Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI-Chapter 221

The lines of text as everything ran through checks confirming it was working was only barely grabbing my attention as I slowly sat up and stretched a bit.

“Feel alright?”

“Feels alright.” I confirmed, as I looked at my system.

Raven Microcybernetics Ex-Disk *Adaptation Ex-Disk 0/0*

Raven Microcybernetics RAM Upgrade *Adaptation RAM Upgrade 0/0*

Camillo RAM Manager *Adaptation RAM Manager 0/2*

Rostovic Self-ICE *Adaptation Self-ICE 0/0*

Yeah that looked pretty good. Four new pieces of equipment, but only one of them causing any adaptation issues?

“Hmm.”

“Kid?”

“The Camillo is causing some feedback I think. Nothing major.” I informed Vik like a good patient, and he pulled up his screen looking things over.

“Nothing I can see.” He mumbled. “You sure it’s the Camillo?” He rumbled, his hands tapping at his screen.

“Yeah, 100%. Could be anything though. I’ll let you know.” I reached up and ran a hand over the back of my head. The cut off point between hair and chrome felt a little tender, but Vik hadn’t passed me a MaxDoc just yet either since Hiromi was still here.

“Something’s wrong with it?” Hiromi in fact cut in looking concerned and I shook my head.

“Probably just a compatibility issue… Or it could be something about space. We did just stuff a lot of junk into my head.”

“Yeah good thing you had so much space in there to work with.” Vik joked and I huffed at him while Hiromi broke into giggles. “Hmm. Mind if I grab a few more scans before you run, kid? If you say there’s something up, I’d like to peek.”

“Oh! That’s a good idea actually!” I just realized I might be able to do more than just come to Vik for help.

Adaptation solved the connection from cyberware to meat, but what did that actually look like? What did it actually do?

Vik had gotten scans of before and after before now, but… I’d never told him about adaptation. Not directly.

“Hiromi can you go grab me a drink? Got a weird taste in my mouth.” I asked her as I sort of wobbled trying to show that I wasn’t ready to move around yet.

“Yes! I’ll get it!” Hiromi raced off, thankfully while Vik had looked confused at first he relaxed once he realized I was looking to speak to him privately.

“Kid?”

“You know about my healing.” I told him in a whisper, and he looked towards the door where Hiromi raced out and leaned in.

“Yeah?”

“I get… Alerts I guess you can say when chrome isn’t quite right. It heals so to speak over time.”

His face scrunched up a bit as he thought, his free hand up rubbing at his five o’clock shadow as he considered what I had just said.

“I’ve noticed you get used to chrome quick.” He trailed off at the look on my face.

“It’s more than just getting used to it. It’s like… Adapting. Right now we just plugged the Camillo in, and there is something not perfect about it. Take your scans as much as you can, and when… Well when I adapt to it, we can do it again and see if we can find what the issue is? I figure it might be helpful?”

“If it’s something I can see on a scanner, or some data alterations… Then yeah that would be very helpful.” He rolled away suddenly, and pulled out a harddrive, from his desk.

“It’s a fresh drive. I don’t want to leave this on the normal server.” He explained as he slotted it into his scanners, and motioned for me to rest back. A minute later Hiromi arrived carrying a soda and I had to wait as Vik’s scans were very sensitive.

—--

Hiromi came home with me, the two of us camping out on the couch once all was said and done, and I finally had a chance to close my eyes after a few more hours of watching bad TV with Hiromi to get my eight hours.

I woke up in the morning feeling perfect, but with everything healed I could feel it. A hitch so to speak in my neck, only it wasn’t there at all. The Camillo definitely caused some issues, and I’d have to be very calm for the next while until I could drop more points in to adapt to it…

I looked at my stat screen.

1 Stat point.

It was supposed to be my Intelligence one… Ugh! I just wanted more levels! If I had more levels this wouldn’t be an issue!

Especially since the temptation was now there.

Intelligence 14 (20) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 10.

-Breach Protocol 14

-Quick Hacks 10

-Programming 13

I could raise Intelligence to 20.

I was no longer limited at all! Each of the four pieces of Cyberware had given me an additional 2 Adaptation for Intelligence.

