C6: Mental intrusion & Formal Reunion
Surprise, Double Chapter day, and once again Happy Halloween
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"Ugh" I groan as I gradually wake up. My memory faded from the last few moments I had experienced. I find myself on a dirt path surrounded by lines of tombstones with a garden area behind me.
A splitting headache runs through my body as I feel like I have a chainsaw shredding my skull, and then it fades.
When I open my eyes again, I find a black screen in front of me. A little animation plays where a tentacle draws an assortment of skeletons and bones to create an outline like a title menu.
The screen then collapses before reappearing as a miniature version. I feel like I hear a sound akin to a rusty metal pipe falling on a floor.
[CLANG]
[Congrats user for awakening the system early. Please review your personal information by calling out or thinking the word 'Status']
[CLANG]
[Hidden insight reawakened due to past history]
"Ok stop. You don't have to play the pipe sound each time to get my attention. My headache is only getting worse" I wave at the screens, essentially flailing my arms at nothing.
Internally I'm quite happy that I even got a system after my previous disappointment. But as I've had migraines all my life, having another now just puts me in a bad mood and I can only act hostile to this new 'friend' of mine.
There is a silence before another box simply pops up.
[Recommendation noted, stopping rustyMetalPipe.mp3 from playing when alerting user of changes.]
"Sigh, that's much better. If anything, just use Microsoft Sam or something to talk to me but it's best to not have alerts to block my vision when I'm fighting.
[Recommendation 2 noted: Solution: please buy adhd medicine from the system store.]
"Heh" I actually chuckle at that response but for now I choose to heed the systems initial advice.
'Status'
Identity: Hunter
LVL 10:
Insight - 70
Bloodechoes: 2132->1859
Title: None equipped (5 in storage)
Vit - 9 (552 hp)
End- 12
Str- 13
skill-14
Bloodtinge - 3
Arcane-9
COK - 10%
[Inventory]
[Skills]
[Shop] (locked)
[Quests]
[Achievements]
"..." I'm at a loss for words to actually see my stats are set to default standards even when I have slayed so many beasts over the years.
Also, "I'm poor, how? I have a history of hunting" I am audibly distraught over how weak I have become and that I literally have nothing to my name even when I have killed so many beasts throughout my years of hunting. Thankfully the system is at least willing to explains.
[Lifetime Bloodechoes gained: 311,789. All consumed after the user 'died' and failed to recollect after the recent death.]
[Secondary notice: User had no way of turning echoes into power and thus couldn't physically or mentally grow stronger. Please refer to the achievement tabs for reason of lack of mental growth]
My heart burns at knowing that me dying to that shitty abomination for some damned clothes was what caused me to lose it all. I slump over my own knees, my head buried between my legs as my headache finally fades only for heartbreak to step in.
'So many echoes and all for nothing. Not a single level to my name and why does it say I lost around 300 echoes for no reason? "
[it is not for nothing host. As the user had lost access to those echoes, they were in turn used to bind the system to host]
[Secondary Query: Blood Echo gain contains modified effect due to passive effect of an unequipped title.
I lift my head, chin on knees as I huff. "You mean to say i have a debuff on me for all creatures I kill?" Bad news after bad news strikes me as I can only groan and say, "Well at least let's check out what the rest of you have to offer."
'Inventory'
1x Cursed hunter set (hat, chest, gloves and boots)
3x bloodstone shard.
24x blood vials
18x quick silver bullets
2x molotov cocktails
6x pebbles
1x crude Axe
1x torch
1x crude blunderbuss
"Well that is at least better than I expected. So the system was active even when I was not aware of it. Taking my shards to store away and same to my bullets and extra bloodvials.
"Alright, onto the next tab"
'Quests'
[Main Quest 1: Seek PaleBlood- 0/???
Rewards: 1: ????
2: ????
3: 14 vacation days.]
[Main Quest 2: Explore Hunters Dream- 0/1
Rewards: 1-Unlock System Shop]
"I guess that is simple enough, but what is the point of vacation days? I'm not in a time crunch at all. I can rest whenever I want…right" I question the system but this time receive no followup answer as I simply go over to the next section since Shop is still locked and i want to save skills for last.
