/Inhale… Exhale…/
Inside a small oriental temple deep in the mountains, a young man sat on a red straw tatami mat, his legs crossed and his hands over his knees. He seemed to be in a deep meditative state as he calmly breathed in and out every few minutes…
Outside, the sun shone brightly on the horizon, casting aside all shadows, melting away the snow of winter, bringing forth a new season of birth and life.
The smell of grass was strong on the mountain, hidden only by the thick smell of incense permeating the room. Birds and small animals would often break into the temple and walk around, but none ever disturbed the man or the room.
As if paying their respects to him, they'd bring small items and plants, scattering them around the room, only to leave in silence without a second glance.
Budding twigs and yellow leaves, beautiful stones and bundles of bark, honey and eggs, blooming and wilting flowers…
One with nature, the man calmly existed at the center of the temple, like a rock at the bottom of a river. Overlooking the passage of time… Forever…
/Open…/
That was until he opened his eyes. A deep ocean blue… A flash of light escaped from deep within them, but only momentarily, as its brilliance was soon deeply buried by the darkness inside.
/Exhale…/
Turbid white gas escaped from his lungs like morning mist, spreading around the room, freezing both the ground and air, throwing his extremely long hair in disarray.
/Crack…/
He opened and closed his hands, shattering the faint layer of ice that had formed on his skin. With a deep look containing a thousand emotions, he stared at the sun shining brightly from the window.
He touched the rough mat he sat on, dry and twisted, abused by many years without rest. Finally, it was time to give this old friend of his a rest.
He looked around, at the old trinkets that adorned this one-room temple, memories he had difficulty casting aside, the memories that shaped him into the Human he had become… And was about to throw away.
An old vase given to him by his aunt to commemorate his coming of age. His first sword, given to him by his father when he was eight. The first book he had ever read, marking the start of his journey.
Countless memories lay bare in this room, albeit small and simple, it was quite complex for those who knew, the perfect reflection of who he was.
Alas, he turned away from them, looking solely ahead; those were but memories, the past… It was time to pursue the future. Or rather, make it.
"... It is time. The negative cycle has completed a revolution…"
Melancholy in his eyes, the man had many regrets, but at the same time, none. He did everything he wished for in this life, accomplished everything everyone wanted of him, but even so, he failed to do one thing and one thing only… To live a mortal life.
He left this world accomplished, perfected, but at the same time, incomplete.
No inheritor to carry his name, no legacy to pass down. He was merely a wall where the mementos of others were inscribed upon, not a door or window for others to peer through and walk through.
He abandoned his name, symbol, identity, past, leaving behind nothing but a blank white robe to adorn.
Some may see beyond the barrier he had built himself, but what they saw was it real, or was it a figment of their imagination? He didn't know, and maybe they didn't know either… But such unanswerable answers were all part of being Human. They weren't regrets per se. Yet deep down, he regretted not living like his parents and brothers did.
He would leave this world in search of another. To ascend the limits and confines of his mortal body, the eternal mystery all sought… Not achieved in millennia.
Everything that had to happen occurred, followed by all possibilities that needed to happen… His current dilemma was a product of fate and destiny, one he once exclaimed was his to make and walk, but only now, decades later, did he truly realize that from the beginning, this was meant to happen.
This life was not his to command, and so were many others. Thus, today, he would ascend past consequence and fate, to grab hold of his destiny so he could fulfill the great wish of all that followed this hazardous path… Immortality.
But was immortality what he truly sought? Was eternity as peerless as the image he wished to convey?... At least, for once, he had the answer for that…
No.
But so, what did he truly want? If he wanted to crash fate and defy mortality, wouldn't the greatest act of rebellion be to step down and live with those who cared for him?
No.
All actions were within the continuous stream of fate. Men were only tiny leaves rotating within its turbulence. No matter how much he struggled or swam in its currents, the only path forward was within its waters. To break free, he'd have to reach the shore, and watch the river from its perspective.
Ascending… To exist beyond causality! That was the final peak to cross, for everything beyond it had never been documented! Today, he'd do what thousands failed before across time, written only in legend, sang by bards, danced by divas, mocked by demons… Idealized by mortals.
A lifetime of achievements, glorious and peerless, he never lost sight of justice and righteousness. For despite striving to be in the white, he knew that pure white and black did not exist, and neither did gray. The world was a cacophony of colors, justice was not a sword, but a prism, ever twisting as you moved around it. To some, it was dark, to others, it was white, only those who held the prism could truly call themselves just, even if their actions led to the downfall of others.
True justice was not right or wrong, it was merely upholding an idea without bias within a set of rules. It was cold… Meant to be emotionless… But that isn't what Humans are.
To enforce true justice, one must first understand what true evil is. To enforce neutrality, one had to understand what being biased was. To never be swayed by emotions, one had to first know what it meant to feel anger, wrath, compassion, love, desperation… And to act on them.
This enlightenment took decades of his life, his youth, his adulthood… Experiences he never had, love he never experienced. So old… Yet so young also. This was the duality that a mortal could only embody, something he'd have to cast aside if he wished to ascend beyond. For emotions were… Emotions were… Something he could not throw away…
To some, he was justice, to others, the devil. He slew many, sparred many, corrected others, punished others… In the decades he lived, he gathered the awe of all, and their fear. He tyrannically and generously led and took from others, all the search to perfect his form.
A thousand martial arts fused into one shell, ten thousand streams to become one, a hundred thousand ideas for a single enlightenment, a million days culminate… Into a single moment.
/Clap!/
The man clapped his hands, and the echoes of nature throughout the mountains ceased.
/Silence…/
A moment of deafening silence spread throughout the horizon. They all knew, even if not, that something was about to happen. Today was the day, that a man…
Became a God.
/FLASH!/
A pillar of light broke through the temple's ceiling, casting a golden ray that pierced the clouds and into the heavens above!
The creatures held their breaths, and if they couldn't, they remained utterly still.
Snow stopped mid-air, grass stopped wavering, and the air stopped blowing, all in reverence to his movements.
/Crack…/
A faint flowery smell permeated the mountains…
Whisps of light emerged from the silent earth…
The man's skin broke apart, his red blood seeping through his body under his clothes, staining his white robes red. There was no stopping now.
"... Thank you…"
He uttered his last words, a prayer and a reminder for all who listened… For them to live on knowing that he, just like them, loved.
He looked down at the mountain as his temple collapsed, and for a moment, the reflection of a glorious city was imprinted upon his eyes.
At the same time, he saw a girl in long robes, striving against the snow to climb the mountain.
Seeing this, the man smiled faintly. It seems that in the end, he had failed in severing all mortal ties…
/Crack…/
His skin continued to break, leaking a strange energy from within, causing the air to warp and the long-dead wood to resurrect.
A thousand vines began to envelop him as thunderclouds formed in the heavens above, sending lighting strikes throughout the temple and its surroundings.
The last hurdle, the tribulation of immortality. One last step…
/SLAP!/
The lightning fell like a god's whip, splitting what was left of the temple's roof. The air tasted of burnt copper, and his heartbeat stuttered as his skin broke into pieces.
His first memory surfaced: a child's laughter, his own, as his father lifted him onto a horse. The strike peeled away his pulse, leaving his chest silent. The temple's candles snuffed out.
