BlueShear
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Chapter 53
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 13:50:44 +0000 UTCCHAPTER FIFTY THREE
Well! I’d say that went wonderfully!
Now, of course, there was the fairly minor issue of his having completely lost feeling in both his arms, but then, it wasn’t as if it were permanent. The tendons would grow back! Eventually…. In fact,with his regeneration as high as it was, he could actually feel the torn muscle strands and ligaments re-knitting themselves, even as he watched. It was a uniquely… interesting sensation. Very itchy. Like he had maggots wriggling around underneath his skin.
Eauagh…!
Richard shuddered, promptly ridding his mind of the unwelcome mental image before the contents of his stomach rebelled. All that said, he could at least rest easy knowing he wouldn’t be suffering alone.
From where he lay, sprawled out on a bed of grass, he could still faintly hear the muttered curses from behind the canvas partition. The curtained off section in which the girls were trying, unsuccessfully, to scour off that fresh-breakthrough stench.
Richard would’ve slapped his forehead if he were able. Duh! Silly him! It’d completely slipped his mind! It would appear he’d somehow forgotten to mention how stubborn those tar like impurities could be. Especially when it came to parting from their former host. Of course, it would all wash off eventually, but for the next thirty minutes or so? Well, it was safe to say they’d be in for a rough time. On the bright side, with company like that, at least he wouldn’t feel quite so miserable for the next little while.
And, really, wasn’t that the greatest gift of all? Definitely worth the minor soul damage, he nodded to himself.
Ten out of ten, would try again.
After… maybe a month or two? His soul still needed time to recover.
The only one’s he genuinely felt bad for were Robin, Marlene, and maybe Eva. And yet the sounds Denise made as she attempted to rid the clingy gunk from her hair, oh! They were like music to his ears. For whatever reason, she’d really been on his case as of late. And, call it what you will. Supreme pettiness. A vindictive streak a mile long. The truth of the matter was, he couldn’t have done anything to expedite the clean up regardless, and these little acts of mischief, no matter how small, really were like balm for his aching soul.
The children were just fine of course. Their breakthroughs quick, and the cleanup even quicker. Liora had clearly shown herself to be a visionary, a goddess truly ahead of her time, when she cooked up that blessing. Now though? With the kids lost in their own worlds, and the ladies otherwise preoccupied, Richard figured it was the perfect time to go through with something he’d been looking forward to for some time now. In fact he’d only held off this long because he’d known that any injuries he sustained now would be taken care of during the process.
You Have Met All the Requirements For a Body Grade Evolution.
Evolution: G GRADE —> F GRADE
Do you wish to trigger your F Grade evolution?
YES/NO
Without any further ado, Richard selected yes. In the very next moment, the tinkling sounds of laughter, the airy twitter of birdsong, the gentle breeze that caressed his skin, even the quiet invectives carried on the wind, all of it faded into darkness. In no time at all, Richard’s consciousness succumbed to oblivion.
+++
<Initializing Subject Analysis>
<Subject Analysis Complete>
Origin Classification: Homo sapiens B-3 (Subspecies Variant)
Racial Prestige Classification: 0 Star Sapience
When Richard awoke, it was lying on his back—rolling with the gentle rock and sway of invisible waves. He was completely naked, though that wasn’t so bad, considering the mystery liquid surrounding him on all sides was actually rather comfortable. Lukewarm, almost body temperature. Feeling like he were lying atop another of Penelope’s mana clouds, but for the near constant undulations.
There was no light to see by, merely the gentle rise and fall. That, and the periodic slap of water. The sounds reverberating strangely in this place. Sounding as if he were in a tightly enclosed space one moment, and lying at the center of a grand cathedral the next. The only other sounds present, the androgynous voice of the system as it droned on mechanically. His heartbeat was silent, there was no blood rushing through his ears, his breaths made no sound whatsoever.
