Bolt Action Serenade

The body of the demon was still there. Demon. Holy shit it just hit me that demons are real and also I killed one. But also, yeah demons are real, why is that so surprising? I feel like I knew that already? Fuck I gotta get a handle on this weirdness. Of course, according to the triage band Severity S Mind Shatter didn’t usually get better without treatment so the weirdness was likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, I looked around and took the scene in. Still nightmarish even without the demon eating corpses. I carefully shifted out and hissed as I put my injured leg on the ground. I avoided putting weight on it as much as I could but I couldn’t just hold it in the air forever.

Leaning on the side of the vehicle I started to make my way around it, just to check my blind spots for threats. Nothing moved aside from a few birds on the edge of the field that had come to take advantage of the free meal. Ugh, my guts twisted again at the thought. I did get a good look at the vehicle though, a big ugly lump of geometric shapes. It seemed like it was designed to have angled armor from as many sides as possible, and while I’m sure it was effective the aesthetics of it made it look like a short caterpillar made entirely without any curves. The fact that the treads it was carried on didn’t have any protection also made the seemingly over-engineered armor of the main body seem stupid. If I was fighting this thing I’d aim for the treads and just leave it crippled. Not to mention that the holes through said armor showed it to have been a waste anyway.

The driver’s cabin on the front also had windshields that were frankly far too large for something that was expected to be shot at. The passenger seat had a hole in the roof with a pintle mounted gun, a dead man draped over it. Poor bastard was completely exposed manning that thing, probably the first to die to be honest.

With no threats found I took a better look at the carnage, specifically because not everyone was wearing the same uniform I was. Some of the bodies wore a different one, gray with purple accents and a few had red bars on their lapels similar to the silver ones on poor dead Bernson. The shoulders of what I was assuming were enemy combatants held a symbol. A black shield with a purple sewing needle crossed with a red sword. I felt a small surge of fear looking at it, some feeling being the last remnant of an otherwise missing memory. I wondered if I would ever get used to that. Best case, I won’t have to and I find someone that can fix me in a day or two. Worst… I tried not to let my mind continue down that path.

With no more worrying about what ifs, I braced the butt of my rifle on the ground and used it to support my bad leg as I started heading out. There was a worn trail that the armored convoy seemed to be using. It looked well used in both directions so I figured even odds of both ways going somewhere with people. Picking forward felt right somehow, but maybe that was some internalized idea of ‘keep going forward! Don’t look back!’ that I couldn’t consciously remember.

Walking hurt. Even with the rifle as a walking stick every movement from my leg was like being stabbed over and over. But I made good time anyway… I think. It felt like progress anyway. But as had become the mantra What do I know? repeated in my head.

About half an hour into my journey I brought up my Status again and looked at my health. [96/240] Okay so, either health infusions provide forty nine points of HP when imbibed, or fifty and I’d lost one since downing the last vial. The second seemed more likely and also sent a shiver or worry through me. That meant I was on even more of a time limit than I thought. I didn’t even know what was causing the damage and the battle of the bands happening on my arm still wasn’t talking so I was S.O.L. if I couldn’t find help soon.

I pulled my attention to the rest of my Status and looked it over as I kept moving forward, hoping the distraction would help me deal with the pain.

[STATUS]

[Name: ERROR]

[Primary Class: Survivor]

[Secondary Class: Basic Infantry]

[Level: 11]

[HP: 96/240]

[MP: 1/50]

[Strength: 11]

[Coordination: 16]

[Endurance: 24]

[Focus: 5]

[Willpower: 26]

[Force: 10]

“Oh hey, my MP went up by one. That’s encouraging… I hope.” I muttered to myself. Of course I also had my skills and single spell to think about, wondering what they did caused the sight to shift and answer my curiosity.

[SKILLS]

[Scavenging: Can better identify both places to scavenge for survival goods and the goods themselves. Increased chances for successfully scavenging parts from damaged goods.]

[Hearty Constitution: Poisons, Infections, and Physical Status Conditions have a lessened effect.]

[Pain Tolerance: The effect of pain on one’s ability to think and act is lessened. This does not reduce the sensations of pain, only its effect on the mind.]