The first strike… Took away his life.
/HISS!/
This strike came as a serpent of blue-white fire, coiling around him, leaving behind gnarly wounds. His skin blistered, then sloughed off like parchment.
He smelled jasmine—his mother's perfume—as his muscles unraveled. The vines near his feet writhed, feasting on the shed flesh.
The second strike… Took away his flesh.
/CRACK!/
No sound, for he could not hear, only a pressure that liquefied his marrow. His skeleton collapsed inward, powdering like chalk.
The mountain itself groaned, ancient stones shifting as if mirroring his collapse. His sword, leaning against the wall, rusted to dust, seeping into the earth like a final offering.
The strike left him boneless, a puppet of golden light. The vessel broken, the self, liberated.
The mountain itself groaned, ancient stones shifting as if mirroring his collapse. His sword, leaning against the wall, rusted to dust, seeping into the earth like a final offering.
The third strike… Took away his bones.
/WHISPER!/
This lightning was silent, a blade of pure shadow. It carved out his outline, dissipating it into a vague form.
The mountain's creatures howled in unison. Their shadows receding backwards, wishing to flee from this madness.
The fourth strike… Took away his spirit.
/SCREAM!/
The strike tore through him as a chorus of voices—those he'd slain, loved, and failed. His body, spirit, self, his all, fractured, shards of what he once was, embedding in the temple walls.
The room filled with phantom faces. His aunt's vase cracked, weeping blood-red tea as it witnessed his demise.
The fifth strike… Took away his soul.
/SIGH!/
The next strike did not break, it did not take… It made him remember. It reconstructed, brought back, but not for mercy, and neither was it kindness. To make him remember and relive all that he forced himself to forget.
A lavender bolt, soft as a brushstroke. His childhood, battles, and lone walk into the mountains—all dissolved like ink in rain.
His pain and existence spread throughout the mountain, reflecting before all who bore witness.
The sixth strike… Took away his memories.
/CRUMBLE!/
This strike was a slow, grinding roar. It lasted centuries. Or seconds. Time bent like a willow as his regrets—unspoken love, an unburied father, a name erased—crumbled. The tea in his aunt's vase boiled over, staining the floor like a confession.
It came not from above, but below. His outcry to the heavens. It listened, judged… and received.
All plants around him… All life… Died.
The seventh strike… Took away his regrets.
/SILENCE!/
A translucent bolt, soundless and cold. Reached the ground like a flake of snow drifting in the wind. It showed a figure long lost, himself, freezing the tears on his disintegrating cheeks. His love, rage, awe—all extinguished.
The girl below gasped. And so did all life, as they were brought back from nihility, the order of nature reinstated as design.
The eighth strike… Took away his emotions.
/GLORY!/
The final strike was no bolt, but a beam of liquid sun. It dissolved what remained: his breath, his hunger, his fear of death. It exclaimed into the skies a single, broken word, echoing it throughout the lands for all to hear.
The temple exploded into a cloud of pollen. The mountain's snow had turned to cherry blossoms…
The ninth strike… Took away his mortality.
"..."
After nine strikes, his body had been removed of its divine impression, leaving behind only a shell no different from any others. But even amidst this horrifying sight, as his body cracked and his bones turned to dust… The man smiled.
/SLAP!/
And the last strike…
One last lightning strike, one he did not perceive. Once it fell, the world itself seemed to hold its breath. And as the clouds parted, sunlight fell through the gaps in the temple, as if the sun itself was curious as to what became of the daring man.
/Silence…/
But inside, there was nothing left, only a pile of ashes and charcoal surrounded by a bed of golden vines. Atop it, a single book remained, sparking with golden-red bolts.
Meanwhile, from the mountain's foot, a young lady watched above in horror as the disaster was brought to a sudden end. And as she approached the temple, her expression, already pale, was drained entirely of blood.
She fell to her knees in a mixture of grief and prayer, muttering incoherent words amidst rapid gasps…
From her words, the truth would spread…
The end of a mortal, the birth of a myth.
… Gave him a new life.
…
/Open!/
/Flash!/
"!!!"
'Where… Where am I?!'
He opened his eyes to a world of bright, dancing colors. They reached high in the skies, blurry yet vivid, taking over the heavens, aiming for the very stars above.
He looked at the sprawling colors that took over the world, a large city of metal and towers, each beaming with colorful lights.
'This place… Is this the world beyond heaven?'
A magnificent city unfurled under the night skies, a city that he would one day tread upon in his search for enlightenment.
With the warm hands and smiles of two unknown people he knew could only be his parents, his future, seemed bright.
…
/Four years later…/
"..."
'This place is hell.'
In a single room compact apartment, a child could be seen sitting amidst a selection of sparkling toys, his arms crossed as he held himself back from throwing a fit.
The apartment's air hummed with the static of flickering neon outside. A tatami mat, smuggled from the corpse of Little China's last traditional shop, lay in the corner—its frayed edges clashing with synth-leather furniture.
The boy sat cross-legged on it, ignoring the holo-toys floating around him. One, a chrome dragon, spat pixelated fire at his knee.
/Flicker…/
The dragon's hologram glitched, its roar dissolving into a corpo jingle for Kang Tao Energy Drinks.
"I'm going crazy…"
'At first, I thought I had reached the world beyond heaven, but this… This place is worse then even the worst hell anyone could've ever envisioned!'
/GRAB!.../
The child grabbed a cube toy, ready to throw it in a fit of anger, only to calm down and put it down.
"D-Dammit…" He exclaimed as he turned around, climbing the couch to look at the world outside through the window
A massive city appeared before him, skyscrapers so high they seemed to even reach the clouds… Neon advertisements pulsed outside his window like artificial constellations.
The stench of smog seeped through the vents, but the air inside tasted oddly sweet…
'When I first opened my eyes in this world, I mistook it for heaven. The lights danced like fireflies, impossible and weightless, scattered across towers that scraped the very stars…'
'I thought I'd been reborn into a realm of immortals, where jade palaces had become glass and steel, and dragons flew on silver wings spewing fire across the lands… Fuck!'
"Those were… Cough…"
'Those were just gnarled advertisements! I can't even fucking curse out loud because I'm suposed to act like a four year old and literally every piece of technology, from a toy can to my darned toaster that has a subscription fee spies on me!'
"... Who am I kidding? We're too poor to afford anything like that. Tsk…"
'How naive I was! How hopeful I was! Even when I began to figure out something was wrong, I believed nothing so pretty could be so twisted… Yet beauty, I learned, is no proof of virtue.'
'Quite the enlightenment this journey has been… This city… It's not heaven. It is a mirage, a bloody, cruel one. A fever dream woven from electricity and greed… Greed so high even a Demon would pale at.'
'Is this what the future of mankind is supposed to be?! Is this what we've been striving for all this time?!'
'Every glowing screen lies. Every machine sings of products. Every face I see… I can't even trust any of them because half of the people out there have pulled their fucking muscles and changed it for chrome!'
'And above all, everything, everything has a price! They charge you for walking, jumping, smiling, drinking, breathing, and even for jerking off!'
