Chapter 16: Meditation: or how to train your gamer.

[Tavish POV]

I could feel the corners of my mouth twitching as I observe the chalkboard sign hung up outside my office at the Afterlife.

Claire was laughing at my expression as she carried out a new keg of beer; Do you like it? Jackie thought it would be a funny addition to add to your office."

"That gonk. Put a bottle of Centzon on my tab and save it for him next time he comes in." I request, smiling.

Walking away reveals the wording on the sign;

Assassination attempts on Tavish

Kang Tao: 23 Fails

Arasaka: 3 Fails

Voodoo Boys: 176 Fails

Biotechnica: 12

Tyger Claws: Extinct

Beware all who Enter!

Jackie and V had received their official introduction to the Afterlife, and Jackie couldn't be prouder of himself. He was practically bouncing in his seat at the opportunity to drink with the big names.

V was more pragmatic to the whole idea. She enjoyed being able to take higher-paying jobs, but she was fairly ambivalent to the whole idea. She spent some time here before when I had to pick something up, so it probably wasn't as big a deal for her. Overall, the Afterlife was just a means to an end for V.

As a nomad, she was used to a simpler lifestyle with simple expectations, and she tended to revert to that when in doubt. From what I could glean from talking to her, the clan she was a part of, the Bakkers, were disbanded when it was absorbed by another nomad clan, Snake Nation. She didn't really leave by choice as much as she was forced out by the conflicting ideology. Coming to Night City was one of the only solutions she had left after departing from the clan.

When I asked if she had any plans or dreams for the future, she just smiled and admitted that she had a few ideas, but she'd have to wait for them to come to fruition. She wouldn't expand on it any further when prompted.

I could tell she was plotting something, but I couldn't tell what exactly. I doubt it was malicious so we'll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I had managed to improve my Elementalist abilities. Having an understanding of the scientific process behind each of the elements did help out a little, but it was still an arduous endeavor just to move a basic element.

The easiest ones to interact with were elements that I received from the aspect perks such as water, wind, lightning, and earth. Since I hadn't mastered the basic components yet, I was unable to do anything regarding plants. I would probably have to max out my affinities for earth and water in order for that to happen.

Fire was problematic. While I could make fire and cast very basic fire spells, it leveled up extraordinarily slowly. [Fireflies] was an attack developed by my nanomachines which just used data gathered from the incinerate plasmid sample.

That aside, it was fun playing with magic.

I probably couldn't play with it very much in this world, but it was a nice expansion on my abilities. While a different class might have provided a better compliment to my abilities, I always wanted to see what it was like to control the elements.

Plus, its not like I can't pick up a different class later. I thought it would be fun so I got it.

Maybe I'll take a Rouge class next time around. I always wondered what it would be like to be a thief.

[Time Skip]

I wasn't sure what I was expecting today, but it most certainly wasn't a handwritten letter. Especially one hand-written by Yorinobu Arasaka.

A quick scan of the letter detected no toxins, so I went ahead and opened the letter.

Dr. Byrne,

I thought about the best way to grab your attention. After extended deliberation, I thought a throwback to the old world would grab your attention the most.

I wish to meet you in person, but I realize that a meeting at Konpeki Plaza would be too high a profile for either of us, therefore, I propose a meeting at the small forest that seems to be developing in the Badlands. It should be a secluded enough location for our talks.

While I don't expect you to trust me, and come alone, I do hope you'll at least agree to hear me out.

Cordially yours,

Yorinobu Arasaka

He was right. The letter definitely made me curious.

I always felt that Yorinobu was not portrayed in his entirety in the game. His overall goal was to overthrow his father and the fall of the Arasaka corporation. One of the things that prevented him from outright killing his father before the Konpeki heist was his worry for his sisters feelings.

His care for his sister ultimately prevented him from attacking his father directly. It was only in a fit of rage did he kill Saburo in Konpeki.

He was motivated by the fear of a world ruled by the Arasaka Corporation, so he did everything he could to subtly undermine Arasaka from the inside.

It was for this reason that I agreed to a nighttime meeting.

Standing on the edge of the tree line, I saw an AV flying close to the ground before landing fifty yards from where I was standing. I could see Yorinobu and several guards step out of the AV, and the guards standing guard by the vehicle as Yorinobu walked towards me, carrying a case under his arm.

"I must confess, I wasn't sure you would show, even after replying to my letter." Yorinobu stated, coming to a halt ten feet away.

"I have to admit, I was very curious on why you would contact me in such a manner." I state observing him.

"You seemed like a man who would appreciate a more direct and personal manner of communication." He replied, glancing back at his men before continuing; "Let us move the conversation a little further away."

I lead him deeper into the grove of trees until we reach a small clearing.

"Now we can discuss freely. I would like to hire you for a task." He stated, setting the case down.

"I'm guessing this is not a medical consultation?" I ask dryly.

"Indeed, it is not. I would like your expertise on a certain artifact." He stated vaguely gesturing to the large case he set down.

On first glance, I had a hard time believing he would bring something like that out here, but a quick observe confirmed my suspicions.

[The Relic] (Legendary)

An amazing breakthrough of medical and A.I. technology, The Relic is able to contain a digitized engram of an individual to insert into a organic host body. Upon body death, the engram can be inserted and used to repair the host body effectively bringing the engram to life. Currently contains an engram of Johnny Silverhand.

