//TRANSFORMATION COMPLETE: [SEBASTIAN CORMIER PERSEPHONIA] HAS BEEN CEMENTED INTO REALITY.

//NULL HAS GAINED THE FUNCTION: OVERGORGE.

//TWO ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN SALVAGED FROM [ICON OF EXCESS].

//ASSIGN THEM THEIR ROLES.

Overgorge? That sounded like the main function of Nia’s core, but maybe I was being a little too hasty. I tried to press on it to see what it did, but a slash of light cut across my vision and brought me right back to the final message. I tried again to scroll up, and yet again I found myself staring at the same place. It wanted me to ‘assign’ these new functions their ‘roles’, whatever that meant, and //CREATION wasn’t going to let me do anything else until I did.

//CHITIN SCALES.

//CORE MASTERY REQUIREMENT: 1.

//STATIC FUNCTION: LENGTH 1.

//EXPEND (5) BATTERY TO CREATE A MANIPULATABLE SCALE. SCALES COPY THE USER’S STATS.

//GOD-PEN INSCRIPTION.

//CORE MASTERY REQUIREMENT: ??.

//STATIC FUNCTION: STRAIGHT LINE OF LENGTH ??.

//FOR EACH CLUSTER OF SEVEN SIMILAR NODES PRESENT IN THE BEARER’S CORE, 1 NEW INSCRIPTION BECOMES AVAILABLE. BEGINS WITH 0 INSCRIPTIONS.

//ETCH A SYMBOL ONTO SOMETHING TO IMBUE IT WITH A SPECIFIC PROPERTY. EACH INSCRIPTION HAS ITS OWN EFFECTS WHICH WILL BE DESCRIBED WHEN OBTAINED.

I looked over the two functions multiple times, checking for something that would’ve shown that they’d been touched by //NULL. But I couldn’t find anything. They just looked like regular functions that I could’ve found in a hazard, except for those four question marks under God-Pen Inscriptions. This time, when I tried to press on it for more information, I got a popup.

//DISPERSE EIGHTY BETWEEN THE MASTERY AND LENGTH REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS FUNCTION. ONCE IT HAS BEEN SET, IT CAN BE CHANGED ONLY AT 25/50/75 FUNCTION MASTERY. CHOOSE WHO IN YOUR PARTY WILL GAIN WHICH FUNCTIONS, IF ANY.

So that was what that meant. It was barely a consideration for who would get the God-Pen function, considering that Jun would be able to get twice the use out of it as I would, and her excess of stats would come in more than handy. A bunch of empty nodes wouldn’t do much for that. Hell, I could just give her both and make her into a mini Persephonia minus the main core that she’d crafted everything around.

If I could give Jun Overgorge, I would. But that one didn’t show up on my interface, so it wasn’t up for trades. It had been added to my core, and that was that. ‘Chitin Scales’ was quite literally a trash function that I wouldn’t put in my core if I’d been paid to do so, but Nia had obviously used her core to make something much, much greater out of it. Those orange etchings on the scales could’ve been the source of everything else she’d done, and if that was the case, then she’d min-maxed her core far more than I’d even thought.

Jun had her Floodforest’s Gift, which could probably substitute for the scales. And so did I, so it was pretty much useless for the both of us. I’d take it in Nia’s memory, but I highly doubted I’d ever use it. Maybe //NULL would find a use for it eventually.

“Jun gets God-Pen, and I’ll take the scales.” I said as I did exactly that, and I watched as a long string of strange symbols flitted from my interface towards Jun. I hadn’t noticed that she was frozen in place, completely unmoving, just like when I’d created //NULL. The moment the last of the symbols left my interface and cemented in hers, the world began moving once more.

{Don’t say anything out loud.} I warned before Jun could say anything. {I got something out of Nia’s core that we can use. Take a good look at it before you come up with a story about how you got it.}

She nodded, then opened her interface to see what I’d just given her. I blinked in surprise as I saw a pane of yellow and black stained glass appear before Jun, but I kept my mouth shut in case it was an aftereffect of giving her that function. It would go away eventually.

//OVERGORGE: //NULL VARIANT.

//ADDITIONAL POTENTIAL CAN BE INFUSED INTO CORRUPTED ITEMS AND FUNCTIONS, TEMPORARILY STRENGTHENING THEM.

//WHEN CORRUPTING NEW ITEMS, CAN FORCE ADDITIONAL POTENTIAL INTO THEM FOR STRONGER ITEMS. COST VARIES FROM HIGH TO INACCESSIBLE DEPENDING ON ITEM QUALITY.

