NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12: "The Encroaching Madness"
As Gehrman slayed beast after beast he started to notice new things. For one, he should have instantly died in that chamber. As the adrenaline wore off he started to feel much weaker. It was such an exaggerated shift that it left him in disarray for a short while, almost succumbing to the horde of Flesh Reavers knocking at his door. His senses were still heightened by the constant infusion of blood, but there was now a new problem on top of that.
Madness.
Flaw Description: [The more you consume the flesh and blood of the Corrupted, the deeper you descend into madness.]
This exact amount of "madness" that would be accumulated was not quantified in the flaw description. This was understandable, as such a thing was hard to measure. Even still, Gehrman decided to take a shot at it.
After infusing the blood of one Flesh Reaver, the change was negligible, he hadn't even noticed anything. This remained the same after taking the blood of four more, but then there was a significant change. It was at this point that he thought, hmmm, perhaps I could come up with a system to measure my madness accumulation. It was only in hindsight that he realized this very thought signified the onset of madness.
After all, doing a math problem while facing a horde of deadly beasts, trapped in a corner, with constantly depleting oxygen was not something a wholly sane person would do.
Recognizing this, Gehrman decided that this state of being, where he was more flippant in his mindset, indicated a 20% decrease in his sanity. With 100% being fully sane, the state he was in prior to any and all infusion, each infusion of an Awakened Monster's blood caused roughly a 4% decrease in his sanity.
Unfortunately, it was not at this point where Gehrman recognized his worsened state. After five more transfusions, he started to feel more…disconnected. Some of his thoughts made their way out of his mouth. At 60% of his sanity, Gehrman was spouting whatever thought crossed his mind. This level was similar to being several drinks deep. However, instead of the slowing and slurring of his functions, he felt invigorated and giddy.
By the time he had reached 40%, things had finally become so bad that he took notice of his change. This was because he had nearly stuck his head out of his make-shift barricade to taunt the bugs.
From there, he had come to the previous conclusions about his different levels of madness. Reflecting on this, he made the assumption that at 20% he would lose all logical thought and act purely on instinct. This was the state he was in when he first arrived in his First Nightmare. Unaware of his surroundings, he had not even considered making any sort of preparations before going into a dangerous area.
Gehrman also suspected that the rambling mess he had been in after being cut in half by the Blood Starved Beast was what 0% looked like. A complete shattering of his psyche.
As Gehrman considered this, he took note of his recovery. It was unbearably slow, but he reckoned that he had collected himself a bit. The only idea he had for instantly restoring his mental state was with sedatives, but that was not an option. He was in the Dream Realm, and technology was in the stone ages. His best hope was finding some sort of Memory to replicate the effects. Until then, he would have to do what he was doing now. Waiting.
Though Gehrman had little psychiatric knowledge, he knew that it was necessary to slow down and allow for his thoughts to settle. Only when his focus remained fully on logical survival would he indulge in the blood once more.
This was no small feat, as he could already feel some cravings starting to form. It was a small shift, but his Essence storage had increased along with his Blood Fragments. This proved that the quickest way to increase his strength was the repeated consuming of blood. It also seemed to alleviate any hunger, apparently something in this messed up process of consumption provided bountiful nutrients. He felt neither hungry nor thirsty.
While it was a blessing, it was not a permanent solution. He would run out of prey eventually, and when he did, he did not know how long he would survive.
This dire thought helped him regain some semblance of focus. Shortly after, he fell into a routine.
He would kill any new Flesh Reavers who managed to poke their way in. Then, if he had sufficient sanity levels, he would consume their blood. It was an efficient and self perpetuating system that continued for minutes, and then an hour.
It was around that hour mark that he received several notifications from the Spell, nearly ruining his concentration.
[A Seal has been removed.]
[A Seal has been removed.]
[A Seal has been removed.]
Gehrman didn't know what the Spell was saying, until he noticed a change in his attire. The [Hunter Attire] which had been soaked in blood seemed to glow with a new light. It was so faint that Gehrman wasn't sure if it was real, but this had triggered something in his mind.
"Ah! The Memories!" Gehrman, not fully in his right mind, couldn't help but blurt out loud and smacked his head in an exaggerated and clumsy motion.
Hurriedly, he pulled up his runes, and indeed he saw something new. His [Burial Blade], [Blunderbuss], and [Hunter's Attire] had all achieved the Awakened rank. While their tier and enchantments remained the same, the qualitative change was absolutely wonderful.
The [Burial Blade] and [Blunderbuss] should now be able to do actual damage to Fallen creatures, though he hoped he wouldn't run into any until he himself Awakened. On top of that, when he was covered in blood, his [Hunter Attire] should now be impenetrable to Dormant creatures, and perhaps some of the weaker Awakened.
This was quickly put to the test as Gehrmans lack of awareness led to a Flesh Reaver fully breaking through. With a ferocious bite, it lunged for Gehrman, who could only raise his arm up in defense. As it turned out, this was all he needed to do. The gruesome maw of the locust, unlike any normal bug, was filled with short, jagged teeth. The thing bit down hard, but the leather-like coat held strong.
Gehrman suddenly started cackling, ridiculing the creature with fervor. The pests attack had brought no pain, it was as if a child was hanging onto his arm.
With a brutal swing of his weapon, the bug splattered against the wall, dead on impact.
Exhilarated by this, Gehrman allowed his madness to surge for a moment, killing the rest of the bugs that had gotten through in his lapse of focus. It took a great amount of effort to real himself back in. In fact, he nearly found himself bursting out the wall of flesh that he had built, straight into his prey's open maws.
He started gasping for breath, the lowered oxygen levels finally getting to him. Though he had undoubtedly reaped a great boon, having already advanced the rank of several of his Memories, Gehrman was still in a perilous situation.
"I need to get out of here now."