[Sixth Sense: Can more easily intuit hidden dangers.]

[Courtesan’s Touch: Dexterity and fine motor control are increased, particularly when used on another sapient being. Ability to locate and manipulate sensitive locations on sapient beings is increased. Physical sensations given to other sapient beings via touch is also increased.]

[Quick Rest: Can fall asleep more quickly and gain more rest from shorter periods or sleep. Overuse of skill may result in decreased mental capacity until proper sleep is achieved.]

[Soldier’s March: Long periods of physical activity have a decreased effect on stamina, allowing for longer periods of activity before rest is required. This effect is increased for long periods of uninterrupted walking.]

[Sniper’s Eye: Accuracy and range with ranged weaponry is increased. Additionally increases damage to vital locations with ranged weaponry.]

[Favor of the Ferryman: You have come closer to death and returned than most people are capable of. The Ferryman knows your face and has somewhat enjoyed your brief time in his presence. To be in his good graces is a rare honor. Do not change his opinion.]

[3RR0R-3RR0R: The eyes of the Gods do not fall upon part of your soul.]

[SPELLS]

[Soothe:

Cost: 10 Mana

Range: Touch

Target: 1 living being

With a touch you can ease the emotions and pain of a target, calming their mind and lowering their aggression towards you.]

“Quadruple fuck.” I muttered after reading it all. There was so gods damned much to unpack in that. First off, I DIED??? Or at least got so close that I met this Ferryman person which sounded worryingly familiar in this context. But I came back, so that’s good. Also he likes me? Guess I have friends in, uh, dead places. Better than enemies anyway.

Also, I had wondered about some of the skills names and that Primary class of mine but the picture they painted together was not a pleasant one. Skills that spoke of a life of struggle and suffering and… wow, I think I know what I was before I was a soldier. Kinda hard to ignore a skill that at least implies I give good hand-jobs and with a name that suggests it was done professionally? I felt torn about that, like I was both thinking less of myself and I dunno, proud I was willing and able to do what I had to to survive? Also a weird part of my mind berating myself for thinking less of sex workers. Layers of a broken brain, yay.

The secondary class and skills clearly from that class were nice. Though also spoke of a less than happy time in the service. No sleep, walking for days, that sounded about right for some reason. I felt tired in my bones in a way that felt a little to much for just the situation I found myself in. Like I’d been tired for months. Hey, maybe I’ll get some sleep once I find someone. A nice warm bed, soft blankets, a mint on my pillow… why would anyone put mint on a pillow? Maybe to make it smell nice? Weird. My brain was weird. I hoped it was from the damage and not just… me.

You know what’s really weird though? I was worried about the vague spookiness of the misspelled error skill, but I was actually more worried about the Sixth Sense skill. Or, maybe worried is the wrong word. More like I had more questions about it. It was far more vague than my other skills, error aside, and I had to wonder what it meant by intuit.

Did I just get a gut feeling? A tingle in my mind like a spider? (Add that to the pile of thoughts I don’t understand) Did I get a message pop up in my vision from the System? For that matter, what did it mean by hidden dangers? Was that limited to something like being ambushed? Traps? Will it work if someone is lying to me or manipulating me? What if someone was trying to sell me food that’s gone bad even if they don’t know it?

Thinking harder about the skill offered no further information, so I stopped thinking about it and thought about my spell instead. I could lessen pain and emotional states apparently. Though E rank didn’t sound to powerful. Somehow I didn’t think I earned that in the military. It was probably something to use on clients that got too ‘excited’. The thought caused a pulsing ache for the briefest of moments from my left arm. Somehow I knew the pain was the remains of a memory, and one I didn’t want to remember.

The only thing left to consider was the error, which had the same kind of distortion as the description of Soul Containment, the mysterious status condition I had. It was a bit of a leap, but I was guessing they were somehow related.

But that seemed to be the end of anything to do with the System for the moment so I dismissed it and started to focus more on my surroundings. But only for a moment. I felt a very small draw of my attention from something else and like with my Status, I pulled it into my view.

