In Cyberpunk 2077, you will come across a side mission for Nix called “Spellbound,” which sounds like a simple task at first. However, you need to make use of your perks to hack a secret code to complete this unique task. The Spellbound code isn’t quite straightforward to acquire, demanding your Intelligence attribute to be a certain level or for your combat skills to be honed to beat many enemies.
The Spellbound side job in Cyberpunk 2077 can be acquired when you start Act 2. This mission is given to you by the NPC Nix, a character found in Afterlife, but you’ll only get the quest after completing the “Ghost Town” mission. This gig involves working with another contact named R3n0, who has a “book of spells” Nix wants you to buy that gives the Spellbound code its name.
How To Get The Spelldbound Code From R3N0 (Reno)
Certain Skills Are Needed For The Interaction
Accepting the Spellbound job from Nix will set you up with the character’s contact info, which will result in them sending you a text. Nix will set up a meeting with R3n0, sharing with you a location where you can meet up.
R3n0 will be in a bar in Charter Hill, where you can approach her and talk to her about the “book of spells” that contains the Spellbound code you’re looking for. There are a few ways you could handle this situation, but it depends on which Perks your V has and what Lifepath you chose at the beginning of the game. Some of your options here are:
- Haggle down the code’s price by 50%.
- Incapacitate R3n0 and hack her laptop to get the code for free.
The first option requires you to have an Intelligence above 9, or for you to have picked the Corpo Lifepath when you created your character. This will help you lower the code’s price significantly, but failing to reduce its cost will keep it the same expensive amount. Anyone with the Corpo Lifepath can even get the price reduced more than 50%, but only if they pick the extra dialogue that comes with this background.
The Spellbound code is normally sold to you for 5,500 Eurodollars (Eddies) if you can’t find a way to get it for free or reduce its price with R3n0.
You will still need enough eddies in Cyberpunk 2077 to make the purchase with R3n0. However, if you have invested nine or more Skill Points in Intelligence, you could also try to incapacitate R3n0 and hack her laptop to get the code for free.
How To Decrypt The Book of Spells in Cyberpunk 2077
Enter The Right Code To Unlock Multiple Secrets
No matter what your Intelligence score is, you should be able to decrypt the book. Once you have the spellbook from R3n0, you can open the menu and head into the Journal section. Scroll down to the “Shards” section of the Journal, and the Spell Book will be the very last option available.
When you get to the spellbook, open it and hit the F key, Square (Xbox), or X (PlayStation) to crack the document. This will bring up the quickhack option to crack the book.
The code that you need to enter is BD-E9-BD-55-1C-FF-BD.
When you have the right code and are about to quickhack the Spellbook, follow these careful steps to break through its malware:
- Enter “BD” from the top line, second choice over.
- Input “E9” as part of the third option down.
- Repeat the “BD” part of the code two to the right of the last part, but not at the end.
- Go one up and place “55” there.
- Enter “1C” all the way to the left from the last step.
- Go to the very bottom and input “FF.”
- Place the final “BD” three to the right of the previous step.
This choice and order that you place these phrases of the Spellbound code will grant you a copy of the daemon on the shard, unlocking the book for additional rewards. No matter what path you followed to reach the answers in the “book,” you can bring it back to Nix to receive your payment from the side gig in Cyberpunk 2077.
Rewards & Consequences From Finishing The Mission
Alternate Paths Can Have An Impact On Different Relationships
There are a variety of rewards for bringing Nix the hacked Spellbook, including a hefty payout of Eddies. Those with an Intelligence of 12 or higher can haggle a better price from Nix, raising their rewards to roughly 16,000 Eddies for the mission. Furthermore, anyone with a 15 or higher Intelligence score can demand even more money, getting up to 28,000 Eddies by the end of your bargaining.
However, forcing Nix to raise the price on your reward will sour your relationship with the character, ruining whatever bond they had with V. This might prevent them from offering V goods or other missions throughout Cyberpunk 2077, severely restricting what quests become available for you to take on.
Another big reward from the “Spellbound” mission is a crafting recipe for download, which lets you make the System Reset Quickhack. This quickhack lets you manipulate a target’s nervous system, causing them to lose consciousness. When passing out, that target won’t make any noise, making this Quickhack crafing recipe perfect for those trying to make a techno-stealth build for V.
A passive effect of the System Reset Quickhack is that whenever you defeat an enemy, it reduces the RAM cost of the next Quickhack you use.
Besides Nix, there are other characters impacted by your choices when completing this gig. With R3n0, you can also choose to avoid paying her at all by attacking her or scanning her laptop. Choosing to scan the laptop will cause her to attack anyway, only letting you access it when she is unconscious or dead. Doing this reveals more details about the Spellbook, including its coordinates and how R3n0 came to acquire it.
R3n0 couldn’t get past the malware on the Spellbook herself, but she did decide to sell it without her boss’ knowledge. With this added context, you might try to turn the book in without ever hacking it for a Quickhack crafting recipe, which you can do. Yet, giving away the book without hacking into it causes the “KOLD MIRAGE” quest to not appear for awhile right after the side quest is completed.
Normally, “KOLD MIRAGE” pops up right after you give Nix the decrypted Spellbook, but it’ll take several days to show up if you don’t break the tome’s secrets first. Blackmailing R3n0 with the Corpo Lifepath doesn’t affect the quest timing, but intimidating the character will sour their relationship with V, much like how Nix can be against you for specific choices.
While this mission is quite short, the choices you make can heavily impact how much you pay and how much you get paid for completing it. With “KOLD MIRAGE” rewarding you with five strong Quickhacks in Cyberpunk 2077, how you handle the Spellbook code is vital to increasing your arsenal and maintaining bonds with multiple figures in Night City.
Cyberpunk 2077
8/10
- Released
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December 10, 2020
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
