Chapters 13 - 18
Chapter 13 : Room With A View
The first thing Takuma did was to make himself comfortable. The bed was rather stiff -- not well used, which was good in his opinion. There wasn’t much in the room aside from a table, a wash bucket, bedpan and a dresser near the wall. There was also a large square window facing the mainstreet of Arnia on the far end of the room. Takuma could see both Wyvern’s and the General Store from his room, as well as a row of other street stands and shops -- most of which were closed or unattended.
He unwrapped the cloth belt around his injured hand and flexed it a few times. The large holes in his hand had all but healed, leaving little more than indentations. It had taken less than an hour by Takuma’s reckoning.
“Good to know my regeneration can handle wounds like this.” He remarked aloud as he walked over to the bed and opened his dimension storage. He pulled out the three items he’d purchased from the general store just over an hour ago, starting with the most interesting of the three.
“
Dream Gourd(Quality : 222) [Curse Rank 3] [Type Zero] - A magical tool said to trap nightmares.
Curse Effect: Sandman - Restful sleep only lasts two hours.
Curse Duration: 15 days.
Mana Rewarded: 325
Experience Rewarded: 125
Secondary Effect : Lullaby - Inflict Slumber (Lvl 2 Sleep) on any within a three meter radius.
Uses : 5
“
The first thing Takuma noticed was that the Dream Gourd didn’t seem to have a blessing attached to it. This most likely meant that not all cursed relics did. He thought back to his earlier encounter with the Bloodletter and something else which bothered him at the time. The Curse rank for the Bloodletter was five originally, but after being purified the Bless rank dropped to 2. This suggested that perhaps it was possible for an item to receive less powerful blessings during the purification process. This contradicted Takuma’s assumption that he would get something of equal value based on his experience with the Goddess Amulet. It was a logical assumption, but a guess just the same.
The Dream Gourd was by far the “safest” curse he could hope to deal with. He quickly spammed his Partial Purification skill until the item was cleansed in a flash of white light.
“
Dream Gourd(Quality : 222) [Bless Rank 0] [Type Zero] - A magical tool said to trap nightmares.
Magic Effect: Doze : Inflict a single target with a sleep spell. Causes nightmare illusions which damage mana.
Secondary Effect : Lullaby - Inflict Slumber (Lvl 2 Sleep) on any within a three meter radius.
Uses : 5
“
As Takuma suspected, the Bless Rank decreased, this time completely, with this item. If he had to venture another guess the item’s original effect had most likely been restored.
“This is actually a really nice item. Normally with status ailments there’s a chance to fail on activation. This seems like an absolute cast type-- maybe because there are a limited number of uses?” Takuma said as he picked up the Dream Gourd and inspected it. It was little more than a decorative gourd at this point but he could feel a strange sensation from within the item--no doubt what he perceived was mana.
He placed it into his inventory for later and next turned his attention to the small ring.
“
Iron Ring(Quality : 55) [Curse Rank 3] [Armament] - A sturdy iron ring that can be enchanted with one or more magic effects.
Curse Effect: Miasma Poisoning - While wearing the ring users will suffer from the effects of minor miasma build up.
Curse Duration: Constant
Mana Rewarded: 600
Experience Rewarded: 25
Secondary Effect : N/A
“
He equipped the ring and stood silently, waiting.
“+1 Mana.”
“+1 Mana.”
“-2 Vit.”
This cycle repeated once every thirty seconds or so. Takuma’s initial idea was to equip the ring and use it as a mana regeneration item but with the vitality drain that would be impossible. It would eventually kill him at this rate. It might take a few hours but…
“Wait…” He thought to himself as he quickly opened his Inventory menu. He hovered over the equipped Goddess Amulet and was surprised to see that the item’s resistances had changed.
“Lesser Miasma Resistance : 17%”
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 2%”
This was significantly higher than before but Takuma waited several minutes to test his theory. He watched as the lesser miasma resistance occasionally increased, a broad smile spreading across his face.
“Interesting.” He said with a smug grin. This experiment would take a little longer to play out and the only downside was that one of his three equipment slots was sealed until the ring was purified. Still, infinite mana gain, however minimal was a pretty good deal.
The final item was a black and gold trimmed cloak, it was in rather poor condition as the ends were in tatters and several holes could be seen in the fabric. Originally the item caught his eye because of its appearance but he also wanted to test something else.
“
Phantom Cloak(Quality : 15) [Curse Rank 2] [Armament] - A cloak that makes the user ‘feel’ faster. Bless Chance 2%.
Curse Effect: Slow Poke - -2 Accel, -50% movement speed and reaction time.
Curse Duration : Constant
Secondary Effect : Phantom Step - Create an after image of yourself.