I could max out a stat…

Closing my eyes I let myself just process, the temptation for ultimate power, was definitely there. But I still needed to follow the rules.

One point for stats, one for adaptation, and the one I was sitting on was for stats, I was getting closer to another level up, another dive into the net and I might get that, so while the irritation in my neck was annoying, and the temptation to just mash everything into Intelligence was there as well. Slow and steady.

I opened my eyes and pushed the point into Intelligence.

Intelligence 14 (20) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 10.

Aaand didn’t feel any different.

“Intelligence is such a lame stat.” I mumbled Body made me all buff, Reflexes gave me ninja movements, but Intelligence didn’t do shit!

Stupid Intelligence!

“Hmm?” Hiromi asked, and I rolled over to see her look up all bleary eyed from her pillow.

“Nothing. Sorry.” I whispered and reached over and pulled her blanket up around her shoulders a bit, and her barely visible eyes blinked a few times before she lay back down and Hiromi disappeared beneath her messy bed head and pillows.

Heh. Hiromi was so cute half asleep. I slipped out of bed without disturbing her again and stretched as I checked out the window. Sunlight warmed my skin as it slipped through the metal guard slats.

If I knew Hiromi she’d be asleep for another hour or so, so I should grab some breakfast or something.

I slipped into my clothes and out the room without making a sound. My ninja skill too stronk! Won’t even wake up my bestie as she sleeps in!

Laughing silently to myself at using my assassination and infiltration skill for such a silly reason I slipped out of the apartment, and into the elevator.

While there I looked once more at my screen…

I exhaled, I’d be meeting Sasha sometime soon, so I really needed to level up my skills, and I really didn’t want to overdo it, so I needed to start.

-Quick Hacks 11

The loss of the skill point was well worth it, as I bridged over the gap from man to cyborg.

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I had a lot of versatility thanks to Breach already being over 10, but Quick Hacks was an entirely different beast.

Quick Hacks. Daemons that were design to be uploaded and sent while in the real world, although using them in the net was the norm now as well.

But at their base, it was about using a program.

Scanning, configuring, uploading, activating. The basic steps for hacks, not quite covering everything, but it was an easy understanding.

This was…

To begin the next step, before the previous step was even done. Configuring the Hack as the scan happens, to Upload the hack as it’s being configured, to activate before the upload was complete. Reduction in time by a drastic degree.

In the game of hackers milliseconds mattered.

In the world of the net the one to touch the other first usually wins.

I’d taken my first step beyond the human and into the cyborg. Not just using hardware, but using it in a way that was beyond just the human.

Breach made me think closer to that of a digital entity. Quick Hacks made me learn how those digital entities can attack. The first step in understanding what it takes to wipe entire groups of people at a glance. To become the digital Goddess that my cybernetic brain was destined to be.

Okay that was a bit much. I wasn’t Alt, but still.

I grinned as the elevator door opened. Let’s get some breakfast while I let my brain cool.

—--

Hiromi had to leave for school after our shared breakfast, dropping her off in front of Arasaka Academy. I drove off to find something to do with myself for the day.

Honestly, with how full my brain felt with the Quick Hack level there was only one thing… Okay there were like a dozen skills I was still working on, but only one that was a priority.

I headed to the Dojo.

A glance at my stat page reminded me just how close I was.

A perfect cut.

I know that’s what I needed.

Besides, I should avoid netdiving for a bit longer to let the new cyberware settle. Doctors orders.

I headed back to Watson, back to Little China, and parked the Quadra in front of the Dojo reminding myself, I would need to do a new paint job on her just to give me some distance from the BD that I wanted to give to Judy.

Another task to do, but that kind of stuff came after.

I stepped inside, the early morning sunlight filtering in through the skylights giving the dojo a certain ambience as I headed into the actual dojo half of the building. Already there were a few students, and I instantly got some attention.

“Yoo! Yurei!”

“What’s that? Ah, the Yurei is back huh? Come to cause some trouble?” One of the students, one I recognized as part of the guys that ate Noodles with me after the last time I was here.

“Yeah. I’m right on the verge of what I’m looking for.” I explained and got an interested look from the older man.