Johnny Silverhand, born as Robert John Linder, was a famous influential Rockerboy and the lead singer of the band Samurai before its breakup in 2008. A military veteran who defined the Rockerboy movement to what it is today. He was the most prominent figure that fought against the corrupted NUSA government and the megacorporation's, often being described as a terrorist. Johnny is charismatic and quite the charmer. However, he is also known to be irrational, impulsive, and a manipulator

"Either you have a hell of a proposal, or that's a fake. Which is it?" I ask, my face revealing nothing.

"Oh? So you know what it is without even opening the case?" Yorinobu questioned, a crafty smile spreading across his face.

"If my scans are correct, then you're carrying something that Arasaka keeps very close track of. What is it doing here?" I ask, purposely leaving my question vague.

"I wish for you to construct a body for the engram on the chip. He would be a useful ally to have, and very few hate Saburo more than he. Supply him with what he needs to start his little war against Arasaka" Yorinobu stated.

"And the payment?" I ask.

I personally have no qualms with resurrecting Johnny. I highly doubt anything that Yorinobu could tell him could stop Johnny from flat out killing him, but on the off chance he was thinking of using Johnny to contact Alt Cunningham, things could get very messy in Night City.

Might have to have a talk with Silverhand before releasing him into the wild.

I did not spend the past eight months improving Night City only for some nutjob to set off another nuke in Arasaka Tower.

"I will let you have the Relic. That should be more than enough payment." Yorinobu stated, blithely.

"That will be just, sufficient payment. This is an item that your father happens to be keeping a very close eye on. I wouldn't be surprised if a strike team is ready to kill the two of us as soon as we leave here." I state, tersely.

"Bah! My father is just a senile old fool who isn't aware of much of anything anymore." Yorinobu scoffs.

"If that is what you wish to believe. Alright, I'll make Silverhand a body. However, I will not control what happens after that." I state.

"Don't worry about it. I just need Johnny to be doing what he does best. Let our next meeting be less clandestine Mr. Byrne. I will be in touch." He replied, turning on his heel and leaving the case behind.

I was surprised he decided to leave so abruptly, but I could see over the tree-line as the AV he arrived in took off and started flying towards Night City.

Double-checking the contents of the case and verifying that the Relic is inside, I slide the entire container into my inventory.

As I'm walking back, I can detect the Skitarii that were hidden throughout the woods stand down and start heading back to their previous tasks.

While technically I got the Relic and could leave this world, I didn't want to move on just yet. I'll get Johnny his body first and decide from there.

While It would be easy to just snatch a random body from the street and stick Johnny in that, I felt like that would be a little bit of shoddy workmanship on my part.

No, What I needed was Johnny's original body, or at least his DNA. Once I had that, it would be a piece of cake to clone and create him a body.

The question is, how degraded is it?

[Time Skip]

[Derelict Oil Field]

I went to the area where I had thought Johnny was dumped.

My initial though was to use my earth affinity to rapidly sift through the earth until I found a skeleton but I quickly realized how difficult this would be.

Parts of this field were still spewing oil into the air drenching the earth around the area. The earth had been turned into a muddy substance that was difficult to move, even with my affinity for earth. Moving it at all was like shoveling slime with your bare hands. The moment you moved the initial sludge out of the way, more would fill its place.

Separating the impurities of the oil from the earth yielded some positive results, but not the ones I intended.

Spells Discovered.

[Purify Earth] Lvl (1/100)

Allows you to cleanse soil of impurities and harmful pollutants.

Costs 1000 MP per cubic foot of soil.

[Shape Earth] Lvl (1/100)

You can shape the surrounding earth in various ways.

Costs 100 MP per cubic foot of soil per minute.

From what I was able to understand, the level gauges indicated my proficiency at using the spell. Using them both in conjunction. I would cleanse an area of soil and shift it off to the side, and then repeat the process.

I realized it was an extremely long shot, especially given how long-ago Johnny's body had been dumped, but it did give me a good chance to train my elemental manipulation. I wonder If I could inscribe the spells on one of my machines with artificer?

It would definitely speed up Zero Dawn if I could implement it successfully. The only problem was how mana intensive it was to cast the spell. While my mana pool that I could draw from had a decent amount in it, I still had to wait for a couple of minutes every time I cleaned and moved the earth. Their was also plenty of interference when I shifted the soil. Metal, garbage, and other assorted junk that wasn't filtered out by [Purify Earth] would get moved to the surface.

I'm going to have to try this for a few days before attempting other options.

[Time Skip]

I had discovered that I could also use this endeavor to also practice my water manipulation. Extracting water from the soil before moving it made it lighter as I shifted the piles of dirt around. I had to be careful and only operate at night for fear of being discovered. I have yet to run into anything "magic" here in Night City, but one could never be too careful.

Shifting over another metal plate I catch a glint off of some corroded metal underneath, shining under the moon light.

Trying not to get my hopes up, I hit it with a quick observe.

[Johnny Silverhand's Arm]

The Iconic arm of Johnny Silverhand.

A grin spread across my face as I stare at the corroded remains of the hand.

I'm definitely close now.

[Time Skip]

[Badlands Cauldron Alpha]

I managed to find some of Johnny's Skeleton.

While I doubted, he would want to keep his corroded arm, I kept ahold of it just in case.

While one of my machines was cleaning up and synthesizing the DNA, I searched for other sources in the event that his bones were too degraded to extract a sample.

Frankly it was impressive that I managed to find anything. From what I could remember, Johnny died around fifty years ago. A skeleton usually decomposes completely after thirty to fifty years. So what was it that made his corpse so resilient to the acidic components of the oil field?

