Chapter 4: Loot Chests

Having come to the conclusion that I wouldn't be leaving the mines anytime soon, I watched the going ons below for several seconds longer before I moved onto the connected stairway that led up to the roof of this tall mineshaft. Still as eager to see whether or not the dangerous life-threatening situation I put myself through to access this area was worth it, I quickly began climbing the rusted steel steps.

Due to my excitement, I quickly ascended the stairs and the moment my eyesight peeked over onto the rooftop, I noticed not one, not two, but three red loot chests sitting there waiting for me along with some safes and nearly a dozen ammo crates.

"Jackpot!"

Although thrilled about what laid before me, I still retained my cautiousness and scanned the area in search of any booby-traps. Good thing for me I found nothing of the sort, so I approached the center chest and pressed the button, causing the large deep crimson color storage container to whirr to life.

Mere seconds later, the top flipped open and presented a whole host of rewards consisting of an alien weapon in the way of an Eridian Lightning Sniper Rifle, an epic rarity: Tediore Impenetrable Panacea Shield, a common Hoarder Class Mod for the Gunzerker Class, and two basic class mods that anyone could use, apparently.

More than pleased with the sight I was seeing thus far, I rested my Atlas machine gun against my abdomen with its newly attached strap that I transferred from one of the generic combat rifles I looted on the lower levels and picked up the alien sniper first. Once I got the somewhat organic looking weapon in my hands, I began inspecting it. As soon as I had examined it enough and basically had the weapons operations down pat, which was simply locating the trigger, I stowed it away in my digital backpack and moved onto the next order of business.

Picking up the shield, I couldn't help commenting aloud to myself.

"Shit, that's one hell of a shield. It has all the top of the line parts I can remember from the first Borderlands game."

| Epic || Tediore | Impenetrable Panacea Shield

Capacity: 1,500

Recharge Rate: 300

Recharge Delay: 2.75 Seconds

Health Regeneration: 3 + Level # Per Second

Plenty satisfied with the shield's stats, I swapped out my old shield and attached the upgrade to my chain belt in the previous shield's spot. The moment the shield kicked in and covered me in its protective coating, I turned my attention to a rectangular object with a row of cartridges running along the top of it.

| Common || Vladof | Hoarder Class Mod

Team Ammo Regeneration: 1 Per Second

This mod isn't anything spectacular, with it not providing even a single bonus to any of my skills. However, it's the only class specific mod I've come across thus far, so it'll have to do till I find an upgrade... At least it'll let me increase my stock of ammo even further, I'm sure I'll be needing every round I can get my hands on if the bandit numbers I've seen so far are anything to go by.

Throwing the class mod on my belt right next to my shield, I was about to start inspecting the two classless class mods, but I found my looting activities being rudely interrupted by my system.

[ Ding! Ammunition Storage Is Full ]

I guess I should dump some ammo from my backpack.

Not wanting to let any ammo gains go to waste, I removed a 100 rounds from my ammunition stores and watched the rounds begin to rise for a few seconds before resuming my previous activities. Picking up one of the mods, I discovered the benefits it provided were so miniscule that I moved on from it immediately and grabbed the other one. Unfortunately, the situation wasn't much better with that one either.

That's a bummer. I was really hoping I'd find a gem amongst them.

Tossing those two mods to the sell pile, I transitioned from that loot chest to the second one. Moments later, the contents of that chest were revealed in all their glory. What I found inside was a top tier Vladof Havoc, multiple spare 100 round magazines for it, and a rare Incendiary proximity mine grenade mod.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Vocalizing my excitement at having finally located a proximity mine grenade mod, I picked the piece of tech up and inspected it closely before pocketing it. I then took hold of the two toned black and rust-colored machine gun and gave the hefty weapon an overall examination.

...

Everything appears to be in good order.

I thought after inspecting the weapon for sometime and letting the bolt slam forward with a new round sliding into its chamber. Finished checking the firearm's condition, I checked the weapon's optic next and discovered it had about a 2.5 magnification on it.

This machine gun is comparable to my Atlas, except it has lower damage and marginally worse accuracy. That said, its optic, laser sight, and incendiary element more than make up for it, so it looks like I got a new primary weapon. If only my Pearl Havoc had those attachments, haa...

Hmm, actually, I got an idea.

Although I was initially bummed out at the fact that my Atlas was lacking in the way attachments, I had a sudden idea come to me that could potentially rectify the dilemma I was experiencing. So, not wanting to ditch and give up on the solid machine gun I picked up first, I decided to see if I couldn't give it an upgrade.

The second I came to that decision of mine, I took a closer look at the Vladof machine gun and discovered that the optic was mounted rather simply with just a set of screws holding it in place. This also went for the laser sight and the glowing device that I believed to imbue the Borderlands weapons with their various elements.

Seeing how this isn't a game any longer, I might as well see if I can't take parts from other guns.

Wanting to put my theory to the test, I ran back downstairs to my piles of loot and swiftly located a screwdriver that would work for my project. Once I got my hands on it, I grabbed a few other miscellaneous things I thought I might require and returned to the rooftop hastily with my tools in hand. Not a moment after my arrival, I went right to work on the Vladof firearm and unattached the parts one by one. Due to the simplicity of the job, I had every part sitting spread out in front of me in no time at all.

Alright, let's see if I can't give my buddy here an upgrade.

Ready to put my idea to the test, I started things off with the 2.5x magnification optic and slid it onto the rail, running along the top of the weapon before tightening it down and locking it in place with the included screws. As soon as I had done that, the weapon changed from its original blue rare rarity to purple epic. On top of that, its stats increased a decent bit, and it gained a recoil reduction bonus.

There's no way upgrading a weapon was that easy, right???

I remained stunned in disbelief for a couple more moments longer before I broke out of it and had a wave of excitement wash over me when I began ruminating over the broken weapon combinations I could potentially make.

If this works the way I think it does, then I'll be able to produce some absolutely overpowered weapons… For example, I could take the Maliwan's Hellfire SMG's stacking incendiary element and combine that with the unique Chopper machine gun that is a four shot Vladof machine gun with a huge 500+ round magazine and 1,000+ fire rate. Add in a legendary Tediore Guardian's built in ammo regeneration and you would have an absolutely busted weapon that could shred through enemies like no other while lighting them aflame...

As cool as that sounds I still don't know if I can attach an element module, so I need to find out about that first before I get ahead of myself and let my imagination run wild with all the ideas I'll no doubt cook up.

Hitting the breaks on my wild weapon combinations, I took the incendiary module I borrowed from the Vladof machine gun and moved the Atlas machine gun so I could get a good view right underneath the barrel of the firearm. The moment I'd done that, I could see a spot that looked like it would slot into.