Chapter 4

In the middle of the night in a bandit camp, roars, yelling, and gunshots could be heard. Bandits rushed out of the rusted and badly made buildings, firing at the two that dared attack them. One of them they knew off. It was Ellie, the mechanic that recently moved into their territory.

She was a nuisance. Every now and then, they sent a group or two after her. However, Ellie took them out with ease. Her strength was nothing to scoff at. Even when they sent a larger group, they still failed. Ellie was a mechanic after all. She had two turrets built into her garage, which decimated the larger groups they sent after her. Since they found out about them, the bandits just sent a smaller group or two, just to annoy her if anything else.

The other one was someone they didn't know. He wasn't as strong as Ellie, but he almost as dangerous as her. Fearlessly, he rushed through the bullets as they bounced off his shield. Every bandit that he reached either got turned into dust or decapitated with his axe. Even the badass psychos couldn't do much against him as he was faster than them, easily avoiding their attacks while chipping them down.

The hundreds of bandits were being mercilessly killed by the two intruders, but despite that, they fearlessly charged at them, screaming and yelling to their hearts' content.

"I'm gonna eat your eyeballs!"

"I need more heads for my merry-go-round - YOURS IS PERFECT!"

"I love you!"

Ellie spared a glance at her companion. William buried his axe in the head of a psycho and punched another in the neck, almost snapping it in two. He was surprisingly strong for his frame, plus he had that weird Siren ability that turned the bandits into dust.

'Ah, if only he had some more meat on his bones and knew his way round a car. He'd be the perfect husband.'

Ellie would've jumped him without hesitation if that was the case. Her ma had given her a few tips on how to find herself a man, but she preferred the direct approach. Ellie had used it only once, but it had worked as intended.

Shaking her head, she focused on the shmugs that tried attacking her. After all, there were hundreds of bandits in this camp. Splitting her attention for too long wasn't a good idea. If all of them ganged up on her, they could potentially break her shield and kill her afterward. That had been the reason why she hadn't gone after them, despite their numerous raids. And it's not like they could do anything to her if she activated the turrets at her garage. Still, they were an annoyance, which she was happy to remove. It's not like there was any husband material among them.

William for his part was having fun. Even the trip to the camp had been exciting. Ellie drove like a madman, her foot never leaving the pedal and boosting during the entire drive. William was more than surprised how much air time they got jumping over dunes, considering how weighted down the vehicle was. Nevertheless, it had been exciting, he had to admit that. He would try driving like that on his own sometimes.

When they reached the bandit camp, a part of him feared what was to come. It was large and made out of rusted, two-storied buildings. Just the two of them taking it out almost seemed impossible. William believed that until he realized just how wonderful it was to have a shield. It was like having a second life. Maybe even better.

Where before, William had to make sure he avoided all attacks that could outright kill him, now he was able to ignore almost all of them, just allowing his shield to take care of them. He could freely charge at the bandits as bullets bounced off of him.

Once William realized his situation, he rushed at every bandit he saw. He couldn't take his time and wait for his Phaseleech. Life force was important so he improves, but he also needed experience to level up, and William couldn't just let Ellie kill them all on her own.

Just after he killed his first few bandits, he leveled up. The Skill Point he got was then quickly put into Strength Beyond Measure. William wanted to max it out first since his plan was to first become strong enough so no one could fuck with him. That was easier said than done, but his modifier already reached 2x.

The energy that coursed through William's body and the strength he felt made him really believe he was unstoppable. Until he took a look at Ellie and quickly came back to Earth. She didn't have his Siren ability, she didn't have his Skill, and probably didn't have levels as well. Yet, she was still a physical monster, breaking the necks of bandits with just a single slap. William had a long road ahead of him, but he was sure he could get there. As long as he survived, that is.

"Killing time!"

Among the yelling and roaring of the bandits, one stood out, much louder than the rest. Looking at the source of the voice, William saw someone that could potentially have some relation with Ellie. As large as the massive psychos, but even bulkier. His limbs were as thick as a tree, and he had a one of a kind beer belly. A weird metallic helmet covered the bandit's face, and he had a rocket launcher on his shoulders, aimed right at William.

"Oh, shit!"

