The Conciege
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(TPOR) Chapter 90: Pocket Memory (Incomplete)
🕑 Added 2023-09-08 05:50:51 +0000 UTCZed struggled out from under a mountain of rubbles. The night was lit with a multiplying cascade of colors that filled the sky. Cars were abandoned to the sides of the road in a clogged traffic jam, the roads broken and upheaved. Buildings half-crumbled, teetered on their axis on all sides and people ran about in unbridled chaos.
There was a pain in Zed’s leg as he crawled out from the rubble and one of his arms felt numb. He tasted blood where he had cut his lip from being punched in the face and knew his lip was swollen. His hair was caked with building dust and debris and warm liquid trickled down the side of his face. His jumpsuit was not any better, and the pain in his leg continued to grow. It pierced him as if someone had taken a metal pipe and stabbed through it.
Free from the rubble, he turned and laid on his back, heaving terribly, gasping for all the air he could claim. The pain in his leg flared and he lifted his head to pay it attention when he caught something at the edge of his vision.
The man in the vest laid on his stomach not too far from him. His eyes were open but they stared at nothing. Blood pooled from a gash in his neck where a massive piece of glass was embedded. The sight churned Zed’s stomach and it was all he could do not to throw up.
He was about to look away when he caught a glimpse of something black under the man’s leg. He dragged himself along the floor with one working arm, looking around in search of any face he could recognize and wary of those he did not, until he was beside the man.
He reached for the object gently, worried the man might not truly be dead, and pulled it out.
· You have acquired [Military knife(common)].
There was blood on the blade and he looked around for the sheath before remembering he’d tossed it aside at some point. Well, he thought, so much for that.
He tried to get up and the pain in his leg roared through his body. It reminded him of its state and he fell back down. Slowly, bothered by what he might see, he looked at the leg. The sight of it terrified him and he turned and threw up. He heaved the contents of his stomach until there was nothing else to retch, then retched some more. He turned his attention back to the leg with the bitter, acrid taste of bile in his mouth and forced himself to look at it.
It was twisted like a washed cloth, squeezed and broken with pieces of his bone sticking out. Blood dripped from it heavily. If it was that bad and he could still feel it, he feared to know what his numb arm looked like.
Quest [Leave the Building]
· Hidden objective discovered: Escape with your friends 0/3.
· Hidden objective complete: Escape with your friends 3/3.
· You have received [Memory pocket (Medium)].
· Objective complete: Escape the building. 1/1.
· Quest complete.
· You have received [Memory pocket(Large)].
“At least something good happened,” he muttered as he turned to his side and dragged himself along the floor.
His leg hurt and his muscles were sore, but at least he was moving. Behind him, only a section of the building that housed club Cabavi had fallen. He found a touch of dark humor in the fact that it was the section he’d been struggling for his life in. He wasn’t sure if it had tried to kill him or save him from the man.
“Hey, man! You gotta help me.”
Zed’s head turned at the sound of the voice and he found a man in a hoodie wrapped in an orb of pale blue. It distorted the air around him and bore spider web cracks. He had his hands held out above him and was straining under the weight of a massive slab of a building that hovered roughly a foot from his hands.
The man shot a quick glance at him, taking it back to the piece of building almost immediately as if he held it up with his eyes and not the multitude of runes that lit up so bright under his sleeves and glowed a soft blue, and red, and green through them. He recognized the man as the rune grafter from the alley. It seemed the man wasn’t a scam, after all. It also seemed like he wasn’t skilled enough to activate individual runes so he’d activated all of them.
Zed guessed at least two were recovery runes since activating so many runes at once should’ve burned through his mana reserves and eating him up from the insides by now. This was the reason tattooing runes on the body was never advised. The skill to activate mana to only specific parts of the body was next to impossible.
“C’mon, man. You’ve got to help me,” the man groaned, his legs threatening to buckle under the weight.
Through all the pain and fear Zed managed a puzzled look. How exactly did the man expect him to help? Didn’t he see the state he was in?
This was not his fight. So while a piece of his humanity judged him, he moved his arm again and dragged himself along the floor. He’d covered a short distance when the rune grafter began sobbing, then crying, then screaming. A moment after, the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Then there was the thudding of something heavy hitting the floor and the sound of liquid splatter.
Zed closed his eye against it all, closed his heart to every suffering but his own, and continued forward.
A distance away he heard a building crumble to the ground as the floor beneath him trembled and shook and a new notification appeared in front of him.
New Quest: [Go Towards the Light]
You have noticed the existence of a ray of light just around the corner. Find the source of the light and how it can help you
· Objective: Explore the source of light 0/1.
· Reward: [Memory pocket (Medium)].
He sighed, dropping his head. He looked back at the notification and read it again. Around him the world continued to devolve into chaos amidst bright colored sky light and the thundering noise of buildings falling, thunder rumbling and the very earth beneath their feet shaking.
