Holy hell, I've been on the grind. I'm already working on Chapter 25 when this goes up. Motivation has never been higher.
I appreciate all the support thus far!
Enjoy the chapter!
-+=[BoG]=+-
Marcus rolled his eyes in amusement.
"Were you just gonna do it in secret?" The older man asked.
"...Yes?" David sheepishly replied.
"Well, you would need time to train and the weekends wouldn't cut it, being an edgerunner doesn't allow for part-timers," Marcus states with absolution.
"Train?" David looked confused.
Marcus wanted to facepalm.
"You didn't expect to go out there and start taking jobs without any preparation, did you?" The silence was deafening.
David's face flushed.
That was an answer in and of itself.
"Well, you said you haven't done a gig yet either, so what were you gonna do?" David shot back.
"Hit up a scav den probably." Marcus shrugged.
"...No wonder Mom didn't want me talking to you. That's pretty crazy, choom." David rubbed his temples. "How were you gonna pull that off?"
"I have my cyberdeck and lots of practice with guns." He laughed.
"So should I practice too, right? But I don't have the scratch to waste on shooting at targets." David was lost at what to do.
"I've got this." Marcus placed a hand in his pocket and pulled a shard out of his inventory. "This is a training shard that you can use to practice a bunch of different things on. Can't give it to you, but if you got a BD Wreath we can link them and use it together."
He got this idea from when Lucy and David went to the moon. Sure, she probably could've copied the data onto another BD Chip, but the technology should sync up together in real time off of one.
"A training shard?! Those are hella expensive, choom! Nova!" David's spirit was reignited.
"Make sure to give her the talk." Marcus took another drag.
This caused David to deflate remembering what he had to do.
"Alright, but after, we're gonna be edgerunners and hit up a scav den!" David speedily ran to the exit, "Later!" He was out the door.
'Never said I'd take him with me on that.' Marcus chuckled to himself. It would take too long for him to get to a proficient enough level to trust that he wouldn't die by a random bullet.
Doesn't his mother also have work today? Why's he rushing off like that?
Anyway, he took a final drag before putting out the cigarette.
Now it was time to figure out how he'd use up his 24 hours of no-restrictive training.
He pulled up his full stats to assess.
Body 6(0/1500)XP
- Brawling 4(1100/1250xp)
- Athletics 5(600/1500xp)
- Shotguns 5(200/1250xp)
- Heavy Machine Guns 4(800/1250xp)
- Blunt Weapons 4(900/1250xp)
Reflexes 4(1575/2000)XP
- Driving 4(600/1250xp)
- Pistols 4(1250/1250xp)
- Submachine Guns 4(950/1250xp)
- Assault Rifles 4(1250/1250xp)
- Blades 4(850/1250xp)
- Rockerboy 4(200/1250xp)
Technical Ability 1(625/800)XP
- Gunsmithing: Level 1(800/800)XP
Cool 1(600/800)XP
- Throwing Weapons 1(400/400xp)
Intelligence 2(0/600)XP
- Breach Protocol 2(0/600xp)
- Programming 1(100/400xp)
- Quickhacking 1(200/400xp)
First, he must establish priority. What does he truly need? What will help his survivability in this city of violence?
He can rule out Technical Ability since he doesn't really need that yet. It would be a nice way to make some money, but he doesn't need to create anything yet. Cool can also be excluded since the explanation of the skill helps with Stealth and keeping a calm mind. While that would be quite useful in life-or-death combat to keep ahold of his tactical mind, it would take quite a bit before it showed meaningful contribution.
His thoughts towards Body and Reflexes made him realize that he needed these two as a priority, but he also wanted to level up Intelligence so that he'd have more variety in how he does gigs and even open up new ones.
'I mean I could split it 3 ways for 8 hours for each attribute, but having 12 hours for 2 attributes is enticing to think about.' Marcus' thoughts raced.
Ultimately, his Intelligence is low enough and with his XP reductions from Rache Bartmoss' potential, it made leveling easier. Plus he could also ask Lucy for help even if it costs him once he hits the later stages.
His Body and Reflexes were at Level 5 or approaching it which means it'll be more work to get them up.
That's when he decided he'd use 12 hours for Body and the last 12 for Reflexes.
Marcus believed that these two attributes would be the key to keeping him alive. Sure, leveling up his Intelligence would also better protect his life from netrunners, but it would take some work to get there and even if he hit Level 5, he didn't know if that'd be enough. For newbie netrunners, yeah he'd be good on that front, but more experienced ones? Not a chance.
At least with his Body and Reflexes, he'd have a way to run and survive. It's also much more likely to get shot at than getting hacked. Anyone can buy a gun at a cheap price, but the same can't be said for hacking. It's just statistics at that point.
It's decided.
Time to get to work.
He started with Body and its stats. Brawling, Blunt Weapons, Shotguns, and Heavy Machine Guns. With the strat of going all out against the bots in the Combat Zone of the Gunplay module and the bots in the ring, he spent a total of 4 hours before calling it quits.
Marcus was so obsessive that he checked his stats for his skills after every notification so that he wouldn't miss a lick of experience in case he hit the max.
This is what his stats look like now.
