{Apartment 0923, Megabuilding H10, Little China, Watson}
...
I stared at the clock for a bit. The whole experience was a little disorienting as I was perfectly aware that I felt a slight disconnect from my new body. I was already sleeping in reality and could feel my even breaths as my chest rose and fell. I focused on the clock. After the day that I had, I could do well with a little sleep. Still, the alarm clock function would surely be more useful than struggling with my own exhaustion and paranoia, making it hard to fall asleep.
Like with my cyberoptic eyes, I was easily able to control the dial with my thoughts. I twisted the dial until the time on the clock showed 6:00 AM and mentally clicked okay.
...
A cacophony of noises entered my ears as I woke up; somewhere in the background, soft music was playing, and I woke up smelling the soft scent of lavender. Something still felt a little off, but that thought was pushed aside as I stared at the metal roof over my head. A small holographic screen was in front of my vision, jarring me back to reality.
...
[Achieved Status condition {Well-Rested}]
[+25% EXP for 30 mins.]
...
My thoughts instantly went to min-maxing this time for a moment, but I pushed those thoughts aside for now. I looked outside the window at the floating cars.
'How much are those AVs worth anyway.'
Leveraging my weight onto my elbows, I turned around and sat up. My bare feet landed on the grimy floor once again. I grabbed onto the shoes that I had thrown aside last night and slipped them on.
'I need to do something about this; surely there should be a cleaning bot or something I can buy.' I stood up and stretched. My body felt amazing; I slept like a log and had no idea about how time passed. Whether that was a good thing or not remains to be seen, though, as I felt a little hungry. Thankfully, one step away from my bed was the burrito machine. It had three choices for flavor, and I clicked on the first one.
[- €$10.25]
The cost of a meal meant that I was not as wealthy as I thought, or maybe the price of things in the dystopian future was just messed up. The burrito XXL smelled okay, even if its flavor was kind of meh. The meat that was sandwiched in it had the right texture but seemed a little bland.
'Alright. I need to level up my cooking skills. There is no way I'm going to survive on just this.' I noted it as I added it to the long list of things I needed. After filling my burrito, I found it quite small because it was marked XXL. I held onto the wrapping and looked around the room. There was no dustbin in the room other than a few garbage bags plopped right beside the door. The need for basic necessities aside, I looked at the timer, which had now ticked down to 26 minutes of bonus EXP.
I held onto the familiar feeling of cold metal in my hand and once again went through the monotonous workout. Slashes rang in the air as I went through a hefty chunk of my stamina bar, but the notification that appeared in front of me confused me.
...
[125 {Body} Exp gained]
...
'Huh. Normally, the notification includes the skill exp gained as well. Did the learning curve increase, or was there something wrong with the way I was practicing the move?' I speculated. This practice method worked last night, so I was hoping that it would work again. I gave it a couple more minutes before I stopped. Realizing that the method was not working, I moved on to trying something totally different.
'Maybe the first time it worked because I was working on things whose knowledge I gained upon reaching level 1. To further progress now, I have to focus on dodging and dashing at imaginary enemies.' I thought. It was just an idea; maybe the reason was that the learning curve was just that steep.
'Let's try it in any case.' I thought as I got ready. I hicked my pants up; its cloth didn't look like it was made for high-octane movements. I took a step forward, the knife once again held in the backhand position as I pushed with my right leg and lunged. The muscle memory that was seared into my neural pathways made it easier to lower my body as I landed. My right hand swiped at thin air in front of me as the knife would likely have severed someone's spine.
My movements flowed through one another as I dodged backward and then rolled; the knife was safely tucked away from the center of my body so as not to cut my own skin. I remained in a half-sitting position as I rolled to the side once again. I barely managed to stop myself from colliding headfirst into the vending machine as my self-preservation instincts kicked in, and I stopped the simulation.
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Maybe it was a coincidence, but the red screen floating in front of me told me that my gambit worked. Now, all that was needed was to see if this level-up speed remained constant or not. I walked over to the middle of the room and went through similar motions; the lunging and rolling made my stamina deplete at a faster rate, but by the time I was done with the same motion five times, another notification appeared before me.
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[125 {Body} Exp gained]
[125 {Reflex} Exp gained]
[125 {Knives} EXP gained]
...
Still, by the time I had gained 250 EXP in the skill, I had gone through my stamina and the boost as well. Still, this was a good thing, as I could abuse this mechanic. I walked over to my bed and removed my shoes once again. My eye caught sight of the last unopened package that likely contained the data shard and wreath for the Massage skill. I had the option to dive right into programming skills and then maybe make sense of what breaching the net entailed, but I could do that at night, too. What I really wanted right now was a gun.
