Chương 5: Spreading a Curse to Three Innocent People as a Rock?!

Chapter Five Spreading a Curse to Three Innocent People as a Rock?!

"Eh?" Alice was not sure if she had misread the notification. Requirements for evolution have been met. Would you like to evolve? [Y/N]"Requirements for evolution..." She would have scratched her head if she had a head to scratch. That and fingers.

"What... What does that even mean?" For the past year, all she had done was glub, glub, glub at the bottom of a pond. Or did it have to do with the curse? The evolution notification had popped up shortly after it had grown stronger.

"But evolution... I'm a rock!" [Earthen Anchor] had made her round with mud and spotted green with algae, but to evolve...

"What would I even become? Some sort of... evil boulder?" Requirements for evolution have been met. Would you like to evolve? [Y/N] She supposed there was no reason not to evolve. She was more curious than anything else.

"Yes?" she said, full of doubt. A couple bubbles carried her answer... and the pond filled with a sudden flash of light. Alice was left momentarily blinded. It was as if someone had thrown a flash bang into the pond. The world became an endless white, quite the opposite of the unearthly darkness The Voice had presided over. But then color returned to the world. Alice's blindness started to fade, and the murky water of the pond reappeared. Congratulations on your evolution!

Race: Ordinary Rock > Grudge Stone"A grudge stone...?" Alice blinked pointlessly in confusion.

"What's that suppo- " But before she could finish the thought, another notification flashed across her CCTV vision. New Skill Unlocked: Glamour I Glamour (Rank I): You are particularly attractive to the mortal eye. Others cannot help but notice you. New Skill Unlocked: Malevolent Whispers I Malevolent Whispers (Rank I): A red string connects you and your accursed. You can pull and tug on this thread to scratch at the edge of their thoughts.

New Skill Unlocked: Inevitable Discovery I Inevitable Discovery (Rank I): Man may toss you into the depths of the sea, but The Fates will ensure you always wash ashore. No matter how many times you are thrown away, you will always be found again. Alice studied each of the three skills with great interest, but then she noticed her own transformation.

"That... That must be me." The muck and mud had vanished from her rocky self. The green algae had been banished into oblivion. Where once before a rather unremarkable grey stone had rested... now rested a rather unremarkable black stone.

"I guess I'm not entirely unremarkable," Alice said as she studied her makeover a little closer.

"I think... Yeah, I'm a little shiny now." She wondered if that was [Glamour], but a small number of pleasant sparkles had been sprinkled over Alice the Rock.

"That... That was a lot more than I expected," Alice said as she looked back at her new skills. It was hard to get excited over [Malevolent Whispers] while she was stuck at the bottom of a pond, but [Inevitable Discovery]...

"Does that mean someone is going to suddenly show up?" Her vision remained the same fixed angle as before, but she studied every watery disturbance. She half expected a stranger to cannonball into the pond's depths. A day passed, however, and she remained decidedly undiscovered.

"I guess the skill doesn't say I'll be found quickly," Alice muttered, a little disappointed.

"And now that I think about it... Will they even notice me with that [Stalker] skill?" It seemed like a rather awful combination. One skill made her harder to notice while the other... drew people to wherever she was? She wondered which of the skills would win out in the end. She continued to wait, but nobody appeared even after a week. Alice supposed [Inevitable Discovery] wouldn't be that powerful at Rank I. She tried to focus really hard on being found, though.

The optimistic side of her rocky skull said that she might be able to rank up the skill through sheer effort! Unfortunately, the mental exercise was about as effective as her previous attempts at movement. None of her skills ranked up. Not even [Earthen Anchor], though her shiny black body soon found itself covered in mud and algae once more. And so a month passed. Five months passed. A quick look at the curse screen told her that it would not strengthen for another three years.

She was more than a little concerned about what would happen then. The curse's description had already changed from promising doom to promising certain death. Two years passed... and she heard a splash. Alice was so startled by the noise that her rock body almost jumped. A man appeared in her cone of vision. It was not Erik. He did not look even remotely like Erik. The man was half naked and covered in so much hair as to almost resemble a bear.

The burly man turned left and then right, his hairy arms paddling the water rhythmically. She could not be sure if he was looking for something or just taking a bath. Alice had been waiting for this moment for over two years, however. How could she get his attention?

"Th-the whispers!" Alice thought of [Malevolent Whispers], and her spirits soared! But then she remembered it only affected her accursed, and her spirits sank like a rock.

"Look... Look at me!" Alice was not sure why she even bothered to try and shout. All the attempt earned her was a few bubbles. It would have been useless even if he had heard her, though. Alice the Rock was so covered in mud and algae after two years that she could scarcely even see herself. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The man turned and stared at the bubbles, however, his eyes growing wide.

"Eh? Is he...?" A nonexistent smile spread across Alice's nonexistent face.

