Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Chapter 5 - Wasteland

— Vault 111, 2287 —

Staring at the frozen corpse of the Sole Survivor, I am not actually surprised. After all, this is exactly what I asked for with this Multiversal Gate.

I wanted to see if I actually could specify an alternate timeline of an existing universe and travel to that one. This time, I decided to travel to the Fallout universe, to the era of Fallout 4, to be precise. With one minor difference.

Instead of the original game, I imagined a timeline where the protagonist, the Sole Survivor, does not actually survive and instead dies inside his stasis pod like everyone else in here.

My reasoning is quite simple. While I have no evil intentions against the Sole Survivor, technically, he is me since I played Fallout 4 myself. I just do not want to share my loot with him. So instead of killing him myself or trapping him in this vault, I simply decided to travel directly to a timeline where he is already dead.

That way, I kill nobody and can test if alternate universe travel is possible.

[ A Skill has leveled up! ]

Again? I just used it for a second time!

That leveling speed is ridiculously fast. It is as if it wants to tempt me into using the Skill as soon as it is off cooldown.

But not with me. I will only go to the next world once I am ready.For now, I am a weakling. I will take all the time I can to become stronger and gain every advantage possible.

[ Multiversal Gate Lvl. 3: This Skill allows the User to open a Gate from their current location to any place and time period in the Multiverse that the User can think of. At its current level, the Skill has several limitations. First, it has a cooldown of one year, and only one person can pass through. The User can now expand the size of the Gate up to a radius of 10 meters. ][ Multiversal Gate - Cooldown: 0:364:22:45:33 ]

So I can make the Gate bigger. A radius of 10 meters means a total diameter of 20 meters.

But I am still the only person who can pass through? With the cooldown still being a year, I cannot really use it in combat either. I have something like Doctor Strange and his portals in mind there.

Until now, the Gate has been big enough to fit two people side by side. That is enough for my cart, which was smaller when I bought it on Earth since I was not sure how big the Gate would be. But I expanded it with alchemy before travelling to this World, because I now know what size can actually fit through.

That allowed me to take more goods through the Gate and prepare a few weeks' worth of food for survival in this radioactive Wasteland. Admittedly, I only have a few days' worth of perishable food plus several months worth of non-perishables, but it is still better than nothing.

With the bigger Gate, I can basically take a large vehicle through it.

It seems I will have to adjust my plans once again. But I cannot think of any vehicle that fits my requirements. At least not in Fallout.

While the Fallout universe has quite a few vehicles, none of them are quite right.

The most famous one is probably the Vertibird. But the inner space is too small for my needs while the wings take too much space, it is also far too open since it is a military vehicle, and it is too eye-catching.

I do not actually need a vehicle for mobility through the world, but one that I can use to move a large amount of goods through my Gate.

Something I can basically live in. Like a moving house.

An airship like the Brotherhood of Steel's is also too obvious and probably far too big. I do not know the exact size, but based on my memories, it is massive.

What I need is more like a camper van. Just bigger, since I want to transport as much tech as I can, too. This is a technology-based world, after all. One of the reasons I come here in the first place.

Originally, my plan was to collect as much technology as I can and hide it in this Vault, which I can seal up with alchemy. Then I can come back anytime in the future select the best stuff and transport as much as I can then. While I take schematics, data and instructions stored on my laptops for the rest.

These laptops are turning into small databases of multiversal knowledge at this point.

I was actually speculating on a shorter cooldown period, so i could visit different universes more often, especially those I already visited, but it seems like moving more at once is the way to go. Looks like I will have to build something myself.

Well, time to get some stuff done. I do not have all day. I need to make this Vault livable today. It is going to be my new home for a good while.

The corpses need to go. Transmuting a new mattress and removing the grime and dirt is probably also a good idea. If I remember right, there should still be some of those Radroaches near the Vault exit, too.

Oh, and I need to get my Pip-Boy! That is an important one. The one waiting for me is the newest model I know of and can be used to open other Vaults. Not that I need it, since I can technically just deconstruct any door blocking me. Sometimes, it is better to be polite especially for those still inhabited Vaults.

Taking the Philosopher's Stone out of my pocket, I take a good look at it. So small and yet so powerful. Dark blood-red in color. It is one of the safety nets I have now, although quite a limited one since Kimblee has already used it for a while, depleting many of the souls inside it.

Yet the price for it…

A good sleep after my first kill would also be quite nice.

Time to get to work.

— The Commonwealth, 2287 —

"War never changes… huh?" I mutter as I stare down the hill from the entrance of Vault 111 toward the destroyed Wasteland below me.

Hearing about the consequences of nuclear war is one thing. Seeing it in a video game is another. But actually seeing and experiencing it in real life is just different.

While I mentally prepare myself for what is waiting out here, the sight is still hard to stomach.

All that senseless destruction.

