We walked back to the armory as I didn't really get a chance to check out everything they had prior to getting the accessory in truth that was a larger detour than we really needed although I did get someone I could hopefully trust because I couldn't trust the legion as far as I could throw them, and right now at level one I'd be hard pressed to even throw one of their slaves especially when you consider that my present company being a level 9 slave who in reality is probably more durable than some legionnaires in full armor. I examined my stats actually getting a good look at them instead of just glossing over them like I did before.

Level:1

Strength:6

Perception:5

Endurance:6

Charisma:7

Intelligence:5

Agility:5

Luck:4

available points: 0

Now that I actually look at my stats they're not that bad I mean my luck's kind of shitty but it's still just below average I think, but I'm only going by mine currently and accessory girls who seems to be a stupidly durable compared to others. Thinking back on it fallout 4 changed a lot of the stats instead of starting with a base of 5 across the board you started everything at zero and had to put at least one of 21 points to start the build off the way you want although I think it was 21 points either way It made it so you couldn't jack anything up too high. What the hell are available points now that I think about it accessory girl had 12 available points I mean I have zero cuz I'm at level one but wait is that for Perk points. Before fallout 4 you would need to put points into individual skills like guns to increase your skill with firearms or sneak to increase your stealth capabilities and sneak attack damage was affected by the sneak and different weapon stats depending on what you use. In fallout 4 they added a different system where you can increase these things steadily with 1 point per level number one making it entirely based on your level and the perk you picked for that level whether it was a new perk or an upgrade of an already acquired perk.

"What is that, are those the stat things you told me about." accessory girl said causing Lanius and Caesar to stop and stare back at us, "That's weird why couldn't I see it before though."

"That is an excellent question It shouldn't be possible to see someone else's stats when they bring up their status magic screen." Caesar said looking at me.

"It might be because I invited her to my party." I said causing Caesar and Lanius to look at me confused yet again, "The word party isn't just used to describe a get together or a banquet It can be used to describe a group of people in general."

"Yes Lord Caesar earlier when I jumped and fell in my butt it was him sending me an invitation to join him." accessory girl said looking a little embarrassed as she addressed Caesar, "it startled me."

I quickly sent Caesar and Lanius an invitation to join my party which they also jumped a little at the surprise notification but they accepted and joined and they too could see my status screen in front of me. I gave them an explanation of things like a party system and even a guild or faction battle as now that I was taking a closer look at the party screen I could see that I could actually organize several parties at once in the form of troops like what you would find in a game specifically tailored to warring factions. Lanius seemed particularly interested in the faction battles which makes sense in all honesty given that he is essentially the commander of the legion. While I explain this I took a glance at their stats and Lanius was a freaking beast, he was 8 and 9 across the entire board except for his strength which was 10, Caesar you could tell he was dying if not just his appearance his stats made it obvious while his stats at base were fairly decent except for his charisma which was 10 and intelligence which was 9 everything was reduced completely down to ones, twos, and threes due to the penalties inflicted by the brain tumor that was killing him.

We got back to the armory after Caesar and Lanius left the party having received a thorough explanation of it. The armory didn't change in the last half an hour since we went to the kitchen well I hesitate to call it a kitchen but for simplicity's sake. I continued going through the armory as Lanius handed accessory girl a new uniform which was the same burlap material except this one was a little newer and like the one girls consisted of a crop top that came right below the boobs to the point you can see under boob and a mini skirt that came down barely below the thighs. she changed quickly as she could as Lanius didn't take his eyes offer I guess he was worried she would try something being given a bit more freedom but seriously what the fuck is wrong with these people it's bad enough they put women in chains, but the fact that they force them to wear these pretty much non-existent outfits I mean it's not likely they'll hide a weapon in them but at the same time there's a point where it's just excessive cruelty.

"Hey accessory girl do you have a name?" You ask causing her to stare blankly for a second.

"Yes my name is Umbra lupus Regina." she said sightly embarrassed by the nickname.

"That's an interesting name."

"Yes the people from my tribe before being brought into the legion would name our children a given name in this case mine is Regina and the name of our tribe the umbra lupus would come first symbolizing loyalty to the tribe before loyalty to ourselves." she said with a little bit of pride in her which was kind of refreshing that she did have a little bit of a spark despite a lifetime of slavery.

I looked through the armory and found a machete and not one of those scrap metal ones either this was one that more than anything look like a real one that you take into the jungle. I copied it to see that it was called gladiators victory.

gladiators victory

melee damage: 2

survival: 4

equip stats

All stats increased by 3 when in single combat.

