The Dimensional Workshop - Chapter 3

I woke up on a steel table, feeling better than I’d ever felt in my life.

My vision was clear, which was very odd for someone who had just woken up, but the correct behavior for someone who was enhanced with the Augmented Humanity V13 Package.

The machines that hovered above my prone form moved away, as the Bio Enhancement module’s screen showed me a green light. 

Abhuman, the word felt good, and as I got on my feet, so did I. I wasn’t any taller, but I was definitely heavier. Muscular bulk, bones that were strengthened to the point where they could pass for titanium, organs that could regenerate from the most grievous of damages, and oh so many failsafes in case anything vital stopped working.

I walked over to the mirror that was attached to the module, and realized just how much of a difference the package had done. My features were more defined, my musculature could give a competitive classic physique bodybuilder insecurities. I was still ‘me’, but enhanced, in every way, shape and form.

And I was fucking strong.

Not just that, neural connections were reinforced, streamlined. My cognition was improved, and the ability to control it like I was born with all these mods was also implanted, allowing me to speed up or slow down both my reflexes and perception on demand.

Was this how Captain America felt after he had the super-serum?

The masculine urge to build myself a vibranium shield was immense, but I desisted. It wasn’t my style. Still, with this upgraded body, I could do an incredible cosplay of good ‘ol Steve Rogers.

I took a T-shirt from my fabricator’s output belt. I knew my usual clothes would no longer fit me after the operation, so I’d taken the liberty to fabricate myself a whole new wardrobe. The Bio enhancement module had made it clear that I would be out for an entire night, even after I’d upgraded it once.

I’d gotten 100 SP and an equal amount of Karma from my deal with Gloria. After upgrading the Kitchen and the module once, I was back to zero KP, and there were no interesting skill galaxies that I wanted to spend my remaining SP on. I’d already printed out enough ammo for Sven, so it felt like a waste to not use the fabricate to fabricate fabric.

Heh, try saying that fast ten times.

Either way, I put on the compression tee I’d printed. I’d used an exotic kevlar-like material that boasted incredible bullet stopping potential, while still feeling like cotton, and I could at least attest to the feeling part. Slipping into my Jeans and shoes, I took another good look at the mirror.

“Huh, damn, I look good.” I smirked at myself, and instantly felt like an idiot for doing so. Thankfully my moment of embarrassment was interrupted as I heard the door to the shop open.

“Ryan, my friend! I have come to collect my dues!” The booming voice of Sven summoned me out of the workshop. One look at me put a massive smile on his face.

“I do not know how you have manned up over six days, but I am amazed, friend!” He spoke, walking over to me and pulling me into a hug. Even with all my body modifications, he still towered over me, and I was unsure I could match up to him in physical strength, which was made amply clear by how my breath left my body the moment he embraced me.

“Hah! Put on some armor and you’d be right at home among my followers! Might even find yourself a winsome nord lass!” he finished, letting go of me. 

“Dramatic much?” I asked him, leaning over my counter and picking up the Anzio. The weight of the massive gun was enough to give me pause merely a few hours ago. Now? It felt light as a feather as I took it over to the table where the AK 47 I’d ordered for him sat, as well as all the ammunition.

“Anyways, here’s your stuff.” I spoke, watching confusion creep into his gaze.

“Neither of these look like the ‘gun’ you showed me earlier.” he spoke, picking up the AK 47. Are you sure these will serve my intended purpose?

I picked up the Anzio again. “This, dear Sven, is the Anzio. It can do everything my trust 9MM can, but better, at greater distance, and through any kind of armor you throw at it.” I then pointed at Ak 47 in his hands. “And that? Well, that is the most versatile gun you can get for your money. It can put down 600 bullets, each bigger and packing a greater punch than my 9MM. So, yes, Sven. They are still guns, but they serve different purposes.”

“How do I use them? I assume I point them at my quarry and press down on this funny little lever?” He asked, pantomiming pressing down on the AK’s trigger while pointing it upwards. Ah, basic gun safety, how quickly they learn.

“Say, Sven, how about I give you a demonstration?” I asked, picking up the Anzio and a box of its ammo. It was interesting how the ammo was heavier than the gun itself, but part of that was because of the runes I’d etched into it. Runes that I was very adamant on showing him.

“Say… is there an enemy that you’ve been wanting to get rid of for a while?”

LB

“That’s… a Demora Valkynaz… less than 15 minutes from Riften.” 

Sven looked at me with a cheery smile on his face. “That it is! He’s been there for a few days. We suspect that his summoner died during the summoning, leaving him summoned but purposeless.”

