After a flash of white light, a bottle materialized on Anthony's fishing rod — a blue brain logo printed on its label.
Its description appeared naturally before his eyes.
[RAM Cascade]
[Origin: Cyberpunk 2077]
[Category: Consumable]
[Effect: One of the consumables a netrunner might use. Drinking it increases maximum RAM capacity.]
Anthony didn't even bother reading the wall of annotations underneath.
Then he mentally blacklisted Cyberpunk 2077 from his Bonded Worlds.
Go to hell, you trash drop.
If he were still alive, he'd have snatched this thing up without a second thought.
Netrunner builds, RAM capacity, pure style — sure, the versatility might be a bit lacking, but a full kit was never a bad deal, right? Down the line he could've done the classic chat group thing: run missions with David in Night City, roll up with both eyes blazing, radiating so much king energy the whole block would've wilted on sight. Never mind whether it'd actually work — was it cool? That was the only question that mattered.
But right now, he was a dead man. What the hell was he supposed to do with this?
What am I going to install cybernetics with? My soul? I'm not a Lich!
"When you get right down to it, there's just not enough stuff out there that a dead person can actually use…"
Staring at the bottle dangling from his fishing rod, Anthony turned the thought over quietly in his mind.
For a cyberpunk-type world, Carmen's City was probably the better fit — after all, the City had a genuine abundance of psionic, will-based forces. More to work with for a soul.
Jonathan's side… it depended on the era. If the timeline had advanced far enough to reach the Stand era, there'd probably be something he could use.
Arknights — that world had way more toys designed to play with souls.
The awkward part, though, was that Anthony wasn't sure he could afford to pull off another golden-finger move. His lifespan probably couldn't take another hit that size.
Just as he was sitting there, hesitating, a notification from the chat group caught the corner of his eye.
[High-Energy Reaction Detected]
[RAM Cascade, originating from the Cyberpunk 2077 world]
[Analysis complete: The majority of products from this world are technological constructs, carrying high-tier Tech-Side energy levels. Tech-Side energy is highly compatible with this chat group's energy supply. A premium buyback rate will be applied upon recycling.]
[Initiate recycling?]
My bad. I take it all back. I will never talk trash again.
He looked at his fishing rod. He looked at the bottle. He looked at his Bonded Worlds list.
The hatred for the garbage drop had vanished from his eyes, replaced entirely by the pure, glistening hunger for money.
I misjudged you. I was so wrong.
So it wasn't that dead people couldn't use it — it was that selling it to the chat group gave a better return on investment. Now he knew where the Points were going to come from.
In any game's early phase, anything that accelerates your economy is foundational logic. That's just facts.
From this day forward, Night City is the only sun in my heart!
"Recycle! Recycle it!"
[Recycling in progress… Tech-Side energy absorption complete. All energy converted and returned as Points.]
[You have received 21 Points.]
Odd number, but after grinding through the thesis-length annotations attached below, Anthony worked out roughly where these Points were actually coming from.
The short version: the chat group was basically infrastructure, and Points were its universal energy currency. Right now, the only functional component was the conversion device.
As for how to repair the other modules — simple. Feed the converter. Throw anything into it, and it spat out the most general-purpose energy: Points.
With Points, you could gradually repair features like check-ins and missions. Check-ins were like installing a solar panel — the chat group would start generating its own income. Missions were like a broadcast receiver — picking up requests from other worlds, letting group members work as contractors, and collecting payment once a client's job was done.
Now he understood.
Beyond that — Points, being the most universal energy form, could also be used to perform upgrades on group members. In plain terms: exchanging for abilities, enhancing abilities, that sort of thing.
Of course, energy conversion came with exchange rates. Psionic/will-based energy converted to Points at a discount. The best conversion rate came from purely technological worldviews like Cyberpunk 2077.
Staring at his fishing rod, Anthony felt like he was gazing at the road to wealth.
Because Points could be converted into Soul Force.
And right now, what the Primordial River was constantly grinding away at was precisely Anthony's Soul Force — which meant Points could extend Anthony's lifespan.
[1 Point can be exchanged for 1 hour of lifespan.]
It sounded like a small number. But when he did the math — he'd spent three hours fishing to reel this in. Net positive. Undeniably, unambiguously net positive.
Death retreated, just a little.
But Anthony didn't immediately cash in the Points. Instead, he scrolled down.
[Main Quest Posted: Feature Unlock]
[The majority of the chat group's features are currently dormant, but can be repaired by spending Points.]
[Nearest feature to repair: Group Check-In]
[Spending 100 Points total across all group members will complete this quest.]
[AAA City Female Ghost: Hm? Where did this come from all of a sudden… @Lord of the White Holy Throne, was this you?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Yeah, I managed to earn some Points on my end.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Simple version: after I helped each of you, I was able to make contact with your respective worlds — and then fish things out of them. Pretty much everything I pull up can be traded in for Points.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Lucky break, honestly — the first world I connected to was David's. His world's items have great trade value.]
[Let Night City Burn: Oh — did I actually help? If so, that's… genuinely great to hear.]
Looks like it registered that I'd started earning Points.
Anthony let out a quiet breath. Then, after a moment's thought, he started typing again.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Also — I've been thinking it over, putting together what we know so far.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Once we've unlocked enough features, it should be possible to use this chat group — along with enough accumulated Points — to pull off an actual resurrection.]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: Resurrection… I'm not particularly in a rush, personally. But I'll do everything I can to help everyone else.]
Reading Jonathan's words, Anthony thought about how his story ended — and his expression shifted into something distinctly complicated.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Ahem. Jonathan Joestar — you might want to reconsider being so relaxed about this.]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: ?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Remember what I said earlier? I have some knowledge of each of your worlds — including a rough idea of how your stories play out.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: @Founder of the Golden Spirit — are you aware that DIO didn't die?]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: ?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: When the ship exploded, you probably thought you took him down with you, right? Hate to break it to you — that guy climbed into a coffin, stole your body, went a few rounds of street brawling, spent a hundred-odd years napping at the bottom of the ocean, got hauled up by a fishing boat, and came back to life. And then spent the next century terrorizing your descendants. Using your body. With his head.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: So — maybe get a little more urgent about this whole resurrection thing?]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: ?]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: ??]
____
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