I felt waves of energy rush over me, a raw and intense pleasure, a burning. Up and down my body. Then, they changed. Waves of pain stabbed through me, my body tearing itself apart. Then the pleasure resumed. Back and forth the cycle continued. I stood in the dirty, greasy cinema, leaning against a terminator stand, breathing fast.
I had three sets of power within me fighting it out. Maturin's, Pennywise' and my mysterious asshole patron. Maturin likely had enough power to overwhelm either of the other two, but then I'd probably pop. So, this slow process of conversion.
I bit my- Georgie's lip, hard enough to make blood drip down as a particularly painful set of contractions came on. It hurt, but was nothing compared to the last three days.
I needed a nap, a hard drink, and a good meal.
Then it faded. And...
Scientist skill gained! Skill merged with Survivor skill to gain legendary journeyman skill, Mad Scientist!
Unarmed combat and baseball skill overridden! Original uncommon advanced apprentice skills sword fighting and judo merged to form rare Duelist advanced apprentice skill!
Animal control skill overridden! Original horse riding and dog training skills merged to form uncommon hunter skill!
Diplomacy skill overridden! Original uncommon skill teacher at advanced apprentice!
Computer skill ranked up due to original skills up to advanced apprentice level!
First aid skill ranked up due to original skills up to advanced apprentice level!
Driving skill gained at apprentice level due to original skills!
New Title gained! As a result of making a bargain with a divine entity, you have gained the Seducer of the Divine title! 100% increase in relationship improvements with divine entities.
New Perk gained! Mark of Maturin. His tattoo will be on your flesh always, a reminder of your bargain. Acts as a tutorial. May grant situational benefits.
New Perk gained! Hunger of the deadlights. You can consume and absorb any divine energy, with your patron's aid.
New perk gained! Magic user perk gained due to your close association with a journeyman psychic.
500 perk points gained!
Level reset.
I felt a searing agony, a stronger pulse than any before as my body was reworked, a sharp burning on my forearm, and my mind evaporated to nothing.
I fell on my face.
A little while later, I felt a wet tongue licking at my face, and heard a voice, very distant.
"Wake up! Wake up!" Said Georgie.
"Five more minutes." I said, turning over. The floor was very comfy. Red. Soft. Carpet.
"Wake up, my family." Said Maturin. And I did. I slowly got up, flexing my hands. I had all five fingers, and all my extremities. I knelt down to pet Cure. He got close. I could sense he had been worried- ah, new information feed from Hunter.
Hunter. You are a master of horse and dogs, skilled with animals, able to control and ride them. You can maintain up to 10 animal familiars, with boosted capabilities, and communicate with them well and do basic first aid, along with doing improved damage against animals.
Looking at Cure I could see a flurry of information from him, far more detailed than I gained from survivor. His mood, his health, his strengths, his history, countless little things. I had a host of new or upgraded skills, from my original identity as Peter.
I checked my arm, where I still felt a burning. There on my arm was a new tattoo. A turtle, looking up, smiling, with green skin and many colours across them. Maturin. A sign that even in a world of horror, there were people looking out for you. I could feel a pulsing power thrumming in it. Slow, careful, but unstoppable once they had a target.
"That's a pretty cool set of power-ups. Did Pennywise go down easy?"
Maturin, visible always now to me, nodded. "I hadn't thought of consuming my foes like that. Bill and his companions were meant to simply kill them. I guess sometimes you just have to throw out the normal playbook and dig your teeth into it."
"So, I bet you got more than 500 perk points. How about sending a few million my way?"
"I sent as many as I could, without tripping the alerts on you. If too much is granted, I would be destroyed." That was a pity. I wanted unlimited power.
"So, who are my old patrons?"
"Still your patrons. If I tell you too much, I would face grave consequences. I will say this though- one is a mad dancer, the other a performer."
"Which one is Summer?" The mind blank had kept me from remembering that name. It would be nice to find out more."
"The performer. They bring about summer."
"You really can't give me more details?"
"I would be classed as an intruder if I did, violating another world. An inter planar invader. Of course you are one, but ignored, the strands of fate weaved away from you."
"I guess I'll have to investigate in other ways."I sighed. Maybe later. "For now, we have a sewer clown to hunt."
It was a lot easier getting back. Mad scientist made me a lot better at everything mechanical, so I just hotwired a car and drove back.
Halfway there, I stopped at a gas station and checked out my magic loot.
Magical shoes. These shoes will allow you to accurately kick any object a great distance, though they will normally cause unintended destruction.
Not really my thing.
Amulet of pain. This amulet contains a pain vampire, which drains your pain, causing soul damage to strengthen itself. 20/1000 charges. Will emerge to consume those around it at 1000.
Ominous.
Elvis Presley picture. Contains a fragment of Elvis' soul, merged with a succubi. Will summon the wielder to endless orgies with the king. 0/1000 charges. Will emerge at 1000.
Sounded like a good trap card.
Typewriter. Improves your writing skills substantially, but with a strong urge to write murder stories. Any murders you write have a high chance of happening in real life.
Sounded like a good tool to write the harem anime once I bitch slapped the spirit into obedience.
Boxing gloves of Muhammed. Will take you back to the 1975 fight between Ali and Frazier, reliving it endlessly. Will drive you into a murderous rage and improve your boxing skills.
Good way to train duelist, probably. Unpleasant side effect.
The journeying ring. Makes you invisible, but increases your chance of detection if anyone gets close, and increases anger in those who detect you.
Not quite sure what to do with that.
Statue of Pennywise. Bound to you. Will allow Pennywise to constantly know your location and emotional state.
How had that got there? Would have to handle that somehow.
"Maturin, can you eat this?"
"Sure, I'll take the power." I tossed it up, and heard the bloody sounds of biting, as blood dripped to the floor.
Love potion. When drunk by yourself and another person, will induce a fanatical and bloody obsession with each other, that will normally result in death.
Solid item choice as always.100/100 needful things, who didn't like it when your lover tried to kill you?
Glasses of the clown. Will make everything you see look like a clown. Makes it harder to identify clowns, and leads to inappropriate laughing.
A great tool for all the kids. I put them on and looked at Maturin. He didn't change. I looked at Cure, who now had clown paint.
"Are you immune to clown glasses?" I asked Maturin.
He didn't dignify it with an answer.
"Just for that, I am considering making it a ntr anime."
No more came. He was busy.
A blindfold. Will remove your sight, with progressively deteriorating vision, but allow you to interact with spiritual beings and hear them. 0/1000 charges.
Another demon release item. Could be pretty useful though, and I could regenerate sight.
Time to head back.
Mostly a loot review chapter, since I am still pretty tired from yesterday. Still, now he has new powers, new perks, and plans! The magical items were based off Needful thing items, some cool magical items I have used in campaigns, and stuff from the Rick and Morty show. They're all cursed, but curses are just blessings disguised with enough creativity.
Dragonbornthesam. I like that one a lot. Slow and steady is very much his thing.
Anon. The books are pretty awesome. I reread them a few times for this story.
Guest. Added to the poll, and an extra option to pick added.
Guest. Who needs a life when you can plan out turtle harem anime titles? It's 4 am here.
Mistersnx. Another good title.
Korlinki. The odds will always be against him, but slowly he is forging a world where he is stronger. With friends, allies, and even gods on his side.
Next time, we actually go back to Derry.