Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Progress & Discoveries

Every single soul and mind absorbed into the slowly growing hivemind controlled by Gustavo Ortiz causes his abilities to grow. The growth is not dramatically fast, but even as Julieta throws herself into making small talk with Rachel, Gustavo’s “Mega-Assistant”, and the enigmatic figure himself, the jumper is growing. This growth is compounded, subtly, by perks in the creature’s possession, which helps explain how he can feel his powers growing with every passing second.

His generic body successfully adds the pack of hounds the smiler was stalking to the hivemind that its creator lords over, by continuing to make use of its fleshy-firearm within moments after defeating the smiler. As soon as the corrupted creatures are added to the hivemind, the body itself takes advantage of the fact that it is a being of corruption and it melts itself down into a sickly puddle of corrupt ooze.

The puddle of disgusting, sapient ooze begins to speedily dart further into this level of the Backrooms, in search of more to corrupt. It is a greedy thing, driven forward by a desire of Gustavo’s to corrupt more and to add more entities to his slowly improving central mind. The pile of disgusting, white goo is aggressive and will gleefully assault any entity it comes across, and it quietly radiates persistent corruption which will itself assail any non-human creature that stumbles into its wake.

The new minds that have been added to the hivemind are not particularly intelligent, plus they are fiercely inhuman, and even being in their presence makes the human minds feel a bit unsettled. Gustavo’s reaction to this is to quickly place the minds of the entities in their own section of the hivemind where he can still hear them but the once-mundane humans cannot, effectively separating them from the minds of the humans who have joined the faction. This nearly instantly reassures the humans, who express their gratitude to Gustavo while expressing amazement at his supernatural abilities even as they freely share information and learn from each other.

Gustavo’s primary body politely listens to Julieta’s attempts at small talk, all while occasionally flashing Rachel dry smiles. Rachel will, when appropriate, politely laugh even as Gustavo begins to take advantage of some of his more curious abilities.

Being a “Corruptive Dominance” type overlord is a strange thing. Of all the types of “Overlords” from the setting that Rebecca, Gustavo’s familiar, hails from the “Corruptive Dominance” types are the only ones where every perk primarily confers a new superpower instead of mostly teaching new skills or otherwise enhancing existing skills. Because of this fact, that particular perk tree is fat with power.

Whether it’s as simple as “Font of Corruption”: the very first perk in the tree and the one that allows Gustavo to use the corruption in him at all, or as complex as “Corrupted Consciousness”: a hivemind perk that is stronger than an essence, each perk in the tree is stacked with power. One especially noteworthy power in one of the perks, “Faustian Bargaining”, is that the thing allows Gustavo to share lesser versions of his perks with whoever he wishes, as well as share his corruption with those who agree to it.

Unbeknownst to the would-be hero himself is the fact that it is this very power that is subtly guiding his actions. The true power of “Faustian Bargaining” is that it attunes those who possess it to a sort of cosmic radio that allows them to, in the beginning at least, unconsciously hear the inner voices of those who are in need and communicate with them. Clever overlords can use this information to achieve a range of goals, most notably subtly transmitting corruption over vast distances and thereby spreading one’s corruptive influence.

Powerful enough beings can exert their power to interfere with this component of the ability, but the greater an overlord becomes the more influence it takes to weaken this power. With every single mind that is added to the corrupt hivemind that Gustavo controls, the unconscious interference keeping him from understanding the distant voice he is hearing grows a bit weaker. It is an awareness of this that causes Gustavo to experiment with mixing powers more concretely.

The powerful and young overlord quietly commands the creatures in his hivemind to do as he does, and to go out in search of more creatures to corrupt. He does not give them any particular powers, nor does he permit them to assault humans, but he does command them to quietly weaken the forces of the malignant universal consciousness that controls the Backrooms.

The smiler, far more intelligent than the hounds and even smarter than the smilers Gustavo already defeated, replicates a feat that it saw Gustavo’s generic body perform and melt itself down into corrupt ooze. It does this and it creeps towards one of the illuminated sections of the endless corridors.

