C89: No Longer a Game
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"Huh, thats pretty neat." I muse to myself as it seems the upgraded version of and my titles filled with pure Retardium have further influenced my insight gain. I'm now at 468. Not too far from 500.
'I wonder if my body will undergo another change at 500.' I ponder for a second before taking in the vast sight before me. My memories rising up once more at everything before me. The Atrocities committed against simple fishermen mutated by the great ones at its shores. That and the various people who they then gathered and further injected with random substances to understand said fluids from the hamlet.
The Research Hall is a multi-floor structure comprised of various ladders leading up into circular disks somehow supported purely by said staircases. Of course those disks are further supported by more ladders leading to various balconies at differing levels. Though it does have to be noted.
"This is the worst building in all of Yharnam. Like holy shit is it structurally unsafe. I could break the staircase right here and the whole thing will start breaking down bit by bit like Dominos." I cant help but complain as the bits of knowledge my gamer half knows about infrastructure makes all this heavily unsafe and on the brink of collapse in all aspects.
That's in addition to the unsafe medical practices. I already know the healing church is wholly incompetent but this is straight out from the nightmare house of architecture.
In front of me first is a pool of water underneath the central pillar supporting the first disk which is essentially connecting the whole structure thus making it all but feeble. Around this pillar are a few creatures, people with strange bubble-like heads as if their own were inflated randomly into slugs. I can see one more on the disk above shambling about but the pool itself is mostly water, yet I can tell it is poisonous.
I approach the bubble headed figure splashing water around on the left side of the pool. The figure speaks up but I do not sense any sort of mouth on them anymore.
"Has anyone seen my eyes? Im afraid i've dropped them in the water. Everything has gone pale now." I take a closer look but sense no eyes at all in the area. I do notice another scurrying beast the other edge of the water beside me but it hasnt noticed me at all. I gather the water and condense it into a super powered bolt that snipes the beast, it drops 2 bloodstone chunks before I examine the area around me.
Two locked doors but one is properly locked while the other simply locked from the other side. I shatter the glass and unlock it before stepping inside. I no longer care as much about following the main path as it has become nothing more than a distraction of useless blood echoes and simply collecting bullets and vials over and over again. I have too many as either I never needed to use them. They poisoned me via my curse or I died before I could ever use them. No in between.
I open the door and find an operating table in the middle of the room. A corpse sets upon it, another of the giant bubble headed folk with straps covering it and various surgical tools like knives, scalpels and scissors stabbed into it. Scattered around various chairs with straps attached to them. Primarily near one of those IV drip stands, yet rather than IV's their tanks hanging atop them.
I finish my observation as I focus upon the thing that stands out the most. A strapped in figure, another of the bubble heads. They are heavily strapped in. Chest, waist and arms. Restricting all movement except for the legs which sway from time to time. Along with their hands which curl up in the same manner. Over and over again.
I approach, the figure seems to sense movement as they 'voice out', "Lady Mar(fsdjklj), Is that you? No you're someone else" I barely hear what they even say as my head feels like it's gonna shatter just from them talking.
[Knowledge has leveled up. Level 5-Level 6]
"Gah, shut up already. I haven't seen Mar here at all. Why would they be here?"
"Mar? Ah, your lord hunta. It has been quite a while since we last met. I see you still refer to her ladyship as Mar. oh I guess I shouldn't speak much more. Afterall, there were quite a few scandalous rumors about you two some time ago."
"Oh yea, like what?"
"You're fucking."
"I ugh, what? Since when and why wasn't I invited to this event." I mutter in confusion as I pull up a chair to have a seat.
"Are you certain m'lord? Many describe how the elevator here would be jammed with only the two of you inside. Strange gasps would echo through both rooms." the bubble figure further describes the outlandish rumors.
I grab my head, while I don't have a headache, I feel like the back of my head is heating up in an unpleasant way. "Sorry, but my memory of this place is all out of sorts, ever since."
"Your death?" She cuts me off.
"My what?" I cant help utter in confusion, but then I think about it logically. I got torn apart pretty badly way back when. With my body later getting washed away. Many likely assumed I died.
"I guess you could call it that."
"What else would we call it? Slitting your wrists and cutting your own throat is a fair and gruesome way to die. We were able to luckily save her Ladyship before she bled out. She was right upset with us for doing so."
[Knowledge has leveled up. Level 6-Level 8]
Crash
I fall of my chest and collide with the nearby nightstand table. I feel as though my head is being split apart. Images flash through my head. The scars across my chest resurface and bleed, seeping through the multiple layers of clothing I have on. My blood drips upon the floor.
After multiple agonizing minutes. I finally open my eyes, gazing upon the blood that coats my body now since I fell into the puddle. My chest doesnt hurt anymore but that is only because I see the reality for what it is. My arms are bleeding.
