With hungry eyes, Ronin stared as row after row of new and exciting dishes were being brought out. After his and Nagata's big crypto theft, he'd immediately booked an appointment to replace his implant. But now that he had the money... why not treat himself a little first?

  As the fancy restaurant buzzed, Ronin's table was filled with all sorts of dishes. From rare seafood delicacies to premium beef straight from the nearby planet Hartheim, he ate it all.

  After aggressively devouring another meal, Ronin gulped down a glass of taste optimized water as he basked in his newfound luxury. He'd been right to visit this place before the operation.

  This must be what it feels like to be rich! Ronin beamed.

  The upper districts of Ironglades were truly something else. Having eaten synthpaste bars for most of his life, Ronin felt as if a whole new world had opened up before him. And with everything that had happened recently, this hearty meal was just the thing he needed.

  He once again went over the plan he and Nagata had come up with...

  First and foremost, the new implant he was getting, would have to be free from tampering and secure. The issue was that, if what Darth had said was true, not a single implant made on Concordia would be safe to use. Thats where, fortunately, Nagata had been able to help. The uncanny uncle knew of certain places, operating on the gray side of the law, that sold and installed implants from off-world.

  With this, Ronin would be able to buy an implant from a large intergalactic brand. And there was no way this kingdom was tampering with something like that. If it ever got out that Tar installed listening devices onto implants sold to hundreds of different worlds, they'd be ruined!

  Next, seeing as Ronin was a rich man now, he could afford to spend some credits. So, a high-quality device, would be ideal.

  What he settled on, was the Uninet-2000-Ex. Being from a widely accepted brand, the Uninet was used all over human space, and by many different kingdoms. It should be enough. Also, compared to his current government issued implant, the Uninet had more storage capacity and higher uplink speeds. It even had a magnetic resonance feature, which could be used to scan his body if he ever got injured.

  The only thing left to do now, was to visit the black-market doctor, and get it done.

  Wolfing down the last plate, Ronin generously tipped the restaurant staff, then rose up to leave. Stepping out onto a fancy see-through elevator, he was met by the view of flying shuttles and blue neon lights. He pressed the button. Floor 289. It was time for an upgrade!

  “…”

  Ding!

  The soft sound of an elevator arriving, sounded out as Ronin reached the floor.

  Everything was white here: the walls, the floor, the front desk, the empty waiting chairs, the autonomous vacuum cleaner… everything.

  “Huh?”

  Ronin noticed that his access to the net had been cut off.

  They’ve got to have something similar to Uncle, he thought. Good. If they'd spent the effort to enclose an entire floor in a faraday cage, they were probably thorough when it came to other areas as well. These guys were professionals.

  “Mr. Maximus! Right on time,” a woman said. She had long chestnut colored hair and looked to be in her thirties. She walked over, her white medical coat swaying from side to side as she did. “Name’s Dr. Leyana Firnesse. I see here that you've also ordered a full body scan? Would you like us to perform it after or before the surgery?”

  “Which way is faster?” Ronin asked. The faster he got this over with, the better.

  “If we do it after the procedure, the scan will proceed while you are still unconscious, saving you some time,” she said in a professional tone.

  Ronin gave a curt nod. “Let's do that then.”

  They walked down one of the white corridors, stopping by one of the several doors.

  “By the way, would you mind if I ask you a personal question?” the doctor asked.

  “Hm? No, ask away.”

  “What’s going on with your eyes? And why are you here?”

  Ronin, a little taken aback replied:

  “That is indeed a little personal. Let’s just say my face looks the way it does due to a certain private medical condition. It is in part why I want the scan. As for why I’m here?”

  He looked down at her. “You should be able to infer more than enough based on the implant I picked. Anything besides that is my business, not yours.”

  “You can’t blame a girl for being curious, can you? You're half the age of my usual clientele, but fine, you go on and keep your secrets.”

  Acting a little offended, Dr. Leyana Firnesse opened the door, then guided him in.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  A white medical chair stood in the center of the room. On it, were numerous instruments, including drills and scalpels.

  Ronin walked up to it, then sat down, nervous. The reality of what was about to happen to him was finally beginning to set in. This operation required the doctor to operate deep within his eye, both pulling out, and pushing in an implant. To have another person stick instruments this deeply into his head...

  Leyana did something with her eye and the chair began lowering down as Ronin clenched his fists. She then brought out a breathing mask and Ronin put it on.

  “There, you should fall asleep within a few seconds,” she said.

  A few seconds passed, but Ronin only felt a little sleepy.

  “Seems we'll have to increase the dosage, sir,” Leyana said, a little flustered. “Did you take anything before coming here?”

  “Nothing that should affect this,” he replied.

  The woman did something with her eyes as more and more gas exited the breathing apparatus.

  “I think it's beginning to work,” Ronin said, his words now a little sluggish.

