Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35 - Painting [4]

"Cognitive Shards are accumulations of fragments that come from the overuse of nodes."

Kyle continued to explain without noticing the change in my expression.

Maybe it was because I was doing a very good job at hiding my face, or he was just distracted, but whatever the case was, I was happy he didn't notice a thing.

Because right now...

I was really struggling to keep my expression in check.

"That's why I don't want you to get in touch with this stuff. If you somehow have the misfortune of forming a Cognitive Shards, then there's really little that I can do to help you. You're essentially doomed to slowly see your entire neurological system fail you. Think of it like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, but worse."

"Oh."

I answered, my mouth just barely flat.

I was struggling to understand the situation.

Taking into account what the shop had recommended to me and the medicine I had taken, coupled with the symptoms listed by Kyle, I was almost certain I had whatever this shard thing was.

'But how does this make any sense...?' 

It had only been recently since I had been exposed to this world.

How could something like this happen?

'No, it makes no sense.' 

I forcibly recomposed myself while looking at Kyle and forcing a few words out of my mouth.

"So... you're saying that there's no way of curing something like that?"

"Not really."

Kyle paused and thought for a moment.

"Actually, it's more like, only the top brass know how to do it. The resources required are extremely expensive, so the best you can have is mild suppressants to stop the shard from expanding."

I thought about the small pill I had received from the shop. Could it be?

"However, that's merely a momentary solution. It's also rather expensive. Hm, well... at least better than just having a Mender help you out. Those bastards will just strip you of everything if you give them the chance."

Mender?

What was that?

"Don't worry too much. It's best if you don't know or get in contact with them."

"...Are they that bad?"

"Yes. They're also all lunatics."

I paused and looked at him. Thinking about this place, they were all lunatics anyway. What difference did it make?

"You don't seem to believe me."

Kyle shook his head, his expression worsening.

"You may think that the Section Chief and some others are bad, but trust me, compared to those guys, they're mild. Anyone who follows the Mender Decree is not sane. They're the type of people to do all sorts of experiments on your body. Before you know it, they might even be trying to rip your hand off to experiment on some stuff."

"That's..."

"Yeah, so don't bother looking for them."

Kyle made sure to emphasize this part. Seeing how serious he was, I could only nod. If he said so...

"But you said something about a Decree. What's that?"

"Oh, that."

Kyle shifted his attention back onto the screen and pointed at the nodes.

"Look at the nodes. What do you see?"

"Other nodes...?"

As far as I saw, it was some sort of neuron link where each node connected through a path to other nodes.

"You're not wrong, but look carefully."

Kyle pointed toward the connections between each node. Looking closer, I noticed his nodes followed a distinct pattern across the lattice—each one linked in a precise sequence, all stemming from the smallest node.

"A Decree is essentially the path that you take while upgrading and joining your nodes. Each path leads to new powers, and you can only follow the path that has synergy with your nodes. In that sense, I follow the Temporal Decree."

Kyle suddenly tossed a pen in the air, snapping his finger at the same time.

Snap!

All of a sudden, the pen froze mid-air. My eyes widened as I turned to Kyle, who looked at me with a face that seemed to say, 'Cool, right?'

He then snapped his fingers again, and just like that, time resumed. The pen dropped with a soft thud.

"My Decree is rather straightforward. I specialise in time manipulation of time. My nodes are all interconnected to follow that path. And in order to do that, I need to collect certain types of fragments."

"I see..."

'If we're talking about it in game terms, then this Decree thing is more like a class? Nodes are the skills in the class, and Order is the ranking system?'