50% damage against humans and wildlife.

active ability: stone skin

accessory slot=0

The machete itself looks pretty cool a heavy blade with an ornamental handle with the Latin word ad victorum etched into the guard however in reality this weapon was probably going to lose its value when the wave came if I'm supposed to be fighting a large number of monsters as opposed to just single combat. Regina was just looking at me amazed by what my weapon could do. As I passed by an old submachine gun I had a (even I'll admit) pretty crazy idea I picked it up and let my melee weapon consume it as a material although I did not unlock a new weapon I unlocked a recipe to create a gun out of material specifically metal, oil, and plastic then I got an even more wicked idea and grabbed another submachine gun and put it into the melee weapon and began customizing it I wouldn't say I was a gun nut or anything but I did play a lot of military games so I did find myself learning a lot about different guns.

Using the submachine gun as a base I took a bunch of scrap metal and gun oil and other loose materials around the armory and began customizing it changing the overall shape and moving parts as well as adding extra layers. I had to admit the customization upgrade method was pretty damn useful you could create whole new weapons that probably didn't even exist in this world and some that probably wouldn't exist even if you had the right know how and the proper skill with design work. Caesar and Lanius couldn't see what I was doing but Regina was staring intently at the new weapon I was making and then as I finalized the creation by clicking okay on the menu it appeared on the table in front of me. I handed the gun to Regina which she took and marvel that it's craftsmanship all the while notification popped up saying that the schematic has been saved and asked me what I wanted to name it so I said, "vector-K10."

Caesar and Lanius had never seen a gun quite like that before and were admiring the craftsmanship themselves all the while I took another submachine gun and using it and the other parts I whipped up another vector-K10 with The simple push of button which caused them both to stare and amazement, Yes even Lanius looked amazed and a bit envious. They weren't going to shoot unless they had the right bullets and magazines but fortunately when I created the gun I automatically got the schematic for the magazines and the bullets were just the standard submachine gun rounds that you could get anywhere in this world. Fortunately the magazines were easy to make with minimal requirement so I quickly whipped up 20 magazines which was all the remaining resources that I had just taken in, but I didn't have anything else I needed at the moment so was well worth it to be stocked up on ammo and to be honest magazines you can't just scavenge. I handed the second vector-K10 to Lanius and we walked out to it the shooting range where I handed the magazines and told them to test the guns to make sure they work right.

on the firing range Lanius took a few shots and then fired the rest of them single-handedly never missing the target due to how low the recoil was on that gun. Although not as accurate as Lanius Regina was able to hit the target enough that would be lethal despite never having fired a gun before. This gun in particular was useful for first timers because it not only had a quieter shot but the recoil was as stated low. I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride in my handiwork although I could never use the guns myself it's nice to see even a beginner able to hit the target. At this point our small group had drawn a crowd of legionnaires and slaves alike who are now marveling at how these guns operated and when it came time to change magazines Lanius already popped the empty magazine and then and then replaced it with ease Regina had struggled a little bit but with firing again in 3 seconds flat.

As the two finished the second magazine Lanius turn to me and with a loud booming voice said, "WHAT A FANTASTIC FIREARM! IS THIS ONE FROM YOUR WORLD?!"

"Yeah it's called the vector-K10." I say although technically it was from another video game I couldn't remember the real world counterpart, "although a little bit more brittle than other submachine guns it's ease of use and lightweight frame make it good for short engagements so it's a good weapon for patrol as opposed to taking it into a long drawn out battle."

Lanius listened as this was an important detail but even still he cradled the gun in his arms, he was clearly smitten with it then again when you could probably dual wield two of them at one time and have a enough stopping power to take on a whole platoon of NCR troops. Now that I think about it I didn't really think of how this would go I mean fallout New Vegas has one of the most open endings of any fallout game having four different endings depending on the player's actions where no matter what none of them end up well cuz there's always blood soaking the desert. If it comes down to the four of them the legion is definitely one I'm going against but at the same time I don't like the NCR either as their ways although different from the legion are pretty much everything wrong with the old world. one nation taking from another nation sparking conflict it's a problem even in my own world so I can't say I endorse their way of doing things, and Mr House despite his gentlemanly demeanor he's just a tyrant looking for an excuse to rule his own empire in the form of New Vegas. I can decide that later though the reality is there might be differences in this reality The NCR might not be as bad and Mr House might actually be a good guy.

The only reason I bothered running some experiments now is because they can't easily recreate completely new firearms and to top that I highly doubt they can spare the resources for me to make several guns that aren't even good for long engagements. In truth the only reason I bothered making something as light as the vector K10 was for Regina I'm not going to put my faith in a group who's member just tried to pull a weapon on me because I hurt his feelings. As far as making one for Lanius it was just to make them think I was completely on their side at the very least I do intend to keep my end of the bargain and help them with the wave about to hit their territory, but after that I don't think I'm going to stick around too long.

