Outrun - Cyberpunk LitRPG

It had been about a week since I returned from the pavilion, and I hadn’t wasted it too much. I spent most of my time being a potato on my comfy bed and searching the Net for new tidbits of information and some videos on View2 over potential Skills I wanted to learn. In particular, I had been looking through stuff related to Tech, First Aid, and Criminology.

Other than that, I also messed around with the printer quite a bit. It was an interesting process, and oddly entertaining to play with. Modeling exactly what I wanted to make was exceptionally hard, especially considering some of the limitations the free applications I used had.

‘Course, I had to isolate said applications and cut off Net access thanks to their awful habit of copying what I made and sending it to bigger corps. Thankfully, there were many videos and tutorials for how to do such a thing, so it wasn’t too hard. A bit of coding, but copy-pasting worked surprisingly well as long as no pressure was put on the spaghetti code.

I had only made some simple toys and stuff with the printer so far, nothing that would be of any actual use in the field. I wasn’t quite ready to start making anything of value yet, at least not with my current skills in modeling. Once I grew more comfortable, I would start looking at some other stuff.

It had been a nice break from the hustle and bustle of living in Aythryn City. Like all good things though, my break had to come to an end. In this particular case, it ended with a call from Shinobu.

I set aside the little toy I had just finished and rubbed at my eyes. It was one of several action figures I had started to make to help learn modeling. The first few had been terrible, but now they were to the point of having some simple moving parts. Nothing complicated, but they were surprisingly fun to make.

The figure was a simple doctor in scrubs hiding their face behind a surgical mask. It was a hero I came up with; Doctor Absolom! Woe be those that harm others!… or something like that. It was stupid, but I designed it intending to bring a couple around with me and give them to some of the downtrodden kids around the city.

As such, I didn’t want to pass around a murderous figurine since there were already enough of those to go around. Heck, I was one of them, so I should know. Anyway, there weren’t any copyright-free heroes I could find that I liked, hence Doctor Absolom.

“Hello?” I answered the call and set my tools down, relaxing as I slumped down on my table. The cool metal felt nice on my face. It was starting to turn spring, and the desert around the city never helped the heat. Especially on clear skies like today.

“Chiwa mikata! You been well?” His gruff rumble of a voice came across the line.

I wiped my hands off and headed for my bed to lie down. It was super comfortable, but I had been having a hard time sleeping on it for some reason. “As well as could be expected… you?”

He sighed deeply. “Busy… someone tipped off the Fangs to a massive Savant Lab hiding out on the north side of Little Yukoto. It’s been a mess dealing with it, especially with the remnants of the Spyders attacking us at every chance.”

“I uh- I thought the Spyders were wiped out?” They were the ones responsible for the original attack on the Jade Fangs which felt like so long ago. It's hard to think that it's only been a little over a month in a half since then. And since I got the interface. And since I iced those two cleaners…

“Us too… There were some stragglers left though. Apparently, they’ve found a trove of some high-end weapons. Been attacking small groups almost nonstop since. It's a real shit show with the increased pressure from Sentinel and Raijin.”

“Sounds like it… umm, what were you calling for though? It can’t have been to just check up on me.” Nobody ever called me just because they wanted to speak to me.

“Right… I need some help, mikata.” His voice suddenly lost its usual gruffiness and shifted to a more pleading tone as he proved my point. “I can’t pay you much in terms of Rayn, but I can offer you a massive favor.”

Favors were almost as valuable as hard Rayn in the city. Sure, it depended on who from, but from someone reliable? He was reliable, right? “What is it?”

“I’m going to ask for my girl's hand in marriage, and already got her father’s approval. He even handed down her grandmother’s, may she rest in peace, wedding ring.”

A small smile came to my lips, as my annoying eye finally focused on the wall across from me. “Congrats!”

A bit of jovial cheer entered his voice “Thank you.”

“How come I didn’t know you were getting married?” I asked. “Heck, you never even mentioned you had a gal.”

“We don’t really talk much outside of Fang business, so…”

“Yeah…” That’s a depressing thought. Almost all of my interpersonal relations were related to crime. Or murder. “Well, what’s her name?”

He was all too happy to talk about her it seemed, especially with the way his gushing voice sounded. “Her name’s Valerina. She’s truly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, both inside and out.”

Valerina, eh? “I take it she isn’t a Fang?”

“Nope! She’s an artist, and a good one at that. She’s already got art out all around the city. And she’s so sweet! She volunteers with Saint’s Cathedral to help struggling communities all the time. She used to be a nurse with Medtech back in the day, so she offers free aid to those who need it. It’s so refreshing being with someone so- so kind-hearted, you know?” He sighed happily.

Not really. The closest thing I could maybe compare kind-hearted to would be Mira, but she’s a battle junkie so... “Yeah, I get it. Well, I’m happy for you; getting a foot out of the door from all the gang stuff.”

“Thanks, mikata. I’ll send you a wedding invite when we get everything planned. I’m sure Valerina would love you… actually, they’re doing a health drive just south of Ichiban this week. Why don’t you head over there at some point? Get a free check-up.”