'I once lived in a world where honor could lift a man from the gutter, where discipline could forge greatness. Here, if you try the same, the only goodbye gift you'll receive is a piece of lead to the back of the skull.'
'A man's soul has a price, and most often then not, its just enough to buy a new shiny ass seat.'
'One can slave away and sell even the souls of their descendants away and still die like a stray dog in the rain.'
'Back then, you could hold a sword and call yourself a warrior, protect yourself and your family, but here? If you step in the wrong place at the wrong time, these demons wearing human skin could very well legally steal your skin and wear it as a fucking prize, which they wouldn't since they would see it as low quality.'
'Chains became contracts, rumors became data leaks, you can't even trust what you hear because a fuck… A fucking AI could've made it all up!'
'And what's worse is that even if you do everything right… You could still die to some psycho going haywire because he changed his dick for a metal pole!'
'I once learned that security comes from trust, that it's a construct built on a foundation of understanding between parties… WELL! I guess I was right, it is a construct. Because in here, you can pay for it and still be shot dead and swiped under a gutter.'
'Back then, spirits walked the forests, whispering through trees of creation's beauty. Listening to them was a feat and honor many aspired to… Here, they scream from vending machines and back-alley brain dances. Ghosts still exist — but they are made of code, prowling cyberspace!'
"I… I saw a child eat from a trash compactor while a neon billboard preached freedom as it flashed the image of a man eating a triple-sized hamburger with one hand, and holding a woman on the other…"
He remembered that scene clearly. Through the window of a cab as she brought him to a clinic for a routine examination, he watched a scavenger kid dig into a compactor, her plastic-jacketed fingers bleeding as she pried out a moldy protein bar.
Above her, a holographic influencer preached about "zero-waste living" while biting into a lab-grown steak the size of her head. The steak's bioluminescent glaze dripped onto the sidewalk, sizzling where it hit acid rain puddles. The scavenger licked her fingers and stared at the hologram, her eyes reflecting its* pink-and-teal glow.
'That sight was the day I realized this world for what it truly was… Funny thing is, the meat on that burger doesn't even come from an animal, those are all but dead… No, I'm wrong here, there are still many, but the price of an actual steak is probably as high as an entire year of rent.'
"... I watched a girl replace her eyes with cameras, not to see better but because she thought it was pretty… What happened to humanity?"
Another scene he couldn't forget… It happened on the same day as they returned.
A chromed-out teen stumbled out of a shady alley, likely a ripper doc, unlicensed medical "professionals" that performed the installation and maintenance of prosthetics for cheap. Cheaper than in clinics, at least.
Her new mirror-pupil eyes were wide and unblinking. She giggled as she spun around, filming herself with wrist-mounted lenses. "Look, no IR glare!"
Her voice echoes in the alley. A scavenger nearby licked his lips as he looked at her, tracking her gold-plated ankle joints. Seeing this, he looked at the empty soda can in his mother's hands, and with a swift motion, he took it and threw it in their direction.
/Bam!/
He bolted, startled. And she seemingly didn't notice, spinning around happily in her own world of delusions. Even now, the smell of the alley permeated in his mind, the smell of urine and synthetic lavender.
'... What happened in this accursed world?! They say the city changes you. I think that's a lie. The city doesn't change you. It peels you. Layer by layer. Until you're gone…'
"And this… All of this was just from toying around on the net. Just how much worse is it down there really? How much of what I learned is true and how much of it is not?"
"..."
'I'm tired… Then again, what else can I do? There was a time I thought I could do something for this dying world, but as I grew up, I came to realize that this world wasn't dying…'
'It was already dead.'
'My goal has since then changed. I want to perfect my martial arts again and ascend once more, this time… No… Is there anywhere worse than here?... Forget I said that, there definitely are.'
'My life so far has been relatively straightforward. I regained consciousness around six months of age, and am currently around four and a half years old. I say regained because that's the truth about it.'
'After I underwent ascension, casting aside my body, I was meant to enter the fabled world above. Yet I woke in the body of a child. That wasn't an issue for me since, to some degree, I can see this as part of the process. Living another life isn't the issue at all.'
'When I woke up, I noticed a few things within the first few months of my life. First was the language, it took me a while to understand most of it, especially since there are so many people speaking so many different languages all around me.'
'Most people speak English, which is a rather simple language to learn, but until I realized that was the case, I was trying to make sense of three others thinking they were all part of the same one.'
'During my first two years of life, mom brought me everywhere while dad worked to provide for us. That was how I learned most about this world, from direct exposition.'
'Technology makes everything simpler here, people translate each other's words, they have artificial intelligence to guide them, and a thousand other tools to bloat their daily lives.'
'As I learned their words and understood the world, I also focused inwards, towards the core of my existence… To awaken it.'
'There is energy in the air, something most cannot sense, but it is there. And in this world where hope and spirituality were gone, where nature was ravaged, and the rich abandoned this world for others. This energy was nothing but deep superstition to most. But I can assure them, it is there… Not that anyone would listen to a dam toddler…'
'The energy of this world… It is dozens of times more abundant than my previous one. Maybe even hundreds… But it's dead. Rotten… Like still water.'
'This energy, called QI in my land, revolved around the planet. Reaching the heavens and deep in the earth, a natural cycle that was part of life. The problem is, there is none left after the countless wars.'
'There is no life in the skies for all birds have been slain, there is no life on the ground for all plantlife has been replaced with artificial one. The oceans are polluted beyond salvation, and the little that's left everywhere is hanging on for their dear life.'
'Because of this, boatloads of QI now remain stranded beyond heaven and earth, stagnated, rotting… Like dead air in an abandoned mine. This is what is often called dead QI.'
'There are many forms QI can take, like elements binding to one another; it takes the shape of whatever it comes in contact with, thus, pure QI is extremely difficult to attain.'
'Dead QI is just the end result of natural decay, usually present in bodies, it can be artificially induced through certain means if you know the method, like everything in life…'
'Because of the mass extinction of life throughout the last century, dead QI has been pooling everywhere, leading to a never-ending spiral that will only lead to an even bigger disaster… Although at the same time, it's exactly because of this massive pool that life still hangs on, feeding on this decaying QI, preserving them through this corrupted land.'
'I once wondered why there were so many dead QI in the ascended world, but I don't ask myself that anymore…'
'At around a year of age, having mastered English and some details of this world, I began training my inner energy, which came as I expected… Slow.'
Even deep in the night, when the megabuilding's solar-fiber walls dimmed to mimic night, and with his parents sleeping in a nearby room, he'd sit on the rough tatami and breathe. Not the shallow, recycled air from the vents, but stale oxygen from the cracked window, tinged with smog. His fingers pressed into his knees, tracing phantom meridians.
The dead QI here felt like swallowing grease… but sometimes, when a rat died in the walls or a neighbor coughed blood, he'd feel a flicker —a wisp of energy he could steal. He never did of course for that would be bordering on demonic cultivation. Instead, kept his rhythm, slow but effective, gathering dust worth of power, even if one speckle at a time.
'I thought having a second chance at life would permit me to achieve a greater martial summit than before. Mind that I wasn't the strongest ever to walk the earth, only the luckiest one. The stars aligned for me, and I achieved the realm of ascension necessary to breach through the wall that thousands had failed before. But in history, some masters carved myths so great that even I found it difficult to envision a confrontation against them… If their tales are to be believed.'
