Night City.
City Center, Arasaka Tower.
27th floor, R&D lab office.
"Ryder, stop sleeping!"
Bang, bang, bang.
A man in a white lab coat rapped his knuckles on the desk.
The noise jolted Ryder awake.
He slowly opened his eyes and swept his gaze around.
An unfamiliar office. An unfamiliar man.
Right in front of him was a massive panoramic glass wall straight out of a sci-fi holo-suite.
Countless virtual windows floated across it.
And the most eye-catching thing of all was the giant text in the center:
"ARASAKA CORPORATION WELCOMES YOU ABOARD!"
"Ryder! Quit zoning out. It's time to clock out."
The man frowned, patted Ryder on the shoulder, took off his lab coat, and walked out first.
As for Ryder—
He froze for only two seconds before snapping up and following him out.
His brain was completely blue-screened.
He trailed the man, got into the elevator, and went down.
When he reached the company entrance, he looked up at the sky—
Flying cars crisscrossing overhead, two enormous virtual koi gliding through neon air—one red, one blue—endless 3D ads and holograms, luxury megatowers stabbing into the smoggy glow, a cyberpunk skyline pushed to the absolute limit.
Only then did it finally hit him.
He had just walked out of Arasaka.
…
Cyberpunk.
Night City.
Two names so familiar they might as well have been burned into his skull.
In an instant, everything clicked.
A cascade of memories surged up.
"Ryder, 22 years old. Official employee of Arasaka Corporation's R&D Division in Night City. Baseline human with only a chip-slot implant in the neck. Owns a 50-square-meter private apartment in The Glen, Heywood."
Before Ryder could even process that—
Another string of sounds echoed inside his head.
[Host identity configuration complete. Initializing system…]
[System activation successful. Dispensing beginner gift pack.]
"Hold up! You trash system—spell it out. What the hell is going on?"
Ryder barked the words out loud.
[Current world: Cyberpunk 2076. Based on your saved game data, the system has automatically configured your identity.]
"Yeah, no kidding. What I want to know is what you actually DO!"
He'd already accepted the reality of being dropped into another world.
He didn't care to dwell on it.
What he cared about was the system that came with the transfer.
In a city crawling with cyberpsychos, where punks and mercs robbed and burned for fun, where the bottom rung lived like bugs and capital ruled everything—
What could this thing do for him?
[This system is designated: Black Tech System. As the name implies, it can assist the host in developing countless black-tech products.] (Full Metal Panic reference, basically very advanced technology, no need to know about FMP)
The system was smart enough to cooperate, launching straight into an explanation.
Before Ryder could say anything else, a character interface popped open.
[Black Tech System]
[Host: Ryder]
[Age: 22]
[Height: 1.85 m]
[Identity: Arasaka R&D employee]
[Body: 4 (average: 5)]
[Intelligence: 5 (average: 5)]
[Cool: 4 (average: 5)]
[Reflexes: 4 (average: 5)]
[Technical Ability: 5 (average: 5)]
[Skill: Driving (Advanced)]
[Assets: 52,076 eurodollars]
[Inventory: Beginner Gift Pack]
Ryder's expression shifted again.
Those stats—those exact numbers—were the character settings he'd made before starting that corporate-drone storyline.
And now they'd been stamped onto him for real.
…
But the moment he saw "Beginner Gift Pack" at the bottom of the interface, he didn't hesitate.
"Open the beginner gift pack."
The next second—
[Congratulations, host has obtained: Super Soldier Serum ×1.]
[Congratulations, host has obtained: Improved Nano Armor — Mark 85.]
[Congratulations, host has obtained: Cyberware Armor Blueprint — PROJECT series!]
"Holy shit!"
Ryder's whole mind went numb.
Then, just as quickly, he realized what this meant.
If he could break free of Arasaka, build cyberware armor himself, then in Night City—
Maybe he could carve out a new legend.
Maybe he could build a tech empire that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with megacorps like Arasaka and Militech.
And then the next headache wrapped itself around his brain.
Money.
In Night City, starting a tech company was harder than climbing to the moon with your bare hands. Without cash, nothing moved.
The fifty-thousand-and-change eurodollars he had—corporate-drone starting funds—was, at best, enough to buy a decent weapon.
He needed to make money.
Fast.
He stared at the gleaming, glamorous city and thought about the rot hiding beneath the chrome and neon.
While he worked through ways to get rich quickly, he headed toward the public NCART metro line that ran to Heywood.
But what he didn't realize—
Was that the moment he stepped onto the station platform…
A beautiful woman had already locked onto him.
No.
More accurately—
She'd locked onto the Arasaka chip seated in the one and only modified slot in his neck.