When it reaches the edge of the darkness where it can safely exist in its normal state, it carefully extends a slimy pseudopod of corrupt goo into the light. When the tendril does not begin to burn from the light the creature mentally exhales in relief and, still cautiously, begins to put more of its body out into the light. Nothing happens and the creature gleefully begins to dash down the corridor, keenly aware that it is now free to sadistically torment other living creatures.

The beast, displaying an unusual level of cooperativeness for their particular species, freely shares this knowledge with the pack of smilers that Gustavo defeated earlier today. This act of generosity causes the creatures to ask Gustavo to make them new bodies. He obliges their requests and they separate themselves from him so they too can take advantage of this new information and enact the orders the master of their hivemind has given them all.

Julieta does not notice the shadows that detach themselves from Gustavo, nor does she notice as the shadows creep out of her tent as the hounds who have been inside of the creature are given new bodies and told to subtly leave the tent and the camp without hurting anyone. Even as nearly mindless as they are, the hounds do as they are told quite easily, and Gustavo, seemingly randomly, begins to smile.

---

“So… I have been thinking about how to talk about what I want to talk about for several minutes and I have come to the conclusion that the only way for me to do it is to just say it.” Julieta begins, finally ending the small talk. My eyebrows widen, indicating my curiosity, and both Rachel and I wait to hear what she has to say.

“Is there any way that I can convince you to accompany a team of vault hunters on their next expedition? With your abilities you’d allow a team to travel much, much further than they’d otherwise be capable of going. It could be the edge a team needs.” Julieta asks, so boldly that I almost audibly laugh.

“I’ll gladly offer you anything of value in the vault so long as you share some of the wealth and let us keep several of the medical supplies.” The elderly lady offers. I begin to visibly think about her offer, and I turn to glance at Rachel, who also feigns considering the offer.

She waits for Rachel or me to speak, but she also begins to slow down. In fact a heartbeat later I notice that curiously the entire world seems to slow down around me, even Rachel, and as I notice this I begin to see something odd in my mind’s eye: a textbox.

[Quest Name: Find the Vault

Quest Details: You have been asked by Julietta Copper to help track down the mythical location known as “The Vault”, a treasure trove of resources that allegedly exists somewhere in The Backrooms level known as The Basement.

Quest Reward(s): Upon acceptance of the quest, you’ll gain access to the “Trickster” line of perks and items from the setting known as “Germanic/Norse Mythology”, as this is the origin that most aligns with your soul. These perks and items are not enormously powerful, but they offer an array of boons that can be used to staggering effect if used creatively. You’ll also gain the ability to call upon another pair of companions from your ‘Generic Lewd Overlord’ origins, though they won’t appear right next to you.

Upon completion of the quest, you’ll be granted the ability to take any magical equipment found in The Vault for yourself without complaint from your peers.

Do you accept the quest?]

I read this textbox, almost stunned by its appearance. And then I reread it. It is right before I’d be about to read it for a third time that I hear Rebecca’s voice shatter the silence that surrounds me.

“Whoa, I see that you’ve unlocked the first function of your system. Good work! Quests are important methods of progression for jumpers with unique abilities and traits and this is solid confirmation that you are some sort of special jumper. I can’t see the precise details of the quest, but I can tell it must be something special.” Rebecca tells me, causing me to smile.

I accept the quest mentally, sending a message “to” the text box, and I hear Rebecca brightly laugh even as time suddenly begins to speed up again. I also inform Julieta that I will help her team find The Vault and her eyes brighten. For the next few minutes life is a blur.

Julieta quickly asks me if I plan to take anyone with me, and Rachel tells her that she’ll accompany me but I’d like for Marcus and Rebecca to stay here. Julieta accepts this, promising to feed and protect both of my companions for as long as Rachel and I are out in the untamed parts of the level.

We are told that people in The Backrooms, or at least some of the levels, don’t need sleep and that causes me to consciously notice that while I’ve felt tired I’ve never felt sleepy even though I’ve been here for hours and I’ve been on the move all the while. Julieta asks me if I’d be fine leaving as soon as she arranges for a team of explorers to assemble, and Rachel looks at me to see if I am cool with that.