"The bubbles... H-He can see the bubbles!" Still more minuscule bubbles popped all around her as the air continued to vibrate. The man's bushy head disappeared from her cone of vision as he seemed to retreat for air, but he was back within a heartbeat. Alice's own nonexistent heart beat madly with anticipation as he drew closer and closer to where she lay.

"This guy is half a monkey!" The backs of his hands were as hairy as paws. He dug at the muck and algae that had gathered around Alice. Much of his face was hidden behind a sodden beard, but she could see excitement in his eyes. When a patch of black rock revealed itself, however, the man suddenly snatched his hands away as if afraid Alice the Rock might burn them.

"W-Wait!" Alice watched in stunned disbelief as the man swam away, back to the surface, and out of sight.

"Where are you...? What are you...?" The man was not going up for air. A minute passed. And then ten more.

"What a tease!" Alice fumed, indignant. She had not felt such a roller coaster of emotion since being used as a hammer against Erik's skull.

"Why did he just- " But before she could finish the thought, there was another great splash. A different man appeared. He, too, was half naked, but he was not nearly as hairy as the first. There wasn't even hair on his head! The man was shaven from toe to scalp so smoothly that his skin seemed to shine silkily in the water. The bald newcomer had a very doughy face. Even his fingers looked swollen. He glanced around excitedly and then saw Alice the Rock, his basset hound eyes widening with excitement.

"Y-Yes!" Alice cheered as the man made a watery dash for Alice.

"I'm here! I'm here!" His puffy fingers began to dig at the muck that bound her to the pond's bottom. Alice watched his face begin to pale and then purple, but still he continued to dig.

"G-Get some air!" Alice said as she watched the doughy man start to drown. He did not hear her, however, nor did he bother to stop digging. Alice wanted to scream at the idiot as his droopy eyes began to bulge with suffocation, but then she felt a faint pop as her rock body was freed from its earthen constraints. His face a terrifying purple, the doughy man grabbed Alice with both hands and began to swim towards the pond's surface. Curse Spread: Sorin Goldtooth Severity: Powerful Received experience!

Alice winced as the notification flashed across her nonexistent face. She had not really thought about what would happen when someone found her, but it seemed like her curse spread about as easily as a cold at an office party. Achievement Unlocked: Spreading a Little Misfortune"Really throwing salt on this wound..." Alice muttered as the achievement flashed across her vision.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Mr. Goldtooth!" But that was good to know. Not only did spreading the curse give her experience, but it seemed like there were even achievements related to it.

"Not that I particularly want to spread- " Before Alice could finish the thought, the purple-faced Sorin Goldtooth tossed her into the air with all his strength, though the pair of them were still underwater. Alice the Rock broke through the lake's surface... and landed with a dull thud on the shore. As her CCTV vision shifted and settled, all thoughts of achievements, curses, and experience points vanished from her mind. The lush green forest from her memories was gone.

The birds and the bees, the fluffy bunnies and the greedy squirrels. It was as if Alice had been transported to another world.

"What... What happened here...?" The surface of the pond was brackish and foul. No grass grew beside its water, and what little grass grew elsewhere was haggard and thin. The proud oaks that had once surrounded Alice's slice of paradise had become bent with age and malice. Their brown trunks had turned a withered grey, and the few leaves on their branches looked poisonous.

"You...! You absolute fool!" The forest's transformation had shocked her so spectacularly that Alice had hardly even noticed her new company. Two horses whinnied nervously and padded their enormous hooves. They were hitched to a small carriage they seemed to very much want to bolt from. The hairy man stood beside the pond with a horrified expression. He looked even more bear-like with clothes on. He had draped himself in several pelts, one of which belonged to an actual bear.

The bear-like man watched Sorin Goldtooth as he staggered, soaked and smiling, from the brackish water. Sorin's doughy face soon lost its purple hue as he took in gulp after hungry gulp of air.

"And you... were just... just going... to leave it there!" Sorin Goldtooth hooted between breaths. He had the kind of cheerful voice that made others smile instinctively.

"You fool!" the hairy man repeated, and he took several terrified steps away from Sorin as he waddled over to the horse and carriage.

"That's... Don't you know what that is?!"

"It is more than a year's supply of Castuelí chocolate," Sorin said, and his chubby cheeks rippled with a good-natured laugh.

"A grudge stone! And found here of all places!"

"You...! You...!" The hairy man took several more steps away from Sorin. Alice noticed the enormous ax on his back then. It did not seem like the kind used to chop wood.

"Don't you realize?! You're cursed, Goldtooth!" Sorin smiled pityingly at the bear-like man.

"You worry overmuch, Petre," Sorin said. He began to dress himself in colorful striped robes that did little to hide the rolls of his fat.

"Curses cannot pass underwater. That is why I threw it onto the shore."

"Are you sure about that...?" Alice wondered aloud. She could not help but remember how immediately the curse had spread to Sorin. Neither man heard her, of course.

