His lung problem was a short-term issue that money could solve-
This world spawned all kinds of Scavengers-organ harvesters-because human organs fetched such high prices.
Some might ask: why was there still an organ trade in a world with such advanced cyberware technology?
Because the cyberpunk world was still one step short of true ascension into machinery, and the collapse of the Old Net had brought technological regression and gaps in knowledge across the world.
As a result, most cyberware had requirements for its recipient's underlying capabilities, which could broadly be divided into three attributes: "Body," "Reflexes," and "Intelligence."
Ripperdocs generally used these three attributes to assess a body's potential and determine whether certain specialized implants could be installed.
In theory, only after installing enough cyberware could these forms of "potential" be converted into actual stats.
Conversely, only someone with sufficient potential could get the intended results from their cyberware.
A Synthetic Lung Lobe was synthetic tissue designed to increase the lungs' surface area, thereby increasing oxygen intake per unit of time and fundamentally improving physical endurance.
But if the recipient failed to meet the requirements, the synthetic tissue would actually reduce the lungs' efficiency.
What did it mean to fall short of the Body requirement? Take someone physically weak: if his intercostal muscles, abdominal muscles, pectorals, and diaphragm lacked strength, his chest would not expand far enough, and the air entering his lungs would fall short of their processing capacity.
He could not even make full use of his natural lungs. Adding a Synthetic Lung Lobe would do nothing, because there was not enough oxygen for his body to absorb.
Instead, the ineffective Synthetic Lung Lobe would burden his lungs and potentially cause other health problems.
Lier's situation was different-his muscles were weak, but his lungs were even weaker.
Replacing his lungs would therefore address the immediate crisis.
Vic first replaced Lier's Biomonitor, explaining the relevant details as he worked.
Jackie had gone out to discuss the Lizard's price with Padre, leaving only V-because she had injuries that needed treatment too.
V asked curiously, "Vic, I never knew any of this. How come you've never explained it to me?"
Vic glanced at V. "Think about that for a second."
On reflection, it did seem that V herself had never been willing to listen...
Forget sitting through Vic's lectures-she did not even want to read an instruction manual longer than a hundred words.
V gave a sheepish smile, then asked, "So what are my three stats in your records?"
Checking the Biomonitor implanted in Lier, Vic replied, "Your data hasn't been updated in a long time. As I recall, your Body and Reflexes potential were both above sixteen."
"What about Intelligence?"
"You're better off not knowing. It's enough, anyway."
Vic performed the final procedure, completing the Biomonitor's installation in Lier's body.
A new line appeared on the HUD in Lier's Cyber-Eye, displaying basic information such as his blood pressure, blood lipids, and weight.
Vic had also thoughtfully added an advanced HUD that displayed more complex information, including white blood cell levels, blood glucose concentration, red blood cell count, and hemoglobin concentration.
V pursed her lips. "What about Lier? I bet his Body's only one."
"Uh... you actually got that right." Lier saw his pitiful Body stat. Even his Reflexes barely reached three.
No wonder his body never felt all that outrageously fast when he activated the Sandevistan.
Body determined overall physical strength, while Reflexes mainly depended on the coordination between the central nervous system and the neuromuscular system.
On a microscopic level, Reflexes were primarily determined by measures such as the number of neurons and synapses-details that implanted cyberware could not reach.
Three was an ordinary person's stat. One meant Lier could be knocked over with a shove.
"Ha!" V mocked him mercilessly. "Weakling!"
Lier said nothing, because he noticed that his Intelligence field did not display a number at all.
A high Intelligence score here did not mean someone was a figure like Newton or Einstein. It was primarily determined by the surface area of the cerebral cortex and the activity of electrical signals in the brain.
The higher the score, the easier it was for implants to use the brain for computation-essentially, the more working memory the computer had.
In other words, high Intelligence would not necessarily make someone Newton, Einstein, or even Bartmoss, the God of Hackers.
After all, creativity and reasoning could not be accurately reduced to numbers. Besides talent, education was also an important factor in a person's achievements.
But those figures would certainly all have Intelligence scores above twenty.
Vic's meaning was already clear: the test capped out at twenty, but that limit meant nothing for Lier.
Besides, in this world, exceptional talent could sometimes become a curse-it was enough for Lier alone to know.
Understanding Vic's intentions, Lier entered twelve himself. As he did, he glanced at V.
I'm a weakling, but you're an idiot.
Ding-
The clinic's doorbell rang, and a commotion rose from the street outside-an AV had arrived.
