Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

I set my tools down, and took a step back from my newest invention. I was half between calling it the Graviton Chamber or the Gravitonator. The latter had a nice ring to it, but the former would probably look better in official documents. Regardless, I was quite proud of this little beauty.

Basically, I had an issue with compressing substances using my current gear. The thought occurred to me back when I got the Graviton Bolt that I could use gravity itself as the compression tool instead of a traditional hydraulic press. That little brainchild eventually grew into the complex machinery sitting on the table in front of me.

I ran my hand down the sleek framework of the Gravitonator. It sounded like a weapon, but it was so much more than that. It was the path toward the future—or I hoped so anyway. It’s been pretty expensive. I dumped over a million rayn worth of materials into the project to get it up and running. Most of that was into the gravitic. The chamber used more of the stuff than an entire flyer.

It looked a bit like four micro cranes all pointed into each other… actually, now that I thought of it, it looked quite a bit like my Imbuement setup. Or the upgraded variant I’d been meaning to make, anyway.

I tossed a rough aluminum ball into the air, and then dropped it into the middle of the chamber. It stopped midair instead of hitting my table, and was totally caught by a weak gravitational force that held it suspended.

With a flick of a switch, warning lights flashed across the limbs of the Gravitonator. Holographic hazard bannisters erupted to life around the central chamber. It was a little safety feature I added in after I nearly lost my hand—and the rest of my body soon after—to the intense gravitational field generated by my not so nice little buddy.

Once everything was in place, I adjusted a dial on the detached control panel. The aluminum ball instantly compressed in on itself. In barely a second, the rough edges of the ball were turned into an entirely smooth, shiny sphere. It continued to compress and shrink down on itself until the head-sized ball shrunk to a perfectly smooth sphere about the size of my fist.

I turned it off before it could go further, and the ball sagged in the weak gravitational field holding it up. “Success!”

I quickly jotted down a few notes, and scratched out trial number. It only took 3498 attempts and no sleep for two days, but I finally did it! I pulled the ball out, and held it up into the light. Unlike the roughly 3000 other balls of aluminum scattered around my workshop, this one was the true winner.

”Now that it’s finally done…” I muttered to myself, and shuffled over to the materials I had prepped and waiting. My gravitic metal was within reach! Once I had it, I could take over the whole world! Mwahahahaha—

Ding! Ding!

My evil cackle was cut off as an alarm on my phone started to ring. Was it really time? So soon? I thought I had a couple more days until then… I lifted my phone, and eyed the date. Did I say I hadn’t slept for two days? Um, actually, it was four? When did that happen? Those military-grade stimulants I got from the Crusade really weren’t a joke…

I dragged a hand down my face. I didn’t even feel tired. That was probably for the best considering my next appointment. I unwillingly turned off all my machines, and headed back for the lift up to the speakeasy. In between breaks to brainstorm, I finally finished up the passage going all the way up to my hidden bar.

I stopped just short of the lift, and looked back toward my Gravitonator sadly. I was so close… and yet so far. Real world matters needed me, though. I shook my head, and hit the switch to leave.

— — —

So this was the place, huh? I checked the Mapp once more, and frowned. I expected… I dunno? Something more traditional? I stared at the metal warehouse in the middle of Little Yukoto. I imagine the Fang had put quite a bit of money into this, so why was their dojo like this? I thought it’d be some majestic temple on top of a building like Fox, not a modern warehouse.

Wait, didn’t Shinobu say there was an elevator? My frown deepened as I went through my internal map of the city. There was a massive chamber underneath the warehouse. Could it be—?

“No way, right?” I excitedly moved toward the warehouse. Was it a hidden subterranean dojo? That totally took the cake if I was right.

I approached the front entrance of the warehouse, and was immediately stopped by a group of gangers hanging around a flaming trashcan. One of them, with a bat slung over his shoulder like he was about to bash some skulls in, spat off to the side. “Move along.”

”I’m with the Fang.” I rifled through my pocket for my phone, and held up a verification badge Shinobu sent me. “Shinobu told me to come here.”

The man eyed the badge, then dropped the bat off his shoulder. His ferocious glare instantly melted into a warm smile. “A friend of the Fang is always welcome… though you better get the code right. The elevator’s a deathtrap otherwise.”

Oh, so nothing new. “Thanks for the warning.”

”Mhmm.” He waved the bat off his shoulder like it weighed nothing. “Let her through!”

I moved between the gangers, and slipped into the warehouse. It was entirely empty, and bare of even a hint of dust. A single elevator raised up out of the middle of the warehouse. Despite the shabby surroundings, the elevator doors were ornate and depicted flying dragons crossing over each other. This was definitely the place.

I stepped into the elevator, and sent a pulse of Technical Expertise. He wasn’t kidding when he said this thing was a death trap. Outside of the cameras, turrets, and deployable spikes, the elevator even had an explosive charge powerful enough to wipe out the entire shaft if need be.

With a renewed sense of respect for how seriously they took security, I keyed in the code Shinobu sent me. After a moment, an indicator light turned green over the security keypad, and it slid aside to reveal two buttons. One was up, and the other was down. Not like there was much of an option.

For once, the elevator ride down went entirely smoothly. Sure, there was some hitching here and there, but my gremlin seemed to be resting for the day. I got down without facing my imminent demise in a grisly ‘accident’. There was even jaunty music that played all the way down. The music sounded familiar, but right as I was about to recognize the song, the tune would swap to something else.

