C62: Final Results and A Nightmarish Scene
once again, sorry for the late post. I was working on the next next chapter and then just got too tired. didnt realize until after work.
We back on the hunt, Enjoy
4/22/26
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A single room cluttered with various bookshelves filled with scattered books. Tables lined with astrological instruments and geospheres only make way to bone-like round cages that hold what look like giant fetuses. In the corner lies a single lamp from which a figure sprouts out followed by another.
The first pushes open the door which only leads to a single long hallway, lined with more shelves yet these seek to hinder any who views the land. Rooms line this hallway yet they remain empty except to ambush the unsuspecting.
A single man makes his way through, his steps quick yet unhurried as he allows his companion to move first. His fingers gently bump against each book he does encounter as they soon vanish without a trace. He properly takes in his surroundings until all he considers of value is naught but his now.
Traversing to the opposite room of theirs, the two come forward yet only the first truly approaches the door to interact with whatever dirtied bald man lies on the opposite side of said door.
"eh he he he he he he" the man on the other side of the door chuckles to himself before speaking further.
"Ah, What a joy it is to behold the divine. It must be such a pleasure. You're in my debt now. I shall hold…wait, aha, i couldn't get a better look at you but a sight for sore eyes you are. Old fool."
"Young braggart. It has been some time. You're finally cured of your sickness are you?"
"Of a way, you persistent old bastard. What are you doing all the way out here old chap?"
"...bored" I speak plainly as I still hold no interest in popping in to Yahar'gul. Having crafted quite a bit and even experimented on Gerald with the new aberrations. I chose something new to allow a fresh perspective on his new effectiveness.
Of course I hadn't forgotten to pop by Cainhurst castle to receive my due rewards. From there, I had chosen to continue where I left off here in the Nightmare Lecture hall.
"What madness has driven you to be blessed by my lord and come this way…out of sheer boredom. Absolutely crazed you are.. Now begone from here and take the plunge, the wolves await."
He has a fairly shocked expression upon his pale face yet a spark of something seems to filter through his mind as he seems to derive some form of joy from my words and actions, unrealizing the time difference between when I was actually last here and now.
No matter. I flick him off and then proceed on my way. Past the room are two thin hallways yet both are dead ends with the right side room being locked from the other side. I could probably break it down but im in no rush to get anywhere so I explore naturally.
As such, me and Gerald soon enter the left side door which leads to what reminds me of a chemistry lab except cages and various filthy pitchers lie on the table. Akin to test tubes of gunk and mold. From there I open another door leading to the vastly spaced out room, a lecture hall, we proceed to enter only to be ambushed from above as a skeleton made out of slime lurches down from the short ceiling in hopes of stomping on the two so-called trespassers.
The one who went first, i.e. Gerald, blows out a quick breath which then forces said creature, which was originally falling down, to float in the air, above the heads of the us two. He then waves his hand and a tendril shoots out of his wrist like the original spiderman. The tendril solidifies partially as gerald lashes out with it only to instantly shred the slime scholar in half.
We both feel equally disgusted by it's presence and Gerald reveals his second element which he only has beginner mastery over.
Water. A small whirlpool is formed that combined with the wind, shreds the creature apart only to wash him out all over the upper steps of the room. In the center of the lecture hall itself is a single desk at the forefront. A single corpse resides in, overshadowed by it's single glowing item which turns out to be a lecture hall key.
Exploring further, Gerald kills one more in a round room which was in the corner on the opposite side of the hallway I initially entered from. In said room, I also found two more madman's knowledge which I pocket for now.
Opposite of this room, I find another lab with a single chest inside with an item which I wish I could erase from my memories.
"Hyuk, shit. I didn't know I still had a gag reflex" my throat closes up upon opening the chest and finding two red Jellies inside.
I quickly exit the room with Gerald in tow and we circle back. There is a door that likely leads further in or if my memory serves me right, out of the lecture hall. As such, I explore the rest. The door on my new left which is likely connected to the previous right side locked door is locked .Thankfully I have the key I got from the first path I took.
Opening said door leads me to another lecture hall. I think the teacher is more popular here as the class is full of graduates that immediately begin to swarm me at the door while others in the back tried to throw their slimy cum at me.
I naturally backed away to let Gerald has his fun with the rowdy college boys. Gerald got to test out his own newfound armor and tendril weapon against them.