The AV was neither large nor streamlined. It was clearly an economy model, primarily intended for transport.
The lettering on its side door identified the company it belonged to: Moore Technologies.
The lungs and cyberware Lier had bought for 300,000 eddies had arrived.
A man in a suit appeared at the clinic entrance carrying a black cargo case, followed by two fully armed bodyguards.
"Thank you for choosing Moore Technologies, Mr. Lier. Here are your Premium Live Organ and our latest Synthetic Lung Lobe tissue. To prevent installation accidents, the synthetic tissue has already been installed on this live organ using the most suitable method.
"In addition, here are the Artificial Auxiliary Heart and Blood Pump you selected, manufactured using Moore Technologies' exclusive technology to ensure that your heart never stops and your blood keeps flowing.
"You have selected an alternative installation method. Given local security conditions and your purchase options, our company accepts no responsibility for the cargo's safety after you sign for it.
"Please sign for your delivery."
Living in 2077 certainly made online shopping convenient.
Lier just had not expected Moore Technologies to ship it by AV-though, on reflection, it made sense. On top of those 300,000 eddies, he had paid another 2,000 for expedited shipping.
Shipping by car would have been cheaper. Unfortunately, its terms included a clause: for customers in Night City, the company accepted no responsibility once the cargo was dispatched.
Lier had not dared choose that option.
"Quite the production."
It was also V and Vic's first time seeing a delivery like this.
Once the delivery was signed for, Vic opened the 300,000-eddie shipment with mixed feelings.
Ordinary lungs could be bought from the Scavengers for a few tens of thousands, but Lier wanted something different.
By the standards just discussed, the donor of these lungs had a Body potential of eighteen-the best of the best.
The rating might have been inflated, but the lungs certainly met the installation requirements for a Synthetic Lung Lobe.
Of course, once installed in Lier, they might not perform at that level. They might even continue to fail.
All he could do was... keep himself alive as long as possible.
Vic also judged that, after the lungs, the next organ likely to suffer acute failure was the heart. Lier had best prepare for both eventualities.
The Blood Pump would increase blood flow, ensuring that his circulation could keep pace with his new lungs' powerful respiratory capacity as closely as possible.
The Second Heart was intended for extreme situations—for Lier, strenuous exercise could trigger acute organ failure at any moment.
If his heart suddenly quit on him, he would be beyond saving.
The Second Heart ensured that, if his primary heart stopped, this top-tier product of cyberware technology could pull him back from death's door.
Still, this was not a foolproof solution. Lier's body was so weak that, if his primary heart stopped, the Second Heart might only buy him another hour or two...
"This next part might be a little..." Vic prepared to perform the implantation surgery.
Normally, he ought to have reassured Lier, but then he remembered what had happened the last time he installed Lier's Sandevistan.
So he changed tack. "...boring. I'll send you a copy of Ripperdoc: From Beginner to Expert. Read it to pass the time. You can follow along and learn, too."
"Sure."
Lier readily agreed.
Once the implants were installed, Lier also settled with Vic how to handle the Sandevistan in his spine-
Lier had installed a Power Wall himself, but in practice, once he started using it, he could not stop. If he handled every problem that way, they could hold his funeral next month.
He therefore decided to have Vic patch its firmware system-there was no doubt that this Sandevistan's driver was not the best version.
Of course, Vic was not so incredible that he could casually develop a Sandevistan driver. The key was limiting the cyberware's power output.
This made Vic think even more highly of Lier, because very few people would turn down their cyberware's power.
Using powerful combat cyberware was like a mortal stealing sacred fire: with that power came the burden of the sin.
For mortals, power was an irresistible temptation. Yet Lier had chosen to seal that power away for now, using the device only as an artificial spine.
But he still intended to be a hacker, so Lier decided to have a Cyberdeck installed as well.
Under normal circumstances, the Ripperdoc Manual included this rule: a Sandevistan and a Cyberdeck could not be installed together. The reasons had already been explained at length.
But for Lier... he had already proven that the risk of losing control did not exist.
As it happened, when they put this idea into practice, Vic discovered that the Sandevistan itself had an interface for inserting a Cyberdeck's Core Shard-
It had been designed with an interface for bridging to a Cyberdeck all along!
Only a slight modification to the wiring was needed to establish a connection between the Cyberdeck's Shard and the cerebral cortex...
It completely defied the design guidelines.
Could this implant really have been intended as something other than a Sandevistan in the first place?
How strange.
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