Corpo Age

Chapter 6: Shopping Time

I was leisurely strolling around the mall, enjoying my milkshake while I observed the different stores and the people who patronized them.

I slowly made my way across the floors that sold things such as clothes, cosmetics, and home electronics. I had marked down the store I wanted to check out, but I also wanted to do a little bit of window shopping first.

With the money I made recently, I budgeted on how much I would spend today. I needed to leave some leeway for food, rent, and in case of emergencies, so that brought my budget for the day to 10,000 credits.

Each floor sold the same category of products. The products tended to be more expensive the higher up you went.

I eventually made my way to the floor that sold what was on my shopping list, cybernetics. With a dazzling array of various brands, each store showcased a variety of cybernetic prosthetics in their flashy displays.

I went into a store that had a decent flow of traffic called Nova Tech and started browsing on a terminal that had their catalog. They had detailed information regarding the specifications and videos of the products in action, showcasing a prosthetic hand bending a bar of metal.

There were various choices, including more minor enhancements such as tendon replacements, and major ones that replaced your entire legs and spine.

For some reason, only a few products had their prices listed in the catalog, including the one on physical display where people gathered. They all had one thing in common; they were all really pricy, and entirely over my budget.

I found an employee who didn’t seem to be busy to get their assistance.

“Excuse me, where can I find the prices for some of the products in the catalog?”

The lady gave me a quick glance over before replying politely. “Apologies sir, the products with no price listed are models we have phased out and we no longer carry them. Though you may still find them quite easily in the open market, especially for arm prosthetics, as our company is a leader in the field.”

“The open market?”

“The cybernetic clinics that are the main retailers of cybernetic products. I can recommend you a few that are Nova Tech affiliated if you would like.”

I thanked the lady for her time and declined her offer before taking one last look around. I’d rather do my own research for these clinics than take their word for it. I’m sure they didn’t have me in mind with their offers as much as for their own benefit.

It seemed all the other stores too only had the current latest generation stocked, so I headed off to another floor to shop for something else.

The next thing I wanted to buy was equipment. The job last night really highlighted how unprepared I was, though an open firefight wasn’t something I planned to do often. I wanted to be equipped enough to handle myself so I could start leveling up, and the best way to do that was if my targets didn’t see me coming.

The floor that sold combat equipment differed greatly from any other floor, where each brand had its own shop. All the brands here shared the floor, with each their own space, like a department store with different sections for each brand.

It was located in the basement levels where security didn’t allow customers to carry their firearms around loaded. Heavy security was apparent throughout this floor, but different from the store in my building, it was obvious they catered to a more affluent clientele.

The first thing I was looking to buy was a new weapon. If stealth was my theme, then I had to stick to it.

The Vipera was nice and all, but it was a bit too loud for my purposes. I could get a suppressor for it, but from my research, a regular weapon with specialized attachments would still be inferior to a purpose-built weapon with covertness in mind.

The stealth skill had given me knowledge and muscle memory on how to move quietly. It also taught me how to track the perception of people and cameras, but I would still need weapons to deliver the blow.

Each brand had its own salesperson, so I had them assist me in looking for the various silenced weapons they had in stock. It seemed like the only thing they weren’t selling was silenced sniper rifles unless you had a permit issued by the government or a corporation.

I went through various types of guns that the salesperson had shown me, from pistols to SMGs, to various rifles. In the end, I found pistols were more to my liking as it was easier to sneak around with.

The weapons weren’t completely silent like in the movies, but quiet enough that would be hard to notice if you were having a conversation.

All the options I saw were just okay and didn’t stick out to me until I came across the weapons made by Premier Arms. The company specialized not in traditional firearms but in electrically propelled weapons.

“Sir, our company has just what you are looking for! The ECG-704, more commonly referred to as the Suri, is one of our latest releases and has been thoroughly field-tested! As a coilgun with almost no moving parts, it carries 20 rounds per magazine and is even more durable than traditional firearms. It is also as quiet as you specified. It shoo—”

“Can I test it out first?” I interjected as I quickly learned that it was faster experiencing it in person than listening to these salesmen babble on.

“Yes, right this way sir!” The man placed down the show model and swiftly picked up a metallic case from the cupboard below.

I followed the salesperson to one end of the main floor, where the changing rooms usually were. There was a changing room there, but beside it, was the entrance to a shooting range as well.

The man nimbly opened the case and started loading the gun as he explained how to handle it.

“So just like a traditional firearm, the safety, magazine, and release mechanism are all the same. The rounds are of course different, so be sure not to load it with regular ammo. There is one new part here that replaces the hammer with the battery. The battery is good for two hundred rounds when fully charged and takes 5 minutes to recharge. You can purchase more to reload it instead, just like a magazine like this.”

He gripped the release mechanism on both sides, then pulled out the cubed battery easily and showed it to me before he slotted it back in.

“Does that thing explode?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Ha, rest assured, the battery is a proud product of Premier Arms using our proprietary technology. We have field tested it extensively, and it is not flammable, nor will it explode!” He finished preparing the weapon before handing it to me.

