Outrun - Cyberpunk LitRPG

It had been a day since I visited Mira and Uncle Ezra. I hadn’t been idle since then. I had gone around and tried to do stuff to get more skills to pop up in my interface, but nothing seemed to trigger it. I even briefly thought about spending all my money, all 1743 BP, on various items to try to get a skill. It was a tough argument, but I eventually just decided to get another perk instead.

And so that's what I was preparing to do next. I made sure I had water and food, had even splurged a bit and eaten well, and was ready for this.

「Spend a Perk Point?

Warning! Only use Perk Points when you are in a safe, well-ventilated environment!」

A single thought and my surroundings vanished. I blinked, and by the time my eyes opened, I was standing in the pavilion once more. It had been mid-day when I activated the interface, and yet the moon’s light gently illuminated the pavilion. Not that I wasn’t expecting such a thing. The moon had remained in the same spot the entire last time I was here.

The room had changed minutely. Now there were four separate shelves scattered around. Stealth was still present, though the entire bookshelf was shrouded in darkness. The three new shelves were ‘Sleight of Hand’, ‘Driving’, and ‘Concealment’. Sleight of Hand and Driving were illuminated by a small ball of fire floating just above the shelf. Concealment differed in that two flames floated above it.

Hm… I got the feeling the flames referred to Perk Points. It would make sense why Stealth was dark considering I didn’t have a point to spend. I hesitated for a moment before deciding on the Sleight of Hand Perks first.

The list was as extensive as Stealth was, with about as many requiring other unlocks. After a bit of searching, eliminating a few Perks as I went, and I settled on one. There were quite a few good ones, but the one I picked looked too good to pass up.

「Double Jointed - Your joints double, allowing feats of unusual flexibility.

Sleight of Hand 12

Ambidextrous」

Thinking I was done, I went to get Ambidextrous only to find out it was locked behind level eight. Great… I looked through this list again and ended up picking one based on its effect and not its branching path.

「Hidden Hands - Your hands are less likely to draw the eye.」

I pulled the scroll off the shelf and walked over to the easel. A deep breath helped calm my mind as I prepared myself for what was to come. Surely this would suck, but the sooner I got through it the better. And hey, I was prepared this time for the suckitude. As long as I got it down before being flatlined by dehydration it was fine.

Without time to second guess myself, I placed the scroll on the easel and it unrolled itself. A painting of a hand showed, though I couldn’t really see what it was trying to represent. In fact, the picture itself was kinda boring. I lost interest as my vision faded away.

And then I was back on my bed, as though nothing happened. A frown creased my lips as I checked the time. Barely a minute had passed. Hm… did it not work? I got the feeling something had changed though.

I brought my hand up in front of my face and then looked away. Nothing seemed to have happ- wait a second. My frown deepened as I looked down at my hands. I felt the irrational desire to look away from such a boring mass of flesh. It was weird.

I looked away, and that sense of incongruence and apathy vanished. Then, as soon as I inspected my hands, it returned… So Hidden Hands was active now? Why hadn’t I suffered though? Not that I was complaining! I- it's just that, I dunno, it feels cheap compared to the last time?

I looked at the interface, and sure enough Hidden Hands was there under Sleight of Hand. Why did the process change? Something was weird here… was it due to the name? The other one was Fox’s Paw. Was it because I had Fox’s Grace that the entire process of attaining the Perk changed?

If so, I’ll just happily avoid anything to do with foxes when picking my Perks from now on. And, since it was so painless, then I may as well go pick another. Thank you!

「Spend a Perk Point?

Warning! Only use Perk Points when you are in a safe, well-ventilated environment!」

I once more appeared in the pavilion. The only difference this time around was Sleight of Hand’s fire had gone out. It seemed my initial assumption proved to be correct.

I moved over to Driving’s shelf and checked out the skills. Unlike the others, the choice this time around was easy, albeit expensive.

「Jack of All Driving - You are equally skilled at driving all vehicles.

Driving 16

Sea Vehicles

Land Vehicles

Air Vehicles」

The decision between which of the three to start on was equally as easy. I only had a bike at the moment, so Land Vehicles would be the only thing to show an effect. There was very little chance I would be behind the wheel of a boat or flier anytime soon.

「Land Vehicles - You are proficient in every land vehicle.」

I took the scroll and once more entrusted it to the easel. The ancient thing unrolled all on its own, showing a painting of a street surrounded by neon. I blinked, and then I was sitting in a car on said street. The neon grid-like forms surrounding the road looked like some kind of retro outrunner stuff. I was half expecting synth wave to play through the radio.

The typical hyper-reflective buildings in outrunner art had been replaced by sakura trees with reflective leaves. Even the sun had been replaced by a low-lit neon pink moon. It was surreal, like how I had heard Netrunners saw the world.

「ASCorp Horas - Reach the ending.」

Fuck.

I gasped for air as I returned to my cargo container from the hellish pavilion. My throat and insides were literally burning with dehydration as I staggered to the fridge and pulled a bottle out. In seconds it was gone as I reached for another. And another. I was so thirsty I was half tempted to say ‘consequences be damned’ and drink from the tap. Probably get a disease while I was at it.

