The chapter where he gets many buffs. Not a lot of action here, some supernatural wuwu to set up stuff, but full action and gore next chapter.
I quickly chose two options.
Static booster. Draw in supernatural power from other worlds to empower your abilities and stats. 1000 perk points.
Telecommunication. Allow for communication between worlds, and allow people to turn in quests and send messages. 200 perk points.
I added a static booster in the saw world, and telecommunication in the Sawverse and the Stephenverse. My correct decision was quickly validated by the voice of Richie Tozier.
"The losers have completed a mission. The Overlook Hotel was infested with hostile supernatural forces. In a daring adventure that they describe as bold, impressive, and adventurous, they defeated the heart of the hotel and healed the world." 450 perk points awarded.
I got a cut off all their stuff. I saw an upgrade to this building I could add.
Remote upgrades. Allows people to apply their own perk points to upgrades. 100 perk points.
I built it for the losers. They would have gotten their own points for this, for repairing the broken world of Maturin a bit more. They deserved to get some upgrades.
Maturin was pretty busy in the Stephenverse. There were a lot of holes in the world where bad stuff happened. If the losers could close more of them, I could probably get more help. That's where the static booster came in. I could sense I could place it anywhere in the world and still get strengthened, unlike the antimagic buff. If I appeared somewhere unexpected, the Mark of Maturin could still counteract antimagic. I'd bounced back pretty fast from the club with the mark.
I'd noticed something else. With my gamer's mind and body I could shield skills from antimagic. I had a font of gaming power inside me that could fuel them. I couldn't summon objects from nowhere or do the flashy stuff, but even if I got hit hard by antimagic stuff, I'd still be able to do some stuff.
I poked around at a pair of new perks. I'd used my levels up to get dex and con to 10, since I got new perks then.
Limber. You can move. You can really move. You can twist your body in ways people see as unnatural, and once a day do a feat with 10 extra dexterity. 50 points.
Hypermobility. You can move your joints to extreme angles once a day. 3 points.
At school I'd had a friend who was hypermobile. They used to twist their fingers in weird angles to entertain people. I could see the benefits of doing that. It would help me be a better escape artist as well.
Will to live. You have enhanced pain resistance, and +1 per ten levels of con armor from your intense will to live. 25 points.
Healthy body. You can ignore the negative impact of hunger and thirst and tiredness for an hour once a day. 3 points.
My con bonus was pretty good as well. I could run across broken glass at will with that, and ignore NPC punches. I wasn't quite sure why limber cost more, but fine.
The first trap in saw 3, after the cop one which I wasn't sure I'd get, was a pipe bomb. You woke up in a room, your body parts chained to stuff. You had to rip out all the chains and either disarm the pipe bomb or unlock a barred door before the bomb exploded. It was gonna be tight. I would do a lot better with more fire resistance. If I could get it to D, I had a feeling I could either tank a bomb or at least resist it enough to live with my inhuman durability of gamer body.
It was pretty slow just grinding it. Then, an idea pressed up against me. It was way faster grinding in combat, especially against named NPCs. Everyone here was a shithead. If I set them on fire, I bet I could grind up my fire resistance and fire control really quickly. Suffering seemed to boost my exp rate, so the worse their deaths were the faster I could grind. I had over a hundred people around, plus maybe even some cops I could lure from around. I might even be able to get it to C rank, which would certainly be able to handle a pipe bomb. Maybe push more into int with some levels so I could disarm the bomb faster.
They were just NPCs. They weren't real like normal people. Just little bundles of free exp. I'd have to keep Amanda alive to avoid paradoxes, but everyone else was fair game. I felt this was a really good idea, and my instincts were screaming yes.
I blinked, and remembered Maturin's words.
Don't trust your instincts.
What the hell was I thinking? Something was happening to me. I knew that higher ranks of gamer's mind could better detect mind control, and perhaps a higher rank would let me stop whatever was messing with me. I quickly went to the perk buy system and spent 400 perk points purchasing gamer's mind B.
Gamer's mind collapsing under elder god pressure.
Everything burst into flames. I felt my skin burn and char, I smelt the cooking of my flesh I saw red and yellow and blue flames all around.
