Damien watched as Marcus and Kat each drove off into the busy streets of the financial district. Both of his new allies had offered to drop him off at at his target location, but he’d politely declined. According to Zero himself, the acquaintance wasn’t far, and Damien wanted to take take some time to decompress by himself.

After all, he’d been in the company of at least one of the two pirates ever since he’d awoken in this strange world. Not that that was any reason to complain. In fact, he was starting to enjoy their company more and more, and he looked forward to spending time with them as crew mates. But for now, he wanted to try and make some progress on his own. And on top of this desire for some alone time, there was something else he was itching to do.

The decision to join their crew had triggered yet another notification— the third in the span of a few hours. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of excitement and delight every time one popped up, the notices making him feel like he was making some real progress, despite the fact that he’d really just gotten started. This last notification was particularly special since it was the first one to mention something about a title.

Excited to see what he’d unlocked, Damien eagerly opened the T-Deck interface and swapped to the Stats & Skills page. As expected, there was something listed under the Titles table for the first time.

Titles Description Pirate +25 Street Cred

Damien glanced over the new addition, and a question immediately popped up in his mind. What exactly was this Street Cred that he’d earned?

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s tied to my reputation, Damien thought to himself. By proving that I’m worthy of joining a pirate crew, and committing to them, others may see me as willing and capable of living outside the law. That’s the kind of thing that would earn credibility and respect on the streets…

He looked further up the page where his reputation level was listed.

Reputation: Nobody

The fact that it hadn’t changed came as a surprise to Damien. Perhaps he’d need to build more street cred to grow his reputation. That only made sense, after all, since only a handful of people even knew of his existence. But would that be something worth aiming for?

He started linking the idea of street cred back to what Marcus had talked about the previous night. The whole ‘make a name for yourself’ speech had certainly inspired Damien, and he’d personally enjoyed some of the perks that the big pirate’s reputation brought. But he’d also seen the flip side; the negatives that come with making moves and putting yourself out there. Was it all worth it?

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to work on my reputation, Damien contemplated. For now, I gotta start on these quests and make some funds.

He closed the T-Deck interface and headed towards the nearest city information terminal. As Marcus had pointed out, it was just around the street corner, and when Damien approached it, a message popped up before him.

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Unable to access the Terminal.

Your General Population Interface is not up to date.

Would you like to update now?

Yes No

Damien selected Yes, and he watched as a progress bar popped up underneath. It took less then thirty seconds for it to complete, and when it did, the message disappeared and he noticed a thin, transparent bar stretched horizontally across the very top of his field of vision.

The letters G.P.I. were featured prominently in the left corner of the strip, and on the right he could see two more blocks of information. The first read 4:09 P.M., and the second read 22°C.

He held his focus on the letters in the left corner and a new interface window popped up, filling up the majority of his field of vision. This new screen was cut in half, the left titled Contacts, and the right titled Neopolis Map. Under the Contacts column he could see three names: Roger, Kat, Marcus; and under the Map column was a digital map with a dot at the center.

Damien first considered the left column of this new interface. How exactly did these contacts get here? Were they registered simply because he’d been near them? No, he’d been near Zero too, but the Inkeye wasn’t on the list. Maybe it happened when they joined as a crew, or maybe they’d added him earlier but the out of date GPI hadn’t notified him. He quickly brushed it off and moved on to the right column.

Holding his gaze on the map, he watched as it expanded to cover the entirety of the GPI. At the center stood a single blue dot, presumably his own position, and he quickly learned that he could interact with this screen. By mentally prodding at it, he could manipulate the city outline just as he’d manipulated the 3D projection from the Mind Chip that Kat had given him. Strangely enough, it had already become second nature, and he effortlessly shrunk it down and pinned it to the corner of his vision, just under the horizontal bar. It would be useful to have it open as he traveled so that he could more quickly learn the layout of the city.

With his GPI updated, Damien pulled out Zero’s silver disk and scanned it. Instantly, the map in the corner of his vision changed, and a new red dot appeared over the outline. He zoomed in and a path from his current position to the location of the red dot became highlighted. It was only a few blocks away, and thanks to the detailed map, he could even see which street it was on: Liberty Street.

This is incredibly useful, Damien thought in amazement, before resizing the map overlay and starting on the highlighted path through the urban jungle.

He quickly got the hang of having the visual guide in the corner of his sight, and he returned his attention primarily to his surroundings as he casually strolled along the busy sidewalk. The people in this dense part of town were all evidently corporate minded— most of them wearing some kind of high-end business attire. There was quite a lot of variation between them, too, but there was one thing that every single person around him wore: cyberware. It was a sight that Damien was getting used to seeing.

On some level, he felt like he didn’t quite belong in this area. Even the ads that played all over the buildings that he passed looked to be curated for not just a richer audience, but a corporate one as well. Among other things, he spotted commercials for shamelessly cutthroat career development and physical and digital business security. It was a whole different side of Neopolis he hadn’t yet seen.

Following the highlighted path in the corner of his eye, Damien turned on to Liberty Street, where he saw the most egregious case of advertising yet. A gigantic digital display set on the side of a massive building played commercials to the stream of cars and pedestrians that flowed through underneath.

Careful not to bump into any of the bodies surrounding him, Damien gawked at the giant display as it ran a commercial for a new series of flying cars. Once complete, the ad transitioned into one showing a gorgeous red motorcycle, and it immediately caught Damien’s interest. The commercial showed the vehicle— called the Tiger MK-I— from various angles, and he couldn’t help but admire the sleek machine; a mixture of refined curves and aggressive edges giving the bike a polished yet combative look.

Just like the shurikens from the previous day, he felt like he’d fallen in love at first sight. And just as before, he didn’t have the means of getting it.

I’m really having a problem with a lack of funds, Damien silently bemoaned as he stepped into the building that Zero’s silver disk had highlighted.

Hopefully I found the person who can fix that…