"I knew coming here was a good idea," Sorin continued, and his round face broke into a toothy smile.

"What adventure! To find a grudge stone just... just lying at the bottom of a pond." He turned to the bear-like Petre.

"Wrap it up in some of the linens, would you?"

"I'm not touchin' that thing," Petre said. Even the pelts he wore looked affronted. Alice would have patted the man on the back if she could... though that probably would have left him cursed.

"This is the problem with you Bearbloods," Sorin said, not unkindly, with a wag of his finger.

"If you cannot hack a problem to death, you run and hide from it beneath your pelts!" Sorin chortled at his own joke. Petre's face remained a mask of horror, however.

"Really now," Sorin said, clearing his throat.

"Curses cannot pass while underwater or submerged. Curses cannot pass when one wears... gloves or the skin is otherwise covered. This is because curses cannot pass without direct contact with the skin."

"I'm not touchin' it," Petre repeated stonily, and he folded his tree trunk arms.

"This... This is a bad place, Goldtooth. I told you we shouldn' of come. I... No, I ain't touchin' that for even a chocolate statue."

"A statue made of chocolate, eh?" Sorin said, and his droopy eyes misted in the imagination.

"Now that's an amusing idea. A shame it would melt." Petre made no comment, and defeat seemed to deflate Sorin's puffy cheeks.

"So be it, friend," Sorin said.

"Mittica? Mittica, come here." He gestured to the carriage, and Alice heard a soft thud. A moment later, a boy around Alice's age marched into her field of vision. He had a ponytail of bright blonde hair and a hard face.

"Uncle?" Mittica said. His eyes drilled a hole into Alice the Rock.

"Don't you listen to him, Little Master," Petre said in a growl.

"We ought to leave that stone where it be. Don't- ""Don't frighten the poor lad," Sorin said with a soft tut, tut.

"Mittica, I need you to very carefully wrap up the stone. Make very sure to wear thick gloves when you pick it up. The dragonhide mittens should do."

"Don't do it, Little Master," Petre repeated, shaking his bushy head.

"Ain't no luck takin' that stone nowhere."

"I'm not afraid of some stone," Mittica said with fire in his voice. He did not move, however. Sorin sighed and shook his head.

"You really ought not fill the lad's head with Bearblood worries," Sorin said.

"I told his mother I would have him home, safe and sound, for Magi Olwyn's Feast Day. Do you really think I would put him in any danger?" Petre and Mittica exchanged a telling look. Alice fought the urge to shout yes, knowing nobody would hear her.

"This is not my first adventure," Sorin continued, and a nostalgic look flashed across his face.

"Why, when I found the first overland route to Castúel, I was chased by a beast with the head of a lion and the torso of... But neither of you are listening. Just make sure to wear the dragonhide. There is no need to be scared."

"I never said I was scared," Mittica said defiantly, and he jogged back to the carriage, evidently in search of the dragonhide mittens. Petre offered no further protest, though the bear-like man shook his bushy head wordlessly. Alice watched with some trepidation as the boy reappeared with elaborate red gloves. He drew slowly closer to Alice the Rock, acting as though she were some venomous snake waiting to strike. With the flicker of a nervous frown, he bent over and gingerly picked her up.

Curse Spread: Mittica Goldtooth Severity: Powerful Received experience!

"Saw that coming," Alice said as a notification flashed before the poor boy could even take three steps.

"Something tells me I'm gonna get a lot of experience from... whoever these people are." Alice the Rock was wrapped in several hempen bundles. She found that her [God Sense] allowed her to perceive both what lay inside the bundle and what lay outside at the same time. Mittica handed her over to Sorin, who eyed the round lump with childlike glee.

"A grudge stone! What a treasure to end our journey with," Sorin said with another happy hoot. He hopped onto the carriage and grabbed hold of the reins.

"I tell you, this will be a story for- ""Tell us somewhere else!" Petre interrupted, his face a mask of worry as he stared at the bundle. Reluctantly, he joined Sorin atop the front of the carriage. Mittica hopped onto the back and sat beside several crates.

"I want to be gone of this cursed place. Even the dead don't rest easy here."

"The dead, eh?" Sorin said softly to himself. He stowed Alice the Rock protectively under his left armpit, which made Alice's nonexistent face wrinkle in disgust. She was rather thankful she did not have a nose.

"Imagine if it's hers..."

"Hers...?" Petre said, looking around slowly as the horses began to plod away from the lake.

"Wh-who do you mean, Goldtooth?" Sorin hooted another lively laugh and slapped Petre on the back. Alice blinked in surprise as a notification flashed after the third pat. Curse Spread: Petre Bearb lood Severity: Weak Received experience!

"The horror that caused all of this, of course!" Sorin waved a hand around at the haunted woods.

"Imagine if this grudge stone was created by Eva the Witch!"