[Titles {Some titles may contain passive effects which are active at all times whether they are equipped or not}- None equipped]
Title 1: Old Hunter: {You are a secondary generational hunter raised under the legendary Gehrman, Your body and senses have been heightened in response to stimuli. Title Effect: When in battle, your dash speed increases by 30% with +.3 seconds of invulnerability.}
Title 2: Nugget man: {An excess shard of fat which overgrew its original habitat and forcefully removed. Active Effect: Insight can not drop below 1. Passive bonus (activates regardless of being equipped or not): Gain double insight from all sources that grant it.}
"...Huh?" I ask in confusion before double reading all the titles
"I feel like I just read the stupidest thing ever but I'm also worried. Does this mean I'm the tumor that was removed in that hospital…does that mean my original self is well and dandy now" I speak out loud my revelation when another pop up appears.
[Achievement unlocked: Call sign-Cancer….Literally]
"Well thanks for confirming that, though it is pretty damning to know that just because I'm a tutor, I have had to live split lives of childhood and early adulthood and then what I have now with being a hunter on the premier night of the hunt. yay"
I mock myself and almost close the title page but still see I have 3 more to go through. I persevere through it even if I don't want to but I pause as I read the next few paragraphs linked to the next title and its effect(s).
Title 3: Cursed: {Vile Hunter, Disturber of a corpse, bereft of morals and boundaries, hungering for that which they should not. You have been deemed unredeemable. Passive effect: Curse of Kos(m) [COK]:
Sub-Effect 1: over time, users will gradually become more beast-like,
Sub-Effect 2: modifies various consumable sources to increase curse gauge when used.
Sub-Effect 3: Gained Blood echoes randomly increase or decrease by 1% of its base value per kill.
Sub-Effect 4: Should the curse gauge reach 100%, the user will transform into a beast and become locked within the hunters nightmare, made to only suffer for all of eternity. Upon this transformation, the system will be lost and the user will be proclaimed officially dead to all who knew you.
Active effect: Gain Beasthood = 90 (acts as if ??? has been used. +40% phys attack, -40% all defense. One minute timer will activate, if the user dies or the timer runs out. Beasthood counter will increase by 20 for next activation but COF progress will increase with each countdown/death in this state. }
"....im just fucked. I feel like I know this but also don't. I don't know this because maybe it's that dlc content I never bought for the game. But I also do, though my memory of the events are foggy. On the offhand, the effect of the title is pretty good as long as I'm careful of the timer to reset it before it runs its course." I ponder the curse and name shown, Kos or kosm. Yet I don't know this, it doesnt ring any bells but I also am aware that just thinking about it may drive me insane.
"Just don't get hit." I finalize my thinking while I'm blowing it off like it's no big deal.
I am in fact panicking as that horrid sensation of when I used a bloodvial must be why I had that seizure. I don't really wanna experience that again, especially when I don't know how much actual progress it added to the progress bar.
I am also very much aware that I most certainly am in a hurry to somehow get rid of this curse but I wouldnt even know where to start like how to get to the dlc or what is there.
With no idea of what to do, I just ponder the implications within my status page"So I'm at least at 10% of the way through. This better not all be from that single vial as otherwise I am well and truly screwed."
Title 4: Young Hunter: {An adventurous young man who was taken in by the first hunter of byrgenwerth. You have a knack for picking up various skills and tools.} Active effect: double xp gain for all physical skills.
"Ok thats nice, Ill be expecting much from the skill menu if that is the case" I then look up the final title.
Title 5: VileBlood: {An unwitting blood transfusion has bestowed upon you great strength and reaction speed. Be wary of other hunters as VileBlood is abhored by all groups. Active Effect: +5% to Strength & 1.3x stamina. Coating your fresh blood on a weapon will set it aflame and grant it A-rank Arcane scaling.}
"I…why?" Confusion is my only reasoning behind this simple question. One half of me knows that somebody had given me some sort of injection…or something and that might have made me wake up from my coma, but the question then turns to who or why.
Afterall, from the few details my other half knew, vileblood is linked to the Cainhurst castle and its inhabitants. Yet one thing to note is that they are all predominantly female, at least the few I killed growing up to ultimately purge them but I rarely actually killed them as after some time, they just returned to normal like nothing ever happened.
'I might have to return to that woman, Iosefka to find out what is going on here if she even knows at all.'
While I think that, my gamer side is quite happy with the buff and I might equip it when needed but the young hunter is the actual best amongst them.
[Young Hunter title Equipped. Xp gained by skills is now increased]
With the titles finally done, I looked to the next page.
