章 58: Year 3 - Treasure Trove

'Before I sneak in, I have to turn on my invisibility suit, and thanks to the knowledge and cyberware I interacted with earlier, I know they won't be able to detect me while invisible. My nanites are far more advanced than the security systems in this world.' I thought to myself before hacking into any nearby cameras and making sure no one was looking before going stealth.

"I'll be back in a while, stay safe." I said to Ciri, not waiting for a response before I took off flying towards Arasaka Tower. Honestly, for a megacorporation like Arasaka, the Arasaka Tower is not much to look at. It's just a sleek black skyscraper with the logo plastered out front. As far as fictional buildings go, this one is not that great. Don't get me wrong it is sleek and stylish, but it's a little lackluster, but I suppose it makes up for it with its height.

Anyways, I decided to first go for the highest floor in the tower which has to be where the CEO's office is. Hacking into the system from there will give me the greatest chance of finding all the info I need from the get-go rather than having to go floor by floor.

Hopefully, I will also be able to get information on that secret project that holds all the copies of the people that use Arasaka's program that lets people save a copy of their soul so to speak. I know it's in the tower, but I don't remember where or how to reach it since I never finished the campaign since the game was unplayable.

Speaking of the game, it's currently 2076 so that means V should be running about right now, free of Johnny Silverhand's engram. Next year is when their life goes to utter shit, but I might do something to stop that, like plant a virus in Arasaka's system or leave a warning for Saburo Arasaka that his son is thinking of committing patricide. I'm undecided still.

As I reached the window of the highest floor, I took a look around for any cameras before turning them off. Going close to the glass to take a look inside, I see that there is no one, but to make sure I fly around the entire building to make sure. Not seeing anyone, I land on the roof before making my way to the elevator shaft, opening it, and going down to the top floor before entering.

'Step one complete. I saw the computer in the office earlier, so let me make my way over there and get that treasure.'

As I made my way to the office that had the computer I noticed that the office was also a penthouse, probably so the CEO won't have to stay in an unsecured building. The whole floor gave off an ancient Japanese house vibe, with the paper partitions and wooden floors. There was even a tree in the middle of the floor with its own koi pond and miniature garden.

'I knew the rich in this place controlled the world, but actually seeing the wealth disparity in person is insane. Not to mention this is one room in one building, and Arasaka has dozens of these buildings all over the world. Though I guess that is a little hypocritical of me considering I own half of what could be considered a megacorporation in my world, minus the killing of anyone that gets in the company's way, probably.

Even though all this technology is amazing and will help me advance my world's technology and quality of life, the overall effect on the planet won't be much. Unless the corporations are hiding things that could change the quality of the planet, things like waste processors that don't destroy the environment or salt water to drinking water machines. If I don't find anything like that here, I'll have to go to the world of Scholar's Advanced Technological System.

The variety of things created there is much greater than in Cyberpunk since most of these advancements were created for the protection of corporations and the usage in war. In that world, I remember the protagonist created a lot of useful technology that would help me help my planet and the world as a whole. The MCU is also a good option, but the Scholar's world has a much lower power level, and I don't want to get stuck in a sticky situation if I go to the MCU. I'll worry about it another time.'

Snapping out of my thoughts, I didn't even notice I had stopped making my way to the office and was rubbing my chin in thought. Quickly making my way there by flying, I first made sure there were no recording or surveillance devices of any kind in or around the office before going inside.

'Phew, fancy office. I should get myself one of these.'

Making my way towards the desk with the computer, I sat down on the chair and got to work. I interacted with the computer with my nanites before I was mentally transported to a space where I could dive through the files. This had just recently happened after interacting with a braindance machine and it made doing things like this more interesting. I didn't have to, I could just hack as they do in the movies, looking at the screen and going file by file.