It was actually somewhat eerie, though he’d had plenty of time to grow accustomed to the experience. This wasn’t the first body grade evolution he’d gone through, and he doubted it would be his last.
Judging Baseline Parameters: Analyzing Growth Metrics Based On Prior Records And Recently Acquired Data…
Growth Percentage of Core Grade: Poor
Growth Percentage of Mana Purity: Poor
Not especially surprising, considering he effectively needed mana channels to even begin to properly work on his core. The very things he’d triggered this evolution to receive in the first place.
Growth Percentage of Mana Capacity: Remarkable
Again, nothing he hadn’t been expecting. Over three hundred in something like mana capacity wasn’t exactly unheard of. The mana core, at least at his stage of development, was extremelymalleable. Able to swell up to unprecedented proportions if you let it. It was just the matter of finding the time or stat points to raise it that high which made the feat remarkable.
Growth Percentage of Strength: Remarkable
Growth Percentage of Endurance: Remarkable
Again, nothing odd about that. He highly doubted many in his position would’ve been able to do the same.
Growth Percentage of Resilience: Remar-@ble%#!
Abruptly, there came a ripple in the fabric of space. And, parting the blanket of impenetrable darkness like they might sweep aside an errant curtain, five unfathomable figures emerged.
GrOAHwoahwOAhwoewoe- RE-re-REEEE-Reergh…
Not all at once however, instead they intruded upon his evolution individually. Stepping lightly onto the undulating sea, one after another. The unseen ocean roiling violently for but an instant—nearly drowning him beneath invisible waves—before going very, very still. As if it were afraid to make itself known. To garner even an iota of the five entities’ attention.
Ssshhhhhhhhh….!
Richard left to float aimlessly on the eerily serene pool, the urge to scream clawing at his chest with the ferocity of a trapped animal, and yet, he suddenly found himself without a mouth in which to do so.
All along his body, growths, like swollen abscesses, began to swell ominously.
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…!
Eyes so wide the whites were clearly visible, his gray pupils swiveled this way and that. Bouncing from one primordial sight to another. Unwilling, or unable, to remain on one face for too long. Voices began to slip in from between crevices and cracks. Sharp movement periodically seen in his periphery. If he hadn’t spent so much time overclocking his ability slots, he likely wouldn’t have known the creeping onset of insanity for what it was.
Looming over him stood five figures. Five creatures. Five beings. Entities which confounded all manner of mortal comprehension. They were the means by which rationale succumbed to the indifferent creep of entropy. An enormity for which the human mind was simply never meant to contain. Any brief grasp of understanding futile. Comprehension elusive. Slipping away just as soon as it’d come. Spilling over the sides to pool at once feet, where the rest of one’s grasp on reality would be soon to follow.
Inside of his head the voices whispered, while outside he saw. Saw how the humanoid figures possessed more weight than could be seen. A presence that spanned universes hidden behind a flimsy façade. The shadow each of them cast as long as they were terrifying. And Richard completely unable to move.
Each figure was lit by a sourceless illumination, and each was distinct in their own way.
There was what looked to be a woman, though it was so hard to tell under all the black cloth. Dozens upon dozens of layers obscuring her figure, but for the tips of her tightly bandaged hands. Deprived of their fingernails, blood dripped from them in a near constant stream. A hood, elaborately decorated, obscured much of her face from view. All but her nose and mouth completely hidden. Each orifice crudely stitched together, as if by an arthritic, or else cruelly sadistic, hand. Blood ran in rivulets down her face, to drip from her delicate chin.
And behind her? An absence so vast, it threatened to crush him beneath the weight of its silence. A voice, one much louder than all the others, took the time to whisper her name. Pressed so close to his inner ear, he expected to feel the warm tickle of its breath.
“Suth – Upon Which Curtains Fall. Void God of Deafening Silence.”
Grrrrrrowth Percentage of Resilience: Superb
The next-?
