Using the method he’d refined in his previous life for writing formal complaints, Levi quickly drafted a report, converted it to an anonymous data chip, and sent it to V via the Night City local network.
By the time he was done, the sky had already bruised into a dark, neon-streaked evening.
He spent a moment watching the holographic advertisements dance across the cityscape before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning—Levi’s third day in Night City—Victor pinged him at 9:00 AM.
Levi rolled out of bed, freshened up, and took a taxi to Misty’s Esoterica.
“Morning, Misty,” Levi said, stepping into the shop and seeing her busy with the daily cleaning.
“Good morning, Levi,” she replied with a gentle smile.
“Doc is waiting for you in the clinic.” Levi nodded.
As he looked at her, the system evaluation surfaced: [Evaluation: Victor heals bullet wounds and knife slashes; Misty heals broken spirits.
Her shop is small, filled with incense, yarrow stalks, Tibetan Book of the Dead data shards, and good-luck charms.
Even though she has more clients than Victor, this sharp, empathetic woman always makes time to help friends, often stepping into the role of a full-time nurse.] A true rarity in Night City, Levi thought.
He walked through the back door and down the stairs into Victor’s clinic.
Victor was at his workstation, watching a boxing match as usual.
He turned at the sound of the metal gate.
“Morning, Levi.
The chrome’s here.
Brand new, corporate-grade.
The procedure should go smoothly.” Victor killed the feed, kicked a stool over to the surgical bed, and prepped a sedative.
“Sit.
Relax.” Levi climbed onto the bed.
Victor sat down, his left hand sporting a specialized multi-tool surgical cyberware.
He reached under the bench and pulled out a black container, twisting the lid.
A Kiroshi optics unit hissed with escaping coolant.
“Kiroshi optics.
The best I could get my hands on.” Victor hooked the eye into his surgical rig and gestured for a data cable.
Levi plugged in.
His vision flickered, hit by a sudden, jagged stutter.
“Scanning now—tell me what you see,” Victor said, manipulating a steel-mounted screen.
“MK.1.
Decent scanner, handles real-time corneal data overlays.
Also included is an external lens jammer.
In layman’s terms: any surveillance camera looking at your face will just see a blur.
Your body, though?
That’ll still show up.” A diagnostic interface materialized in Levi’s field of vision, detailing his anatomy and the eleven available slots for augmentation.
“This should work,” Victor muttered, typing rapidly.
“Compatible with Kiroshi tech.
Alright, let’s start: Kiroshi optics, Biomonitor 1, synthetic lungs, bioplastic vessels, and a ballistic coprocessor.” Victor stood up, holding the Kiroshi eye.
“Heads up—it’s going to go black for a second.” He pressed the unit into Levi’s socket.
The sensation was unlike anything Levi had ever experienced.
“OK, let’s test it.
Let’s see a miracle,” Victor said, his voice muffled.
A red box appeared in Levi’s vision.
Text scrolled rapidly: Configuring System…
Installing Transport Controller…
Overwriting Version…
Debugging…
Initializing.
“You might feel a bit off at first,” Victor warned.
“Blurred vision, color shift, frame drops…” When the initialization finished, Levi blinked.
Everything was impossibly sharp, far superior to the Zeiss optics he’d been using.
“Not bad,” Levi said.
“Clarity is incredible.” “Zeiss pivoted to sniper optics ages ago,” Victor explained.
“The model you were using was their final run.
It was a failure-prone prototype, and the department folded years ago.
You couldn’t even find parts for it if you tried.” Victor moved his chair.
“Try the scanner.” Levi locked his gaze on Victor.
A data panel popped up: [Name: Victor Vektor] [Affiliation: Civilian] [Watson’s best ripperdoc, Night City veteran, old friend of Jackie Welles] Levi frowned at the sparse data.
It felt amateur.
Immediately, the System Evaluation pushed the Kiroshi data aside, completely dominating his vision: [Evaluation: If you want reliable chrome, go to Vic.
Other clinics look like Zen centers on luxury spaceships, but his place is grounded.
He won’t bombard you with corporate nonsense.
If you’re decent, he’ll give you a beer to help with the anesthesia.
Victor Vektor is a living legend in Night City, though he’s spent years trying to make people forget it.
He’s a man of principle—a hard-boiled, old-school street warrior who lives by the code and honor he honed in the Devil’s Boxing Club.] Is the system jealous?
Levi thought, amused.
“You’ll need a moment to calibrate,” Victor said.
“The scanner will eventually sync with your neural pathways and predict your intent.
I also installed a backdoor: NCPD file scanning.
Never know when a street punk is more than he seems.” “Ready for the rest?” Victor asked, holding up the syringe.
“Time for the Biomonitor 1 and the rest of the surgery.” “Go ahead, Vic,” Levi said, feeling a strange sense of calm.
“I trust you.” He felt the prick of the needle, and as the anesthesia flooded his system, the world slipped away into darkness.
— Don’t forget to send Spirit Stones for more chapters.
Extra chapter when we reach 100 Spirit Stones Can’t wait for the daily uploads?
“@” with the letter “a”.
For every person who joins,
With a thank you note with your username on the chapter.
Make sure to message or like which story you came from so I can make sure