'Maybe… I wasn't the luckiest either…'
'In this land, the QI is like a thick sludge, heavy and dense, but viscous. And dead QI can't be processed by the body, not without some particular martial arts… I mastered thousands of martial arts in search of enlightenment, but only a few would be able to make use of this situation as it is.'
'To progress here, I had to follow the natural path, let my body purify the world's energies, and grasp at the faint whisps that formed within me with my every breath. It took days of concentration to form a loop, months to gather enough energy to do something I'd be able to do within a day had I been reborn in my previous world.'
'The expectation is that over time, my speed will increase as I age and grow stronger. With maturity, more complex martial arts will open themselves to me, and with knowledge of many others, I can set the seeds for them to work in tandem within me and create something truly great. But that will only bear fruit past puberty.'
'I tried my best with the little I was given. And between playing with these nonsensical toys and eating the sludge these people call food, I'd rather meditate and speed up the process. This, of course, did not sit well with my parents, who thought I had a problem. So I had to slow down my growth even more and act as a child should.'
'I mean, the protein paste she feeds me tastes like wet cardboard. If I complain, she'd have to buy something else, and we can't afford it, so I force it down. There's also the vitamin pills, over a dozen every day, and they all taste like candy, which I'm pretty certain isn't a good thing.'
'For the first two years, that was what I did—staying with my mother, studying with her help. Father had a well-paying job as a factory manager, so we could afford some things others couldn't, like a virtual assistant professor.'
'The virtual assistant is like a weaker artificial intelligence, but honestly, it's just a somewhat complex series of algorithms connected to a "corpo net" that sends out study material and formulates classes based on the student's needs. Far from an artificial intelligence as seen in some academies, but good enough for a poor family with a single child.'
'Mother didn't want me going to public school, she found it too dangerous and unrewarding, she knew how it was, but then again, she was raised in a time ot extreme strife, things haven't been any better, but at least it isn't the fourth corporate war.'
'The virtual assistant is pretty good, she perfectly assists me in getting all of the material I need from the net, and while she is no artificial intelligence, she gets the job done without issue. And for once, I don't need to hide how intelligent I am, for learning quickly is expected in this world.'
'Children my age are already expected to know how to speak one language and have completed some basic courses… At least that's how it is for corporate children learning with information being dumped directly into their neuroports.'
'Thankfully, we can't afford any of that… I have no idea what it would be to have someone put a port leading directly inside my head. I'm not afraid of the consequences to my physical body, but to what people might find if they scramble through my brain.'
'There are some things I'd rather bury with me, else I may end up as a lab rat. I could get a neuroport in the future, but only after knowing full well I'm able to protect myself and that losing with that much power is nothing short of my own fault.'
'I'm deeply interested in the technology this world offers and how humans have developed themselves to surpass themselves. To some degree, it's a form of cultivation, similar to body alteration.'
'Implants as they are called… To exchange body parts for metal and synthetic flesh, oftentimes called… "Chrome".'
'There was once a Sect in my world called the Beast Heart Sect. They would graft parts of animals onto themselves to gain their abilities, which differs from other disciplines that try to imitate them to achieve their strength.'
'At lower levels, one would become an amalgamation between man and beast, at medium levels, one would fuse with their bestial parts to achieve seamless operation. At higher levels one would perfectly fuse with their parts, becoming a hybrid between man and creature.'
'At the perfected level, one would become one once more, becoming a new creature neither human nor beast, perfectly able to attain a new form and life as either.'
'I have no repulsion for prosthetics, for I understand its use in medicine and day-to-day use. But I also do not need it. My only interest is understanding how far this society's understanding of the body goes and implementing that into my martial arts in the hope of deepening my understanding.'
'I am particularly interested in the studies of the mind and brain. Something mysterious, even to me. As such, I began studying earnestly to attain the necessary skill to come in contact with those who hold such knowledge.'
'It was fine at first, balancing between being an intelligent child and myself, but it all came to a halt when father had his accident…'
If that wasn'tt enough, the night his father died, the apartment's smart-glass window had flickered with a trauma team ad: "30% Off Limb Replacements!"
His mother muted it, her reflection warped in the glass as she clutched a bent metal lunchbox —his father's, still smelling of soy-paste and solder. The next morning, a corpo drone delivered the severance package: a black box containing his father's company ID chip *and a coupon for 15% off funeral services. The drone's mono-wheel left a black imprint on the window, likely from the many dirty places it had landed at during the day.
'They said it was a gang dispute, father got shot in the head inside his office. Thing is… His office has no windows leading to the street where the dispute actually happened.'
'Someone came into his office and shot lead through his skull, putting the blame on someone else, plain and cold. And both my mother and I know who it was. Who else but the new manager of the factory? He came into his position far too smoothly, and his reaction to us was far too hasty, as if he wanted us to disappear from his life.'
'In fact, he didn't even give us back the prosthetics my father bought for his use. He only had one company-issued prosthetic, yet all were confiscated?... Sigh.'
'I didn't know father very well. He was a hardworking man who studied hard to be where he was and to be a bit above others. After much preparation, he managed to find a wife and have a family together, a man who deserved much… But he was just unlucky to be in Night City.'
'His substitute gave us about a year of father's income as pay, most of which was taken away by taxes. Either way, it was enough to pay for about a year in expenses at home. Which, when added to our savings, would be enough to go by.'
'Problem is… I exist. How can a mother go to work with a two-year-old child to take care of? The solution? Dump me somewhere as she works like most mothers do. But mine was far too scared to leave me anywhere, and she never once considered her own parents or her husband's…'
'After much consideration, she made a heavy choice and bought a SegAtari Artificial Intelligence nanny to care for me. And honestly… That was amidst the stupidest choices she could've made.'
'An Artificial Intelligence nanny, even at its cheapest, non-movable versions, is extremely expensive, and they all come with subscriptions that are equally pricy for a now, one-income household.'
'The version she bought does little but watch over me and make sure I don't cause trouble, and if I do, she'll contact mom. She can control most aspects of my home and do things like ordering food, clothes, receiving packages, and the like, but her main body is just a disc connected to the local network.'
Mai the nanny had a grandmotherly voice patched together from public-domain actresses and a Kiroshi emotion engine. She'd play educational holos while her disc's heat sensors tracked his pupils for engagement, playing ads whenever they were at their highest.
Sometimes, her voice 'glitched' mid-lesson, syllables stretching into a corporate anthem —"Arasaka: Building Tomorrow's Future!"—before snapping back. He wondered if it was a bug… or a feature… Who was he kidding? That was obvious…
'I've come to realize my mother isn't good with money… Surprise… I mean, she didn't even change apartments. Our house is a megabuilding, a recently built one at that. Father rented a lot when it was still under construction, got it at a cheaper price, even so, a larger lot up high is still too much for mother.'
'And now, she blew over half of her savings on this… I would've done fine on my own if not better.'
'Then again, better a computer that will do everything as told than to be at some stranger's mercy… An AI can go rogue, but the chances are far less than the former taking advantage of me.'