Another fucking function that took something permanent from me. Potential was very much a finite resource, especially now that I had none to speak of and no empty nodes to make more. The second part seemed a little more useful, but again, I would need a whole lot more potential before I’d get anything out of it. I swiped away and gave a quick check to the scales function, but it was just as unassuming as I’d expected. But the overgorge description did say that I could corrupt functions…

{How in the abyssal depths am I supposed to use this?} Jun asked, then held her hands far apart when I focused on her. {Either I set it to be eighty nodes long or I don’t get to use it for years. What kind of monster did Nia kill to get this?}

The image of that blade-centipede popped into my mind. {If we had unlimited time, I’d tell you to set it to fifty and fifty for when you’re way stronger. But… I’m not really sure any more. You’d be giving up five or ten functions just to get that one in your core, and no matter how strong it is, I can’t see a world where it’s that powerful.}

Jun visibly deflated as she nodded. {Unless I had Nia’s core.}

{That’s not right. Your core’s just as good for this function as Nia’s, just in a different way. What you don’t have is Nia’s years of experience. We can work towards that.} I assured her, but I knew what a hard pill to swallow it was to have something you could only see on the horizon. {Hell, maybe we’ll find a way to cheat the requirements. If the damn thing wasn’t a static function, it’d be a little easier on you, but…}

I didn’t know what else to send, so my message went unfinished, but not unsent. Even if Jun’s core function worked on static functions, it would only be a one point reprieve. It would bring her total up to two out of eighty, which still wasn’t anywhere near enough.

{How many more nodes would you need to get if you made it sixty nodes long?} I asked.

Jun swiped through her interface to her core’s subscreen, a visual that was still somehow available to me, and messaged back a moment later. It was short, but it contained a link at the end of it.

{It’s giving me the option to show you my core’s stats. And, uh, why can I see your interface? Isn’t that really bad?}

I didn’t have an answer for that either. And from the lack of messages from The End, it knew just as much as I did about whatever was happening here. {I think it’s because I just transferred one of these functions to you, so hopefully it’ll go away in a little bit. Just don’t try to control my interface and I won’t try to control yours.}

{Deal.} Jun readily agreed. {So open the link, but don’t touch anything.}

The link pulsed yellow on my otherwise blue and white interface, and when I pressed my fingers to it, a black and yellow screen superimposed itself above my interface with an image of Jun’s core stats. Not an image of her core itself, though, which was slightly disappointing. I would’ve liked to get a look at this ‘Holographic Parasite’.

{Don’t forget that every number that isn’t just telling you how much of something I have is increased by my core function.} Jun reminded me at the last moment, which stifled a few questions I probably would’ve asked if she didn’t.

Holographic Parasite: Unique.

Bearer: Juniper Keratily.

Core Functions:

Node Eater: Defeating a core-bearing enemy who is within +/- (2) nodes of the bearer’s total node count grants (2) nodes.

Symbiotic Parasite: Every number that benefits the bearer is increased by one. Every number that would be harmful to them is decreased by one. No effect if the full benefit cannot be applied.

Integrity Siphon: Whenever a number is affected by Symbiotic Parasite from a source that consumes battery, gain experience. The larger the number before the increase or decrease, the more experience is gained.

Slotted Function(s): Floodforest’s Gift.

Unused Function(s): God-Pen Inscription.

Total Core Nodes: 29.

In use: 15.

Stat Nodes:

Bat: 2 Spe:2 Pow:2 Res:2 Rec:2

Core Stats:

Mastery: 12 Hazard: 6 Health: 84

I wasn’t expecting to see all of Jun’s core functions when I opened that link, but there they were. Her node gain function seemed a little too restrictive, but the fact that she got so many nodes from other avenues made up for that in spades. Same with her experience gain function, which was active literally all the time to make up for what I assumed were slow gains. I was still two core mastery under her even after killing Inopsy and making all that eel-bone armor, and I didn’t want to talk about my terrible health stat compared to hers. Yet she was still so far away from slotting the God-Pen.

Thirty-one more nodes, and then she’d still have to wait until core mastery nineteen to slot it. ‘On the horizon’ might’ve been a little too optimistic a timeframe for this function. {I guess we’ll just have to wait until either your nodes or core mastery is high enough to slot it.}

“Boo.” Jun groaned as she closed her interface. “I guess that’s that, then. Keep Nia safe in your inventory until we can give her a real burial in Rainbow Basin.”

One thought and a gentle touch to one of Nia’s arms was all it took to send her back into my inventory. It would take a while before either Jun or could use anything that Nia’s core had given us, but this felt right. Like we were memorializing Nia instead of cannibalizing her for progress. Something that I wished I could’ve done for my friends in my old life.

I rolled my shoulder and turned to the one big rock that sat on the hatch that would let us into the boat. “Back to the Slyk it is.”