"So, which one should I choose?"
Jax hesitated in the car; all four edification effects were exceptionally powerful, and the first three offered an intuitive appreciation for the beauty of numbers.
It was like a numerical beast baring its chest and grinning at you.
But in the end, Jax chose the last edification effect.
The ability to replicate ranged and melee attack modes seemed useless at first glance.
To put it bluntly, what kind of weapons didn't that mercenary have right now?
It was just that Jax hadn't had time to plan; otherwise, with a multi-functional bag, he could have carried a stack of good tools.
Furthermore, if Viktor and Pilar could create weapons like the Gunblade, then advanced weapon specialists in megacorporations would be even more capable.
Pilar certainly had some talent, but compared to the truly top-tier weapon specialists, Pilar was clearly far inferior; otherwise, she wouldn't have been struggling in Night City for so many years.
Therefore, choosing Shadow seemed like a very poor decision.
But in the end, Jax still chose [Shadow] as his edification ability.
Because after carefully reading the edification ability, you would discover that Shadow seemed to be the edification ability with the highest potential here...
Its power increases based on the user's attributes, so the question arises... even if it's not a 100% attribute conversion power effect, but only around 80%, then... it would be ridiculously overpowered, right?
Because Jax's attributes would continuously increase!
In five years, except for Intelligence, Jax had already raised several attributes to nearly ten points, and his Body had even surpassed ten points. And as the missions Jax took on became more dangerous and larger, the attribute points rewarded would also become more generous.
Just like this time, 'My Heart's on Fire' directly rewarded one main attribute point! And it was a free attribute point!
Therefore, if one day Jax's Body attribute truly reached 20 points, then... how many weapons in this world could perfectly adapt to him?
Wakako's Byakko, Oda's Jinchu-maru, and the legendary upgraded Jue hidden behind the Seabreeze Tower...
But these weapons were not perfectly adapted to V's attribute values at the time; rather, V could only use these weapons because they were the best she could get.
To put it harshly... it meant that those were already the best weapons that could be produced with modern technology.
As Arasaka Hanako's bodyguard, Oda's status was comparable to Adam Smasher's. As the Arasaka princess's bodyguard, could his weapon be inferior?
And what about Jax?
Was he going to rely on Viktor and Pilar to make weapons for him?
Don't be silly... Precisely because of this, while Shadow's lower limit might be lower than other edification abilities, Shadow's upper limit... was the most suitable for Jax, because it could perfectly adapt to Jax's future high attributes and be used as Jax's weapon.
[Star], [Glow], and [River] all had corresponding abilities to enhance the Gunblade, but they were all one-directional and not versatile.
But Jax didn't plan to go in just one direction.
So, Jax chose [Shadow] as the edification.
[Gunblade Edification Successful]
[Data Displayable.]
Before Jax's eyes, when he looked at the Gunblade, a data frame from his optical implant appeared, but it was different: it was clearer, sharper, without glitches or black lines.
[Gunblade · Song of Shadow]
[Quality: Immortal]
[Tier: None]
[Power: High]
[Type: Gun / Blade (Replicable Change)]
[Replication Types: Pistol / Rifle / Sniper Rifle / Knife / Katana / Spear / Staff / Hammer /...]
[Condition: For Jax's use only]
Returning to reality, Jax narrowed his eyes and gripped the Gunblade resting on his lap.
The next moment, Jax felt the Gunblade transform into his arm, as if... it had completely connected with him, like a smart weapon integrated into a brain-computer interface.
The feeling was incredibly wonderful, and a thought arose in Jax's mind.
A black line emerged from the Gunblade. The front section of the Gunblade · Song of Shadow on Jax's lap changed. The Katana, originally embedded and connected, extended outwards, while the gun barrel below gradually blurred and disappeared under the black line...
"I say, should we just charge through?"
Jax was still experimenting with his new toy when he heard Maine's voice.
After thinking for a moment, Jax slapped the Gunblade, and the next moment, the Gunblade that had been on Jax's lap vanished.