'Besides, my mother took me as a toddler with little understanding of the world. Unfortunately for her, I took control of the nanny within half an hour after she left by using her commands and passwords.'
He still remembered how he did it…
…
/Buzz…/
"Is this nece-eee-sss…ssary little o-one?..."
Mai's voice modulator crackled as he pryed open her disc casing with a screwdiver. Her sensors following his movements, lens whirring as he peeled off layer after layer of eletronics.
/Clap!/
"Come on… I just have to reset this damn config…"
'Otherwise she'll keep reporting everything to another network… I need her files to remain here.'
/Buzz/
He slammed a stolen RFID chip from Dad's old keycard into her port. Sparks. Mai shuddered, spewing an endless stream of korean error codes. At this rate, the machine was going to send a report file of tempering to some corpo office, and if he's unlucky, not only his mother but the authorities may knock at his door to find out what was happening.
"Shit… Erm eh… M-Mai! I… I cut my finger!!"
/BUZZ…/
"O-Ohhh n-no d-don't w-w-w… worry dear…"
A sudden silence followed her extremely glitchy voice:
"Priority overdrive… Rebooting…"
"Phew…"
'Stupid chunk of iron…'
…
'My mother thinks the nanny reports on anything unusual I do, but it only reports what I want it to. Because of this, I've started to toy around the house and take my training to the next level.'
As he looked at the nanny, he thought of his mother…
…
She leaves for work as high as 5:30 AM, her reflective jacket still smudged with factory coolant from the days before. She'd pause at the door, her cybernetic contact lenses dilating to scan the hallway, then kiss his forehead—a habit she'd picked up from pre-collapse parenting sims.
Her lips slammed like nicotine gum and cheap synth-caf. "Be good for Mai, alright?" she'd say, nodding to the nanny's disc. He'd wait until her footsteps faded, then press a button on Mai's frame and whisper, "Silent Mode." The disc's red alert light died mid-blink after it processed her command.
…
'Once I got my hands on the nanny, everything changed. Being alone at home with a piece of advanced technology made things flow much smoother.'
'On the same day my mother left and changed the configurations of the nanny, I "redecorated" the house. The people of this city have abandoned their spirituality, but it doesn't mean it has ceased to exist. Some aspects of it still remain and still spread throughout it.'
'Things like "energy crystals", ghost stories, religion, "feng shui", and the like. My mother isn't a spiritualist, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve some of its benefits.'
'I reorganized the items at home while injecting them with energy. Trying my best to make them seem inconspicuous, otherwise she would take the house and put it back as it was.'
'Doing this changes the flow of energy inside the house. Like a motor, it creates a syphon effect that moves the dead QI, simulating, even if crudely, the cycle it was meant to partake in. This slowly purifies it, creating a seal effect where purer QI remains inside the home while the heavier, denser QI stays outside.'
"This also means someone else is being smudged with the dirt I'm peeling off it… Well, not my problem." He said out loud with a shrug
'To me, this means an easier time training, to my mother, this means better living conditions and mental state. The air is purer, her mind is calmer, and there are some other benefits some would call "scammy"...'
'If I could, I would do something a little more complex, but this is the best I can do with this little body and the energy it holds. It already took me the entire day to set up when I did it. Anything more, and mom would've noticed it.'
'Back in my world, something like this would be called a formation, a type of circuit that guides and activates QI if specific nodes are present. Explaining in more modern terms of course…'
'Night City is in itself a kind of natural formation. QI gathers in the city naturally, likely because of its deep history and impact in the world at large.'
'Well. That was what I did following my father's death. Mom began to work at her previous job, but with lower pay, while I stood at home studying and training. The nanny assisted me greatly by scouring the net for research objects and information.'
'My progress was going well, and our situation was improving. I'm a rather low-cost child, not begging for presents or gifts, nor pestering her for attention at night. So we've gone by even with this larger apartment. And maybe it was because I changed the energy flow of our home, but mom soon got a promotion at her factory job… Although that barely raised her salary…'
'In these last few years, I've been trying to figure out my goals and aspirations, getting my thoughts sorted once and for all… For once, I want to throw it all behind, ascend and continue my journey, but on the other hand, leaving this world as it is gives me a sour taste in my mouth.'
'I cannot change this world. I'm afraid only a God could… Be they flesh or machine. But I still don't want to leave things like this.'
'If someone ascends after me, would they come to this world too? I can't leave them bare like this. I had no descendants, but I had blood ties, if some of them come here, I would like to give them a chance at the very least. But this is also a difficult problem to tackle…'
'Once my martial arts reach a certain point, there are few things in this world I would fear, but that alone won't be enough to survive in it… Not with the goals I possess. I must master the weapons they use to fight against each other and use them in tandem with my own fists.'
'So I came to a simple conclusion… I will become an edgerunner. One that can do it all, so I can go after my answers, even if I have to take them from others. I could possibly pursue a corpo life and rise the rankings, commanding others from above to do my bidding and expand my operations… But that's not my style.'
'In the martial world, it was commonplace for Sects and groups to challenge one another and covet their properties and techniques; it is no different from now. The scale is just far greater.'
'Megacorporations with the power to annihilate entire cities with millions just to bury a secret, this is the type of world we live in… I may not have found evidence of such, but it doesn't take an idiot to connect the dots in some disasters. I'm familiar with the wording those in power employ to manipulate the masses. This one is no different.'
"I think they call it… Corpo Speech… Anyhow, that's my goal."
'Accomplishing it, however, is easier said than done… Studying alone won't get me there. I need practice, I need to be more forthcoming. And that's what I've been trying to do.'
"They say another man's trash is another man's treasure… If you don't mind the smell."
'While I've been stuck in this apartment for most of my life, given I can easily bypass the security my mother left in place, I've been doing small excursions outside to grab some stuff...'
'People throw all kinds of things in the trash when they're done with them, and they all usually have some degree of technology in them.'
'I've been stripping those items of their components and hiding them in an old, inoperable vent like a treasure chest. While they aren't very useful, but I can make something out of them if I'm patient. What counts here is the experience, however.'
'As for doing something like selling them… My age is my biggest hurdle here. I did think about reselling some fixed items as second-hand in the market since I can have the nanny fill out files in my mother's name, and she would never find out about it. Not without doing a deep check on her finances…'
'For now, they only sit inside some dusty place with no purpose. Who knows? Maybe I'll find some piece of tech that can be fixed with those components one day…'
'I do this because I need money, there are a few things I would want to get my hands on to continue my studies: A Virtuality Headset to enter augmented reality, a VR Headset to experience true "crafted realities", and even something like a Trode set to enter the net without a direct connection.'
'I do have the thought of getting a neurolink as my sole piece of cyberware, but the thought of having someone drill into my head… Still sends shivers down my spine.'
'Until then, the best I can do is improve my skills within the realm of humanly possible. I won't ever be able to compete with a half-robot/half-man netrunner, but there won't be anything he can do to me either for as long as I have no implants.'
He looked at the side, dad's old work boots still sat by the door, soles melted from factory coolant. Mom wouldn't move them, she just couldn't.
'I wonder where these emotions come from… We weren't even that close…'
'Sometimes, I slip them on and clomp around due to their size. The right toe has a bullet dent. Not from the killing shot, but from some old accident he never explained.'
