Cyberpunk: I'm Not a Scavenger - Chapter 56: A Bountiful Harvest (Patreon)

Inside El Coyote Cojo, pounding rock music and the smell of alcohol had whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

“Cheers!”

“Hell yeah!”

Pantheon knocked back the strong liquor Mitch had handed him, earning a round of cheers. Jackie had an arm around Mitch’s shoulders and was listening eagerly to his stories from the Unification War.

Panam was deep in conversation with Mama Welles, who clearly took a liking to the brave young woman and her devotion to her family. Scorpion was already drunk. A few young Aldecaldos had dragged him onto the dance floor, where they were all making fools of themselves.

Out in the resource-starved Badlands, a celebration like this was a rare luxury. Jackie squeezed through the crowd and shouted to Pantheon over the music.

“Chico, where’d you find these guys? If I’d known they were this much fun, I would’ve come with you!”

“Next time, for sure!”

The party carried on late into the night. Even passing strangers were drawn in, making the place livelier still. By the time it ended, Mitch and several older nomads had their hands full trying to cram the younger ones back into their vehicles.

They promised Pantheon they would sort out the spoils as soon as possible and haul them back to camp. Pantheon would sell the loot and turn it into eddies or supplies the clan urgently needed.

As for delivering Night Corp’s cargo... That could wait until he finished his ten lottery draws tonight.

Back at his home in The Glen, Pantheon showered, changed, and made himself presentable. Then, with exaggerated solemnity, he lit three sticks of incense in front of a lucky charm he’d paid a small fortune for in Little China. The seller had sworn it would bring him good fortune.

“Come on. Just give me some good pulls.”

“I won’t turn down a Gloriana-class battleship, and the Spear of Adun would do nicely.”

“I could live with a Star-Eater. A Planet Killer wouldn’t be bad either.”

“Halo, the Death Star, a Dual-Vector Foil, Stargates, Titans, Ringworlds...”

“Come on, System. Show me what you’ve got!”

Ten prize wheels spun at once, with countless extraordinary items flashing past.

[Ding!]

[Ability acquired: [Gun Combat] (Blue)]

[Gun Combat] (Blue)

Description: My bullets can curve.

Effect: A combat technique that seamlessly combines shooting and close-quarters fighting, predicts enemy positions, and enables rapid reloading.

Pantheon stared at the result in disbelief. It was 2075. Who couldn’t make a bullet curve these days? Did the System think his smart weapons were glorified fire pokers? Why was it handing out something so hopelessly outdated?

Then again, would bullets fired under [Dead Eye] curve too?

A familiar tune popped into his head as he moved on to the next reward.

[Blood Ravens Chapter Relic: Master-Crafted Chainsword] (Blue)

Description: Are you my dad?

Effect: Its furious machine spirit will help you tear every enemy to pieces.

When Pantheon gripped the chainsword, he could almost feel its burning hunger for battle and barely contained delight. He shivered. It felt as though something unclean had taken an interest in him.

[Nanosuit] (Purple)

Description: But can it run Crysis?

Effect: Strength, speed, armor, and stealth modes for different combat situations. Watch how long you wear it. Do not let the armor consume you.

Damn! This might be a purple-tier reward, but it was worth its weight in gold.

Reverse-engineered from alien technology, this nanosuit could adapt to practically any situation.

Its temperature controls and oxygen recycling could keep the wearer alive in extreme conditions, from blazing infernos to the vacuum of space. Built-in thrusters even allowed movement underwater and in zero gravity.

Its powerful life-support system could rapidly repair damaged organs, bones, and even neural tissue. In Armor Mode, it could withstand direct hits from a 12.7-millimeter heavy machine gun.

In Stealth Mode, specialized crystals absorbed and refracted light, making the wearer nearly invisible. It also defeated radar and infrared detection, while concealing any gear carried within a certain radius.

Power Mode amplified the wearer’s strength. The stronger the person already was, the greater the increase. Speed Mode greatly enhanced movement speed and reaction time.

Best of all, the armor could absorb energy and repair itself. Its biological structure made regeneration possible, and feeding it more energy accelerated the process. Heat, radiation, electricity, sunlight, kinetic force. It could draw power from all of them, or even break down corpses directly for fuel.

Now Mom would never have to worry about him leaving leftovers again. There was a catch. Wearing the suit for too long could cause irreversible fusion with the body, even altering the wearer’s genetics and species.

Still, nanotechnology in the Cyberpunk world was no joke either, and Delta GTI had done extensive research into it. And if things really went wrong, he still had this, didn’t he?

Pantheon weighed the chainsword in his hand. Its motor sprang to life of its own accord, apparently at the urging of its machine spirit.

The more he studied the nanosuit’s specifications, the more delighted he became.

Put this suit on, and he might be able to beat Adam Smasher to a pulp right now.

From now on, it would be his hidden trump card.

If some corpo bastard got on his nerves, Pantheon could blow him and his vehicle to pieces.

There was just one problem. Something about the suit felt disturbingly familiar. Black. Capable of fusing completely with a human body. Compatible with additional equipment. Wait a damn minute. Wasn’t that the Black Carapace?!

That damned Emperor was still after him!

Pantheon hurriedly lit three more sticks of incense in front of his lucky charm. He had no intention of becoming some evil god’s employee.

He distinctly remembered buying both Baldur’s Gate 3 and Space Marine 2 before ending up in this world. Where the hell was Lathander when he needed him?

Most of the other lottery rewards were fairly ordinary. Only the [Tuxedo] and [GUTS Hyper Gun] really caught his interest.

The tuxedo was the very one from Jackie Chan’s film. Its built-in microcurrent stimulation system could make the wearer’s body perform complex movements. Different modes could grant the skills of a boxer, marksman, dancer, or musician. It was rather like the skill chips used in Night City.

The tuxedo could also boost strength and speed and allow the wearer to cling to walls.

Pantheon wanted to study its mechanisms and combine them with the GTI Operative gear he’d acquired earlier, creating an entirely new linear exoskeleton frame.

The [GUTS Hyper Gun] needed even less explanation. It packed enough firepower to hurt monsters. By Cyberpunk standards, its power was downright absurd.

Maybe he could scale it up into a Hyper laser cannon? Pantheon rubbed his chin. That idea had potential.

The remaining prizes were:

Ten kilograms of gold, a case of premium cigarettes, a Witcher’s steel sword, five fireworks grenades, and a complete seven-volume set of Dragon Raja.

So somewhere in the multiverse, the author had actually finished Dragon Raja. At last! Pantheon changed clothes and settled in to read.

When Lucy came home in the early hours of the morning, she found Pantheon with tears streaming down his face. “Pantheon? What happened?”

“You sadistic bastard! I’ll never forgive you!”