“I’ll think about it.” I was in good health thanks to Quick Healing, so I didn’t really need it. Other than my eye, ‘course. Still, I might as well go meet her. Shinobu was a good guy, so it wouldn’t hurt to get to know his gal.

“Well, I’ll let her know you might come by. I talked to her a bit about you back during the truck ‘falling over’.” He leaned away from his phone.

“Sure… well, cya around.”

“Yeah, chow.” He hung up.

Weird… coulda’ sworn he wanted help with something… whatever.

I checked my printer just in time for it to finish making yet another Doctor Absolom toy. I pulled it out, and cleaned off the residue from the printer, carefully scraping the excess plastic from the structure supports. I repeated the process with the rest of the parts.

After everything was all cleaned up, I started to put it together, enjoying the simplicity of the task. The toy didn’t do anything super crazy, but I did try to give it some moving parts to keep it entertaining. Its limbs could pop in and out of its sockets, and allowed them to be rotated around. It also came with a small syringe that could be popped into and out of the figure's hands.

After cleaning it all up, I set it aside and started to print one more, though this time adding a little bit more detail and cleaning up the model with what I learned from my latest print. After the process began again, I sat back and watched the printer’s arm start to move around at high speeds.

My phone started to ring. Shinobu. Again. I picked it up and hit the answer button. “Yes?”

Shinobu coughed lightly. “I uh- I forgot to mention why I called you… sorry, Shiro.”

I laughed lightly. “No problem.” He must really love this Valerina chick to forget why he was calling someone as soon as her name popped up.

“That ring that I mentioned? It was- uh, was stolen. I know where it's at now, but I can’t exactly get it back.” He said.

How’d he let the wedding ring get stolen? And who the heck was ballsy enough to steal from a Jade Fang enforcer? “You want me to steal it back? Sure. Can’t be too hard to-”

“Hear me out the rest of the way first, mikata? I am grateful for your enthusiasm though… The problem lies in where it's at.” He sighed once more, seemingly the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Blue has it. The damn gonk got to the thief before I could, and now the ring is locked up.”

"Blue…" I took a sharp breath in. So not so easy then. Getting into the Blue Crusade’s lockup and then getting out would be nearly impossible. Was he trying to get me killed? It would be an easy way to get rid of someone. “I don’t know…”

“I figured it was a longshot anyway, so it's more than fine if you refuse. I do have a way in though, if you could hear me out a bit more?” He asked, desperation evident in his voice.

“Sure.” I could at least hear him out. It would have to be a really good way in though.

He took a breath, and I could hear him rubbing at his chrome arm as he picked his words carefully so as not to say anything too incriminating. “Ok… it’s like this. I know a Shoemaker who’s willing to make ‘shoes’ for me, but I need someone without a rep, especially a gang-related one. That eliminates everyone I know that would be competent enough to pull this off.”

“Which brought you to me?” I had been incredibly lucky the few times I had been caught out in the past. Either something happened to distract the squires mid-arrest, or I got them on a good day. I’ve never had anything more than a slap on the wrist, and a quick look through their records showed I wasn’t even listed in them.

“Yeah… anyway, the ‘shoe’ won’t break under light usage. It might even hold out against some medium ‘wear’, but nothing heavy… or so I’ve been told.”

A full fake identity package like he was talking about - one that could mostly hold up - would be invaluable to me. At a glance? Seventy-five thousand Rayn minimum. It would take a really skilled Shoemaker to set everything up for the identity with enough backing so it wouldn’t fall like a house of cards. Especially for one that would make me a member of the Crusade. I can’t even imagine how much effort would need to go into it, nor the true price.

It was easily worth far more than a wedding ring… at least in my opinion. If he was tight on money though like he said, he probably called in a favor. It's crazy… he must really love this Valerina gal. I guess it’s true what they say; love does make people mad.

It was stupidly dangerous, but if I pulled it off I’d get a good fake identity and a favor from Shinobu? Hundred percent worth the risk. And! And I had been thinking of getting a fake ID recently. This would be far better than the one I took from Ajay Insurance.

“How much do you trust this Shoemaker?” I asked.

He laughed lightly. “With my life. I’ve used some of his ‘shoes’ in the past- they’re good stuff. As long as nothing goes wrong inside, the shoe will hold for your ‘walking’.”

I really wanted that ID… but breaking into the heart of the Crusade’s operations? That was basically suicidal. There was a far higher chance that I would never come out again. Before I could say anything though, the interface popped into my view.

「New Request!」

「Request Board(hide)

Snakeskin

Obtain a solid fake ID

1 Skill Point 」

I stared at the quest, feeling sick in my stomach. It was like it was mocking me, showing that the eidolons thought I was a snake too. Nothing more than a psychopathic beast lurking in human skin-

I shook my head, focusing back on his request. If I wasn’t going to take his request, then I definitely wanted to now. I was already tempted by the fake ID, but add on a Skill Point too? The rewards were too good to pass up on. And it’s not like I would even be doing something morally grey- just breaking into the Blue Crusade’s evidence room and taking back the wedding ring that rightfully belonged to my good choom Shinobu.

“Alright, I’m in,” I said.