Chapter 19: Debt (Patreon)

The word strikes me like an arrow. ‘Debt’. There’s more sinister undertones to that one word than you’d think–and I’m thinking pretty much all of them right now. The idea that I could owe some huge amount of worth to an unknown party, which they could collect on at any time… my stomach turns at the thought.

But if I’m going to shoot Pearl down, I should at least hear out her horrible idea first. “Explain, please.”

“You need the all-seeing ice to fight this thing. I…” She pauses as a frown takes over her face. “I don’t remember why you need it, but when I was in my shell, I looked for any information on things we have that could help you fight that thing. For some reason, I was completely confident the ice would do it.”

“That’s… weird. But I felt something like that too–like something’s keeping me from understanding a really obvious thing.” I curl my fingers and press one knuckle against my chin. “Damn it, I can’t even logic out anything. Which means there could be some major thing about the painted dane I’m missing.”

I glance over at Pearl. “You’re sure using the all-seeing ice will help? Not just a little, but to actually risk whatever it means to go into debt?”

The painted dane slams into the shield. Pearl lets out a startled eep, gathers herself with a frustrated huff, and nods.

“I was one-hundred percent confident before I came back out. The fact that I’m struggling with it now kind of proves how right I was if we really think about it.”

I could easily argue with that logic, but the more I see of the painted dane, the less I’m confident my projectiles will do the job. Even though it’s rammed into the shield close to a hundred times it hasn’t taken any sort of visible damage. It hasn’t slowed its assault, either, and I haven’t seen it stagger or flinch a single time. That thing’s got to have freakish resistance–maybe even magical resistance–and if I’m fighting it with some unknown handicap…

It’ll probably pull out some bullshit trick right when I think it’s dead. And if Pearl thinks the all-seeing ice will prevent that, then I guess I’m just going to have to trust her.

“Alright. Tell me what to do.”

Pearl lets out a relieved breath I didn’t realize she’d been holding. “Thank you for trusting me. You need to get out the all-seeing ice and try to use it, which should bring up some kind of screen thanks to your upgrade manual. I’ll do the work from there.”

I reluctantly do as she asks, opening my class card and withdrawing the all-seeing ice. It sits in my hands like the lump of frozen eyes it is, but unlike before, there’s an aura around it that looks like a mixture of the Fate and Mind auras I’ve seen. They swirl together without ever mixing, then combine into a small holographic screen that displays a simple message.

Assimilate the all-seeing ice into your Class Card for 50 Worth?

“Yeah, I guess.”

Gold flows from my hands, tinged in the colour-speckled black of Pearl’s body, and coats the ice in a thick layer of translucent… stuff. It just sits there for a few seconds before a warning alarm goes off in my head and the stuff hardens around my hands and the ice, trapping them together.

Warning: you do not have the funds for this transaction.

Debt incurred.

If another being does not intervene on your behalf, you will become indebted to the system.

Don’t want that. God, I don’t want that. “Pearl?!”

“I’m on it!” She interrupts as gooey black erupts from her shell and splatters over the screen, hiding whatever else might be shown. “Hopefully you won’t get hurt if you can’t physically see the censorship, but if it does hurt, I’m really sorry in advance!”

Moments pass as I hold my breath in anticipation. All my muscles tense in preparation for the influx of pain, or discomfort, or whatever else Pearl’s going to unleash upon me. I wait. And I wait. The painted dane slams itself into my shield two more times, cracking it to the point that I know it’ll withstand four more assaults.

Pearl sighs in relief and retreats from the screen. “There we go, all good and done! Um… oh, gosh, the side-effect of debt looks kind of horrible. So much worse than what I read it was…”

“Oh, shit, what did you do?” I groan as the screen flickers away, taking the all-seeing ice with it. A popup informs me I’ve just gained a new skill, but the brand new addition to my tabs calls my attention first.

