Turn 84 (Pt. 1): Building Madness And Upgrades

  --- Maya Williams ---

  After the results of her extremely stressful patrol, Maya decided that it might be best for her to stay away from anything particularly stressful. Which for her was largely dealing with anyone until she quit seeing (blood drying on her hands as she stood over a dying body.)

  (I don’t believe that’s helping…) Her inner reason growled.

  (Look I just represent the subconscious Id do I look like I have any control over what happens over here?) Her inner Madness tried to argue. (You to do your logic rationale bullshit to help her sort this crazy out!)

  (That’s your domain not mine.)

  (Yeah but your job is making shit all organized, so get this shit together!) Her inner passion ordered.

  (Why do you think I suggest compartmentalization so we can slowly work this out?) Her inner logic wondered. (These things take time!)

  Time that she was going to spend tinkering away on all of her gear until she could actually think without remembering (blood-) (Not helping!)

  For now she was focusing on a relatively simple upgrade to the battery of her Hand Cannons. Which while not offering too grand of a change to the weapons themselves was still something with no small amount of value in that it nearly doubled how many shots she could fire with each cannon before needing to reload them.

  Whatsmore thanks to the ever helpful LCMs she was able to preserve a portion of the electronics she’d used for her initial batteries instead of just ripping out the whole thing and replacing it with an entirely new battery pack.

  After putting this new upgrade through its paces she found her mind drifting towards another upgrade for the cannons, one that could put this larger magazine to better use.

  Scene Consequences

  -Hand Cannons upgraded to Mk. 1.5

  --Hand Cannons can now store up to [5] shots each per reload. (That’s 10 Max, with 2 Reloads.)

  -Thanks to Minion assist 2 Electronics Refunded.

  ---

  Like several times in the past, she found the whispers to be far more cooperative with this particular project than her usual ones for some reason.

  (You could almost say you rolled a maddeningly critical success…) Her inner madness offered with an oddly giddy tone.

  (It’s more an accumulation of success than something so random.) Her inner logic argued.

  Regardless of what it was it allowed her to work significantly faster on her modifications to the Hand Cannon’s Blaster Protocols().

  In their simplest state the Hand Cannons themselves were an energy storage and conversion engine that allowed her to more rapidly focus and unleash her more elemental hacking. The entire process still required the Protocols themselves to manage that conversion without detonating the cannons and blowing her hands off.

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  Which is why in order to control the actual output and build-up of her cannons she needed to tweak the program itself in such a way that she could charge up a more powerful conversion, that while consuming more ‘ammo’ from the cannon’s battery packs would also allow her to unleash a significantly stronger use of that ammo.

  The cumulative damage would probably be less than her normal Hand Cannon bursts and shots, while taking longer to fire, but in exchange that blast would have enough power to rip through the defenses of whatever she hit. Or so the whispers told her with fairly convincing mental simulations.

  (Come on, we’ve helped you build so many fantastical things. Do you really think we’d lead you wrong?)

  (Given how reckless you can be, she should.)

  Scene Consequences

  -Blaster Protocols() upgraded to V. 1.5

  --Hand Cannons can now use [Charge Shot].

  ---Charge Shot: Maya can spend additional AP and Ammo to increase the power of any shot she fires. Charged shots have reduced Crit thresholds based on Charge amount.

  ---

  Even as she closed down her now completed program, the whispers didn’t stop sharing their secrets. The technological knowledge that was so far beyond what most humans were capable of accomplishing on their own and so she found herself filled with and ever growing burst of eldritch inspirations.

  (Careful… you’re awfully close to the glass Maya… One more step and you might start dancing to the Masquerade’s mad melodies.)

  She shook her head, feeling a faint pulsing in her head from the more logical side of herself as it told her, (Guide the whispers, don’t let them drag you down. You’re not ready for that just yet.)

  (But she could be after all… Sanity is overrated!) The shadows of the room seemed to dance and twist as her inner Madness cackled at the joke, one far more terrifying after the last few days. (Ah, don’t worry… it’s worth it to be the smartest, to know what no one else does, isn’t it?)

  (Find something you want done and get it done.) Her inner reason told her once more as she felt something crawling along the edges of her mind, masks made from eyes and smiles just waiting for her to finally take that step that would let the whispers speak. (You’ve been through too much too soon… You aren’t ready. Try again when you’re rested. For now work on something. Preferably something big.)

  (Oh, that’s no fun. The abyss is staring and it has so much it wants to say… You’ve kept it waiting long enough haven’t you, chica?)

  Deciding that she was better off listening to the less terrifying (and far more boring) voice in her head, she dove into her computer -the machine already within arm’s reach- before finding one of her programs and reworking the thing from the ground up.

  At some point she felt the whispers in her head dim, less because the were no longer there and more because they were waiting for her to direct them. Her program coming to a crossroad much as her mind and sanity had, and unlike the latter she knew she wouldn’t be allowed to simply walk away until she picked a proper direction for her mind to wander.

  With a blink she realized the program she’d been working on was her Scan() one of her most generally useful programs, and one that she could see several paths for given the upgrades she’d already given it as well as the one’s she’d already made. Ways to improve it by splicing in the bits of creation’s code and the cybernetic secrets the whispers had passed along over the last few months tinkering away at whatever project caught her fancy.

  Down one route she could focus more on the data of reality, taking another step into quantifying reality itself down to the smallest of numbers as she understood things about the world that most others simply glazed over.