I nod at her, eager to make my way to the next level. She nods back at me and takes initiative to expedite a lot of this beginning to speak eagerly to Julieta.

I turn inward during this process and I command Marcus and Rebecca to find suitable targets, even humans if they can find someone to heal, to corrupt throughout this place while Rachel and I embark on this quest. I use my "Faustian Bargaining" power to share my healing based essence powers with them, though at a greatly reduced level. Rebecca quickly throws herself into breaking down the perk tree I have just acquired, which consists of just four perks including a powerful, boosted “Capstone” perk: a perk at the end of a tree of perks that can be and, in this case is, boosted to gain greater effects.

The “Trickster” line of perks refers to creatures like Loki, a Norse god of mischief, and grants abilities that feel inspired by him. The first perk only grants me wisdom, but even now I can feel my ability to make sound judgments improving quickly. The second perk is a bit more interesting, as it grants me flawless shapeshifting, but it does not give me the power to take on the abilities of the things I shapeshift into, aside from very rare exceptions like the ability to bear children if I become a woman or the ability to breathe underwater if I shapeshift into a fish.

The third and the fourth perks are both very intriguing. With the third perk I gain knowledge related to deal-making, bargains, and laws, and the ability to make deals I make or that are made in my presence binding and backed by the universe itself. This perk is bizarre, but I can immediately see its power and potential even in a setting like this. The final perk in the tree is a “Results multiplier”, a potent thing that comprehensively amplifies what I get out of many things in life, from deals to training.

By possessing this perk, if I train in any capacity for half an hour the “Gains” I make from the training are massively amplified. Specifically, this powerful perk makes it so that if I work out for half an hour it’s like I worked out for ninety minutes and furthermore that the gains I’d normally experience for honing my skills for ninety minutes are amplified to match what I’d get if I worked out for two hundred and seventy minutes!

In practice, the way this shakes out is that I get nine minutes of gains for any minute I spend actually training, before I apply my other training booster… Which amplifies how effective my training is, by five times. So if I train for one minute, I am, for all practical purposes, training for forty five minutes.

When all of that is put together it means I only need to train for just over half an hour, before I’ve trained for twenty four hours as dictated by my perks. And this amplifier also applies the same basic logic to other things, like deals I make, lowering the cost and raising what I get by three in both directions.

If I purchase a house, I get three houses for one third of the cost of the actual house I purchased. This doesn’t even hurt whoever I brought the house from, aside from the fact that they only get one third of whatever price they asked me for. They don’t owe me two houses that they don’t actually own, I simply get the other two houses, apparently created from nothing, as part of the deal. They wouldn’t even realize that this is weird! Alternatively I can simply get one thing that is three times as powerful or as good as the thing I purchased.

In some contexts this is also retroactive, granting me two additional copies of things like “Items” I possess, which Rebecca informs me of gleefully. That means that I have two more familiars… It also means that I have two more backpacks, filled with food and drink!

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The capstone boosted version of this perk takes this silly logic in another, equally powerful direction. With the capstone boosted version of this perk I can purchase any type of thing I want, including souls and such, so long as I can afford them even without asking for permission from their owners. I even know how much stuff costs with just a glance.

The effects of the non-boosted and boosted perks stack, so I can buy stuff and it costs me a third of what it’d cost someone else. The perks also allow me to substitute stuff for stuff of, even theoretical, equal value such as swapping my soul for the soul of someone else if I make a deal to trade my soul in exchange for something. This is an incredibly powerful set of abilities, even if it doesn’t make me superhuman or transform me into a superhero by itself.

As Rebecca is explaining all of this to me I begin to feel odd for a split second right before a symbol appears in my mind’s eye. This symbol is of a backpack, and as soon as I focus on it for a few seconds the symbol appears to open and in a small corner of my mind’s eye I can suddenly see all of my items.

There are… many of the things, all arrayed before me. Many of them are greyed out and even without wisdom boost I just gained I can tell that that means that they aren’t useable at the moment. That said, actually being able to see the items I own is remarkable.

