Chương 20: Curse

Journal in hands, Alexandra read her skill quest list, taking in the unexpected additions. Active Skill Quests: Running Diving Summon Lesser Fiend Basic Herbology Drain Life Life Curse She recognized Drain Life and Life Curse as Warlock skills. But, much like the other ones, she had no idea where they were coming from. Clearly, mastering Dark Bolt had played a role in the new options, but she couldn't link it with what she knew of the class system. It wasn't normal.

Then again, being summoned to another world wasn't normal either. In any case, the quests were there, and she would be remiss not to take advantage of them. She read the skill descriptions. Drain Life: Drain the lifeforce of your target, replenishing your own. Lifeforce drained cannot exceed the maximum capacity for your rank. Each level increases the amount of lifeforce drained. Each level improves conversion effectiveness. Alexandra stared at the skill for a long time.

This was the most elaborate description she'd seen so far, and exactly what she needed to make Dark Bolt viable. Yet, she could already tell that the quest to acquire it wouldn't be simple. Drain Life: Make a deal with Augustus, Demon of Blood (0/1).

"Figures." She sighed.

"I care about my soul a tiny bit too much to do that." Shaking her head, she moved on to the next skill. Life Curse: Lifeforce costs are replaced by a random, self-inflicted curse. Curse potency is inversely proportional to the initial lifeforce cost. Each level improves curse to lifeforce conversion effectiveness. This wasn't nearly as good as Drain Life. Alexandra's fingers danced on the page as she considered the implications of Life Curse.

Her knowledge of curses was limited to the curse of weakness, which she believed reduced strength. However, she could easily infer that many curses existed in this world. Some had to be particularly nasty. Getting one of those during a fight could be disastrous. Yet, it was a way to use Dark Bolt, her most powerful skill, without reducing her lifespan. She read the skill quest. Life Curse: Be inflicted by three curses simultaneously (0/3). She tilted her head.

"Not too bad…" Granted, it wasn't going to be pleasant, but there was no mention of a minimum potency for the curses, and she could do it in a controlled environment. A self cast of Inflict Weakness couldn't be that bad. It would fade after some time, anyway. Alexandra just had to find two other curses. Mild ones. She was immediately tempted to run after Lara and ask her, but she stopped herself. It wasn't a good time. Her friend was disappointed enough about her constant risk taking.

Telling her she was planning on cursing herself multiple times wasn't going to go down well. However, there were few people in the entire world she could even talk to. Was there another solution? Not really. If she wanted to find more curses, she'd have to ask someone. So her thoughts moved to Bamir. So far, the priest had been nice to her, and honestly, he seemed to have accepted her tendency to seek danger. For the most part… Her only reluctance was that curses seemed to be associated with demons.

But even then, if she thought about it in gaming terms, curses were pretty standard debuffs. Surely, many classes had access to them. It was worth asking. Worst case scenario, she could spin it as wondering if her amnesia was a curse. Yes. That's a good plan. She walked toward the village. As she reached the first houses, the looks started coming. Alexandra was aware that the hood hiding her hair didn't make her look the most approachable. If anything, it made her suspicious. Not much she could do.

Showing her hair which had suddenly turned white would only make things worse. With her growing perception, she was able to hear the locals whisper among them. Their stats must have still been higher than hers, as they were talking so low that she couldn't make out what they were saying. After passing the third house, she realized that she had no idea where the healer lived. She stopped at the edge of the road and looked both ways.

An old man sat on a stool outside the house opposite, a knife in one hand and a small piece of pale wood in the other. Short strokes, consistent. He wasn't looking at her. She stood there for a moment. Then she crossed the road. He looked up when she was five meters away. His eyes went to her hood, her gloved hands, the scars on her cheeks. His knife slowed but didn't stop. She stopped in front of him.

"I'm looking for Bamir's house." He said nothing. Another curl of wood fell between his boots. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"The priest," she added. His knife stopped. He turned the piece of wood in his hand, examined the edge, set it on his knee. He looked at her.

"I know who Bamir is," he said. Then he returned to his work. Alexandra watched him carve.

"Then, can you tell me where his house is?" The man didn't look up.

"I could." She waited.

"Hello?" He grunted, and pointed down the road with a jerk of his chin.

"This way. Blue door. Leave me alone, now." He went back to work. Alexandra thanked him and followed his directions. Lanterne wasn't large, and soon she found herself standing in front of a blue door. The house was smaller than most. She knocked. Footsteps. A pause. The door opened. Bamir looked at her, then past her, then back at her. He stepped aside.

"Miss Alexandra." He rubbed his eyebrows.

"Come in." She stepped inside.

"What do I owe the pleasure?"

"I was thinking about my amnesia," Alexandra answered. Bamir raised his eyebrows.

"Your amnesia?"

"Do you think it could be the result of a curse?" Bamir paused, his eyes locked onto her.

"Please sit down, Miss Alexandra." He pulled one of his chairs from under the table, and sat opposite from it. Alexandra did as instructed.

"Curses…" Bamir murmured.

"What prompted this question?" She looked down, not meeting his eyes.

"I… I just want to understand what happened to me." He nodded.

"Understandable." Then, he rubbed his eyebrows. Alexandra waited for him.

