Outrun - Cyberpunk LitRPG

The gun range I agreed to meet at wasn't on Blitz Base, thankfully, but it was still too close for comfort. This close to the FSA's base, the troops were everywhere. I guess it was similar to the Jade Fangs and being near Ichiban. Or any other gang, for that matter?

It was still a neonscape of advertisements and twisting holograms. The ads were quite a bit different compared to other places in the city though. They were specifically targeted toward the soldiers. Corporate social engineering at its finest.

Parking was tight, so I had to walk a pretty long way to get to the Falian Armory. When I arrived, Mira was already waiting for me by the door. Wasn't expecting her to come fetch me when I told her I was almost here.

"Took you long enough! C'mon!" She snatched my arm and tugged me into the building as soon as she saw me. "I already got a lane."

The atmosphere inside was… intense. Almost every single person in the store was a FSA soldier. They weren't in uniform, obviously, but I could just tell. Maybe it was the way they were all built? Or it could've just been the similar 'off-duty' style of simple tees and camo pants. I dunno, but we were definitely in the minority. Or rather, I was in the minority. Mira blended in perfectly with the soldiers in every way but demeanor.

It didn't seem to bother Mira. She practically dragged me to a booth on the far side of the room and handed me earmuffs. 'Course she didn't need them thanks to her audio suite. I pulled them over my ears.

Mira slapped a crate of ammunition with a giddy smirk across her face. "Usually you have to pay for the ammo, but vets and family shoot free! I just had to swi- ahem, borrow one of Pa's badges to prove my identity."

"Nice." Nope! Not even going to question how she managed to sneak off with a badge. An elephant could sneak around better than her; a heavily armored elephant with spurs attached to each foot. My uncle probably just pretended not to notice. It wouldn't be the first time, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

She already had several boxes of ammo, and shells were everywhere around the lane. It looked like she'd been shooting for an hour already before she came to get me at the door.

A rather sleek rifle sat on the table with a funky-looking barrel. The barrel had divots all along the top of it as if some slag had struck it repeatedly with a pick. Its designation was clear on the side of the weapon: KS Squire-14.

"Isn't she pretty?" Mira stroked the side of the rifle like it was a dog. "Fully automatic with a 'recoilless' barrel design. Not the best, but damn it is fun to shoot. Specifically designed for Squires of the Crusade."

"I guess." I never got her infatuation for guns. I mean, I liked them, sure, but that was because guns were effective. Even a toddler was dangerous if it had a gun.

"You wanna try?" She was practically begging me with her eyes. I was half tempted to say no just to see her expression, but that'd be too much like kicking a puppy.

I spent the next several hours shooting off and on. My hands shook the first couple of times—flashbacks to yesterday hitting me hard—but eventually that faded away. Life in Aythryn City was violent, difficult, and shitty. At the end of the day? That was simply life. The shakes faded as they always did, and I would continue as I always have.

I wasn't the best marksman in the world, but I could hit the target pretty regularly. Maybe three out of ten shots missed entirely, and the rest were scattered about. At least they were hits, though. Granted, shooting in a range and shooting in combat were very different things.

I tried out my new pistol. It was alright, but my Sidewinder was much more comfortable. The pistol I swiped has a weird fire pattern that was just too erratic comparatively. Maybe with more use I could like it? For now, Sidewinder life for me.

Mira's rifle though? Terrible. Also, the 'recoilless' barrel was a massive lie. I hit maybe five bullets out of a mag in automatic, and slightly better with semi. Yeah, my accuracy was horrendous to the point Mira was making fun of me. To be fair, she had the right. Her accuracy was miles above mine.

Every time we swapped, she would cleanly put the entire magazine into the target as if it were effortless. Her technique sat so far above mine that I doubted I would catch up even with the help of the interface. But what else could I expect from a military brat? She'd practically been shooting since she could walk.

Speaking of the interface; at no point while I was shooting or after did I get a message. It was dead silent. At least, till I caused mischief. Yep, I finally got around to that dang request from the Request Board. It was easier than I thought it would be and didn't require nuking a tower.

After Mira went to go get more ammo, I manually adjusted the sights to be just a little off-target. She was so confused when she tried to fire and missed over half the mag. Sure, she nearly bruised my face when she checked the sights, but the look of pure confusion on her face was just- there was nothing like it.

Mischief was quite fun, assuming it was kept to a certain line, of course. Fortunately, she stopped letting me play with her new gun after that. It was starting to hurt my shoulder anyway, so that was fine.

Anyway, it was pretty fun and relaxing all things considered. I left her, still shooting like a maniac, by the time night started to fall. Of course, my pockets were mysteriously heavier and the ammo tins were oddly emptier than the leftover shells would suggest.

— — —

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox's Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Skill Points: 1

Tracking - 4

1 Perk Point

Stealth - 6

Fox's Paw

Perception - 3

Melee Weapons - 1

Sleight of Hand - 7

Hidden Hands

Firearm - 1

First Aid - 1

Evasion - 1

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Deception - 1

Criminology - 1

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Brawling - 1

Request Board」

I settled onto my rather uncomfortable bed and glanced through the interface. I had two major decisions laid out before me. Best to get the known side of the interface done first. It'd hopefully be easier.

The pavilion changed quite a bit since the last time I was here. The amount of shelves in this place had nearly tripled. Sure all but one of them were dark, but it still felt nice to see the mass of shelves. It was a visual representation of my accomplishments, however small they were.

