Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG
Chapter 258

The Trait list had been expanded from the last time I saw it. It was evident as much on the first page alone.

「Pick 1

Wolf’s Grace

Bears’ Strength

Turtle’s Endurance

Crow’s Shadow

Rabbit’s Leap

Scales of Shark

Echidna’s Creativity

Owl’s Wisdom

Panther’s Prowess

Viper’s Deception

Freedom of Frog 

Eel’s Electric Extravaganza(PLEASE)

…

…

…

Next Page >」

I stopped reading through them and skipped to the next page. I guess Fox inspired the lot of them to create their own ‘Graced’ Traits. Some looked more interesting than others, but none of them were what I particularly wanted.

「Drug Dependency

Drug Resistance

Wrath

Bruiser

Gun Expert

Language Extraordinaire

Melee Expert

Martial Artist

Quick-witted

Built to Destroy

Gun-fu

Savant

Born Driver

Beloved by Beasts

Green Thumb

Improved Metabolism

Trigger Finger

Face

Small Frame

Wild

Native

Genius Technician

Medic

Programmer 

Netrunner

Kinetic

Adept

Magus

Chipped」

Once I found the familiar starting point, I moved through the list looking for other Traits of note. Plenty had been added since I combed through the list last, a few of them giving me pause as I compared them to my current pick of Kinetic.

The problem with Kinetic was that it didn’t say which ability it would awaken. It was completely up to chance if I got something even remotely good. Could be, like, the ability to make bubbles or something for all I knew. Hmm… that might not be that bad, actually.

Its benefits, however, were quite obvious. Unlike Adepts and Magi, Kinetics don’t rely on the Aether to use their ‘magic’. Sure, Kinetic was relegated to only one ability, but it didn’t have to deal with any of the negatives of being connected so intimately to the Aether.

Kinetic abilities also grew with use. From my very, very limited understanding of them, they were like muscles. The more a Kinetic used their ability, the stronger it’d be. Likewise, the more a Kinetic would be able to use it.

Of course, the ability could be anything. From Carone’s pyrotechnic ability to… hmm… had I even run across another Kinetic? I didn’t think so. How lucky. Or unlucky? Maybe I had run across one and I just couldn’t remember for some reason-

I tapped through the list for interesting Traits that might come close to what I wanted from Kinetic, noting them down.

「Kinetic」

「Bio-Genesis」

「Phoenix」

「Ground Zero」

「Ruination」

Of those, Bio-Genesis and Kinetic were the best. They blew the others out of the water, at least for me. Phoenix was also interesting, but I didn’t think I’d get much use out of it on second thought. The Trait seemed to work around absorbing fire to channel some kind of flying ability and a few other things. Nova, but, like, I could just make a set of wings like the Valkyries if I really wanted to fly.

Bio-Genesis, though… to be frank, it was strong. The Trait’s whole purpose was the manipulation and mutation of biological lifeforms. It was the kind of Trait any Savant would dream about. It offered some seriously potent-looking features, it’s just that- well, getting into mutations? I wasn’t so sure about that. 

What if I accidentally messed with my genes too much and stopped being ‘Shiro’? It was a scary thought. Especially considering the human body was already mostly balanced. If that balance was thrown off just a bit? Even with medicine, side effects were common. Manipulating my own genome? No telling what kind of chaos I’d unleash on myself.

And I wasn’t exactly built for biology as much as tech stuff. Unfortunate, because it did look cool. I could probably get its effects with clever uses of Tech though, if I really wanted to. It did give me a few ideas for some inventions. I’d have to take a deep dive into biology though. Was there a Skill like that?

After several long hours of reading, I finally picked Kinetic, just like I originally thought I would. It jut had the highest chance of giving me what I wanted.

「Kinetic - Awaken a Kinetic ability」

Not the best description, all things considered. As the interface faded away, nothing happened. I stared at the ceiling of my BC apartment, waiting. Nothing. I pulled up the interface once more.

「Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox’s Grace, Quick Healing, Insight, Floras Daughter, Spectral Flock, Kinetic

Free Perk Points: 1

Knowledge Token: 1

EF: 100

• Skills

• Bounty Board

• EF Shop」

Yeah, it was there? And the Trait Point was gone, so it definitely activated. Why wasn’t it-? Hey, voyeurs, fix your interface! This wasn’t okay to just have a useless Trait… or maybe it had a wind up time?

On the bright side, I’d doubled my Traits since this stint with the interface first started. Still iffy on what the three of them did, but if they were even partially as useful as my original three? I’d grown way stronger than just a month ago.

Speaking of, maybe my Kinetic ability had already been awakened? Maybe I just didn’t know what it did yet, so I couldn’t use it… was there a guide somewhere for this kind of thing? Fox? You got anything for me?

Whatever, I could figure it out in the morning. It was already so late, and my head was starting to throb from exhaustion. I was already tired before spending hours looking through the interface’s list, but now?

I waved off the interface, cleaned up, and went to bed. It took a bit longer than I would’ve like. I stared into the dark apartment, hearing things slither and move in the darkness. My eyes easily pierced it though. Nothing was there. Uneasy sleep finally claimed me. Hopefully, no nightmares tonight?

— — —

I woke early in the morning, my hair matted to my head. I took a deep, calming breath. What awoke-

“Argh!” A startled shout escaped me. Electricity jolted through my body, causing my limbs to spasm uncontrollably. They flopped around with a mind of their own. Netrunner? How? Who-

“Gah!” The electricity surged, much more violently than the last. I tumbled off my bed, falling to the floor. I dropped on my wrist wrong, but the pain was quickly overpowered by the constant thrums of lightning coursing throughout my body.

