Bab 41: Chapter 41: Beyond The Ordinary
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Chapter 41: Beyond The Ordinary
...........
The only good news was that X is about to have his Cyberdeck installed, finally a breather... Maybe?
"How's biz?" Vik asked.
"Good," X responded as he rested on the surgical station, "The Tyger Claws are a bit annoying. A day doesn't pass by where they don't fuck themselves up, thus having to come to my clinic."
"Free of charge, I assume... The price of having a backer," Vik nodded, "I heard you give free treatments every Monday, what's that about?"
"Nothing much to say, just beneficial, gives me experience quickly, and I want to help," X explained.
"Must lose you a lot of eddies," Vik pointed out, "But good on you."
"Surprisingly, not much," X shook his head and clarified, "Time is money, so it does lose potential eddies that way, but otherwise, not much."
"Most patients have health issues. Their issues' source is usually their cyberware. They also can not maintain them 'cause they're broke, so they just want them taken out."
"I recycle them, sometimes fix them if possible, and make some returns, so yeah, not that bad," X continued.
They chatted a bit more until Vik fully prepared for the operation, the operation for installing the internal cyberdeck.
Internal cyberdecks require a Ripperdoc for installation due to the complexity and risks involved.
The procedure is intricate, involving both neurosurgery and high-tech calibration to ensure the deck integrates seamlessly with the nervous system.
X was taking a step deeper into Night City's shadows, and Vik, as always, was the one trusted enough to guide him through it.
Vik adjusted the armrests, angling them to keep X as comfortable as possible, then fastened a head brace around X's skull.
"All right," Vik said, his voice shifting into a steady rhythm, as though he were already halfway into the procedure.
He held up a syringe filled with a sedative, the amber liquid swirling as he angled it toward X's neck.
"This will dull the nerves around the spine. After that, you'll feel a pinch, but nothing worse than your average hangover." Vik assured, "I know you can not feel much pain, but this is necessary."
"I know," X didn't disagree, "You've told me before. The sedative isn't for me. It's for you."
As the needle slid in, X felt a faint pressure, a chill that rolled down his neck and through his shoulders.
He made the first incision at the base of X's skull, exposing the slender line of his spine.
With a careful hand, Vik positioned the Netwatch Netweaver MK.V, a sleek, compact device that would connect directly to X's nervous system.
The process was precise. Vik inserted a neural conduit, a slender, flexible filament of conductive fibers, linking the Netweaver to X's brain.
"Almost there," Vik said, his voice calm. He began threading wires through the connection points, each one sending a ripple of sensation along X's spine.
Despite the numbness, he could feel faint vibrations, the hum of the cyberdeck as it powered up for the first time.
With the main unit in place, Vik moved to the calibration stage. He flicked a switch on the side of the deck, and X's mind buzzed as a cascade of lights exploded behind his closed eyelids.
His senses sharpened, and for a second, he felt as though his consciousness had stretched beyond his body, dancing on the edge of something vast and electric.
His mind flared, synapses lighting up as the deck initialized, syncing with his brain waves.
"You're going to feel a little jolt," Vik said, pressing a few commands into his monitor. "It's normal; just the deck finding its way around your neurons."
The jolt hit him, a burst of sensation flooding his mind as the Netweaver calibrated itself to his neural patterns.
He felt the deck scanning through his thoughts, connecting, integrating; becoming a part of him.
His vision swirled, shifting from clarity to static as the calibration phase was completed, and then, suddenly, everything settled.
When he opened his eyes, the world looked... different. Crisper. As though a layer of fog had been lifted, and every detail, every shadow, every whisper of light was sharpened to a razor's edge.
Vik leaned over him, peering into his eyes. "How are you feeling?"
X's mouth was dry, but he managed a smile. "Like I'm seeing the world for the first time."
Vik chuckled, shaking his head as he cleaned his tools. "Don't get too used to it. You'll be seeing a lot more of cyberspace than the real world now. This deck is top of the line; don't waste it."
X sat up slowly, feeling the unfamiliar weight of the cyberdeck at the base of his skull, yet it felt... right. A part of him, as natural as his own spine.
The room felt different, alive with invisible layers of data he hadn't sensed before. Lines of code flickered at the edges of his vision, hints of the Net's web around him.
Vik gave him a firm pat on the shoulder, his gaze steady. "This isn't a toy; be smart with it. You've got real power now, X, but you're still flesh and blood under that chrome."
His words resonated, grounding X in a strange new reality where his mind was now part machine, part man.
As X stepped out of Vik's clinic and into the neon-lit streets of Japantown, the world seemed to shimmer with layers of invisible data, every detail sharper, clearer, like someone had peeled back a hidden veil.
Lines of code and data tags floated in his periphery, pointing out security cameras, locked doors, and surveillance drones overhead.
Each piece of tech had a faint aura, tiny trails of code radiating off them like smoke, only visible to his newly heightened senses.
He could see access points everywhere; on shop doors, streetlights, vehicles, and even the occasional passerby with a clunky, outdated cyberdeck or unshielded interface.