Thick vertical scars line both forearms, from the wrist to the elbow. My sleeves were long coated in blood that I could never see. My chest never hurt from the start, the agony of my injuries simply tightened up my chest. My rising vitality helped decrease how much blood was actually dripping out but my gamer memories used the gaming logic to override what I actually saw and did to my own brain.
I was never injured by a single enemy since I woke up in that clinic. I was simply bleeding out this whole time and imagined being hit to explain to myself why I'm injured and gradually dying. I could never heal myself fully because I never realized I…
…Committed Suicide.
I slowly rise back up as more memories flow back into me. No longer hindered by the game-like logic, I rub my neck, unlike the cuts on my arms, this one had been sealed somehow. I would likely have died quickly if It didn't.
"Thank you Adeline. I remember now. I…I don't know how im alive, but I am. I need to see Mar now. To finish what I couldn't before all this. I need to…do something. Would you like anything that I could get you?" I remember the name of the Blood Saint that had willingly chosen to come here and volunteered to be experimented on. Completely Psychotic but loved all the more for it as her kind nature ensured she was one of the few that my grudge against the church does not extend to.
I remember from the Cleric Beast's memories that my adoptive sister had been the nurse to tend to Adeline. One of the few times I had ever seen her smile was in Adeline's company. That makes this mutated saint all the more precious. She is one of the few that would be spared in my rage against the church.
"I require Brain Fluid, mushy squishy brain fluid." She voices her desire and I just stare down at her from my standing position.
"Are you serious?" I can't help but act exasperated that even all those things that have happened to her. She still chooses to continue with the tests. I sigh as I make use of my abilities.
I quickly identify a slime on the upper levels saying Plip-plop-plip-plop. Somehow I just know it's gonna talk about Mar if it can be a robin once it hatches from an egg. A wind slice later and the blob deflates with brain fluid appearing in a jar which Loot Magnet collects within a second.
"Here, it's your FaVoRiTe" I say with a mocking tone as I hold it to her head. She guides me to just gently let it flow on her. I do so and a squelching sucking sound is heard. A person with Misophania would likely throw up because of this.
"Ohh, it's wonderful. And, oh! I hear the sticky sound. Do you hear it, too? Oh, I know. Will you have my blood, as thanks? I'll have you know, I was once a Blood Saint, too"
"Im good." I say as I begin to continue on my journey. Using a mixture of air and earth, I push the lever on the upper floors which activates the elevator. I then use the lever on my end to bring it back down so that I can go up where I take care of 3 old men who drop antidotes and blood vials. I quickly use my loot magnet to collect the rest of the items on this floor and lower.
Dozens of blood vials, same with quicksilver bullets scattered around. I also collect a bunch of murky gemstones from the patients, especially the tall ones swinging the iv bag latch around like heavy swords but one handedly. They give higher grade gems, yet they are all useless in the end as I collect the items without having to fight them at all.
I progress further by using the same trick to activate the second elevator before pulling the lever back down. There is another wheelchair bound villager that I dispatch before pulling open the door to my current room.
I expand my senses once more to 'see' that there is a chest below me guarded by two enemies. I just collect the underground cell key before reaching over to the other side and getting more vials, bullets, gemstones and then an ornamental headpiece, the enlarged head. I will likely never wear this. In fact it's disgusting for me to even touch it.
Oh yes, I almost didn't notice the shield on the lower level, just above the entryway is a small lip of stone that has a corpse on it. There is no current way to actively reach this lip but I'm sure there is a way to modify the staircases to reach it. Regardless, The corpse held the Loch shield which supposedly is good for blocking arcane strikes rather than physical ones. I don't know how true that is since I never used a shield in any game ever. I never had the reflexes to actively block when I could parry or just dodge out of the way.
Though this is not a game now. I shouldn't think like this now. Im not so incompetent to allow myself to be hit like i've imagined thus far.
I continue searching around for what comes next when I find a switch high above in the rafters. Though it's hard to call it a switch. It's a lever that has to be pushed around the central pillar.
I use a combination of my jump ability and my wind magic to maneuver around and reach the rafters where I push the lever to it's new position. As a result, the entire staircase system below me rises up with me. Which means that it further lost stability since it's no longer touching the floor except the main pillar.
"Hah" I huff as I take out the slime head here too which was muttering "splish splash splish splash." I got the second brain fluid before getting the blood stone chunk and Great One's Wisdom nearby. I used a bold hunters mark to return to the lamp just before entering the hall where I found Simone. I greet the man but don't wait for what he has to say before using the lantern to return to the dream. I then use the gravestone to return to the corpse pile. There are a few rooms I can open with my newly acquired basement cell key.
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Word Count = 2244