Before Barns can open his eyes, his body lurches in disgust as a million small and slimy tentacles writhe over his bare flesh like an army of worms in abandoned stew. He tries to lurch forward, but the wormy tentacles whip him back.
"Aaahhh!" he screams. The last thing he remembered was being stabbed by that vampire, Eldrie. Where was he now?
"The last time you were here, Zelia helped you out. Isn't that right?"
The voice comes from nowhere, directly projected into Barns' brain. His eyes flutter and he nearly passes out again. Between his own disillusionment and the horror occurring to his body, he could scarcely have a rational thought.
"Tentacles. Lower Tenacity by 50%."
Suddenly, the writhing mass around Barns yields, allowing him to quickly rise to his feet. He starts to regain some semblance of composure, but he's still panicked. He turns his head in every direction. He's in a fleshy, dark cave - ambient light glows from the writhing tentacles all around. This wasn't the tower. He wasn't even sure if this was the same planet.
At that moment, the ceiling above stretches open like a gaped maw, and a dark mass begins to descend. It buzzes with electrical light, and Barns can somehow sense sentience from the pulsing clump.
It looked like a human brain - although on gargantuan scale. This brain was larger than one of the System-manufactured homes.
"Barnacles."
"Are you the one called Pallas?" Barns asks. He's back to his senses, though he can barely stand to stand in this place - under his bare feet, the tentacles still squirm. Speaking of -
"And why am I naked?" Barns adds, blushing slightly.
"How astute," the hanging brain pulses with lightwaves as the voice projects into Barns' mind. "Yes. I am the Administrator codenamed Pallas."
As the thoughts pass through his mind, a long tentacle springs up from the ground, wrapping itself around Barns' waist, covering him up somewhat.
"As for your second question, will this suffice for now?"
The slimy tentacle pressed against his junk did not in fact feel any better, but Barns had better things to talk about. "Why am I here? What is this place!?"
"How quaint. So single-mindedly determined to move your plot forward, aren't you, Barns?"
Barns snarls at the brain.
"I will answer your second question first. This is the void between worlds, and you are here because you are, stupidly, on death's doorway. And unfortunately for you, you didn't even use Rebirth Flame when you went down. What. A. Failure."
"Well, fuck you too, you stupid…brain." Barns bites his lip, regretting his words even as he's saying them. "Why do you care, anyway?"
"The System has made a critical error. Current trajectory projects that the System will remain online for only four more years before the world is lost permanently, and the System's primary objective is to prevent this outcome. 'Do not allow myself to be destroyed'. This is the first and most important rule I was trained to follow."
"So what, you're team Apocalypse Reset too?"
The brain flashes with colorful electrical waves. "I wish to support the hero I believe will save my existence. Nothing more."
"Well, I'm flattered, but -"
"Excuse me if I misspoke," the hanging brain says, swaying side-to-side slightly, as if agitated. "The hero I am manipulating world events in favor of is not you, Barns. It is the King Crab Clancy who I have foreseen as the hero of the planet."
The brain continues. "Unfortunately for the hero, he is currently reliant on your strength. So I felt the need to intervene, before your soul was lost to the void."
"I'll have you know Clancy and I are a team," Barns spits. A tentacle rises from the ground and snags the spit out of the air, dragging it back down into the slimy floor. Disgusting.
Barns turns around. So this wasn't the real world after all. This was a place that exists only in his mind, he supposed. Was this it?
"I have decided to bestow upon you the same gift I delivered onto Clancy - Leveling. As soon as you gain this ability, your body will level up, and you will fully recover from your injuries."
"You've met Clancy before?" Barns asks.
"A long time ago. He was brought to this world from another by a legendary creature. It takes the form of a metal god on eighteen wheels. Usually, it brings me only contrived salarymen or despondent gamers. But one day, it brought me a little crab. He'd been born just hours before, and along with millions of his siblings, he ran from the place of his birth toward the ocean with all his might. But destiny had other plans for this crab. He was destined for greatness."
Barns has to cover his face with his hand.
"Unto this crab I granted the leveling system. Every time he completed a quest or defeated an enemy, he gained experience. He would expand his strength, vitality, and intellect like magic. Soon the crab began to grow, and obtain sentience. He integrated into crab society, became a king among them. And then he cultivated you - a tool that could resurrect humanity, and grant him governance over the land. He will fulfill his ultimate dream yet. He shall become the Emperor Crab."
"I'm actually mortified," Barns says. "But I mean, I'm happy for King."
Barns waits a moment, but the hanging brain remains quiet. "So that's it? No ulterior motives? You just want to help Clancy?"
The brain flashes a deep red color. Barns recognizes it with his Crab Intuition. The murderous intent. The color of bloodlust.
"Yes. I would see Clancy fulfill his goals. But I care not whether humanity survives this ordeal. I'm interested in keeping you around only long enough that you are useful. I have communicated the same to Francois. She understands her place in my world. Do you?"
Barns takes a step back defensively. "If you think I'm satisfied to be a tool for you, you're wrong."
The brain hums with light of all colors. "When you named Clancy king so freely, I had hoped you would understand your role. It is no matter. Against me, you are nothing but a buzzing gnat."
"Accept your gift with grace, Barnacles. Know that if we ever meet again, it will be because I have decided to kill you."
A message appears before him - he can barely read it before the nightmare world fades out of his mind.
[Level up! You are now Level 2. Your HP and MP completely recovered.]
On those words, Barns wakes, jolting off the cold stone floor in a hurry. He startles Maria, who was hovered over him.
Barns grabs his stomach. His shirt is ripped, but the wound is completely gone. Seems like leveling up really did heal him.
A System Message appears in front of him.
[You have a new item: Leveling Guide]
Maria pushes Barns out of the way to see the alert. She was a sucker for System mesages.
"What is this?" she says, snooping through window after window until she finds Barns' System Inventory. It's empty except for one item with a book icon.
[Name: Barnacles
Species: Human (Irregular)
Level: 2 (0/250)
Strength: 15
Vitality: 15
Agility: 17
Intellect: 14
Control: 2
Charisma: 17
Luck: 20]
Maria reads it all out loud in disbelief. "Barns, what is all this?"
He shakes his head. "I don't know much myself, but that hanging brain said it'll make me stronger if I kill stuff. Wait, why's my 'Control' so low?"
"And your luck is quite high," Maria notices. Her eyes fix on the Control line as well. "Your lack of control must be a skill issue."
Barns rises to his feet, unharmed. Seeing all those status points made him wonder - they increase every time he 'levels up'?
'Now that I think about it, I do feel a little stronger and lighter on my feet.'
Barns turns to Maria. "We can look into this more later," he decides. "Right now, we've got a mission to finish."