  Another would take what information she had and decrypt it even further, not cataloging it in numbers but rather evaluating it through softer more malleable sciences to read not the physical but rather the mental of those she Scanned.

  Or she could take things down the route where every variable that entered her space would be accounted for, even if she currently lacked the tools to parse through all of it, it would all be seen no matter how the secrets of reality tried to hide themselves away.

  Perhaps the safest option was to go with the route where she simply locked away all of the information she ever scanned, ready to go over it all at her own demented discretion as she discovered what was most valuable at a later date when she could reassess the known.

  The whispers of creation/reality/madness stood quiet, waiting for her decision even as they kept her from walking away before they could complete their current work.

  Patreon Thanks

  Thank You:

  -Rush99999

  -Kcx1

  -James Walsh

  -Regis Stella The Brony Pirate

  If you want to support these side stories or the setting in general, check out the .

  A/N: Also announcement, over on the Patreon we've started up a vote for a . (Note: It will be free to read, but only Paying Patreons will be able to vote.) I won't start the Quest proper for another two or three months since I intend to finish the first book of -we're in the final 10 Chapters- before then but we're still doing the voting now so I can sort out any final planning things.

  While the Runoff vote and everything after will be a Paid Exclusive, the initial vote is free. If anyone is interested here are the currently available options. (Only Counting Votes on Patreon Site.)

  -Anarchy Archetypes: The Gambler of Fates (Isekai Deck Building Quest)

  --Synopsis: He should've told the pretty girl no.

  But he didn't, now he's possessed by 'Lady Luck' a gambling addicted spirit that insists on nudging him towards some grand destiny while making him play her games where Luck and Skill are the only things keeping her from accidentally killing him.

  Something that wouldn't be not good but manageable if he wasn't stranded on another world where every other thing wants to kill him with his only way of getting home to his family being to track down five other people possessed by their own spirits.

  He really should've told the pretty girl no...

  --Tags: [Card Based Powers], [Survive The Isekai], [World Hopping Adventure]

  --Inspirations: Amphibia, Owl House, League of Legends, Psycho Duel Revelations

  -The Lamplighter's Guild (A Gothic Monster Hunter Quest)

  --Synopsis: Waking up with no memories, his father's corpse, and a message telling him to find his kidnapped sister, a young man sets out into a Victorian world filled with magic and monsters.

  His only hint to track down his father's old friend the leader of the Lamplighter's Guild. A group that keeps the cities lamps lit at night to protect everyone from the monsters that prowl the dark, lurking in the outskirts, and just waiting to sink their teeth in should the lights go out.

  This friend agrees to help him only if he can prove himself, so now he must hunt that which goes bump in the night, while also trying to find those who can help him to find the last living member of his family.

  --Tags: [Monster Hunter Protagonist], [Build Your Team], [Sword, Science, And Sorcery]

  --Inspirations: Lies of P, Bloodborne, Castlevania, Warhammer Fantasy

  -Simon Lorde, The Overlord (An Isekai Overlord Quest)

  --Synopsis: The Overlord is an infamous figure who has risen and fallen numerous times throughout history, conquering kingdoms, kidnapping princesses and unleashing an army of monsters.

  Simon Lorde is an archeology professor who wants nothing to do with any of that, he's content being a teacher, the only princess he's interested in is his wife, and the only monsters he unleashes are on D&D night.

  Unfortunately, he's now woken up in world simultaneous very familiar and very foreign with no idea how he got here, a magic gauntlet on his arm that won't come off, and half a dozen bickering overlords talking inside of his head.

  --Tags: [Voices In Your Head], [Kingdom Building], [Multiple Fantasy Kingdoms]

  --Inspirations: Adventure Time, She-Ra, Disco Elysium, Legend of Zelda

  -The Black Briar Library (An Eldritch Library Quest)

  --Synopsis: The Black Briar Library is a place that exists between Dreams and Reality, connected to the Akashic Records the massive library collects the stories of any person that catches the interest of its Eldritch Chairman.

  Of course 'Collecting' means many things, and is left up to the discretion of the Library's many librarians. A group of misfits and outcasts whose solace was in the quiet depths of the libraries that housed the fantastical stories they loved so much that the Chairman couldn't help but welcome them.

  Which is why the Chairman turns to you and asks, will you be one of her Librarians? Will you record the story of the Black Briar Library itself?

  --Tags: [Switchable Protagonists], [Each Campaign = A Story Derivative], [Dimensional Travelers]

  --Inspirations: Limbus Company, Library of Ruina, Grim Fairytales, Various Media

  -Smile Like You Mean It (A Demon Razing Hell Quest)

  --Synopsis: They say Hell is where bad people go, and that Home is where you make it, so what does it mean when you make your Home in Hell?

  Booker is a capital D Demon. That is one of the few things he remembers after waking in an alley with a static filled hole in his skull and the instinct that he needs to find something that's missing.

  And so he sets out in a Hell very different than the one presented by religion trying to piece together who he is and what happened to him. To do so he'll research forbidden knowledge, make demonic deals, and kill whoever gets in his way all with a smile in his face.?

  --Tags: [Affably Evil Demon], [Functionally Dysfunctional Urban Hell], [Taking The Whole Show Over]

  --Inspirations: Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Project Moon (Setting), MADTOWN

  Please choose which Scan upgrade branch to unlock. (Note: Choices are based on previous decisions and upgrades.)