Devil in Night City (Cyberpunk) (Patreon)

Prologue: When in Rome…

I was ripped off.

Whenever anyone thinks of an isekai experience, the basics are simple: a cheat power and a starting location where you don’t die within the first week.

Being dumped into a new universe with nothing but the clothes on my back, almost no information about where I was, and a completely useless System with no stats, attributes, or inventory was definitely not what I had in mind when I agreed to that babe in my dreams.

Oh, and did I mention I had no cheat power at all? Because that pissed me off the most.

How was I supposed to know that the dream version of Jessica Alba in her twenties was telling the truth when she asked if I wanted to be transmigrated to a new world… while standing there in sexy lingerie?

I’d had raunchy dreams about that exact woman more times than I could count. I’d even dated a lot of blondes because of her. And I was pretty damn sure I wasn’t the only one, the woman was a genuine eleven out of ten.

What I thought was just another dream that would end with me waking up disappointed in my lonely apartment actually turned out to be real this time.

Worst of all, instead of getting some overpowered ability that would let me become the strongest and collect a harem, I got the Subaru treatment.

No… I take that back.

Subaru at least met a lewd silver-haired yandere elf pretty quickly, and then best girl Rem after that. Me? I was stuck watching my back every few seconds, terrified of getting stabbed, having my organs harvested, and being left to die in some dark alley.

And my best quality, those extremely dashingly good looks I inherited from good genes, had now become a liability. Every stare I got made me more nervous.

How the hell do you blend in when 99.99 percent of the population is walking around with cybernetic implants straight out of a sci-fi movie?

Short answer: you can’t.

Oh, and the city I found myself in — with no cash, no identification, and nowhere to stay — was none other than the dystopian hellhole known as Night City. A place overrun by evil mega-corporations, drowning in corruption, and crawling with violent street gangs.

Here I was, a mere (if extremely handsome) smoothskin, walking around with a fake, strained smile on my face while internally losing my mind, trying to remember everything from a game I only played once years ago.

So yeah… fuck isekai. It was a trash genre anyway. Overdone, with no interesting plots left.

Stopping by a random shop and pretending to look at the merchandise, I mentally called up the shitty System I’d been given and immediately glared at it.

It still hadn’t manifested any overpowered ability, nor had it told me a single useful thing about my situation.

Host: Lucius Grimlaw

Age: 20 years old

Abilities: N/A

Current Mission: N/A

That was it. That was everything this useless System had to offer.

I’d already tried every command I could think of, both out loud and in my head, and failed spectacularly every time.

Seriously? What kind of fucking R.O.B. dumps someone into a whole new world with absolutely nothing? I thought angrily. Then I realized I’d been standing still too long and was starting to draw attention again. I quickly moved on.

I really didn’t want to end up stabbed… or worse, disfigured. My face was literally the only thing I had going for me right now.

Alright, Lucius. First order of business: find a place to live. For that I need money, eddies. To get eddies I either need proper identification for a normal job, or I join a gang. Or I could try robbing some rich corpo and pray he’s not a secret assassin or samurai who ganks my ass.

…Those options all suck. I’m totally going to end up dead, harvested for organs, or — god forbid — sold off as a male joytoy, aren’t I? My shoulders slumped in despair.

As I was busy contemplating my new shitty life, all thanks to whatever asshole R.O.B. had tricked me by wearing the face of my biggest celebrity crush, I suddenly froze. The sound of gunshots cut through the air.

It shouldn’t have surprised me, this was Night City, after all, but it still stopped me cold.

I got my shit together and immediately ducked behind a parked car as the gunfire grew louder.

Peeking over, I saw the usual Night City entertainment: two gangs going at it. One side was covered in facial cybernetics. The other was clearly Asian, sporting colorful tattoos, dyed hair, and wielding katanas and tantos.

That’s… Maelstrom and the Tyger Claws, I think, I thought in a panic, ducking again as a few stray rounds slammed into the car I was hiding behind.

“I need to get the fuck out of here! Why the hell am I still here!?” I muttered under my breath, scanning for a clear path before starting to crawl toward the corner of the street for better cover.

My hastily made plan came to an abrupt end when a Tyger Claw rounded the corner on his bike… and was heading straight for me.

“Move out of the fucking way, gonk!” the man yelled in a mix of panic and anger.

I threw myself to the side, just barely missing being run over.

The thug didn’t make it unscathed, though. He slammed face-first into the car I’d been hiding behind, flew off his bike, and landed unconscious on the pavement.

I stared at the scene with wide eyes, heart hammering like it was trying to escape my chest. I was about to keep running when I spotted the gun lying on the ground.

Indecision hit me hard. Risk it or leave it? The thought lasted all of five seconds before a determined frown settled on my face.

