Ravensdagger_Kittypunk_Cyberpunk_Kitrpg

Chapter Sixty-Two — Drone Warfare

Chapter Sixty-Two — Drone Warfare We made it to the first bend in the corridor and instantly I knew we were in for some amount of trouble.A trio of drones were waiting at the end, their little tracks humming along as they charged across the corridor. It seemed like they'd mostly slipped out of small openings placed in the walls, with sliding doors that hid them rather well."Fuck shit," Jenny said. She slid to a stop, arm coming up straight before her, her gun tilted to the side. She fired a dozen shots, and about a third of them hit. That was enough to take out the rightmost and middlemost of the three, but the last shifted around and opened fire.We all flinched as a line of bullets shot across the space between us. Fortunately, whomever had bought these bots cheaped out, because their targeting software was awful.Sharp fired her shotgun twice, both shells full of buckshot ripping into the remaining bot. Then she turned and took two more shots into the remaining drones, just to be sure. "Let's keep moving!" she shouted."Don't forget to reload," I reminded her.Sharp nodded and fumbled around the side-pocket of her pack for a few loose shells. A couple spilled to the floor, but she got a handful and started to reload the gun, shells slipping into the bottom tube one at a time.The hum of tracked wheels became louder behind us, and I realized that we were in something of a trap. The corridors here were long and narrow. There wouldn't be any cover until we were around the next bend, and there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be more adversaries waiting for us there.We didn't have a huge amount of choice, however. We needed to go and go fast. Staying on the floor and mopping it up of any drones was... well, it was technically an option, but we'd run out of ammo before the drones did.Jenny tossed an empty magazine aside and slid a fresh one into her gun. "How many shells you got?" she asked."A few," Sharp said. "There's maybe a handful in my other pocket."Could she summon up shotgun ammo with her power? Did bullets count as tools? I'd usually say so, but with a massive caveat and even then, that'd be stretching the definition of tool."Shit," Jenny said."If I can have two minutes, I can cast something to help," Alyssa said. "But I'm nearing my limit.""Yeah," Jenny replied. "Any chance we can steal those drones' guns?"It was a smart question, but the answer was a resounding no. The guns were fixed on there tight, and they weren't designed for human use in any case. They didn't have handles or stocks, just an electronic trigger mechanism and the lower receiver of whatever assault rifle was cheap at the time of creation."It's useless, just move," I told Sharp."We can't," Sharp said."Fuck," Jenny replied, and so we ran past the three destroyed drones and around the next bend in the corridor, the girls moving so fast their sneakers squeaked on the plastic tiled floor.Fortunately, the next corridor was empty. Unfortunately, we slowed down before taking the next one blindly, and Jenny turned to Sharp and whisper-shouted. "Can you send the cat around to see if there's more drones ahead? We're like, two turns from the door.""I think so," Sharp said before she looked at me. "Can you do that? Can you manage it, Princess Buttercup Bristle... uh... Bomb?"Princess Buttercup Bristle Bomb? Her head was really not in the game. "I'll scout," I agreed with a very obvious nod for the benefit of the others. Then I slipped around the corner, keeping close to the wall where the light wasn't as strong.There weren't any drones here, and I called back as much to Sharp. Still, I ran ahead as fast as I could go, which was admittedly pretty quick. Cats weren't known as slow animals, and I was quite certain that even as a juvenile cat, I could outrun even the fastest unaugmented human.I made it to the next corner and winced internally at what I saw.Seven of those drones. They were even parked across from the door into the stairwell we'd taken to get here. Were they on some sort of network smart enough to have them investigate the area? That sounded dangerously plausible.If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it."Seven of them ahead," I called back to Sharp. "They're blocking the entrance. Do you think you can take on that many?""Seven?" I heard Sharp gasp.The sound had two of the drones slowly wheel around."If you can take careful, clean shots, then I might be able to distract them," I said.It would be a huge risk, and I didn't really want to put Nine Lives to the test, but... well, it was time for action, not for needless pauses.I was pretty sure I could weave and duck well enough to avoid getting hit, in any case, and the depression on the turrets didn't look very good. They wouldn't be able to hit anything near their base."I'm going in. Watch your aim. Take out those furthest from me first, and aim high."And with that, I was darting around the corner and moving for all I was worth.The drones slowly turned my way, and I could almost imagine their primitive systems wondering if a ballistic cat was a threat or not.Then I leapt up and onto the first of them, using the added height to give me clearance to hop onto the second.The first had been the one furthest to the left of the pack, and it was the one Sharp shot a few seconds later.The drones turned. Two of them towards the end of the corridor where Sharp and the others were, the rest following my movement through their group.That would have to do, I figured as I started to run in circles around the group, keeping drones between myself and the furthest from me whenever possible. The drones shifted around, moving surprisingly fast to try and run me over, but that was all they could do. Their guns just couldn't aim low enough.Then Jenny and Sharp continued to fire, and I found myself ducking down as a hail of bullets and pellets whizzed by overhead.I swear I felt some ruffling the fur on my eartips a couple of times.I couldn't do much more than I already was to help, but I supposed it was enough. The last drone went down with a clatter, and then the girls came running out around the corner.Sharp scooped me up on the way by, and I scampered up onto her shoulder. "I'm out of shotgun ammo," she said. "I, uh, missed a few times.""That's fine," I said. I did notice that she had her handgun out in her free hand, so she wasn't entirely unarmed, which was good.Jenny opened the door into the stairwell, and we practically jumped down the stairs, the door slamming shut behind us. Then it was into the poorly lit basement section, with just the marks left on the walls to guide us back."Think... think we're safe here?" Jenny asked as she paused for breath just past the wall we'd torn down."Should be... more or less," Alyssa said. "We might want to move out further, but for now, I think this is safe from whatever's in the building. The drones can't go down stairs, right? And if they could, they'd need to find us."Sharp moved to the side and leaned up against one of the walls, heedless of the dust and grime on it. "That was scary at the end there, but it wasn't so bad overall, I think.""No mission that ends with you being shot at is good," I said."Yeah, that was pretty alright," Jenny said. "I'll wire you your pay. You were... not so bad to have along.""Thanks!" Sharp said. "Was the thing worth it? The big book you stole?""It's not theft if the owner is dead," Alyssa said."Isn't it just... looting in that case?" Sharp asked. "I'm not sure if that's much better."The mage didn't seem to care about the distinction much. She just ran a hand over the tome in its plastic bag. I had the impression that whatever magical lore it contained wasn't going to be good for the overall health of the city, but I also didn't care so much."Mission complete," I said. "Let's get paid and get home.""Yeah," Sharp agreed.And then I jumped as a few notifications popped up before me.Reflex Has Levelled Up!Reflex 3 4Anima Has Levelled Up!Anima 2 3Judging by Sharp's little intake of breath, she'd been hit by a reward as well.