They all glowed, practically calling to him, showing him what he could breach, control, or bypass.
There was a faint thrill running through his veins, a sense of boundless potential, as though he could reach out and pull information straight from the air.
He could see the intricate lattice of data as if it were painted in light, giving him direct insight into the inner workings of his surroundings.
The possibilities buzzed in his mind: he could hijack a camera, loop the feeds, control a vehicle, dig deep into corporate servers without even leaving his chair.
The rush was addictive, a whisper of power at his fingertips. As he moved through the crowd, he felt that he could dismantle the world around him, piece by piece, code by code, until it was laid bare before him.
And for the first time, X felt that he truly understood Night City; not just its people and its streets, but its very core, woven from steel, data, and electric pulses, waiting for him to bend it to his will.
No... I am getting too ahead of myself. I can not bend anything to my will just yet. Focus and practice.
Thus, X walked back home, keeping his down, his mind still buzzing as he adapted to the new World he now sees.
Japantown was as cozy as usual, especially his little apartment. X lit up the candles by the couch, then went on to make himself some tea.
"How did it go?" Joi appeared behind him, hugging him intimately as she asked.
"Good, I think. I have yet to diagnose myself," X responded, letting the water boil as he turned around, eyeing Joi.
Joi took a step back before performing a graceful spin, "How do I look?"
She did look different, a different hair color that mimics X's, blonde. She wore white lightweight casual palazzo pants. She complimented them with a white tucked-in sleeveless shirt.
X sized her up strangely, from top to bottom, approaching her and reaching out to her illusionary gorgeous face, "You look real."
"Real? I'd thought you'd say the opposite now that you can see me?" Joi was surprised.
She looks normal if he only eyes her with his organic eye. However, looking at her now with his cyber eye is a very different experience.
Joi looked like a solid infrastrcture of Data, all working together to make her who she is, mostly seamlessly.
"It's exactly because I can see you that you feel more real," X released a faint smile as he added, "It's a pleasure to finally see you, Joi."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
VQuintessence
VQuintessence Make sure to check my Patre.on out if you want to support me and want to read advanced chapters: Patre.on.com/VQuintessence
[22 Chapters in Advance on Patre.on]
Bab 42: Chapter 42: The Deep Dive I
Make sure to check my Patre.on out if you want to support me and want to read advanced chapters: Patre.on.com/VQuintessence
[22 Chapters in Advance on Patre.on]
Chapter 42: The Deep Dive I
...........
The faint light of dawn sneaked in through the windows of X's Japantown apartment.
The natural light of dawn illuminated the small apartment, not that it needed much light.
The several lights coming from X's devices were enough of a source of light, the apartment's personal computer, laptop, and tablet, all were lit up.
X had his interface plug linked to his laptop, writing some scripts while taking sips of tea.
He surprisingly slept all night, getting plenty of rest. He had to before deep diving into the Net.
Still, he woke up early as usual, prepared some water and let it boil while he showered, then made himself some tea, and got to work.
It wasn't time for a deep dive just yet. There is still some work to be done on his cyberdeck.
Remember that a cyberdeck is just an operation system. It's a foundation on which you can build either a small house or a skyscraper.
X focused on fortifying the cyberdeck's security by installing an advanced firewall, creating a first line of defense against hostile programs.
Rather than relying on standard protocols, X coded custom layers that target specific ICE threats, such as Hellhounds and Bloodhounds, which are notorious for tracking and burning intruders.
Each subsystem within his cyberdeck would have its own isolated firewall, so if a section is breached, the damage would be contained.
With these shield layers, his deck should act like a digital fortress, equipped to hold its ground in heavily defended networks.
X also developed custom daemons; specialized programs designed to suit his unique tactics and objectives.
Custom daemons could range from stealth programs to bypass alarms without detection to adaptive attack programs capable of breaking through evolving ICE defenses.
Cloaking his digital presence would be another priority, allowing him to remain undetected as he moves through data streams.
X installed signal dampeners and deployed chameleon cloaking protocols, which can continuously alter his digital signature, masking his activities in hostile networks.
This constant, low-level scramble of identifiers would make it difficult for automated security or rival Netrunners to pinpoint him.
In addition, he installed decoy daemons that can act as digital bait, distracting enemy ICE long enough for him to complete his missions.
X went through the cyberdeck's ICE again, reviewing it and looking for vulnerabilities.
There are always vulnerabilities. If you found none, then you've just not looked enough, so X kept trying to crack his personal ICE again and again.
If he succeeds, he fixes the vulnerability and tries again. The process seemed to be unending because often, the mere act of fixing a vulnerability creates another.
He had to work for hours and hours to finally make something he considered to be good enough.
"Let's begin," X took a deep breath as he stood up before his suit, a heat-resistant hybridweave netrunning suit.
It's a specialized piece of gear designed to protect Netrunners from both environmental and digital threats.
It's constructed from a blend of advanced synthetic fibers and heat-resistant materials.
