The enhanced teaching module was exactly what the name said it was. It was a teaching module that had been enhanced. He still had to put the work in to learn the material, just like he would with a normal teaching module. The difference was the enhanced version gave him some extra help and came with fancy time dilation effects.

That was all he had noticed so far, but admittedly, the module was only for beginning programming. It was pretty low-spec.

Maybe the more advanced lessons were different. There was only one way to find out. Either way, he wasn’t there yet.

Trace ejected the teaching module from his neck and popped the next one in the series into place. He might as well see how many of these enhanced teaching modules he could load on his NetConnect.

He began the absorption process and then started the teaching program again. There was little else he could do at the moment inside the apartment.

Inside the module, the lessons had finally started to teach him how to call different items into his trashy little programs. At first, it was a simple text document, then it was a formatted document, making sure that it was displayed correctly. From there, it got progressively more difficult as they touched and delved into items pertaining to databases.

It was definitely dry, but at the same time, this was something he had been wanting to learn for so long that he pushed through. The lessons were at least made more interesting in that they showed him how programmers would have done the same thing in years past. The utter tedium!

For modern programmers, it was a simple matter of constructing a visual process of what they wanted done, with all the proper steps. You still needed to know the steps after all. But back then, it was line after line after line of code, and that was only for one language. It changed entirely when you wanted to program the exact same thing in a different language.

It was no wonder they had eventually revolted and created the universal programming language.

Trace already knew he wasn’t going to become some programmer extraordinaire. He didn’t have the patience for it. If he could learn enough of the basics to begin learning system breaching though, he would be happy. If nothing else, it was an interesting hobby that he would keep learning so he could repair tech as needed.

Tech was his love anyway, and programming was a means to an end when it came right down to it. You needed one to do a lot with the other for modern components. Unless you were a simple technician who was swapping out bad parts like he had been, then you didn’t need to know more.

He wanted to know more though; he wasn’t content with his lot in life. Unlike some people, Trace had always had the drive to seek out more knowledge on certain subjects. He had simply lacked the ability and money to actually obtain that knowledge. Now it had all but fallen into his lap.

Trace finished the current lesson and then exited the module for a breather. He could feel his stomach protesting at being left empty for so long, and his dry mouth wasn’t much better. In the corner of his vision, the countdown for the current module only had a couple of minutes left on it. Where the basic programming had only taken an hour, the intermediate programming had taken two hours.

Picking up the bag beside him on the bed, he lifted out the box of titanium slivers. Selecting the smallest ones available, he mashed them all together and began rolling them all into a marble-sized ball. It hurt like the devil, as all the little pieces of sharp metal jabbed into his palm. It was a problem that was quickly solved by using a piece of nearby thick clothing to roll it between instead.

It took a couple of minutes, but sure enough, in the end, he had a decent-looking marble that wouldn’t rip up his throat. It probably wouldn’t be viable for all of the pieces, but he should be able to manage it with a good portion of them.

Ignoring the grumbling of his stomach for a while longer, he made a few more marbles before allowing himself to begin eating.

He already felt so much better than before. His ankles felt usable… Well, the notifications had mentioned that they had been repaired to the previous base standard, whatever that was. Either way, while they felt normal just lying in the bed; he wasn’t quite ready to put any actual pressure on them just yet.

Devko had said he would need several months to heal. However, he didn’t think that would be the case any longer. If he had the credits, she could have probably given him stimulants that would have sped the process along as well. The healing stimulants had to be specifically created for each person. That meant there were several tests he had to go through before they could be created for him.

A generic version did exist. It wasn’t as effective as the tailored stimulant, and it also cost five times as much. Anyone could take it though, and that was its beauty.

Regardless, he had the nanites doing whatever it was they were doing. Maybe he would try walking around the apartment that night. He didn’t want to stay immobile for too long. He still had another job that needed to get done after all, and if he didn’t do it soon, then someone else would.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

With that depressing thought in mind, Trace decided to look through the teaching modules a second time. He needed to see what other modules this fellow had collected.

Swallowing the marble, he scooted the chair into the office while downing a soda. By the time he was in front of the drawer with the teaching modules, the countdown had finished, and a new one had taken its place. Pulling up the notifications, it only took a second to understand what was going on.

The initial countdown was merely so the nanites could pull the information from the module and begin initial prep work on it. The second countdown was where it re-compiled the teaching module into the enhanced version. He had missed the second countdown the first time around due to his lengthy nap.

It was interesting, but ultimately didn’t affect him at the moment. He idly bit into the sandwich he had kept on his lap while looking through the modules in the drawer. There had to be some in there that would make him a better shot, or a better wraith. Something that would help with this second job.

