Jacob and Lisa spent some time discussing what they thought would happen and what to do. When their conversation was disrupted by loud bangs outside. Five loud booms rang out before Jacob ran over to the window. Looking down he saw a woman with a futuristic looking gun aim at a man running away and then fire. A loud crack was heard and the mans chest erupted in a shower of blood and bones. He fell down with fist-sized hole clear through his body. Joining two other corpses on the ground. The red-haired woman hurried over to the closest corpse and grabbed onto its left arm.
A glow started flowing up the dead mans arm and into the womans hand, then further up. Dispersingt through her body. She seemed to display an enraptured face, almost orgasmic. Before heading over to the other people she'd brutally murdered and repeating the scene with them. Looking around she then hurried away out of sight.
Jacob was shaken, hearing more muted sounds of violence in the distance. He was snapped out of it by a hand on his shoulder and a gasped “My god.” from Lisa.
“Why would someone just murder like that?” The disbelieving words came from Lisa as she squeezed his shoulder tight.
“I don't-” Something clicked in Jacobs mind as he thought he figured it out. “She took some glow from their left arms. Didn't our copies say something about getting points for slaying other ascenders? or something like that.”
“Wait, you're saying she murdered them to get their points?”
“I-I think so? That would explain it. And the shooting we're hearing in the distance.”
They took a few minutes to gather themselves before Lisa spoke.
“I don't think we can hold off on spending our points. If we don't then that might easily happen to us.”
“I think you're right. Fuck. What to spend it on though?”
“I'm thinking of getting the Ranger implants. That would leave me 25 points for weapons. And it would let us find out what exactly the implants do.”
“You sure? Okay. If you do that then we can see the effects and then decide if I should get something similar. Or whether I should spend it all on guns.”
“Okay. Lets do this.”
Lisa started fiddling with her interface before her eyebrows wrinkled up in a frown.
“It's asking me if I would like like to be unconscious for the modifications. It highly recommends it unless I want to experience excruciating agony...”
“Uuhm.. Yeah. I think that might be a good idea. I'll watch over you while you're out.”
“Okay. Well. See you soon I hope.”
With that Lisa went over to the couch, laid down and with a sigh initiated the modification. Instantly her eyes closed and she went completely limp. Worried Jacob went over and checked on her breathing. Finding it deep and even he relaxed a bit. Hearing another shot somewhat close outside he hurried to the kitchen and found a frying pan. Hefting his improvised weapon he stood guard.
After what felt like hours but more realistically was maybe twenty minutes, Lisa suddenly jerked upright. Looking around wide-eyed she let out a “Wow”.
“Are you okay Lisa?””
“More than okay! I feel amazing. By the way, did you have cereal today?”
“Uh yeah. How did you know?”
“You've got a small flake stuck to your sock. It just got highlighted along with a lot of other things in my vision. And there is this feeling of them being... Added to a database? It's weird. Almost tastes like yellow.”
“Tastes like yellow? Wait, not the important part. You've got stuff highlighted?”
“Yeah. And holy shit! I can focus on them to get some basic information about them!”
“Wow Lisa. That's... Pretty fucking awesome actually. Anything else?”
“Uhm, yeah. Sure. Let me check my interface.”
With an excited grin she brought her arm up and started pressing things. Going through her lists she told him that the old options she couldn't afford were now grayed out. And the other implants were gone alltogether.
“Though. There are new options available. They're blacked out, but they're clearly there in the list. It says I'll be able to see and select them once I've reached the point requirement.”
“Okay, so then we know the ones we started with aren't the only things there are. That's good information to have”
“Oh hey! I seems to have unlocked a 'Ranger' tab in the possessions menu. At a glance it seems to be various silent weapons. Like bows and suppressed guns. And look at this! PETS!” She let out a thrilled squal. “Oh my god there are so many pets available here. Though they all have 'assimilated in their names.”
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“Cool.”
Jacob couldn't help but to smile at his friends cheer. Something that was refreshing to see with everything that had happened.
“My god. This sounds so adorable! A lesser fluffmord.”
“That does sound adorable Lisa. But maybe we should go on and see if there is a description for your impants?”
“Ah. Right. Okay, lets see. The image of me has some highlighted parts now. Lets see what happens if I press my leg?”
Pushing in the air with her finger she focused as if listening to something. After a long moment she turned to Jacob.
“Right. So I pressed my leg and my copy started talking to me. Telling me how the through the benevolence of the Gibborim I have been improved. That my legs and feet now have shock-absorbers in them. Letting me fall from higher heights without ill effect. And how my footsteps will be softened, reducing the sound. It then demonstrated by showing itself jumping down a house then sprinting off. Changing its speed to display the sounds of the footfall.”
“That's interesting. I guess they don't want us to completely be in the dark about our changes, flailing about blindly.”
“So it would seem. Let me check these other highlighted areas.”