“
It seemed like the higher the quality of an item, the better the chance of obtaining a blessed item after purification. He equipped the cloak and attempted to walk around but he couldn’t do so without bursting into a fit laughter. His movement was painfully slow, worse than a sloth’s! He purified the item (as quickly as he could given the curse) and then checked the Phantom Cloak’s description once more.
“
Phantom Cloak(Quality : 55) [Bless Rank 0] [Armament] - A short,hoodless cloak that makes the user faster.
Item Effect: Fleet Footed - +2 Accel while equipped. Increases both movement speed and reflexes by 50%.
Secondary Effect : Phantom Step - Create an after image of yourself.
“
As suspected, the Bless rank dropped completely but the original item was pretty good on it’s own merit. What’s more, the item's quality increased during the purification process. This suggested that some curses actually might degrade the items themselves over time.
Takuma plopped down on his bed, his mind swirling with thoughts. He’d confirmed quite a few things today. The first was that curses ranked three or lower were much easier to deal with. They could even be considered “safe” under the right conditions.
Item quality seemed to play a major factor as to whether an item would become blessed after purification. Also most of the curses seem to be inverse reactions to the item’s intended effect. The Goddess Amulet was meant to protect and instead ended up harming. The Phantom Cloak, once purified, increased his Accel and made him faster. By contrast it’s cursed counterpart sentenced the wearer to life at a snail’s pace.
“The world of curses is more complex than I thought.”
With this Takuma hopped off of the bed and stretched lightly. Now that he’d settled in, it was time to revisit the general shop.
Chapter 14 : The Cursed Keeper
“1,200 experience points.” Takuma repeated to himself as he walked along Arnia mainstreet, his destination was Dot’s shop.
This number was in reference to reaching his next Class Rank and by extension more skills and abilities. It had only been about a day and some hours since his arrival in this new world but he’d managed to progress one fifth his class ladder. It's not that he had a problem with skill based “games” but there was a certain appeal to reaching level 999 and obtaining the most powerful gear. Takuma decided to reserve his judgement for now and instead focused on upcoming skill and ability acquisition.
The more he examined the Relic Meister skill tree the more he realized just how essential all of the skills and abilities would be.
Secondary Effects on relics seemed to function as item specific skills that he could activate at a certain point. Now that he had two of them he couldn’t help but wonder about their use. It was clear what the secondary effects did by the description but for Takuma it was like a child awaiting christmas day -- he just wanted to unwrap the present and play already.
“Rank 5, Relic Activation.” Though he’d just got done gloating about how close he was to being a rank 3 Meister, the amount of experience needed to reach each rank seemed to double. At first he only needed 1,000 points to reach rank 1, he got a little more than that simply from equipping the Goddess Amulet if he remembered correctly. Rank 2 requirements had shot up to 2,000 and now Rank 3 required 4,000.
In a way his near death experiences were good in the sense that he’d managed to quickly rank up. If rank three and lower cursed relics were any indication, it might have taken dozens or even a hundred purifications to break his first level. For Takuma this also added a sense of foreshadowing since if his Rank up requirements continued to double, at some point he would need to resort to purifying relics of rank four or higher..
Takuma entered the general shop and closed the door behind him before making his way to the counter.
“Oh. Hello, back again?” Dot asked.
“Indeed. I’d like to make a few purchases. First things first...do you perhaps have some better clothes I can buy? I’m borrowing these.” Takuma said as he motioned to the borrowed suit he was currently wearing.
Dot nodded, inviting Takuma to follow her to a nearby room. Inside were assorted pieces of clothing, of varying prices. Surprisingly enough, none of them were cursed. After a few minutes and several suggestions Takuma decided to choose a traditional caster’s outfit. A free flowing shirt bound by a leather belt, somewhat baggy pants along with ankle high boots.
“Is it also possible to have this cloak repaired?” Takuma asked, pointing to his Phantom Cloak.
“No, sorry. I don’t have the materials here to fix this cloth. It seems enchanted.” Dot said as she fingered the holes in the fabric.
“She can tell that much? Hmm..” He thought.
It may have been because Takuma stared intently for a bit too long but he noticed something that gave him cause for concern.
“Dorothy Hemslock. Class - Shopkeeper Rank 7/10.
Height : 155 cm
Weight : 65 kg
Party : None.
Guild : None
Status : Cursed [Curse Rank 6] Longevity Syphon - A hereditary curse passed on from generation to generation. Halves vitality and slowly decreases lifeforce over time until death.”
“What the hell?” Takuma mumbled as he stared at Dot in disbelief. He had begun to register a faint purple outline surrounding her body.
“+1 Mana.”