Body 7(1500/1750)XP
- Brawling 5(650/1500xp)
- Athletics 5(1400/1500xp)
- Shotguns 5(1000/1500xp)
- Heavy Machine Guns 5(350/1500xp)
- Blunt Weapons 5(450/1500xp)
'Like...bro.' His system was crazy busted now, at least in terms of the stat reductions for John Wick and Rache Bartmoss. He's almost at Body 8 for crying out loud.
That wasn't all, he long noticed that Athletics wouldn't level up in the training shard, but now it did. When the gift from the system came, it didn't specify what restrictions as he was now learning what that truly meant.
It was truly wise to stay on his stats like white on rice as he would've missed so much XP.
He had naturally already gone through the memory infusions and the pain that came from the level-ups.
His body became even more shredded and muscular. His eight-pack was becoming more defined and his stamina was better.
Marcus couldn't wait to see the effects of Reflexes getting big improvements. Honestly, it's hella addicting, almost to the point where he'd want to use all 24 hours on Body alone, but logic overtook his feelings.
Exiting the shard, he lit up a cigarette and started to relax. It was tough training, but it was rewarding.
Feeling more and more satisfied with his body, he had no complaints.
As he was thinking, there was banging on his door along with a message.
Rebecca:
I'm outside! c;
'Didn't think she was going to come today.' With a shrug, he got up and opened the door.
"Introducing yourself with your middle name is not nice, Marcus, saying you don't wanna get closer with me?" She flirted batting her eyelashes.
"Well there are reasons for that, but how about I invite you in and prove you wrong?" He beckoned as he moved aside.
She had a giddy expression as she hurried in as the door closed.
Rebecca scanned the room, metaphorically of course, and noticed the bottles and cigarettes.
"Damn, choom. You plannin' a party or somethin'?" She sauntered over and sat down.
He sat down a bit further and got the bottle of whiskey and two glasses. Marcus poured two and Rebecca pouted.
She scooted down to be closer until their almost touching.
They both drank and he took another drink.
Rebecca then had a shit-eating grin.
"You know, I spoke to Misty and she likes~you." Rebecca teased.
"What can I say? I guess I'm just likable." Marcus had noticed the reactions so it wasn't hard to make the connection.
"More than that. I told her I did too." Rebecca wasn't pulling punches as she took another drink.
He was a bit concerned about that.
"And how'd she take that?" He asked taking another drag.
"She was supportive, said you drew people in and didn't feel put off by it, at least when it came to me saying it." She smirked, "bet that gets you goin', huh?"
It would be a lie to say it doesn't. He is a man at the end of the day.
He still had to clarify.
"So, you're both fine with that?" Marcus made sure.
Her smile softened.
"That's sweet, yeah life's too short to deal with added drama, and we both are preem about it. Plus, I find it hot you got a girl as fine as her to be gushing about you." Her teasing returned in full force.
"No complaints from me then." He didn't rise to the bait and took a final drag before he extinguished it.
Rebecca's eyebrows narrowed as she grabbed his arm.
"Then why aren't you kissing me, gonk?" She demanded.
This time, Marcus fell for the provocation.
He held the front of her jacket and pulled her in pressing his lips against hers. She instantly responded by wrapping her arms around his neck.
Prying open her mouth with his tongue, their kiss deepened as their tongues intertwined with one another.
Their tongues battled and danced with each other along with kisses and lip biting mixed in before she pulled back taking deep breaths. He was pretty much fine, another benefit for increased stamina and respiratory function but he had a feeling it was more than just that as her entire face flushed with glazed eyes looking at him with need.
She was so fucking hot.
He had half a mind to just take her right then and there but controlled himself as she spoke up.
"Do shit like that and your couch will be drenched, Marcus," Becca warned as it became more difficult to resist her allure.
She was not making it easy.
Marcus smiled warmly.
"I do believe I owe you some weapon testing with my guns. How about we make it a date?" He asked as he finished his drink and got up.
She downed hers.
"It better be a fuckin' date. Let's go!" Rebecca shot up and linked her arm with his as they made their way to the door.
He grabbed his duffle bag that he never bothered to unpack and they left.
They made their way to the 2nd Amendment and the shopkeeper greeted them.
"John! Welcome back! This your date?" Wilson smiled with wide arms.
"Sure is, Wilson. Mind if we use the range?" He sent over the 50 eddies as payment.
"Knock yourselves out. No funny business in there!" Wilson warned lightheartedly.
"No promises!" Rebecca smirked as she pulled him inside.
They went to an empty booth and he set down the duffle bag while discreetly putting his guns inside apart from the Malorian.
"Can you even fire it? A trip to a ripperdoc would be a real downer unless I'm playing doctor." Marcus laughed as he teased her.
She pouted a bit.
"I'd need some Gorilla Arms, but that might be worth it for you to take care of me." She joked before getting raunchy, "Doctor Marcus, my pussy is feeling lonely and empty, could you fill it for me please?" She caressed his stomach tracing his abs through his shirt.
"Oh, behave." He pecked her lips but couldn't deny that he was getting bricked up. "Let's try some of these out.
He pulled out his Kyubi.
She had a wild grin.
"Let's fuckin' do this. Whoever loses has to do whatever the winner says. You scared?" Rebecca taunted.
"Nah, you're on." Marcus laughed as she watched her go first.
He went on to lose spectacularly.
-+=[BoG]=+-
Here we fucking go. I've already decided that I was going to do this a few chapters ago, so if you don't like it, then oh well. It's fun to write and that's all that matters to me.
Thanks for the continued support!
Later!