The elevator dinged, and the elevator doors slid back to reveal a massive cavern. Waterfalls poured down from the back wall and condensed into streams that flowed through a large pavilion. Elevated training platforms sat around the place lit up by flickering lanterns. Metal clashed on metal from several of them as Jade Fang members practiced their craft.

At the center of it all sat the dojo itself. It was a freestanding pavilion that reached from the base of the cavern all the way to the roof like some kind of forbidden temple. Chains attached to the building streamed down across the cavern holding various lanterns that flickered with bright fire.

The back wall of the cavern, bracketed by the waterfalls, held a massive jade dragon coiling along the rock. It was made out of some kind of green fire. It glowed under Aetherial Perception, so it was definitely magical in nature. Probably just some kind of eternal flame like the artificial sun in the Dragoon Saloon if I had to guess.

This place put my workshop under the speakeasy to shame. I needed to take some notes. For one, the scale was absolutely insane. What looked like natural rock pillars supported the majority of the cavern, and the main building itself acted like one major structural support. Under Weakness Wrangler, the biggest weakness was actually the rock wall right around the waterfalls rather than one of the support pillars.

A man just outside the elevator doors dressed in a kimono stood up from where he’d been meditating in front of burning incense. “I do not recognize you.”

”I should hope not.” I still had Master of Disguise up and active. “Shiro Tsukuyomi… I was told I could be taught the blade here.”

”Shiro Tsukuyomi you say…” The man nodded his head a few times. “Ah yes, Master Yoshi said something about you coming in today. He awaits you in the main pavilion.”

”Thank you.” I bowed slightly to the man, and moved on through an elevated pathway toward the main building inside the majestic cavern.

Below the walkway, Jade Fang members sparred with live blades in recessed fighting platforms. Most of them were Kage. The heavily augmented swordsmen moved like the wind compared to the few mostly flesh Jade Fang gangers scattered around.

The doors to the main building were already open and waiting for me. Shouts echoed through the place, and originated from a block of Jade Fang doing workouts. There were about fifty of them, and they all moved with perfect synchronization like some kind of professional dance troupe. Only, the attacks they threw looked very real, and very deadly if employed on a person.

At the head of it all, standing on an elevated platform flanked by two sets of ancient looking samurai armor, stood an elderly man with a cane. He had one hand tucked behind his back, and the other resting on his cane. ‘Course, he also had a kimono on.

The moment the elder spotted me, something flashed in his eyes. I was too distant to make out what exactly it was. The elder lifted his cane into the air. “Continue without me! Fifty more repetitions.”

The block continued without so much as a missed movement like they were entirely unfazed by the elder leaving. The old man circled the block slowly, and worked his way to me. “Tsukuyomi.”

”That’s me.” I bowed my head slightly. Respect was a big thing with the Jade Fang, so I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.

”So it seems.” Master Yoshi looked me head to toe while rubbing a long, braided beard that dipped below his chest. “You are younger than Ishimaru made you out to be.”

And you’re older than Shinobu made you seem. I kept that little thought tucked away inside a cage alongside Kobold Shiro and Paranoid Shiro. “I am here to learn all the same, Master Yoshi—”

“Call me Elder Yoshi.” The man cut me off with a displeased expression. “I have not yet decided if I will take you on.”

“Chek, sorry.” What crawled into his tea and died? My lips twitched, though I managed to keep my face mostly blank. “Elder Yoshi.”

”Yosh.” The elder nodded his head slowly, and waved his cane toward me. “Come. I have set aside a training ground for your use.”

”Really?” I was getting the VVIP treatment, huh? Just what did they say about me? I fully expected to get the dregs of the dojo considering my nature as a mostly outsider.

”Why would I mislead you?” He started walking off toward a side exit, and I quickly followed after him. I had to slow my steps to keep up with his aged, but steady, pace.

The side door exited out into a small courtyard on the side of the main dojo. Racks of wooden weapons lay scattered around alongside dozens of wooden targets and mannequins.

“Ten thousand slashes.” Elder Yoshi sagely rubbed his white beard, and lifted his head slightly. “Yes, that will do.”

That many? Why? I didn’t even know how to properly throw a single slash. Wouldn’t this just cement my bad form? “Ten thousand? What happened to training—“

“If you can not even do this much, then can you persevere through the way of the blade?” His aged voice radiated wisdom. Or maybe I was just looking into things given the vibe of this place. “Begin.”

He may radiate wisdom, but that didn’t mean I’d just trust him willy nilly. ”Elder, I don’t see the point of this. I don’t even know how—“

”The path of ten thousand steps begins with a single one.” The elder reached over to a rack of wooden practice blades, and tossed me one. “I will formulate a training regimen based on how you perform."

I caught the practice blade, and glared down at the wood. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was trying to scare me off. Nah, that’s crazy. He was probably just trying to get a guess of my skill level with this. Probably.

My hands flexed around the sword. If there was one thing I was good at, it was persevering through training. Ten thousand slashes would be like the blink of an eye compared to some of the Perks I learned in the interface’s learning space. Throwing Weapon Master alone took me what felt like forever.

I grabbed the grip of the blade, and approached a wooden dummy near the edge of the grand dojo. I tried to fix up my stance as best I could given my total lack of training, and threw my first slash.

Thunk!

Wood met wood, and sent reverberations up through my hands in a painful shock. One. I fixed my posture and swung once more. Two. My hands tightened on the grip and another slash flowed out. Three. I… I was going to be here for a seriously long time, wasn’t I?