You’re dying, idiot.

Robin woke with a gasp, an overwhelming feeling of concern filling him before he began coughing from the dust that was lining his mouth and nose. He dropped the machete that was still in his hand, bringing his elbow to his mouth on instinct.

The sensation of concern lessened, and he realized that it was Opal’s presence he was feeling, watching from somewhere nearby.

His brief adrenaline rush fading, Robin noticed a strangely distant, dull pain coming from his leg and glanced down at it.

Robin laid back down immediately, afraid he was going to pass out. I have never seen that much of my own blood before… But I have potions. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.

Robin lay on his back, on top of the twisted metal of the ruined elevator cage. He focused on controlling his breathing for a moment, staring at an old candy wrapper sticking out of the heap of metal..

tap tap scritch

Robin froze, holding his breath for a moment. That was coming from below the rubble. He sat up with a pained grunt, using every ounce of his WILL to not look at his leg. He took his pack off and reached into the Aliquam Pack, drawing out the Linens of the Mad Scientist with shaking hands.

Robin took a deep breath and moved the Pack, preparing to wrap the linens around his leg. As he lifted the white cloth towards his leg, he couldn’t help but stare at the twisted end of the cable that had cut through his Lesser Armor of the Beetle, his flesh, and ultimately lodged itself in the bone of his thigh.

Robin had an idle thought flicker across his consciousness. Why is it getting so dark in here? He looked away from the wound and tried to breathe slowly, swallowing the spit that was pooling in his mouth. Don’t pass out, don’t throw up. Don’t pass out, don’t throw up… He felt the moment pass.

The Linens aren’t going to work for me… He dry-heaved slightly, picturing the metal stuck into his hip bone. He reached into his pack, pausing for a breath, and then withdrew the clear glass bottle that had a green liquid inside, and a tag that had a picture of a heart drawn in black ink. Please be a healing potion…! Robin chugged the Red Bull-sized potion, barely tasting it over the dust caking his mouth. It was a little like swallowing warm gelatin, going down unpleasantly smooth.

Robin felt his stomach contract painfully for a long moment and then release, a pleasant sensation washing over him, enough to dull the radiating aura of the pain just slightly. He sighed and relaxed a little bit, looking around the elevator shaft. There was jagged, angled metal everywhere, but the slime didn’t seem to be bubbling up. There was that odd noise he had heard earlier, but… It would have made it through by now, wouldn’t it? Nothing to do about it now. Maybe I should try another potion. That one didn’t seem to do anything noticeable, he thought, looking carefully at the wound on his leg. Maybe the Mad Scientist kept his duds and failures. T

The cut was actually fairly clean, but his problem was that the machete-hacked steel fibers had unraveled, and one had lodged into his bone like a fish hook. It wasn’t bleeding all that badly, now that he got a closer look, it was just covered in the blood he had already ...bled. Small favors, I guess…

He had been so distracted by the metal in his leg that he had not assessed the rest of his body. Everything hurts, so that isn’t much help… Robin looked over his arms and his legs, checking for other cuts. He found a number of cuts that would definitely require stitches, and…

Robin chuckled lightly, coughing hard as payment. Stitches. Those might be a thing of the past almost entirely…

Neat.

Okay, more cuts and bruises than I know what to do with. I wonder how bad this would have been if I hadn’t been wearing the armor? Either way, this would be a good use for the Linens.

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Robin reached into his pack and withdrew the Linens of the Mad Scientist. Unravelling them, he reached down and lifted his leg below the knee, trying not to scream as the cable twisted. His failure echoed quickly, a cacophony not unlike that of an animal caught in a trap. He wrapped a portion of the Linens around his calf, cutting it with the machete. As he pressed it into place, he felt the wounds closing, the sensation like getting into a cold pool while simultaneously having “pins and needles” in his legs. It was alarming, but not painful. He received a notification, but did not check it, willing it to the small number he had received. It’s just BODY recovery. No need to check it now. I need to focus on healing until I can defend myself… I’m sure everything in the entire Laboratory heard the crash of the elevator. He moved over and wrapped his other calf and ankle, cutting the fabric with his machete mechanically. He dismissed the notification. Arms next.