The four of us headed back to the armory where Caesar had to take a seat probably due to the fact that he didn't walk around all that much anyway and given his declining health the day probably took quite a bit out of him. I decided to try and customize my own weapon next the tribal spear was good, It was lightweight and pretty maneuverable however it really was just an ordinary spear with little else to make it unique. I grabbed some leather armor that the legion didn't really use anyway and deconstructed it to create some standard leather and then I wrapped the leather around The shaft of the spear where I would hold it for extra grip and a bit of durability if I have to use the spear to block an attack. There's also the matter of the spearhead which was just a sharpened rock so I replaced it with metal while keeping a similar shape. After trying out the spear and being satisfied with its balance I looked over to see Regina just staring at me with curious and energetic eyes clearly loving the light show I was making with my customizations.

"Hey Caesar I don't think I asked but where is this hourglass located." I asked looking over At him, "I mean do they actually have a name to call them."

"Yes in the vision we saw a dragon deliver them onto this world so they've been dubbed by most as the dragon hourglasses." he said taking a sip of water brought to him by Lanius , "and as far as its location goes I'll be honest the middle of nowhere."

"How far away is nowhere." I asked feeling like he was avoiding the question.

"it's unfortunately a week's travel at best but the road is always clear as bandits almost never took to this area due to how remote it was." Caesar said looking a bit uncomfortable.

Both Lanius and Regina we're looking at him a little confused as he seeked reluctant to give information that should be some of the most important at the moment. Lanius after a moment had a look of realization and then and got equally uncomfortable. Caesar walked over to a small chest and put it up on the table that he sat at where he removed several maps showing the different regions namely the ones that The legion controlled. Caesar pointed to the map indicating where we were right beside the Colorado River next to Hoover dam just outside of Las Vegas, but he then pointed towards the border of Arizona and New Mexico where the hourglass was located.

"Even most of the casual citizens don't enter this area not because it's unlivable but there are creatures that inhabit this region." Caesar said uncomfortably.

Even Lanius looked like he was constipated or something before saying, "I understand that you need to go there however these things are not to be taken lightly."

I nervously looked over to Regina who now also looked shocked and confusion that Lanius of all people didn't want to deal with these creatures again, "Okay well what kind of creatures are they?"

Caesar explains that 3 years back the legion found old maps that indicated unique metal ore deposits located under the mountain however very few people actually went to the region due to fear of the monsters that lived there. Caesar and Lanius who didn't believe it ordered the local population to work in the mines they planned to begin excavating, reluctantly they agreed under threats of violence and not even 2 weeks into the construction of the first mine they were attacked by hideous hairless monstrosities that even an entire group of the legion's best soldiers and Lanius himself could not hold against. Lanius had to reluctantly order a retreat and out of the 300 strong military presence only about a few dozen survived and most of the citizens recruited were slaughtered and devoured.

"Not even the citizens in that area knew what kind of creatures they were or even had a name for them." Lanius said who even through his mask you could see his eyes looking about 10 years older at just the memory.

"Lord Caesar if even Lanius and 300 of the best legionnaires couldn't handle the creatures by this mountain how are me and my master and an execution squad going to handle them." Regina asked innocently enough.

Me on the other hand froze at that master line like did she seriously just call me her master I mean that would make sense in a fantasy style RPG but we're talking about this world with modern language. Wait was she trying to get me back for calling her accessory girl or she could have just been talking about someone else and I miss heard her.

"By master were you referring to me." I asked hesitantly.

"Yes, is something wrong master." she said again as innocently as you could be.

"You can just call me Derek that's my name after all."

"Okay Master Derek." she said innocently.

At this point I could tell she wasn't trying to get under my skin she just really didn't know any other way to say it. In her eyes It was just natural to call a man master being born into a tribe she was obviously enslaved from birth or at least a really young age and has had this role ever since. If that was the case I really couldn't get angry with her considering this is just her way of addressing me as a superior, but I can't deny it still made me uncomfortable considering we've only just met and she really has no reason to consider me her superior other than wanting to take her on my trip. Now that I actually think about it I'm risking her life because of my own selfishness wanting to have someone strong to be a tank. Unfortunately whether it's her or someone else I'm going to need someone who's capable of taking blows when I get too weak to take them especially early on like this it would be different if I could use a sniper rifle or a heavy weapon or even just a pistol, but there were definite limitations to melee weapons.

"Back to the topic at hand." I said figuring we've wasted enough time on this conversation which caused Caesar and Lanius to grimace slightly like what the fuck did they want to keep talking about my view on her, "What exactly did these creatures look like You called them hairless monstrosities but that doesn't really say anything?"

"We brought one here for study and fortunately it doesn't seem to rot so it's been well preserved." Caesar said, "We can show you now that I think about it this is actually the best case maybe you'll know something about it."