I moved over to the flickering flame illuminating Tracking's shelf and read through the list of scrolls. Most of them were only effective in the wilderness, so they were chopped. I was a city dweller through and through. That likely would never change. I picked one that could double down on what I was good at.

「Stalk - You are less likely to be noticed out of peripheral vision.

Stealth 4」

It was quite intriguing. There were other Perks like it of course, but this was my first time picking a Perk that had cross-skill requirements. Stealth needed to be level four, which it was.

I grabbed the scroll and took it over to the easel. It unrolled into a painting of a forest. Deep in the forest, obscured by the darkness, two cat-like eyes caught the glint of the moon. A chill curled up my spine-

I found myself lying in bed once more like it was all a dream. Nothing felt different. It was on the interface though, so its effects were probably active?

I tested it with a mirror. It was a bit harder to see myself in my peripherals? It felt almost as if my brain wanted to glaze past my presence like it was just part of the background. I wasn't sure if it was just a placebo effect, or if it was actually the Perk working. I also knew it should be working, which might also lessen its effects.

I tested it a bit more before moving back to bed. Onto the Skill Point. Just thinking about it brought up the list of skills, which also included quite a few at level zero. Everything from art to explosives sat on the exhaustive list of zeros. There was a little plus sign next to each of them, and the method of using the Skill Point couldn't be clearer.

What skill should I upgrade? The obvious choices were Sleight of Hand, Driving, and Perception. All of which would instantly give another Perk. Was I better off using the point on something a bit harder to level? Or should I ignore that and double down on my strengths?

Think, Shiro; what would be the hardest skill to level up? Most of the ones already on the interface were obtained naturally, so there shouldn't be as much difficulty leveling them up. I should get one that I didn't have then? Or one that I likely wouldn't ever get? That would be the most cost-effective solution.

What to get though? There were so many 'useless' skills, like Dancing and Instruments. Heck, there was even a skill for accounting. Most of the useful ones seemed like a pain to get.

Net seemed like a good one, it having to do with everything Net-based, and yet I didn't have a cyberdeck to capitalize on it. That was a similar problem throughout the rest of the Skills. They were good, but I wouldn't be able to use them. Others were simply useless to me, like the ones regarding magic knowledge.

Hmm… how about Tech? Maybe it came from my family? I'd always been interested in tech stuff. Not to mention the world was filled with technology. I never had a place to start, but this could be it? I could probably get another Skill Point for something else through the Request Board later too.

I mentally tapped the plus sign-

A sense of vertigo hit me. My surroundings changed instantly into a dark space. A rather large fabrication sat in the middle of the room, preset with an already blinking terminal. A quill rotated casually on the screen.

「Complete the task.」

Dammit, Shiro! Something long again?!

-- -- --

I munched on a greasy taco and leaned against the wall of my cargo container. I didn't even care that the synth meat was only half-cooked. One of the worst migraines in my life had rolled in, and it wasn't the type of thing Quick Healing could take care of. I tried.

Getting Tech from zero to one had been a slog and a half. I didn't just have the knowledge downloaded into my head, unfortunately. I had to manually learn about technology, how it worked, and how to repair it.

Sure it was in a time-dilated space and there was nothing else to lose concentration on, but damn did it suck to come out of the darkroom and get hit with a face full of sunlight. Not to mention my head throbbed with the sheer amount of knowledge squeezed into it.

On the bright side, I knew more about Tech than I ever thought I would. Nothing complicated or advanced, more so just toe-dip knowledge. One percent of a million was still quite a bit though.

Most of the information was simply about safety and how some common stuff worked. It was tedious, but actually pretty interesting. Well, interesting except for the parts about blueprints. That shit sucked.

One thing in particular I thought was cool was a layman's rundown on modern vehicles' thermoelectric engines and how they worked with AE3. I never knew much about the internal workings of my dirt bike, but it went deep.

Was it worth it in the end? Probably not. I didn't even have access to a large enough space to make good on my new knowledge, nor did I have the parts. I could always try and steal it, I guess. I didn't really have enough knowledge to make that worth it though.

For the future though, I had some pretty nice plans. Maybe open up a fabrication shop of some kind and get out of klepping pockets for Rayn. It was realistically only a matter of time till my sticky fingers slipped into the wrong pocket and I ended up dead in an alley anyway.

An added benefit of Tech was my understanding of the Sentinel blueprints increased slightly. Slightly. They were still far too complicated to make heads or tails of other than the device's primary functions. I could point out which piece of chrome did what, and what kind of weapon each of the schematics were, but nothing more.

My phone ringed, flashing brightly. Caller ID? Bastard. "Yes, Carone?"

"I've got a gig for you. An friend needs an investigator… A subtle one. Six hundred Rayn." The annoying slag was mocking me again. Surely he knew I meant subtle as in B&E, right?

I rubbed my head. The taco had helped, but the greasy synth meat only went so far. Still, better than silage. Granted, there wasn't much worse than silage. I'm sure even raw synthmeat would do. "Okay."

"Perfect. I'll let her know you're coming." What? Why would she need to know that? And where was I going?

"What do you mean-" The line beeped a couple times. Bastard hung up on me. If he didn't pay decently, I'd want to launch a fist into the guy's face. So what if he could control fire? And probably incinerate me before I could get close… maybe not my best idea, on second thought.

My HUD flashed again; Carone sent me a location on a side street of Bukicho. A restaurant called Big Mikes. Great job, Shiro, what did you get yourself into this time?