Capítulo 4: The Net and Venturing out! Part-1
{Apartment 0923, Megabuilding H10, Little China, Watson}
...
[Entering secure Netspace]
[Welcome to Militech Academy]
[Checking Access shard]
[Credentials matched]
...
A few notifications flew past the screen as the 3D glowing model of the Militech started revolving onto it. After the last check, the Logo opened up, and a new page appeared in front of me. The theme of the page was yellow, and the Militech icon was slapped onto it.
'Alright, it's the intro to Militech Academy. I wonder why it is a secure Netspace or whatever the thing is.'
I looked through the options before I clicked on the courses section. A huge list of courses appeared in front of me, but only one of them was glowing golden.
...
[Cybernet: Diving into the Unknown]
...
I checked the other names as well. The Cybernet course that I was enrolled in was likely related to Netrunning, and there were others as well. A course that was related to programming, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Hell, there were even some related to hacking or breaching, as they like to call it.
I was tempted to see what price tag they come with, but maybe I should wait a bit. I don't want to raise any flags right now. I clicked on the Cybernet course, and the screen changed once again. This time, there were two options in front of me, one of which was clearly the way to go.
'Am I a bit paranoid of stepping out onto the streets... Heck yeah, am I going to change? Not anytime soon.'
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[Offline Course: At the Militech Academy]
[Online Course: Taught with BDs in your home]
...
I clicked on the second option with barely a thought. While an Offline course would be the way to go for many people, the other option was uniquely suited for me. This way, I could learn at my own pace and check out other courses at the same time.
If I hadn't encountered the knowledge download ability that the game system had, I would never have taken this path. I would instead go to a gym, learn kickboxing or something, and try to work my body to the bone. Get some cybernetic implants and become a merc. Because who knows how much extra effort it would take to learn more technical skills?
However, since I could become proficient in skills by just grinding, a technical route might suit me best. I still remember the way; I forgot her name, but the girl who brought us the heist was neutralized by the net watch in the clouds in the middle of a session.
'I don't want to deal with that, but there is no way I'm going to be so vulnerable.' I thought as the screen in front of me changed.
...
[Address located]
[Drop Point selected]
[Drop Point KB003. Located on the seventh floor, Atrium of Megabuilding H10]
[Please select a delivery time]
[7 Days - Free]
[1 Day- €$100]
[1 Hour- €$200]
...
'... huh, what was I expecting? An Amazon Prime delivery.' I clicked on the 1-hour option. The options were a little predatory, but there is no way I'm going to wait 7 days for this.
'Now I need to find this Dropbox. The delivery would be there in an hour, but then again, it could wait. I should use this time to prepare.'
I leaned back from the terminal and pulled out my wire?
The absurdity of it all was stilln't beyond me, but it didn't feel jarring anymore. I looked as the terminal flickered, once again returning to the default net that everyone had access to. My eyes roamed across icons of Arasaka and other corps, each page likely filled with propaganda and lies.
As I leaned back, the terminal closed itself. I walked back and looked at the time.
[11:21 PM]
'Alright, I'll go out in one hour or when I'll be able to increase the {Knives} skill to level 2.' With the plan set, I pulled out the knife from my inventory once again. I didn't drop it this time, so I guess that's something. The grip felt familiar, and the metal didn't dig into my hands like before. I resumed the backhanded pose and felt the difference.
My slashes now consisted of an uppercut motion as I followed the new knowledge. The skill made my motion smooth. I even had a sense of flow and could chain moves together with an instinctive understanding of muscle memory of what comes after a slash. I didn't try to hinder the skill too much and just followed along the motions, matching my clearly developed muscle memory with fresh experiences of actually slashing a blade.
"...gah, this is awesome." I couldn't help but comment as I sat back down on the bed. The ability of the CDPR system, which I have renamed in my mind, was awesome. It was a real lifeline that should allow me to thrive. As notifications continued to buzz in my mind, I focused on slashing. My stamina allowed me to make continuous movements for a while, but still, these high-effort moves took a lot out of me. It took just around 8 minutes, according to the time, for me to start huffing and puffing.
Still, I have achieved basic familiarity with the skill and my own movements. At the same time, I was aware that my body was surprisingly nimble and fit; my movements were fluid and in a realm that seemed almost superhuman.
'Maybe it's the effect of the Reflex stat. Or maybe it has something to do with the world itself. If being in the Naruto World would allow me to use chakra, then in the Cyberpunk world, everything is dependent on cybernetics. The main part of cybernetics is that the implants directly attach to either your brain or spine. So having better movement control shouldn't be so out of pocket.'
My panting stopped as my body recovered from the intense workout. I opened my stats and looked through the improvements I had made. I got 1100 out of the 3000 EXP needed to level up my {Body} stat. {Reflex} was sitting pretty at 1200 out of 4000. The {Knives} skill had 600 out of 1000, so another workout like this should set me up.