The world of Fallout is supposed to be the same as the world I come from until some point shortly after World War II. It is not clear where the divergence happens, but this could have been my home's future.

It still could be. Who knows how things are going back in that world? People with access to weapons of mass destruction are treating war like a game. One wrong provocation, and nukes could start flying. (AN: That was a hypothetical line. I literally wrote that line a few days before a Russian Nationalist started calling for sending Nukes at Ukraine...}

The end of the world is just one word away.

And for what? A bit of territory? Prestige? Your name in a history book written by your own people? Obviously, it is not for your people. After all, they are the ones paying the price of war.

Fuck it. Deep and annoying thoughts, begone.

What do I care anymore?

Daddy wants some Power Armor!

With my backpack on my shoulders, my alchemy sleeves and gloves ready on my arms, and two weapons holstered to my belt, I head down the hill toward the remains of Sanctuary while keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings.

No need to suddenly die to a Radroach or Bloatfly. That would just be too embarrassing.

The trek takes a bit longer than in the video game, but I soon arrive at the small town, only to spot some Bloatflies in the first building I come across.

Some willing test subjects are waiting for me.

Pulling my new toy from my belt, I head directly toward them. As soon as I get close enough, they notice me too, and two of them fly at me while a third begins shooting its neurotoxin at me. I swiftly dodge before firing my new gun.

A gust of ice hits the first Bloatfly, freezing it midair before it shatters upon hitting the ground. The other two join it moments later.

Cryolator for the win.

Yep, it is that fancy weapon stored in Vault 111 behind a master lock. With my alchemy, a fancy lock can never stop me. I can easily bypass all safety measures just by destroying their structure.

Sure, I do not really need the Cryolator. I can pretty much do the same thing with Ice Alchemy. Far better, actually. But it is a form of weaponized freezing technology that does not exist in my previous world! I am here to collect all the unique technology I can.

Speaking of tech, I just made some noise. I seem to have attracted a guest.

Floating at the entrance to the building is a robot. A Mister Handy, to be precise. One of those multipurpose housekeeping robots common in the Fallout world, powered by a nuclear reactor that ensures it can work for centuries and apparently even survive a nuclear war.

Say what you want about evil Fallout companies, but their products have amazing quality.

Unlike products in my world, which are built to break after a certain amount of time or usage.

"Hello. Nice weather today?" I greet politely, but I do not lower my weapon. While this is Codsworth, one of the possible companions from Fallout 4, I can never be too careful.

After all, the Sole Survivor and his family were his previous owners before the Great War, not me. And in over two hundred years, nobody has settled in this town while Codsworth has kept watch over it.

Who knows how this robot will actually react to people he does not know?

"Good day to you too, sir. The weather is indeed quite nice," Codsworth replies with his British accent, showing no intention of attacking me. "If I may be so bold as to ask, sir, did you come from Vault 111 up the hill?"

"I did indeed. I managed to enter the Vault and explored it," I confirm easily enough, not letting go of my gun. This line of discussion could turn quite sour.

"Were… were there any survivors in there? My family went up there before the war and never returned," Codsworth asks with hope in his voice.

I shake my head, already knowing the answer. "I'm sorry. Everyone in there died. The cryopods had some kind of failure and never opened or activated life support after unfreezing eighty years ago. The inhabitants suffocated without any chance of survival. Although I believe that was caused by someone else. There was a woman with a gunshot wound in one of the pods. Do you have any names?"

"Nate, Nora, and their baby, Shaun," Codsworth replies, sounding downcast.

Interesting... such loyalty in a machine. Is he actually sentient? Has AI in the Fallout universe advanced so much?

"A baby? That's interesting. There was no baby in any of those pods, but the woman who got shot is named Nora according to the logs," I explain. "There may have been a kidnapping. Shaun may still be alive, although he would be an old man at this point. Maybe you can search the Commonwealth for him?"

"Really? Then there is no point in me staying here any longer. With everything already gone, all that keeps me here is my family. I will dedicate my remaining runtime to figuring out Shaun's fate!" Codsworth agrees easily.

It is better this way. I like Codsworth, and I do not want to dismantle him to study him.

Him staying here will only tempt me to dismantle him. After all, I am after the technology in this world, and robots are an integral part of it.

Especially since robots are objects and not living beings. They should be able to pass through my Multiversal Gate, but I want robots that are purely loyal to me. And for that, I need to understand them and their programming.

And I really do not want to hurt Codsworth. He is a good guy.

"Then I wish you good fortune. I hope you find him. If I may give you a first clue, kidnapping people sounds a lot like something the Institute does. The infamous boogeyman of the Wasteland. Maybe they have something to do with his disappearance. But finding them will be hard. Nobody knows where their base is," I explain, pointing him in the right direction.

If he actually manages to disrupt the Institute's operations, that will be even better for me.

"Thank you for your help, sir. I will be on my way, then," Codsworth says, easily believing me.

