Good news: Ethan had unlocked Edgerunner and Renaissance Punk in the Technical Ability perk tree. And he could finally see his Cyberware Capacity.
Bad news: His capacity was already at the danger line.
After spending a full day and night at Pilar and Rebecca's place, Ethan returned to his old apartment at Longshore Stacks to rest —
And figure out how to handle this capacity problem.
Fortunately, this homebody had learned to take care of himself in his past life.
He tidied up a bit, tossed garbage out the window, and did some laundry — even in isolated Dogtown, the washing machines still charged fees. Total bullshit.
After all, generators were essential here. This building only got power because of those coins.
Ethan fished coins from his pocket and fed them into the machine. His eyes caught a pair of blood-stained gloves.
The washer hummed to life. Ethan pulled out the gloves, the blood now dried to brown. A moment of reflection.
Cyrus.
There was something Ethan had never understood. Why did his panel recognize Cyrus? By all accounts, Cyrus should've been a nobody in Barghest — okay, maybe a squad leader at most. And Ethan had no memory of this person existing in the game's lore.
He'd always assumed the panel displayed Cyrus's info just to remind him he had a cheat system. But now, looking at these gloves...
The panel data still floated in his vision.
[Cyrus Vance]
[Affiliation: Dogtown · Deceased]
[Affinity: 50]
[You let him go. He let you go.]
Ethan understood. Whether it was Hansen saying Cyrus had confessed to selling intel, or Ethan not drawing his gun in the car and letting Cyrus escape — it was a loop. They'd both left the other a way out.
Cyrus could've dragged more people down with him. He didn't.
Sure, his scheme to sell out Hansen nearly got Ethan killed by Hansen's gun too. But that was fucking Night City for you. Dogtown's shithole. Everyone only protected themselves. No one cut anyone else a break.
Everyone lived with clear eyes. Nothing to complain about. If you died, you'd lie there dick-up shouting "fuck," hoping to get in line at heaven's gates.
Ethan rubbed the gloves, then tossed them into the washer.
Good material. Durable, non-slip. Might as well use them.
He made himself instant coffee and heated up a burrito, eating while reviewing his cyberware capacity.
His current implants:
[Face]: Kiroshi Optics Mk.1 · Common
[Arms]: Gorilla Arms · Epic
[Hands]: Ballistic Coprocessor · Uncommon
[Skeleton]: Synaptic Signal Optimizer · Rare, Titanium Bones · Uncommon
[Integumentary System]: Subdermal Armor · Rare, Pain Editor · Common
[Circulatory System]: Biomonitor · Uncommon
As for Frontal Cortex, Operating System, Nervous System, and Legs — he hadn't had time to install or upgrade those yet.
Ethan tapped the table, thinking. His biggest worry wasn't the empty slots or finding better chrome. It was that his capacity bar was nearly at the red line. He didn't dare consider anything else!
What happened if you crossed the red line? Ethan had no idea.
It couldn't be as simple as the screen turning red like in the game. Unpredictable consequences weren't something he was willing to test.
The 30 affinity points from Pilar had unlocked the Technical Ability perk tree and let him take the Edgerunner node.
Edgerunner: Level 1 boosts all cyberware stat bonuses by 10%. Level 2 reduces Integumentary and Skeleton cyberware capacity costs by a full 20%!
"How is it nearly full? I haven't even installed anything that strong..."
Ethan's math wasn't great, but calculating capacity should've been straightforward.
Even so, combining current usage with perks, he couldn't make the numbers work no matter how he calculated.
Wait...
What if my base capacity is just this low?
Once this terrifying thought took root, he couldn't shake it.
Ethan exhaled heavily. Everyone thought they were special. Nobody realized they were ordinary.
But it wasn't hopeless. First, as perk points increased, he could invest in other nodes to expand capacity and develop his brain further —
Second, his current chrome was garbage. If he could meet Renaissance Punk's requirements, capacity should increase.
Looked like he needed to earn more money and replace his cyberware in bulk. Swap out or upgrade the weak-stat implants for better ones.
Finally, there was the matter of brain cyberware — specifically the Frontal Cortex. He had to install something there.
Others might hesitate, but Ethan remembered Biotechnica's netrunner and V instantly frying targets.
Without Self-ICE, any netrunner could puppet him in seconds.
"Self-ICE channels... I can probably find leads at the Dogtown stadium."
Ethan pulled a blanket off the couch. Even in this age of rampant cyberization, you still needed sleep. He'd been tinkering at Pilar's for forty-eight hours straight.
The brain had ways of making you obey.
As his eyelids grew heavy...
The dream from Viktor's clinic returned. The same tower. The same people.
[Incoming Call: Unknown]
Ethan woke groggy, realizing this was a call to the Cole number. He sat up, rubbed his face to clear his head, then answered.
Through the line, his voice came out as a low, gruff baritone — V's custom voice mod.
"You the new fixer working Dogtown?"
"Mm-hmm." Ethan fumbled for a cigarette. "New guy. Hands is on vacation."
"Bold talk — heard there's some hotshot new to Dogtown. Blew up the Scavs..."
"Get to it." Ethan cut her off.
"I'm Animals. Name's Angel."
Ethan's head was foggy, but the name rang a bell. He'd done so many guides for this game before transmigrating that some details had faded.
"Mm-hmm, Animals? You people usually let fists do the talking. When'd you start needing someone else to handle your problems?"
Angel snorted. "I'm not one of those idiots pumping themselves full of hormones. Here's the deal — I want to handle business and books for these meatheads. Need your help."
"The Animals control ninety percent of Night City's boxing clubs. Fight-betting is our bread and butter. But hormone junkies can take it. Regular fighters can't."
"Someone's blocking me from getting a piece of that pie in Dogtown. So I need you to take out one of our own — and help me smuggle a shipment of cyberware into Dogtown. Someone with your connections shouldn't have a problem, right?"
Ethan nodded. "I can arrange that, ma'am. Fair price, I'll get mercs to handle it."
"Mm-hmm. Price is thirty percent of the loan-tied cyberware profits. Total... one hundred forty thousand. Includes your commission for pulling strings. How's that sound, Mr. Cole?"
Ethan had always figured Animals were all muscle between the ears, just like their builds. But this woman knew business.
"Deal. I'll handle the supply channel. I'll provide the crew. Send me target info —"
"I'll take care of everything."
Angel didn't waste words. "Good. Help me with this, and I'll keep coming to you for Dogtown's underground boxing business."
140,000 eddies hit Cole's account instantly. Ethan was briefly stunned but kept his voice even. "A job this big — I'm sure you tried Hands first. But I get things done too. You trust me, I trust you."
Angel's reply came through:
"Then... pleasure doing business?"
Notes:
[Edgerunner]: Technical Ability perk unlocked at 9 Tech. Level 1: +10% to all cyberware stat bonuses. Level 2: -20% capacity cost for Integumentary and Skeleton cyberware.
[Renaissance Punk]: Same unlock requirement. For each attribute at 9 or higher, gain +4 Cyberware Capacity.
[Self-ICE]: Frontal Cortex cyberware. Counter-electronics system protecting implants from malicious intrusion. Requires: Intelligence 10.
[Angel]: Full name Angelica Villan. Appears in the Dogtown side quest "The-ism." An Animals member who prefers business over being a muscle-bound brute.