Deep in the northern part of Japantown, one would be approaching the northern industrial zone of Watson; going a bit further, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say one was leaving Night City.
At this moment, Jax's hand rested on Lucy's shoulder; her body was slightly cool, extremely pleasant to touch, radiating a gentle coolness in the scorching summer heat.
Lucy's body was also trembling slightly, seemingly unaccustomed to such intimate contact.
But Lucy said nothing about it, merely hugging Kiwi's waist in front of her silently.
"If Lucy and I weren't skinny enough, you'd be running beside me right now, you know?!"
Kiwi, driving the motorcycle, complained bitterly.
The day's events had completely reshaped Kiwi's values; she had no idea what kind of madness had possessed her to actually go fight the Tyger Claws with this bunch of bastards.
Forget it, fighting the Tyger Claws is fighting the Tyger Claws. Although the Tyger Claws are one of Night City's top gangs, what mercenary squad is afraid of gangs?
But what's the deal with you, Jax, killing corporate goons? No, if you're going to kill, you should hide and do it! You killed them in front of so many people on a live stream, isn't that just insane?
But that wasn't even what made Kiwi angriest; what made Kiwi angriest was herself!
Because even after Jax did something like that... her first reaction wasn't to betray Jax, not to go to Arasaka and sell out Jax and the others' information!
You know, if it were two months ago, she would have already been standing beside an Arasaka executive, fiercely betraying Maine and his crew!
But... just now?
After learning about these things, the first thought Kiwi had was—what a shame about all the equipment at home, will I be able to buy it elsewhere?
Damn it... she was already starting to think about how to start a new life with Jax and Maine's crew in another place!
Damn it! Is this still her?
"Over there!" Jax stretched out his hand, pointing to a spot.
Kiwi leaned into the turn, driving the motorcycle skillfully through the alley!
As the motorcycle pulled up, two heads peeked out from the factory building within the industrial zone.
It was Maine, with half his hair burned off and one eye missing. He poked his head out and laughed loudly, "Damn it, you're finally here."
The other head was Dorio; she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Jax.
Unlike Maine's injuries, Dorio seemed less severely wounded.
It wasn't surprising; after all, Maine must have charged into the enemy camp and caused a huge ruckus.
As for the injuries... Maine's injuries looked frightening, and they were indeed quite frightening, missing an eye, half his face a bloody mess.
But in reality, after Maine took suppressants and medicine, his injuries had been completely stabilized.
For him, it was just a matter of finding an opportunity to replace his disfigured face with a new piece of metal and cover it with new synthetic skin.
"Where's Rebecca?"
"I'm here!" A cheerful voice rang out. Jax got off the motorcycle and looked over, seeing Rebecca on Pilar's back, carried by her older brother. She was waving an arm at Jax.
Rebecca's originally bright green pigtails were now messy; her injuries looked the most terrifying.
A small part of her right side was missing, revealing the mechanical internal organs and components beneath, but judging by Rebecca's mental state... phew, thankfully, Rebecca hadn't sustained fatal injuries.
Because Rebecca's injuries were merely "surface protection implant damage"; the vital internal organs, the life-affecting parts, were unharmed.
In essence, it was the same as Maine: find an Ripperdoc, use a drill, a bone saw, and then replace it with a new protective implant.
"What do we do next?" Maine led his people down.
"From here, going north will get us out of Night City, but the problem now is what to do about Jackie and Gloria," Dorio said, then continued, a hint of worry in her voice: "Sasha, we don't have to worry about. She's already packed her things and said she'll find a way to slip out of Night City. She's very smart, and she's in Dogtown now, and Night City can't control Dogtown. But the situation with Jackie and Gloria is different."
"Arasaka only needs to investigate a little to find out about Jackie's connection to us, and Jackie... he said he wants to stay in Night City."
Maine also got a headache. "Didn't Jackie not come here?" Jax asked.
"He didn't come to Japantown, but in Little China, he fought the Tyger Claws with the Moxes. He also said he crashed into a cop car. When he called, he seemed to be in Heywood?"
Jax fell silent after hearing that.
Seeing this, Maine reached out and patted Jax's shoulder, "Alright, don't be like that, damn it."
"Since we've come this far, we've already prepared for the worst. Jackie choosing to stay in Night City is his own business, but Gloria's situation might be a bit troublesome. Fortunately, the fact that Gloria joined us hasn't been leaked, and she's a very smart woman, very tight-lipped. Perhaps... like Jackie, she'll also choose to stay in Night City."
Maine looked at Jax and said in a deep voice, "Don't think it's your fault, Jax, this is our own choice."
