A smirk tugged at his lips as he surveyed the mountain of scavenged metal, wiring, and salvage piled high in the corner of his makeshift workshop. The Boat Graveyard had been a goldmine rusted hulls picked clean, stripped-down engines, even a few intact electronics from abandoned shipping containers. All of it now sat neatly catalogued in his inventory, an infinite pocket dimension that defied every law of physics he'd once known.
No limits. No weight restrictions. Just pure, unchecked hoarding potential.
He'd expected some kind of cap maybe a storage limit or a cooldown…. One trip. One sweep. And now, Brockton Bay's most infamous junkyard was a little emptier.
A notification flickered in his vision.
[Achievement Unlocked: Cleaned Out the Boat Graveyard]
[Specialisation: Firearm]
You have gained the knowledge of how to create firearm able to create from simple pistols all the way to assault rifles.
Knowledge flooded his mind blueprints, schematics, the precise tolerances of rifling barrels, the chemical makeup of modern propellants. He could build anything now, from a crude zip gun to a military-grade rifle.
Perfect.
But scrap metal and stolen tech weren't enough. Not for what he had in mind.
Some might call his next move reckless.
Some might call it suicide.
But Mama hadn't raised a bitch.
He cracked his knuckles and got to work.
- Colin Wallis (Armsmaster) -
The scrapyard reeked of rust and rotting plastic a graveyard of discarded machinery where desperate Tinkers often came to scavenge.
Waste of time.
Colin's helmet display flickered through thermal scans and motion traces as he prowled the wreckage. Reports had trickled in over the past week: an unnaturally tall figure lurking in junkyards, the Boat Graveyard, anywhere salvage could be stripped. If the PRT had noticed, the gangs already had.
His boot crunched over broken glass. Thirty minutes in, and nothing.
A scream tore through the air.
He moved instantly, halberd snapping into his grip as he vaulted over a gutted car. The terrain barely slowed him; his armor compensated for every uneven step.
He rounded a stack of shipping containers.
And froze.
Five Empire thugs sprawled across the ground, blood pooling around bullet-riddled bodies. Their tattoos showing their affiliation.
Standing over them was a drone.
Sleek, angular, its matte-black chassis bore no insignia. A single red optic locked onto him.
"Die."
"You're the one who's been scavenging here. The new Tinker."
The drone's head tilted. "This unit was ordered to salvage materials."
This unit.
Not I.
Colin's fingers tightened around his halberd. AI. The word sent a jolt down his spine. please tell me it's not a Eagleton wannabe.
"Who created you?"
"You lack the required authorization level."
His HUD flared targeting vectors, weak points. He shifted his weight, just slightly.
The drone's optic brightened. "Combat stance detected. Threat assessment: Extreme. Victory probability: Zero."
"Self-destruct initiated."
Shit.
The drone shot upward, a black streak against the sky. He lunged, but it was out too late.
The explosion was small, precise. Shrapnel rained down, molten fragments embedding themselves in the dirt.
Colin stood amidst the wreckage, jaw clenched.
Not a retreat. Not a surrender. A scorched-earth protocol.
He knelt, collecting the largest fragments. The metal was unfamiliar too light, too durable. No serial numbers. No maker's marks.
He needed to go back and report this.
-John-
Smirking to myself, I feel the new achievements unlock more stuff for me as I also mentally sigh.
Getting the PRT's attention like this probably isn't good, but honestly. As long as I can get stronger and have a better chance of leaving this fucking world, I'll do whatever the hell I need to do.
As I thought about that, I looked around my new home with a smile.
Due to my daily massacre of thugs I was given this gift by my system. This is my pocket space, a small apartment, which is my pocket dimension.
Here's where I currently stay at; my old base is currently my warehouse.
My pocket dimension wasn't my only reward from my small amount of time here doing God's work.
[Specialization: bombs]
You have the knowledge to create any type of bomb, able to create from small grenades all the way to large rocket launchers.
[Specialization: Armourmech Engineering]
You have a natural talent for crafting advanced armor and powered suits of all kinds, from stealth suits to heavy power armor.
I know my progress seems fast, but it's only temporary. These starter skills specialization: my specialization only gives the information but building an in practice is much harder, which is why I probably should start focusing more on all my specialization. Hell, the most powerful one is the one that I just got for scaring the shit out of Armsmaster.
[Specialization: Solarpunk]
You have the knowledge to create possibly the most environmentally friendly technology on the planet. The power of the sun and nature itself (geothermal, wind, etc.) is up for grabs to save any, even the most infected and dirty, place on the planet.
This was quite useless to me right now, but in time it would be useful. It was one of the ones I wanted anyway since I have plans for this type of technology.
For now, he was just trying to build better machines since he was planning to take over the merchant territory for himself.
He didn't want to become a gang leader or anything. He just wanted to kick out or kill as many gang members as possible to gain more achievements and gain more specializations.
But he would probably also have to get rid of the Undersiders and coil… Fuck, Worm, there was so much to do, not to mention a certain retarded entity.
The system came with a menu, which he read, and he discovered the way to leave this world to unlock the final part of my system.
It was to kill Scion, and then I would be free to go and leave this world. I couldn't even go to another earth since my system would just drag me back to this world.
So that was my end goal: kill Scion and potentially the Endbringers. But now that I think about it, I would probably have to get rid of them since it would give me a large achievement and potentially give me a very good specialization.
The unfortunate part of my system is that all the specializations he got were randomized, so he didn't know which one he would get for each achievement he got.
He would probably get a kill order on his head, so he should probably start making his project here in his pocket space but he would have to make bigger and the building system doesn't work in the pocket space.
As long as HE didn't die, it didn't matter.
XxX
Another short chapter sorry about that.
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