“She’s cursed. Is that even possible?” Takuma whispered. Now that he thought about it, his assumption and limited experiences led him to believe that only items could be cursed. He wouldn’t call it a “possession”, because that implied being taken over by an entity. It was just that he never really thought it possible. In fact,the more Takuma thought about it the more foolish he felt.
“What’s that?” Dot asked, suddenly looking up to meet his gaze. Her face seemed paler than before and Takuma’s mind flashed back to the sensation of discomfort when their hands met earlier in the day.
“Shit. Shit! This is worse than I thought.” Takuma gritted his teeth as he receded into his own thoughts. The original plan was to purchase as many of the relics as possible and purify them himself over time. If for some reason that wouldn’t work, he decided to ask for a job -- even if it meant working for free. This would allow him to handle the relics directly and remove as many of the curses as possible.
He never considered that Dot herself would be cursed. Considering the fact that he’d nearly died or had been seriously injured several times over the past day, it was almost a certainty that he would need to improve his skills to help Dot. Unless he cured Dot in one go, the curse would most likely flare up and claim her life. Not only that, but the curse was a rank six curse.
“+1 Mana.”
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 3%”
“Dot. I’d like to buy more of the items out front, if that’s okay.” Takuma said suddenly. This was something he planned to do anyway but now he simply needed time to think. Dot escorted him back to the front of the store and he quickly went to work purchasing cursed items. He started with every rank three item (about twenty in total) then moved onto rank two items. Finally he collected all of the remaining rank one items as well.
“That comes to about 302 silvers.” Dot said as she tallied his purchases. Takuma carefully studied the young woman’s face, her mannerisms -- even her breathing. She seemed winded and her hands shook as she moved to set all of the items before him. He handed her three gold coins and twenty-two silvers as a tip and then insisted that she allow him to finish up.
Dot bowed graciously as she wobbled slightly. The next thing Takuma knew she’d fallen face first to the floor with a loud, resounding thud.
“+5 Mana.”
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 4%”
Chapter 15 : Chloe 911
Takuma dropped to his knees, his level of concern reaching new heights, as he inspected Dot. She was breathing heavily as beads of sweat formed on her brow, not a particularly good sign. This time he noticed a new entry in her description.
“Currently suffering from the effects of Miasma Poisoning.” Takuma glanced up at the items on the counter and quickly deduced that they were the source of miasma. He hopped to it, placing all of the items in his storage as swiftly as possible. No less than a minute later he was done and proceeded to help Dot up to her feet. She thanked him then motioned to a nearby backroom.
If Takuma had to guess the young woman lived in the shop since the room turned out to be her bedroom. He helped her lay down on the bed and made her as comfortable as possible before adding “ Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
He then dashed out of the store and ran down the street to Chloe’s shop. “Pots and Oints”, a quirky name for a quirky person. Takuma burst through the door, startling Chloe who was tinkering with a potion behind the counter.
“T-takuma!? You scared me senseless!” She stammered, her hands shaking.
“Chloe -- sorry, I didn’t mean to. I have an emergency. Can I borrow you? It’s important!” The expression of urgency was enough for her to agree. Together the two hurriedly returned to the general store where Chloe was still lying in her bed.
“Takuma, this looks like a severe case of poisoning. What happened?” Chloe asked as she knelt near the bedside and began to pull items from her waist pouch.
“Curses. I visited this shop earlier and I noticed there were a ton of cursed items here. So I wanted to buy them, so I could purify them. As Dot was selling them to me she fainted.”
“Curses? You mean like the one last night?” Chloe asked. She was obviously shaken the moment she heard the word “curse”.
Takuma nodded before drawing extremely close to Chloe and adding, “She’s also been cursed.”
“Is that possible?” It was clear the news caused Chloe to falter for a moment. Takuma could also tell that she was wondering whether the curse would affect her or not.
“Curses? That’s rubbish.” Dot said, her voice weak and frail.
“I’m just a little under the weather. I’ve been pushing myself too hard. It happens often.” She said through labored breaths. Chloe shot a glance at Takuma who could only shake his head in response.
“Okay Dot. It seems like you’ve got a case of blood poisoning. I’m going to attempt to remove it for you.” Chloe said as she crushed a small vial of green colored liquid in her palm. The fumes rose upwards, twisting and turning as they flowed into Dot’s nostrils. Takuma had seen this once before when Chloe used the same technique on him.
“Chloe Alfeim. Class Herbal Mage Rank 5/10
Height :152 cm
Weigh t: 59 kg
Party : None.
Guild : Midnight Ravens [Founder]
“
Dot fell into a coughing fit, her body shaking with each convulsion. After the fifth cough she spit up dark colored liquid, this was the poison -- at least that’s what Takuma assumed. There was a great amount of black fluid coming out, so much so that Dot could do little else but lean over the side of the bed and vomit for a solid fifteen seconds.