Crawling back across the ground, not caring how ridiculous I looked, I stayed low, trying to stay hidden from the still-fighting gang members. I reached the downed Tyger Claw, grabbed the gun, thankfully just a plain black one, nothing flashy, and quickly stashed it inside my jacket after making sure the safety was on.

A quick look around confirmed I was still out of sight, so I rifled through his pockets and found some extra ammo along with a few chips of some kind. Those went into my pockets too.

Alright. Time to get the fuck out of here.

I’d had enough of risking my life for one day. I bolted at a full sprint, not caring who saw me.

I didn’t stop until I was several blocks away, where the gunfire was nothing more than a distant echo. Then I slumped against the nearest wall, hand pressed to my chest.

“Fuck… that was insane. I can’t believe I actually did that. Fucking R.O.B. making me do stupid shit because they couldn’t be bothered to give me a cheat. I already hate this place.”

I muttered the rant under my breath, lucky that no one was around to hear me as the adrenaline slowly faded.

Then, as if that asshole R.O.B. had finally remembered I existed, a soft ding cut through my thoughts.

I blinked and looked around, but nothing nearby could have made that sound. I checked my pockets again just in case I’d somehow brought my phone with me (I hadn’t). A second later the System window opened on its own, and this time the message was different.

[Congratulations for making it past the tutorial without dying. It was very amusing watching you stumble around like a dumbass. As compensation for the entertainment, the mission category will be unlocked… and here’s the OP cheat you were whining like a little bitch about.]

[Plunder ability unlocked.]

[Plunder: The power to steal a single ability, mundane or supernatural, from a target you kill. This can include things like marksmanship, cooking expertise, intelligence, stamina, or even a supernatural ability such as healing. Note: the target must be killed without help from anyone else for Plunder to activate. Abilities do not stack; if you steal a similar ability, the stronger version will overwrite the previous one.]

[This is the last time we’ll be talking, by the way. Enjoy your life… and try not to die like a fucking noob within the first week. Yours truly, your amazing R.O.B.]

I silently stared at the screen only I could see, frozen in surprise for a moment before reality finally hit me.

So the bastard was listening the whole time! Hey! Come back and explain properly, asshole! What kind of R.O.B. are you? What the hell do you mean by missions!?

I ranted at the empty space in my head for several long minutes before finally giving up when no response came. Grumbling, I reread the message a few times just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

Then the screen flickered and a new message appeared.

Main Mission: Make your name known enough to be forever cemented in legend in Night City. How you do it is your choice — just make sure that, at the very least, you get a drink named after you.

Main Reward: A way to travel to another world will be opened for you, along with your own personal demiplane accessible only to you or those you explicitly allow inside.

Time Limit: Unlimited.

“Tsk. Sure. Want me to take over the world while I’m at it?” I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes at the ridiculous task.

Getting an actual cheat ability was cool as hell and would definitely make me dangerous later on… but it wasn’t exactly game-breaking in a world full of heavily augmented cyborgs and no superpowers.

The biggest limitation was that similar abilities didn’t stack. I couldn’t just go on a killing spree and instantly become a monster. I’d have to carefully choose what I took from each kill, if I even got the choice, and even then I’d only ever be as good as the person I’d taken it from.

The only real upside was that there didn’t seem to be any limit on the kind of skills or abilities I could steal.

As I sat there thinking it over, another realization slowly settled in.

Am I seriously contemplating becoming a murder hobo just for the chance to get stronger?

The answer came faster than I expected.

Yes. Of fucking course I am.

I narrowed my eyes, determination settling in. This is Night City. There’s no shortage of scum here that no one would miss. In fact, most of this city is full of people like that.

There’s no way I’m turning down the chance to kill a bunch of fucking bastards, get stronger, and eventually build myself a harem.

Ah, it seems my true feelings came out.

Can you blame me? I was a complete man-whore in my past life and I had zero plans to change that now. There was a reason I was still single despite looking like this, after all.

It was either the harem life or staying single for the rest of my life. And now that I actually had a real shot at the former, there was no fucking way I was backing out just because I’d never killed anyone before.

Humans were surprisingly adaptable. I’d adapt too.

Alright, Night City. Ready or not, a cheating motherfucker with a genuine cheat power is about to grab you by the balls and make you squeal. Arasaka, Militech, every gang in this city, and anyone else I might’ve missed, you’re all about to become my bitches.

My completely heroic (and definitely not insane) internal monologue was interrupted by a loud growl from my stomach. Hunger hit hard, and with it came a truly horrifying realization.

I remembered a tiny, devastating detail from the game.

My head tilted back in pure despair as every ounce of will to live drained out of me.

“How the fuck am I supposed to live without eating real meat for however long I’m stuck here?” I muttered in a dead voice, almost dropping to my knees before stopping myself. The streets were disgusting and I really didn’t want to catch something.

“It’s fucking over…”