{6th Floor, Megabuilding H10, Little China, Watson}
...
I looked at the noodles being fried on my right and a shop that was selling wires to my left. How in the hell the second shop was still in business, I never knew, but since there were no household appliances, there was no reason for me to approach the shop. My eyes drifted all over the place from the guy who was walking around naked, with a metal implant right in the middle of his chest, to the two girls smoking and bickering in the corner.
The lul of conversation calmed my nerves down as I made my way down the street, taking in my first sight of Night City. Don't get me wrong, I had walked through this very floor before, but have I actually stopped to see what it was all about? Never.
As I walked through the stalls, the mechanical sound of something pumping entered my ears. A few more steps, and it became clear what that sound was. In the back of my mind, I knew that coach Fred was in there as well with his boxing bot, but the gym that was stretched to both sides of the pathway had slipped my mind.
'I can grind my body stat here; this is good, but I wonder if I need to pay anyone to use this facility.' I continued walking as I watched a hulk in pale skin lift a weight that was clearly beyond human limits on a bench press.
'125, 125, 125. He's doing bench press with 700 lbs...' I tried not to gwack as I continued moving. Now, I was very much aware that the man could probably tear my limbs apart with his bare hands.
The neon red sign of '2nd Amendment' beckoned me closer, and I walked toward it. An elevator door opened right in front of the shop, but no one was in it.
'Weird.' I thought as I walked into the shop. 'Wilson's gun sale' the poster clarified as I looked toward my right. Wilson, I'm guessing, was a large man with a weird hairstyle. The top of his head was colored white, and he was wearing a combat jacket.
"Hello!" He greeted joyfully, his demeanor in sharp contrast to the oddly grim world around him.
"Hey," I greeted back. "I'm looking for a pistol—a piece that can have a silencer attached and maybe packs a bit of a punch."
Wilson frowned at my request. He then leaned back, his eyes staring into the roof as he hummed, "Well, that's indeed a little difficult. Most of the weapons that could blow through most cyberware and subdural armor can't be shot without serious backlash. You aren't sporting any chrome in your arms to support that by any chance, right?"
I shook my head in reply; the use of street slang by multiple people now made me realize I need to look out for learning those words as well. I know some of the basic ones like, choom, chrome, and output, but who knows how deep this particular rabbit hole goes?
"Then you'll just have to rely on higher-grade bullets to pierce through armor. I have a piece here that can handle up to Tier-3 grade bullets, so unless you're going against Arasaka or MaxTac, you'll be able to handle anyone." Wilson grumbled before he started rummaging for something under his desk.
'Tier-3 and grade. This again. Has the weapon system here been inspired by the game?' I thought. I needed more information about this, and Wilson seemed like a prime target for this kind of stuff.
"So these Tier-3 grade bullets, are they so much different from normal bullets?" I asked. The large man paused in his movements before he looked up with a frown on his face. He looked at my face before a look of understanding appeared on his face.
"First time buying a weapon?" He asked.
"Yeah..." I nodded.
"Well..." Wilson hesitated before he sighed and put a familiar-looking pistol on the table.
"Here's the deal, this is a Tier-3 M-10AF Lexington, and it costs €$2313. Do you have that many eddies on you?" His face was a lot more serious.
"Yeah, it's a little steep, but I can afford it," I replied. The man once again paused, he seemed to evaluate me once again before he sighed and explained, "Fine, but you better not be pulling my leg."
"The Tier system is a grading scheme that the corps came up with. They begin selling their weapons and armor based on this one rating, and naturally, everyone follows suit. As you are aware, you can get subdural armor and other enhancements. These implants naturally are Tier 2 or 3 and can stop any damage below that rating from harming your body too much other than some blunt trauma to your skin. You see, this jacket that I'm wearing is graded Tier-3, so it can stop any bullet from puncturing for a while, so I would have time to dodge or hide unless the bullet is made out of Tier-4 material." Wilson explained before he shrugged, likely guessing my follow-up questions.
"How these things are made? Don't ask me that because I don't know. I get these supplies from vendors and corps themselves as they don't sell anything above Tier-3 to the general public. That not only ensures that their agents are a lot safer and gorks like us will continue to line up their pockets with money to continue them governing the world." Wilson finished.
He then pointed to the gun and then asked, "So what kind of bullets are you looking for?"
"Give me a stack of each type. Maybe a bit more of the Tier-1 ammo... I can use the firing range behind me, right?" I asked pointing at the space that was inaccessible to the player outside of the quest.
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"Sure, sure, fire away. There is a vending machine in there that has Tier-1 ammo, so I'll just pack a stack of Tier-2 and Tier-3 ammo for the Lexington," Wilson commented as he put two boxes of ammo on the counter.