Takuma had seen all manner of gore, blood and injuries yet somehow his stomach chose this moment to revolt. He looked away, fighting the urge to follow suit.
“There. Let it come out.” Chloe said as she rubbed Dot’s back. Takuma noticed a green aura around her left hand, a sign that Chloe was also soothing her nausea and restoring her vitality at the same time via magic.
He watched with bated breath until finally the ominous description faded from Chloe’s tooltip. Though the curse remained, the poison was now gone.
“Takuma.” Chloe said, grabbing his attention.
“Are you okay? You were exposed to the miasma as well, right?”
“I’m fine. My class seems to offer me protection from it. Also, this amulet--the one I purified last night , the more it’s exposed to negative ailments the more resistance it builds.” Takuma explained as he pulled the Goddess Amulet from within his shirt.
Chloe nodded, then asked him to leave the room for a moment while she tidied up Dot.
Takuma exited the room, closing the door behind him as his thoughts began to work in overdrive. He had absolutely no clue that miasma could be so dangerous. To him it was little more than a bit of fog but to others, even Chloe last night, it was enough to render them ill in concentrated amounts.
It was definitely the right move to purchase all of those cursed relics. Without Chloe’s help to remove the poison Takuma shuddered to think of what might have happened. Though he’d spent nearly seven lifetimes in various worlds to date he absolutely despised the idea of good people dying senselessly. Unfortunately it seemed to happen all too often.
After a few minutes Chloe stepped outside the door and closed it behind her.
“How is she?” Takuma asked.
“She’s stable for now. Takuma, you mentioned that she’s cursed? How is that possible?” Chloe asked as she pulled Takuma away from the door.
“I don’t know. I.. I improved my Relic Appraisal skill and now it lets me get a general idea of how powerful curses are. I can look and tell at a glance, and as she was assisting me with my purchase I noticed she has a curse attached to her as well.”
“Is it severe?” Chloe asked.
Takuma nodded, adding. “It’s life threatening. Unless I remove it, it will claim her life--for sure.”
“What?” Takuma failed to notice the bedroom door open as Dot stood in the doorway listening in on their conversation.
“Dot…” Takuma began, but he wasn’t really sure how to handle the situation. The last way he wanted her to discover this news was accidentally.
“So it’s true then? Ha. Ha ha ha ha.” Dot said as she began to laugh nervously. She laughed so hard that she began to cough again, a faint trace of black fluid dripping from the corner of her mouth.
“Dot….are you okay?” Chloe asked.
“Yes. I’m fine it’s just...ironic. That’s all. I can’t believe….she was right.” Dot replied as she turned to walk into her bedroom.
Chapter 16 : A Cursed Heritage
“Ever since I was a young girl, my mother would always tell me to make the most of life, that each day isn’t promised. I thought it was just her way of inspiring me to live life in a meaningful way but…”
Dot sat down on the bed as Takuma and Chloe followed her into the bedroom.
“Eventually, on my sixteenth birthday she pulled me aside and told me a family secret. She confided in me that my grandmother and her grandmother both died young. She also told me that her days were numbered as well. None of the women in my family lived past the age of thirty five--and she said that she was next.”
“She then told me that it was important to get married early, so that my future daughter would have enough time with me. According to my mother, it was due to a curse placed on our family several generations ago. Naturally I dismissed it, it was ridiculous after all. A few years later, on my eighteenth birthday, my mother passed away at the age of thirty five.
Almost as if she expected this to happen she further explained, on her deathbed, about the rest of the curse. She said that, once she passed on, the curse would be my burden to bear. And she told me that the reason my father was never around is that the curse also took his life in exchange for my birth. Can you imagine? Being told that you are responsible for your father’s death? A man I never knew...but always yearned for?
She claimed that soon after I was born, my father died and that this pattern would repeat for my husband and child in time. Just listening to her words made me angry. It sounded as if she’d given up. Given in to fate.
What could I do? Really? She was dying before my eyes… it’s not like I could defy her or deny her beliefs--but secretly I resented her. I rebelled in the only way I knew how. I refused to acknowledge the ‘curse’ and soon after my mother passed away I was determined to live my own life without limitation.”
Chloe grabbed Takuma’s arm as she listened to Dot recount the story of her early life.
“For the first few months things went well, then one day out of the blue I fainted. I remember the first attack so vividly, labored breathing, my brow beaded with sweat, the sensation that something was clawing through my veins. After a few minutes the fit passed but the sensation of being constantly afflicted remained. I immediately thought back to my mother’s words -- and it made me even more angry.