“That so? Trying to reach that Kensai state huh?” One of them said, and then got elbowed by a friend as they laughed at the idea.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

“Ah… Well I guess you could call it that. That’s a bit pretentious though.” I couldn’t help but add, I might be a weeb, but like… Going around calling myself a Kensai or something was pretty… Out there.

“Heh! Well I know what you need. The only thing you really need. Gotta pull a live blade.” He explained and I instantly felt my lips shift into a frown.

“Shh! Don’t say that anywhere Sensei might hear.” Another of the boys called out quietly, and they all laughed.

“That’s not true.” I said before I could think about it. “You don’t need a sharp blade or a good blade. If you’re trying to become good with a blade anything would work. You need the practice and the… The…”

“The eye within the mind.” Sensei but in and everyone went quiet. “You are correct, what can a legendary blade do for someone that can not see?”

“Yeah exactly.” I snapped my fingers. “Hi Sensei.”

“Kusanagi. You have returned. Unfulfilled?”

“Yeah I didn’t find it.” I said a bit grumpy despite myself. “I’m right on the edge though.”

“Then grab your blade.” I nodded, the other students hurrying away to avoid the look Sensei had on his face as they all knew they’d fucked up bringing up real blades.

I got the feeling sensei knew what his students were up to obviously, but still wished they used their swords for better purposes…

Or I could just be wrong, and thinking better of him than he was. This was a Tyger Claw Dojo after all.

As I’d come to accept in my time in Night City. You could respect someone but still know they are terrible people.

I grabbed a Shinai and loosened up, feeling that slight tension in my neck, but that was easy to ignore as I turned and blinked in surprise.

“Sensei?”

“Kusanagi, prepare yourself.” He offered and raised his shinai up slightly above his head.

Okay. All out from the start then.

I breathed in, exhaled cold and moved forward to being our engagement. The sound of our shinai tapping each other was soft, neither of us were striking fully, instead seeking to find the chip in the other's defenses. That slip up, that ephemeral space that would allow our blade to connect.

It was tough. Even with all my knowledge dumps, Sensei had his own experience, better reach, and a few more advantages. Who knew what cyberware the guy had.

Either way I fought it with tireless motions, my Condor giving me strength, and endurance, to match the knowledge dumped into my brain.

More.

I just had to find one more.

One more step.

Finally in a move I registered just a moment too late. Sensei activated his Sandy and I barely jerked my head out from where his blade would have smacked me. The motion so sudden and extreme that his follow up still tapped my shoulder ‘cutting’ me down.

“Damn.” I cursed then flinched at his look, but…

I stepped back and raised my blade once more.

There was silence between us broken up only by the whispering of the other students. Most of which I could still make out as they weren’t that quiet.

“Damn, still can’t believe Sensei has to pull ‘that’ move out.”

“Right? She almost dodged too. I didn’t even see it.”

I let the sound flow through me. Stop focusing on the unimportant.

The blade was raised, and Sensei moved in, a simple strike, but hiding depth, and I responded, pushing it away. Our blades clacking as we fell once more into a rhythm. It was a speed that would have looked performative if it was back in the old world. Sensei had more than a Sandy, his reflexes were obscene even without it, and I was already at the absolute human maximum for what a human could do.

But this wasn’t it.

Where was it? That last bit I needed. The XP just refused to come forward.

None of this was new. None of this was the final step.

I shifted, pulling back and bringing the blade to my waist, as if it was sheathed. Something new. I just needed to do things I didn’t practice as much. Surely.

The draw of the blade slammed into Sensei’s counter, returning once more to the pace, before I shifted, if this style didn’t work.

I held the Shinai with one hand and went sideways and started poking. Rapier work was deadly, and faster than swinging. Sensei was pushed back for a moment but he adjusted and simply held his defense, and I realized this wasn’t it either.

A few steps back earned me space and Sensei didn’t chase me. The two of us looked at each other, well outside of the reach of each other's blades. Shifting, I paced a few steps. Which he mimicked, each of us slowly shifting in stance and aggression and defenses, as we registered the others shifts.

Minute details stood out in stark contrast, a muscle stretching, a bit of weight shifting, a changing grip all of these things meant something and I took them all in with my Kiroshi, my eyes never losing track of it all.