[Achievements]
1: System Early Activation {System activated in response to intense ??? energy}: -20% COK
"Nice, but that also means I entered 30% when I took that vial. Would the reaction to taking them be less severe now? Not like I'm gonna experiment anyways unless I have to heal."
2: Call sign-Cancer….Literally {Learn about your true nature}: +5 insight.
"Eh, worthless"
3: Curious George {Get access to a portion of the land through an illegal method}: -5% penalties for going outside known boundaries.
"Wait, does this mean I get to break the map? A negative to penalties when I do…how bad are the penalties if I needed a whole achievement to make it less threatening?" I question myself before looking at the next.
4: Artisan {Craft an item through your own efforts}: System Crafting menu unlocked .
'Oh cool. Does that mean I no longer have to manually make more molotovs now? I can just put the ingredients in my inventory and they pop out? Nice' I have not looked at the new menu yet as it's unlikely to have much yet and I likely need more ingredients but if it's just a recipe book then there would be no point in calling it a 'crafting' menu.
With no more achievements. My gamer self calms down as I relook at my status to find the new title, Young Hunter, attached as well as a 5 point rise in my insight.
'The system is likely tanking all the actual insight I gain so my own brain is not overloaded' I make a guess but it doesnt matter at the moment.
I finally close the system screen and take in my surroundings once more. A lovely house with a sizable bushy garden containing stone steps. The most noteworthy thing here being the gathering of tombstones. I, as a gamer, know that one side has a collection of openings to the chalice dungeons while the other is related to my main story pathways.
I can see the messengers peaking out from the first of the set of 5 tombstones, indicating I only have access to the beginning part of Yharnam. I am about to get up and a voice suddenly intrudes beside me in my mental fantasies and plans for the future.
"Are you alright, Good Hunter. You have been mumbling to yourself for some time now. Do you require assistance?"
I look up at the speaking figure to find a lovely lady wearing a type of outfit that is very fitting for a porcelain doll. I myself see someone else's appearance overlay with this figure as I call out. Ashen silver hair contained within her headwear. A simple dress with a red bandana wrapped around her neck that protects a lumenflower necklace. Her hands adorned into fingerless gloves that also wear the Lumenflower visage but her fingers are most noteworthy. Segregated into joints and pieces to show off her inhuman nature yet her hands remain soft if not a fair bit cold.
"Oh hey Mar, yea I'm fine. Just a bit of brain damage but that's nothing new at this point." I greet the old friend but she tilts her head in confusion as she clarifies.
"I apologize but I am not this Mar. I am a Doll, in service to Master Gehrman. Take heed Honourable Hunter, I have the ability to channel echoes of blood into your strength.
You will hunt beasts and I will be here for you, to embolden your sickly spirit. Should you have need for my services, You need only ask. Good Hunter." She clears the confusion by introducing herself as well as offering her signature services to me.
"Oh, yea, I will certainly take you up on that offer…Doll. For now I'd like to meet with Gehrman, I trust he is inside." I respond a bit despondently as I assume my hunter persona to clear away my confusion as my Gamer memories were only causing a mess of things at the moment [1].
"That he is. Please step inside when you are ready." She confirms and is about to step back when I wave at her once more.
"Actually, could I get some of that funky little exchange now?" I slowly get up, grunting a fair bit as I hold my chest still.
"Very well, let the echoes become your strength. Let me stand close, now shut your eyes.. She kneels before me and extends a hand to me. I place mine upon hers and a new system screen pops up similar to the game where I can see how many echoes I have, how many echoes I need for each level as well as how to actually increase my power. steps back a few times to end back in her place besides the stairs.
After some quick analysis, I find that I am only able to afford 4 levels. How I still have my echoes after I died, I have no clue but I kept them so ill do what I can without arguing about it. Lest they get taken away from me.
While I am not sure how exactly this works. I choose to let them all flow into my Vitality. I'll need all the health I can get if I continue to have this pain this entire time and not be able to heal myself at all either.
Yet as I lock in my choice, I feel a soothing flow of energy pass from me to the Doll and then back to me in new form. I feel my every cell overflow with energy, It's a euphoric sensation as I feel far sturdier.
Yet the real shock of it is not being able to simply take a hit but that my physical pain from the injuries finally begins to fade. It is not completely gone but it is progress and I'll have to invest quite a bit to clear up this problem.
The Doll opens her eyes and slowly gets up, her hazelnut colored eyes gaze upon me once more as she finally resumes her position by the stairs.