My defiance grew, I absolutely refused to accept the fact that my life was controlled by anything other than myself. Now I’m twenty one years old, unmarried, childless and--”
Dot began to tear up as she covered her face in shame.
Chloe sat down next to Dot and placed an arm around the young woman.
“I should have listened. I should have tried to understand.” Dot said through her hard sobs.
The sight was truly heart rending for Takuma. For him it was always difficult to watch women cry, he considered it a personal weak point of his as it caused considerable grief in a past reincarnation. But that was a tale for another time perhaps..
Still, as he watched Dot sob uncontrollably he felt spurred into action.
“There’s a way to get rid of the curse, probably.” Takuma said suddenly.
Dot slowly glanced upwards at him, her face and cheeks still red from rubbing her eyes.
“What do you mean?” She asked. Takuma could sense the faint glimmer of hope in her voice and it was because of this that he’d been hesitant to speak up at all. He wanted to be one hundred percent certain that he could get rid of the curse before saying anything.
“I’m a Relic Meister. My class is special, it seems. I can only acquire new abilities and skills by taking on and purifying curses.”
“Is that true?” Dot asked amid her sniffles.
Chloe nodded in affirmation, adding, “It’s true. I’ve seen him do it.”
“Can you….is it possible to..”
“Yes.” Takuma cut Dot’s question short. He wasn’t about to make her plead for his help, it just wasn’t his style. However…
He’d now agreed to a problem that he wasn’t sure he could solve. The main issue is his purification abilities. With Partial Purification he could definitely remove the curse, assuming the skill worked on people to begin with. He also could see a vivid mental image of Chloe dying as the curse flared up. That also assumed that he had enough mana to even perform the purification as he couldn’t gauge the necessary amount just by looking. The last and most important thing to consider was, if the curse sapped her lifeforce would using Partial Purification multiple times also shorten her lifespan? There were too many unknowns and Takuma was absolutely sure of one thing -- he didn’t have the power to fix the problem. At least not at present.
“It will take some time. Luckily I am pretty close to another breakthrough.” Takuma added.
“Until then, Chloe is it possible to--”
“Um, hello? Is anyone here?” A young woman’s voice rang out from the front of the shop.
“Oh! It’s Lilah.” Dot said as she attempted to get to her feet. Takuma held up his hand and instead went to the front of the store on Dot’s behalf.
“Hi. Can I help you?” He asked.
“Hello. Is Dot here? Could you tell her Lilah is here with her delivery?” The woman’s voice was “cute”. It was the only way Takuma could describe it but it didn’t match her appearance. Lilah “acted” cute to be sure, but the first impression Takuma got was mysterious. Perhaps even a bit dangerous. She was dressed in a hooded cloak which ran the length of her small, frail body. If Takuma had to estimate at her height it would be around 128 centimeters.
Her style reminded him of classic depictions of Red Riding Hood. Aside from that her cloak was black with red trim around the edges. Her clothing matched as well, a black band of satin ribbon wrapped around her neck and wrists, her shirt and matching skirt were both red. The thing Takuma noticed the most, perhaps, was a band of black fabric tied around her eyes. It was thick, so thick in fact that Takuma doubted anyone would be able to see through it. This in turn caused him to wonder why she might be wearing it at all.
Her skin was abnormally pale, grey in fact, and her hair --what little he could see-- was stark white. The contrast of her black lipstick against her pale skin made Takuma feel anxious even though the young lady was smiling. Or perhaps it wasn’t her appearance that made him feel on edge.
He detected a faint chill from her, she seemed to lack warmth. Though he tried to view her description it seemed the hood worked to conceal her information.
“???
????”
Aside from her given name, Lilah was a complete enigma.
“Dot’s not feeling well. I’ll take that on her behalf.” Takuma said as she held his hand out to receive a wooden box no larger than a cubic meter.
“Oh, well that’s unusual. I’m afraid I can’t pass this off to anyone but Dot and…”
By this time Dot got to her feet and made her way to the bedroom door. She poked her head out and waved with a nod, confirming that Takuma was okay to receive the package.
“Well.. that confirms it.” The young woman said as she placed the box on the table (instead of his waiting hands) and then pulled a scroll from within the folds of her cloak.
“Sign here please!” She said with a girlish laugh as she also handed Takuma a black feather quill pen.
Takuma quickly signed his name and nodded to the young woman who gave him a smile as she turned to walk away.
Takuma then turned to join Chloe and Dot in the bedroom. As he walked away he noticed something which stopped him in his tracks.
“+1 Mana.”
“+2 Mana.”
Chapter 17: “Special” Delivery
Takuma couldn’t help but pause as he took a moment to glance around. He didn’t see any other cursed items in the display case nor anywhere else in the store. What was causing his mana to rise? Aside from the cursed ring on his finger he was sure he’d gotten rid of everything else in the shop which could emit miasma. Was his inventory perhaps leaking the toxic gas?
