WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 58: Pulsating Ruins (3)

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Just as Gerik anxiously mulled over the unfamiliar sensation...

Slither.

He felt the tentacles that had been rummaging through his head slowly withdraw.

"....!"

The indescribable creepiness of something gently brushing over his brain sent chills down Gerik's spine.

At least the tentacles seemed extremely careful not to damage his brain or organs, moving with remarkable delicacy.

After some time, Gerik felt every tentacle that had burrowed into his body withdraw.

However, perhaps because the device was still full of an unidentified liquid, the tentacles plugging his eyes, nose, and mouth remained in place, supplying oxygen to his lungs.

Gurgle, gurgle.

As Gerik slowly focused on the changes happening to his body, he felt a heavy pressure below him.

With his eyes and ears blocked, he could only judge the situation through touch. At first, he could not understand what the sensation meant.

But as the liquid filling the space above his head lowered and cold air touched his scalp, he realized that the liquid filling the device was draining through a hole in the floor.

Drip...!! Drip...!!

Once the liquid had fully drained, the tentacles covering his face began falling away one by one.

"Cough!!"

The moment the tentacle plugging his mouth slipped out, Gerik violently expelled the breath he had been holding. At the same time, a horribly fishy smell assaulted his nose and mouth, making him sick.

"Urp... Blech...!!"

As Gerik bent over and coughed, vomiting up stomach acid because of the awful taste and smell, the thick tentacles restraining his body began falling away one by one.

Riiip...!!

While Gerik lay on the floor, repeatedly vomiting, the mass of flesh around him slowly split open to either side with the dull sound of tearing flesh.

"Huff... Huff..."

Fresh air flowed in.

Having lingered inside the ship, this air also carried a faint fishy odor, but it was nothing compared to the sticky air inside the mass of flesh. Gerik finally felt as though he could truly breathe.

As Gerik exhaled and looked through the opening at the sight outside, the tentacles waiting nearby slid back in the directions from which they had emerged, then disappeared into the mass of flesh as though being sucked in.

"Cough... Ngh...!! Huff..."

He breathed in the fresh air, vomited because of the disgusting liquid still in his mouth and stomach, then breathed out again. He repeated the process for quite some time.

Only after vomiting up everything in his stomach did Gerik feel his scattered mind slowly return.

Huff... Huff...

Breathing out with a bitter taste in his mouth, Gerik struggled to his feet and first raised both hands to inspect them.

'I'm completely healed.'

His right arm, which had been shattered and mangled, and his left arm, which had been cracked, were both perfectly fine. It was hard to believe they had been broken only moments ago.

'My internal bleeding... must be gone too, right?'

Just in case, Gerik took a long, deep breath.

Fortunately, the heavy pain in his chest that had tormented him for the past few days had vanished.

'I'm completely healed.'

Certain that his body had recovered, Gerik got up and carefully rubbed the back of his head.

'Something definitely changed.'

The back of his head felt heavier than before. Along with the faint tingling he felt whenever he focused on something, it convinced Gerik that something had changed in his brain, which worried him.

'Still, it's not like I can do anything about it right now just because it bothers me...'

He could not get a CT scan just because he felt uncomfortable, like he could have on Earth in his previous life. Setting aside the strange sensation in the back of his head, Gerik looked around for his equipment.

'I need to find Skyler's Quintet and the Dimensional Key, at least.'

One was an artifact that had saved his life several times. The other was a legendary item whose value was impossible to estimate.

Ignoring the fact that he was naked, Gerik frantically searched the area to recover them.

'There...!!'

Fortunately, Gerik found his equipment sitting alone inside a nearby round basket made of flesh.

"They're here, right...? Surely...?"

Gerik first felt around the pouch inside his armor. Fortunately, he found the Dimensional Key he had treasured so carefully.

'Skyler's Quintet...'

After finding the key, Gerik searched for Skyler's Quintet, which had originally been worn on his finger. Thankfully, he found the ring lying inside one of the gloves on the floor.

"Huff... Thank goodness..."

Only after recovering his two most precious treasures could Gerik finally breathe a sigh of relief. Then he began gathering the rest of his equipment scattered across the floor.

"Ugh..."

Gerik frowned as he picked up his pants. Having entered the recovery device with him, his clothes and equipment were covered in an unknown sticky liquid.

"Haa..."

But he had no spare clothes. With a disgusted frown, Gerik began putting the wet equipment back on.

"I need to wash as soon as I get out of here."

After putting everything on and standing up, Gerik absentmindedly looked at the device that had treated him.

There, he found a panel that had not been there before.

"Huh...?"

It displayed a human-shaped symbol.

It looked exactly like the symbol from the helm room he had visited earlier. Curious, Gerik approached to inspect it.

'Why can I remember this so easily?'

He had seen these bizarre, unfamiliar letters for the first time today, yet they were imprinted in his mind with strange clarity. Gerik felt unsettled and confused.