Going through the implants she began with her eyes. Which had a tiny computer added to the optic nerves. Its job was sorting through the sights and highlighting details and storing/providing information about them as needed. The brain had a processor added on to it which helped sort through all sensory inputs and aid in distinguishing and making them out. Letting her more easily isolate all sensations, most usefully sounds and scents.
There was another transmitter/reciever in her skull. Which turned out to be for commanding assimilated animals. Which she either bought. Or found a wild one and used a purchased assimilator on it. She currently had a capacity to command one assimilated creature. Lastly were her lungs which had improved oxygen intake and storage. As well as a weak filter for airborne hazards.
Clicking the basic Rangers implants in the acquired list gave a summary of the implants. As well as an option to upgrade the package in several directions. Though that apparently was at the steep price of a thousand points. For the first two. And a whole three thousand points for the last one. As with the blacked out modifications these were also not readable until the point recquirement was met.
“Holy shit Lisa. That's one hell of an increase in pointcost.”
“I know. I can only imagine what they'll give me!”
“For sure”.
“Hey, how about I take these implants for a spin. Running around a bit and such so we can hear the changes.”
“That's probably smart, yeah.”
Clapping her hands Lisa started by running across the room and then back. Followed by an as fast sprint around the apartment as the furniture would allow. Several minutes of running and jumping later she wasn't the least bit winded. With a huge smile on her face she stopped in front of Jacob.
“Duuuuude. Yesterday I'd be atleast sweating and breathing loudly. Today? I feel like I could run a damn marathon man!”
“Wow. And I could hardly hear those footsteps! They were still there when jumping or running. But at least half the sound was just gone. That's awesome. Stealth build my friend.”
They kept excitedly discussing when they were interrupted by a bright flash through the window. Followed by the sound of thunder and the lamps flickering. Shouting could be heard from outside.
Walking over to the windows they peeked out. The first thing Jacob noticed was that the corpses from before were gone. The second thing was the fat guy with an unkempt beard. Dressed in black robes and and waving a gnarled wooden staff. Arcs of electricity jumped between his hands. Seemingly ignoring the staff he was holding.
The figure cackled maniacally before the lightning building up between his hands discharged into a nearby streetlight. Causing the lamp to explode in a shower of protective plastic.
Jacob let out a confused.“Is that David?”
“Fucking dragons lair gaming shop David? The one that keeps dressing up for roleplaying and cardgames? Fucking 'take a damn shower' David?”
“Come on, he's not that bad. And he's wrecking the neighbourhood... With lightning.. From his hands.”
“Fuck this, he might make my electronics fry!”
Opening up the window she stuck out her head and shouted down at the man.
“David, what the fuck are you doing man?!”
The man looked up and with a beaming face he spread his arms and shouted back.
“Lisa, is that you? I'm a wizard baby! Isn't it awesome?”
Lisa felt the familiar annoyance with David bubble up.
“It's wrecking my god damn neighborhood is what it is! What are you even doing outside? People are fucking murdering eachother! and you take this as an opportunity to dress up and LARP?”
Crestfallen he looked down.
“I'm sorry.. I just got excited you know. I didn't mean to do anything”
“Well get the hell home before someone shoots you! And how the hell did you even do that lightning thing?”
With a pout he looked back up at Lisa.
“Okay, I guess. And Novice implants. Lets you do all kinds of shit.”
“Now scram!”
Pulling back her head inside she closed the window and turned to Jacob.
“Fucking David am I right...”
“Yeah. But hey. At least now we know what that implant does.”
“True. And it did seem pretty awesome.”
Jacob thought a bit before smiling at her.
“You know what they say. Always take the mage build”
“You're gonna use your points on the novice implants?”
“Hell yeah! I might not be quite as... Uuuhm... David... As David is. But who the hell wouldn't want to use damn magic?”
With a sigh Lisa just gave him a soft push and went past him. Throwing herself on the sofa. Looking at her interface she informed Jacob that they had less than three hours now until the ODD UNCLE would be here.
Feeling the time running low he went over to the sofa, pushed Lisas feet aside and laid down. Opening up the interface he selected 'Basic Novice implants' for a hundred points. A new message appeared with the following text.
'Would you like to add a focus to your Novice implants?
Available focuses:
Generalist: Doesn't add a focus. No bonuses or penalties to anything.
Thermal: Bonuses to thermal manipulation and creation. Penalties to everything else.
Electromagnetic: Bonuses to projecting and manipulating the electromagnetic spectrum. Penalties to everything else.
Kinetic: Bonuses to projecting and manipulating kinetic force. Penalties to everything else.
Optical: Bonuses to the creation and manipulation of light. Penalties to everything else.
Cohesion: Bonuses to the manipulation of cohesion. Penalties to everything else.
Two Focuses: Bonuses to the two chosen focuses but removes usage of all other categories.
One of the options stood out to him. It was only a hunch but if it worked like he suspected, it might be fun indeed. Making his selection he clicked accept and yes to being unconscious before indecision could overtake him. As soon as his finger touched the screen, his consciousness went out.