And yet, the notification accused him of noticing a ray of light he didn’t—
He paused, then frown. Well played, he chuckled bitterly, spotting a soft blue glow just behind it. Well played.
He dismissed the notification and found the blue light came from around the building beside the one he’d almost died in. It was more of half a building now, but he tried not to dwell on the specifics. What had once been a dead end was now an empty space of crumbled wall that revealed the insides of a torn up restaurant. With all the strength he could muster, he pulled forward.
It took him a while to crawl to the building, and a while longer to crawl over all the rubble and debris of the broken wall. The short trip was filled with pain and tears and the occasional sobs, but he finally laid before the source of light. It was almost blinding but he stared at it in awe.
Quest: [Go Towards the Light]
· Objective complete: Explore the source of light 1/1.
· Quest complete.
· You have received [Memory pocket (Medium)].
He frowned at that and dismissed it. All it did was reward him with memory pockets except for the one time it gave him a knife. What was the point to memory pockets? He didn’t have any information he wanted to store. He pushed his displeasure aside and read the next notification.
· You have found an instance of mana surge.
Mana surge, he thought, confused. What’s that?
He’d heard it somewhere but couldn’t remember what it was.
Injury: [Mana Surge] (world, rare)
An event of world affecting scale. It is an injury in the world experienced during a world awakening. Sealing it early on reduces the effects of damage on the world.
· Effect: Exponential increase in mana density of geographical location.
· Effect: Exponential increase in mana recovery.
· Effect: Exponential increase in stamina recovery.
· Effect: Exponential increase in stamina recovery
· Effect: Increase in mana capacity.
· Effect: Preservation of contained life.
· Effect: Erosion of contents
· Effect: Memory loss.
Zed read it again as the world shuddered around him. Behind him a piece of the ceiling fell, almost crushing his already twisted leg.
“You always said it gets you to where you need to be,” he muttered to himself in realization, reading it once more. “Memory loss. I guess that explains the memory pockets.”
· You have unused [Memory pockets].
· Would you like to use [Memory pockets]?
He already knew what he had to do to survive. “Yes.”
· You do not have enough [Memory pockets] to store memories.
· Would you like to store selected memories in [Memory pockets]?
Selected memories:
· Childhood (How am I?).
· Family (who are they?).
· Loved ones (I care?).
· Basic principles of mana (what is mana?).
· Traumatic events (why me?).
· Enemies (why are they after me?).
· Identity (who am I?).
· Experience (what am I?).
Another section of the building fell and he agreed hurriedly.
· Storing memories…
· You do not have sufficient [Memory pockets] to store selected memories.
· Choose four memories to store
· Memories selected: 0/4.
Select memories to store.
· Childhood (How am I?).
· Family (who are they?).
· Loved ones (I care?).
· Basic principles of mana (what is mana?).
· Traumatic events (why me?).
· Enemies (why are they after me?).
· Identity (who am I?).
· Experience (what am I?).
Zed chose quickly, skimming through what he thought was important to keep as time and the world fought against him.
You have selected memories;
· Identity (who am I?)
· Loved ones (I care?).
· Experience (what am I?)
· Family (who are they?)
· Storing memories 1/4.
Zed crawled forward, unwilling to wait. He made his way to the pillar of blue light and placed his hand inside. It stung in the way a pin-prick would, and it filled his arm till it was almost numb.
Another piece of building fell.
· Storing memories 2/4.
He pulled himself inside until the pillar swallowed him whole and the numbing sensation filled his body. His vision faded slowly.
· Storing memories 3/4.
In time his vision left him but not his consciousness.
· Storing memories 4/4.
· You have entered a mana dense zone.
· You are under the effects of mana surge.
· You are losing memory.
· You are eroding.
· Consciousness of life form is being preserved.
· Mana recovery increased by 419%
· Stamina recovery increased by 482%
· Health recovery increased by 304%
Zed hoped his friends would survive the awakening as he slipped into unconsciousness. The institute had contingencies in place to keep them safe.
But they weren’t in the institute.
· You have used [Memory pockets].
· You have no [Memory pockets] left.
· You have obtained [Pocket memory(large)].
· [Pocket memory(large)] has been affected by mana surge.
· [Pocket memory(large)] is eroding.
· [Pocket memory(large)] is now [Pocket memory(incomplete)]
Item [Pocket memory(incomplete)] (category none)
A corrupted large piece of separated mind with stored information. (Consumable, storage).
· Effects: Information acquisition.
· Uses remaining: 4/4.
· [Pocket memory(incomplete)] is eroding…
Darkness took Zed in its cold embrace and pain fled him.
Comments
Marian Ch
Deliciously cruel choices must be made.
Mobious
Choose three memories to store. Memories selected: 0/4. Wording should probably change to reflect the fact he stored 4 memories
