NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: "The Otherworldly Abomination"
As the Hunter's identity, or rather, Gehrman identity, solidified, he felt himself truly come to his senses for the first time in his existence. He sat up straight in his bed and brought his hand to his chin.
The hell have I been doing? I'm in a strange environment and I don't even know what's going on. Why haven't I started to gather information yet?
Gehrman scolded himself for being so foolish. He quickly rifled through his knowledge of the Spell and noticed some discrepancies. For one, the Spell should not have put his "First Nightmare" in Yharnam. From what he knew, the Spell would put him in the body of someone in the ancient past of the "Dream Realm."
This Dream Realm was an abandoned plane of existence, with the gods who once ruled over it being dead. The only thing left there was an innumerable number of beasts, or rather Nightmare Creatures. However, the "Nightmares" of the spell, the trials themselves, took place in a time when the gods were alive and humanity still held fast against the corruption. However, these societies were not advanced, not even having cannons let alone guns. This handily excluded the theory that Yharnam was a part of the Dream Realm. If that was the case though, then how could his nightmare take place here?
Also, when I killed that Scourge Beast earlier the Spell said it was an Awakened Beast. In terms of Nightmare Creature strength it's pretty low, but Nightmare Creatures are supposed to be immune to normal weapons. My scythe shouldn't have been able to cut it. When Awakened fights, they use "Memories," which are Arcane items, only these can slay the beasts.
The beasts of Yharnam were deadly to normal humans, bullets did little damage, but the strength of Hunters was able to pierce them with any weapon. Despite it having the same name, the beasts of this nightmare operate on different rules than the one's the prodigy and old Gerhman fought.
As he considered this, another idea struck him. In the First Nightmare, humans become "Aspirants" and they are granted Aspects and Abilities. They are much weaker than true Awakened, but they could offer a chance for someone to fight weaker Nightmare Creatures.
Gehrman focused his attention on the word "Attributes." From what he could recall, this would allow him to see mystical information on his own state.
Sure enough, bright and strange runes appeared before his eyes. They floated in the air, and appeared both illusory yet clearly visible. The runes themselves were alien to him, yet he could clearly understand their meaning.
***
Name: Gehrman.
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant.
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: [Burial Blade (Sealed)], [Hunters Attire (Sealed)], [Blunderbuss (Sealed)]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Sixth Sense], [Mark of Divinity], [Mark of Corruption], [Contracted], [Otherworldly Seal], [Otherworldly Abomination],
Aspect: [The Lost].
Aspect Rank: [Dormant]
***
There was a lot to unpack. A couple things immediately stood out to Gehrman. For one, his name was actually listed as Gehrman. For anyone else this would be obvious, but to him, it was a relief. At least in the eyes of the Spell, his identity wasn't fractured.
His rank and soul core were as they should be, but everything else was completely ridiculous, and as far as he knew, unprecedented. The fact that he had Memories at all was unheard of, but the "sealed" addendum was also unknown.
Fortunately, the Spell was always willing to elaborate. With some concentration on the [Burial Blade (Sealed)] memory, he was able to see a new assortment of runes.
***
Memory: [Burial Blade (Sealed)].
Memory Rank: Dormant.
Memory Tier: III
Memory Type: Weapon.
Memory Description: [A terrible scythe brought from another reality. The craftsmanship, blood, and runes of alien entities brought it to a Transcendent level. Upon entering the warm embrace of the Spell, this weapon's true might was sealed].
Memory Enchantments: [Trick Weapon], [Forged from Blood], [Blood Seal].
[Trick Weapon]: This weapon can switch between two forms in a curious, and speedy fashion.
[Forged from Blood]: This weapon is blessed with increased durability and sharpness when covered in blood.
[Blood Seal]: A terrible and reckless third party intervened in the creation of the seal, allowing for a slow and gradual recovery back to this weapon's former glory.
[Enemies Slain]: (1/100)
***
Gherman took a moment to process the new information. It both answered and raised several questions. The fact that his scythe was classified as a memory explained why he was able to harm the Awakened Beast. Though its rank was as low as can be, its [Forged from Blood] enchantment had clearly been activated while fighting the beast, thus allowing for it to do its job.
The seal was interesting. Gherman considered the description odd. It said the scythe was "Transcendent" which would ordinarily be a fine complement, but it might have had deeper meaning. The Spell categorized its memories like it categorized its Awakened, in seven tiers. The first was what his memory was at, which was Dormant. Following this, was the Awakened class. Then there was Ascended, a couple hundred humans have acquired this level for themselves. Transcendent was the fourth rank, but it was currently the pinnacle of humanity. Only a handful of Transcedents existed among humans. In other words, his Burial Blade was regarded quite highly by the spell.
After all, he had never heard of memories from the last ranks. Which were, incidentally, Supreme, Sacred, and Divine. This gave Gherman a small amount of pride. This was furthered by the description for [Trick Weapon]. The Spell referred to the transformation as
"curious." This brought a smile to Gherman's face as he interpreted the Spell being intrigued by a unique weapon it hadn't encountered before. This pride was quickly replaced by dread as he read the last enchantment.
[Bloody Seal] referred to a third party. This was, once again, unprecedented. With context clues, Gherman determined the source was likely the entity who embodied the moon that had thrown him into this reality. What bothered him was that it implied the gradual undoing of the seal was not part of the original plan, and that this entity had interfered with the designs of the Spell. This struck Gherman as wrong.
His memories regarding certain details were still foggy, namely, the moon and the reason behind the Hunter's Dream in his old reality. He could not recall the source of the dream from either the prodigy hunter or old Gherman's memories. Despite this, feelings of unbearable anguish were still associated with these thoughts. He knew that whatever entity was related to the moon was not a benevolent one.
What was more chilling was the entity's ability to interfere with the Spell. By all rights the Spell itself was Divine in nature, maybe even something above that, and yet the entity had the ability to meddle with its innerworkings.
Shaking his head, he continued reading. The enchantments of his other two memories were the same as the Burial Blade (minus [Trick Weapon]), the promise of their eventual return to glory was similarly included.
He then came to his Attributes, which were astounding. The fact that he had six was ridiculous by itself, but the content of it was even crazier.
***
[Sixth Sense]: As a Hunter you have mastered all of your five senses unlocking the sixth sense which can sense anything within its range, if you hone your focus to the utmost your sixth sense will allow you to see one second into the future.
[Mark of Divinity]: You bear a faint scent of divinity, as though someone briefly touched by it once, a long time ago. Perhaps if a certain seal was removed this faint mark would be something different.
[Mark of Corruption]: You bear a faint scent of corruption, as though something afflicted with the most depraved frenzy briefly glanced at you a long time ago. Perhaps if a certain seal was removed this faint mark would be something different.
[Contracted]: You have made a contract with the ??? Each time you drink the blood of the Corrupted, your body will regenerate as long as you don't die. If you die you will be revived, every time you revive there must be a price.
[Otherworldly Seal]: An unfathomable seal has been placed on you by a third party. Modifications have been made to your very being to introduce your soul into the embrace of the Spell. Certain functions of the Spell are limited. Certain boons from the third party will be allowed.
[Otherworldly Abomination]: Your soul is a patchwork of pain, misery, and sorrow. The memories of different entities make up your very being, some of which are not of this reality.
YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE.