Padre, originally named Sebastian Ibarra.
He was one of the most famous fixers in Night City’s Heywood district, had a background with the Valentinos, and maintained a good relationship with Jackie Welles.
Many of Jackie’s gigs came from Padre, and this time was no exception.
“Hey, Jackie.
Didn’t expect you to move so fast.
You really are a reliable mercenary.
And you, L.
Long time no see.
How’ve you been lately?” Seeing the two arrive, Padre greeted them warmly.
“Not bad.
I’m preparing to open a ripperdoc clinic, and the preparations are pretty much done.”
“Then congratulations on starting your own business.
Where’s the clinic located?”
“Japantown.”
“What a pity.
If you had come to Heywood, I definitely would’ve recommended those kids to give you their business.”
“There’s no shortage of business anywhere.”
“Fair enough.”
Loki exchanged pleasantries with Padre.
Over the past two years, Loki had taken on many gigs alongside Jackie and was fairly familiar with Padre.
Padre was quite appreciative of the young man.
After a brief chat, they handed over the retrieved cyberware to Padre and received their payment for the gig.
Loki received two thousand eddies—mainly because he had taken the rest of the cyberware, leaving the lion’s share of the payout to Jackie.
Loki got on his motorcycle and rode through the night streets of Night City, planning to head home for a good rest.
Just then, a message popped up on his system.
[Dear Mr.
L, your shop in Japantown has been renovated according to your specifications.
Please inspect and accept the site at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for choosing Night Corp’s renovation team!]
*Oh?
They finished it already?
Good timing—I can go install the modules and look into Stim production.*
Upon receiving news that his clinic was fully renovated, Loki—still in City Center—swung his handlebars around and hit the throttle toward Japantown.
There wasn’t much traffic on Night City’s roads late at night, and with the accelerator pinned, Loki quickly arrived at the clinic.
Loki’s new clinic was located opposite the TURBO eatery, right under Megabuilding H8 in Japantown.
This eatery was the exact spot where Maine’s crew in *Edgerunners* often went to celebrate and relax after finishing gigs, and Lucy’s apartment was right next to it.
The area in front of the clinic was spacious with a great night view, which Loki was very satisfied with.
Finally, he wouldn’t have to step out every day after work into a filthy, cluttered alley.
Loki had actually given a lot of thought to why he wanted to open a clinic in Japantown.
First off was to avoid competing directly with Vik; he certainly wasn’t going to open another clinic in Little China like Vik had.
Furthermore, Japantown and Kabuki (which was also in Watson) were about the same distance from his apartment, but Japantown was far more prosperous.
Japantown wasn’t just a hub for gang activity; its highly developed entertainment industry also meant it was frequently visited by Night City’s mercenary edgerunners.
And Loki was catering specifically to these people.
By comparison, while Heywood had the familiar Valentinos, Japantown possessed its own unique charm.
Who wouldn’t want to take a short walk after work to hit Jig-Jig Street or head up to Clouds inside the megabuilding to unwind?
That was why Loki ultimately chose Japantown for his clinic.
Arriving at the clinic’s front door, he completed the authentication clearance to open up.
Looking at the fresh renovation—the operating table, storage lockers, freezer, workbenches, and the boxing training area he had specially set up—Loki’s heart beat a little faster.
“Phew…
My own clinic.
Man, this feels great.”
Owning a clinic had been Loki’s primary goal for the past two years.
Though his goals had been forced to evolve with the arrival of the system, seeing the fruits of his hard work still brought a genuine surge of joy.
After a brief inspection to ensure everything was in order, Loki calibrated and familiarized himself with each piece of equipment.
Cleaning up and storing the cyberware salvaged from the Scavengers, Loki opened the Module Shop.
[Download: Basic Production Module Integration Pack]
Account: -10,000 eddies.
Option selected: Install.
[Installation Successful]
In a small private room Loki had set aside inside the shop, five distinct workbench devices materialized, all displaying a sleek cyberpunk aesthetic.
Under the world’s adaptive modification effect, the physical appearances of these devices no longer resembled their original *Minecraft* counterparts, though their core functions remained unchanged.
After arranging the devices, Loki began studying the workbench meant for crafting and synthesis.
He booted up the built-in system terminal on the workbench.
It listed available recipes—or rather, none at all.
It seemed you got what you paid for.
The workbench only provided the basic synthesis logic, while all of its original recipes had been removed.
But perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing.
The original recipes likely wouldn’t have been of much use to Loki anyway, and serving as a prerequisite for recipe expansions was good enough.
Next, Loki used the terminal to access the analysis function, an extension included in the pack.
He took out a piece of cyberware, placed it on the workbench, and the scanner began analyzing it.
[Synthetic Lungs]
[Model: Biotechnica Type 1]
[Durability: 73%]
[Description: Low-end mass-produced synthetic lungs manufactured by Biotechnica.
Implanting this into a human body increases stamina recovery speed by 15%.]
Looking at the display on the terminal, Loki sank into thought.
The main utility of the analyzer was displaying item durability and detailed functional descriptions.
Helpful, sure, but only marginally so.
Next, Loki moved on to inspect the brewing stand terminal.
Unsurprisingly, it was also completely empty of recipes.
Loki opened the Module Shop system and downloaded the *Titanfall* Stim expansion module for the brewing stand.
This time, the download button didn’t require any prerequisites, nor was it grayed out.
After spending 9,000 eddies, Loki successfully downloaded and installed the module.
The brewing stand terminal now displayed a new available recipe.
Tapping to open it, he saw that crafting Stim required combining two secondary intermediate potions, both of whose sub-recipes were also present in the system.
Fortunately, the required materials were all standard fair.
The trickier chemical compounds were just common additives used in off-the-shelf energy drinks and basic ingredients found in standard stimulant medications, none of which infringed on the core proprietary formulas of the megacorps.
Loki calculated the cost: producing one dose of Stim would run about 50 eddies and take three minutes to brew.
A dose was worth roughly 500 eddies on the market.
If Loki wholesaled them at around 300 eddies each, he’d net a clear 250-eddy profit per unit.
That meant earning 5,000 eddies an hour—in an ideal scenario, at least.
For starters, he couldn’t run production 24/7.
The workbench’s capacity was capped at 20 bottles per batch, requiring manual resets after every run.
Second, and most importantly, was the market issue.
To avoid catching the corps’ attention, he could only distribute through back-alley clinics across town to mercenaries and gangers.
As a result, small-scale sales combined with a steep price tag meant production speed would far outpace selling capability.
Thus, Loki’s main dilemma now was finding a way to move the Stims quickly.
Having analyzed all this, Loki stopped wasting time.
He’d have to wait until the raw materials arrived before deciding on the next move.
Sending Vik an email to let him know the clinic’s renovation was finished, Loki tidied up the shop and returned to his apartment to rest.