Some of my new items are things like magical weapons, or incredible jewelry, but my old items include stuff like a car that can shapeshift to be setting appropriate, and body armor that can help someone take on entities like smilers without fear. And all of these items have either been tripled in amount or tripled in quality and power, including items that are greyed out like a workshop I possess that can churn out powerful corrupted items, or an item from the “Neo-Sarkic” origin that is an incredibly successful pharmaceutical company. When I get to a setting where I can use these things… I’m going to have fun.

---

Minutes begin to fly by as Julieta frantically arranges a small group of vault seekers. She dashes from tent to tent situated throughout the encampment, while slowly assembling a small group of people that she hopes will be the first people to find The Vault and return.

As this is occurring, Gustavo himself is taking advantage of the moment to be introspective. Part of the reason why he propped Rachel up as his voice is to give himself an easier time whenever he turns inward. Many of his powers are not external things, but a mishmash of abilities that are, in equal part, internal and external.

Rachel and Gustavo make their way to the edge of the camp. Right as Julieta has successfully gathered half of the team she believes would best be suited to this mission, a number of men and women, a child spots Rachel and Gustavo.

This young boy, a brave and inquisitive sort, spends a moment hesitating as he studies the two figures. He eventually gathers his courage and walks up to the two figures, who are silently observing their surroundings as they wait for their peers to arrive. As soon as he is standing in front of the two, the young man smiles and looks at him.

“Hello there Zac, how are you?” Gustavo asks, his voice a soothing thing that almost immediately causes Zac’s anxiety to melt away. The young boy smiles brightly at the man, and he musters up the courage to say his peace.

“Uh… I just wanted to tell you, thank you for healing me! I was told about what you did and I really appreciate it.” Zac exclaims, brightly. Gustavo’s smile brightens, and this deepens the effect his presence has on Zac, causing the boy to feel perfectly safe.

This strange, unnatural but subtle feeling is caused by a number of perks working together. Deep within Gustavo there is a potent wellspring in which powers lurk and mix, even ones undetectable by Rebecca’s curious gaze, and the effects these perks have on the people they affect are weak but slowly growing stronger.

Right now these mysterious powers mixing together in ways that, when put together, make Gustavo seem incredibly trustworthy and likeable. This effect is greatly compounded when someone experiences his powers in addition to his presence.

These perks have always been working, even before this moment. They colored Gustavo’s interactions with Julieta, which was why it was so easy for her to begin to trust him once she actually witnessed his power.

Gustavo, who can feel his enhanced wisdom passively enhancing his awareness of both his surroundings and his powers, decides to do something nice. His eyes glow with the mischievous power of a dark faerie, but he himself is preparing to use his powers for good. Zac is swept up in the twinkle in Gustavo’s eyes, admiring them due to the effects of a “General” perk possessed by Gustavo from the same setting that gives him his biomantic powers.

The eldritch magic wielded by the faeries of the universe in which the SCP-Foundation exists courses through Gustavo’s veins. This powerful magic grants its wielders and users a certain level over reality itself, provided they know the names of the people they wish to affect with their arcane skills. Gustavo knows Zac’s name, and even a nickname is enough for him to do what he wishes to do.

“You know what? I heard about your brother Zac. I bet he’s on his way, right now.” Gustavo tells Zac, even as his eyes fill with otherworldly violet energy and he begins to subtly glow.

Thanks to “Inspired”, the first perk in the “Trickster” line of perks, Gustavo’s mind has been strengthened enough that he’s gained an unconscious awareness of a few of his more peculiar powers. These powers allow him to use “Onomancy”, a form of magic related to names, with greater ease than he ought to be able to do so.

Gustavo casts a subtle spell, and in doing so warps fate. The magic of the sarkic being mixes with his powerful, and now innate, healing abilities and alters reality. He doesn’t know it, but his spell is responsible for healing an injured man, some thousand meters away from the camp. The healed figure lifts himself off the hard concrete, breathes a sigh of relief and begins to happily stride back home, mystified by the miracle that has restored his energy but otherwise overjoyed that he was healed.