[Level 11 reached. You have 5 unspent Attribute Points. You have 1 unclaimed advancement selection. Would you like to use these now?]

“Oh nutbunnies. Uh… sure?” I spoke the words even thought I knew I needed only think about my decision. It felt more appropriate somehow. Like, I must vocalize my feelings or they don’t count! Whatever that feeling meant.

“Okay so first thing first, lets take a look at those Attributes.” and the System shifted to a new presentation, just my six Attributes and, thank the gods, a brief description of each.

[Strength: 11 – The physical force your body can produce. Allows you to lift more, hit harder, resist being moved, and successfully perform other feats of brawn.]

[Coordination: 16 – Agility, reflexes, fine motor skills, flexibility, accuracy in combat. Allows one to successfully perform feats involving fine control of movements.]

[Endurance: 24 – Durability and overall physical health. Every point adds 10 to your Health Pool. Allows one to resist poisons, infections, and other physical status conditions.]

[Focus: 5 – Magical wellspring and Anima width. Every point adds 10 to your Mana Pool. Allows one to cast more or more powerful spells and Contract with larger numbers or greater ranks of Elementals.]

[Willpower: 26 – Mental and magical fortitude. Limit of how far one’s mind can be stressed before a mental or emotional breakdown occurs. Increases rate of Mana generation. Allows one to resist mental and magical status conditions.]

[Force: 10 – Magical power and Anima depth. Allows for greater effect of spells and more power to be granted to Contracted Elementals.]

Well, that answered some questions and raised more. I tried to focus on Anima to see if I got a description of it, but no such luck. Well, it appeared to have something to do with making contracts with elementals and the only one of those I was aware of was trapped on my arm, possibly reassembling itself, and hopefully not killing me or stealing my body when done. Maybe I’d be able to ask it if things turned out better than either of those options.

I don’t know if it was the pain, concussion, or some weird drive hidden in my lost memories. But I looked at my Attributes and immediately but four of the points into Coordination to make it an even twenty. It felt nice to see that nice rounded to tens digit in a way that I simply could not describe. Of course I slightly panicked after that, but the idea that I would at least shoot and dodge better now was some comfort.

My remaining point went into Focus. One extra cast of Soothe a before I was empty didn’t seem like a lot, but I didn’t like the number being that low somehow. Also, some part of me kinda hoped the Blood Elemental was going to be friendly and might be willing to contract with me and help me. Not that I had any idea how any of that worked but it seemed like if you want an elemental with any real power you need a decent Focus score. So here’s to blindly hoping for the future!

With that done I was shown the so called Advancement Selections. Which were interesting to say the least.

[1. Advance Survivor class to Undying Champion class. Undying Champion gives benefits that allow one to survive injuries or situations that would spell certain doom for others. Undying Champions gain access to self healing spells, defensive skills, and the ability to bring oneself back from the edge of death under certain conditions.]

[2. Advance Basic Infantry class to Heartseeker class. Heartseeker gives benefits to damaging a target’s vital locations in combat, allowing one to inflict far greater harm to a target with their exceptional accuracy. Heartseekers gain access to awareness enhancements, movement and accuracy enhancing skills, and the ability to ignore a target’s defenses under certain conditions.]

[3. Advance Basic Infantryman class to Crusader class. Crusader gives benefits to fighting against demons and other fel tainted beings. Crusaders gain access to Light based spells, protective skills, and the ability to boost both damage and defense considerably under certain conditions.]

[4. Advance Survivor class to Noble Concubine class. Noble Concubine gives benefits that allow one to perform better while serving those of higher station, both carnally and socially. Noble Concubines gain access to emotional manipulation spells, mental and infection resistance skills, and the ability to go completely unnoticed by others under certain conditions.]

[5. Advance Basic Infantryman class to Elemental Savant class. Elemental Savant gives benefits to Contracting with and summoning elementals. Elemental Savants gain access to Elemental boosting spells, Anima enhancing skills, and the ability to drastically improve the power of a summoned elemental under certain conditions.]

I actually was distracted enough to stop walking and just stare for several long moments. “...Huh.”