Buffs. Though it should definitely be called ‘buffs/debuffs’ if Pearl’s reaction is anything to go by. I almost don’t want to open it and see what kind of shit she just put me in, but if it’s going to screw up my spells, I have to know.

Debt to the ______: 250 Worth.

50% of all Worth gained will go towards this Debt until it is paid.

While indebted, Worth cannot be spent or used in any way.

My heart almost stops right then and there. The words ‘death sentence’ might not be significant enough for how completely and utterly this dooms me. One debuff completely shuts off everything I can do. And the only way to get rid of it is to somehow come up with 500 Worth–not using any skill, either, since it takes from the raw amount I earn.

“Pearl.” I turn to the sound of her hyperventilating over my ear. “How am I supposed to deal with this?”

“Idon’tknowI’msosorryIdidn’tthinkitwouldbethisbad!” She says in one panic-fueled breath. “MaybetrysomethingjustincaseIdidn’tscreweverythingup?”

After taking a few seconds to parse her sentence, I come to the decision that it’s a good idea. I guess. I summon a skeleton and try to force a shield into it, and after a tiny little stutter, it just…works.

I breathe a titanic sigh of relief. “Thank god. Must be because I can’t technically spend the ghost quarters, so they don’t actually count as Worth.”

Pearl melts into a puddle of half-crying, half-apologizing relief. And I mean that very literally. She oozes down my ear and neck, and almost down my arm before she pulls herself together and apologies one more time.

“I am so sorry. It didn’t say anything about a consequence that bad–the system must have updated while I was trapped as a quest item. I heard you only had to pay twice as much if you had someone vouch for you.”

“Then… how much would I be paying off if you didn’t vouch for me?”

“...four times as much? As you’re already paying?”

My jaw drops in disbelief. “A… thousand Worth. That’s literally what I need to have at the end of this… starting quest, or whatever it is. I’d… I’d have to earn twice that. How… I don’t… we haven’t even seen a thousand Worth worth of stuff yet!”

“I wouldn’t have let you do that! I promise! The only reason I suggested this in the first place is because I was here to help! I… I thought I was helping.” Pearl’s voice tapers off at the end there to real regret. “...Can you see what skill you got from the all-seeing ice? It should still help you fight this painted dane, even if it’s not… worth the debt I put you in.”

“Yep.” I squeak and swap tabs. “Might as well.”

See All: Multifaceted skill.

Evolves as you progress through Quest: Close Your Eyes, Cold One.

Passive: All identification costs are reduced by 25% and quintuples identification range. In addition, you gain resistance to effects revealed through identification.

Active: Identify any target, bypassing any and all Worth costs. These identifications benefit from both the Mind and Fate stats to reveal information.

Usable only once every ?????

I silently read through the admittedly pretty alright skill. Not worth putting myself two hundred and fifty Worth of debt, but alright. One thing it is definitely missing, though–some way to help me kill the painted dane. And… right, Gil said something about a quest.

Repeatable Quest: Close Your Eyes, Cold One (1/20)

Defeat a target identified with See All’s active that is at least threat level (5).

Reward: one Mind.

I glance over at my shield, which looks like it’s got maybe two bashes left in it. As if on cue the painted dane appears out of nowhere, slams into the shield, and teleports away a second later in a swirl of mist. Leaving the shield in such a state that I know it won’t survive another attack.

If that thing isn’t threat level five, I’ll eat a projectile-filled ghost quarter.

But as I try to look away, Pearl’s dark awareness latches onto the painted dane in a far greater way than it has before. It follows it all the way into the darkness, so far that I can’t even see the glowing red marks on it, but I’m somehow still aware of where it is. And that it’s going to attack again any second now.

“Your plan didn’t work, so now it’s time for mine.” I tell Pearl as I focus on the skeletal coin with shield in it. “If things go south, I’m probably going to panic a crazy amount.”

“I definitely will too. So, um, let’s hope that doesn’t happen?” She tries, but her voice has lost all confidence.