Even with a shield, William didn't think he could survive a rocket to the face. Scrambling, he started running while he materialized a revolver from his ECHO device. After punching a psycho away, he opened fire at the monstrous bandit. William was far from being a good shot, but he would be happy as long as he disturbed the bandit's aim. The revolver he was using was a Jakob's model, and he found out they packed quite the punch, alongside having a fire rate that was as fast as he could pull the trigger.

William jumped out of the way of a rocket and quickly ran away from the blast area as a thick green cloud formed around it.

Most of William's bullets missed, but surprisingly, one of them hit the bandit in his metallic helmet, popping it off. A small feeling of satisfaction filled him, but it quickly disappeared after he saw what happened next. The bandit's skull literally popped off, as his spine elongated in the air. His entire frame bulked up even more, and his skin turned bright red. Throwing the rocket launcher away, he let out a monstrous roar before snapping the necks of two fellow bandits near him.

"You're gonna be screamin'!"

"That's a goliath!" Yelled Ellie with a bit of nervousness in her voice.

Goliaths were monsters that only Bricked liked to tangle with. They were annoying to deal with before due to the crazy amount of adrenaline running through their bodies. However, after the four Vault Hunters opened the Vault of Pandora and Eridium got everywhere, the goliaths transformed into fearsome monsters. The unique element that was currently only found on this planet, enhanced the goliaths even more, turning them into the strongest kind of bandit on Pandora.

"Holy shit! What is Earthworm Jim doing here?!?!" The goliath reminded him of the heroes of the first game he ever played as a child. However, this goliath was much more fearsome-looking than the loveable Jim.

From a peek at Ellie, William saw her frantically killing the bandits around her, trying to take them down as quickly as possible while making her way towards him. The goliath was focused on him and rushed at William with long strides. The bandits around him gave it a wide berth, not even daring to go close to the raging monstrosity.

William quickly materialized an SMG in his hands and opened fire at the goliath. However, the bullets did little to slow him down. The goliath just ignored them and rushed the bullets like a charging bull. Throwing the gun away, William prepared himself for what's to come.

"DIE! DIE! DIEEEE!!!!"

The goliath threw his arm back, telegraphing what he was about to do. Avoiding the predictable attack, William quickly grabbed onto the raging banding and activated Phaseleech, feeling a massive amount of life force coming from the goliath.

"No, you die!" William yelled back, having the goliath right where he wanted it.

"I'll make you scream!"

However, the raging bandit wasn't a normal breed. Like the massive psychos, he was able to move around despite his life force being drained from him. The goliath's hand swung out, backslapping William right in the face. His shield broke down in an instant from just a single attack. His head snapped back, and his neck let out a crunching noise, almost snapped in two from the slap.

If it hadn't been for the shield, the durability William gained from his Strength Beyond Measure Skill, and if he was getting healed from Gluttony, he would've died right there and then. His head would've been blown away, and his adventure would've ended. However, due to that specific combination and some luck, he survived the hit that should've killed him.

Dizzy was one way to describe William's situation. Everything was spinning, and he was pretty sure he saw buffed worms flying around on rockets, chasing after a balloon that carried an explosive barrel. Even now, the annoying level of Earthworm Jim 2 still haunted him.

Despite the dizziness, and his weird hallucination, William didn't let go of the goliath. His grasp even tightened as he started punching the raging bandit with his free hand. The massive amount of life force he was draining from the goliath not only empowered him, but it also healed his neck quickly. His punches became faster and stronger, and the raging bandit started squirming in his grasp.

"That's mine!"

The goliath tried hitting him away, aiming for the arm that holding onto him. William managed to intercept the attack with his free hand, avoiding having his right arm snapped in two. The goliath was weakened from the drain on his life force, but he was still one hell of a physical specimen. So, William's left wrist was snapped from his actions, bent in a way it wasn't supposed to be, with some bone sticking out of his skin.

"No, that's mine!"

William didn't let go even for a second despite the pain he was in. His left hand was out of action for the time being, so he started kicking the goliath in his shins. It didn't do much, but it was something. At least it made the raging monstrosity flinch.

"Stop!"

Of course, William didn't oblige to the goliath's demands. He kept Phaseleech active no matter what as he took hit after hit from the ranging bandit. Each attack from the goliath was becoming weaker and weaker while William started slowly recovering from his injuries. Their struggle continued, but the victor was already clear. In the end, the goliath fell as he slowly turned into dust.

