Outrun - Cyberpunk LitRPG

The gun range I agreed to meet at wasn’t on Blitz Base, thankfully, but it was still too close for comfort. This close to the FSA base the troops were everywhere. I guess it was similar to the Jade Fangs and being near Ichiban. Still a neonscape of advertisements, though the ads were quite a bit different compared to other places in the city; they were specifically targeted toward the soldiers. Social engineering at its finest.

Parking was tight, so I had to walk a pretty long way to get to Falian Armory. When I arrived, Mira was already waiting for me by the door. “Took you long enough! C’mon, choom!” She snatched my arm and tugged me into the building. “I already got a lane.”

The atmosphere inside was… intense. Almost every single person in the store was a FSA soldier. They weren’t in uniform, obviously, but I could just tell. Maybe it was the way they were all built? Or it could’ve just been the similar ‘off-duty’ style of simple tees and camo pants. I dunno, but we were definitely in the minority. Or rather, I was in the minority. Mira blended in perfectly with the soldiers in every way but demeanor.

It didn’t seem to bother Mira as she practically dragged me to a booth on the far side of the room and handed me earmuffs. ‘Course she didn’t need them thanks to her audio suite. Modern weapons had integral suppressors, though they barely dropped the noise to a level below needing ear protection for short-frame shooting. We were in a gun range though, and it could quite quickly hurt my ears. And that wasn't even counting the sonic booms of ammo flying through the sound barrier.

Mira slapped a crate of ammunition with a giddy smirk pulled across her face. “Usually you have to pay for the ammo, but vets and family shoot free! I just had to kle- ahem, borrow one of Pa’s badges to prove my identity.”

“Nice.” Nope! Not even going to question how she managed to sneak off with a badge. An elephant could sneak around better than her; a heavily armored elephant with spurs attached to each foot. In all actuality, Uncle Ezra probably pretended not to notice. It wouldn’t be the first time, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.

She already had several boxes of ammo, and shells were everywhere around the lane. It looked like she had been shooting for an hour already before she came to get me. A rather sleek rifle sat on the table with a funky-looking barrel. The barrel had divots all along the top of it as if some gonk had struck it repeatedly with a pick. Its designation was clear on the side of the weapon: KS Squire-14.

“Isn’t she pretty?” Mira stroked the side of the rifle like it was a dog. “Fully automatic with a ‘recoilless’ barrel design. Not the best, but damn it is fun to shoot.”

“I guess.” I never got her infatuation for guns. I mean, I like them, sure, but that was because guns were effective.

“You wanna try?” She was practically begging me with her eyes. I was half tempted to say no just to see her expression, but that would be too much like kicking a puppy.

I spent the next several hours shooting off and on. My hands shook the first couple of times, but eventually that faded away. Life in Aythryn City was violent, difficult, and shitty, yet it was simply life. The shakes faded as they always did, and I would continue as I always have.

I wasn’t the best marksman in the world, but I could hit the target pretty regularly. Maybe three out of ten shots missed entirely, and the rest were scattered about, but at least they were hits. That was with my new pistol. It was alright, but I liked my Sidewinder better. The Sentinel Wasp-2 had a weird quick pattern that was too erratic compared to my Sidewinder.

With the rifle though? Terrible. Also, the ‘recoilless’ barrel was a massive lie. I hit maybe five bullets out of a mag in automatic, and slightly better with semi. Yeah, my accuracy was horrendous to the point Mira was making fun of me. To be fair, she had the right. Her accuracy was miles above mine.

Every time we swapped, she would cleanly put the entire magazine into the target as if it were effortless. Her technique sat so far above mine that I doubt I would catch up even with the help of the interface. But what else can I expect from a military brat? She’s practically been shooting since she could walk.

Speaking of the interface; at no point while I was shooting or after did I get a message. It was dead silent. At least, till I caused mischief. Yep, I finally got around to that dang request from the Request Board. It was easier than I thought it would be and didn’t require nuking a tower.

After Mira went to go get more ammo, I manually adjusted the sights to be just a little off-target. She was so confused when she tried to fire and missed over half the mag. Sure, she nearly bruised my face when she checked the sights, but the look of pure confusion on her face was nova. Mischief was quite fun, assuming it was kept past a certain line of course. Unfortunately, she also stopped letting me play with her new rifle, so I had to just stick to my pistol from there on.

Anyway, it had been pretty fun and relaxing all things considered. I left her, still shooting like a maniac, by the time night was starting to fall. Of course, my pockets were mysteriously heavier and the ammo tins were oddly emptier than the leftover shells would suggest.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox’s Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Skill Points: 1

Tracking - 4

1 Perk Point

Stealth - 6

Fox’s Paw

Perception - 3

Melee Weapons - 1

Local Novice (Little Yukoto)

Sleight of Hand - 7

Hidden Hands

Firearm - 1

First Aid - 1

Evasion - 1

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Deception - 1

Criminology - 1

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Brawling - 1

Request Board(expand)」

I settled onto my rather uncomfortable bed as I stared up at the interface. I had two major decisions laid out before me. Best to get the known side of the interface done first seeing as it would be easier.

The pavilion had changed quite a bit since the last time I was here. The amount of shelves in this place had nearly tripled. Sure all but one of them were dark, but it still felt nice to see the mass of shelves. It was as if it was a visual representation of my accomplishments, however weak they were.

I moved over to the flickering flame illuminating Tracking's shelf and read through the list of scrolls. Most of them were almost immediately eliminated from my choice pool due to their effects showing up in the wilderness. I was a city dweller through and through, and that likely wouldn’t change. My decision was much like the others, and I picked one that was a bit further down the list.