'And maybe level 3 {Knives} skill so I can have some confidence in going out of my room.' Thinking about last night when I dashed through the last stretches to get within the comfort of my apartment was embarrassing.
I rolled over onto the bed and went to sleep. The dial once again appeared in front of me, and I adjusted the time to 7:30 AM.
...
I woke up not soon after I clicked on the ok button. To me, it was barely a moment, but looking at the position of the sun, time clearly has passed. What was interesting, though, was the notification in front of me.
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[Achieved Status condition {Well-Rested}]
[+25% EXP for 10 mins.]
...
'Hmm. 10 minutes of reprieve this time. The last time I slept for around 3 and a half hours, I got a bonus boost of 30 minutes. So for every hour of sleep, I get 10 minutes of boost.' I once again wore the sneakers and got up. With my next path clear, I knew what I had to do.
'I can abuse this. Not only does my stamina restore after resting, but I gain a boost as well.' I thought as I once again went through the motions of the knowledge I gained in the last upload.
...
It took me abusing this mechanic 6 more times to gain level 3 in {Knives}. I closed my eyes as the knowledge download struck me. On the one hand, I felt accomplished at having quickly cheesed my way to level 3, but as I dissected the new knowledge of how to approach best and neutralize a target, I realized that my easy leveling days in this skill were over.
'So now I have to fight in order to increase this skill?' It was just a conjecture, but I'm pretty sure I was right. Then again, I wasn't always going to stay tucked away in my apartment. Now, I just needed to focus in a different direction. The screen in front of me was a decent distraction.
...
[Perks Unlocked:]
[-Knives]
[-Grade I Perks:]
[—Sharpen: Sharpen the edge of any blade to a grade higher]
[—Cat's Leap: Charge a leap and cover 2x distance toward a target]
[—Knife Throw: Throw your weapon at an enemy. The Sharpness of the thrown knife would increase to a higher grade]
...
'There were various perks in the game as well, but they were related to status points, not skills.' I thought. My eyes roamed across the new information as I scanned through the list. Each of them had a good value, but there was one thing that bugged me.
'What does a higher grade mean? Is there tier system here as well, I can't see that in the inventory?' I thought. I was itching to select a power-up before I left the safety of my room once again but refrained from doing so until I got a better idea of what the grades meant.
...
'Time to get a gun. I can ask the owner of the shop, who will surely have a better idea if this grade thing really existed...' I placed the knife back into my inventory as I took a couple of steps toward the door. During abusing the rest and bonus exp mechanic, my {Body} stat had gone up to 4 as well, while my Reflex stat wasn't far off from 5. However, it was a bit concerning that I had just gained 100 EXP in Body stat after reaching level 4, even after exercising for about 20 minutes.
'Maybe there is a gym nearby?' I walked up to the door, and it slid open. The grim smell of decaying flesh was now more apparent. The body likely was still there in the hallway, rotting.
'I need to move to a better place or at least a better floor after I gain some money.' I thought as I walked over through the hallway. I could see the shoe of the dead man lying there as the smell became a little unbearable. I decided to hold my breath as I ran toward the bend and then jumped over the fallen corpse. When I arrived at the atrium of floor 9, fresh air greeted me. It was still stale, but nothing was better than that.
I saw the red sign of the gun shop; it was at least 3 floors down, so I walked toward the elevator at the end of the corridor. This time, my luck wasn't as good as there was already someone waiting. There were 3 of them smoking cigarettes, and I could feel their eyes on me, scanning me out. One of them had an arm made out of metal, and for the second time, I realized that my eyes didn't have the built-in NCPD database as V's did.
'I need to get to Vik's after...' I thought as I tried to keep calm and pressed the call button. The clang of metal alerted me that the elevator was moving as I waited anxiously for it to come.
"...Fuck, the Militech stock is taking a dive. I'm losing my mind over here, choom," one of the men, the one wearing an orange bandana, said to the other two after they had checked me out.
"Gonk, I told you yesterday to get out of that shit, don't blame me, choomba, for your meathead of a ticker." The guy with red hair replied as he pointed toward his head.
I didn't continue to eavesdrop as the elevator arrived. The gates opened, and I swiftly walked through the pale doors into the yellow elevator. I punched the 06:Service floor option and waited. I watched as the three wannabe gang members disappeared from my vision.
A mixture of good aromas, of unhealthy fried food entered my nose as I took a deep breath.
'Fucking finally,' I thought as I stepped out onto the 6th floor. The first thing that greeted me was a shop that had a sign of a shop that started with a red 24 followed by Chinese letters.
'Let's see, first the gun shop, and then I can explore...'
...