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Chapter Sixty-Three — Level Ups!

Chapter Sixty-Three — Level Ups! Sharp was vibrating all the way home. So much so that she forgot to flirt-painfully-with the girls before we darted away.She had a good reason for it."I had two level-ups!" she said. Then, before I could ask the obvious question, she spilled the answer out. "Combat levelled up! I'm at four!""That's good," I said. Not too surprising either, she'd done a bit of running and gunning back there, and the situation overall was definitely a more combat-oriented one. The increase made sense. "And the rest?" There had to be more. She wouldn't be this hyped up for just one small step.Sharp's grin was so wide it almost looked painful. "Protagonist!"I tried to raise my brows at that, but it was a little tricky as a cat. Still, that was an impressive skill to increase. "Protagonist, huh? That's one of the weirder skills." And the only skill Sharp had that I lacked. Instead, I had the rather bizarre Cat skill.I made Sharp wait until we were back home before allowing her to look into her skills. She tore through the house, feeding the kitties, cleaning the litter, petting everyone, and basically rushing through her chores like a woman possessed.In under twenty minutes she was done with everything, even heating some lunch up in the microwave. She sat down on the couch, then stared at me with demanding eyes."Yes, yes, we can start now," I said.It was kind of cute, how eager she was to start looking over her skills. Not that I'd ever tell her that. Sharp had a small heap of notecards with her already, and she started to scribble on them with her tongue pinched between her lips. She set down one card, this one covered in a crudely drawn grid where she'd written the names of all the skills she had available. Twenty-One in all, I noticed.

All According to Keikaku

Your Reflection. It Knows.

Power Through Love and Rage

Berserk

Final Episode Privilege

One Liner Execution

You Are the Chapter Title

Friendship Is My Power

Quiet Main Character Energy

Cheat Code Reflexes

Limit Breaker

Retcon Immunity

01010011 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100

[Redacted]

