Chapter 21

After spending a night watching terrible movies Hiromi left in the morning, unfortunately her parents wanted her home.

So I settled in for some more tech work.

First thing first I noticed I had an odd bit next to my stats.

Technical attribute 1(5)
Crafting 1

It was the first thing I noticed when I opened my stat page. I decided to check through my alerts, because I had gotten a few when Vik installed my new optics.

*Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4. Technical Attribute.*

I blinked, what did maximum value mean?

I had no idea.

I continued through the alerts. Most of them were simply describing the uninstallation of my old optics, and installation of my new ones.

Except for one message.

*Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*

What the hell was Adaptation!?

I checked my stats page and it did have a Cyberware section. Under it I had two options currently. Although I did have plenty of minor bits and bobs that everyone tended toward.

I guess like V the Gamer only tracked the bigger stuff.

Militech Paraline *Adaptation Militech Paraline 0/0*
Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*

Okay so what was adaptation? And why did the Paraline Cyberdeck have a 0/0.

I tried clicking on it and to my happiness I got something, if not a complete answer.

*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*

No. I pulled back. I needed my stat points. And for now I had no idea what adaptation meant. I mean I could guess. Adapting my Cyberware? But I already had it installed. It was working as it should.

I shrugged. I would mess with it another time. At least I had one question answered. Ish.

Then I moved back to the stat page. Why does my Tech have a number next to it? I honestly couldn’t get an answer. There wasn’t a damn options menu, or a players guide with this Gamer system.

So I shrugged it off. It had something to do with my eyes, and bigger numbers were better. So I would just accept it was a good thing and move on.

But I did notice one last thing since I was playing with my stat sheet. I still had a perk to choose. Well two actually.

Blades and Street Brawler.

Both were easy choices.

Parry: With a blade in hand, deflect attacks.

Honestly there was only one reason to pick this Perk. Eventually I could parry bullets. Listen, if anyone ever says they don’t think cutting a bullet out of the air with a katana is cool. They are lying. Sure it would cost me a few perks, but I didn’t really plan on running around with a Katana very often, and defense was always super important.

Then there was Street Brawler. Which I also already had my path picked out.

Improvised Weapons: Sometimes in a brawl anything you can grab needs to be used, know the best way to fight with day to day items.

One more perk in that tree away from Gun-Fu.

Instantly though my mind was a whirl. I looked around at all the tech stuff I had been planning on tinkering with and I kinda cringed at just how deadly everything around me could be.

That could both come in handy, and be a little distracting, if everything I looked at was processed as a weapon first.

I shook it away. First I needed to continue disassembling all this tech. I smiled as I familiarized myself with old junk and slowly I got more and more alerts.

Until finally, the sun setting long ago I got the alert I wanted.

*Technical Attribute Leveled up!*

Tech 2? Yes! Now I could level Crafting more!

I yawned despite myself and looked around, realizing I had barely eaten all day. I stretched and groaned a bit as my spine popped as I decided to grab some chow before I hit the hay.

—–

I was glaring. My hands were completely calm despite my constant desire to start throwing stuff.

*Jun: I’m alive.*

That’s it. After so long? After not knowing if Jun was dead in a Maelstrom base somewhere? He just sends I’m alive?

And he refused to respond to any messages back either.

I was gripping my soldering iron a little too tightly as I slowly turned it off and set it down.

I needed to go kill something.

No. I shook that thought away. I was not going to turn to murder for stress relief. That is absolutely where I draw the line. I took a deep breath and let it out. Deciding to grab something to eat instead. As I was getting dressed I considered it.

Jun was alive. That was good. But he was withdrawing, and I had no idea what the Claws were doing to him, or making him do.

Considering Jun’s personality? I had no doubt that next time I see him, he will have a lot more chrome. If that was the case. Next time. Would I be dealing with Jun as he lost himself? Cyberpsychosis?

“If the Tyger Claws don’t take care of Jun. I will end them.” I whispered to myself, unable to stop the words slipping from my mouth.

I honestly wasn’t a fan of the claws in general. The whole sex work thing tends to piss me off. Even if Judy’s plan in the game was destined for failure.

Mine wouldn’t. I wouldn’t go after their business. I would just kill them until they stopped existing if they let Jun get hurt.

I sighed pushing myself away from the table to head to the bathroom. I was getting worked up. So I walked in and turned on the tap. I washed my face a bit and looked into the mirror. Almost flinching as reddish purple eyes stared back.

I had forgotten for a second that I changed my eye color last night. It wasn’t hard, Kiroshi was top of the line. Of course they would have an option to adjust color.

They still felt weird. I realized it was that little thing in the back of your mind, an irritation that told you something wasn’t quite right. Like something is in your eye but doesn’t hurt, but you still know something is wrong.

I suppose that was how I would process Cyberware. A slight discomfort.

I think I had figured out what Adaptation was. I closed my eyes letting myself breath for a minute.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

It wasn’t bad. Just different. I’d live.

I stepped away, turning back to my table. There was a part of me begging to go outside with a gun in hand. To go find some more scavs, or take a job.

I shook that part away. Settled down on my couch.

I had taken apart most of the scrap I had gathered by now. Learning a ton as I did. Or rather ‘learning’ as the XP continued to flow. I had a few ideas of neat toys that could help me out on jobs, but all of the actually useful stuff was way outside of my skill level, much less a price range.

But I now had parts. So I took a laptop, broken and stripped for now. And started putting it together. Simple really I had scrapped multiple of them from the dump so I had all the parts I needed, and as I worked, the XP both Tech, and Crafting flowed in.

I guess my system liked me actually making something rather than just disassembling.

It took me a bit but when I was done. I turned it on, and the OS actually started.

I was using the Hard drive that was in one of the laptops and it started up. Asking for a password.

Half a second later I pulled out my connect cord from my neck and plugged it in. A moment to breach it and I was in.

There wasn’t anything interesting. This laptop belonged to some woman a nobody. I mean there was literally nothing but crappy games, useless stuff like that.

I restarted the system and started wiping the data.

Who knows maybe I’ll just sell the laptop? Could make some eddies.

When it was done I nodded and put it to the side.

“Now what else can I fix?”

—–

I had a fan now. It buzzed merrily away next to the radio, and I basically just controlled it by hacking it every time I wanted to change its settings.

It was cool.

Heh.

But more importantly, putting junk together gave me that sweet sweet XP alerts.

So much so that Crafting had leveled up!

*Crafting skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*