The surging electricity made it impossible to control my limbs. I flopped around, half crawling toward my gear. If I could just get my poncho, it had EM shielding that might help ward off the Netrunner.

I staggered forward, feeling my muscles fry- no, that wasn’t right either? Although I felt far more electricity surging through me than when the Netrunner took over my chrome, it wasn’t nearly as painful. It was just causing nonstop seizures.

I barely managed to grab my poncho and throw it over my twitching form like a blanket. The surges intensified even more. And yet, the initial pain was gone. It felt… almost good? Pleasant? Ugh… electricity shouldn’t feel like this. Why did it feel so gooooood?!

My vision slowly hazed over. It ran through my body, massaging my muscles even better than a masseuse. It ran deep, crisscrossing my bones and tracing through my veins. Every part of my body practically vibrated with energy. 

This wasn’t just a Netrunner. My chrome didn’t have the capacity to produce this much in the first place. So what-

Sparks arced off my skin, lashing the flooring all around me. Acrid smoke filled the air. My entire body sank into a warm, electrifying embrace. I felt like the eye of a storm, constantly surging with overpowering currents. They arced out of me, frying anything even remotely close.

The EM shielding of the poncho helped contain it, but it could only do so much with partial coverage. I curled into a ball, feeling it thrum through me. Eventually, the sensations started overwhelming me. It was- it was just to much-

— — —

I awoke sometime later, surrounded by the ashed remains of the BC Gym’s synthetic wood flooring. Not my fault. Not at all.

I was feeling… good? Better than usual? Electrified? I pushed myself up to my feet, staggering slightly. My limbs tensed uncomfortably like I’d spent hours working out. I could feel it still- that current under my skin. It was calm now, pulsing with my blood rather than overpowering every facet of my being.

My limbs moved weakly. Everything felt off. I summoned Crow’s Canteen of Chaos and drank deeply from it. My chrome was fried. That much was obvious just from how it felt. Usually, it moved with me somewhat. Now it felt like hunks of junk within my body.

A quick check with Technical Expertise revealed as muc. I tapped on the jacks at my wrists. They’d need complete replacements. The rest of my chrome too. The Neural Link I’d had since I was a kid was toast, and so was the new Neural System Interface I just got not that long ago. Fried completely. Just useless scrap metal now.

Damn it! Seriously, this sucked. I’d have to get Neal to rip them all out. The currents that fried the chrome were powerful enough to fry a normal human, too, so I’d have to find a way to explain that to him as well.

Still, an electric Kinetic, chek? I didn't have too many expectations when I picked Kinetic, but it wasn’t half bad. Played well with some other ideas I had in the back of my mind, at least. 

I snapped my fingers, the friction turning to electricity. My fingers casually sparked. It felt good. Really good. Too good. I might get addicted to this? It was too weak to do anything with at the moment, but in the future? Maybe I could shoot lightning or something like one of Wolf’s Magi.

I shook my head, slumping down on my bed. My ash-covered bed. Ugh, I had so much stuff I needed to replace. And I’d have to call someone up to fix the floorboards… I dropped the toaster, yeah, that was my excuse. Toasters were weapons of mass destruction anyway. At least, in a bathtub.

Before that, though, I needed to figure out how to control this. No point getting new chrome and stuff only to fry it by accident once more.

I shifted, feeling the current within grow slightly as I moved. It was weaker than earlier though. Way, way weaker. Maybe a spark or two left in the tank. Definitely not at the level of lightning arcing from my body. Maybe in the future though?

I shrugged, changing into light clothes and headed down to the gym for my morning workout. It’d suck with the dead chrome weighing me down, but Absolom Clinic wasn’t open yet.

That proved to be a mistake almost immediately. The current grew every time I moved. Working out? It generated a massive current. My new Trait seemed more trouble than it was worth for the moment.

The issue was two-fold. My charge capacity was tiny. Once the current went over my capacity, it started discharging whether I wanted it to or not. The Crusade would need to call in a mechanic soon to fix all the stuff I accidentally fried on the way back up to my apartment, but- uh- toaster did it, yeah.

The good news was that I could actively feel my new ability strengthening the more I used it. And since it seemed to passively be active as long as I simply moved and accumulated charge? Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long now. Once I had a larger capacity, my problem would solve itself.

I messed around in my apartment, thinking up a solution to my Kinetic issues. I listened to the radio rant about the mayoral elections. Sounded like Mayor Tom Dollup was losing significantly after the AEZ situation. Alther Cinder, an underdog, was massively winning out. 

The people were scared and wanted a strong mayor. Alther Cinder, a renowned Adept, was filling that gap. That, and his campaign promises of strengthening Aythryn City to resist future disasters played right into recent events. His ads were sick too. Lots of phoenix iconography spread throughout, and his slogan was ‘rise from the ashes’.

As for my shocking situation? I could, like, make something to channel the electricity out of me? Maybe like a battery or something? Or maybe even just a converter to passively charge the battery in my backpack? I wouldn’t have to worry about running out of power ever again, at least.

Manually discharging it seemed like the easiest and best idea for now. I channeled the flowing current out of my finger, releasing a few small sparks. I felt weirdly hollow without any charge even though I’d spent all of my life like this. Ugh- this felt so weird.

I might have to custom-build chrome in the future. If my body were in a constant state of electrical charge from now on, it’d just fry if I didn’t modify it. What a pain in the rear.

I was scared to get on my bike when I went down to the parking garage. It proved to not be too much of an issue, though. At least once I was on it. I nearly fried the circuits when I first got on, but after that it was smooth sailing. This would all take some getting used to.

For now, Absolom Clinic. The dead chrome was really starting to irritate me. And it’d be good to see Neal again.