Buried at the back of the drawer, he found what he was looking for. It was a teaching module on all things guns. It had information on their maintenance, proper stances, and how to shoot them. It was effectively a glorified virtual gun range module.

Next to it was a module for knives, and then another for swords and longer blades. He grabbed them both as well, just in case. Swords weren’t something he had ever considered using before coming to this apartment. However, learning more about knife handling was definitely a good thing.

Unfortunately, he didn’t see any teaching modules geared towards sneaking around. Oh well, you couldn’t have everything.

He ejected the ‘Intermediate Programming’ teaching module and placed it on the desk. For now, he would explore the incredibly creatively named ‘Guns & Not Dying’. At least the description for it had been somewhat useful. It was also apparently part of a series. If the names for the knife and sword modules were anything to go by.

Back in the bedroom, he took a few minutes to create another marble. It ended up being a little too large and stretched his throat uncomfortably on the way down. A few gulps of soothing soda, and bites of another slightly stale sandwich later, he was ready to go.

Starting up the teaching module, he skipped the lessons about caring for his equipment. He would take those later. Right now, he wanted to get to the information he had never been taught. Namely, stances, how to hold the gun correctly, and how to aim. Sure, he knew the basics, or at least he thought he did. But how much of that was wrong? Then he wanted to get into the virtual range.

It turned out that pretty much everything he thought he knew about firing guns was wrong in some way. He had been holding them incorrectly this entire time in a manner that let far more recoil than needed travel up his arm. Then there was how you were supposed to aim. He had been doing that wrong as well. There were several steps involved that he hadn’t even known about.

By the time he got to the virtual range, he found his accuracy had already increased a fair bit with just what he had learned. That wasn’t all. The range came with an additional option to continue drilling the basics into him. It would highlight the proper form, motion, and aiming technique to him in real time. He was then supposed to match the outlined figure or an extremely annoying buzzer would sound.

He wasn’t very good at it, but it was useful to see everything done so close to him on repeat.

Closing the program, he glanced at the corner of his vision and saw that the countdown was gone. He had been inside long enough that it had finished re-compiling the enhanced version of the teaching module.

He started absorbing the ‘Guns & Not Dying’ teaching module. He couldn’t wait to see what the enhanced version of it was like. A countdown for four hours appeared beneath his clock.

With that out of the way, he decided it was finally time to check out the only option that wasn’t in red at the moment. He had been putting it off for long enough because of how interesting the ‘Learning’ option had proven to be. Still, he needed to investigate what the ‘Nanite’ option could do.

Selecting that option opened a menu with different items listed.

- Nanite

/Overload

/Build More

/Upgrade

/Self-Repair

/Healing

Traced stared at the menu for several minutes in frustration. None of the items had any sort of explanation to go along with them. There was no way he was selecting ‘Overload’ without knowing what it did. What if it literally overloaded all the nanites in his body and blew him up, or something?

He didn’t know why there would be an option for that in the menu, but this entire thing was strange.

With a growl of defeat, he finally did something that he should have done a while ago. He pulled up the corner of his vision reserved for the notifications from the nanites. It was time to ask the source a few questions. He didn’t know how many it would answer, but any would be more than what he currently had.

It had felt less silly doing this when he was talking to a braincase instead of himself.

“What can you tell me about the different options under the Nanite section of the menu in the GHOST System?”

- … … …

- Current systems are limited due to user permissions and available facilities

- Ability to answer questions limited

- Overload(Experimental-Use with Caution!) – This uses a buildup of extra-specially created temporary atomites to enhance permanent portions of the user. The cost to create these particular atomites is particularly material and energy-intensive.

- Build More – This sends a command to create a large number of regular or special nanites at once. Usually, they are created in a continual stream as materials are supplied. – Material intensive.

- Upgrade – The nanites work toward upgrading a current piece of installed cyberware. User must build up a database of similar devices, or improvements may prove to be minimal in nature beyond energy savings and general streamlining. – Heavily regular nanite and material intensive.

- Self-Repair – Select this and then a damaged, installed cyberware augment and it will be repaired as long as the blueprint for the undamaged model is found in system memory. – Regular nanite and material intensive.

- Healing – Target a specific area for rapid healing. – Material, and special nanite intensive.

Trace blinked slowly and breathed out in a long breath. That was a lot. He suddenly couldn’t wait to find out what the other options in the menu did. Each one of these things was ridiculous! Who could have possibly had the brains and resources to create something like this?

More than that, why had he never heard of this G.H.O.S.T. System before?