But a small, black dagger hung from Jax's waistband, shimmering with black light as it swayed.
He looked at Maine ahead, who continued, "It's all Customs personnel. We haven't even reached the checkpoint yet. It looks like they already guessed we'd come this way."
Before Jax could speak, several armored vehicles rapidly approached from the front.
Seeing this, Maine roared, gripping the steering wheel tightly, "Damn it, everyone hold on!"
They had just left the industrial zone and ran into Customs. These guys were also NCPD. It looked like... breaking through would be troublesome!
"Pilar, stick close!"
"I know!"
Pilar responded in the team's voice chat, and the car behind them wildly swerved, following Maine as he veered off the main road.
In the back seat, Jax and Kiwi quickly grabbed the handholds on the roof, but Lucy had nothing to hold onto. With the sudden acceleration and deceleration, her body floated up, so she quickly reached out and hugged Jax's arm.
"?"
Kiwi saw this, her eyes flashing. Why didn't she grab my arm?
The armored vehicles were following closely, and a smart weapon was even taken out—no, it wasn't taken out!
The smart weapon sprang out from the front of the car!
Damn it, that was a heavy weapon, and it was currently aimed at the rear of Pilar's car, which was following Maine's!
Maine saw this in the rearview mirror and shouted, "Kiwi!"
"I'm already on it!" Kiwi flung open the car window and stuck her head out, her short yellow hair flapping wildly against her face in the wind. Like a banshee, she turned her face and widened her eyes, instantly hacking into the smart weapon.
"I'm in!" Kiwi yelled. "Damn it, there's a high-level security protocol. I can only disable it, not make it backfire!"
"That's good enough!"
Maine said, stomping on the gas and driving the car into the industrial ruins.
Pilar followed closely.
Ten minutes later, the two cars drove out of the industrial ruins, successfully escaping the pursuit of several armored vehicles, and finally reached the checkpoint.
The loud noise of the approaching vehicles attracted the attention of the checkpoint. Maine shouted in advance, "Jax, it's up to you now!"
Unlike the armored vehicles just now, the checkpoint's turrets were not easy to hack. Lucy and Kiwi both said that those things had military protocols.
It would require equipment and time to crack them, but where would they get the equipment and time?
Therefore, Kiwi and Lucy's hacking abilities were useless against those things!
So... they would have to forcibly destroy them with brute force!
In the car, the only ones who could do such a thing were Maine and Jax. The former could do it by activating his Sandevistan, stopping time, while the latter was constantly in a world where time was stopped!
Jax unbuckled his seatbelt. He, of course, understood Maine's meaning, and the sunroof on the car's roof was also opened by Maine.
Jax leaned out. Ahead, the checkpoint personnel had already spotted Jax and the others, and red lights flashed, followed by a particularly piercing alarm.
"Phew."
Jax climbed onto the car roof, then raised his left hand, piercing it into the roof like a sword. The next moment, his palm penetrated the roof, gripping the sheet metal. Jax's entire body was now out of the sunroof, leaning forward while standing on the roof.
He did this to prevent losing balance at high speed, for example, if Maine suddenly made a sharp turn and threw him off.
And Dorio was raising the cannon beside her foot, intending to hand it to Jax.
But Jax didn't take the cannon Dorio was offering. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, the wind messing up Jax's black hair. He stood on the car roof, extended his right hand, and aimed it at the dense crowd of people in the checkpoint.
Jax's hand was beautiful. He was tall and slender, with a delicate face and fair skin, and his hands were naturally the same.
His well-defined fingers made a grasping motion. Jax's thought emerged.
Everyone in the car couldn't see what was happening on the roof, not knowing what Jax was doing up there, but Pilar, who was following Maine's car, saw it clearly from the driver's seat!
He saw Jax standing on the roof, extending his right hand, and then, on that right hand where there had been nothing, a black shadow first spread along Jax's waist, and then a pure black assault rifle appeared in Jax's hand.
Its design even looked like an Arasaka rifle!