Rubbing my chest one last time to enjoy the lack of actual pain I am currently feeling. It puts me in quite a good mood as I finally approach the steps and get ambushed by a wild group of messengers.
The first group of 4 is working together to hold up three different weapons which are still half inside their little shadow pools. I am about to kneel before the first group but also spot another group 2 steps up that is holding up two types of guns.
Both groups of messengers are not wearing top hats like the first group I met in Yharnam. Of the two groups, one is wearing beanies while the other has the pinwheel hat
Spotting the blunderbuss in the second group's hand. I came up with a little plan. Yet it is halted right in its steps as the bath messenger merchants dont have Bold Hunters Marks yet.
With no choice, I use the 'shrine' to go to central Yharnam, the lamp I first lit up and begin the grind.
Walking down the right path. I take down a few huntsmen with my rusty weapons before ending up at the great fire. My original plan was to go about and kill the few huntsmen with guns so I could collect a few of them and then escape with the bold hunter marks but that is no longer an option. I relegate myself to kill the one sitting down by the carriage on the way to the bonfire and get his gun and walk back, teleport and then back to Yharnam again. I do this a total of 8 times with me killing an average of 4 per run but on two of them I was forced to kill 2 more from the larger wandering group of 5 that is in that alleyway.
Each time nets me around 400 new echoes with two of my trips being around 500. After all 8 runs and adding in my original 620 echoes, 2088. it would have been around 2252 or so if not for the curse acting up and stealing 1% of the 1632 blood echoes I had gained. Though I finally got the 8 guns and while irritated, I made my way back to the dream properly.
Now I speak to the first group. "Hey cuties, are those for me?" A threaded cane, Hunters Axe and Saw Cleaver in their possession.
They gurgle in affirmation and I nod in understanding as I then wave at the second group and motion them to come closer. The now 8 disfigured babies now huddled around me.
"Here is the deal. I want all 5 of the items you all have together. Im sure i can only actually take one which is why I want to make an exchange. These eight guns for your five. That gives you two teams of four which can let you all play around with them." I explain the deal as I even demonstrate by doing finger guns at one group whilst saying, "pew pew" then the other group by saying, "bang bang".
The two groups of children look at each other and decisively take up arms while leaving behind their original gifts.
The war between beanies and Propeller hats has begun
"Pleasure doing business with you all." I take up the true hunters tools. In addition to the three previously mentioned, I also net the hunter pistol and hunter blunderbuss. I equip both the saw cleaver and axe and then just the pistol and torch in my offhand.
Rising up the stairs. I find a third group of messengers with cone hats holding out a notebook and bell for me.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't see you all here. How about this? I don't want to leave your group without gifts so you can have the tools I was previously using." I hand over the cleaver, axe, huntsman clothing. For good faith, I give them something new as well. This includes my new unused hunter blunderbuss and threaded cane.
They gurgle in happiness at the exchange and are about to leave before Axel introduced them to the concept of Guerilla warfare so that they could join the fun with the other two groups.
A third party sets the ambush.
With no new messengers sprouting out. I finally step before the doors leading inside the hunters workshop. I jiggle the door a bit to find that they open in my direction which upsets me as I wanted to kick the door in. I technically still could but would hurt me more than Gehrman.
Swinging the doors open, I declare my triumphant return.
"What the fuck is up old man. It's ya boi, back from the grave and here to…." the words 'kick your ass' are left unsaid as I finally take in my fathers deathly visage as he sits within his wheelchair, bound to it like an anchor.
The old man in question visibly stills at my 'sudden' presence even though I had been talking outside for a good while now.
We both lie in standstill silence before I begin to look around curiously.
"Alright old man, you've made it easy for me this time. I originally wanted the pleasure of kicking you down a flight of stairs but I guess you'll just tumble down. Let's go." I step forward to grab his chair but he waves me off.
"I see some things never change. Might I even dare say, You have grown crazier since we last met"
"Don't make me cripple you, you old bastard. You still have working hands. "
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Word count is well above average, nearly double the lower average. Whether you like the chapter or not, drop a comment. I can't be letting myself get complacent in my writing. I still have plenty of growth in all forms.
Usual reminder (take out hyphen): patr-eon.com/Xanok
discord channel still has the next chapter preview like usual: https://discord.gg/rE6gtg28XH
[1] The memories did not merge, it's like having two images stacked on each other, then just switching between which one is in front and which is behind. Though of course both sides are able to access bits and pieces from one another with no issue as they are just one person afterall.