Chương 100: Chapter 105: Libu

"No, I don't know, it's been less than a week since the start, but let's move on." I sent a transfer request to Vix, putting the carts full of liquid in exchange for the points. In a moment the transfer was done. I was rich, if only I could just keep them for myself… As soon as I had the thought my curse acted up. I was so fed up with this bullshit. You know what, fuck it. Marionette of Regret.

"Someone start selling the remaining loot. I'll transfer the points to everyone, one at a time." I managed to say while my curse intensified its effect on me.

"Are we really splitting them equally?" asked Selene. The old seamstress was looking at me with real curiosity, maybe she didn't believe me when I said it some days ago.

"That was the plan, no? I am a man of my word." I said while internally fighting the curse.

"And I commend you for that, but I honestly don't feel like I deserve this, at least not an equal split. Most of us don't deserve it actually." She said the last part with a raised voice. Soon others voiced their agreement. They said that the main contributors were the ones who went fighting in the shrine and the builders. My plan was working. I used many instances of the skill to make the people agree to this. I wasn't trying to keep all the points to myself, that way wouldn't work, but this, this was good enough.

"I think we should give half to those who fought in the shrine, and a quarter to the crafters. The rest could be divided among us. It feels a bit more equal this way, no? And we would end up with many points anyway, so if someone wants to change skills or acquire gear we have the chance…" said Sara. I didn't speak to her at all in the last days. I always saw her, but never interacted.

Her choosing a non combat class made her quite irrelevant in the group, and honestly, I didn't have anything in particular to say to her. She was that unassuming. But now she was a good candidate for putting the finishing touch on my plan.

"Seems fair," said Gilbert, the other crafters following the old man's decision. Everyone started to nod and agree, then the transfer began. More than seven hundred thousand went to Gilbert and company. It pained me deeply but strangely my curse started to abate as I transferred the points. Then the same amount was split by the others. They ended up with forty thousand and change each, an incredible amount given that I only accumulated something just short of that after killing a thousand spiders and more.

What a waste. After all that, nearly a million and a half remained to be split between me, Quinn, Alya, Mary and Rhea. At the end, I looked at my new tutorial points total. After the ones I managed to get on my own, I was now much wealthier. Tutorial points: 325, 879 Yeah… this will do nicely. But it wasn't finished. We sold the weapons and armors too, netting us less, but still adding another chunk to our funds, and an extra twenty thousand to my own.

Now, before any kind of shopping I had to have a talk with Vix to seal our deal. I needed those pieces of information before anything else. As the others were already talking excitedly about what to spend their points on, I turned to the blue alien.

"Do you mind if we go on with our business or do you have something else to do?" He answered me with a smile on his face. I didn't know from what, maybe the potion, or maybe from fucking over the merchant, maybe both.

"Let's go back to the training hall. We can discuss things while I think about what to do with the liquid. So many possibilities…" This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"My team could use some advice too if you coul-" He raised one of his hands, still smiling.

"You got the deal of a lifetime already, don't be greedy. But I'm not averse to training up that girl, and if the others want to, I'd accept the standard fee for them." I could tell by his tone that he wouldn't budge. Well, we had the points to get some good advice. I told the others to talk with him before any impulsive spending, then moved out of the place. A pity that that merchant charged such ridiculous prices.

He had some interesting items on display, especially a silver and black grimoire that screamed don't touch me if you don't want to die. Maybe later if I couldn't find anything better. My grimoire at my side didn't see that much use recently. It was more powerful to channel spells, and in particular hexes, through it, but it was slower too, and I got so used to doing it by myself constantly that I wasn't using it properly. But a grimoire didn't serve only that purpose.

I'd have to study it more when I had the chance. As we walked back to the training hall, the two carts were following us, like by magic. But instead of magic it was a sliver of aura pulling them, something I couldn't see or perceive. Vix told me to try and feel it. It would be a good exercise for mastering my aura. Masters always hid their aura to take opponents by surprise, or just to be able to walk into a town without making common people pass out from the sheer pressure. That raised many questions in my mind.

Later though. As we set the carts at the back of the building we went back inside. In a side room Vix sat on a wooden chair, motioning for me to do the same. Then from thin air a bottle and two glasses appeared.

"Do you enjoy spirits in your world?" he asked.

"I can't talk for everyone, but I do. How did you take it out of the air though?" That intrigued me more than a fancy alien liquor. He waved his hand.

"Just a soul spatial storage. You could do the same after a certain level of mastery of your aura. Here," he said while pouring me a glass of blue and sparkling liquor, "try it, it's a specialty from my native world." I took the offered glass and brought it to my nose. The smell was pungent and very strong, strong enough to nearly make me cough. I took a small sip and swirled it in my mouth. An explosion of different flavors hit me all at once. It was sour and bitter.

There was nothing similar that I could compare it to. It was alien in every way possible, but after I swallowed it down a blaze lit up wherever it passed, just for a chill to follow it a second after and leave me with a pleasurable sweet and sour aftertaste. It was delicious.

"This is incredible…" I told him.

"I never quite tasted something even remotely similar."

"Glad you enjoy it, but now, onto business." I took another sip. The burn was really strong, I'd have to pace myself.

"So, I have nearly 350k to spend, and you saw all my status. What do you suggest?"

"Mmm… good question. Actually it depends on where you want to go. Let me ask you something first. Do you want to fight for all your life, a potentially very long life?" I thought about it. I thought deeply about this even in the past days.

"I enjoy fighting, I really do. I don't know why, but pitting myself against all odds and coming out on top is better than anything else I ever felt, better than sex even. Still, I don't think I'd want to fight forever, no… but I want to rid myself of this curse. I want freedom, and I know that for having that I'd need power." He looked at me in contemplation.

"At least you know what you want, it's a start." He threw back his own glass then refilled it.

"You got one thing perfectly though. Power. It doesn't matter which class you get, or in which way you obtain it. Power rules above anything. For giving you an example: Libu Ki'lan is a Lan, a sub-species of goblinoid. He's known far and wide to be one of the worst bastards that exist in the multiverse. Whatever terrible thing you could think that someone could ever be capable of doing, he did. And worse, probably. I'm talking about a very sick bastard who enjoys bringing suffering to all."

"Now, he doesn't have any big organization backing him. No kingdom or probably even a fucking friend, none that is known of, at least. Tell me then, with all the pain and destruction he brought why is he still roaming free?"

"Because he's strong," I replied. Another glass went down Vix's throat.

"Because he's immensely strong. They tried to take him down so many times, and they only suffered for it. Then Libu went to find whoever was even remotely connected with his attackers and did the worst things to them too, and their neighbors, just for fun. After a couple of millennia, nobody fucked with him anymore. He is now considered a kind of natural disaster, and if you meet him, that's just bad luck. Nothing you can do about that." He paused for a moment, looking me straight in the eyes.

His aura never stopped swirling inside those iridescent orange irises. He seemed to be looking straight at my soul.

"Do you know what you have in common with him?" In common with him? What could I possibly have in common with somebody like that? He was cursed too maybe? A skill or trait?

"No, I don't really know."

"Simple. He was once a tutorialist, just like you. A first generation."