The first thing I did was send out impulses to any and every server that held information related to the things I wanted so it could be downloaded. After a few minutes of information flowing into me, I came to a realization of just how big Arasaka really was. The information they had was almost too much for me to handle, but thankfully I was able to get it all without worry.

Some of the technology that they had already created would help humanity and the planet, but they didn't release it because it wouldn't make them money. I'm talking about solutions to pollution, waste processing, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, etc., and yet none of them were released because they had no merit to the corporation.

'The rich really are the reason worlds go to shit. I'm sure something similar to this has already happened and/or is happening in my world. Just another reason for me to create a company rich and powerful enough to cause real change. I definitely need to go to the Scholar world and get the tech from there, since it develops in a more realistic way compared to this cyberpunk dystopia.'

Done with getting the information on the tech that I wanted, I moved on to finding the secret project. Thankfully my technopathy was so much stronger than the security system so I was able to find the pathway leading to it after a few moments of searching. The room that held it was underground, in the basement of this building. It did have some elaborate security measures for regular people but I would be able to bypass it pretty easily.

Leaving cyberspace and getting up from the chair, I made my way to one side of the room where there was an elevator that went straight to the secret project I now know is called Mikoshi. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to fit my body in the shaft without the elevator itself being in the way, so I just rode it down while staying invisible.

Moments later the doors opened to a futuristic server room that had red lights everywhere. Making sure no one was there and any surveillance devices were turned off, I started walking up to the servers before interacting with them only getting feedback that they had no important info on them. So, I continued to make my way deeper into what I assume is the core area of the place. And sure enough, a few moments later I entered a circular room with one main server in the middle.

'Why do bad guys always design things like this? I mean it makes it so obvious that this is the most important server out of all of them. That seems like such a design flaw.' I thought while approaching the core before putting my hand on it.

'Ooh, that feels weird.' I thought as I put my free hand to my head.

The information I was receiving was more than what I had gotten earlier. This was every memory and all the knowledge of the people stored here. Politicians, scientists, rich people, all their memories flowing into me. Thankfully it was just like watching a movie, or more like multiple movies, and it will have no effect on my personality. It won't be like V with Johnny.

'I know there are more servers that connect to Mikoshi as a whole, but should I go for them as well? I feel like this is enough. Screw it, I'm already here so why not?' I thought before sending impulses to the other servers and getting the memories from the people on the other servers.

'This is definitely one technology I won't be creating in my world. Don't want to give rich people another reason to create even more wealth disparity. Rich people living forever, their empires never falling, no thanks. Well, I've got what I came for, so let's get out of here and go to the other headquarters. It's going to be a busy few days.'

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Originally I wasn't going to create this chapter and I was going to jump straight into Year 4 but I need some time to think so this is a filler of sorts. If I finish the next chapter early, I might release it today but no promises. Anyways, I came up with three nen abilities that I'm heavily considering so let me know what you think about them.

Conjuration

Hexagonal Ring

The symbol, which corresponds to a power/ability, that is facing the palm is greatly strengthened, and abilities are unable to be used with bad intent at the cost of sealing the user's ability for a year

At the cost of being unable to use the symbol opposite to the one on the palm, the power is further strengthened, and symbols are randomized after each use

At the cost of being unable to use the other symbols, the power is even further strengthened with the user experiencing immense pain as a result

Specialization

Mind Palace/Library of Knowledge/Book of Knowledge

Greatly increases learning speed and memory retention is increased to eidetic memory

Able to tap into the memories/knowledge of other people as long as certain conditions are met

Able to use memories/knowledge as attacks at the expense of forgetting the memory/knowledge used

A possible variation of this after training in Emission/Manipulation is to use memories of people he's fought before to create nen constructs

Conjuration

Scalpel

Similar to Law's abilities

Let me know what you think, I'm leaning towards the ring since someone pointed out with Universal Body, he could go to Harry Potter and get the mind palace technique from there. They all need some more refining like more limitations to make them stronger, so keep in mind they might change a bit for the final version.