[You have leveled up!]

[+1 Skill Point!]

The Skill Point was quickly placed into Strength Beyond Measure, maxing out the Skill.

With adrenaline and life force pumping through him, William turned to the rest of the bandits. There was a moment of silence as all of them stared at him, almost unable to believe what they had just witnessed. Feeling high on his achievement, he grinned at them.

"Who wants a piece of me!?"

One would think that the bandits would get scared and run away after what they saw. Nope! Normal ones might've reacted that way, but they were Pandoran bandits! Craziness was literally in their blood!

"I'll never stop, until they flop!"

"Drop-kick your babies!"

"You can't kill me! I'm already dead tomorrow!"

They let out their battle roars, charging at him or firing their guns. There was not even a hint of hesitation as they did that.

Despite the moment of surprise, William quickly got his bearings. He started decimating them with his newfound strength while using Phaseleech whenever possible. His injuries quickly healed, and his shield shortly regenerated.

The battle in the bandit camp came to a finish soon after, with only Ellie and William remaining standing and alive. The large woman was panting with her hands on her waist. This endeavor had been exhausting and one hell of an experience.

William, on the other hand, was already fine. His breathing was steady, and he didn't have even a single injury on him. Phaseleech already healed everything the goliath did to him.

"Daayum, cutie. Didn't think anyone other than Brick would fight a goliath like that," Ellie was really surprised.

'Yep, praise me more! Tell me how special I am!' William just puffed his chest before realizing who praised him.

"The loot!" He quickly changed the topic and started going over the camp, searching for anything valuable. The rocket launcher was the first thing he looked for. It could come in handy against some bigger and tougher enemies, and he really wanted it, firing a rocket launcher was just cool. However, the rockets did explode into a green cloud, so he had to be careful with it.

While looting the camp, William massaged his neck, feeling a small stinging sensation. He'd come close, very close, to dying earlier. It had been due to his lack of understanding of what a goliath was and his power high, but it was still his fault. However, his near death experience served as a reminder that he wasn't unstoppable and should be more careful in future encounters. Until he becomes strong enough that bullets wouldn't even be able to pierce his skin.

"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. I really have to be more careful in the future."

William continued looking around the camp and storing anything useful in his ECHO device while throwing away the trash. He also used Phaseleech on every corpse he found, getting a little bit of life force from them. The longer they have been dead, the less he got, but it was still something.

The memories he absorbed from a few of the bandits were at the back of his head, quite literally at that. It was like they were in a box, separate from his own. He could just take a peek at them and watch them as if he was watching a TV show. William went through a few of them, not really getting any good information, but one particular memory stopped him in his tracks.

It was of a man attending a robotics class. The classroom was all fancy and whatnot with lots of holograms and a robot walking around. The professor had a mechanical right arm, which apparently was much better than his normal one.

William didn't understand most of the things that were being taught there, even with the assistance of the memory, but he was greatly surprised. The memory was taken from one of the crazy bandits, he was sure of that.

Yet, how did an aspiring robotics engineer end up becoming a bandit on Pandora? That eluded him, though he did make a few assumptions. Obviously, the very air of the planet induced craziness in the inhabitants, but still. The man should've been working in a lab somewhere and not spouting profanities as a crazed bandit.

While thinking about that, something caught William's eye. A glowing, purple rock was on a table in one of the rusted houses. William didn't know what it was, but the moment he saw it, he was captivated by the rock. It called to him, beckoned him to take it and use it.

And so he did. William grabbed the glowing rock. His tattoos lit up without him doing anything, and Phaseleech activated on its own, absorbing the glowing rock.

[Phase Energy unlocked!]

"What is this?" Checking out his Skills, answered that for him.

[Phase Energy: As a Siren, you are able to use and manipulate Phase Energy. You can coat yourself in a shroud of Phase Energy that boosts all of your attributes by 10% and protects you from harm.

Current Phase Energy: 100.

Absorbing more Eridium increases the Skills effect and your Phase Energy count.]

"Well, this would've been useful like 20 minutes ago."