Forcing down the discomfort rising within him, Gerik approached the healing device that had swallowed him only moments ago and inspected the panel.

A monitor had appeared above the place where he had placed his palm earlier. Gerik closely examined the human-shaped symbol displayed on it.

'It really does show my recovery status.'

The injured areas that had been marked dark red when he first saw it had now all turned a clean green.

Once again, Gerik realized that his injuries had completely healed, just as he had felt.

As Gerik looked at the panel with relief, the human figure on the display, which had been facing forward, slowly began to rotate.

Gerik absentmindedly followed the movement with his eyes. When the figure turned to show its back, he froze.

A small yellow object was marked on the back of its head.

"!!"

Gerik was horrified. He instinctively realized that this was the source of the strange foreign sensation he had felt when touching the back of his head.

'What did they put inside my head...?'

Because of his unnatural ability to remember the unidentified letters, Gerik feared that some unknown being had brainwashed or modified him, that something had gone wrong with his brain.

'I can't ignore this.'

Realizing this was not something he could dismiss lightly, Gerik brought his slightly trembling hand to the healing machine and used his status window.

[Psionic Awakener]

『Type: Machine』

『Grade: Epic』

『Effect: Repairs damage to the occupant and improves the brain, awakening Psionics with a certain probability. However, if it fails, the occupant dies.』

『Note: Just wiggle a finger and objects float! The superpower you've dreamed of can now be yours! Side effects... well, they're minor! Psy-Tech, the world's leading brain development company.』

Gerik slowly read through the effect description, then stopped at one part.

'Improves the brain... and awakens Psionics?!'

Gerik stared blankly at those words for a long time, shuddering.

Then he read the sentence after it and shuddered for an entirely different reason.

'The occupant dies if it fails...?'

No wonder it had ignored his healed body and shoved tentacles into his brain. This was clearly no normal device.

The penalty of death upon failure horrified Gerik even more.

'...Should I have used my status window before getting in?'

Chilled by what he had read, Gerik blamed himself for being rash.

But only briefly. He remembered that he had had no choice but to enter the device and consoled himself.

'No. If I hadn't gone in, I would've definitely died from my injuries. And did I even enter because I wanted to? That crazy tentacle shoved me in while I was still deciding!'

Whatever the process had been, the result was good.

No, considering the additional reward of awakening Psionics, it was even better than good.

Gerik quickly pushed his regrets aside.

'What exactly does it mean to awaken Psionics...?'

At first, he was puzzled, but Gerik soon realized the expression was familiar.

In the countless science fiction stories he had encountered in his previous life, abilities that moved objects with the mind or read thoughts were often called that.

In simple terms, superpowers.

The phrase in the note about objects floating also supported Gerik's guess.

'It must be related to that unknown thing embedded in the back of my head.'

Gerik considered how to use his new ability, but he could not find any clue.

After struggling with it for some time, he finally let out a hollow laugh.

He had completely forgotten that he possessed a cheat code no one else in this world had.

Having made up his mind, Gerik immediately opened his status window.

[Name: Gerik]

[Class: Unemployed]

[Attributes]

Strength: 3 (An attribute that affects muscular strength, weight limit, and attack power)

Dexterity: 3 (An attribute that affects balance, reaction speed, movement speed, manual dexterity, and more)

Health: 3 (An attribute that affects endurance, disease resistance, and vitality)

Intelligence: 5 (An attribute that affects memory, logic, reasoning, language, and thinking)

Perception: 5 (An attribute that affects awareness of the surroundings, danger detection, and intuition)

Charisma: 3 (Influence over others in negotiation, persuasion, intimidation, and more)

[Skills]

Lv. 4 Slash (99/100)

Lv. 2 Charge (70/100)

Lv. 1 Telekinesis (0/100)

[Achievements]

* One Who Crossed the Line of Death (Passive / Rare)

* Transcendent Procedure Success (Passive / Epic)

Gerik's eyes gradually widened as he scanned the status window.

The first thing that caught his attention was the Achievements section.

Transcendent Procedure Success.

From the name alone, Gerik could tell that he had been one of the lucky cases to successfully undergo the mysterious procedure.

Startled, he clicked on the Achievement to inspect its details.

『Achievement Name: Transcendent Procedure Success (Passive)』

『Grade: Epic』

『Effect: Intelligence and Perception increase, and you can use Telekinesis.』

『Note: When the mind surpasses the limits of the body, humanity finally advances to the next stage. Chrysalid, Chosen by the Stars.』

'Telekinesis...!'

The words in the Achievement's effect description held Gerik's attention.

An increase in Intelligence and Perception, and Telekinesis.

He hurriedly looked through the other sections of his status window.

Sure enough, a new entry that had not been there before had appeared in the Skills section.

Gerik was excited about the new skill, but only briefly.

He soon realized that two Attributes he had only ever guessed at had risen without him noticing.

'Intelligence and Perception... both went up by two...?'

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