The Net

{Apartment 0923, Megabuilding H10, Little China, Watson}

...

"Welcome to your first lesson in Cooking. First, we'll start with the basics. Knowing the recipe and techniques to enhance the flavor is very important. The first and foremost thing you must understand is to get used to dealing with common Kitchen Tools and Equipment." The middle-aged man began. 

His face was enshrouded in a black mass, and his voice held a hint of monotone and disinterest. He was wearing a chef uniform, and a station in front of him held the same tools that were in front of me or my avatar. The BDs that I had been allowed to scroll through in an actual game were a lot different. I had so much control over them as I could see things from a 3rd person's perspective; I listened to sounds, identified different wavelengths, scanned objects, and, in some cases, even gained some info from them.

Right now, I don't have that much control; I can pause, rewind, and fast forward, and that is it. Plus, the emotions of total boredom that filled me were jarring. At the same time, with how authentic this emotion was, I can understand why so many people liked to watch porn on BDs.

'This is like next-level VR. Where I can feel my emotions and everything. Just imagine plowing a well-known pornstar...' My thoughts went on a tangent for a bit, and only the sharp sound of a blade being tapped on the metal counter brought me back. The feelings of boredom have somehow influenced me to daydream in a BD. It was a little weird.

"This is a regular knife. There can be many variations depending on where you are. Some prefer bigger cleavers, and some prefer small, sharp knives that can cut through most ingredients. We'll go into detail on how to handle knives safely, but before that, let me introduce you to all of the most common types of appliances you need." The lecturer continued on as another thought struck me.

'Okay...so in hindsight, I totally forgot that I don't actually have a kitchen in my apartment.' 

I exited the braindance and felt myself emerge from a very disorienting experience. My senses returned in pieces. First, my sight returned. That, too, was a little blurry for a few seconds. Followed by the feeling in the rest of my body. I heard a ringing noise in my ear for the next couple of seconds as I grabbed onto the wreath and pulled it off. My head was jerked along with the wreath as I forgot that the connection was still there, and the plugin wire was pulled out of the slot behind my ear.

'Fucking hell...' I grumbled as I started at the wire that was now dangling in front of me. Maybe, in hindsight, it was a stupid thing to do, considering that I was literally in a braindance, but I totally forgot I had a wire attached to my head. My gaze flickered to the screen in front of me.

...

[100 {Cooking} EXP gained]

[{Cooking} skill created at Level 0]

...

[Cooking Lv 0 {100/500} *Intelligence attuned {Passive}]

[The ability to cook food from edible raw ingredients.]

...

'Huh, that was surprisingly easy. A tutorial that barely taught me anything should not give 100 Exp, right? I had to swing the knife around for a while to gain my first 100 Exp into Knives skill.' Not that I'm complaining; progress was better than being stuck and not gaining anything. I didn't sit up but just looked around the room. There was the armory, the entertainment section, my bed, the office area, and the bathroom. 

It was a one-bedroom apartment, one that did not come with a kitchen attached to it.

'If I want to progress further in this skill, I will have to buy some appliances, but that could wait for a while as it isn't a priority.' I thought as I ripped open another package; this one also had the same BD wreath and another data shard.

'''Programming: QuickHacks, Daemons, or Cyberlife'''

'Hmm, I could look through this now. If the cooking one were any indication, then there would be an introduction to the class in every data shard. But let's start with the basics; before diving into programming knowledge, let's learn about the Net that exists in this world,' I thought as I opened another. My luck finally hit its mark, as the third packet contained the data shard for the course that this body's past self had bought.

'''Cybernet: Diving into the Unknown'''

I looked at the BD wreath that came with the data shard. It was identical to the one that he had. Before plugging the data shard for the Cybernet course into the wreath, I stored the other shards and another wreath in my inventory. I have somewhat gotten used to the process of jacking in now, and the movement of plugging the wreath's cable into my personal link at the back of my head didn't feel strange.

Knowing what was coming, I was ready for the BD wreath to load up the new data shard as another list of lessons appeared in front of me.

...

[Loading######...]

[Militech Techno Wreath loading complete.]

[Caliberating connection.]

[Multi lesson course detected.]

[Please select Lesson.]

[1. The History of NET: Old to New]

[2. Cyberdecks]

[3. Diving into Cyberspace]

[...]

...

The lessons were arranged in order, and after looking at the list briefly, I excitedly selected the first option. I knew some stuff about what happened, something about the collapse, but this should fill the knowledge gaps. The flashbang in front of my eyes was disorienting, but the discomforting thing was that even though I closed my eyes in anticipation, the tech was more advanced than it seemed. 

