The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 6 - 5 Entertainment Series - Magician
Chapter 6: Chapter 5 Entertainment Series - Magician”Although they had only given eyewitness statements, by the time the two men left the Terrorism Control Bureau, it was already noon.”

”Eat first?” Wolf glanced at the time.

”Let’s go straight to the bank, sort out that matter, and then eat,” Jiang Shu replied before looking at the Character Card projected from his wristwatch simulation screen.

Name: Jiang Shu

Character Card·Magician

Gradient: T4

Sequence: Entertainment Series.

Mysterious Coefficient: 0.5

Entries:

-Passive·Skillful Hands (White): Dexterity and stability of both hands +2.

-Passive·Original Eye (Blue): Vision (dynamic and static) +2, barrier breaking ability +1.

-Passive Misdirection (Purple): During magic performance, guiding ability +3.

-Passive·Calm (Purple): Calmness +3, immune to cyber psychosis.

-Active·Heart Anchor (Purple): Hypnosis +3; set a heart anchor and related instructions for a designated target; when the heart anchor is triggered, the target will execute the related instructions.

-Passive·Deception (Gold): After successfully performing a magic trick, acquire an ability related to the effect of the magic. The restoration degree of the ability depends on the effect of the magic and the number of spectators. The derived abilities from this entry cannot be used during a magic performance. When the magic trick is publicly revealed, the ability disappears. A maximum of three abilities derived from Deception can exist at the same time.

Clearly, this ability named Deception seemed to be the most ’bugged’, gaining corresponding abilities by performing magic?

That is to say...

Could he really plagiarize homework?

Tsk, how could he be so lacking in ambition!

If he could gain real abilities by mixing the fake with the real in magic, then he would have to plan it out well.

Prediction, Teleportation, swap, Hypnosis, Shadow Cutting and Flowers, Control the weather, Time Stop, Summoning the Dead—thinking of these magics, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

After a long time, he finally spoke to Wolf, who was driving beside him, ”I’m T4, is that normal?”

”Normal, the starting point for the Combat Sequence is T4,” Wolf replied casually.

”But I’m from the Entertainment Series, and my profession is Magician,” Jiang Shu said, puzzled.

”With your standard, they definitely wouldn’t just assign you a T5 Magic Apprentice to brush you off,” Wolf wasn’t surprised, as it was also possible for an Awakener with a high level of professional mastery to experience this, ”How many entries?”

”Six,” Jiang Shu answered.

”Six?” Wolf gave him another look, then fell silent for a moment before saying, ”Yeah, it makes sense. Starting off at T4, having six entries is normal.”

Jiang Shu, seeing Wolf’s reaction, wisely refrained from sharing his own situation of having one white, one blue, three purple, and one gold entry; he vaguely remembered Wolf mentioning that under normal circumstances, a T2 level might have a chance of having a golden entry.

”Any purple ones?” Wolf asked, as normally, at T4 there would be a purple entry, without doubt.

”There’s one.” Jiang Shu nodded, then recited it, ”Calmness +3, immune to Cyber Syndrome.”

”Tsk tsk, nice stuff,” Wolf smacked his lips. ”Don’t let the word get out, you could get targeted. The value of this term is enough to drive someone to risk everything.”

”Immunity to Cyberpsychosis, now that’s something those transformation-addicted lunatics dream of,” he continued, then looked at Jiang Shu with interest. ”With that, you could extensively install prosthetics. I know a very good Prosthetic Doctor who could give you a discount.”

”No need.” Jiang Shu shook his head; he didn’t grow up in Lonely City and had a natural aversion to prosthetics.

He remembered the Mantis Blade popping out of Wolf’s wrist, very cool, but he didn’t like it.

Although prosthetics could rapidly increase a normal person’s combat ability, and he was free to modify himself as he pleased, he really had no interest in doing so.

”Okay then, let me know if you ever need anything.” Wolf shrugged. ”Aside from the hot weapons officially banned by Lonely City, he’s got everything else.”

”We’re at the bank,” he stopped the car, then transferred ten thousand Feather Coins to Jiang Shu, ”This morning’s mutant yielded a purple term, a Memory USB that I’ll sell. It’s worth around twenty thousand on the market, so let’s split it fifty-fifty.”

”Okay,” Jiang Shu nodded without any politeness, becoming a formal Magician also meant he had many expenses, and he couldn’t always mooch off Sister Jo, right?

”Those mutants...” he remembered the creature from that morning that resembled a tall, lean shadow and frowned slightly.

It was clearly a normal technology civilization, so why were there mutant monsters that completely defied science?

However, when Jiang Shu remembered his own professional ability—Deception, he felt somewhat reassured. If his understanding was correct, as long as he performed Magic, he would be able to gain corresponding extraordinary abilities. Next time he faced a mutant, he wouldn’t feel as powerless as he did today.

But, did Magic possess any offensive power?

”Mutants?” Wolf spoke earnestly, ”As you’ve seen, they are a type of monster, no, calling them monsters might be a bit one-sided. To be precise, they are in their primary stage as monsters.”

”Primary stage?” Jiang Shu blinked, curiously inquiring, ”There are intermediate and advanced stages?”

”Yes, these monsters are just the lowest level, but even the lowest level mutative creatures are extremely tough to deal with,” continued Wolf. ”Just like the one we encountered earlier today, if you hadn’t seen through its true form, it would have cost us dearly to take care of it. Though, if you can find their weaknesses, they’re actually quite easy to deal with.”

”But a small fraction of mutants have very peculiar characteristics and are extremely hard to kill directly,” he shook his head slightly. ”These types of mutants are weak in their initial attacks and possess a certain intelligence, knowing how to conceal themselves.”

”Conceal themselves? So, what are their goals? To level up?” asked Jiang Shu.

”Right. After becoming mutants, you could say they are always on the wrong path, and thus they keep obtaining special terms. Upon reaching the next stage, they evolve into a higher level of mutant, at which point they are no longer monsters but...” Wolf paused, ”a place or something else.”

”Huh?” Jiang Shu was stunned, things were getting more far-fetched. From human to monster was one thing, but a monster becoming a place?

”Exactly, they become places, or more accurately, they possess a certain location and coexist with it,” Wolf said seriously. ”There are thirteen such places within Lonely City, just look them up online. Do not go there under any circumstances; those are Life Forbidden Zones.”

”And... the higher levels?” Jiang Shu pressed on, curious as to what they could evolve into.

”The higher levels don’t exist in Lonely City; that kind of thing is only found in legends,” Wolf chuckled. ”In fact, if we cannot find a way to kill a mutant, we’ll throw it outside the city. With the protection of the ’Black Wall,’ mutants can’t get in.”

”Then outside the city...” Jiang Shu’s mouth opened slightly.

”Outside?” Wolf laughed again, ”Outside is the wasteland, why would you want to go out there? Lonely City is already big enough.”

A wasteland? Is this world actually a wasteland world?

”Alright then,” Jiang Shu pushed down the doubts in his heart, but he felt a strange urge rising within him.

He wanted to go out and see for himself.

”However, it is said that the next evolutionary stage of the mutant sequence is a very peculiar thing,” Wolf recalled something and spoke in the tone one would tell an urban myth. ”They become things like atmosphere, curse, setting, and so on, with no physical form, impossible to eradicate completely.”

”I have heard that, in a distant place, there is a city named Gotham,” his face showed contemplation. ”There, such setting-type mutant sequences exist in abundance. There’s one that’s quite famous, called...”

”’Joker.’”