"I cannot tell you if your amnesia is the result of a curse," he said, breaking the silence.

"I know that memory altering curses exist, but they are exceedingly rare. In fact, to my knowledge, only the Arbiters of Licaniel have access to such curses. A powerful tool, in the service of the God of Judgement. Though I doubt they would have used it on you."

"Why not?" Alexandra asked. Bamir smiled.

"They use it to selectively erase critical knowledge from their agents. Not a blanket, haphazard amnesia like the one you describe." He paused.

"Does that satisfy your question? I can tell you more about curses, if you wish." Alexandra nodded.

"Please."

"Where to start?" Bamir sighed.

"Curses are either temporary, or permanent. The most common ones are simple deductions to one's attributes. Most curse users are followers of Licaniel. Some of them are a little too keen on enacting punishments, if you ask me." He tapped his fingers on the table.

"Aside from skills, curses can also come from ingesting the wrong plant. It's usually not an issue. But for you, Miss Alexandra, I would encourage caution." She coughed.

"Erm… alright. I learned my lesson."

"Right…"

"You wouldn't happen to know if such plants grow around here…?" Bamir rubbed his eyebrows.

"I don't know what you're trying to achieve, but I urge you not to eat curse bearing plants." He rolled his eyes, and murmured, "I can't believe I'm saying that."

"I… I wasn't going to!" Their eyes met. She looked away.

"I can't believe it…" he whispered again, shaking his head.

"Well, if you're going to do it anyway, I suggest you study the effect of the plants before you ingest them. On that front, Lara will be a better teacher than me." Alexandra winced.

"I would rather—""Don't give me that." Bamir stopped her right in her tracks.

"If you don't want her to be mad at you, just don't eat the curse bearing flowers. Otherwise, deal with the consequences yourself." She sighed.

"Fine…" She found Lara in the field behind the house, on her knees between two rows of Aetherveil, pulling weeds by hand. Lara heard her coming and didn't look up. Alexandra crouched beside her anyway.

"Can I help?" A pause.

"Yellow stems. Leave everything else." They worked in silence for a few minutes. Alexandra pulled yellow stems and kept her eyes down.

"Bamir told me curse bearing plants grow in the plains," she said. Lara's hands didn't stop.

"He's right."

"Do you know which ones?" Lara sat back on her heels and looked at her.

"Why?"

"Curiosity. After the Perub, I want to know what else is out there." Lara held her gaze for a moment. Then she went back to weeding.

"Ghostbell. A white flower. It grows in clusters, low to the ground. The sap carries a curse of fragility. It's common enough that most people learn to recognize it early. Reduces constitution for a few hours, nothing permanent." Alexandra pulled a yellow stem.

"Any others?"

"Why do you need more than one?"

"I'm just asking." Lara stopped weeding. She turned and looked at Alexandra fully, hands resting on her thighs, dirt on her fingers. Alexandra looked at the Aetherveil.

"Alexandra. Why do you need to know about curse bearing plants." It wasn't a question. Alexandra set down the weed in her hand.

"I need to be inflicted by three curses simultaneously." Lara stared at her.

"It's a skill quest," Alexandra continued.

"I found a skill in my quest list that I want. To unlock it, I need to be under three curses at once. I can self cast one of them. I was hoping to find two more that are manageable in a controlled setting."

"Manageable." Lara repeated the word.

"Yes."

"You want to deliberately inflict yourself with three curses."

"In a controlled—""I heard you." Lara stood up. She pulled off her gardening gloves and held them in one hand.

"What skill." Alexandra hesitated.

"It's complicated."

"What skill, Alexandra."

"Life Curse. It replaces lifeforce costs with random self inflicted curses. It would let me use my spell—" She stopped. Lara's expression hadn't changed. That was worse than if it had.

"Without losing more lifespan," Alexandra finished. Lara looked at her for a long time. Then she walked toward the house.

"Lara." She stopped but didn't turn around.

"I know how it sounds," Alexandra said.

"I know I look insane. But listen." She stood up.

"I have nothing. I woke up in these plains with a class and a few skills I don't understand, and I've been making it up as I go. I don't have a family here. I don't have money. Or anyone who knows what I actually am." She paused.

"I have my quests. I have my skills. That's it. And right now I have a skill that costs me years of my life every time I use it, and this quest is a way to fix that." Lara still hadn't turned around.

"I'm not asking you to approve," Alexandra said.

"I'm asking you to tell me which plants won't kill me." The wind moved through the Aetherveil between them. Lara turned around. Her arms were folded, her jaw set. She looked at Alexandra the way she'd looked at the unknown flower that morning — like she was trying to work out what it was and whether it was dangerous.

"Manfall's pollen," she said.

"Don't touch the stem. Crouch downwind and let it drift onto your head. The curse activates within a minute." She held up a finger.

"That's one." Alexandra nodded.

"What does it do?"

"Hair loss," Lara answered.

"Your self-inflicted curse. That's two." Another finger.

"For the Ghostbell, snap the stem at the base. The sap will run. You can store it in a gourd."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me." Lara unfolded her arms.

"Do it carefully, with Bamir present" She picked up her gloves from the ground.

"And Alexandra."

"Yes?"

"Next time you want something from me, just ask." She went inside.