Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! novel Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Evolution [3]

*Poof*

".....!"

A chunky machine materialized right above me as I brought my hands forward and caught it.

"Hmpfh!"

Groaning, I hunched over and barely managed to keep it from dropping to the floor before quickly moving to my desk and setting it down there.

Bang!

"That... was heavier than I expected."

I looked at the machine in front of me with a frown. It had a bulky, boxy shape with a small display screen, rows of rubbery buttons, and a paper tray sticking out from the back or side.

From what I understood, this was supposed to be the purity enhancer.

But...

"Why does this look so much like a fax machine?"

No matter how I looked at it, it just seemed like a fax machine; an old, outdated model at that.

"No, wait."

Taking a closer look, there was a small cylindrical tube by the side.

’I presume that’s where the fragments are placed.’

I took the only fragment that I had and placed it there. Indeed, it fit nicely.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

I looked around the machine before settling my gaze on a specific switch by the side. That looked to be the power switch, and I didn’t waste a single second pressing it.

Cha— Chak!

A weird sound came out from the ’fax’ machine as I turned it on, and the display screen lit up.

Shortly after that, a number was displayed on it.

[91%]

"Oh."

So it displayed the purity of a crystal. _{freēwēbηovel.c૦m}

Then...

"I presume this button over here is to change the purity."

By the side of the machine was a glaring red button.

I thought about pressing it, but stopped myself.

"This looks pure enough. I don’t think I want to risk increasing its purity."

Thus, taking out the crystal, I looked towards the system window and chose the [Conceptualization] area before pressing [Yes] and accepting my other half of the rewards.

*Puff*

A fairly sized brown pouch formed out of thin air, falling right into my hands as I caught it.

"One, two, three, four... ten. Looks like everything is here."

Counting all the fragments and seeing all of them there, I took a random crystal and replaced the previous fragment with the new one.

Cha— Chak!

The machine made another strange noise, and moments later, a new number appeared.

[68%]

"Oof."

The number was lower than I expected.

’No, it’s more like the first fragment that I received had an absurd level of purity. This should be normal according to what I heard from Myles.’

He also mentioned that 60% was the optimal purity level.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough for me.

I needed my purity to be higher.

I needed to create the most resilient node possible. As someone who most likely already had a cognitive shard, I couldn’t afford to take any risks.

But at the same time, thinking about Myles’s words, I fell into thought.

"He said Cognitive Shards form when a node suffers too many fractures. But how does that explain my situation? Is it possible I don’t have a Cognitive Shard at all, or could someone have a Cognitive Shard without even having a node?"

The entire situation felt weird to me.

Something was amiss and I felt completely blind to it...

"For now, I’ll test the other fragments."

I decided to brush those thoughts aside for now and focus on what was ahead.

Cha— Chak!

Like that, I began to test each fragment one by one.

The results were...

55%, 73%, 81%, 14%, 27%, 94%, 39%, 88%, 61%.

"Hmm."

I didn’t really know what to make with these numbers. Some were really good while others were really bad. In particular, the 14% fragment.

That was way too low.

"I guess you’ll be the one."

Given that I already had a fragment, added to the ten I had, I had one fragment to spare.

I planned on using the low percentage one to test the machine.

But before that...

[Would you like to remove the attribute?]

▶ [Yes] ▷ [No]

"Yes."

The color faded from the fragment as a misty gray cloud formed above me. The fragment grew warm, and my head felt a little light. It was still bearable, and nothing terrible. The moment the cloud appeared, a tingling shot through my arm, and I summoned the Nightwalker.

Swoosh!

It was just like last time. The moment it appeared, it funneled the gray cloud into its mouth before disappearing.

Looking at my laptop, the number on its profile went to 2/10.

I was just about to place the crystal in the fax machine when I stopped.

[Would you like to remove the attribute?]

<E> Ranked Anomalous Entity - Dreamwalker