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 8%”
Clearly that wasn’t the case.
As he struggled to understand what happened Takuma froze in his tracks for a brief moment. Then, as if a bolt of lightning struck his brain, he turned and hopped over the counter in one fluid motion.
“Takuma?” Chloe asked after him as she watched him bolt out of the shop.
Out on the street Takuma searched as best he could for Lilah. There were many more people out than just a few hours ago no doubt spurred about their daily activities by the mid morning sun. He continued gazing about wildly and finally caught a glimpse of her red and black cloak.
“There she is!” He whispered to himself as he began to run towards her. He noticed how much quicker he moved in comparison to yesterday, the Phantom Cloak was really handy. He darted through a group of people, some of which seemed confused by his rush. It was a fine day after all, no need for all of the commotion! Lilah was only a block or two away when Takuma spotted her but he felt as if the distance between them steadily grew. No matter how fast he ran, he simply couldn't seem to catch up. He watched as Lilah turned a corner up ahead and he quickly followed her only to notice she was nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell?” He whispered to himself. He dashed down the length of the alleyway but it was no use. After searching the immediate area for several minutes more Takuma was forced to return to the general shop.
“Is everything okay?” Dot asked as she worked to open the box on the counter top.
Takuma briskly walked over and eyed the box anxiously.
“+2 Mana.”
“Dot! How about this? I’ll pay you another 100 silvers for whatever is in this box.” Takuma said as he slapped his hand down on top of the wooden box.
“Takuma..are you serious? I haven’t even checked these items out. I’m not even sure what’s in here.”
“I know! That’s what makes this so fun. It could be less than 100 silvers worth of items...or it could be more. What do you think?” He asked. He noticed Chloe staring at him, a puzzled expression on her face, but he ignored it.
“Well.. it would save me the trouble of cataloging them. And if you want to, I don’t see why not.. You’ve already done so much for me today.” Dot said with a warm smile. Takuma could feel the genuine gratitude flowing out of her. If it wasn’t for the miasma flowing from the box he’d have gladly basked in the tender moment.
He pulled out the hundred silvers and placed it into Dot’s open hands.
“Thanks Takuma.” Dot replied gratefully.
“So… are you going to open it?” She then asked , apparently she was still curious about the contents of the box.
“N-nooo. Not right now. I’m going to save it for later of course. I like to be surprised.” He added before opening his storage and shoving the box into the portal that appeared. If possible he wanted to avoid alerting Dot or Chloe to his newfound suspicions..
“I never get tired of seeing that. Ah, I’d be able to sell SO MUCH STUFF if I could do that!” Dot practically squealed upon seeing Takuma’s inventory in action once again.
He couldn’t help but smile with the thought, “Well..at least she’s feeling better.”
It would be another fifteen minutes at the general store before Takuma decided to walk Chloe back to her office. The two discussed a possible treatment for Dot’s poison symptoms, but they both agreed it would only be a temporary solution.Takuma had to develop the necessary skills to completely heal her to solve the root problem. He then thanked her with a few silvers before returning to the inn. After entering the room he paced back and forth several times before finally plopping down on the bed.
As usual his thoughts were racing. He did everything in his power to avoid alerting Dot or Chloe to the fact that a package filled with cursed items was delivered to the shop right under their noses! The more he thought about it, the more it made sense, after all Dot’s shop was practically filled with cursed relics. If someone had been purposely offloading those items by selling them to Dot…
He needed to speak to Lilah again. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, after all she could just be a delivery girl -- but explanations were definitely in order! According to Dot, Lilah made deliveries every three days or so, which should give Takuma enough time to reach rank 3 as a Relic Meister.
At least he hoped that would be the case. Even with the sixty some odd cursed items he purchased, most of them only gave a pittance in terms of experience. On the subject of ranking up Takuma honestly had no clue what to invest his points in this time. Instant Purification was a given, even with the 2x mana cost it would be worth it and though he would need to test out the skill, Takuma was sure it would be pivotal to curing Dot.
Of the remaining skills he could acquire and use there were:
Conjure Spirit (Class Skill) - Expend mana to conjure spirits which dwell inside certain relics. Each spirit summoned drains a fixed amount of mana over time.
And..
Manipulate Curse (Class Skill) - Pull a curse from an object and place it into another. The objects must be comparable in “integrity” and “quality” for the transfer to work. Additional upgrades allow one to seal curses as well.