'Would leveling up my stats remain this easy? Or are my stats increasing quickly because 3 is the basic stats of an adult male in this world, so technically, other than INT, I'm behind on everything?'
The questions that I needed answered kept piling up, and if I consider that there is no help button on the CDPR system, I will likely have to deal with these questions myself. I stood up and took a couple of steps back toward the center of the room, stabilizing myself into the basic stance once again.
This time, instead of fancy movements, I repeated the same slashing uppercut again and again, allowing instinct to take over. This move had the least requirement for movement, so I should be able to last a while longer. It didn't take long for my muscles, maybe a couple of minutes, and they started screaming again. My muscles clearly hadn't recovered as much as I thought they had; even though the stamina bar was full a moment ago, it had declined rapidly and was now sitting empty.
'What the fuck? Game logic clearly doesn't work here. Why have a stamina bar if my body doesn't function like a game character.' After cursing a while, I walked over to the terminal again. I still had 50 minutes to burn, and there was no better way to pass the time than to browse through the secure net.
'I still haven't figured out why all this is necessary. I know there were secure networks in my old world. But what happened here for the net to be so nerfed.' I didn't like going through the lore of worlds, but cyberpunk was interesting enough that I did look into some stuff, but NETspace or Net wasn't one of them.
'Hopefully, I'll learn about that soon in the course. Now, let's see what else I can get here.' I jacked in my wrist connecter once again and went through the message again. The terminal went through the same encryption process, and after a few seconds, I was back on the home page of Militech Academy. I clicked on the courses section and started browsing.
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[Programming: QuickHacks, Daemons, or Cyberlife]
[Electrical Engineering: The Roadmap to Cybernetic Freedom]
[Mechanical Engineering: Understanding Biomechanics]
[Breaching: Flowing through the Data sea]
[Netrunning-Advanced{Locked}]
[QuickHacks-Advanced{Locked}]
[Daemons-Advanced{Locked}]
[-]
...
I quickly noticed the difference as I looked through the list of available courses that interested me. Most of the courses that were available to me were the basic introduction to more advanced branches. The course I got was an introduction to Netrunning. The programming course will introduce QuickHacks and other cyberwarfare.
'Higher-level courses and real knowledge about creating Cybernetics aren't even available here. This academy is most likely a scouting operation to find talent. I need to be careful about which courses I take and not look for advanced courses here, as they would put me on the map,' I mused.
After browsing through the names, I clicked on the course Programming. The cost of €$10,000 wasn't too out of my budget, but that also means that I can't blow my load onto buying all 4 of the courses that interest me. I backed up on the terminal and checked the other courses, and they had the same cost, while life skills like cooking and massaging were relatively free, costing just €$500.
'Cooking and Massages wouldn't be so bad. I wonder what knowledge I could get if I get their counterpart skills level them up.' Having tasted the sweetness of suddenly becoming proficient in something, I wanted more skills.
'Let's buy them. They are relatively cheap and could be very useful.' I bought three courses, one after the other. The programming one cost €$10200, and the life skills one cost €$700 a pop. I wanted to buy them at the one-day delivery time, but that would mean stepping foot outside my apartment twice, which didn't go well with me.
'Alright, I can restart my timer; one hour from now, I'll go and get all three courses at the same time. Plus, it will be almost midnight, so fewer people should be out and about,' I thought as I started browsing again. A few more life skills seemed interesting, but nothing that I needed immediately. After checking the price of these courses and casually browsing for a while, I jacked out of the terminal and sighed.
'I need to get a little bit stronger quickly because I'm going to go mad if I stay in the apartment alone for too long.' My thoughts about all the tragedies and the stories that I had seen in the game, which were easily dismissed as fun, cool side stories, didn't exactly help. I noticed my stamina bar was full, so I walked back and once again followed the routine.
Another notification appeared, which told me that I was now 400 Exp away from leveling up {Knifes} to level 2.
For the next hour, I followed the same routine: practice my Knife skill until my stamina bar goes down. Wait for it to back up as I look outside my window at the view of the city. It really was a technological marvel. Rinse and repeat.
By the time the hour was almost up, I had gone through the second knowledge download. That's what I have decided to call the influx of new memories. The type of knowledge that I had gained this time was different. While the Level 1 skill taught me the basics of correctly holding a knife and most of the basic stances and moves I could do.
Level 2 of the skill moved partially in a different direction and taught me how to dodge or close distance properly. How do I roll correctly without slicing my arm up, and what do I do when dashing at someone? I practiced the dash and jab a couple of times, but it didn't feel as real with no one in front of me. I looked at the time, and after calming down my nerves and praying that I wouldn't have to use these new moves right away, I stepped in front of the door.
The green glowing door on the door's handle clearly meant that I was authorized to open it, and as I went to touch the handle, the door slid open silently.
...
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AN—Finally out of the apartment! Leveling up skills would become progressively harder with each level up, with the main difficulty spike coming after Level 3. The stats would follow the same routine.
Status de energia semanal
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