Gustavo and Rachel are destined to miss the touching reunion, as Julieta exits a final tent with the last member of the healing expedition in tow. The five people destined to journey alongside Gustavo and Rachel walk beside Julieta, and when the group reaches the two aliens Zac turns around and leaves, sensing that they need to conduct “Adult Business” as his brother would often say.

---

I lay my eyes on the assembled adventurers and smile. There are five individuals who have come here alongside Julieta, three men and two women. They are all armed, and give me curious looks as they study me.

“Hello there. I’m Gustavo, it’s nice to meet you all.” I say, speaking slowly but surely. This causes all of their eyes to widen, though just in neutral surprise. Even Julieta’s eyes widen.

“Huh… It’s funny to hear you say so much.” She remarks, having spent a healthy amount of time with me. I smile at her, and Rachel mimics me.

“Gustavo is just trying to introduce himself, Julieta. Every time he speaks he gets a bit better at it. I am Rachel, I often serve as Gustavo’s mouthpiece. He is a powerful anomalous entity capable of great acts of healing and demonstrating other psychic talents.” Rachel explains, politely. She smiles at me, and Julieta smirks lightly.

“I’d normally allow the team to introduce themselves first, before I go, but I have to arrange a team to go out and look for Brandon.” Julieta reveals, which causes the people beside her to frown sadly. She looks at Rachel and when she sees a look of slight confusion on the assistant’s face her eyes widen.

“Ah, sorry. I’m a bit scatterbrained today. Brandon is Zac’s brother. We haven’t seen him in days. The other vault hunters with him made it back, but they reported that they got separated when a chunk of the Matrix fell onto the surface of the level and nearly hit the group in a hallway.” Julieta explains, even referencing point up when mentioning the “Cogwell Matrix". That is the name of the series of catwalks and beams that float, unsuspended, overhead. I know about them thanks to the memories I have absorbed.

The catwalks and beams that crisscross this level are remarkable things. They defy gravity, at least as far as I understand it even with the help of the perks I possess, and they are covered in monsters. The darkness of the top of the platforms is a perfect breeding ground for smilers, and it is also a perfect place for me to farm enemies. I turn towards Julieta and look her in the eyes. When I do, gazing intently into her wheat-colored eyes, I ask her a question.

“How can we get to the place where Brandon was separated from his team?” I say, causing Julieta to turn and point in a seemingly random direction further into The Basement. I nod at my companions, all of whom nod back.

We say our farewells to Julieta, and we begin to march in the direction she told us. Between saying our farewells and actually leaving I throw a persistent aura up around the settlement, something which I do with nothing more than intent. This aura will greatly help heal those in the place, by naturally speeding up their rate of recovery and overall just makes it easier to live in a place.

In no time at all we leave the small settlement in the dust, and walk we cannot see it any longer! And then we keep walking! We fall, almost immediately, into an easy pattern and I can quickly tell that we’ll get along fine even as one of the adventurers begins to introduce himself.

“Hi, I’m Marco. It’s nice to meet another anomalous entity.” The man explains, causing me to look at hm with a skeptical look. Rachel notices this exchange and speaks up for me.

“You’re an anomalous entity?” She asks, incredulously. It takes a split second for me to realize that she should not have asked that, no doubt due to odd perks I myself possess. Thankfully Marco takes this well and he lets out a hearty laugh in response to the question.

“No, I am not. I am just a normal human, but one who happens to have met a very anomalous entity myself.” Marco begins, before he dramatically tells Rachel and I who he has seen.

“I have met, and survived an encounter with, the Lost Prussian!” He exclaims explosively, and this causes some of the other people escorting me to laugh quickly or to try and fail to stifle his energy because I can see from the look in his eyes, Marco is filled with determination and zeal.

“The Lost Prussian is another anomalous entity that many have met, you two. He is a man in the uniform of some European make, and he carries and maintains an old-timey gun. But damn, the man is good in a fight!” Explains another of the adventurers, speaking up before Marco could. This time it’s a white woman speaking, smiling at Marco. He does not look pleased to be being heckled but he does tolerate her.

And so, with small talk fueling us onward, we begin to move in the direction of the fallen section of the Cogwell Matrix. At the same time my monsters are out hunting for more life to add to my hivemind.

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