The gun felt slightly heavier than the Vipera but was definitely still easy enough for even a child to hold, although it had a slightly longer barrel than what I was used to.

As the sales agent looked at me expectantly, I started lining up a shot and pulled the trigger.

Instead of the loud bang that you heard with traditional firearms, the Suri emitted a short and quiet electric buzz. The most noticeable part was the much lower recoil that lured me into firing several more rounds consecutively to confirm.

Once I was out of ammo, the salesperson took the chance to give me another pitch.

“The Suri was designed to be as quiet as possible, as you may already have noticed. As it is a coilgun with no moving parts, it is only audible if you are standing within 5 meters in most environments. Another advantage of an electrically propelled weapon is that there are no gases as well. It would be very hard to spot the weapon even after firing.”

“Are there any other types of rounds as well?” I said as I handed the gun back over and he packed it back into the case.

“Yes, of course, the Suri fires standard coilgun pistol rounds, the most common rounds are the solid alloy ones you have just fired but our company offers a selection of rounds that pack a larger punch, which can compensate for the subsonic nature of the bullets that allow it to be as quiet as it is. The most popular ones are explosive rounds, incendiary rounds, and EI rounds.”

“EI rounds?” I furrowed my brows at him.

“Electronic intrusion rounds, more commonly referred to as hacker rounds. They are loaded with nanite transceivers that help you invade closed-off networks of the target shot, usually to open a connection to your target’s cybernetics for hacking.”

“That sounds kind of fancily redundant.”

“It is quite useful as a non-lethal option or against really armored cyborgs if you have an individual who can perform the hacking once the connection is established,” We continued discussing the specifications as we made our way back toward his section of the store.

Once we were there, I took another look at the price of the Suri, a good twelve hundred credits.

“How much for the magazines and battery?”

Instead of answering, the sales attendant smiled and pointed toward two nearby price tags.

The magazine was comparable to the one I got for the Vipera, but the battery was almost as expensive as the Vipera itself!

I looked back at the salesperson and grimaced.

“I can throw in a free holster for you if you purchase today.”

Sigh…I could only tell myself that it was a necessary investment, as I felt my wallet lighten.

On my way out from purchasing my new gun, I dropped another two thousand credits on a compact backpack, first aid supplies, some combat-rated clothes and boots, and a jet-black body armor that did not constrict my movement much. I also bought a small vibro-bladed dagger that took up a good chunk of the two thousand credits.

I had asked Erza about her short sword. It was apparently a vibro-blade and not just an old-fashioned hunk of metal. It could get through most armor like butter, though it had a limited battery life and was pretty dangerous for an untrained wielder. That was why I stuck with a small dagger instead.

As stealth was my theme, I thought an extra sharp blade could come in handy when I wanted to be really quiet.

Soon, my day at the shopping mall came to an end. I then started looking up reputable clinics and made an appointment for the next day to purchase the cybernetics I had wanted.

The next day, I made my way to my appointment at a highly reviewed cybernetic clinic called Roseland Clinic in the downtown area. The place was located on the ground floor of some building and had a fancy-looking lobby behind a set of glass doors.

Once I checked in with the receptionist, they led me to a spacious room with a desk off to the side and an operating table in the center. They guided me to sit by the desk, where a man in a traditional lab coat soon arrived.

“Mr. Halls, I presume this is your first time here, correct?” The doctor asked as he shook my hand.

“That is right.”

“Pleasure to meet you. You may call me Dr. Keyes. Do you have a file of your medical history?”

“No, will that be a problem?”

“Hm no, not really, but we will have to take some scans before we can operate on you. The scans will not take long, but will cost 1000 credits.”

“Then let’s go over the cybernetics you have in stock first, and do the scan after,” I replied, wanting to ensure I was actually going to be buying something here first.

“Very well, please browse our available products in the terminal here,” Dr. Keyes said as he pushed a terminal over to me.

The terminal was almost identical to the one I had seen at the mall yesterday, though it had a lot more choices with a mix of different brands instead of only one.

I first filtered the products by type and set it to show only secretarial assistant implant devices, or SAID as Flo had called it.

The SAID was basically mandatory before getting most other cybernetics as it acted as a hub and bridged your other cybernetics to your brain.

The price varied greatly, starting from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands. The more expensive models, of course, had more functions and better specs. A standout feature I saw was the ability to download knowledge to the implant, and then help your brain absorb it while you slept.

It was way out of my price range, so I picked a more suitable one before proceeding to select something from the optics category that used up the rest of my budget.

“Are there any options for stealth or camouflage? I can’t seem to find any.” I asked Dr. Keyes as I looked up at him. A flicker of annoyance crossed his face, but hid it before replying.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Halls, while stealth cybernetics are not explicitly restricted products, companies do not tend to sell them to the general market in order to keep their proprietary technology a secret and prevent targeted countermeasures from being developed. So the answer is no.”

“I see… Well, I am ready to proceed with my selection here, then.”

“Great, please move over there to the table and we can get the scans started. We can start administering some anesthetics first as well. It is just a small operation, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

I laid down on the table, wore the mask the doctor handed to me, and inhaled the anesthetics. Before long, my vision darkened, and I lost consciousness.