Grumbling, William activated the skill. He only needed to think about it, and he was covered in a purple shroud. He barely felt the effect since 10% wasn't that much, but it was still better than nothing. Keeping the Skill Tree open, William watched his Phase Energy, checking how fast it dropped. It seemed every 10 seconds with the shroud, it will drop by 1.

"Fighting and getting hit will probably reduce it even faster."

William would have to test out his theory, along with few others that came to his mind. Like, would he be able to regenerate his Phase Energy by draining others with his Siren ability? Would it even regenerate on its own?

Thinking of such questions, William continued looting the camp. He was hoping to find another one of those Eridiums since he wanted to see how much it would increase the skill. As luck would have it, he did find one more. William also found out that Phase Energy regenerated 1 every 10 minutes. Pretty bad, considering how fast it dropped when being used, but nonetheless, it was still better than nothing.

"This planet better be filled with this shit!" He loudly complained after absorbing another Eridium. It increased the boost to 10.5% and his energy count by 1. Disappointed was one way to describe how he felt.

"Ya done lookin' around?"

Ellie was standing by their car with one hand on it. His eyes just peeked at how the vehicle pushed down, but his gaze didn't linger for long.

"Yup. I packed anything of value."

William patted the ECHO device, hanging on his clothes. He then realized how awful and torn his clothing was. He was a bit sad, as his clothes were the only thing he had from Earth, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"I could use some new clothes, though. You don't happen to know a place where I can get some new ones?"

"Sanctuary. Ya can trade some guns and ammo for 'em. Won't be the best, but they can keep ya covered."

"Got it."

They jumped inside the car and took off with Ellie hitting the pedal hard. William was still surprised by how much air time they got on their jumps, but damn, wasn't that exciting. He won't risk doing it on his way to Sanctuary, but after that… oh, boy.

"We did a good job and now it's time to partyyyy!" Ellie raised her hands in the air.

"How… are we going to party?" William asked. He was a bit scared she might try something like getting him drunk and then jumping him.

"With roasted skag and some good ol' vodka!" Ellie opened a drawer in her garage and pulled out two bottles out of it.

"I could go for some vodka… but I will skip on the roasted skag," William said after thinking it over. He wouldn't mind getting just a little bit of alcohol, to see how it would affect him with his new constitution and Gamer's Mind. However, he had no desire to even try the taste of skag.

"Ya sure? It's one of the tastiest things to eat on Pandora," Ellie tried convincing him, but he was having none of that. Nothing she said could persuade him.

Despite his fear of Ellie trying something, William didn't have that bad of a time drinking with her. She had plenty of stories to tell and gave him a brief explanation about Sanctuary and the people there. The Vault Hunters, the four playable characters of the game were all living there and leading the resistance against Hyperion.

Ellie mostly talked about two of them, Brick and Roland. Apparently, she had a thing going on with the buffed up, Hulk-wannabe. However, their relationship had been rocky since Brick seemed to care more about his dog than her. In the end, she was the one to break up with him. That was one piece of information he really didn't need to know.

After her breakup with Roland, Ellie tried perusing Roland since he was the only other 'worthy' of her in Sanctuary. Though, she had as much success as Lilith with that endeavor. Roland was apparently too busy planning raids and fighting against Hyperion to even consider a relationship.

"Wait. Isn't Lilith death?" William stopped her there and asked the important question.

"Huh? Lilith? Uh, yeah, she's dead. Yup, definitely death," Ellie looked to the side as she said that, avoiding all eye contact with him.

'I've seen bad liars, but this is something else!' Still, that was a very important piece of information. Lilith was alive! Now he really needed to go to Sanctuary and find her. She was his ticket out of here.

Their party came to an end, and Ellie warned him not to go outside before she wakes up. She had activated the turrets on the garage, and they will shoot anything that moves around in their vicinity.

William gave her a thumbs up and went to his bed. Alcohol didn't affect him that much, and he was still bursting with energy from a large amount of life force he absorbed earlier. He browsed through the ECHOnet, just reading up on random articles and almost dying from boredom.

Thankfully, Angel contacted him at some point, and he spent the rest of the time just chatting with her. William didn't mention of his earlier finding. Angel either didn't know Lilith was dead or lied to him, but he wasn't sure which it was, so he kept it to himself.