I was blinded by a bright light even though my eyes were closed, and my psyche and consciousness were once again transported into an unknown body. Compared to the cooking lesson, this one felt a lot more open. Excited emotions were brewing through me as I looked at another middle-aged man dressed in a similar suit to the last one.

His words, tone, and hand movements were a lot more open than in the last lecture, as he spoke with an enthusiastic voice: "Welcome to your first lesson about Cybernet. I know a lot of you are excited, but before we dive into actual cyberspace and mess around with it, I want you to focus and listen to the introductory lesson. Most of the knowledge and history of what I'm about to tell you is restricted, so pay attention."

He pointed behind me, and the screen lit up. It showed the image of Earth revolving on its own axis. "This was Earth in the 1990s; you can notice that there are no satellites zooming around the planet. The history of the net began earlier than this, but by the 1990s, the concept of a NET was a lot different than the form it is in today. The Net was a series of connections that weren't all-encompassing the world. Small zones existed in cities where servers stored information and normal users were able to interact with them through interfaces known as websites that had their own protocols to bypass and even restrict access."

...

'That seems like the internet I'm used to; I know the cyberpunk timeline was woven in such a way that it was similar to the real world, so the earliest similarities made sense.' The lecture was interesting to me, a lot more than I thought it would be.

The screen flickered as satellites could now be seen revolving around the Earth. "This is the picture of the first globalized connection that encompassed the entire planet in 2001. The corporation responsible for this was called WorldSat, and although it has now disappeared from the world, they were the pioneer who connected the whole world. This marked the first edition of what we call the Net." 

The satellites multiplied, and soon enough, they covered a large portion of Earth's landmass. "This development was the key point that led to the increased amount of research as the collective pool of human knowledge was available to all; it was a golden period of learning that soon produced the device that birthed CyberNet."

The screen flickered as a device appeared in front of the class. I could hear excited whispers, but it was the professor's words that held my attention, "This was the cybermodem, a device developed by Kenjiri Corp that translated data into a more sensory format. This was the change that differentiated everyone's outlook over a technology that was basically used for long-distance conversations at this point."

'Is this it, the butterfly that flew the timeline into high gear?'

"The Net interface programs converted data into sensory input that allowed users to see and feel data. Thus, the concept of cyberspace now includes this metamorphic world that you can dive into to see and feel another world. However, problems soon emerged as there was not just one variation of this Net interface program. Different versions of this interface meant that the same data could be rendered into different things, and while it had its uses, it just made the concept of cyberspace a little more convoluted."

"Everyone had advantages and disadvantages to using different interface programs; they felt more unique to the user and thus forced quite a lot of the public to become interested in browsing the Net in a different way. The term Netrunner first came into effect here, describing the people or users who liked to interact with the Net through these interfaces, literally diving into cyberspace to become a part of a different reality."

'Like different Minecraft shaders...' I concluded.

"While these interfaces held an appeal of their own, the corps of that time felt the need for a more streamlined approach. The Ihara-Grubb Transformation Algorithms were released in September 2014. By now, the Net had grown a lot larger, and thus, the streamlined approach could take over. The advent of IGTA was panic-ensuing, but ultimately, it transformed the whole Net through a single algorithm so everyone could see the same thing. The IGTA rendered the faces or skins that users back into the time used to call the Interface programs useless."

The screen shifted as the bulky design behind the lecturer changed into a sleek-looking tablet. 

"This was a cyberdeck, an advanced version of a Cybermodem that allowed more than one person to jack into Cyberspace, the concept of which was finally real. With everyone finally seeing the same thing, users created and left their own mark in Cyberspace. Every specter of reality that had a connection to the Net had a spectral space in Cyberspace, making it both easily accessible and dangerous as well."

The scene once again shifted, with a dark picture appearing on the screen. On the screen, a red person could be seen. He had various piercings and tattoos, and he wore casual clothes that looked like a dull shade of red and white.

'Hmm, a red and white representation instead of black and white. Still, this looks familiar; all the missions of making contact with Alt showed something like this.'

"The IGTA introduced Icons, a virtual representation of the runner itself which could be customized depending on the runner's wishes. The IGTA also allowed the net runners some influence over the data in their surroundings. This was the main reason behind the real danger that the Net now represented, though we'll talk about it in more detail later." The screen turned black as the vibe around the room got serious. It may have had something to do with the professor's persona, but since his face was blurred, I didn't know what expression he was making.

His stoic voice, though, explained everything, "The Net flourished for years to come, with its significance increasing everywhere in the world. Data and security became an important part of the world, and various netrunners became famous. While no one could have foreseen it, the Net would soon undergo the first calamity, also known as the Datakrash!"

...

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AN - I'm breaking down the chapter in 2 because it was going on for too long!