The closest answer I could figure, was how the cyberware was designed back then. A body full of cyberware was quite literally pumped full of preservatives and chemicals. It had to have been something that was injected into his basic skeletal structure that created such a resistance.

However, Johnny was also known for trying a variety of different drugs, liquors, and random shit just lying around.

He probably would piss a rainbow if he had to take a drug test.

The point is, I don't actually know what enabled his bones to stick around for so long. The corporations put out so many random drugs on the street to test, that its impossible to keep track of them all.

These drugs can cure a variety of effects but can cause just as many ailments. Roughly fifteen to twenty percent of my customer base often take these unknown drugs at a party or event, and wind up regretting it the next day because their dick/arm/whatever fell off. That one made for an interesting day at the office.

The worst cases often didn't realize they were taking an unknown drug, and ended up fighting off a highly advanced disease, or realize they developed stage four cancer overnight.

Thankfully, the treatment of conditions like that had advanced along with everything else. Sometimes it got fairly expensive but most known medical conditions currently had a cure of either medication, cyberware, or bioware.

In exchange, it seems like we get old diseases that re-emerge after their eradication, or new diseases that were created simply for the purpose of a test. The corps always released the disease as a weapon, and it was always through an intermediary so they wouldn't be held accountable.

This made it difficult to track where the drug originated from. Even if the drug was traced back to their parent corporation, it was easy to excuse that a sample "fell off of a truck during transit" or blame the gang for robbing a transport.

I was worried that these chemicals will have compromised any DNA we extract so I also chased down several other options for a body for Johnny.

My first stop was Meatwagon Inc.

Meatwagon is a corporation similar to trauma team, catering to bodies and body parts primarily. They also keep spare parts lying around on the chance someone wants to give up their implants and revert to a full flesh and blood body. For corps like Militech, they preserve the soldiers limbs for civilian life after the corporation.

I know Johnny served in the NUSA during the Second Central American War, so there was a small chance that they still had Johnny's limb on ice. Their was also the chance that a groupie thought the same thing and came by to snatch up the arm years ago.

At this point it may have been easier to create a generic body and bio sculpt it to look like Johnny.

That last thought caused me to pause, and I felt the urge to bang my head on the wall.

Why the hell was I putting in all this effort to find his body when I had a readily available solution to me?! Hell, it was even cheaper to do it that way!

Figuring out a way to extract enough DNA from his bones to clone a new Johnny? Fuck that! I'll just get a generic body and bio sculpt it to suite my needs!

I felt like a proper idiot for not coming up with this solution sooner!

A generic clone wasn't too out of the ordinary for someone to purchase in Night City. People commonly buy one and use it if they have to meet someone discreetly, or through an intermediary. You just have to jack in your own interface plug and you have a flesh and blood, remote control person, at your fingertips.

I would just be jacking the Relic into the clone's head instead, providing a viable replacement for Johnny.

Maybe if I get bored at some point, I can go on an adventure for that particular arm, but for now? I have more important projects to focus on.

The Spartan program.

My initial hire, Devin Laraford, had improved in leaps and bounds to where he is now. His frame had bulked up considerably and was definitely healthier than when I found him. I was watching him walk through various exercises with the rest of the trainees.

The initial Mjolnir armors had finally passed production so the Spartans were training in the armor for the first time. Their were definitely growing pains as they adjusted to the power armor, along with their new size and weight. The tech-priests had redesigned a section of the Cauldron specifically for Spartans.

This new area was reinforced to accommodate for training and housing the enhanced humans. While many areas throughout Night City were reinforced to accommodate for cyberware enhanced individuals, but even those couldn't always hold the weight of a spartan who averaged anywhere from 275 to 400 pounds without armor and close to 1500 to 2000 pounds when wearing the armor. Designing the equipment to accommodate for this in addition to their enhanced strength was a necessary task in order to help them adjust to their new lives.

Once they were up to par with the armor, I planned to start deploying them to Pacifica to both provide active combat experience as Spartan's, and to start presenting them to the world.

Presenting a tangible security force to the world for Horizon would also allow for us to appear at more of a position of strength. Kang Tao continued their assaults on Horizon assets, so imagine if a squad of Spartans was the response they received for trying to pull shit like that?

I wouldn't need to plot a hostile takeover, there would be nothing left. A standard Kang Tao soldier and drone squad, verses heavily armored super soldiers capable of running as fast as a car with the strength to flip a tank?

I like my odds.

However, the main issue that I foresee is that Kang Tao is a country-owned corp, meaning if I declare war on the company, I'd effectively declaring war on all of China!

That would probably be too much for my little growing company to handle at the moment, so I limited troop movements to fringe strikes and small attacks that can't be traced back to the company.

Truthfully, I didn't want to have to conform to this type of business practice, but Kang Tao was making it inconvenient for me not to. They had the capital that they could afford to send out hit teams all day long and not have it affect their bottom line.

Since Horizon was such a small company, it wouldn't survive the backlash of a corporate war. It was almost a surefire thing, especially since other corporations won't be able to resist not getting involved. Horizon would basically be offering itself up on a platter for the other corporations to divide up.

Plus, I didn't want Horizon to give off that image. Unfortunately, If I tried to attack Kang Tao publicly without provocation. I would be lambasted by the media and run out of town by the public.

No, It was better to build up my power base in Night City before considering anything that rash. Who knows? A different solution may pop up by then.