“That… that sounds like a bug.” I replied, trying my hardest to remember if I’d run into something like this on any of my playthroughs. Yet, I couldn’t think of a single time something like this had happened.

“Me,  Mjoll and Aerin tried to get rid of him, but all we got for our troubles was an ass-whooping to remember. Aela couldn’t stop laughing at me when she heard of it. She even came over to give it a try. Last I heard, the companions needed to source a powerful healer to get her back into action.” He spoke, the smile never leaving his face.

“You seem oddly cheerful about this.” I spoke, and he patted my back.

“Of course I am! If you can take him out with the weapon I just bought, then I’ll even buy you mead tonight! If not, then I get to watch you get whooped by it. It’s really a win-win for me!” He spoke.

I replied with a sigh. “Well, we're about seven hundred meters away from it, on a decent elevation. I don’t think it should be a problem.” I spoke, deploying the Anzio’s bipod. With my newfound strength, I didn’t exactly need them, but it was still a placebo. 

I hadn’t fired the damn thing yet either, after all.

“Watch, because I’m not going to show you this twice.” I spoke, loading a magazine into the gun and setting it down on the ground. I lay down behind it and checked my scope. Old habits told me to adjust the scope, but the rune for ‘focus, which I had embedded into the scope, did that for me.

“Once you have the target, all you have to do is line up the cross in the scope with whatever you want to hit.” I spoke. Of course, there was more to it. Wind, distance, the coriolis effect. Yet, in order to make this weapon as braindead for a medieval warrior like Sven, I’d put the runes for ‘truth’ and ‘flight’ on every bullet. As long as they didn’t run out of energy, they would fly true. 

Plus, the Anzio was rated for more than four times this distance, again, buffed further by the runes that lined the barrel. 

“Once you have a clear vision of your target and are sure it won’t move, you hold your breath to steady yourself. The tiniest of movements can cause a massive difference. Think of it like a bow and steady your aim.” I spoke, and with that, I held my breath. Once the Valkynaz stopped walking, I took my chance.

“Once all these conditions are met, all that’s left to do… is fire.”

I pressed down on the trigger, and multiple runes blazed to life across the length of the Anzio. A chained line of ‘power’ runes, supported by a rosary of different stabilizing and course-correcting effects, ending at the stock, which featured a triangle of ‘absorb’ runes, built to nullify ninety nine percent of all recoil. 

The bullet left the barrel with an echoing bang louder than anything I’d ever heard. My enhanced physiology was the only reason the deafening noise didn’t permanently damage my hearing. Sven’s fur-coated helmet would dampen the noise for him somewhat, but I made a quick note to use some dampening runes for the sound.

Still, I watched through the scope as the bullet connected with the Valkynaz. I’d aimed for his chest, for the Daedric armor, mostly because I wanted to prove a point, and as the bullet all but turned every part of the Valkynaz above the chest into fine mist, I think I got my point across. 

It was then that the casing for the bullet hit the ground next to me, breaking the silence that had fallen between me and Sven, who was still looking at the half-destroyed corpse of the Valkynaz, then back to the Anzio, then back to the corpse. 

“Point proven.” I monotoned, picking up the Anzio from the ground. “Now, I need a drop of your blood.” I spoke. 

Still unable to look away from pure destruction the Anzio had caused, in a trance, he pulled out a hunting knife and nicked a finger. I put the Anzio under it, and the moment the first drop of blood hit the gun, the runes for ‘Owner’ and ‘Storage’ lit up with a deep red light, before fading back to nothing.

“Now, I need you to imagine the gun being stowed away.” I snapped my fingers in front of him, breaking him out of his reverie. 

He did as asked, and the weapon disappeared from my hands. I nodded. The runes had worked as intended.

“Now, imagine pulling out the weapon again.” I spoke, and he followed suit. The Anzio materialized before him, and he moved to catch it, surprised by the weight as it fell into his arms. 

“The Anzio is now your property. It’s keyed to your blood. You can summon and unsummon it with a single thought. This also means the weapon cannot be stolen, as it will de-summon itself the moment you give it the thought-command.” I finished, and finally, Sven found something to say.

“So… this won’t add to my carry weight?” He asked.

I sighed. Of course that would be what he cares about. 

“No, Sven, neither the gun nor its ammunition will add to your carry weight.” I spoke.

The dragonborn’s shout of cheer probably did more damage to my ears than the shot fired from the Anzio.

LB

I could summon my workshop’s door wherever I wanted.