  “It better, I’ve tripled the dosage!”

  The frustrated doctor’s face became more and more fuzzy as Ronin finally went under. And right before awareness left him, his shoulders slumped a little. It would be good not to worry about being monitored from within his own head anymore.

  “...”

  Ronin woke up feeling refreshed. There was none of the headache one would expect from having metal put into one's head. Whatever anesthetics he’d been given, had also been completely flushed out of his systems.

  “Surprised?” The female doctor asked, brushing her hair aside. She looked... proud?

  “Everything I've read about these operations, said there would be immediate side effects. I really didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. Thank you,” he happily shot back.

  Activating his new Uninet-2000, he began testing it out. He opened up livestreams, hologram programs, he scanned his body... everything seemed to work perfectly. Also, both the quality and speed of this device was on a whole other level. He barely had to think about what he wanted before the optical implant displayed it!

  This thing is amazing, it's almost as fast as the speed of thought. It's like it's a part of my mind! He thought, his eyebrows shooting up in amazement.

  “You get what you pay for. Here at Cyber Specs, you not only get the best services on the planet, but you also get complete anonymity!”

  Done with her marketing pitch, Leyana continued:

  “Anyways, your case was a bit special. After you went under, when I did the operation, each and every one of your muscle fibers kept twitching. It didn’t exactly make this easy. You’re lucky you did this here and not somewhere else.”

  “Twtiching? What could have caused that?” Ronin already had a sneaking suspicion as to what it could be, but he hoped he was wrong.

  Leyana shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. This also brings us to your bioscan. I’m still not sure what to make of it.”

  “What do you mean?” Ronin asked.

  “All the values I measured: from blood pressure, cell division rate to cognitive activity show elevated values, but you still appear to be perfectly healthy.”

  Leyana's eyes gained a manic light.

  “What's even more interesting is that, during the scan, I encountered several anomalous energy readings. I didn’t know what to make of it, so I ran the scan again.”

  The doctor's already intense eyes flashed wide.

  “Guess what I found!? Every single value I measured, was higher during the 2nd scan, including the anomalous energy readings! Also, my drugs had a very unusual effect on you. For example, when I lowered your blood pressure, something else increased in response! Who knows what might happen if these values continue to increase! You might just suddenly fall over, dead! Just like that. You could even suddenly explode! Imagine that! BOOM!”

  Leyana Firnesse was getting more and more excited as she talked, beginning to gesture with her hands.

  “E-Explode!?” Ronin stuttered, horrified.

  Looking at the not so professional doctor anymore, he thought back to the battle lust he'd felt when confronting the rooftop bandits...

  That battle lust has to be related to that anomalous energy she mentioned. The energy must be forcing my body to fight somehow...

  “Is there any way to reduce those elevated values you measured, any at all?” He asked.

  Dr. Firnesse, clearly a bit too happy considering his circumstances, raised a hand to her chin in thought.

  “None that I can think of. While you were unconscious, I did try to change those values, as I just mentioned. I also searched up anything related to your condition on the net, but there was nothing even remotely close to what I measured on you. No condition, no artificially induced state, nothing. There's simply no precedent for whatever is happening to you.”

  “Nothing at all?” Ronin asked in bafflement. “In all of human society, there must be something, right? The Concordia net only covers the 4 planets of Tar.”

  She looked him deep in his eyes, her gaze now firm. “I didn’t use the Concordia net; I used the quantum net. Don’t ask me how I have access, but this network covers all of human occupied space. Out of the vast ocean of humanity out there, trillions upon trillions of people, not a single person recorded, has values like yours.”

  Realization began to sink in. Ronin was on his own, he saw that now. If he was going to fix whatever was happening to him, he'd have to do so himself.

  Didn't I get some new memories after opening that door in my mind palace? Maybe I should spend some time looking into that.

  “Come to think of it, there might be a way—” Leyana broke in, interrupting his train of thought. She walked over towards a desk, pulling out a drawer as she searched around for something. After finding it, she continued: “If all else fails and there is no other way out for you, you can call this ID here.”

  She handed Ronin a card of paper. The words on the card, were elegantly written in black ink.

  "The Brinksman," it read.

  His new Uninet-2000 reacted to something within the ink, and new information began materializing in front of him in the form of a holoscreen.

  These are DNA transplant services and genetic enhancement procedures!

  Ronin pulled back, aghast.

  Bio-modification, in general, was highly illegal, not only in Tar, but in all of human space. If a state openly engaged in this, all rights and privileges could be revoked. There was even a risk they'd be designated as aliens!

  “The card has now been calibrated to your implant ID. Keep it out of sight,” she said. “If the nanoparticles embedded into the card detect any attempt to access it, and it's not you, it will self-destruct.”

  A last resort indeed, Ronin agreed. A last resort indeed.