FMH ~ 23!

- Luke -

Luke’s hands shook as he swallowed fistfuls of berries. He waited and waited, but there was no effect. He screamed into the void, “I want my hallucinations! Give them back!”

He had been trapped in the second zone for the last two years, and it seemed that he had finally adapted to the toxins created by the berries. Luke was finally immune to their effects… and he hated it. He had spent every day training with and without Cookie, and he felt that he had finally reached his peak physicality. There was something blocking him from reaching further, but he still couldn't get past the Stone Ape.

Not for lack of trying. At least once a week he threw everything he had against the beast, and every. Single. Time. Luke was sent to the ground with serious injuries. Once he had landed on the ground in the third zone, and he got torn up. Luke still wasn't sure how he had managed to get away, back into the second zone, but he thanked his lucky stars that he had.

But now… now he was really trapped. There was no way to progress, he could feel it. That meant that there was no way forward, no way back… “And now my berries are useless!”

He threw the remaining berries at the stone ape, but they popped and sizzled away into nothing as they crossed the zone dividing line. Luke couldn't even use them as a distraction, the stone ape just didn't care if he threw things at him. “I need… this all needs to end. I just want it all to be over!”

Luke trudged to the edge of the world and looked over. Just like every other time he had been here, his broken sigil chimed and he was unable to take any further steps. “I can't even throw myself into oblivion because of that abyssal kingdom that sent me to rot! If I ever get the chance for revenge…!”

He stood at the edge and screamed for a while, then cradled Cookie and wept blue tears. Night fell, and he simply lay on his back and stared at the empty sky. No stars, no sun. No dancing unicorns. Only time of light, and time of darkness. No wind. No rain. No change of any kind. “I need to find a way to make this all stop.”

Cookie fell against his leg, and he stared at the corkscrew at the end of her teardrop. “Cookie… I understand. Thank you for mentioning that, I know it must be hard for you to suggest that… since you’ll be all alone when I’m gone. Oh! You can hang out with my skeleton, it’s named ‘Douglas’. I know you aren't acquainted, but don’t worry. I give you permission to have a friend other than me.”

Luke unscrewed the cap and started pouring the water onto the ground. He drank some of it to lubricate his throat, no reason to be uncomfortable when he died. Finally the only other thing inside Cookie fell into his waiting hand. The shining tier four pearl. All the smaller ones were still in his goat hide canteen. “No danger here, kingdom sigil. Just a shiny rock, nothing for you to worry ab-”

Without waiting another second, he slammed the pearl into his mouth and swallowed. Then he chugged as much water as he could manage… and waited. “Ha! Sucker sigil, I found a way around you! So long, Murder World! I did it, I did it! Hahaha!”

Already his stomach was burning, a heat that his body simply couldn’t contain. “I’ll count down… I bet I’ll pop by the time I get to one. What? What do you mean you’ll take that bet, Cookie? Just because you could stomach it doesn't mean that I can! Don't you put that evil on me!”

*Chime*.

Luke shook his head at his silly weapon and lay flat. No need to make a mess. Looking up, he gasped for a moment in delight as his hallucinations returned! No unicorns this time… for some reason it was words? Unbeknownst to him, the sigil in his forehead had come to life and was spinning madly.

Contribution Activity Log is online! Scanning…

CAL Scan complete! 

Level: 0

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 37,777/100 to level 1!

Body: 10 (Mortal Limit)

Mind: 0/0 (Damaged)

Presence: 10 (Mortal Limit)

Senses: 10 (Mortal Limit)

Health: 150

Mana: 0/0

Mana regen: 0/0

Massive damage to mana channels has been found. Carving new mana channels… processing. Extreme mana surplus detected, all needs met by a factor of 1.1k. Carving new mana channels… beginning. Caution, due to surplus of mana, survival depends on channels that can properly direct mana.

Luke screamed as his body was lit up from within by undulating blue lightning. Whips of raw mana started flaying his flesh from the inside out. He wanted to black out, but he was just too used to the berries that he had eaten for the last few years impacting his mind and altering his senses. Powerful sensations had been something he had been seeking on a constant basis.

Lethal hallucinogenic poison levels detected… processing… process-proc-proc-

*Pop*.

The sigil on Luke’s head started to steam and shifted into a new configuration. 

Sigil damaged due to extremely low internal mana and extreme concentrations of ambient mana! Mortal tier safety protocols overridden. High Human safeties activated. Scanning the local environment.

“Mine.”

The word resonated throughout the entirety of the corkscrew world, and the sigil reformed once again; this time into an entirely different and much more intricate configuration. Luke’s eyes were rolled into the back of his head, and he stared up with only the whites of his eyes showing as he choked on his own saliva. The voice came again, sending every intelligent being into hiding as pure power converged on Luke from the foundation of the world.

“Data… granted!”

High Human safeties overridden by UnKnOWn. Data packet added to framework. ? Source-cerer protocols granted by same entity. ? 

Skill acquired.

You have enough Etheric Xenograft Potentia to level up! Do so now? Yes / Yes.

Source-cerer protocols are auto-assigning Potentia as host is not in a fit state to do so. Scanning… overabundance of Potentia will destroy the host body if used to improve characteristics across the board. Leveling up host. Leveling skill with death-inducing excess. Activating in 3… 2… 

As the process started, Luke began to stretch grotesquely as his body gained mass and muscles. His arm swelled up like a stretched waterskin, then shrank down to become proportional to the remainder of his body. His skin shifted back and forth, and his bones groaned as they broke and repaired themselves again and again.

Leveling complete. 

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 3,000/3,400 to level 8!

Your skill from a pearl has reached tier 7! 477/8900 to level 10!

You have created a skill.

Say ‘Status’ to open or close this screen. Say ‘Access’ to access the data packet granted by unknown!

The sky brightened. The stone Ape looked on impassively as Luke lay unmoving on the ground. Darkness descended. This pattern repeated twice, and finally Luke blinked and reached out. “C… Cookie?”

Abnormal mental state detected. Balancing… error. Baseline measurements corrupted. Averaging aggregate data… balancing based on pathways carved in last several years. Current mental state set as the new normal. 

The sigil chimed, and Luke blinked. He sat up, and the screen followed his movements. “Ugh… what in the… what happened to me? What is this?”

He read over the screen, and his eyes widened again and again, then narrowed. “The sigil had a function other than forcibly controlling self-destructive urges? Why didn't they tell us before we left?”

Luke shook his head and read through all the text that had been generated. He stood, wiped dried and crusted blood out of his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and walked to the edge of the world, bowing, and shouting. “Hey, unknown entity! Thanks!”

No response, but that at least was something that he was used to getting. Luke plopped down and looked at the information. “Alright status - oh, come on. Status. I feel like this should be more intent based. ‘Characteristics’ were auto-assigned? What does that mean?”

Cal Scan

Level: 7

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 3,000/3,400 to level 8!

Note: the arrow next to characteristics denotes a change granted by leveling up. 

Body: 20

Fitness: 10 -> 30

Resistance: 10

Mind: 10 (Prismatic)

Talent: 10

Capacity: 10

Presence: 10

Willpower: 10

Charisma: 10

Senses: 12.5

Physical reaction: 10 -> 15

Mental energy: 10

Health: 150

Mana: 190

Mana regen: 3.33 100 per second (Overridden by local ambient levels.)

Skills 

T7: 1

T1: 1

To access historical data, say ‘Access’. 

“I’ll get around to it. Calm yourself.” Luke told the final - flashing - word. He glanced to the side, and nodded at Cookie. “I told it, don’t worry, Cookie. I was listening. What’s the skill I got?”