I registered it this time, the slight shift of his ankle, the movement preparing and then he blurred, but my Sandy was activated in turn, and instead of another desperate block our blades clacked and hammered at each other as Sensei shifted from his single kill stroke to a dozen blurred moves.

The man was actually more deadly with his Sandy activated. As if he was more used to fighting with it on than without.

A terrifying concept. I fought him off, my Parry skill and reflexes stretched to the limits.

Parry was the actions of normal swordsmen, human bodies, and human limitations, activating the Sandevistan pushed us beyond that into a realm I was not truly experienced with.

I understood.

The difference between cyborg and man.

Despite my upgrades Sensei was definitely beyond me still. His synergy made it so even if I was on the edge of human experience with a blade, his ability outstripped mine.

But.

But!

The shifting blades, the staccato sound of our shinai snapping and snarling for dominance.

There was a flicker.

An XP Alert.

I’d never fought someone like this. Hayato was good and had her speedware, but she wasn’t this good, or this fast.

What’s his name? Flash Guy, he’d been fast and skilled but not as fast, not as skilled.

But Sensei going all out pushed me, showed me things, forced me to push forward. I pushed myself back, earning a half second's distance. And let my Sandevistan cycle.

And watched. Speed, blurring blade arcing for me, a flash of color not even able to register to my Kiroshi as an actual full picture.

I raised my Shinai, and the noise of a block echoed out. Then another as I shifted, keeping my blade close, miniscule movements to block the extremely fast blurring blade.

I failed, a strike landed on my shoulder, but another was blocked and pushed away only to be struck on the other shoulder, neither Sensei or I stopped.

Understanding flashed as our blades hit, he was going to push until I succeeded or failed.

But he didn’t understand. I was a Gamer. There was no chance of failure. Then it happened. I pushed a strike away, feeling the next strike in the way the blade had pulled away and raised my Shinai blocking the strike to the top of my head, and…

My blade blurred out sliding along that blocked blade as I flashed.

Sensei pulled away suddenly going still, his Sandy obviously cycling as well, and he looked and checked at his hand.

Where my Shinai had smacked him, a red mark already visible on his skin.

*100 Blades XP Gained.*

*Blades skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

I exhaled cold just to keep myself from swaying. My mind already filled from Quick Hacks was flooded.

Blade 10.

I understood. My blade fell from a guarded stance to my side, as I instantly selected the perk I’d always planned for.

There were others I noticed as I scrolled down, new ones, maybe even better ones for pure swordswork, but I wasn’t concerned so much about fighting a swordsman better than me, I was more concerned with fighting someone that wasn’t a swordsman at all.

The perk was selected.

Bullet Parry: With a Blade in hand, parry bullets.

I see.

I understood why you needed to be Blades 10 in order to achieve this. How could you parry what you couldn’t see, if you hadn’t reached the point of no longer needing to see?

My shinai was raised as I felt it, a shift in wind, and more, and the sound of a shinai stopped from smacking into me echoed out.

My eyes opened and I saw Sensei standing before me, blade stopped.

The look on his face was shock, but more than that. He stepped back, falling into a high cut stance, and moved.

How could parrying a blade be harder than parrying a bullet?

The tip of my Shinai reached out and touched sensei’s descending blade, and simply shifted it to the side.

He adjusted and swung out, but there was nothing to strike. I took a step back before I’d even finished deflecting his first swing, and his second hit nothing.

There was a silent moment. He held his blade like he was going to try again, but instead he shifted it and brought his hands together and bowed.

I returned the move, and then I guess the spar was over.

“Phew.” I said finally breaking my silence, wiping my sweat covered forehead a bit. “That was pretty intense.”

The man was silent for a while, instead his eyes were locked onto me, like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

“Motoko Kusanagi.”

“Ah, yes?”

“There is someone I believe you must meet.” He asked, and to my surprise the expected order at the end of his sentence. I looked around at the quiet staring students that were trying to figure out what just happened, and so I just shrugged. I still had some time, and to be fair I had just completed one of my biggest grinds. So I was in a great mood!

“Sure!”