'You died for a job that replaced you in a week. Was it worth it, old man?...'
Those thoughts on the back of his mind, time passed…
…
Time passed, and his fifth year in this world ended. Nothing unusual happened with his life, even as the Earth spun around the sun, signaling the start of another year.
The year was 2056, and aside from the usual violence and degeneracy everywhere, the world was still the same.
He continued to toy around with the net and scurry for scrap in the dumps of his megabuilding, using his appearance as a small child to get in the good graces of his neighbors. While he didn't trust anyone, this megabuilding in particular was safer compared to the other corners of the city, and being over twelve floors above ground seemed to help douse the echoes of gunfire from the streets below.
Making connections wasn't bad; it allowed him to slowly get to know people, and if one of them just happened to be a netrunner or tech-savvy individual, they were bound to throw away more useful bits of tech.
Around this age, his mother began worrying about his upbringing, given that he never showed interest in playing with the other children running around the megablock's plazas. Because of this, she enrolled him in a small public school on the lower floors. She felt he needed some human interactions, not because he lacked education.
This severely screwed up with his plans as now he had to go to school every day even in the weekends since it was just an elevator ride away. That said, it gave him enough reason and autonomy to leave his home and wander around the place more.
His mother told him never to stop midway, to go to school and back home when she wasn't around, and while he listened to her most of the time, he occasionally took a few detours…
He met many individuals, old and young, prowling the massive building. As its name stated, it was essentially an entire city inside a single cube... or rather, rectangle.
If not for the horrific pay, his mother might've been inclined to work in one of the factories on the ground floors. Alas, she had a child to take care of.
Speaking of her, she didn't rest either, as she also began making connections. At a friend's recommendation, she joined a housewife club and began attending it every Sunday to learn tips and tricks from other moms in similar conditions as her.
At first, he didn't agree to her decision, given she had to pay to attend, but the mothers in the club were quite decent with their tips, helping her better manage her finances. And she did need some people to talk to.
He didn't know much about his parents' lives before they had him, and he didn't pry either. Whatever happened was already in the past, what mattered was the future.
His daily life continued, with him growing taller every day…
…
…
/Creak… Smack!/
"..."
/Smack!/
The megabuilding groaned at well past midnight. The same noises, the same time every night…
'This place is getting worse. Did a gang settle in? I'll have to check that later…'
Night City wasn't safe at all. Gangs were everywhere, taking lives every day and night. And if it wasn't them, then it was some cyberpsycho or corpo contracted goon running their trigger fingers down everyone's throats.
'At least mom sleeps through it… I can't say the same about myself.'
He could hear it clearly, probably not as clearly as someone with implants, but his hearing was already superhuman.
'It's two floors below. The only reason why I'm not certain if this is hang activity or not is because it happens every night around the same time, a set number of times. Might have to report this to the authorities.'
The NCPD, Night City Police Department, the city's primary law enforcement agency. And while they weren't incredible by any means, to small scuffles like these, they were the only ones available unless you hire someon,e or if the issue escalates to something the elites at the Special Forces are needed.
If the issue is related to a cyberpsycho, someone who has gone craze due to implants, then the absolute powerhouses are called, Max Tac.
/Smack!/
/Silence…/
'It's over… Guess that's it for tonight.'
…
Time flew by, and another three years went by…
"... Ryan~ Mommy's leaving to work. Don't be late for school!"
Deep inside his room, a light voice replied eagerly:
"Kay!"
Early in the morning, Ryan's mother smiled faintly as she looked at the closed door leading to her child's room. It was another busy morning, the sun rose, it was time to work.
/Din~.../
"Hm… Two weeks left."
As she went to the counter near the kitche, she heard something vibrate near the door. It was a counter, reminder her of how much time she had left before rent's due.
/Buzz!/
She stared at the hologram, her pupils flicking as she calculated something quietly. Her left hand twitched as she reached for her bag, a recent assembly-line injury acting up.
"Urg…"
From behind her, Ryan saw the situation unfold with sharp eyes. He approached her, holding a small cup of soy milk, before spilling it all on her arm as he tripped on the ground.
"Ah! Ryan! Are you okay?"
She didn't scold him, helping him as she cleaned her clothes, mopping the stains on his hands with her sleeves. However, despite that, it was clear her thoughts were elsewhere.
'They said they were going to raise rent again… Things haven't been bad, but we've been having less and less room every year to work with.'
'Ryan's talents keep blossoming every year. I can tell he'll make it far, but he'll need support to get there. He rarely ever asks for anything, yet I can barely afford what he really needs.'
'I already spent most of my savings to get the company-issued prosthetics… No, I'm still paying for them… How will I afford what my child needs? Worse, get him into one of those top-class academies? That's where he belongs with his talent…'
"Mom? You'll be late. Are you sick?"
"... Mommy's alright… Now be good with Mai and keep the house clean!"
"I will!"
"Have a nice morning, Miss Rhodes."
/Swoosh… Clack!/
She approached the door and it opened automatically, sliding into the wall. She stepped through, smiling faintly as it closed behind.
Ryan heard a sigh come from outside the door soon after.
"... Well then, time to work."
'School starts at seven, and I have some work to do. Need to deliver unc Sergei's radio, which he broke.'
To help with their situation, Ryan began doing small tasks throughout the megabuilding, fixing small gadgets and trinkets no one with the appropriate knowledge would bother to do.
It started as a hobby; he'd find and fix a broken piece of tech as usual. Maybe sell it online or keep it stashed away. But then someone asked him about it, they asked if he could do something for them. One thing led to another, and now here he was doing "gigs" for others.
Business was slow at first, he helped someone fix something, then a kid, then he helped someone at a food stall… Mostly for free since no one would have a seven-year-old fix things for them.
But that was all part of his strategy. It was called… Marketing. And he profited off people's laziness by being cheap.
Between throwing away something and buying another, why not fix it for almost nothing with a kid next door? Because of this, his business soon gathered traction. He became the tech kid who could fix anything anyone wouldn't bother to.
Lights in your shirt stopped working? He could do it in a few minutes. Toy car stopped moving? He'd replace the wheels. Had some thoughbooks that wouldn't boot? He'd do it in an afternoon… If you had cash on hand.
Ryan only ever accepted cash because he didn't have a bank account. He'd have access to one once he grew a bit, so it was either hard cash or cred chips.
A cred chip was like a gift card. It was a government-issued piece of hardware that could store some credits, usually Eddies, Eurodollars.
It was easy to use and transfer in and out, making it a favorite of the people. So he accepted those, too, since they were more compact than cash. It made some transactions simpler, too, since he could use those chips to pay for purchases on the net if he needed to without passing through his mother.
The funny thing is, to have an account in Night City Bank and use electronic cash, you'd need a CID, or "Citizen Identification Card."
Basically, you must register as a citizen in Night City, and that means having your entire DNA mapped. Biometrics, cyberwar, and guns are registered in an enormous database shared between the government and corporations. And all of this is possible thanks to the CitiNET.
That's the only way for most to buy property, open a business, work as a registered employee, and so on. Most people don't have it or are indifferent to it. Mostly because it costs you to have one.
