NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19: New Kit
Moving on to making further improvements, I don't think there's much I can do other than maybe adding some sort of melee weapon onto it if a hostile gets too close. Although I doubt that would be really necessary, given that I now have those electrified gauntlets on my new armor... Hmm, I could add an ammo counter, I suppose, it would be a good way of keeping track of the many thousands of rounds the backpack magazine holds.
That's about all I got. Let's see if Amata has come up with anything.
"So what do you think, any ideas popping into your head?"
"Mm, pick it up for a moment for me. I want to see you holding it."
"Okay." Doing as asked, I picked it up off of its rack and held it while Amata started circling me with a thoughtful look.
"What about an ammo counter?" She said after circling me for some time and zooming in on the large backpack magazine beside the weapon's stand.
"Ohh, you came up with that, too. I guess great minds think alike." I commented while also throwing in a compliment, which brought a smile to her face.
"But let me hear your reasoning for why you think it should be added."
"Well, an ammo counter would allow you to accurately track the amount of ammo you have remaining instead of having to go off of feel."
"Very sound reasoning, Amata. Great job." I told her while I returned the heavy weapon back to its rightful place before then walking over to give Amata a hug, since it's always a good idea to farm some brownie points whenever an opportunity presents itself.
Finished hugging a now very happy and pleased Amata, we moved over to my Anti-Material Rifle to give it a look-see and possibly find something to improve. Even though I didn't think there was much more that can be done to it since it was just made for the express purpose of being accurate and taking out armored targets that my Mulcher didn't have the ability to handle. And from the tests I performed in my lab and at the vault shooting range, it appears to perform that job exceptionally well.
Though now that I'm looking back on things, I could've made it a semi-automatic to increase its fire rate and damage potential. Despite those benefits, I wanted it to be as accurate as possible, hence why I made it a bolt action. But if I'm being honest, I just wanted to have a 50 cal that was similar in appearance to the one from fallout new vegas. That said, this one has a better scope with a variable zoom and probably a better performing muzzle brake, other than that it's almost identical appearance.
The large caliber rifle had some pretty decent stats to boot once I finished assembling it.
| A-21 Anti-Material Rifle |
Damage: 115
DPS: Variable
Fire rate: Bolt Action
Capacity: 8, 10
Reload: 2.5
Weight: 21
Ammo Type: .50 BMG
Value: 10,500
Item Description: An anti-material rifle with a few upgrades, such as a better scope with a variable zoom and an improved muzzle brake that reduces recoil significantly.
"What do you think about this one?" I asked Amata before she began thinking.
Several seconds of contemplation went by and she came back with. "What about a suppressor?"
I've already come up with that previously back when I was making the weapon initially, but passed on it since I was busy at the time. Nonetheless, it's still a good idea, so I'll get busy on designing one later and give her some encouragement since she did come up with all on her own.
"That's not a half bad idea that will definitely help me with hiding my position. I'll just have to make some subsonic ammunition to go along with it. Look at my genius student coming up with all these great ideas today, one after another." I complimented her, which got a smile and a giggle in return.
So, on top of all of my other work, I now have to design and mill out a new muzzle break with threads that will allow me to attach a suppressor on the fly. I don't particularly want to have to unscrew my muzzle brake and screw on a suppressor every time I want to go quiet. Thus, it would be smart to make a new break. Thankfully, I should be able to design and mill out both the new muzzle brake as well as the suppressor in no more than a few hours, so it shouldn't interfere with my usual schedule too much.
Following the A-21 Anti-Material Rifle, we went around and inspected some of my other weapons that were either completed or in various stages of completion, and right as we finished going over most of them, I turned to Amata and said. "Well, we went over most of my current weapons. Let's head over and take a look at my armor now."
"Okay." Amata replied but before we could head over to our next destination, my armor she continued.
"Oh, and before I forget, I was hoping we could have dinner together tonight. What do you think?" She requested, whilst showing a somewhat hopeful and pleading look.
"Sure, that sounds good to me. However, I'll be the one to cook since you've been a big help today. Also, my dad may end up joining us, seeing how he'll probably get off of work around the time we start having dinner. You alright with that?" I said, which brought her mood down a bit and caused her to deflate.
"Oh, okay, I was hoping it would've been just the two of us sharing a meal together." She responded in a downtrodden voice due to my response.
"Well, if he ends up joining us today, we can try having a meal/date again together tomorrow if you want." I proposed, bringing her mood right back up to where it was before, if not a bit higher if her bright smile and happy expression were anything to go by.
After getting that resolved, I made my way over to my new armor with Amata trailing right behind me and once there I gave it the same look over as I did every other piece of equipment before it.