[Time Skip]

I'm sitting across from V shuffling a deck of cards.

She was watching me carefully as I deal her three cards face up displaying the art work on the card.

The Fool.

The High Priestess.

And The Star.

Skill level up!

[Tarot Reading] (12/100)

"The Fool can be anyone, you, me, or other people. However, it always means the start of a journey. One where you stand at a crossroads for both good and ill."

"The High Priestess represents mystery, all secrets hang by a delicate thread and is represented as our struggles between cold logic and intuition. It represents the calm of the surface, but also the mysteries within its depths."

"The Star represents hope. It stands for the light that shines through the darkness, leading you home. Its an inspiration, and motivates us with the promise of a better tomorrow." I finish listing off the cards and their meanings.

"That was pretty good on the delivery Tavish, maybe someday you'll be as good as Misty." V replied impishly.

"Oh fuck off." I reply, with no real heat, causing her to laugh.

"It's still amazing watching you learn a new skill. Earlier you had next to no competency at this, and now? You were able to seem somewhat skilled at doing a reading. You are able to do the same with other things as well. Every time we introduce you to something new, you have a firm grasp on its concept within an hour. How on earth are you able to grasp something so quickly?" V questioned after her giggles subsided.

"Learning the basics is fairly easy, its committing to a skill and learning it to completion that's difficult." I comment, distractedly, shuffling the cards once more.

"Can I try?" She asked, after some internal debate.

"Sure." I said, handing her the deck.

We spend a couple of hours doing this before she had to leave for a job.

After V left I stood up and stretched before snapping my fingers and a pan hopped to attention and scampered over to the stove.

I snapped my fingers a few more times causing various cooking implements to hop to attention.

Knives started chopping ingredients!

A whisk started mixing flour in a bowl!

The stove ignited and started cooking meat!

My kitchen sprang to life at the snap of my fingers, their was only one thing missing.

Music!

Iris, could you please set the appropriate back ground music?

[I'm not a fucking Alexa . . . ]

C'mon! You know you want to!

[Dammit.]

[Playing CD; Queen's Greatest Hit's]

I smile as I hear the melodies of Bohemian Rhapsody start playing.

My Foodgician abilities were always fun to play with. I felt like I was in my own version of fantasia when I did stuff like this. Plus, it gave me immense opportunities to improve my cooking skills.

I snap my fingers again and some dough starts rolling itself out and the dough starts being filled with ingredients.

I had decided to make calzones for tonight's meal. Harley expressed a desire for an actually good pizza, and Beth and Elise had never tried it before, so it was a win-win for everyone.

Over the course of learning, I discovered that I could use some of the ingredients I come across in dungeons to drastically enhance my cooking.

On one of my latest forays into the forest ID, a goblin shaman dropped a herb book detailing magical properties of certain herbs. I added one of these herbs to my dish and received a new result.

[Seared Trout] (Rare)

Provides a minor healing effect and a +20 to Dex for 12 hours.

This was huge in helping me understand this branch of magic.

Certain monsters could be rendered down for ingredients that could provide a variety of effects. A demonic boar for instance, could be cooked down into delicious dishes that tended to possess a slightly spicy, or peppery flavor to them.

Hence why there is a plethora of peppered bacon in the freezer.

Overall, my Foodgician abilities gave off a "fantasia" feel whenever I cooked. I did initially debate if there were any offensive options before dismissing the thought for now. Why waste perfectly good food on an enemy when a bullet would suffice.

Speaking of bullets, I attempted to integrate artificing into some items and I received mixed results. Trying to add-on magic to an existing item apparently had limits. I tried to add self-charging to a portable radio that I had lying around and cause the thing to short circuit and nearly blow up in my hand.

Needless to say, I had to scale back my tests a little bit.

From what I could understand, was that making such a feature was possible, but had to be integrated into its initial assembly.

It has something to do with the base intent behind making an item. If I decide to make a radio, it will be just that, a radio.

But, If I make it intending to make it gather ambient magic to charge the radio, then its base form comes out different. Once an item is made, it becomes resistant to change to a certain degree. Any change to an item needs to be drastic enough to classify it as a new item such as replacing parts on a car till you effectively have a new vehicle.

It may be possible to enact minor changes once I get further in artificing, but for now, I am restricted to build items around their spells.

The most I have been able to do so far, was adding an elemental effect to a weapon. Something that I could accomplish with the technology that I had.

If I truly wanted to take advantage of this class, I probably needed to acquire more magic classes.

Wizard would probably provide me with the widest variety as far as spells that I would have access to, and it would help maximize the use I could get out of the artificer class.

The alchemist class allowed me to accomplish a variety of magical effects, but outside of what ingredients cause which effect, I haven't been able to transfer the magical effects from this school of magic.

Yet.

[Time Skip]

I finish pouring a flask of potion into the grenade shell before sealing it and setting it off to the side with a stack of others.

This was my solution to successfully blending artificing and alchemy.

Its base was designed after the M-32 rotary grenade launcher. The launcher was enhanced around the concept of removing air resistance, and acceleration. This enabled me to launch the alchemic grenades further than a conventional launcher.

The grenades themselves could be filled with a variety of potions and alchemical effects that I would just have to experiment with.

The aging potion was my first test subject as I loaded the round into the launcher. I had set up a target twenty yards away to test the effects of the round.

I fired the round and it impacted the target, causing the potion to splash out from the point of impact.