It was one of the things I’d learnt in Skyrim. Once I gave Sven a demonstration of how the AK works by shooting out a camp of bandits, I’d decided I wanted to get home back in case someone dropped by the shop, and at that very instant, a door to the shop appeared in front of me.

Sven had called me a mage. I just told him I wasn’t one… yet.

While it was a shame I wasn’t able to get free drinks off the Dragonborn, I did make a promise that next time he came over, I’d go get a drink with him. I didn’t know how Nord mead tasted, but I was looking forward to finding out.

The other thing I learnt was minor in comparison. Apparently, I could summon any item I wanted from my shop when I was on expedition. I assumed it was so that I could continue being an effective merchant wherever I went. Truly, whoever created this system took great care of the user experience. 

I came back just in time too, as the moment I’d come back and cleaned up, the door to the shop opened, and in walked Gloria, followed by the unmistakable figure of Maine, as well as the netrunner I was wondering about earlier.

Sasha Yakovleva, in the flesh. Good, that meant I was pre-canon. 

“I’m sorry for the delay, this is Maine, and he’s a hard man to get a hold of.” She spoke, surprising me. It had only been a day, give or take a few hours. Was this Gloria’s idea of a delay? Because if so, I might have gotten into business with a bona-fide workaholic.

“Didn’t you say he was a scrawny little choom? He don’t look scrawny to me, Glo.” Maine spoke in a lazy drawl, sizing me up. He stood a head taller than me, and with her cyberwear, he was also far bulkier than me.

“Amazing, this shop doesn’t have a single piece of tech I can hack into.” Sasha spoke up from behind Maine. “Ah, my apologies, I’m Sasha. I was wondering why I couldn’t find shit about you on the net over the course of a whole week. With this kind of digital footprint, though? I think I understand now.” She finished, and with that, I understood what Gloria meant.

It seemed that time flowed differently for people outside the shop. While my time was pretty much the same as Sven’s, it seemed the Cyberpunk world moved much faster. 

I’d need to test later. This was something that could cause me to miss events that I couldn’t afford to miss. 

“I’m an elusive man.” I spoke, giving her a wry smile. I then moved my attention to Maine. “I bulked up a bit after Gloria last visited. Why, is that a problem?” 

He took one good look at me. “It’s all ‘ganics, not like that makes you a threat. If you really want to bulk up, get some preem gear. It’ll save your ass better than any amount of gym can.” He spoke, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It was an attempt at intimidation. Sadly, it wasn’t working.

The universe my bio-mods came from had already experimented with cybernetic implants far superior to those available in the Cyberpunk world, and had moved on. Comparing my mods to Maine’s gear was like comparing a well forged sword to a crude club.

“I’m a bit too attached to my body for any ‘gear’.” I replied, moving my attention to Gloria, who was… blushing? Following her gaze, I realized exactly what she was looking at.

The benefit of compression tees was that if you had abs, they showed through real good. Then again, I didn’t think Gloria was much of a ‘muscles’ person, not that I was complaining.

“Anyways, let’s talk shop.” I spoke, “Gloria here has ordered a few crates of ‘Fresh’ from me. I assume you’re the person she found to distribute the goods?”

Maine nodded. “We won’t be able to sell it at Biotechnica rates, but there’s enough rich folk who don’t have corpo connections to get ‘em. Gonks that have money to spare, but lack the connections to get what they want.”

“And I assume you and Gloria will be splitting the profits? What’s the split percentage like?” I asked, genuinely interested. 

“Glo tried to sell us on a 70-30 deal, with us being the 30. I bumped it up to a 50-50 split, considering the sizable risks we’re taking.” Maine spoke. 

“And you’re okay with this, Gloria?” I asked. She nodded, but the hesitation on her face was evident to see.

“I don’t know, Maine. She doesn’t seem too happy with the deal.” I spoke, watching the man’s face morph into a scowl.

“Way I see it, It’s more than what anyone else would give her. In fact.” Maine leveled his arm at me, and the projectile launch system extruded from it. “What’s stopping me from making it a hundred percent in my favor?”

“Me” I spoke, and time slowed.

This was the greatest ability afforded to me by the Augmented Humanity V13 Package. Shutting down as many auxiliary processes and failsafes as possible, I could pump all the excess energy my body created into my mind, my muscles, and my adrenal gland. It was a supercharge in the most basic of ways.