Hmm, let me think, I've upgraded the plating quite significantly from my last armor to the point that it will stop 7.62 AP without issue on the entirety of the armor. On top of that, I beefed up the armor around the chest area so it can stop larger caliber rounds with even more penetration, which should increase my survivability by a decent percentage due to most people aiming for that general area.
I also added all of those upgrades I came up with three years ago too like spiked pauldrons, extra armor around the head and neck area, and lastly, the integrated stun gun function into the gauntlets of the armor. That can be used to disable targets temporarily or permanently depending what I feel like doing.
The only other thing I upgraded was, I beefed up the knees of the armor even further, making my knee joints even more protected than they were previously. That armor upgrade also had the side effect of increasing the damage output of any and all attacks involving my legs, especially those requiring my knees, such as a knee bash.
If I was to perform a knee bash on a normal person with my armor equipped they basically have no chance of surviving since a combination of my strength and the weight of the armor behind the bash would just crush most normal human skulls like Gallagher smashing a watermelon.
Not to mention the added spikes that would easily penetrate through most human skulls with little issue. Even gifted and mutated humans with special abilities wouldn't stand much of a chance if I had to guess, unless they had enhanced natural defenses. But I won't really know for sure until I encounter a hostile one in the wastes.
Moving on from that, the new helmet I designed and created had all the bells and whistles I had planned for it, such as the turret targeting modules, the integrated rangefinder, the voice modulation module, and the air/gas filter. Along with having those upgrades implemented, I added a couple of new additions as well, those being night and thermal vision, because I didn't really want to spend a perk point on the Friend Of The Night to get low light vision immediately.
Nevertheless, I'll still get it eventually just so I'm not entirely reliant on my equipment alone in case the feature gets disabled, which can occur because of any number of things.
With all of that covered, it's time to go over the stats and the stats for my new armor and helmet were a huge improvement from my previous set.
| Exterminator Armor |
Class: Heavy
Weight: 160
Value: 27,500
Item Description: A heavy black metal armor improved from a previous iteration with electrified gauntlets and a significant upgrade in its armor and damage-stopping capabilities. Was also made for the purpose of keeping its creator safe in his future travels of the wasteland.
| Exterminator Helmet |
Resistances: DT 20
Class: Heavy
Weight: 23
Value: 14,500
Item Description: A heavily armored high-tech metal helmet that comes equipped with an assortment of features, including an air/gas filter, an integrated rangefinder, night and thermal vision, a set of turret targeting modules, and finally a voice modulation module. All of those features are powered by a single microfusion breeder cell.
I couldn't come with any other ideas to implement, so that's about the extent of my helmet design. But if it were a power armor helmet, then that would be a whole different story, since I have a ton of ideas that I would like to try. Hopefully, I'll come across a suit of power armor relatively quickly after setting out into the capital wasteland in two years.
I may not have come up with any ideas, maybe my companion has thought of something. "Do you see anything that can be added or improved, Amata?"
"Mm, nothing seems to come to mind. Maybe try putting it on. Maybe I'll think of something." She replied.
"Sure, we can try that."
After suiting up, Amata had me do a few turns while she was looking me up and down before saying. "I'm sorry Harold, I can't really think of anything else we could add since you seem to have everything covered with this one. Though I will say you will have no problem at all intimidating others due to your helmet's savage-looking appearance, along with your large size and spiked armor."
"Thanks for your help anyway, Amata. And yeah, I made it that way so I could intimidate others to prevent some attacks from taking place. Plus, I can see it helping me out when I'm trying to make a deal with someone out in the wasteland since they'll more than likely not want to mess with me or piss me off if I look like I could take their head off in a split second."
"It will definitely help with that for sure, especially with the smarter ones." She commented lastly.
We looked at my armor for a while longer and when we both came up with squat; I removed the suit and placed it back where I got it from. Once it was where it belonged, we proceeded over to my manufacturing areas for a bit to give the machinery a look over and check to see how much they produced today.
"I think that's enough for today. Why don't we wrap up things here and go get that dinner since it seems about that time. Also, thanks again for helping me out, as always, Amata. I appreciate it." I said after we were basically finished with everything in my lab.
"No problem, Harold. I always enjoy our time together." She replied bubbly, with her usual bright smile.
"I as well, so do you know what you want to eat tonight?" I asked before a look of contemplation appeared on her face again for the umpteenth time today.
"What about pizza tonight?"
"Fine by me. Alright, let's head out and have some dinner." I said lastly as we wrapped things up in my lab and exited it moments later, heading in the direction of my home through the expansive gray vault hallways.
Shameless plug, I have a Patreon that you can read 12 chapters ahead and support my work on. You can find the link in the webnovel's description, under my username on here, and on the discord, the link of which is also in both of those places.
If you want something else to read, that's similar to this, check out my other webnovel Wasteland Conqueror. It has a lot more chapters released.