll be getting any use out of this perk besides that, at least for the rest of my stay here in the undercity. It may be a different story when I begin exploring the wastes.

However, I'll actively try to avoid putting myself in a situation where there is a good possibility of something like that occurring. I can't guarantee with absolute certainty that it won't occur since this is the Wastelander world after all, but if it does, I'll be more than happy that I got this perk in my back pocket to fall back on.

| Martial Weapon Master | Requirements Melee Weapons 101: Your skill with handling all melee weapons has surpassed normal human limitations, allowing you to enter the realms of ancient martial masters. Due to that, you are now able to emit an energy from your melee weapons that can be used to increase their durability. Additionally, the energy can be swung out for a ranged attack similar to weapon qi, although the energy is entirely different from qi and has nothing to do with it. Continuing on, the range of your energy emission starts at 10 meters and will increase in range by 1 meter for every 10 additional skill points in melee weapons beyond 100. Also, the more skill points you have in melee weapons, the stronger this ability will become. Lastly, your melee weapon damage will increase by 0.50% for every skill point you have in your melee weapon skill instead of the previous 0.25%.

Well, this is unexpected. This perk will let me pose as an immortal master. I can already picture myself sending waves of death at swarms of mutants and shredding them into pieces with blood and guts flying everywhere. Thoughts of slaughter aside the system is mentioning qi, I wonder if it exists here in this world. I mean, there are already magical tomes and aliens, so it's out of the realm of possibilities. I'll have to keep my eyes and ears open, don't want to miss out on the possibility of actually becoming an immortal master instead of just a poser.

| Certified Forklift Operator | Requirements Piloting 100: Your skill and knowledge in driving and piloting numerous craft is something to behold. Whenever you are behind the wheel or in the pilot seat, the vehicle's performance is increased by 0.25% for every skill point in piloting. The performance amount can be controlled by your will and changed on the fly. In addition to the previous effects, your reaction speed is raised by the same percentage and you can now also pull off unreal maneuvers.

Of course, it would be named that.

Despite the funny name, this perk could be very busted, depending on what vehicle performance affects. It could be something as simple as only increasing the speed of the vehicle or maybe a combination of speed and handling, and if not those two, it could even be an increase for all parameters. Obviously, I want it to be the latter but I would be content with a simple speed boost too.

| Restorer | Requirements Repair 101: You are now able to emit a field of energy that can repair any and all desired objects around you in a 10-meter radius over time at a rate of 10% per hour. + 1 meter and +1% repair rate per 10 skill points above 100. This ability can be controlled via your will.

A repair field will be great for repairing my robots and equipment whenever they get damaged and for general maintenance. Furthermore, it will be a huge asset to have when it comes time for me to take over that cyberdynamics facility and start repairing all the robot manufacturing machinery and equipment there. I'm not gonna lie, I kind of wish I put my skill points into repair instead now. But can't go back and change the past, so it is what it is.

| Mechanical Domination | Requirements Science 101: Your skill and knowledge of the sciences have led to you gaining the unique ability of intuitive understanding of mechanical systems and their numerous functions. Besides that, you can now exert your will onto any and all mechanical constructs and take full control of them. This ability grows in strength and power the more skill points you have in science.

Scratch that, I should have split my points between repair and science. Man, this perk is something else. The ability to exert your will onto any mechanical construct is a wild power to possess. Any hostile robot I encounter on my journey, I can simply take over. On top of that, this perk in combination with Skeleton Key should let me figure out how to open absolutely any alien locks in no time at all.

| Shadow Lurker | Requirements Stealth 101: Your propensity for stealth and other related things has resulted in your stealth attacks dealing 0.5% more damage for every skill point you have in stealth. You've also gained the ability to emit a sort of presence hiding field with a range of 10 meters that grows by 1 meter for every 10 additional skill points you have in stealth beyond 100. Additionally, your new presence hiding field grows in power the higher your stealth skill is.

Hmm, I can do a lot with this perk such as using it to sneak up on unsuspecting enemies with my robots, and depending on how effective it is, I could use it to travel the wasteland without being bothered. Going to need to test the extent of the field's capabilities and if it's any good, I'll for sure be utilizing this for my upcoming extermination mission.

| Language Master | Requirements Speech 101: Your way with speech and the number of languages you've learned over the years has given you the ability to quickly gain an understanding of any new language you see or hear. Together with that, for every 100 additional speech beyond 100 gain 1 point in charisma.

I already have a good understanding of most human languages at this time, so this perk isn't all that great as compared to the other ones I just got. That said, this perk will be of use any time I encounter a new language which, given my goals, is something that will most definitely occur when I go on the offensive against the Zetans. I also have that cross necklace with the unknown language inscribed on the back I received from Alice for my birthday. Thus, the perk will at the very least see one instance of use until I come across an alien language.

| Wild Man | Requirements Survival 101: For every 10 additional skill points in survival beyond 100, you reduce your necessary food and drink requirements by 1%. You also gain the ability to determine the general direction of things you consider valuable when out and about in the wild, such as the direction of food, herbs, water, etc.

A good survival perk that is worth its weight in gold if I ever get stuck in a pinch, with no food and water. I don't foresee myself ever getting into that type of situation, but if I ever do, I'll be glad I'll have this perk because it will be instrumental to my survival. The added reduction of my food and water needs will also help greatly in those kinds of scenarios.

While I'm on this line of thinking, I wonder if it reduces the amount of food and other nutrients I need to consume to recover and grow from my workouts. I'll need to do some research there too, and allocate a number of skill points to survival to see how it functions.

Making plans to do more experimentation in the not-so-distant future, I set my eyes on the remaining two skill perks.

| Currency Maker | Requirements Trade 101: You've gained the magical ability to turn coins, the wasteland's number one currency into gold and silver at these rates when your trade skill finally reached 101. 10,000 dollars worth of coins can be transmuted into 1 pound of gold and 1,000 dollars worth of coins can be transmuted into 1 pound of silver. Also, the return on conversion increases by 1 pound for every 100 additional skill points in trade after 100.

| Unarmed Master | Requirements Unarmed 101: Your skill in unarmed combat has granted you the ability to emit an energy that you can use to cover your body to increase its durability. Besides that, you are also able to launch this energy from your arms and legs to use as a ranged attack similar to what one would call qi. The initial range of this ability is 10 meters and will increase in range by 1 meter for every 10 additional skill points you have in this skill beyond 100. Additionally, the power and strength of the energy will increase in strength the higher your unarmed skill. Lastly, your unarmed damage will increase by 0.50% for every skill point you have in your unarmed skill instead of the previous 0.25%.

Currency Maker will make it so much easier to get my hands on tons of gold and silver. And seeing how I need a lot of stuff for all the electronics, high-tech components, and parts I produce regularly, this perk will be essential to keep my many machines always producing.

The perk also gives me another avenue to make money through the sale of gold, which still retains its value to this day as one of the most highly sought-after metals. Silver does too; it's just not as valuable as compared to gold.

As for Unarmed Master, it's pretty much a carbon copy of Martial Weapon Master just with fists and unarmed weapons instead of swords and shit. So I guess I can officially pass off as a fake immortal master now, or a transcendent who can unleash and direct energy from weapons as an attack. I haven't seen anyone in the three games with that kind of power, but I could see it existing.

Shameless plug, I have a Patreon that you can read ahead and support me on. You can find the link in the webnovel's description along with the discord link.