He is a bit too trusting, isn't he?

Well, I did what I could.

Once Codsworth leaves, I begin searching the houses myself, mainly looking for valuable items like drugs, Stimpacks, ammunition, weapons, and armor. I need the drugs to make more Stimpacks.

Stimpacks are an integral part of my plans in this world and the future ones. I will need to collect as many of them as possible.

Of course, I also search for valuables like jewelry, gold, and silver. They will always be useful.

Even if I can transmute gold at this point. After all, besides practicing Alkahestry and collecting research papers, I spend a lot of my second year in the Fullmetal Alchemist world completing my Atomic Alchemy, allowing myself to turn elements into others.

While there are some limitations, I can pretty much transmute any metal into gold. But I still feel better if I do it the traditional way and actually collect valuables.

There is just something satisfying about discovering treasure instead of doing what I pretty much consider cheating. Cheating is boring, and it is not the reason I developed my Atomic Alchemy.

Well not for valuables at least.

Who needs to cheat when I can just head into the root cellar here in Sanctuary and get three bars of gold? In this world, a gold bar of that size may only be worth 450 caps, but in my world, each of them would be worth at least 25K.

All three of them can easily finance a comfortable year on modern Earth.

Of course, I am not going to carry them with me for now. Or any of my loot. I put all the valuables I find into the root cellar and transmute the entrance shut so nobody can enter it.

There are a few more stops for me to make today. A bit more loot for me to gather.

— Concord, 2287 —

After completing a few easy-to-reach loot stops around Sanctuary, now wearing some leather armor beneath my alchemist robes and a fancy new military helmet, I close in on Concord.

Just by getting close to the city, I can already hear the sound of gunshots. They are in the middle of a fight. As if I am approaching a scripted in-game event.

How fascinating. But that just confirms how much control I actually have with my Multiversal Gate. There are some truly amazing possibilities to exploit.

After all, not only do I get sent to an alternate timeline where the main character dies before the game starts, but I also asked to be sent to a version of this world that acts as much on the laws of the video game as possible.

So I actually did trigger a video game event.

Before heading farther, I take another glance at the Pip-Boy 3000 on my wrist. To be specific, I check my SPECIAL stats page.

Strength - 3Perception - 4Endurance - 3Charisma - 3Intelligence - 8Agility - 4Luck - 3

Pretty balanced, right? Oh, I did not assign them. My character has already been created since my birth.

All I did was to put the Pip-Boy on, and these stats appeared by themselves. And I find them pretty accurate. At least for my original self. Intelligence has always been my biggest strength, although I was never on the level of a genius.

Meanwhile, my physical attributes are okay. Pretty average overall. I never did particularly well in sports, but I am no slouch either.

Yet I feel they should be higher. After all, I did train quite a bit under Mrs. Curtis and generally exercised a lot more in the Fullmetal Alchemist world.

That is what I find so confusing about them. My training seems to be completely missing. I asked for a world operating under the laws of a video game without needing to be a video game character, simply to bypass the fact that I am missing a World Attunement in this world.

I hoped I could abuse this loophole to raise my stats beyond my natural limits and even gain some fancy perks with it. Because I can access the perks list with my Pip-Boy. I even have an EXP bar.

That is the whole idea. Since I have a physical device to access the 'power system' of this world, I do not actually need my body to fit this world.

So, as far as I can tell, there are two distinct possibilities. Either it does not work, or at least only partially works, and it just shows the stats I would naturally have without actually doing anything.

Or my SPECIAL stats do not actually include my physical training because it is not a game mechanic in the first place.

Fallout 4 does not have a workout or training mechanic at all, so it still shows my SPECIAL stats as they would naturally be. But I have yet to raise them.

There are only three ways to raise your stats permanently. Obviously, leveling up is the most straightforward method. You can raise them up to maximal 10 this way.

Alternatively, there are also collectible items that raise a stat by one, although only once for each stat. Bobbleheads, to be precise.

And then there is the 'You're SPECIAL' book, which also raises one stat by one. altough only once. It is actually in Sanctuary. I have seen it, but I did not touch it. Because if the second possibility is true, and this world and its items act based on video game rules, both the Bobbleheads and that book can be used to raise my stats beyond 10 to 11. And one even to 12.

I am a min-maxer at heart, so obviously, I am going for that option. And even if it does not work out as I hope, and I need to be a video game character to level up, that is no loss either.

All of this is just an experiment to see what is actually possible with my Multiversal Gate, an bonus you could say. My main reason for coming to the Fallout universe is still the technology, which can be quite overpowered, and, of course, some other minor experiments.

First, I will have to see what happens once I level up.

Fortunately, there is quite a bit of experience waiting for me here in Concord.

I can hear them shouting and shooting right on the next street, behind these buildings. Putting on another pair of transmutation gloves, I mutter to myself, "My moment to act cool. Time to make an impression!"

[ End of the Chapter ]