By the time I was finally feeling alive again, I sat on the ground with my back to the wall. The cold metal felt good as if it could cool down my overstimulated brain. I tried to think back to the time I spent on the damn track, but my memories felt muted almost. It was as if it was all a dream. A two-day long dream.

Although they were muted, I could still remember the basis of what happened. I was given simple instructions the entire time. Reach the ending. The issue had been the ending. As soon as I finished, which was easy since the Tarus was an easy car to learn, I was back at the beginning in a different car.

Then that's where it started to get hazy. I faintly remember driving hundreds if not thousands of vehicles, everything from bicycles to tanks, but I couldn’t exactly recall the details. Basically, the Perk had put me through a long, long list of land-based vehicles and helped me learn how to operate them. Not become a master, mind you, just good enough to get them to move. It wasn’t even painful like the Fox’s Paw had been. Just long and draining.

I checked my phone. No messages. I thought briefly for a moment before heading to the nearest vending machine for something a little more than silage.

Come on, Shiro; it ain't worth it. Surely there were better things you could be doing than heading back to the pavilion. And yet, I wanted to go back. Ignoring the absolute bitch of a time waking up half dead, it was fun. I was learning. I was growing at an unmatched rate compared to before the interface showed up.

Oh, and I think I cracked the code on why Land Vehicles and Fox’s Paw had been so long but Hidden Hands had been almost instantaneous. It was the type of effect. Both Land Vehicles and Fox’s Paw required muscle memory and knowledge of how to do things, Hidden Hands didn't. Its effect was almost magical in nature.

So if I just picked the magicky Perks, I would be done almost instantly. Or at least that's what I told myself as I headed back to the pavilion.

I sighed as I popped my back and stretched. It was done. Every single one of my Perk Points had been spent.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox’s Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Tracking - 3

Stealth - 6

Fox’s Paw

Perception - 2

Local Novice (Little Yukoto)

Sleight of Hand - 7

Hidden Hands

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Data Pending - Duration One Day」

「Lethargic Presence - Those in your presence grow tired.」

「Hidden Weapon - Weapons are more likely to be overlooked.」

Both were in the same vein of each other, and were prerequisites for Apathetic Presence at level 12. Thankfully, both were also the same as Hidden Hands, so I didn’t spend another few days trapped in my own head.

The effects were nice, and togglable. I found that out after getting tired really quickly. Yep, Lethargic Presence affects me too. To a lesser extent, I’d say, since I knew it was the Perk's effects. Maybe it just took the path of least resistance and projected a field of tiredness centered on my body?

I decided to keep Hidden Weapons permanently active. There wasn't a reason not to, but the same couldn't be said for the other two. Lethargic Presence making me tired too was reason enough to not keep it active all the time, and Hidden Hands gave me a sense of incongruence that messed with my head. I should probably only activate it when I need it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t disable the ‘learned’ perks of Land Vehicles and Fox’s Paw, not that Land Vehicles needed it, mind you. More so Fox's Paw. I was still as silent as a mouse. Quieter, even.

I went to sleep early after a quick meal of silage. I may have been technically resting for two days, but my mental state was in tatters from fatigue. I hit the bed and instantly blacked out.

I blinked awake, feeling the disgusting crust build up on my left eye fall to pieces under the weight of my eyelids. I rubbed the rest away, along with my desire to go back to sleep. I sluggishly ate breakfast - silage, yay! - and finally felt myself fully wake up.

Hm… maybe I should get a new eye. I had the Rayn, for once, and it would be incredibly nice to get something with a few more features. I was literally rocking the bare minimum, as evidenced by the crusty eye every morning, and it would be nice to have an upgrade.

A state-of-the-art cyberoptic might be out of the way, but one with at least a hud would be nice. I could also probably get a Shift Lense implanted into my flesh so my eyes matched… or not. Just the thought of someone digging into my eye made me shudder.

I logged onto the First International Boswan Bank app and checked my account. 1732 BP. Hm… I could work with that. And I could start paying off my debt while I was at it. It would take all my money, but Nael deserved to be paid.

I checked my phone, which I still had to do manually since my eye was horribly outdated. Gah. Well, at least it's not all my eye’s fault. My phone was also several dozen generations behind and wouldn’t connect even if I had a HUD-capable eye.

A message from Ishimaru popped up. More accurately, from his PA judging by the coherency. ‘Your phone checks out. Real high-tech anti-tracking software was already installed. You can come get it anytime you want.’

Well, at least I had some stuff to keep me busy today-

「Data Pending Complete」

「Request Board Unlocked」

「You have [1] Request」

「Request - First!

Cause mischief

1 Skill Point」

Wut? Request Board? Then that means somebody, or something, needs to be making the requests, right? Just what was this interface thing anyway? I originally thought it was a secret corpo tech, but there have been far too many pointers to eidolons. Hm… maybe eidolons created this thing? But why? I’m not even contracted to one.

And what was up with this request? What kind of mischief do I need to cause? What scale even. Like blow up a city level or replace someone's ice cream with synth mayonnaise level. And this was the first time I had seen Skill Points. So far it's only been Perk Points and Traits.

Gah! Too many questions, not enough answers. I’ll just worry about this later. For now: Absolom Clinic.