I almost feel bad for her, but she just put me in super debt. And I really need to focus on trapping this painted dane. So I put all those emotions away for later when we’re either safe, dead, or a weird combination of the two.

Awareness creeps in. There’s no time to react, and the painted dane joins it. It shatters my shield in a spray of magical shards that dissipate into wisps of nothingness, then charges head-on into the second one with jaws open wide and murder in its otherwise empty eyes. 

Panic halts my movements for a split second. I find myself staring into its eyes, and for some reason, cold understanding creeps in on me. It doesn’t take hold, but I know that there’s something here. Something that I’m missing. Something that has to do with the fact that its eyes are growing redder with magic as I stand uselessly in place.

That’s new. Or… maybe I just haven’t been able to comprehend what I was seeing. I reach a finger up to my eyes, then wince as an intense cold seeps into my bones. The painted dane’s eyes go full red, unlike anything I’ve seen it do so far, and it disappears. Leaving a long and barely visible trail of wispy red magic behind it.

The eyes. There’s something about them. It should be so obvious–so brain-dead simple–but my mind just… can’t put the pieces together. That has to be the painted dane. Whatever it’s doing has to be doing this. But why can I only half-understand now? I haven’t identified it for my skill, unless just seeing it partly counts for identification for some reason?

Yeah. That’s got to be it. I’m making my own observations, and even though my brain can’t process them, my skill is taking them into account. So… I know what this thing’s power is. I know what it’s doing to me. I just can’t move that information to an accessible part of my brain.

“Shelby?” Pearl meekly asks, pulling me out of my spiral of thoughts. “Did the shield not work?”

Right. I’ve still got a plan to try.

“It didn’t, but it will work the next time.” I confidently assure her. “Whatever this thing is doing to us, I’ll know soon enough. Or it’ll be dead and it won’t even matter.”

“Identify it before you kill it! If this isn’t at least considered threat level five, I don’t know what would be!”

I already planned on it, but it’s good to know Pearl’s still looking out for my stats. Maybe it’s the only thing she can focus on if the painted dane is really screwing with us that badly. I steady myself as best as I can, focus on the painted dane off somewhere in the distance, and prepare to actually do the plan this time.

A spike in awareness. The painted dane not a moment later. Eyes completely empty of red start to fill up so much quicker than I’m comfortable with. I grit my teeth and force a shield into the skeletal coin, straining all the while as it feels like the painted dane is flat-out rejecting my attempt to do magic. Something in my mind throbs like a particularly painful bruise. A chill seeps in from around my eyes.

And the spell finally takes hold. It springs to life, cutting off the painted dane’s only retreat. I grin wildly, pushing through the discomfort to activate the twin projectiles as the painted dane gets ready to tele-dash again. Instead, it slams into my other barrier with a yelp of surprise.

“It worked!” Pearl squeals in delight. “Murder it, Shelby! Um, I mean, identify it first and then murder it!”

“That’s the plan!” I say above a rising screech that’s starting to fill my ears as the painted dane realizes that it’s trapped. “See All!”

Cherry Corpsedragger Dane

A species of Painted Dane known to live most of its life deep underwater, only surfacing for extremely short moments to drag their victims into the water.

Observed Detail: The corpsedragger’s eyes store its magic. It can only use spells when its eyes are filled.

Observed Skill: Aura of Panic. Any being that sees the corpsedragger is stricken with panic and is unable to form complete thoughts related to to understanding how to deal with it.

Observed Spell: Snap and Drag. The corpsedragger dashes in a straight line at horrific speeds, giving the illusion that it can teleport.

Unobserved Spell: ???.

Still not giving me the full details, but the fact that I actually got some extra info from ‘observing’ it is a real nice upgrade. I wonder how much information’s still hidden, though, since there’s no threat level displayed. There’s no stats, health, or anything other than a general description of the species as a whole. Maybe a higher Mind stats would show me more about it.