Pilar's mouth hung open. He didn't understand where Jax had pulled this weapon from, but now was clearly not the time to think about weapons!
And as Pilar witnessed this scene, in the world of stopped time, Jax had already aimed and simultaneously fired at the nearest police officers.
The 'Dadada' of gunfire had already sounded!
"Charge through!" Maine heard the gunshots, and as they neared the checkpoint, he took a deep breath, slammed the steering wheel, and floored the accelerator.
He also leaned sharply to the left, his massive body already comical in the car, becoming even more so with this movement.
Dorio instantly understood Maine's intention and leaned her body towards Maine's side.
Kiwi gripped the handrail tightly, while Lucy hugged her waist, preventing herself from being thrown off while scanning the iron pillars ahead with Kiwi.
The next moment, the right side of the car lifted, smashing through the barrier while dodging the massive iron pillars rising from the ground.
That thing was meant to stop cars!
Damn it, what kind of blade overtake was that?!
Pilar, in the car behind, gritted his teeth and followed Maine closely; he could only trust Jax and Kiwi to succeed now!
The moment the car crashed through the barrier, Jax had already appeared in front of the turrets that were turning.
He jumped out, his black rifle gone from his right hand, and his cupped hand gesture changed; now, Jax's hands were clasped together, as if holding something invisible.
Jax softly uttered: "Katana!"
In the center of his cupped hands, a black shadow converged to form a pure black Katana, leaving a dark, inky afterimage, like a black tail.
Jax then swung his sword with all his might at the red-glowing, warning-sounding turret!
"Boom!"
Under the deafening explosion, Jax instantly shot out from the flames, landing precisely on the car roof and lying flat, while Maine simultaneously drove the car into the people who were shooting.
Kiwi, sitting in the back, rolled her eyes, a physiological kind, with her eyeballs rolling upwards accompanied by electric sparks; Kiwi's body trembled as if electrocuted, and the next moment, the iron pillars behind instantly retracted, allowing Pilar's car to pass through smoothly.
All of this happened in less than a few seconds!
"We're out!"
Two almost wrecked cars sped onto the Badlands desert, and Maine's voice held a hint of joy.
Pilar, his voice tense, shouted, "Damn it, what was that just now? Jax, what was that?"
Jax, who had just climbed back into the car, was about to explain when he saw Maine's expression suddenly change.
Because just ahead, right after they had broken out of the checkpoint, several AVs blocked their path.
"Damn it, is this ever going to end?!" Maine snarled, gritting his teeth at the sight.
"What are you thinking? How could this matter be resolved so simply?" Dorio, however, said calmly, picking up the rocket launcher beside her feet; she was ready for a fight.
Jax, who had just returned to the car, looked at the several AVs and also fell silent.
High altitude, fast, and equipped with sophisticated weapons... this was not something his crew could handle.
Jax was indeed very strong; in a one-on-one situation, after activating Potential Overdraft, few people in Night City could beat Jax.
But... there were simply too many powerful things in this world!
A child with the best weapon, only needing to pull a trigger, could kill a strong person, let alone those top-tier military vehicles and weapons.
Take the foremost AV, for instance; its door opened, and a heavy machine gun pointed downwards. What kind of mercenary would it take to solve such a difficult situation?
At least Maine's crew couldn't do it, even with Jax!
However, Jax was also prepared and had calmed down.
He had already prepared for this when he spoke on the rooftop; although it was only an Arasaka branch in Night City, even a branch was Arasaka!
It was a branch of the world's top corporation!
Jax had never felt that he was qualified to be an enemy of Arasaka, because unless one truly reached the level of V, truly able to ignore all kinds of weapons and high-level agents, otherwise, in terms of individual strength, who could truly be considered an enemy by Arasaka?
An enemy... is someone who is evenly matched and can cause trouble.
What trouble did Jax bring to Arasaka?
Killing Tanaka?
Nonsense!
Tanaka was just one of tens of thousands of corporate dogs in Arasaka Corporation's middle management; what trouble could his death bring to Arasaka?