I got the idea from a novel I had read some time before my death which I didn't actually like, mostly because the plot felt like it was laying itself before the main characters bullshit in the most stupid way possible while he acted like a weakling.
That book was Eminence in the Shadows. I did hear that it was being developed as an anime yet it had not released at the time of my surgery which ousted the fragment of the current me.
Regardless, my work with aberrations gave form to Gerald's current state where he has a slime armor coating him and making his clothes along with a snake whip weapon similar to the whip-like hunter cane alt form, the chain sword.
Yet when I was working in the forge on my own modifications and had thought of the new mutations, I had gotten a few ideas which I had put to work since i already had all the tools. The result was quite nice but very iffy in its prototype state.
Regardless, Gerald slaughters the students and I collect my own graduate outfit just lying in one of the chairs here. Nothing else remains in the room except the stains on the wall from those who 'threw' themselves at us.
Then there is just a single chest before me as the last room of this place.
[Augur of Ebrietas obtained]
"Huh, neat, another hunters tool but one that properly scales with arcane like my pet snake." I hum to myself as I open the last door but it just leads me back to the main hall. I then finally approach the last last door which I distinctly remember taking me out of here.
Pushing the door open, im met with a full force cloud smothering me before completely finding myself in a new location.
[Step 2 of Side quest completed: Reminder- Step 2: Explore the mysteries of the new location to reach the final destination.]
[Welcome to the Nightmare Frontier]
"fuck"
"4x random skill levels await you. Redeem within half an hour"
"Oh right shit. Ugh. like before" I summon tendrils and begin to simply spam my various skills as much as I can. In doing so I knock over all the cairns in the room with even a big bundle of the blank and half broken gravestones toppling over.
My exercises cause a beast to come down but he just ends up slaughtered as I begin to look around whilst still spamming my skills. Loot magnet helps me get two different items near here.
lead elixir x2 and a single madmans knowledge go into my pocket before my half hour finishes and while I got a few levels, it wasnt anything impressive this time around except for one skill which hadn't leveled up in a long time. Then I find that 4 different skills get one level.
[Jumping has leveled up. Level 5->6]
[Advanced Agility has leveled up. Level 7->8]
[Dual Handed mastery has leveled up. Level 4-> 5]
…
…
[Digging has leveled up. level 2->3]
[Riposte Strike has leveled up. Level 2->3]
[Cosmology has leveled up. Level 3->4]
[dark vision has leveled up. Level 5->6]
"What the hell is this range? Im so happy with these two but these two essentially are useless now." I can't help but cheer for my favs while feeling a weird way of seeing digging and dark vision beside them. It's fair, but weird.
With Cosmology getting higher leveled, more knowledge flows into my head which actually procs a hit of insight, giving me 14 more than before due to my skills and Caryll 'debuff'. This is in addition to the other single point which turned into 14 that I got from simply entering the nightmare frontier.
I look at my 393 insight and i don't like the number so i use a madman's insight to increase it by another 14.
[Congrats, Host has obtained over 400 insight, new skills and items available in store]
"Oooh, new stuff. Thank you Jeff, I truly needed this" I thank Amazon for its hard work in providing me with the store's materials. With same day shipping.
"Hmm, seems I can buy a few weird hunter weapons…what is a whirligig saw? A bowblade…A beastcutter ... .Wait, isn't this the shit that ripped through my neck oh so long ago when I first entered that other nightmare realm?"
"A few stronger versions of the previous coins and tokens that increase drop rate and echoes gained. FUCK. I completely forgot those existed, I could have had a few hundred million more echoes than I already do!!
"Now let's look over into her ooooh. So many new skills. THERE'S THE REGEN!! Oh so many epic fucking skills. I'm in heaven. UCK these prices. What the fuck. The jump is god damn crazy." I switch over to the skill shop and find that Epic grade skills are now being sold with one that I really wanted for a good while.
Unfortunately I would need to beat another boss to even be able to afford even one. Though If I can keep all my leftover echoes, I can probably get two of them. The physique skills are far cheaper but it all still costs a minimum of 100m.
"You're price gouging me now, you fucker?" I curse my system and it gives a shocking response. A response that will haunt me in my nightmares.
["correct"]
"FUCK YOU" I bemoan my situation as for once, being too awesome has fucked me over. As most these skills should have been half a mil each maybe regen being 1m even but now it's all in the hundreds value. So bullshit.
Anyway, that looks like a nice tower in the distance.
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Word Count = 2032
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