The first seemed like a summoner’s ability. Furthermore there didn’t seem to be a limitation on the number of spirits that could be conjured. He could see this being very useful in the future against groups of foes. ‘Manipulate Curse’ was much more attractive to him though, particularly the bit about “sealing” curses. Did that mean he could block a curse’s effects and then use Partial Purification in order to avoid the “backlash”? If so that would solve the biggest problem straight away.
At this point it was a matter of priority and Manipulate Curse seemed the more useful of the two remaining skills. There was also another option -- increasing his Relic Hunter ability. If Takuma had to venture a guess, some of his abilities were tied into the Curse System. By improving his Relic Appraisal Ability he’d gained the benefit of inspecting normal items and even people. He had no doubt improving Relic Hunter would do the same, and the more he thought over the prospect the more it made sense.
He would need to find relics quickly in the future and it was a certainty that this skill would help in some way. Ultimately Takuma decided on the following:
Manipulate Curse [1] , Relic Hunter [2] and Instant Purification [1].
Still there was something that bugged Takuma. In “game-like worlds” where amassing stats were less important, a player’s skill had to suffice. Currently Takuma had no offensive abilities, barely any defensive capability and he also couldn’t equip weapons or armor unless they were relics (cursed or blessed). There was far too much restriction to his current self and he couldn’t leave future encounters to chance. Though he desperately needed a way to defend himself, he decided that the best solution would simply be to improve his resistance as much as possible for now.
With that in mind he sat up, cracked both his hands and his neck and rolled his shoulders to finish his warm-up ritual. He then opened his inventory and began pulling out the most potent relics in his inventory. In all there were twenty rank 3 cursed items, ten rank 2 items and the rest were rank 1. He ignored the box for now, he’d check it out later, instead he placed all of the rank 3 items.
He spread them out on the floor in a circular pattern and sat in the middle, awaiting some kind of reaction..
“+3 Mana.”
“Lesser Miasma Resistance : 18%”
“This is going to be super freaking boring.” Takuma said to himself as he opened his Lore Menu. If he was going to passive train he might as well work on improving his stat modifiers as well. It had been a while since Takuma checked out his status menu, things looked like this:
“
Vitality - 85 [93] (20%)
Mana- 2,832 (30%)
Stamina- 70[95] (2%)
Force- 4 [5] (2%)
Accel- 3 [5] (5%)
Knowledge- 4 (75%)
Food Bonus: {Roasted Ram Stew : +25 Stamina, +1 Force. Duration : 2 : 43: 15.}
*Additional Effects*
Phantom Cloak : +50% movement speed.
“
Takuma chuckled at the fact that his Knowledge modifier was much higher than the rest, evidence that he thought entirely too much. Based on his past experience maxing out modifiers this wouldn’t take very long either. He decided to activate his Partial Purification spell just to see if he could get away with spam training -- and it worked. What’s more, because he wasn’t actually using it on a cursed item mana consumption was nil.
“Perfect!”
If there was anything Takuma had learned from several reincarnations, it was that passive training was the most boring thing on the face of the planet. Training in general tended to be a time consuming practice and he quickly learned that in order to gain any real benefit, one had to train multiple aspects of their being at any given time. The more, the better! Thus Takuma grew proficient at multitasking training methods, so much so that at one point in his past life (aka the dark, cultivation days) he was known as the “Training Beast Of The South”.
Raising his mana modifier by using his mana, boosting his resistance to miasma, improving his knowledge and eventually physical conditioning -- he accomplished all of these simultaneously and efficiently. Within an hour the miasma resistance maxed out.
“Lesser Miasma Resistance : 99% [MAX]”
“So it will only go as high as 99% hmm? Well, that’s still not bad.” Takuma thought to himself. He stopped his physical training only to bring out the remaining cursed relics. Soon the entire floor of his room (and parts of his bed) were filled with cursed items.
“+7 Mana.”
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 12%”
“-3 Vitality [Miasma Poisoning]”
Chapter 18 : Rippling Muscles And Pink Potions
“Oh? You’re approaching me?” Takuma said with a chuckle as he took note of the poison alert. In response he took off his cloak, shirt , boots and began to do push ups. Though he realized the risk posed by the poison, he would need to carefully watch the rate of damage as compared to the resistance build -- but this didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. With each alert Takuma gained 1-2% resistance and he could already tell that his vitality wouldn’t hold up long enough to max his resistance in one sitting. One might think this would annoy Takuma but he welcomed the increase in “difficulty”.
Soon the sensation of poison spread all throughout his body and a new alert appeared.
[Sluggish : -1 Force, -1 Accel]
Apparently some status ailments carried the ability to debuff as well.