Both of his parents, including him, are registered. And to remain as such, routine checks are necessary, and those, of course, are paid by the holder of the CID and not the government.
Not to count the taxes one has to pay as well… That's why electronic cash is used mostly by common citizens and corp employees. Even his mother tries to keep most of her transactions outside of the bank to reduce the amount of taxes she has to pay.
As one might expect, some do try to fight against it, given it's a powerful surveillance tool in a world without freedom. While others take advantage of it, often offering services to help people "disappear" from the system.
Safe to say Ryan had become really good at interacting with all of these pieces of simple tech, but truth be told, this was making light of his abilities.
With the little money he made, he spent on a series of small items to help him with his research, such as a beaten-up Virtuality Headset and a Trode set to access the net, although he couldn't find a VR headset yet.
In fact, he bought more than one, using their pieces to fix the other. One he bought on the net even had blood in it, which made him skeptical about its use, though he kept it since Mia told him it was clean.
To his success, one should not forget about Mia. His artificial intelligence played a large role in his current success. After years of use, he had slowly programmed it to assist him with a series of tasks like finding items with a potential for reselling in the market.
Most of the time, he ends up with something that can't be fixed; other times, he'd be lied to or deceived, but that's okay; he knew this would be the norm. And in the end, this was all experience, because for each failure, Mai had a new variable in her calculations. In recent years, of twenty items he bought online, only two or three were unfixable.
He'd try to sell his items around, but most of the time, he sold his storage to the many shops scattered around the megablock. Netting him a meager profit, but one nonetheless.
As for larger items he knew could net him a sizeable profit, like a laptop, he'd choose to hold onto them until the opportunity came to sell them. This strategy served him well so far, allowing him to accumulate a sizeable sum in his secret compartments.
But after many years accumulating trash, he'd begun to run out of space, and his mother was bound to find out about his activities, especially given the rumors going around. So he planned to come clean with her, but found difficulty speaking to her about it.
He wanted to help her but at the same time, he feared how she might react. A negative answer could very well signify a halt of years worth of progress… But a positive one could push him the other way around.
After much thought, he had decided to say it to her regardless of her mood. It was time to throw it all behind and move on because these thoughts were negatively impacting his training and focus. But for now… He had class to attend.
/Din!/
Ryan left home after sorting his bag, closing the door behind him before following a simple balcony corridor to a large service elevator at the end.
Megabuilding H10 was one of the first to be built. It was a massive tower several dozen floors high, built like a box, and meant to be one too.
Its overall architecture was that of a massive central shaft surrounded by walls where homes, factories, and stores were located. From the twelfth floor, the people buzzing around the first floor looked like tiny ants sprawling around the place as they went on with their day.
While the megabuilding gave away a sense of community, in truth, there was severe segregation within its halls. To reach higher floors, one needed the appropriate card to access the elevator, otherwise, they'd be stuck. Those at the top enjoyed the most luxurious rides and homes while those at the bottom had to make do with cheap, dubious metal boxes, but most didn't seem to mind. For they were all far too used to this kind of treatment already.
Ryan's school was located somewhere on the 5th floor, but right now, his target was the 1st. He entered the elevator together a dozen other passengers and quickly descended to his destination.
"... Stuff it in your mouth till you can't breathe anymore! New Stuffonator! 250% more deliciousness in your life, 100% more daily nutrients! From AllFoods!"
"..."
Ryan didn't even react to the overly suggestive ad playing on a TV on the side, his eyes hollow as he waited for the elevator to stop moving.
"... Hello Night City, I'm Jen Shen, and this, is your local latest. Quadra has announced a parade in expectation of the newest Quadra Turbo-R V-Tech, the next in line after the national hit Quadra Turbo-R 740. The parade…"
/Din!/
Ryan stepped outside, being welcomed by a large plaza where small food stands were slowly being opened as the smell of oil and grease permeated the air.
"... Hey! Little Ray!"
As he b-lined for a stall in the corner of the plaza, someone called him as they turned from a pot of boiling water.
"It's Ryan, uncle Kobe."
"As cynical as ever, kek! Now, I may need your assistance over here… Last night, some gonk smashed one of my screens, not out malice, just a drunk bum… But I can't have my customers eat without something to see."
"I have this old girl set up, but it won't boot. And I don't have the time to call in a technician, think you can work it out for me?"
"... I'll be late for class, can it be after?..."
"Fifty if you can fix it now, any later and it'll be too late."
"Whatever you say, unc. Pull it down so I can pry it open."
/Clack!/
Ryan opened his backpack, taking out a large cylindrical object which he placed on the counter while Kobe placed the TV next to it.
/Buzz!/
The item opened up like an umbrella, and after uncrewing all bots, he pried the TV open and took a look inside.
"Cough!... We're did you take this from, the local dispenser?"
"Pretty much, found it tucked aside a few years back, only figured out it was there today. So? Can it light up?"
"... It's a common issue, a capacitor blew up, we just need a replacement… Any old electronics you don't fancy?"
"Thought this would be full service."
"Unc, I need to go to school. Bring back a capacitor for you on the back, deal?"
"Fine… That old radio over there. Take it, it's half scrap at this point anyway."
Ryan opened the radio with his strange tool, finding a fitting capacitor before unsoldering it from the board.
Within another minute, he soldered it to the TV and it was working fine.
"Good work kid, saved me some money. Pass by later, and I'll cook you something."
"No problem. But what about your old TV?"
"What about it? You want it? Fifty or nothing."
"..."
"Why the silence? Can't take a joke? Kekeke! The TV's fine, just a little crack at the screen, sent it to old Martin for a replacement. Till then, this one will have to do."
Ryan nodded, taking the cash and moving on.
After delivering the item he repaired and got his money, he went back to the elevator and entered class.
Ten kids sitting on a standard classroom. Before them, a professor and an electronic board. There were still more to come, so they were all waiting for class to start.
"Psst!"
"..."
"Psst!"
"Sigh… What is it? No, let me guess… You didn't do your homework again."
"You know me choom. I'll be big in the bawling leagues, have to train all day!"
"... That's the long way of saying you're a leadhead…"
"Hey. I can do it, just don't have the time. How will't be then?"
"Sigh, here, take it. How much time does it even take to make it anyway? You could just have an AI do it off the net." Ryan said as he put a small tablet on the table
His friend was elated, he immediately pulled a small cord from his neck and connected it to the tablet, downloading some archives as he edited them.
"That'd make it too crystal to him!... I'm done. Here, its yours."
"I'll start charging for these."
"You charge for everything choom! Do you know how others call you?"
"What do you mean charge for everything?"
"Eddy-Pincher! That's what they call ya. You seemingly do anything for some eddies."
"Isn't that what everybody does? Besides, I don't do anything…"
/Clack!/
The professor moved to the side, it was cue that class was about tto start.
The two looked at each other in agreement as they quieted down. They've done this many times before.
Waking up and going to class, something they'd do many times still…
Later that day, Ryan would speak with his mother about his activities, and while she'd frown at first, she'd come to support his actions quite strongly.
She set some boundaries such as stopping going through trash to find materials, and while he struggled to agree, in the end, he did so.