Although he found bandaging his arms trickier, he completed the task fairly quickly. He had more cuts than he had first realized, and had to use most of the Linens, leaving two uses remaining. He wrapped one around his head, taking his time to cut it, and pressed it on, feeling the healing take place, the back of his head numb and cold. As the wound healed, he received two notifications, both going directly to the stack he had accumulated. The linens grew faint and wispy, and Robin found he could see through them quite a bit easier.

I wonder if it’s worth saving these for something, or if the magic being entirely spent damages the linens themselves…?

He found the answer to his own question when he attempted to take the linens off of his head and they peeled away like spider webs, squishing down to almost nothing when he rolled them experimentally in his hands.

Hmmm… better do it now, so I don’t waste time trying to save the others if they turn out to be worthless. Identify!

Nothing popped up. Robin tossed the remnants to the side and reached into his pack again, wincing as the movement jostled his injured leg. He withdrew the Serum of Consumptive Recovery, and then checked his BODY, just in case it proved to be overkill. It was at fifteen, so…

Robin paused.

Should I try and drink it after I yank it out? I don’t want it to heal around the cable… Yeah, it has to come out first.

Robin sat the potion down beside him, nestling it safely into a small crevice, then picked up the machete of the dark. Bracing himself, he put the machete on the underside of the “hook”, took a deep breath, and yanked. Right as he yanked, another notification popped up.

Robin saw white for what felt like forever, his throat instantly raw from how much he was screaming. He opened the notification, desperate for something to bring him out of the pain, something he could see, flailing madly for the potion he had just gotten out.

The Voided Heart Effect from the Void Heart Tonic has worn off.

It was the potion it was the potion oh oh where is the other potion

Robin finally found the potion in the tiny creche where he had stashed it and brought it to his lips, ripping the wax cork off with his other hand. He went to drink and was surprised when a dark blue gas entered his mouth, flowing much more contiguously than any natural smoke he had ever seen. The tiny white specks flowed with the gas, but then spilled out of his mouth, like someone had made him laugh while he was eating cereal. They flowed into the ground, weaving between the cracks of the metal, disappearing. Robin finally swallowed the gas after hesitating, unsure whether he should try to breathe it or swallow it like a liquid. It felt like breathing under a mister at a water park; overall, it was one of the more pleasant potions he had imbibed to date.

For several long moments, nothing happened. Robin had time to check his BODY and see that it had not recovered before slime began rising out from between the metal of the elevator cage, directly underneath him. Robin panicked and began to scramble up, but the slime was already flowing over his leg, seeping into his wounds, seeming to be guided by a…

Tiny… white… speck.

Robin sat back down, the pain in his leg no longer overridden by adrenaline. He kept an eye on his body and was overjoyed to see that it was refilling, albeit slowly. The slime continued flowing into his wound like rainwater filling a ditch. The Serum seemed to know how much BODY he had taken, as when the slime seemed to run out, the wound in his leg was perfectly flush with the rest of his skin, and his BODY had returned to the maximum value.

Robin’s only issue with it was that the slime seemed to be staying slime, rather than turning into flesh, like he had hoped it would.

His hopes plummeted when he received another notification.

WHY did I put them off? ALWAYS, ALWAYS check them immediately if you can!

Robin focused on putting them into a list. It’ll be easier on me than hoping for something good when they are all bad…

A list of notifications popped up. There were more than he had realized, he now noticed glumly.

Slay the Slime Quest Complete! Level Up! New Trait Acquired!

Mutation (Left Leg) Chance!

Mutation (Right Leg) Chance!

Mutation (Left Arm) Chance!

Mutation (Right Arm) Chance!

Mutation (Head) Acquired! Resplendent Ommatidium

Mutation Acquired: Gelatinous Aposematism

Robin had a strangely lucid thought, even as the shock set it. This. This right here is exactly why I wanted a list.

How did I get so many!? He pulled out the linens and checked them; sure enough, the description said that they only triggered for someone who had the Mad Science skill.

He snapped his eyes back to the menu and re-read some of the bottom words.

What mutated on my head!? What is an ommatidium!?