He quickly adjusted his training plans as he continued one set of push ups and moved onto sit ups. The poison inflicted damage every thirty seconds or so, thus Takuma decided to leave the room once he’d reached 20 vitality. This would also allow him to test the invisible substance known as “miasma” and its area of effect. His plan was to wait in the hallway or use another room on the floor to rest if need be. Judging from his earlier experience, direct contact with curses yielded the highest concentration of miasma so conversely creating distance should stop it’s effects. Even with the cursed ring equipped, his regenerative abilities would be enough to recover his health in just short of three hours. Now that his vitality pool had nearly doubled, relying on meager regeneration gains would not be enough.
After approximately six minutes Takuma was forced to leave the room and walk to the end of the hallway before the alerts stopped. Just six minutes of severe miasma poisoning was enough to bring him to near critical status.
“Dot’s been dealing with something like this...for years.” He thought to himself as he slammed his fist against the nearby wall.
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 40%”
The more intense the miasma in the atmosphere, the more quickly it seemed to attack the body. The gains were good in terms of raising his percentage but at this rate it would take him nearly a day and a half to max out this particular resistance. Takuma didn’t have that sort of time so he dashed down the stairs of the inn and out into the street.
Minutes later bursted into Chloe’s shop, ‘Pots and Oints’, and screamed “ I need Vitality Potions!”
Chloe’s glasses tilted on her face as she took note of Takuma’s state. Barefooted, shirtless , his body glistening in sweat -- it was enough to send her into a tizzy. Takuma was fully aware of the blush growing on her cheeks, however he ignored it and walked boldly up to the counter.
“If you please.” He added.
“S-sure.” Chloe said, obviously flustered.
He purchased five potions at fifteen silvers each then quickly dashed back to his room at the inn. He even ignored the surprised face of the innkeeper as he cleared the steps several at a time.
“I probably should have asked Chloe how to use these…” Takuma noticed they were different from the small vials Chloe usually crushed in her hand. Still, he squeezed the bottle until the glass cracked, cutting himself in the process. The pink liquid oozed out onto the ground and disappeared after a few seconds leaving Takuma with a gash on his hand which caused him to wince in pain.
“Okay.. obviously not how they are supposed to be used...”
Takuma next decided to drink one of the potions. This had the intended effect as he felt the wound on his palm heal and a cooling sensation radiating through his body. Unfortunately the potion wasn’t the instant type, it merely regenerated vitality by the second. Takuma could use this to his advantage however, since the potion’s effect and duration played to his advantage. He rushed back to his room, shutting the door behind as he then hopped over the plethora of items on the floor. He wanted to capitalize on the potion’s lasting effects. +10 vitality per second for thirty seconds-- a total of 300 vitality.
Takuma wasted no time putting the other potions away and continuing his exercises. He alternated between sit ups and push ups and each time his vitality would reach twenty points he’d use a potion.
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 54%”
By the time his resistance reached 54% the amount of vitality damage dropped to 2 points per affliction. The rate at which the damage occurred also decreased to forty five seconds instead of thirty.
This simple adjustment was enough to extend Takuma’s training time by almost thirty minutes before he needed to use another potion. By the end of an hour he’d managed to completely max out his resistance to severe miasma as well.
“Severe Miasma Resistance : 99%[MAX]”
Though he succeeded in completing another training goal, the success was bittersweet. He could still be afflicted with poison, but now he would only take 1 point of Vitality damage every two minutes or so. This was a vast improvement compared to earlier and the ‘Sluggish’ ailment no longer hindered him either. All in all, not too shabby.
“Let’s see how the rest is going.” He said as he finished off a potion.
“
Vitality - 85 [93] (75%)
Mana- 4,332 (200% MAX)
Stamina- 70 [95] (65%)
Force- 4 [5] (165%)
Accel- 3 [5] (12%)
Knowledge- 4 (125%)
Food Bonus: {Roasted Ram Stew : +25 Stamina, +1 Force. Duration : 0 : 22: 03.}
*Additional Effects*
Phantom Cloak : +50% movement speed.
“
“Wow. That mana gain is nuts. I may have to avoid purifying all of these relics. I’m pretty sure I can even sleep with relics under my bed at this point.” Takuma mused as he checked out his stats.
“+14 Mana.”
“Wait--what?” He whispered. He’d been so preoccupied with spam casting Partial Purification and exercising that he just noticed the amount of his mana alerts.
“So what changed? I didn’t add any other relics to the mix..” Takuma began to theorize.
“It must be this modifier. But..that can’t be right, could it?” As he considered the implications a grin spread across his face.
“But how can I test it? Hmm…” He thought to himself. If his hunch was correct, modifier stats also added another benefit to all of his stats aside from determining growth rates. Perhaps the simplest one to test would be his Accel. The amount was pretty low and he still needed to do some running, fortunately he had the perfect stretch of forest in mind.
