The good news: his resurrection arc finally had a path forward.
The bad news: staring at the dim grey orb floating at the very top of his Soul Ability Tree, Anthony turned it over in his head for a long time and arrived at one ironclad conclusion.
His resurrection arc having a path forward was... probably not actually viable.
That wasn't a contradiction. Really, it wasn't.
It was because his resurrection situation was, to put it mildly, a little unhinged.
For starters: the unlock condition was three question marks. No matter how many ways Anthony tried to cheese the system, he couldn't glimpse so much as a single clue.
Sure, they were three question marks — but logically, once he unlocked every other node in the tree, the conditions should reveal themselves. Right?
That was his theory, anyway. The problem was, the number of abilities sitting on his [Soul Ability Tree] was, to put it charitably... astronomically absurd.
A rough count put it at well over a thousand glowing orbs scattered across the tree. The branches twisted and tangled over each other in a labyrinthine sprawl, overlapping in some places and diverging wildly in others, enough to make his head spin just looking at it.
What in the actual hell — how many Points is this resurrection arc going to cost me?
In that single moment, Anthony felt the full, bone-deep terror of being absolutely, catastrophically broke.
And right then, the group chat pinged. Anthony blinked, mildly startled — and opened the panel anyway.
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: The Ability Enhancement feature can actually let me keep strengthening my Ripple? ]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: Oh — I can see resurrection. It's at the very top of the Soul Ability Tree.]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: [Screenshot]]
[AAA City Female Ghost: I've got mine too. So the Ability Enhancement gives everyone their own individual path to resurrection. That's actually good news.]
[AAA City Female Ghost: But — @Founder of the Golden Spirit — how is your resurrection requirement this low?]
[AAA City Female Ghost: I assumed I'd have the easiest requirements, since I've still got my consciousness and all five senses intact. But mine is already several times more demanding than yours — and there are even some material requirements I haven't unlocked yet...]
[Let Night City Burn: My requirements are also quite a bit higher than Mr. Jonathan's.]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: Is that so? It might be because my current state is relatively stable — or perhaps something to do with the Ripple.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: My situation is a little more complicated, I'm afraid.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: I have at least a dozen requirements, and aside from a massive Point cost and a new physical body, nearly all of them are still hidden. Ah well — I'll offer my congratulations to everyone else in advance.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: That said — where did Anthony go? @Lord of the White Holy Throne]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What in the actual — bro, WHY is mine like this??]
[AAA City Female Ghost: ?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: No, seriously — how come all of you can see your resurrection conditions?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Mine has literally nothing besides three question marks.]
Anthony said it and sent a screenshot along.
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: Such an enormous ability tree... truly staggering. Though the resurrection requirement itself does seem rather... punishing.]
[AAA City Female Ghost: I have nothing to say. Good luck.]
[Let Night City Burn: Anthony... please try not to be too discouraged. But why is it like this?]
Yeah. Why was it like this?
Anthony glanced at Jonathan's resurrection conditions. The man needed a whopping ten thousand Points and one intact body — and absolutely nothing else. Genuinely, offensively cheap.
So what is my deal?
Group chat. Answer me.
[As a soul bound to the Primordial River, your soul is comparatively unique — it possesses an exceptionally high degree of plasticity.]
[Additionally, due to the constant erosion of the Primordial River, most conventional resurrection methods are incapable of overcoming the River's gravitational pull. As a result, you must first elevate your soul's inherent abilities.]
[You may select one Enhancement Direction from the Soul Ability Tree. Upon completing that direction, your resurrection conditions will be unlocked.]
Right. So it's this river's fault. Again.
Anthony exhaled a long-suffering sigh and scanned his Soul Ability Tree.
Just as the group chat described — his tree was divided into numerous distinct sections, each one branching off into countless tributaries further along. Per the system's explanation, he only needed to complete one full branch. That was all.
He counted. There were at least ten or more tributary branches to choose from. And all of them shared the same two foundational abilities as their roots — the only two nodes currently showing as unlockable.
[Soul Foundation · Spirit Soul]
[Effect: Further increases the soul's plasticity and reduces soul energy consumption.]
[Enhancement Cost: 500 Points]
[Soul Foundation · Iron Soul]
[Effect: Further increases the soul's overall quality and enhances the output capacity of Soul Force.]
[Enhancement Cost: 500 Points]
[Note: Soul Foundation is the primary direction of Soul Enhancement. Due to the nature of your soul's location within the Primordial River, this option is available exclusively to you.]
Class selection. Two glances and Anthony had it figured out. Spirit Soul was your classic high-mana, style-flexible spellcaster — big blue bar, lots of variety. Iron Soul was the brute-force bruiser build — thick health, massive output.
He checked — none of the others had been given this choice.
The Ability Enhancement system hadn't restricted his direction, but Anthony already knew where he leaned. Spellcaster, no contest. As a soul, the practical difference between a mana bar and a health bar wasn't that large to begin with — and flexibility was king.
The only problem was those 500 Points.
Not something he could scrape together anytime soon.
Anthony pulled his gaze away from the panel with a pained expression.
Then turned his attention to the other skill tree — The Angler.
Same as always: a vast expanse of dim, unlit grey. The only node showing as unlockable was the one sitting at the very bottom.
[Ability · The Angler's Throne]
[Effect: You may place your Angler's Throne at any location. While active, the Angler's Throne will dramatically reduce your fishing time.]
[Enhancement Cost: 1,000 Points]
Even pricier.
This is such a money sink.
Anthony shut the enhancement panel with a headache already forming. Rough math: his Point deficit had just ballooned by another 1,500, and whatever came after would probably devour currency at a rate that would make him despair.
That said — the skill itself was genuinely excellent. Two seconds of looking at it and he was already coveting it shamelessly.
He reined himself in. Priorities.
The Main Quest wasn't finished yet. First things first: unlock the last remaining feature — World Traversal, currently useless — and then he could afford to think about everything else.
Once this whole batch of features was unlocked, hopefully something a little more immediately useful would show up.
So he cast the rod again and got back to work, siphoning Points out of the Cyberpunk 2077 world one catch at a time.
And just like that, another half a day disappeared into the river.
A bit of lifespan sold here. A clutch of Points traded there.
Then, without quite noticing when it happened — the second day arrived.
"Wait, holy — I've been fishing for a full day?"
Anthony surfaced from the warm bliss of a long fishing session with a start, blinking, and did a quick survey of his haul.
Not bad. After selling everything off, he'd dragged his lifespan up to a solid two hundred hours, and had even managed to stockpile around 600 Points.
A new day. Anthony reached over on reflex to tap open the group chat — figured he'd check in first — and then stopped.
There was a message waiting for him that he hadn't expected.
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: I think someone's pulling me up.]
[AAA City Female Ghost: Hm? What do you mean?]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: I mean — I can feel myself rising. Like someone's hauling me up from below...]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: It just got bright all of a sudden. Oh — so I can see. Must have been the pitch-dark inside the coffin and the deep sea before. Now someone's pried the lid open... wait. The thing my soul is latched onto right now, it's...]
[Founder of the Golden Spirit: DIO!!!]
____
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