A notification appeared in front of me, it contained info on what I was buying and its cost.
...
[Itinerary at Wilson's 2nd Amendment Gun shop]
[1x - Tier-3 M-10AF Lexington - €$2313]
[1x - 50 Tier-2 Ammo - €$200]
[1x- 50 Tier-3 Ammo - €$1000]
[Accept? Y/N]
...
'The difference between the cost okay of Tier-2 and Tier-3 Ammo is 5 times. So either Tier-1 Ammo is cheap as shit and doesn't really do anything against actual enemies.' I concluded. Still, I got access to the firing range, so hopefully, I will get my skill to level 1 or 2 before leaving here.
I mentally clicked yes, and the transaction went through. Wilson's face smiled as he grinned at me and continued, "My name's Wilson. You live in the building, kid?"
"Yeah, I just moved in. I'm Nooa." I nodded before I grabbed the gun he had slid through the gap in the counter window. The grip felt good, even if I was a little self-conscious about how to hold onto the gun. With my other hand, I grabbed onto the box of ammo one by one and put them away into my inventory. I walked over to the leftmost corner of the room, the door slid open.
Behind the door was a vending machine selling guns and ammo. I walked over and quickly bought a few stacks of ammo. The machine dispensed them in similar boxes, and there seemed to be no difference other than the color.
The firing range was empty so I simply walked into the first booth with the gun in hand.
"Press the first button on the panel on the right to start the range!" I heard someone shout through the glass window. Turning around to nod at Wilson, I turned back and took a deep breath. Holding the gun in hand, I pulled it up and took a stance; while I had been a novice in terms of using a knife to fight, handguns, at least, were my forte. I had some experience shooting at a range in my past life.
I brought the gun upward and aimed; I haven't bought any attachments from Wilson for now; a scope and silencer would suffice. The iron sight on the gun wasn't so bad and after getting used to its weight in my hands, I hit the button attached to the panel on the wall.
The targets started moving. They started going forward and backward, with one or two of them descending every few seconds. I aimed carefully at the first one, with my elbows bent to compensate for the recoil, and fired.
The bullet snapped against the target which simply flipped back. A red notification appeared in front of me; this time, the notification came a lot faster when I compared it to gaining the {Knives} skill.
...
[100 {Handgun} EXP gained]
[{Handgun} skill created at Level 0]
...
[Handgun Lv 0 {100/500} *Reflex attuned {Passive}]
[The ability to handle any type of handgun in and outside of combat.]
...
'Maybe it is because my stance is a lot smoother than before because I knew what I was doing?' I thought before I focused on the next target that had descended. Instead of going for the pace, I carefully lined up the shot and fired again, this time gripping the gun a little harder, as I had noticed that the pistol's recoil was quite manageable.
With a strong grip, I had more control over the shot, and this time, the sparks came closer to the center. Upon noticing that there was no notification this time, I continued firing shot after shot at the descending targets. It wasn't until I fired the 6th bullet that the notification reappeared.
...
[100 {Reflex} Exp gained]
[100 {Handgun} EXP gained]
...
'5 bullets for 100 exp, not a bad trade considering each bullet is worth just €$2.' I hummed as I continued firing. The gun had a magazine capacity of 20, and I was just one bullet sign of achieving level 1 in {Handgun}. The magazine ejection button was right beside my thumb I had to drag back my thumb a little to press it. The magazine came flying out and it collided against the floor.
I stared at the stack of ammo on the counter and then bent down to pick up the magazine. With a sigh, I opened up the ammo box; it had 50 bullets arranged in a small sponge-like storage space. I put the gun down and started clipping bullets into the magazine, realizing that my build now needed a lot more resources than I thought.
'I forgot that I would need to manually load the magazine. This isn't a game with infinite magazines. I would have to buy multiple magazines, at least three or more for every gun I own,' I sighed. Restocking the magazine was a slow process, I had to use both of my hands to press the bullet down before sliding the other one in place.
After about 2 minutes of manual labor, I slid the magazine back into the gun and tried to pull back the top of it to load the bullet in place but it didn't budge.
'Maybe it can do so automatically?' I thought as I aimed my gun once again. Another shot rang through the air, and the weird feeling returned. I could feel a sense of calm grip me as my grip on the handgun changed subtly; a huge amount of knowledge was downloaded into my brain, along with the magazine sizes and other niche stats of tens of handguns that existed in this universe.
...
[100 {Reflex} Exp gained]
[{Reflex} stat leveled up to 5]
[100 {Handgun} EXP gained]
[Passive Skill: {Handgun} levelled up]
[200 {Reflex} Exp gained]
...