The target dummy started swiftly degrading until dust was all that remained.

It would definitely be worth testing out further. Many things in this world are capable of withstanding sustained fire from conventional weaponry, but very few things can withstand the tests of time.

If the aging potion is able to function like I think it does, then I have found out how to bypass a variety of impassible barriers and defenses.

I set up a second target and load another round.

When it impacted the target, a foam like substance explodes out from the point of impact in a twenty-foot radius, hardening rapidly.

Walking up to it, I rap my knuckles against the rock-like foam formations surrounding the dummy.

This was an idea that I came up with from a cartoon I saw forever ago. I think it was one of Batman's contingencies against the Flash? I'm not quite sure in that regard.

The point is, I set out and created hardening foam! It expands rapidly into any available openings and hardens within seconds of contact.

There was only one problem.

I summon a ball of water to my hand and lob it at the foam. The water splashes against the foam, causing the foam to rapidly breakdown and dissolve.

The foam would break down in contact with water. It didn't matter if it was blood, sweat, pineapple juice, it always broke down if it had water as part of its components.

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was definitely something to keep in mind before firing these off willy-nilly.

It was surprisingly resistant to heat, electricity, and any physical blows made to it.

Maybe I can create a new emergency barrier system with this? Or possibly sell it to the NCPD as a non-lethal capture method?

This was just one of the many random grenades that I had created over the course of my experiments.

Acid, fire, smoke, lightning, and other magical effects that were possible with the effects of alchemy. The problem ultimately was the production process.

The more magical effects tended towards the temperamental side of things, requiring a steady hand throughout their production process. This made it difficult to mass-produce because frankly, I have other things to do. Still, It's a nice little surprise to keep in my back pocket.

[Time Skip]

[The Glowing Forest]

I was walking through the forest of barrier trees I had created a while back. The trees had taken root much quicker than I had imagined, and were starting to propagate new life themselves in the surrounding environment and growing at an astonishing rate.

Moss had started propagating throughout the forest on the trees, ground, and nearby rocks. I had introduced the spores once the trees had started growing on their own.

[Radium Moss] (Epic)

A moss developed by Tavish Byrne, it absorbs surrounding radiation and converts it to nutrients for itself, and the surrounding plants, providing a slight boost to their growth. It glows with a bio-luminescent light in the dark.

The beautiful green glow that fills the forest at night, led to the locals naming it The Glowing Forest. It was a simple, yet very apt name.

Maybe I should see if the park in Night City could benefit from the development of the moss.

The park itself was in a sad state when I went strolling through there last. Trash piled up high throughout the park, young gangers threatening anyone who got to close, and just general filth and graffiti coated the once pleasant spot of green in Night City.

My thoughts were interrupted as I came across a tree that had grown larger than the rest. At its current rate of growth, it would surpass most of trees in growth by a large margin. What drew my attention however, was the monk, sitting with his legs crossed at the base, his back against the tree.

Traveling Zen Master

Lvl- ?

Monk

I started slightly as I used observe the monk. I have never encountered an individual that I could not see the level of. It was an entirely new experience for me.

He raised his hand and addressed me; "Peace traveler. I mean no harm. Perhaps you could do this one a favor and sit for a chat?"

I had no reason not to be suspicious of him. Monks were universally "chill" in the game. He did make me curious as fuck though.

So I sat down against a tree across from him, and waited for him to speak.

"I did not expect our paths to cross so soon traveler, nor did I expect Mother Earth's power to be flowing through you so strongly. If I may enquire, how did one such as yourself manage to gain such an affinity for aspects of her power?" He questioned.

Ah.

He has to be referring to my aspects of the storm, and nature.

"I'm not entirely sure, I think the aspects make their way to those who perform Mother Earth a great service." I speculate, causing the old monk to nod.

"It would not surprise me if that were the case. Many of my brethren are too passive to receive such a gift from the Mother. It just surprises me to see you possessing so many aspects of her power, yet not meditating a single time in your existence." He offered, prompting me to shrug.

"I am aware of meditation and possibly its basic concepts, but I honestly haven't dedicated the time to develop the skill proper. I explain, drawing a hum from the monk.

"It surprises me that a being such as yourself hasn't delved into it. You may go through a meditation session with me if you wish." He offered.

The meditation sessions in Cyberpunk 2077 were some of my all-time favorite content in the game. Whenever a new one would appear on the map, I would drop whatever I was doing at the time and attend one of his sessions.

When I had arrived in this world, I had searched all over the city for this monk, and I never found him until now.

"Yes please." I reply.

Instead of handing a braindance shard-like in the game. He motions for me to sit up and begins instructing.

"Since we already find ourselves in a forest, I will not need to set the scene. Meditation is the art of thinking, without thinking. We are trying to achieve a sense of reflexive awareness that instead of focusing on one thing, we are focused on all things."

My breathing relaxes as he continues his speech.

"You understand your connection to the earth, but do you truly understand how deep it runs? Try looking deeper, and gaining a deeper understanding of the "flow" within. Meditation allows us to be aware of all the happenings within ourselves. It enables us to tap into, and regulate those happenings. You have done it passively thus far, try actively regulating those happenings.

I reached outward with my senses, slowly expanding my awareness of my surroundings. I am having to make a conscious effort not to tap into my Elemental sense skill. While it would help expand my awareness, it wasn't the point of the exercise.

The monks voice continues in the background as I expand my focus.