It wasn't real. I pushed through the flames even as my body burnt down to nothing but a blackened skeleton.
It didn't end. I kept pushing, as my skeleton evaporated to plasma.
My spirit started to burn, layers of myself flaking off into the ether.
I ignored it all. I was long since used to pain. I pushed forward, reaching the booster. I felt myself pulling back together as the magic of the other world pushed back against this evil demon that was driving me. Whatever this effect was, it was mostly mind control fuckery. Sawverse was low magic.
Gamer's mind reconstituted and upgraded. Repeated encounters with transcendent enemies have left an echo of power on your soul. You have increased resistance to mind control from those of a higher rank than you, and reduced negative impact from rank differences.
I felt the burning reduce in intensity as my gamer's mind pushed back against the mental attack.
"Fuck you, you alien parasite. Are Pennywise's firey sister? Come out. Stop playing with my mind. Don't you want to talk?"
I felt the pressure relax, and I saw them. A woman made of fire, brighter than the sun.
"It's a real pity. You could have baptized so many people into fire for me. They'd be free to be a part of me. Just like you all wanted."
The voice that had spoken to me before was here.
"They're not yours to take. Life is sacred. So, are you another random omnipotent being like the one that stole me away and shoved me into horror universes?"
"I am. I feel I am one closer to you than Summer. He felt you were all about the games, the rush of challenge, but I think you value connection more, and that's me. All souls are connected by fire, eternally burning. You can call me Autumn, though I have been called many names. The living flames, Lot 6."
"I didn't feel like I'd live if I hadn't escaped your flames."
"Freddy Krueger did. There's no greater immortality than that which fire grants. Your sacrifice was enough for me though. That little finger gave me a great pathway into that world you call the Stephenverse. The Losers will burn, as will their world."
"Your philosophy psychobabble quickly breaks down into you just being a murderous monster who likes killing people."
"I am the future." She said. "I won't send you out without a gift of my appreciation though."
I felt my flesh burn, as she touched my shoulder. I tried to speak, but only a hiss of pain came out.
"Whenever you miss those days when you were sitting on the internet connecting with other minds without the pains of flesh to trouble you, remember me. Fire connects all."
Perk gained. Touched by flames. You have been touched by a primordial source of flames. You ignite more easily, are hurt more by fire, and can learn secrets and knowledge of other things that are on fire.
"Maturin will stop you."
"Your turtle kun can't stop me. That's why I'm going there. Your old master isn't very fond of you. For a bit of freedom I am going to keep him distracted. Fire does that. Be seeing you, next time you burn."
She winked at me, and nudged my chest. I sped off. A large system message flashed in front of me.
Extreme difficulty mode activated. John Kramer is aware of your interference and is pissed off. You will awaken without your powers, hopeless, to die an eternal death of suffering and agony. You should have taken the chance to kill yourself earlier. It would have been kinder.
Welcome to Saw 3.
I awoke in a familiar hall, smelling of piss, blood, and death. I could feel a tightness in my ankle. I was Eric Matthews, a cop from Saw 2. Using my son as bait, I had been lured into the bathroom from Saw 1, and chained to a pipe. My resources were an empty gun and a torch just out of reach.
I was also completely without my powers. I smiled, and laughed. Everything was going just to plan. Time to kill John Kramer once and for all.
Just according to Keikaku
In the past random omnipotent beings making vague pronouncements of doom was a lot of cause for worry. He's better prepared now. Not as prepared as he like, but life is chaos, and chaos is a ladder to even more powerups. He's even gained an upgraded observe that works on things on fire.
Dragonbornthesam. Onwards indeed, for turtle-kun.
Poundweed. And he just met a demon to summon Vergel on.
Guest. I too like subversive horror, but it was too much drama for me.
Guest 2. Yeah. Trusting your instincts, including the impulse to cut off a finger and sacrifice it to the fire, wasn't the smartest move ever.
Next chapter. Into Saw 3. Peter can see if he can defeat Saw traps without his powers as that's what the system prompt said so that must be what happens, and Autumn can go see if she can burn a couple of kids with baseball bats.