But as I jumped over my counter, got under Maine’s arm, and lifted him up by the neck faster than his cognition could even perceive, I could say with utmost certainty that it was greater than anything Maine could muster.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I turned to look at Sasha, who was moving towards me, her rippers extended. “As much of Maine is cyberwear, his neck is very much ‘ganic, and my wrist is very prone to sudden flicks. We don’t want that, do we now?” 

She backed off, looking at me with mistrust in her eyes. Maine, on the other hand, was still struggling for air in my grasp. He couldn’t use his Projectile Launch system. He wasn’t that suicidal yet.

“I hope I have made my point.” I said, letting him drop to the floor. He fell to his knees, taking deep, frantic breaths to stabilize himself. He glared at me, but his glare no longer had the same bite. I’d set the pecking order, and if Gloria’s shocked expression was anything to go by, finally made her understand why I could run a shop in Arroyo of all places without feeling like I’m in danger. 

“Point… taken. 70-30 it is… boss.” he spoke, still out of breath. The outline of my grip was deep red against his tan skin. Good, he’d remember this for the foreseeable future. 

If he forgot? I’d see to that in due time. 

“There’s another clause to this deal, one that I will not hedge on.” I spoke. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to reduce the profit share. All I want is that you and your crew no longer take any jobs from or against Biotechnica.” I finished. 

It was infiltrating Biotechnica that got Sasha killed. This was my experiment to see just how much I could change without physical intervention. Of course, I barely knew her. I had no personal connection to her other than watching her die in a music video. Yet, what kind of man would I be to let a cutie like her die such a pathetic death.

“Can do. Jobs against Biotechnica are rare to come by anyways.” Maine spoke, massaging his neck. “Damn, I ain’t ever seen a ‘ganic move that fast, or have that much power.”

I chuckled. “Gear isn’t the only way to augment yourself. If you’ve got the eddies, I can cook you up an augmentation package that will make your ‘gear’ look tame in comparison.”

A pensive look appeared on Maine’s face. “I’ll… I’ll have to think about it. Damn, choom. I ain’t ever been laid out like that in my life. If I can get my hands on some of that, you bet your ass I’ll take it.”

I shook my head. “First, sell my product. Make Gloria some money. Once you’ve earnt my trust, we’ll see about getting you some real firepower.” I commented, a smirk on my face. “That and eliminate your chances of going cyberpsycho.” 

“Crates are in the back. There should be five.” I spoke, watching the alarm on Gloria’s face. “Maine and Sasha can go get them. Gloria, a word?”

Say whatever about dumb edgerunners, but both Maine and Sasha got the message. As they moved into the back of the shop, I leaned closer to Gloria. “I know you don’t have enough eddies to cover five crates right now. Pay me when they’re sold. Don’t worry too much about it.” I spoke, giving her a kind smile.

“I… I don’t understand.” She spoke, her voice was unsure. “First the food, then those vials of medicine, now a line of credit? Plus you choked out Maine to get me a better share of the profits!”

I gave her a confused look. “Well, you did seem pretty uncomfortable with the split, plus I don’t take kindly to threats.”

“Even without that. Why are you going so far for me? I'm a nobody! And don’t even make the excuse that you want to get into my pants. I’m not worth that much!” Had Maine and Sasha not been in the back of the shop, I was sure she would have yelled at me. Instead, her voice was a hiss, reeking of desperation.

“Gloria, you’re a good person dealt a shit hand by life.” I spoke, locking eyes with her. “I’m in a position to help you. So, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?”

“People don’t work that way! This is Night City! You’re supposed to be probing me for weaknesses, ruthlessly tearing me apart. Why, why are you so nice to me?” She spoke, a trail of tears running down her cheeks. 

I pulled her into a hug, getting a surprised squeal from her. “Too bad. Where I’m from, we help our friends. You know?” I spoke, gently petting her head. “That, and I do want to get into your pants.”

That god a dry chuckle from her. “And I’m a friend now? You shouldn’t be so trusting, Ryan. It’ll be the death of you.” She commented, getting a gentle smile from me.

“I told you before, Gloria. I have a good eye for people, and something tells me that helping you will be more than worth my while, and that’s beside getting you in my bed.” I jested.

She let loose a choking laugh, but didn’t move to break our embrace. “Just… just promise me you won’t let this city change you. Night City doesn’t work for people like you. It’ll try to twist you. Promise me you won’t let it, mijo.”

I continued to pet her head. “That much, I can promise. There’s no way I’ll give this city the power to change me.”

Why would I? When eventually I’d have the power to change it instead.

LB

As always, join the discord for more shenanigans. Link is https://discord.com/invite/AP8nG65RmA