Skills Gained

Meditation (1/100) (Beginner stage) (Passive)

This skill increases your awareness of the environment around you. Passive use increases your MP regen by 5% and a passive sonar, while active use increases your regen by 100% with an active sonar.

My awareness suddenly expands like a sonar outward. I could sense the exact layout of the forest.

I could feel a small pack of coyotes making a den near the edge. Their life force pulsing with renewed energy from the renewed rodent population.

I could sense a small caterpillar inching up a tree roughly fifteen feet to my left.

I could even feel the movements of the monk as he continued speaking in the background.

My sense of awareness shifted inward as I detected the flows of mana within my body. It shifted through a myriad of colors and patterns as I caused it to change and manipulate.

Due to viewing the depths of your mana, and partially realizing the true depths of the world, a new perk has been unlocked.

[Affinity Development]

You stared into the abyss and came away with a greater understanding than before. You gains increase by 5% when trying to develop affinities.

My sense of self re-centers only to discover a note taped to the huge tree overhanging where the monk was sitting.

The monk had vanished.

I read the note

"This forest is quite settling for clearing your mind, but alas, I have other duties to attend to. Take my teachings, and when your ready, come find me once more traveler."

-Enlightened one

I chuckle at the cryptic note. It did beg the question however, was that his real name? Or was it just a placeholder?

I check my watch and realize three hours had passed since I had started meditating. I hurry back to my car and start driving for my next appointment.

[Time Skip]

[Skitarii Alpha 0293 POV]

I stood on top of a building overseeing the entrance to the Haitian church. Our assaults throughout the city had been largely successful in taking back Pacifica.

We had enough infrastructure under our control that Horizon was gradually making back some of the funds that they sunk into the district. This in turn prompted the Voodoos to switch to all out warfare, often forcing firefights in populated areas.

The criminal element of the district often joined in on these fights, not wanting to lose their safe haven for illicit activities.

Some of these local scav's and gangers just packed up their operations and moved back into Night City proper, rapidly exchanging Night City's 3% drop in crime for a 3% gain. Funny how that works when you don't count Pacifica as part of the city.

But as we gained more and more ground, we turned our sites on a lucrative asset buried right under our feet.

The Maglev tunnels.

An abandoned project dating back to the first net crash in 2022, they once connected the entirety of the North American Continent with a highspeed rail network.

Multiple attempts had been made over the years to renovate and rebuild the network, but none were successful.

Until now, that is.

Thanks to the creator's knowledge, we had found a viable entry point into the caved in tunnels. The Voodoo boys were gracious enough to dig a tunnel for us. Now we just had to dig them out of said tunnel like the vermin they are.

I hop down to the pavement, shortly followed by my fellow Skitarii, and walk up to the doors of the church.

Pushing them open, I am treated to the site of a mostly empty church. There is a single guard snoozing up against the double doors.

I guess we've whittled down their numbers more than I thought if all they can spare is one guard.

We quietly make our way through the building and one of the Ruststalkers was quick to sheath his Transonic blade in the guard's throat. He continued his smooth movement by slicing through the lock on the door.

One of the Rangers peels away from the group to help hide the body while the rest of us proceeded down the stairs into the tunnels.

The tunnel was just wide enough for one person at a time to maneuver through. We proceeded cautiously, our optics looking for any signs of a trap or an ambush. Utter silence covered the group as we made our way through the darkened tunnels, our private network enabling silent communication.

It finally opened out into a cavernous room, a mag-lev train glowing faintly in the dark. The Voodoo Boys had tapped into the old net through the communication lines connected to the rails, establishing a massive data fortress underneath the city. Three netrunners were scurrying about the many wires and cables maintaining the system.

Without a word, three Ruststalkers sprint the distance to the runners, their Transonic blades humming as they slash through the unsuspecting runners.

The remains of the runners drop to the floor in bloody piles as we start analyzing the structure and determining a new primary entry point.

The route through the church would be sealed off, and we would begin rebuilding the mag-lev network.

It was definitely a long-term project, but would ultimately help us in the long run, providing transportation and communication for Horizon's growing network.

A tech-priest arrived shortly after we had established a perimeter of the area, and started analyzing the network the Voodoo Boys had established, relaying his findings.

Apparently, many pieces of the old net are still tied into the Mag-lev rail system providing a sort of backbone for the remains of the old net.

The DataKrash of 2022, refers to both the day the old Net was mostly destroyed, and the virus called Roving Autonomous Bartmoss Interface Drones "R.A.B.I.D.S." created by Rache Bartmoss that caused that chaos, was released.

When the virus was released, it infected 78.2% of the Net in a matter of months. Net traffic came to a grinding halt, corporations lost billions as the stock market destabilized, huge amounts of data were corrupted, and countless military-grade artificial intelligence were unshackled and mutated into extremely dangerous entities. Netwatch, unable to reverse the damage or neutralize the AIs, decided to create the Blackwall, a potent AI with the sole task of blocking off sections of the Net that had been overrun by rogue AIs with ICE, so that the rest of the Net could be salvaged.

The remains of the net, were shredded into bits and pieces of their previous information caches.

These rails, provided a connection for all these caches of information across North America.

The Voodoo Boys were using this connection in an attempt to breach the Blackwall and make contact with some rouge AI's for a Variety of unknown reasons.

Due to the danger the connection posed, we shut it down for the moment. While the boss may need to make deals with some of those AI's in the future, it would be better not to provide a whole host of mechanical bodies to take control of.