What truly brought trouble to Arasaka was Jax's words: Potential Overdraft.
Jax's expression was calm, and half of his body emerged from the car roof again.
Activating this skill multiple times a day, he wondered what kind of side effects it would bring to his body...
Jax didn't know, because he rarely had occasions to activate this skill.
But now, it was clearly a desperate fight.
But the next moment, just as Jax was about to activate Potential Overdraft, turn his gunblade into a lasso, and then attack the AVs to fight Arasaka's agents, a louder sound abruptly rang out on the desert highway.
"Beep!!!"
It was a terrifying horn blast.
And then... a colossal AV appeared, a black dot in the distance a second ago, now arriving near the horizon with flames and a trailing airflow.
It was a circle larger than the AVs that were closely following the two cars, and it instantly blocked the path of the Arasaka AVs—it was an AV-9 model AV, the same model as Forrest, the eighth-ranked legendary solo.
Then, Jax heard a voice amplified through a loudspeaker.
"Everyone listen to me, put down your weapons and stop your cars!"
A pleasant voice rang out, emphasizing the statement again.
"I'll say it again, put down all your weapons, stop your cars, and stand aside!"
The door of the AV-9 military AV opened, and a woman with beast ears, dressed in military uniform, holding a yellow heavy weapon, spoke majestically.
Seeing that attire, Jax was stunned: "..."
"What's going on?"
Maine and the others were confused, but stop? No way!
What was the difference between stopping now and waiting for death?
Driving was seeking death, stopping was waiting for death.
Well... of course, he had to choose his own way to die!
So Maine naturally kept driving.
But on that military AV, two bright, dazzling lights, even in daylight, had already converged in front of Maine's car, the meaning clear: the military AV had locked onto its target...
"Stop! Or I'll open fire!"
"Stop, Maine." Jax reached out and patted Maine's shoulder, saying earnestly.
"Are you kidding me?" Maine, of course, refused.
"It should be something Rogue did..." Jax thought for a moment before saying to Maine.
Hearing Jax mention Rogue's name, Maine was first stunned, then gritted his teeth and stopped the car.
The car had stopped, but Maine still felt strange.
Yes, Rogue was indeed very capable, the queen of Night City's underworld, but... could Rogue get her hands on this level of military AV?
Didn't Arasaka's high-level agents also drive commercial and civilian AVs?
If you said Rogue could get commercial AVs, Maine would believe it a hundred percent, but military ones?
Even Arasaka agents couldn't openly use these things... because they were limited in number; they were no longer just vehicles, they were combat weapons.
Well, perhaps it was still possible, after all, wasn't there a rumor on the streets that Rogue had connections with corporations?
The two cars stopped, everyone got out, and then stood by the cars, looking up at the humming AVs.
The other four AVs also hovered in the sky with a roaring airflow, not daring to move.
And that military-grade AV had already reached those four AVs.
The cabin door opened, and an Arasaka agent, a white man in a black suit, came out, yelling something with a displeased expression.
"Are you sure these are the people Rogue called?" Maine asked Jax.
Jax nodded.
Beast ears, military uniform, high-end implants and weapons, exceptionally beautiful, and able to use this level of military AV.
This kind of attire... it could only be one organization—the Eight-Bit Girls.
And whose Eight-Bit Girls were they?
They were Arasaka Michiko's!
Who was Arasaka Michiko?
She was the one who protected Rogue during the nuclear bomb incident, and because of this, Jax recognized her.
But Jax didn't relax because of it; instead, he became even more vigilant.
After all, even if they might be people Rogue called, they were still Arasaka's people.
Jax narrowed his eyes, looking up at the sky.
He saw that after the military AV approached the commercial AVs, the loudspeaker's effect also kicked in, and their conversation reached the ground.
"What do you mean by this? Delaying me from apprehending Arasaka's wanted criminals, can you bear the responsibility for this?"
On the commercial AV, the white man in the black suit spoke loudly with displeasure.
But in response to his questioning, she was met with a contemptuous, arrogant, and indifferent voice.
"You have no right to question."