That allows the suit to provide a lightweight yet durable barrier against high temperatures, shielding its wearer from burns or overheating during extended cyberdeck sessions.
To support connectivity, many hybridweave suits integrate signal amplifiers and noise-reduction features.
These components enhance the Netrunner's signal strength, improving reception and clarity, especially in areas with heavy interference.
The suit reduces digital noise, optimizing the deck's performance and enabling smoother, faster network access during complex hacking tasks, even in crowded or compromised network environments.
It's a requirement for most Netrunning jobs, so X put it on and rested on his Netrunning chair, tailored for comfort during extended sessions; reclining and adjusting his neural interface until everything felt seamless.
"Alright, Y. Get ready to capture everything you see. Z, organize the intel as it comes in and keep track of the traces," he said aloud, addressing the other personalities that dwelled within him.
With a slow exhale, he jacked in.
He may have only one cyber eye, but he needn't another to see the deep Net. He can rely on his cyberdeck which can project everything through his neuro-link interface.
The lights in X's home dimmed as he settled into his rig, slipping into netspace for the first major dive of his career.
As he initiated the connection, the world around him melted away, replaced by a pulsing, neon abyss.
Stepping through the threshold of real space into cyberspace, X felt a cold rush ripple over his skin, like a plunge into a cold pool where gravity was little more than a suggestion.
Reality dissolved, replaced by a darkened landscape bathed in faint, pulsing red.
It felt as though he'd stepped into a digital sea, an endless horizon stretching out in sharp three-dimensional clarity, reminiscent of the world seen in Tron, but tinged with Night City's grim glow.
The moment he entered, X felt the Net's weight; a peculiar density, as though he was walking through thick fog.
Shapes materialized around him in the form of angular data paths and nodes, massive, semi-transparent structures stacked like looming towers in a spectral city.
The quality of each object's rendering varied, blurring at the edges or sharpening depending on the available bandwidth of the Net's current.
Data streams flickered past, like light trails in a blood-red haze, carrying coded information to and fro in the constant flow of network traffic.
Each step was strange and surreal. His avatar, a digital construct of his form, felt both weightless and solid, like moving in zero gravity but with the added clarity of enhanced awareness.
The floor was an endless, translucent plane, a red-tinted grid stretching out as far as he could see, rippling underfoot as if it had a life of its own.
Around him, faint outlines of distant nodes and pathways glowed dimly in the red mist, hinting at the vast network beyond, hidden just out of reach.
Structures materialized around him in intricate three-dimensional forms, as though he'd stepped into a city crafted entirely of glass and neon, alive with the pulsing hum of data streaming in every direction.
The Net stretched out before him, vast and unending, a matrix of translucent towers, spiraling conduits, and shimmering corridors.
Data streams flowed like rivers of light, weaving between the towers, each thread carrying untold amounts of information to destinations far beyond Japantown.
X took it all in, marveling at the raw beauty of the Net, the sheer scale and elegance of its architecture.
Everything was fluid, yet fixed; malleable, yet powerful. Just being here made him feel alive, like he was tapping into a force few ever truly understood.
"This is where I belong," That thought rose in X's mind.
Ahead, Japantown's network loomed, taking shape as a series of fortified nodes connected by pathways that resembled dimly lit highways, twisting and stretching into the distance.
The outer edges were littered with nodes representing public surveillance feeds; small, dark-red spheres scattered along the grid.
They resembled watchful eyes, each one marking a security camera hidden in Japantown's streets.
X felt as if he was floating, cautiously approaching them, walking the unfamiliar Net... It all felt real.
Reaching out, his fingers touched a stream of data. There was an impact, if ever so slight.
The data scattered around, only to refocus itself again and continue on its way.
I am now a program. The world around me is a system. I can maneuver through that world however I want.
For example, if I give the command, I can teleport. It was instant, just as instant as the speed at which he makes commands; how he appeared hundreds of meters away.
And he didn't stop, he skipped around, seeming as if he glitches around the Net to appear elsewhere; though only staying in Japantown.
I can even do this. What he did was raise his arms, from which an endless tsunami of data flowed everywhere, so much so that it glitched a nearby camera for a few seconds.
X wasn't using any of his prepared daemons or scripts. It's his mind that's writing random data, releasing scripts the limit his brain could handle.
From what it appeared like, X's limit seemed to be unnaturally high, and the amount of control he had seemed to only be getting higher as he familiarized himself with the process.
X halted the process and started just looking around, his eyes soon falling upon a high Net architecture in the distance.
There, he appeared, at the very top, his illusionary eyes wide as he observed the entirety of Japantown's Network system.
He carefully scrutinized each and every packet of data. Though they were encrypted, he could learn something from them, from the traces they left him; to map out Japantown's Net Architecture.
X closed his eyes and basked in the sensation of what felt like absolute power, enjoying the breeze of data passing by him, and the wind sparking from collisions of data.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
VQuintessence
VQuintessence
Make sure to check my Patre.on out if you want to support me and want to read advanced chapters: Patre.on.com/VQuintessence
[22 Chapters in Advance on Patre.on]
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