I blink away the details and the panic leaves my body in a wave of relief. I can still feel it a little–emanating from the corpsedragger like a bad smell–but it’s completely manageable. Manageable enough that I easily grip onto the projectiles on either side of it and command them to kill the thing.

They burst into motion. The first crashes into the corpsedragger’s left flank, sending it sprawling away with a whine that rises into a very angry growl. Thin rivers of blood trickle out of even thinner wounds, and the projectile dies out far sooner than I expected it to. I frown and send the other at its head, which immediately has a more noticeable effect.

The whirl runs through one of the corpsedragger’s eyes as easily as it would an overfilled water balloon. Clear fluid and red mist pour out of the wound in equal parts, flung all throughout the enclosed space as the projectile digs even deeper into its head. A horrific shriek rips out of the thing’s bloodied mouth, and it teleports away before the projectile can do enough damage. It’s only a few feet to the right, but it’s enough to get out of the way.

“I needed more coins.” I mutter to myself as the thing loses its mind over its lost eye. Red mist pours out of the wound like a malfunctioning smoke machine; pooling around its feet in a strange haze that peaks and spikes to some unheard beat.

“There’s something wrong with it.” Pearl murmurs as she watches the corpsedragger writhe.

“Yeah, it lost an eye and was a few seconds away from losing half its face. I’d be in some serious pain, too.”

“No, that’s not it. There’s something wrong with its magic. It’s… flowing out of it like a broken faucet, but it isn’t dissipating. It’s concentrating in that pool around it. There was an unobserved spell when you identified it, wasn’t there?”

…Shit, there was. I nod and take a step back, readying a few skeletons to fill with shields. The haze of magic surrounding the corsedragger’s feet bubbles and spikes like a boiling cauldron mixed with a rough sea. It snaps at the empty air, as if fighting some enemy we can’t see.

Red slashes across its neck. A deep wound spurs out magic mixed with blood, and the corpsedragger falls to the ground. Twitching. Bleeding. Parts of it erupt in a spray of meat and blood, splattering my shields with enough force to damage them slightly. The eruptions rise from near its back legs, up its spine, and eventually finishes with a massive rupture that destroys its other eye, unleashing the rest of its magic into the pool at its feet.

I watch with a mixture of horror and disbelief as the haze rises over the corpsedragger. Part of me screams that it’s trying to revive itself, but another much more logical part tells it that the corpsedragger wouldn’t kill itself over one lost eye.

But I can’t shake the fact that something huge is coming. I glance down at my hands, then set my jaw and toss three shields up between us and whatever’s happening to the corpsedragger. That has to be enough to contain whatever’s going to happen.

The haze belches out a mass the size of my head. It rolls a few inches from the pool, then starts to crack. It unfurls into the longest, most skeletal facsimile of a dog I’ve ever seen. There’s not a hint of muscle on the thing nor any room for organs in the completely hollow chest cavity the rest of the thing’s body had been curled into. Just bones, flesh that looks more magical than real, and–somehow–it’s still got those horrible, oscillating teeth.

But the closer I look, the less I understand what I’m looking at. The thing stares at me completely motionless, the glint of cherry red magic reflecting off the glass all around it. Like a spell that hasn’t been given a purpose just yet.

Just as I’m about to say something, the pool expels another mass. Then another. And another. It continues spraying out skeletal shark-dogs like some disgusting geyser of magic and flesh, growing smaller and smaller until the pool disappears completely. Revealing a pristine skeleton where the magic had completely devoured the corpsedragger’s flesh.

Nine skeletal shark-dogs uncurl and stand on impossibly strong legs. All staring at me with empty eyes. I swallow around a dry mouth as wisps of cherry red mist start to form in their empty sockets, and a cacophony of rattling growls emerge from empty throats. Hatred points at me like the business end of a loaded gun.

A shudder works its way up the back of my spine. I set my feet and carefully clench the skeletal coins in my hand. There’s no room for error. No shop to magically show up and sell me a cure for what ails me.

Just me, Pearl, and my coins.

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