A few Bosco units fly in overhead and begin tunneling out to a Horizon facility. More Skitarii enter through the tunnel and start setting up more equipment as we prepare to seal the Voodoo boy's tunnel.

We decided to seal ourselves in while we completed the digging to prevent continuous assault from the gangers. Since we didn't need air, food, water or anything to sustain life, we could operate for extended periods of time in this type of environment.

Other units would be digging towards us and we will meet up in the middle, thus completing the tunnel.

I resign myself to a few long weeks underground as I watch the Bosco's seal up the Voodoo Boy's Tunnel with their concrete compound.

[Time Skip]

[Tavish POV]

[Northside's docks]

I quietly hum to myself as I stand on top of a shipping container outside of the Northside docks. From the overhead street lights, I can see the faint outline of the Ebunike against the skyline.

The Ebunike is an old container ship, and on that ship is a couple of items that happened to belong to Johnny, or I would keep If he decided to be an irritating fuck.

Their was also a large chance that Adam Smasher would be here as well. If he wasn't? I was not above stealing his shit.

Yes sir, this was going to be a good old-fashioned kleping spree.

The Ebunike was Smashers personal ship, that served as one of his many hideouts around the world. It also served as a place to store his equipment and trophies.

He had hired Maelstrom to serve as guards both in and off the ship while it was in port, making this adventure a fucking cakewalk.

The Maelstromers cybernetics didn't register me, so I was able to casually stroll past them on my way to the container ship. These gangers were so chromed up, that they wouldn't realize someone was here until I'm long gone.

I hop over the fence an up onto one of the stacks of cargo containers as I meander over to my destination, occasionally taking the time to snatch up something shiny or to abscond with some errant valuables.

It was oddly liberating to just steal anything that caught my eye. And it was very entertaining to watch the Maelstromers trying to figure out where they misplaced something.

I eventually made it to the ship itself where I set about the task of locating Jeremiah Grayson, a merc who worked under Smasher. He was possibly the only person on board that didn't have eye cybernetics. I wasn't sure on this fact but I didn't want him ruining my fun by raising the alarm.

Checking the rooms on the ship quietly as I made my way across the deck, I finally discovered Grayson. He was sleeping in his room sprawled out next to a braindance wreath.

I grimace at the sight of the BD case he left out on his nightstand.

Octopus Gangbang V: The Krackening

Some things should not have been made.

I pull my silenced pistol from my inventory and I popped his head like a grape, and after a second of hesitation, snaped my fingers causing the BD to burst into flames.

One monstrosity removed.

I search around his room and uncover Johnny's pistol, and the keys to his Porsche. Out side of those items, Grayson just had a bit of money, but naught much else stored here.

Extinguishing the remaining flames so as not to set off the fire alarm, I leave Grayson's room and make my way over to the second primary target of this adventure.

Smasher's room.

If I remember correctly, you couldn't hack through the door through conventional means, so I sent a swarm of nano machines to mess with the unlocking mechanism.

The door slid open smoothly, allowing me to step inside.

The inside of the room looked almost like an armory for a high-end Corpo. The walls were decorated with many different weapons and cyberware, along with a couple of pieces of high-end equipment.

Smasher's center piece of this room however, was his spare body. In a glass caser at the back, resided a full chrome body minus the head, filled to the absolute brim with cyberware and weaponry.

Tearing my eyes away from the armor, my eyes alight on the computer. Was Smasher reckless enough to leave his "work" computer out for little old me to take advantage of?

Plugging a shard containing Yggdrasil into the computer, I wait for a moment and I started to receive streams of data from the computer. Bank account information, weapon stashes and hideouts, but the most important thing that I gained access to, was basic access to the Arasaka network.

My grin was in full blast now as I removed the shard from the computer and returned it back to normal. I wonder what would happen if I fed this information to Militech, or better yet, a Blackwall AI? Whatever I did with the data, it would definitely work to my advantage.

I turn back to the rest of the room. Time to return to my original purpose.

Grabbing weapons, armor, ammunition, turrets, basically anything not nailed down, I nicked the entire office save the computer, and stuffed my spoils into my inventory.

Walking out of the room, I start combing the ship and stealing anything that might be remotely useful to Smasher.

After an hour or two of this I bring my looting to an end and start heading towards the crane to retrieve the crate containing Johnny's car.

On the docks, I notice that all of the Maelstromers were gathered up in front of a tall armored figure.

Adam Smasher

Lvl-296

Arasaka Bodyguard

Emotions: Livid

Traits: Psychotic

I could hear his voice from here; "YOU FUCKS MEAN TO TELL ME, THAT GRAYSON IS DEAD, AND YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW IT HAPPENED?! I OUGHT TO SKIN YOU BRAINDEAD TWEAKERS ALIVE FOR YOUR INCOMPITENCE!" he screamed at the hapless Maelstromers.

My dilemma was thus, I still needed to steal the car, but I didn't want to waste the extra effort of having to make my way around any additional security they may set-up. I also didn't want to run the risk of them moving the car to a different hideout. I wonder . . . . .

I started calculating the distance between me and Smasher. I'm fairly certain that he could flat out ignore most of my conventional weaponry, so I'll have to take a different route.

Raising my hood to conceal my face, and reducing the risk in case a bystander doesn't have cybereyes, I start activating my rage perks.

Although this time I have a new perk to add to the mix. I quickly count the Maelstromers getting yelled at by Smasher.

Twenty-six.