"I know, I just... I still feel like I've let you down," Jax looked up and said earnestly.
This kind of uncertainty made Jax think of V's Tower ending...
After V woke up, everything changed.
Heywood's Padre was replaced, Viktor joined Biotechnica, Misty left the City of Dreams...
V couldn't protect anything.
And now, was he the same...?
Damn it, damn it!
He killed Tanaka and made a big show of it, but in the end?
He still had to leave this city like a coward!
"What's there to apologize for? Where do we go that isn't somewhere? Chicago is fine, Night City is fine, as long as there's food to eat. As for Jackie, his dream is to become a legend. Although this incident isn't enough to make him a legend, he's becoming famous on the street now. And Gloria, even more so, we saved her life."
"In short, more than this, I think we've let Lucy down more," Maine said, looking at Lucy.
Lucy was standing quietly beside Kiwi, smoking silently.
Seeing everyone look at her, Lucy raised an eyebrow, then flicked away the cigarette from her fingertips.
"Indeed, I remember Lucy only came to Night City less than three months ago, right?" Dorio said.
Jax also looked at Lucy apologetically. From what little Jax knew about Lucy, he knew she was someone who lacked a sense of security, and to be inexplicably dragged into something like this, he figured Lucy's personality wouldn't be able to accept it.
But when Jax and Lucy met eyes, the latter spoke directly: "It's alright, I can go anywhere anyway."
"Didn't I also join this team?"
"Damn, you're right! How could I forget that?" Maine exclaimed, then said loudly.
Yes, Lucy wasn't an outsider!
Didn't Jax just mention two days ago about having Lucy join the squad? He had readily agreed at the time.
It was just that during those few days off, everyone was busy with their own things, so they hadn't gathered everyone for a welcome party for Lucy.
"Alright then, no more sentimental talk, let's go, we need to head north."
Maine said loudly.
Saying that, he got into his battered car.
Pilar also put Rebecca in his car.
Seeing this, Kiwi simply abandoned her motorcycle.
What a joke... riding a motorcycle at this point was pure dead weight. Who knew if there would be another chase scene?
She didn't want to lose her life by riding a motorcycle.
Yes, riding a motorcycle was cool, and its speed wasn't slow compared to a car, but the biggest problem with a motorcycle was—it was a flesh-wrapped-iron. If an accident really happened, losing control at high speed, flying off was no different from dying directly. Damn it, not everyone had Jax's physical attributes, okay?
The group quickly made their decision. After getting into the cars, Maine and Pilar drove separately, quickly heading towards the northern industrial zone.
To be honest, everyone still had a lot they wanted to say to each other.
For example, Kiwi wanted to ask Lucy what she was thinking, because it shouldn't be like this at all!
Maine also wanted to ask Jax what he was thinking by killing corporate goons. Jax wanted to ask Rebecca if she was hurting, and Pilar had a belly full of anger to vent.
But, now was not the time.
The focus now was to leave Night City.
The vehicles quickly "squeezed" out of the streets, and once on the highway, they sped up to full throttle, heading north of the city.
Jax sat in the back seat, with Lucy and Kiwi beside him. He looked at the system panel.
A series of events had prevented Jax from claiming his mission rewards.
When Tanaka was killed, Jax's thoughts cleared, and the mission was complete, but at that time, he was only focused on finding everyone, and Jax didn't have time to stop and look.
Now sitting in the car, he finally had that time.
Looking at the mission, a trace of thought appeared in Jax's eyes.
[My Heart is on Fire has been completed]
[Rewards have been issued]
[1 random free attribute point, 1 weapon enhancement effect 'Enlightenment' count]
First, he added the attribute point to his physique. Jax glanced at his attributes.
[Name: Jax]
[Physique: 10.85]
[Reflexes: 8.66]
[Technical Ability: 9.52]
[Intelligence: 4.55]
[Cool: 8.7]
[Charm: 6 (4+2)]
Skills: Potential Overdraft, Potent Healing.
Achievements: Rise to Fame, First Glimpse of Talent "?
Achievement bar... shouldn't there only be the 'First Glimpse of Talent' achievement?
Jax clicked in to look, then froze.
[Rise to Fame]
[When equipped, gain special skill (Presence), special attribute Charm + 1 (no need to equip)]
Unlike 'First Glimpse of Talent' which granted +0.5 to all attributes when equipped, 'Rise to Fame' granted a corresponding skill.
Jax switched to the new achievement badge and saw that all his attributes decreased by 0.5, but his Physique attribute still broke the 10-point mark.
And in Jax's skill bar, a corresponding skill also appeared.