「Panther’s Sight - See tracks left behind.

Tracking 8

Stalk

Stealth 4」

「Stalk - You are less likely to be noticed out of peripheral vision.

Stealth 4」

It was quite intriguing. There were other Perks like it of course, but this was my first time picking a Perk that had cross-skill requirements. The tie in Perk was also a named one, this time being Panther. I was hesitant to pick something that might be related to such a dominant eidolon, but I couldn't deny the power it offered. I grabbed the scroll and took it over to the easel. It unrolled into a painting of a forest. Deep in the forest, obscured by the darkness, two cat-like eyes caught the glint of the moon.

A chill curled up my spine as I found myself lying on my bed once more. Nothing felt different, but I wasn’t as confused as I was in the past. The Perk was present on the interface, so it would only be a matter of time till its effects showed up. Just to be safe though, I tested it using a mirror, and it did indeed become slightly harder to spot myself from my peripherals. It was almost as if my brain wanted to glaze over my presence and consider it nothing more than a shadow.

Now then, unto this Skill Point. Just thinking about it brought up the list of skills, which also included quite a few at level zero. Everything from lockpicking to explosives sat on the exhaustive list of zeros. There was a little plus sign next to each of them, and the method of using the point couldn't be clearer.

What skill do I upgrade though? The obvious choices were Sleight of Hand, Driving, and Perception so I could instantly gain another Perk, but was I better off using the point on something a bit harder to level? Or should I ignore that and double down on my strengths?

Think Shiro; what would be the hardest skill to level up? Most of the ones already on the interface were obtained naturally, so there shouldn’t be as much difficulty leveling them up. I should get one that I didn’t have then? Or one that I likely wouldn’t ever get? That would be the most cost-effective solution.

What to get though? There were so many ‘useless’ skills, like Dancing and Instruments. Heck, there was even a skill for accounting. Most of the useful ones seemed like a pain to get. Net seemed like a good one, it having to do with everything Net-based, and yet I didn’t have a cyberdeck to capitalize on it. That was a similar problem throughout the rest of the Skills. They were good, but I wouldn’t be able to use them. Others were simply useless to me, like the ones regarding magic knowledge.

Hmm… I’m going with Tech. This probably won’t be the last time I get a Skill Point either considering it was done through the Request Board. I could always pick a different one later if I dislike Tech. As for why Tech? Simple; the world is filled with technology of some kind. Knowing what went where and which does what would be incredibly useful, especially considering I know next to nothing about the subject as is.

As soon as I tapped on it, I was transported into a dark room similar to the first time I entered the pavilion. A rather large fabrication table sat in the middle of the room with a terminal already blinking to wake. A single spine or quill slowly rotated on the screen.

「Complete the task.」

Dammit, Shiro!

I slowly munched on a greasy taco as I sat at my desk, not even caring that the synth meat was only half cooked, nor that the ‘lettuce’ was probably worse than iceberg. The worst migraine in my life had rolled in, and it wasn’t the type of thing Quick Healing could take care of.

Getting Tech from zero to one had been a slog and a half over the course of two days. I didn’t just have the knowledge downloaded into my head, unfortunately. I had to manually learn about technology, how it worked, and how to repair it. Sure it was in a time-dilated space and there was nothing else to lose concentration on, but damn did it suck to come out of the darkroom and get hit with a face full of sunlight. On the bright side, I knew more about Tech and crafting than I ever thought I would. Nothing complicated or advanced, more so just toe-dip knowledge. One percent of a million was still quite a bit though.

Most of the information was simply about safety and how some common stuff worked. It was tedious, but actually pretty interesting. Well, interesting except for the parts about blueprints. That shit sucked. One thing in particular I thought was cool was a layman’s rundown on modern vehicles’ thermoelectric engines and how they worked with AE3.

Was it worth it in the end? Probably not. I didn’t even have access to a large enough space to make good on my new knowledge, nor did I have the parts. I could always find something on my phone, but money was the recurring issue. For the future though, I had some pretty nice plans. Maybe open up a fabrication shop of some kind and get out of klepping pockets. It was realistically only a matter of time till my sticky fingers slipped into the wrong pocket and I ended up dead in an alley.

An added benefit of Tech was my understanding of the Sentinel blueprints increased slightly. Slightly. They were still far too complicated to make heads or tails of other than the device's primary functions. I could point out which piece of chrome did what, and what kind of weapon each of the schematics were, but nothing more.

Speaking of my phone, my PA sent a call to my HUD, causing the flashing light to make my aching head even worse. Caller ID: Bastard. “Yes, Carone?”

“I’ve got a gig for you. An Edgerunner needs an investigator… A subtle one. Six hundred Rayn.” The annoying gonk was mocking me again. Surely he knew I meant subtle as in B&E, right? Not this sneaky go around and look at shit stuff that's getting piled on me.

I rubbed my head. The taco had helped, but the greasy synth meat only went so far. Still, better than silage. Granted, there wasn’t much worse than silage. I’m sure even raw meat would do. “Okay.”

“Perfect. I’ll let her know you’re coming.” What? Does he expect me to actually have to meet up with someone? And did he say Edgerunner?

“What do you mean-” Bastard hung on me. If he didn’t pay me, I would want to launch a fist into the guy’s face. So what if he could control fire? And probably incinerate me before I got close enough... maybe not my best idea?

My HUD flashed again; Carone sent me a location located on a side street of Bukicho: Big Mikes. Great job, Shiro, what did you get yourself into this time?