The next resembled a young blonde boy in rich, Victorian era dress—a three piece tweed suit tailored to fit his smaller frame—he held an unadorned pocket watch in one hand, while the other he shoved casually into his pants pocket. And yet, inconspicuous as he outwardly appeared, it was the boy’s eyes which evinced a primal terror in Richard. At any other time, he might’ve been curious to know the color of the beings sclera.
The hundreds of glowing red irises which bunched together beneath imperial brows like roe, however, ultimately made that an impossibility. Behind the fell entity, an infinite black sky of glowing red eyes peered back at him. The voice chiming in once more, it’s raspy tones sending shivers down his spine.
“Ormotten – The Abstraction of Absence. Void God of The Yawning Abyss”
Growth Percentage of Resilience: Outstanding
Blood was dribbling from his nose and eyes by this point, yet there was very little he could do about it. The growing abscesses all across his skin began to wriggle and jerk painfully.
The next resembled a person with the head of a large jelly fish, but the face of a grown woman. Her eyes, entirely without irises, shone the color of deep sea waters, while her brain, meanwhile, was completely visible. Floating around in the gelatinous stuff of the blue tinted sea jelly. From her mouth, instead of a tongue, dozens of long tentacles spilled out to cover her bare chest in wriggling tendrils.
“Sherieth – She Who Slumbers in Agony. Void God of Endless Slumber.”
Growth Percentage of Resilience: Extraordinary
Like the others, the next was a being he knew for a fact he’d never laid eyes upon, and yet for reasons he did not wish to contemplate, the entity looked eerily familiar. It was as if he were looking at the Midnight Earl’s much older, much leaner, much more sophisticated uncle. No one could accuse this being of resembling a mascot, however. It was a bestial thing wrapped in an air of civility. Fine suit, top hat, and monocle, doing little to hide the sea of screaming faces which wailed in the background.
“Purrenthkesk – The Merchant of Myriad Faces. Void God of the Unseen.”
Growth Percentage of Resilience: Exceptional
And finally, there was the last of the void gods. Before he’d even fully laid eyes upon the being, he felt the swollen abscesses across his body burst with sprays of stinking effluvia. Hands clawing their way from his very flesh to crawl along his body. Eager to tear at his limbs, or wrap their fat fingers around his throat.
The final void god did not bother with taking on a humanoid guise. Instead it perfectly resembled the shadow it cast, if on a far smaller scale. An infinite sea of grasping hands. This time, when the voice spoke, it was with a timidity that had not been present before. As if it too, the mad figment, were terrified of invoking this being’s wrath.
“Solsol - The Thing of Grasping Hands. Void God of Insatiable Consumption.”
Growth Percentage of Resilience: Abnormal
Growth Percentage of Resilience: Peerless
Skittering up his chest like wriggling tarantulas, his vision was quickly eclipsed by fleshy palms, greedy fingers sealing his windpipe closed, a scream begging to tear free from his chest. And yet on all counts, he knew in his heart of hearts that release would be long in coming.
Comments
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Edit suggestion: only one’s -> only ones
guillaume nguyen
Hey, at least he TRIED to be stealthy. Can't say it worked, but we should still recognize the valiant effort.
Baron of Awesome
This is going to be a thing isn’t it.
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter! Every damn chapter you just keep dumping poor Richard of impossible cliffs lmao!! Can't wait to see what this actually means...
Josh
Huge compliment to the author, this is a very good depiction of describing the undescribeable
Arnon Parenti
He shouted WITNESS ME. And the Void listened and the Abyss Witnessed and his performance was MEDIOCRE, except he survived, and so been seen as Epic.
Jacques TSHILEMB
This cliff is simply pure evil...
CherMi
The hell happened here?
Aaron Banta
We should tie up the author and force him to write more chapters. 😜
Epeen
Juicy chapter but damn, couldnt that just not end on a cliffhanger?
Faramond01
Mondays am I right?
Apoca
I'm sure everything will be just fine...
