[Merchant] 0002

[Approximately 63 Hours later]

Groaning, Jacob's eyes slowly opened, staring at the ceiling as every part of his body felt stiff and sore beyond belief. Yet, he felt his blood burn under his skin, making him feel far hotter than what he should have felt, almost rivaling that of a terrible fever.

He still had one more token he needed to use, but first, he had to focus on getting some water and food to eat.

Purified Water was a rarity in the wasteland; most bottles of Purified Water cost anywhere from ten to fifteen caps here in the Mojave Wasteland, though the price had dropped drastically compared to its previous value due to the NCR Caravans now traveling through the Mojave Wasteland from the NCR.

He didn't waste his money on buying something so expensive, instead he gathered whatever dirty water he found and purified it multiple times through a boiling process here in his little shelter every few days, at the moment he had about a liter of clean drinking water, or as clean as could be, within his shelter and without wasteing a moment, he drank all of the water in one go, before eating what little scraps of Molerat meat he bought from one of the more...reputable butchers in the outskirts of New Vegas.

Once sated, he summoned the screen and used his last token, opening a seemingly unending list of options.

[Guerrilla Tactics N You, How to Survive Against a Greater Threat] [User: FuckUYautjas]

[Essential Urban Warfare Manual] - [User: Vortigaunt]

[How to Survive against Beasts and Dragons] - [User: GrandMagus0312948158]

The list continued on and on, seemingly having been made mostly by the other users and covering a diverse number of topics or specific situations.

After nearly an hour of constantly scrolling, Jacob narrowed his list down to four options that either interested him or were something that seemed tailored for Wasteland use.

[Basics in Runic Formations] - [User: Rune_God_Of_Cultivation]

[Survival Manual for the Post Apocalypse] - [User: WhereDidAllTheWaterGo?]

[Hitman's Guide in Obliterating Humans] - [User: Hitman_59_Not_47]

[Operation: Fuck That, Robots Go] - [User: MechanistReborn]

The first seemed like some manual on Magic, the second for Wasteland Survival, the Third for Combat specifically against Humans, and the fourth was a username that caught Jacob's attention.

The Name, Mechanist, brought forth memories from his first life, memories that seemed to delve into a different version of the Earth Jacob found himself living on, only it involved the Capital Wasteland instead of the Mojave. However, he did occasionally remember some details about the Mojave he shouldn't have known.

The Mechanist is a seeming expert in the art of Robotics and RobCo series robots and machinery in general, but...then he looked at the price of the manual outside of the token.

[Operation: Fuck That, Robots Go] - [User: MechanistReborn] (1,000 Caps)

It was a thousand caps, expensive, but Jacob realized that if he ever wanted it, he could always purchase it later, or something even better.

So, after some thought, he eventually chose the Hitman's Guide.

In New Vegas, the people were more dangerous than the mutants, and he'd need to know how to defend himself.

When he made his choice, he passed out on the spot as information was directly fed into his brain.

Techniques to disarm, to stop, or even to kill a Human in a variety of ways, including where to target with specific weapons or with my bare hands.

It filled him with knowledge, but not experience. In contrast to the other two times, receiving his new item this time didn't knock him out or leave his blood boiling; it did, however, give him a mean headache.

Deciding to lie in bed for a few more minutes until the headache faded, Jacob, now that he knew what he was working with, had a plan forming in his mind.

Thankfully, his tinkertech specialization was already helping him.

As much as he enjoyed his little cellar that he called home, it was bound to be discovered eventually, and he knew of a place just north of New Vegas in the outskirts that people stayed away from but could be used to help him set up a new workshop.

The H&H Tool Company Headquarters, a relatively big two story building and one of the few buildings in the outskirts of New Vegas that had not collapsed into ruins, though if the rumors were anything to go by, it would be reckless for anyone to enter the building, as it was litered with traps, mines, and deadly robots and turrets.

No one knew why it was like that, as it was rumored to have been like that since before the bombs dropped, but its reputation was exactly why Jacob thought it would be a good place to set up shop.

The problem was getting past all of the automated defenses and traps, which was where his Tinkertech specialization was beginning to assist him.

The first thought that drifted across his mind was fabricating some kind of...An electromagnetic pulse weapon that would fry all the robots in the building, but the problem was that creating such a device would be difficult and expensive.

As his mind began thinking of solutions, he found his body moving over to his workbench, where he began to work, making several different prototypes using the scrap he had stashed in his room.

The first item he worked on was a makeshift pulse gun, using four fission batteries as ammo to launch the pulse that should disable whatever robot the pulse struck.

After that, he started making these long-spike-like devices that would act as throwable EMP grenades that would deliver a potent shock and pulse to whatever robot was hit by the pointed end.

The third object he started working on was made using parts from a broken terminal, scrap metal, copper, electronics, and more than a dozen other materials, before Jacob abruptly stopped when he realized he ran out of materials.

Before him was a makeshift and incomplete device that resembled a portable terminal, the likes of a Pipboy, that could directly hack a Robot via a short-wave transmission designed to jump into the local security network. It would likely not work, but it was missing its most crucial piece, a transceiver.

If he could have finished the prototype he made in his fugue, he could have waltzed into the building and taken over the network in minutes, if not a few hours, directly gaining administrator access and control over the automated defenses, but the other two prototypes would fulfill the same purpose. However, it would end in the destruction of mighty Robots and the destruction of all the automated defenses.

Frowning, Jacob realized he had a decision to make: did he want to rush off to H&H and risk it all to take over the building before anyone came to investigate the commotion, or should he wait and finish his last prototype before attempting anything? Who was he kidding? Jacob already knew what he was going to do.