[Presence]
· Active Skill: After use, can increase or decrease the user's presence. · Effect 1: Presence increased, your presence in others' eyes increases, and your words are more likely to be believed by others. · Effect 2: Presence decreased, you have no presence in others' eyes. If you don't speak, you might become invisible to others.
1
A, it seems, not a very useful skill?
Jax subconsciously thought so. 'Rise to Fame' was the second stage of 'First Glimpse of Talent,' but the skill it gave... how to put it, Jax felt it wasn't as useful as 'First Glimpse of Talent.' Isn't a +0.5 to all attributes more useful than this?
But Jax then thought again and realized that wasn't the case.
Firstly, changing achievement badges had no cooldown, meaning Jax could switch between the two achievement badges at any time to gain different ability effects. Secondly, Presence... seemed like a very powerful ability?
To give an example, like Johnny, if you were to ask how good Johnny was at fighting... to be honest, Johnny was only at the level of a decent minor expert. As a soldier who had been on the battlefield, Johnny was certainly not a rookie, but compared to those top-tier combatants, Johnny truly wasn't much.
At least Rogue was much more formidable than Johnny.
But Johnny's true strength lay in... his almost effortlessly persuasive charisma!
And the 'Presence' skill could greatly increase the persuasiveness of Jax's words, meaning it could enhance Jax's charisma. In other words, if Jax were to go into journalism, he might become an important figure on a news channel?
And decreasing 'Presence' meant that when doing stealth missions or being in crowded places, Jax could reduce the likelihood of attracting others' attention.
In short, this skill was not useless at all.
Moreover, gaining a new achievement was an unexpected bonus.
And what Jax was truly focused on right now was that weapon enhancement effect.
So, Jax looked at the Gunblade in his hand, then clicked to use the enhancement effect.
[Do you wish to 'Enlighten' the weapon 'Unnamed'?]
Jax chose yes.
[Enlighten weapon 'Unnamed'. Please first give the weapon a name.]
Jax didn't think, because he didn't have the habit of naming things, so Jax simply named the weapon Gunblade directly.
[Gunblade 'Enlightening'...]
[Enhancement successful, corresponding abilities acquired. Please select abilities.]
In an instant, several text box frames appeared before Jax's eyes.
[Star]
· Enhances all ranged attack power of the gun, can use special enhanced weapon skill'Star'. · Star: After use, unleashes one guaranteed hit long-range attack with 200% power based on the host's Technical Ability, maximum range three kilometers, once a day.
[Drop]
· Significantly increases weapon toughness, can use special enhanced weapon skill 'Drop'. · Drop: After use, can quickly restore host's injuries, healing effect is 200% of host's Physique attribute, can be used once a day.
[Edge]
· Significantly increases the melee power of the blade, can use special enhanced weapon skill 'Edge'. · Edge: After use, can unleash one melee attack with 120% power based on Physique + Technical Ability attributes, once a day.
[Shadow]
· Changes the appearance of the Gunblade, no special enhanced weapon skill. · Shadow: Ranged mode replication (different appearances have different power, corresponding power obtained based on host's different attributes), Melee mode replication (different appearances have different power...).
"?
Frozen in his seat, Jax looked at the entries before him, almost dumbfounded.
Weapon strong... no, Enlightenment effect!
No, how was Jax supposed to choose between these?!
Star enhanced the Gunblade's rifle mode, a guaranteed hit with twice the power of Technical Ability at three kilometers... Damn, if he had this ability earlier, would Jax have had to kill Tanaka in front of the whole world? He could have just found a high spot, hid, and sniped Tanaka, wouldn't that have worked?
To be honest, a punch from Jax with 10 attribute points wouldn't be any worse than a kinetic weapon!
Let alone twice the power, although twice the power of 10 points certainly couldn't compare to 15 attribute points, because when Jax activated Potential Overdraft, he entered the legendary realm.
He knew how powerful a punch under legendary attributes was.
When values are applied to the human body, 10 times two does not equal 20, which is not difficult to understand.
Therefore, the power of a single shot from Star truly felt like a rocket launcher!
Three kilometers, a guaranteed hit - a rocket launcher?
What if he fired this shot under Potential Overdraft?
It might even rival the best legendary-grade sniper rifles, right?
And the effects of Drop and Edge were also very good. One enhanced Jax's sustained combat ability, and the other strengthened Jax's close-quarters combat ability. To be honest... this made Jax think of the 2077 game, where players allocated V's attributes, and then, under different attributes, V could gain ultimate abilities... although, what Jax was enhancing now was weapon ability!
So... which one should he choose?
Damn it, Jax now just hoped the online meme would come true.
Like... he chose all of them because he was too quick!