Chapter 7: Night Owl

Chapter 7: Night Owl

The first thing that hit me when I woke up was the dull throbbing pain in my head and how dry my eye sockets felt.

I guess that’s what happens when you plug a chip into the brain and replace your eyes...

Thankfully, I could see and my vision was much better than before, as if I had switched a video from 480p to 1440p. There was also something else in my vision, a HUD. Off in the corner was ‘Settings’, and when I focused on it, a new menu appeared.

“Mr. Halls, I am glad to see you awake. Please wait here while I notify Dr. Keyes,” I glanced over at the woman who had addressed me. She was well-dressed impeccably in a light grey suit, complemented by a skirt in matching colors. Before I could reply to her, she exited the room.

I massaged my temples in an attempt to treat my headache and looked around. I realized they had moved me to a smaller room, similar in size to the one where I did my eye exams.

After five minutes, Dr. Keyes returned holding a small paper bag.

“Mr. Halls, how are you feeling?”

“Like a hangover, and could also really use some eyedrops.”

“No need to worry, Mr. Halls. This is normal for your first time installing optics. You should make a full recovery in a week. Here are some painkillers while you recover, I included the dosage instructions inside.”

Dr. Keyes handed me the paper bag. Inside was a small container with some green pills. I immediately took one, desperate to relieve the pain while I listened to him.

“Now let us test your new cybernetic vision enhancement and secretarial assistant implant device.” The doctor gestured me over to a screen that had various symbols on it, exactly like an eye exam.

“Focus on the glyphs there and see if you have any issues zooming in and out.”

The doctor made me do various exercises where I tried out the features of my new eyes, including night vision and thermal vision.

Some better models would have better definitions from greater distances. Some could highlight hostiles and potential weapon systems as well.

“Good, now open up your secretarial assistant program. You should be able to see your Nova Tech Stars Mk.4 and Zenitech Hoth Mk.3 itself listed there. It will be where you can find the status of all the cybernetics you have installed.”

I verified what the doctor showed me, which didn’t take too long because the SAID allowed me to navigate its menus with just a thought.

It was quite strange having my intentions read and being able to text with my mind.

After the doctor completed the diagnostics, I was finally free to leave, after I had made my payment, of course.

Once I got home, I stuffed myself with food and jumped into my bed before I opened my status screen.

Status

Level:

1

EXP:

90/100

Musculoskeletal:

11

Neural Reflex:

15

Visuomotor Coordination:

12

Endurance:

8

Sensory Perception:

37

Upgrade Points:

0

Upgrades:

Stealth +3Hacking +3

I looted any guns and valuables off of my kills and found the unconscious couple’s wallets with their corpo IDs in them. They were low-level employees who worked at Amazing Corp, one of the largest corp that dealt in military equipment.

I confirmed how my aim was with the first target, noting the woman had two gunshot wounds in the chest.

The guy I had shot also had a Nova Tech-branded cyberarm, but appeared to be a really old model. I thought about taking it so I could sell it, but it sounded like a lot of work, lugging around an arm and finding someone to buy it when the returns on it weren’t that great. I decided to leave it and continued on.

I found four pistols and the baton, so I left two of them with the couple assuming they were theirs, and enough credits for them to get home, just in case they couldn’t access their SAIDs.

Once I was done, I calmly walked out of the area and returned to the roof.

Although Elevate City had a great concentration of wealth with the support of the space elevator, it also brought along its own issues with crime and wealth disparity.

There were a ton of kidnappers looking to make some quick cash through ransoming, harvesting organs and cybernetics, or selling people for corporate experiments, which was probably what happened earlier.

I settled in my spot on the rooftop and opened up my status while I continued to keep a lookout over the surrounding area.

Status

Level:

2

EXP:

10/200

Musculoskeletal:

11

Neural Reflex:

15

Visuomotor Coordination:

12

Endurance:

8

Sensory Perception:

37

Upgrade Points:

2

Upgrades:

Stealth +3Hacking +3

Enhancements:

SAID: Zenitech Hoth Mk.3

Optics: Nova Tech Stars Mk.4

It was reassuring to see that I had finally leveled up, and I got two upgrade points from it as well. I thought I would only get one, which made it a pleasant surprise. It also confirmed that none of my other stats went up from leveling up, which was a shame. Good thing I wasn’t planning on becoming a superman, anyway.

As much as I wanted to invest my new points into something that would help me safely make money, I knew that increasingly my ability to level up as safely as possible came first. Taking that into consideration, I dumped both points into stealth.

Once again, a wealth of knowledge entered my mind, as if someone uploaded textbooks directly into my brain. The strange part was that it felt like the new knowledge came with the muscle reflexes as well, which made my body feel like a puppet on strings, though that uneasiness went away as fast as it came.

Not long after I returned to the rooftop, I noticed a police cruiser and an armored vehicle marked with Amazing Corp’s logo pulling up by the alley where the couple were. It seemed like the jammer thing the guy was talking about was undone. Lucky them.

With the presence of the police vehicle nearby, I decided to roam around the other desolate parts of town to try my luck elsewhere.

Not even fifteen minutes had passed since I was strolling around aimlessly when I spotted some guy stun-gunning a drunk who was puking his guts out.

Hopefully, it will stay this easy to find them for the rest of the night.