I might need a shovel after I'm done with him.

Perk Activated

[Apex Daddy's Home]

When arriving at the scene of a little sister/ally in distress or a home base under attack, your rage will eclipse that of legend. This enables you to keep fighting until all enemies have been neutralized. Grants a Rage multiplier based off of initial number of enemies engaged.

Temporary stats

STR 18,330,000

DEX 18,005,000

END 21,320,000

"Sorry Smasher, but this is my ship now." I mutter before activating a final perk.

[Full Throttle]

Enables you to go from a standing start to max speed in an instant.

The container I'm standing on buckles as I launch myself at Smasher, a grin forming on my face.

He's a big boy so he should be able to take this.

[Time Skip]

[The Afterlife]

He could not handle it.

Upon contact with my fist, Smasher's chest armor crumpled around my fist and he was launched through several buildings.

The remaining Maelstromers were more than happy to disappear after my initial assault. I was fine letting them go, they weren't my target after all.

I follow Smasher's progress through eight separate warehouses before I come across his body.

He lost all of his limbs on the trip, plus part of his lower torso. His head was barely attached to his body and shooting sparks everywhere.

I slapped a communication jammer on the remains and piled it up by the unloading area for easy retrieval. Then after offloading Johnny's car from its box, I stick the torso in the back and the rest of him in my inventory.

Now, I was walking up to the Afterlife, Smasher's torso dragging behind me.

A silent crowd parts around me as I walk down the steps to the club. I cheerfully wave at the Bouncer Emmerick as he gawks at me and I walk past into the bar.

"Hey Tavish, what are you up-." Claire began to greet me before noticing just who I was dragging in.

"Rogue! Christmas has come early this year, so I brought you a little present!" I cheerfully called as I approached her booth.

"Fucking hell, that's Smasher!" Weyland exclaimed, causing the rest of the bar to fall silent, finally noticing the elephant in the room.

Rouge was eying over the head and torso that I was dragging behind me, not saying a word.

"You threw a party with Smasher and you didn't invite me?! Tavish, I am truly hurt. How could you not bring me to such a joyous occasion?!" Shaitan bemoaned.

"Its not my fault that he decided to show while I was nicking his shit." I protest.

"And why were you "Nicking his shit" as you so eloquently put it" Weyland asked in exasperation.

"Stress relief?" I offered causing Shaitan to laugh.

"How the hell did you even find out he was in town?" Rouge asked, finally moving closer to examine the psychotic merc.

"I didn't find out he was in town. I found out that he has a safe house in town where he stashed his stuff, so I decided to relieve him of it. If it wasn't real, no biggie. But if it was real, I'd have a good story to tell later." I returned holding him up for Rogue to examine better.

"R-R-Rouge!" The barely functioning head shorted out, causing Rouge to start.

"Fuck! He's still alive!" She exclaimed, jumping back.

"Yep! We became best buddies on our trip over here. I slapped a jammer on his gear, cutting off his connection from Uncle 'saka, and he's been sharing all of his dirty little secrets with me!" I cheerfully inform.

"I will mount your balls on my mantle you filthy ape!" I hear the chrome head sputter out.

Rouge starts chuckling before devolving to full blown laughing at the insanity of our interaction.

[Interlude: Scav's in Space: The Birth of Captain Chromebeard!]

"Space."

"The final frontier."

"A vast uncharted expanse that humanity continues to expand out into."

"Unfortunately, with humanities expansion, come its dangers."

"Jedediah Chromebeard, is one of these dangers."

"He sets out from Earth with his motley crew to burn and pillage his way to infamy."

"Join him, as he sets sail across the galaxy."

"Diverse Media Systems is proud to present; The Chronicles of Chromebeard!"

I grin as I watch the commercial for my new show. It was already rated as one of the top five anticipated shows of the year, outstripping Watson Whore by a huge margin.

I've already shot the first season of the show, so all I was waiting for was its debut for the world to see.

They're already talking about putting me on a talk show with Ziggy Q! Plus hundreds of endorsement deals are coming down the pipe allowing me to pad out my account nicely.

Life was getting good, I just had to ensure nothing was going to fuck it up.

[Interlude 2: Samurai]

[Johnny's POV]

I continued to walk around the data fortress that had served as my prison for the last eternity.

After Saburo strapped his do-hicky to my head, I've been trapped here in this world of ones and zeros.

Arasaka occasionally let me out as part of their tests for the Relic, but I was always stuffed back in here when they were done with me.

I learned of Mikoshi, the prison containing the minds of hundreds of individuals, and I attempted time and time again to break out, or at least damage the prison irreversibly.

But there were too many safeguards, and I wasn't net savvy enough to bypass them. So I was eventually caught and sent back to my prison.

I felt the pull as I was uploaded into another body.

Great, looks like old man Arasaka wanted to gloat some more.

As my senses gradually returned to me, my eyelids opened to see the grinning face of some redheaded fuck.

"Wake the fuck up Samurai. We've got a city to burn." He stated, still grinning like a loon.

I glance around at my surroundings. We're obviously in a lab somewhere, but I'm not in restraints like usual.

I spot a cigarette case sticking out of his top pocket.

"Can I get a smoke." I ask, feeling the hankering start to return.

He reached down and passed me the case and a lighter and waits for me to light up proper before taking one himself.

We sat in silence for a bit before I finally asked; "Alright, now that's out of the way. Mind telling me what the fuck some random shit head is draggin' my ass back from the grave." I question.