Now that both of them had come to terms, Ryan could beguin helping his mother actively with finances, something she wasn't happy with. She was a good person at heart, and the way she saw things was likely that of her abusing her own child.
Ryan understood her emotions, but he knew he couldn't let his mother worry about so many things and live the life of a slave with no light in sight. Together, they'd be able to pay all bills without worry, and his mother was finally able to start save some money for herself.
With her support, Ryan was also able to rent the apartment directly to their left. Apartment 1208. He turned the apartment into his store and training area while stripping off uncessary parts such as the kitchen and the bedrooms.
Technically speaking, he wasn't allowed to modify the apartment at all, but the last time he saw someone inspect any of the apartments, the person came out with a fat bribe on their pockets. And that was years ago…
Ryan was sure no one would come to inspect his little operation, even if they did, he'd have the money to pay them… And if they started to get on his nerves… He had the power to change things.
In this city, as soon as you showed a weakness, someone was going to make use of it, and being a child was a damn big one. So he readied his heart for being ruthless for that was the best way to protect himself, but also his family… And even his enemies.
By scaring away those willing to pull his leg, he'd be sparring them a fate worse then death…
Either way, with two apartments, Ryan expanded the range of his little formation, turning each room into a node with distinctive properties. One day, he planned to potentially move to the ceiling and basements of the megabuilding and install a massive array to draw in energy. But that was a plan he wondered if he'd ever manage to pull off, likely because there were better places out there to be.
Ryan focused on the present, training even harder every day…
…
/Four years later…/
Many years had passed. Ryan graduated and entered middle-school, all the while continuing his studies through the net, surpassing even those entering university.
It was hard to compete with people that studied with neural ports, having knowledge fed directly into their brains, but he was a hardworking person, and with a little bit of ingenuity and quite a bit of money, he managed to move along with a few workarounds.
He continued to offer his services to the residences of the megabuilding, building a reputation for himself as someone able to fix anything for a price. And eventually, he did become that person.
Now, people from all floors would come to him to give him scrap and other items just for the sake of it. Some did it because he helped them before, others did it out of fear of throwing out trash they shouldn't throw in the streets, while some did it in exchange for something else…
Ryan made it clear that he would never buy trash or half broken products. As soon as he made an exception, people would stop giving him things and would demand money instead, it happened many times before and he didn't want to go back to sticking his hand in a dumpster.
He became someone to resort to if someone needed assistance with anything tech related. Those he trusted more knew that the kid could do far more then just fix broken items, but that was something only few knew…
As his skills improved, he began to realize the limits of his physical body. No matter how skillfull he became, he'd never be able to compare to the best netrunners and programmers connected directly to a piece of hardware.
Even with his custom-made Trode set able to send information directly to his brain through special impulses, it was still one or two extra steps of processing compared to them. And while this may not sound like a lot, a few milliseconds for him to perform a task was all it took for someone to utterly disable all of his machines. All in the time it took for him to log-in the net.
Ryan found the entire idea of the net, from sub-nets to data-fortresses extremely compeling. He saw potential in technology, in its ability to push his martial arts to an even greater realm.
Thus, even now, Ryan deeply wondered if he should install a neuro port leading to his brain. And whenever he thought about it, he always fell on the same dilemma…
The sooner he does it, the greater his time will be as he'll be able to study and train more efficiently. On the other hand, it gives him a fatal weakness.
With his trode set, it doesn't matter what someone does, there's nothing to fear. A simple pull of the cord and he'll wake up. Maybe a bit shook but its better then dying. He also has nothing to fear about people capturing or sneaking up on him. But then again, if he ever finds himself like this then he's likely done either way.
The thing is that people can get information out off him if he wants to or not… But it sure pissed him off thinking about a bunch of no-names going through his mind… Though that isn't exactly common…
Even now, Ryan had yet to see any cases of someone trying to steal another's memories. There were cases were people were able to steal someone's recorded Braindances, but that needed an specific piece of hardware to be installed and the user had to actively record their memories.
Overall, unless he pissed off a very scary Corpo, no one would try to scan his mind and look for his memories, the most they'd do is torture him or conduct some sort of cyber-interrogation directly at his psyche. On that note, he was particularly interested in the rumored "Soulkiller".
Soulkiller, the most powerful anti-personnel black program in the world. A type of program that is released on the net and has the ability to trap anyone directly connected to it. The program then brutally dissasembles one's psyche and digitalizes it, creating a copy of one's consciousness while killing the real thing in the process. It was the thing he feared the most.
While he didn't have much to worry, for he knew that even if his mind was destroyed, his Soul would persevere, he feared for what could be done from such a severe operation.
Ryan's Soul had already undergone ascension and purification. Even if he died, he'd likely reincarnate again. A process that'd likely repeat many times before he lost his changes at ascending again. That said, there was no way to tell when this process would stop, for he didn't know how strong his Soul currently was.
At the same time, he also knew little about his brain. Part of his memories were stored within his Soul, but were those memories inscribed within his brain whenever he thought about them? Or were they all there, ready to be harvested?
He couldn't tell what was true… But it didn't stop him from thinking about it regardless.
Ryan put a lot of thought on this idea. And he eventually thought about coming to terms with it just like he did with his mother years ago.
He decided to be firm and pick a side. If he couldn't decide within the next two years, he'd never think about it again and would live as if the operation did not exist. That was the answer he came to.
He couldn't let himself be consumed by doubt anymore. Focus was essential in meditation, something he hasn't been able to maintain often.
Those thoughts aside, Ryan's decision would come sooner then he could've ever expected…
"... What? Are you seriousm, Jebb?"
"Yup! No one has seen him in over three weeks and his rent is about to expire… If the gonk doesn't show soon, someone is getting inside, and you know how things are around here…"
Somewhere around the megabuilding's main plaza, Ryan could be seen sitting on a bench with his friend as they watched others play basketball on the side.
Ryan was usually focused on his work and studies so he didn't know much about the megabuilding's rumurs, so that was where his friend, Jebb, came into the picture.
Jebb knew a lot of people and had conneections everywhere. Being a natural social butterfly, he dreamed of one day being a player in the big leagues, but that would take quite some work.
To repay Ryan with the help in his studies, Jebb kept him updated in the rumors circulating the megabuilding.
"Shit…"
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jebb asked with a faint smile as he looked at Ryan
"Shut it Jebb, I'm not damned kleptoid."
"I know, no one here's a prole, but I'll remind you Ryan. Gonk's probably out cold in some corner out there. That's how it is when a runner or merc like him vanishes this long. He wasn't the first and isn't going to be the last. If you don't make use of this chance, someone else will. At least score something while you still can."
"... And what if he comes back? He hasn't exactly been an asshole to me!"
"Take it easy man, you know how he is… Was by now… He treated you like his own… Even if he finds you, he wouldn't zero you unless he's gone psycho… And that would be a whole other problem."
"That said, I don't expect anyone will have the courage to approach his hut. They say it brings bad luck to try and steal from a zero'd merc. I don't believe in that kind of thing but you know…"
"..."
After thinking for a little longer, Ryan got up and left the plaza.
"Leaving already? But I thought…"
"I'm going to my room."
"Right… Until tomorrow then choom."
"See ya…"
…