STS Chapter 96: Mind Engraving. (Patreon)

This place was getting on John's nerves.

Well, the same could be said for 99.999999999999999999999999% of Yharnam but this place especially so.

He hated how damp it was, he hated how the trees spoke shit to him, he hated the geography, he hated the godawful smell that was only worse than Blighttown.

The trees part he wasn't too sure about. Either the trees were alive and talking shit to him or he was already too far gone and now saw the trees talking shit. Considering this was Yharanam both possibilities were equally viable.

Unfortunately, John leaned toward the latter, because for one, his mental health was already not the best. Whether that was because of his already crumbling mentality or the flaying of his mind through insight was unknown.

But the reason he assumed it was because he was insane was because the trees were strangely specific. Like really strangely specific, with knowledge they shouldn't know.

"What would your parents think of you if they saw you like this?"

"You will never Priscilla and the others ever again."

"Why are you still breathing? You deserve to burn."

"Remember that one time that one girl hugged you because she thought you were her friend and you were happy for a second because that was the most human contact you have had in the last year before she awkwardly stepped away from you and looked so mortified that you questioned everything about your life including the last time you took a shower before apologized profusely and took off then you still were not able to get that interaction off of your mind like how the touch of another human being felt like making the whole interaction just that much more miserable?"

He had to admit, the last one hurt the worst. Why would a tree even know of that? Why of the few memories of his previous life did one of those have to be that interaction of all things?

Anyway, that just added fuel to the trashcan fire that was his experience in fucking shithole that was the forbidden woods experience. He wanted to try burning the forest down but it was too damp.

You could not take a step in this forest without stepping on either a corpse, shit or at least something of that consistency, parasites, or snakes.

Snakes.

So many snakes.

So so many snakes.

Like an unreasonable number of them. And why were they bundled up like balls? Did someone summon the outer god of snakes here or something?

Cut off a man's head? Nope, it's snakes.

What just fell down that tree? A ball of snakes.

At least the village itself wasn't horrible. Haha, of course, it was terrible, there was no way it wouldn't be when the houses were made of rotten wood barely held together by string alongside hopes and nightmares.

The only reason it was tolerable was because John had waded through Blighttown before.

At least unlike Blight town, there was no human excrement. Because in blight town not only were the buildings made of rotten wood and held together by ropes and dirt but they also were suspended above a great lake of festering human and human-pig hybrid shit, blood and piss mixed into one diabolical sludge.

Just thinking of that place levelled up his poison resistance.

Also for better or for worse enemies just represented a minor inconvenience now. Only requiring a single slash, or two if they get lucky. He also encountered a cave but his insight told him that going in there would be counterproductive for now.

So instead took to exploring the rest of the forbidden woods. He would have questioned the giant tombstones but he knew better. This was Yharnam, John would not be surprised if he found a building made entirely of tombstones.

After the murder of a lot of snakes, humans, snake-infested humans, balls of snakes, and human-infested humans he found something peculiar. It was a corpse.

John looked down at the corpse in front of him. It was just an ordinary corpse. The corpse itself was ordinary not anything off about it. Such corpses were dime a dozen in the streets of London, you could not move a meter without bumping into one.

But his insight was telling him there was something on the corpse. Something he needed. Something important.

Something dangerous.

It felt eerie. No, more like weird, indescribable. Unknown, he couldn't describe what it felt like.

But... He needed everything he could get his hands on. He had nothing currently nearly all of his abilities were locked and the only thing he had was his insight and his underpowered telekinesis.

He needed anything he could get to defend himself from them.

So, using his insight he peeked into what the corpse held. But unlike the other times he used inspect he only saw the image of a symbol before...

Pain, searing pain was inflicted onto his brain. Like a red hot knife was carving the symbol into his being, etching it into the very core of his mind.

Gritting his teeth John endured the pain until it subsided leaving the imprint of that symbol in John's mind that felt like his entire being had changed once more.

A symbol that appeared to depict a great convergence of currents that flow naturally to the bottom.

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[ Deep Sea ]

A secret symbol left by Caryll, runesmith of Byrgenwerth.

This transcription of the Great Ones' inhuman voices depicts downreaching currents.

This rune means "Deep Sea" and grants augmented resistance. Great volumes of water serve as a bulwark guarding sleep, and an augur of the eldritch Truth.

Overcome this hindrance, and seek what is yours.

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Hw felt great volumes of images that resembled murky water surround what he felt like was my mind, creating an imaginary layer that protected it from outside influence.

The whispers become slightly more muted. And John could not stop his lips from arching upward. He had found a way.

'So this was the way.'

A glimpse into their powers. A way to play their game instead of being played. A way for the puppet to look up at the strings.

You cannot fight what you do not know.

'If I have to engrave these runes into my mind then so be it.'

He could understand the meaning of the rune now that it was a part of himself. And comprehending the rune allowed him to comprehend its power as well, guarding his mind.

If a portion of their language could do this then what about more? What effects would they have? Could they help him guard his mind further? Would they augment his abilities?

The only way to find out was by gathering and etching more of these runes into his mind.

Drawing upon his 30 insight John focused on finding the remaining points of interest in this location and received vague feelings in random directions that pointed him in the directions.

John resumed walking where his feet carried him. Eventually bringing him to a ravine floor flooded by ankle-high water but that wasn't the main thing. It was the beings in front of him.

Small humanoid creatures with large bulbous squid-like heads and mottled blue skin. They appeared malnourished and frail with exposed ribs and disjointed limbs. Just their mere presence brought a sense of disgust to John.

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[Celestial Experiment]

Victims of the inhumane experiments conducted by The Choir.

An attempt to transcend the human form by giving birth to eyes on the inside.

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Was it because his insight was not high enough? He did not know or care. The moment he spotted those things he felt agony from them. Like their very existence brought them pain.

This disgusting perversion of the human form made John angry.

Pursuit of transcendence though the brutalization of the human form was something he was quite experienced in.

That's why he rapidly put them out of their misery before they even realized and burned their corpses before retrieving the rune on the corpse they had been gathering around.

A twisted cross was engraved onto his mind.

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[ Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis ]

A secret symbol left by Caryll, runesmith of Byrgenwerth.

The twisted cross means "metamorphosis".

Rotated anti-clockwise, this rune boosts stamina.

The discovery of blood made their dream of evolution a reality. Metamorphosis, and the excesses and deviation that followed, was only the beginning.

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It felt like his body had changed somehow, like an old machine that had gotten a tune-up. It felt like the burdens on his body had lessened. His body had evolved slightly to adapt to "something".

Having recovered the second rune John teleported back as he followed the direction set by his insight before he saw a homeless man. Of course, he stabbed the homeless man with his cane for the squiggly fridge art of the outer gods he carried around with him.

Turns out if you stab someone through the cranium fast enough they don't transform. And as usual the rune was engraved.

A six-fingered claw being dragged down.

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[ Beast ]

A secret symbol left by Caryll, runesmith of Byrgenwerth.

A transcription of the roar of a labyrinth beast, the bearer of the "Beast" rune has accentuated transformation effects.

"Beast" is one of the early Caryll Runes, as well as one of the first to be deemed forbidden. The discovery of blood entailed the discovery of undesirable beasts.

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This one seemed more potent than the runes before. John felt that if he were to transform into his beast form right now his being would be severely augmented by the rune inside of his mind representing the descent into beasthood.

But now that he had done everything of interest that lay in these forbidden woods John followed the way that his insight pointed to before coming across the fog wall.

And without much preparation, he stepped through.

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A/N: What did you think about the chapter? I like reading your comments so don't be shy to leave them.