Training Montage Master

Deus Ex Machina

Mid-Season Power-Up

Unskippable

Destiny's Chosen

Narrative Authority

Voice of an Actor

"That's a pretty large selection," I said."Yup!" Sharp agreed. "Here, the first one!"All According to KeikakuWhat? How could you have predicted that?! You devious mastermind!That was... certainly a description. "Aren't these supposed to have helpful descriptions?" I asked."You'd think, right? This one's better, at least," she said as she finished writing the second card and setting it down. She was recreating the grid on the table.BerserkYou are always exactly as strong as the situation demands. If the battle needs you to be an unstoppable force, you become one. If the story requires you to shatter the sky with a single punch, the sky had it coming."I think this one makes me strong," she said simply."There's an implication beyond that," I said. "A berserker is often someone who gives up intelligence in pursuit of madness-empowered strength. This might be a poor choice."You Are the Chapter Title —An attack is launched.You smile knowingly.The screen goes black."Uh," Sharp said."Yeah," I agreed. Two weird perks within the first three. This one wasn't even in alphabetical order as all the others were."This one's a bit cooler," Sharp said as she placed down another card. She'd already made a star on this one.Cheat Code ReflexesBlades halt an inch from your skin. Bullets pass through the space you occupied before you even moved. You are not dodging. You are refusing to be hit. As long as you're monologuing, you are unhurtable.I nodded. This was more in line with what I expected. A powerful buff, to be sure. There had to be some sort of limit to it, right? Otherwise, this was very strong. Sharp could be made to memorize a few monologues from films and books. Even someone like her could do that much.Dramatic TimingThe battle never ends anticlimactically. If your sword swing needs one final arc before connecting, the villain will live just long enough to receive it. The moment the fight feels perfectly cinematic, the world lets it end."No," I said.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road."Why not?" Sharp asked."Because drama is the last thing you want in this line of work. Drama means that people are paying attention. What you want is to leave not even a crumb of evidence that you were ever involved in anything. Drama is the opposite of that."Sharp pouted, but didn't complain. "Uh... I don't know what this next one is?""Is it not in English?" I asked."It's just numbers. Ones and zeroes?"I blinked at that, then had Sharp write it down anyway. The result was...01010011 01101000 01100101 01101100 0110110001001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110It took a moment, and an online binary converter, to figure out what the name and text even said. Shell It's me."I don't know what that one means, but I think we can skip it," Sharp said."Agreed."Deus Ex MachinaAt the last possible moment, in the most impossible way, you are saved. Maybe by an ally. Maybe by sheer dumb luck. Maybe by something that should not exist. The world is invested in you. It won't let you die yet.Now that one had potential! A perk that would literally bail Sharp out of trouble at the last minute? It wasn't something she'd want to rely on, but at the same time, it would be invaluable when it did activate.It was a get-out-of-death-free card, of a sort."We're marking this one with a star, right?" Sharp asked."Oh, definitely," I said."I could tell from the way your tail twitched."I glared. My tail did no such thing.Destiny's ChosenTreasure, legendary weapons, fated encounters—they all happen to you. People will travel the world searching for an artifact, only for you to find it in a ditch while looking for snacks."This one starred too!" Sharp said.I read it, then read it again. "No. And before you complain, think about it. You get into enough trouble as it is. This one says nothing about saving you from the consequences of getting into more trouble. Do you know how many destined heroes suffer until their very last, painful moments?"Sharp grumbled, but didn't put a star on that one before moving on to the next.Your Reflection. It Knows.It's there. Do not think about it."Nope, nopity nope," Sharp said. That one got turned around and placed words-first onto the table.Honestly, a good and healthy response.Final Episode PrivilegeThe moment the grand finale nears, the rules change. You stop taking lasting injuries. Your enemies hesitate when they should attack. The music swells. You are no longer playing the game. You are playing the ending."Is this better?"I sighed. "Barely."She put a star on it with a smug, self-satisfied smile.Friendship Is My PowerEvery ally, every person who believes in you directly makes you stronger. Their faith is a shield, their admiration a blade sharper than any steel. The moment a villain respects you, they have already lost."Now this is an interesting perk," I said. "But one that would require, and forgive the terminology, a whole different build. If you were significantly more charismatic, then this kind of ability could change things in a big way. A populist politician with this perk in their back pocket would become a force to be reckoned with, but I don't believe the... five people who know you care enough to make the mentioned shield unbreakable or that 'blade' any sharper than a butter knife."Sharp didn't say anything for a while, then sighed. "You could have been nicer about it," she said."It's still a decent option. It's basically a tiny boost, but a free one, with no obvious negative repercussions."Limit BreakerYou are told you can't. You are told it's impossible. The moment you must surpass your limits, they cease to exist. You are not limited. You never were. You just didn't know yet."Most obvious star ever," Sharp said.I had some ideas, but she was mostly right, so I allowed it."And the next one is just redacted," she said. "That's its name, Redacted, with brackets. The description is a black bar. Uh, like this."[Redacted]Wow, you actually went and tried to read this? What did you expect?"I imagine that it's probably best to leave that one well alone, then," I said."Kinda tempted to grab it anyway," Sharp said. "It's like a gacha!""No." I said.Mid-Season Power-UpIf you are backed into a corner when all hope is lost, you awaken. The power-up shouldn't be there, but it is. The reason? Irrelevant. The moment was right, and that's all that matters.Another easy star, even if this one was probably lower priority than some of the others. This was... an interesting set of potential perks so far, and we were only about halfway through them.

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