Since the Braindance Simulator was already out, Lin Mo figured it was time to use today's simulation attempt.
Unless something unusual happened, he always saved his daily sim for the evening, previewing what might occur the next day. That habit helped him plan every detail of his schedule ahead of time.
If nothing went wrong, tomorrow—Sunday—he'd be heading back to Jig-Jig Street...
—The place he once called home as a child.
[Simulation Initialized]
[Tomorrow morning, you're woken by a custom-programmed alarm clock.
You slap it to shut it off and cuddle your Troll Baby plushie, planning to snooze a bit longer.]
[Five minutes later, the alarm clock pulls out a squirt gun and blasts you in the face.
Only then do you remember that alarm clocks in 2075 have evolved into robots, and their one mission in life is making sure corpos don't waste time sleeping.]
[You get up, groggy, and enjoy a luxurious breakfast—premium synthetic cuisine crafted by a gourmet-grade food corp.
Unlike the generic street-vendor synth slop, this stuff is indistinguishable from organic ingredients—if not better.]
[You find yourself thinking: yeah… sometimes, synth food really is tastier than the real thing.
After all, it's factory-engineered to perfectly hit every taste receptor.]
[The cost? €$700. Roughly ten days' pay for the average Night City citizen.
You should probably feel a little ashamed.]
[After breakfast, you grab your katana and sidearm, strap on your holster, and summon a Delamain to head for Jig-Jig Street.]
[Eight years have passed. Your appearance has completely changed.
You're no longer the ragged street rat you once were—no one here would recognize you now.]
[You arrive at the pachinko parlor and meet Okako.
She recognizes you and, per your prior verbal agreement, sets up a contact for you.]
[She introduces you to a netrunner named Sasha Yakovleva.
She's unaffiliated, a regular at Afterlife, and extremely skilled—exactly what you're looking for.]
[You holo-call Sasha. Surprisingly, she picks up right away.
Her avatar is a cute cat. Her face is blurred, but from her voice and silhouette, she fits your XP perfectly.]
[Sasha accepts the job and seems very interested in you.
After all, what older woman wouldn't be intrigued by a handsome, well-funded little brother?]
[After the call, you chat a bit more with Okako.
She notices your gear and guesses you're getting ready to go full edgerunner, so she tosses you a small-time gig.]
[During the job, a small skirmish breaks out.
It's your first real combat experience—but thanks to your years of training, you handle it easily.]
[Later that night, you'll face another incident—tricky, but nothing you can't handle.]
[Simulation Evaluation: A Blade Drawn – First Blood.]
[Rewards: +1 Attribute Point, Minor Combat Experience, +1 Perk Point,
Basic Hacking Enhancement Module (allows one minor upgrade to a hacking software).]
At first glance, the beginning of the sim played out exactly as expected—he'd planned for most of it.
But the fight? The job? That was new.
Even better were the rewards.
+1 Attribute Point.
+1 Perk Point.
Combat XP.
A hacking module upgrade.
This was easily his best haul since the starter pack.
His previous top reward had come from the day he first used a training chip in VR—back then he earned 1 Attribute Point and some blade proficiency.
From this pattern, Lin Mo could deduce one thing:
"First-time experiences in a simulation always give the best rewards.
Repeat them, and the returns shrink fast."
But the real surprise this time?
A perk point.
He opened the simulator's database, where any new feature he encountered got auto-logged.
[Perk Points: You can allocate these to unlock and activate skill perks.]
[Current Available Perk Trees:]
Body: Locked (Attribute too low)
Reflexes:
First Strike – You often act faster than others, using peak reflexes to gain the edge.
Sense the Ambush – You get an uncanny feeling when danger is near.
Adrenaline Spike – The more wounded you are, the faster your reflexes.
Panic Evade – When you're about to blow stealth, your instincts find the best hiding spot.
...
Eyes Like a Hawk, Vision Like Fire – Your dynamic vision has surpassed human limits. Like a peregrine falcon at full dive, you detect and react at incredible speed. (+50% dynamic vision)
Heart Still as Water, Blade Fast as Lightning – You move in the cracks of time. When using a Sandevistan, your blades deal +100% damage. Nothing can withstand you.
Technical Ability: Locked
Intelligence: Locked
Cool: Locked
"These are just like the skill trees in the game…
But there's way more here than I remember."
The simulator's system worked similarly to Cyberpunk 2077, but the scale and flexibility were clearly greater.
Back in the game, hitting 10 in an attribute didn't unlock 20 perks in one category.
Plus, this was the first time he'd ever gotten a perk point—not even the newbie starter pack gave him one.
"Better pick carefully."
He browsed through the trees.
All the non-Reflex options were still locked.
"Wait… didn't I just get an Attribute Point?"
After some thought, Lin Mo allocated it to Cool.
Body? One point wouldn't help much—it still wouldn't stop a bullet.
Intelligence? He wasn't going Netrunner. 4 was plenty.
Technical Ability? Still too low for useful skills.
Cool was the best option—especially for combat utility.
As soon as he confirmed the upgrade, a wave of new perks unlocked.
Cool:
Cold-Blooded – Stay cool in battle. Emotions won't shake your focus.
Tactical Retreat – You never panic when escaping; always find a route.
Iron Will – You ignore pain. Your combat performance remains full unless limbs are lost.
Throwing Knife Specialist – Stable throws, high accuracy. Scales with Cool.
...
Bloodthirst – Defeat an enemy to activate a buff. Stacks up to 3 times. Each stack grants +10% movement speed and +10% hand speed. Lasts 10 seconds.
Rat God Tier – When facing unexpected danger, the simulator will randomly provide an item from its database to help. ("Random" is the key word.)
So many great choices.
Regen boosts, damage buffs, defense, speed…
"God, I want them all…"
But he had to be smart.
Perk points were clearly ultra-rare.
He needed something with immediate and consistent value.
He crossed off the ones that required synergizing with other low attributes.
He also cut out stuff like Cold-Blooded—skills he could eventually learn on his own with enough experience.
But Bloodthirst?
Pure numerical buffs.
Kill someone—boom, faster moves, faster hands. Stack it. Abuse it.
This kind of skill didn't belong in a normal system.
It existed only because of the simulator's cheat-level capabilities.
There was no need to hesitate.
Bloodthirst it was.
.
.
.
📢 System Booting… Welcome, Chooms! 📢
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