It was still dark when Ellie woke up – the nights lasted just as long as the days in Pandora – but it was time for him to go.

"If ya leave now, it will be bout day time when ya pass Three Horns Valley. Do be careful, though. It'd be a shame to lose a cutie like you due to frostbite."

William wasn't sure how the cold would affect him due to his enhanced physique, but he shot her a thumbs up.

"The car should last ya until ya reach Sanctuary. Won't have much gas in the tank after that."

"I have some fuel in the bandit vehicle I came with."

"Might wanna take it with ya just in case."

William materialized a car for himself from the Catch-A-Ride and moved the few gas cans he had over to it. After checking if he had everything with him, he was ready to start his trip to Sanctuary.

"Send the people there my regards and do make sure ta visit me from time to time."

Ellie gave him a wink, which he assumed was supposed to be seductive, but it just didn't work for him. She was just not his type.

"I'ma make sure to contact Roland and tell 'im to expect ya. Have a nice trip and kill some bandits for me on the way!"

"Thanks, Ellie! Stay safe!"

William drove off, following the map on his ECHO device. He had a long ride ahead of him, one that would last about 48 hours if he didn't stop anywhere. However, knowing himself, he knew he would jump at the chance of fighting any bandits on the way. Levels and life force were important for his future, after all. Though, he was definitely going to be careful. The experience with the goliath still fresh on his mind.

Any small groups of bandits William encountered were smashed apart by him. If he saw any buildings, he would search them all thoroughly, looking for any Eridium inside them. Angel contacted him from time to time, and he enjoyed their discussion. Though, she avoided talking about herself most of the time, preferring to just listen to him ramble about this and that.

He leveled up once more, placing another point into Wit Beyond Measure. That also opened up his tier 3 Skills, and he checked them out.

[Sloth 0/5: Decreases the cooldown of your Phaseleech by 1.5 seconds. Current cooldown 10 seconds.]

[Life Beyond Measure 0/5: Using Phaseleech you can increase your longevity. Turn 5% of the life force you absorb into life span.

Current remaining life span: 55 years.]

Both were amazing Skills. One would allow him to spam his ability even more often, while the other could practically make him immortal. He could literally live forever as long as he had things to drain. A small amount of drool dripped from his mouth just thinking about that.

'Calm down, calm down. I can get Life Beyond Measure after I max out the mind-related Skill. It's not like it's gonna run away or something. No need to rush it.'

Everything was going pretty smoothly on his trip as William was going through Three Horns Valley. It was a Highland/Tundra region, which was much appreciated after he spent such a long time in the Dust. He encountered lots of skags and bandits on the way, which all turned into life force and experience for him.

William noticed that after his physical modifier passed 2x, it was increasing at a much slower pace. The same would probably happen with the mind one as well. However, it was going up pretty quickly at the moment, already having passed 1.5x.

"Will!" Came the frantic voice of Angel from his ECHO device.

"Something bad happened!"

---

Tier 1 Skills:

[Gluttony 2/5: Using Phaseleech on others replenishes your hunger and thirst. In addition, it restores your health by 10%]

[Strength Beyond Measure 5/5: Using Phaseleech you can empower your body. Turn 25% of the life force you absorb into your strength, increasing your physical abilities.

Current modifier: 2.32x]

Tier 2 Skills:

[Avarice 1/5: Using Phaseleech, you have a 20% chance of absorbing someone's memories. Only beneficial ones will be absorbed, and your personality won't be harmed.]

[Wit Beyond Measure 2/5: Using Phaseleech you can empower your mind. Turn 10% of the life force you absorb into mind power, increasing your mental capabilities.

Current modifier: 1.58x]

Tier 3 Skills:

[Sloth 0/5: Decreases the cooldown of your Phaseleech by 1.5 seconds. Current cooldown 10 seconds.]

[Life Beyond Measure 0/5: Using Phaseleech you can increase your longevity. Turn 5% of the life force you absorb into life span.

Current life span: 55 years.]

[Phase Energy: As a Siren, you are able to use and manipulate Phase Energy. You can coat yourself in a shroud of Phase Energy that boosts all of your attributes by 14.5% and protects you from harm.

Current Phase Energy: 109.

Absorbing more Eridium increases the Skills effect and your Phase Energy count.]