Chương 109: Chapter 114: Acting up

"This is not good…"

"Fuck!"

"Why??" Many more expletives and curses could be heard all around me as I explained what I learned to the people around me, most of the group was here, with some of the ones already staying in this place, apparently not all were aware of the ten skills limit, but it wasn't that surprising, most didn't have the points for buying anything more than food, I came to know that they managed to survive only because of the extremely low level monsters prowling around their spawn point.

It was unfair, they had fight off horned rabbits, stuff that still managed to kill some of their own, but nothing compared to the gorgs, those nearly mauled all of us in the first hour, apparently the chief was right, we got dealt a bad hand right at the start. Or maybe not, I thought while listening to the discussion cropping up around me, if I started like them would I have reached this level by now?

Probably not, probably I wouldn't have pushed so hard, probably I wouldn't have this many points or this many achievements, but most of these people were still level ten or under, given that the stupid rabbits were not surpassing level 5 easily, they had no way of growing fast, and the plains west of here were full of just those monsters, so the people were quite stuck, now everything around them was too difficult to face, that's why they decided to accept the contract.

My curse was starting to act up, and this time it was going to be bad, I wanted to fucking kill the chief, he and his stupid contract. And the dumb fucks here who decided to sell themselves to fucking slavery after the first difficulty. I feel it… despite my resistance to the curse improving greatly recently, I was in a limited environment, with people who knew what we needed to do, people who were in my same situation, working toward the same goal. Here though?

These people were another matter entirely, and in dire need of help, and there were too many.

"Rhea," I said after seeing the discussion going nowhere, "can you come with me for a second?"

"Yes." She followed me down the road and we went behind the corner of a building, then I manifested my aura in a bubble around us, using the same trick for blocking the sound I used before, now we were out of sight and of hearing.

"I need help," I told her plainly.

"My curse is acting up real bad, all these people are in grave need of help, or they will end up slaves somewhere. I'm sure they told you about the contract."

"Yea, I was thinking about that precisely, I understand they were stuck here but damn, they totally gave up after just a week! But tell me how can I help, anything, you can count on me." She said while looking straight into my eyes. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Good, at least I had an ally in this mess.

"I will have to help them, no way I can't in this situation, I will try to get the others involved too, I will have to study the contract, see if there is a way of getting them out of it. Point is, we need to move on, we need to take advantage of this place the most we can then start proceeding again, but if I'm stuck helping them I can't start working toward completing the tutorial, or breaking the curse."

I took a breath, the irritation I was feeling was gnawing at me, I should have avoided other people like the plague…

"I got these," I said while producing a couple of the tomes I bought, "They were expensive but they are needed if we want to learn how all of this work, problem is, they are way too big, I don't think I'll have the time to study them all, and I need to get at least a basic understanding before purchasing any skill I would regret later, can you help me with some of the theory? I know it will-" She snatched a book on magical spellweaving from my hand, her eyes already glued to the tome.

"Yea, no, yes! Of course I'll help you!" Ok this was easier than expected, I didn't think she was such a magic nerd, but if it works it works.

"If you can manage to find some excuses to make me do something that will work towards our goals, that would be great too."

"Like what?" She said while flipping pages, then she looked back up at me.

"If I ask you to help me with a ritual would that work?" I thought about it, honestly it was a shot in the dark, I never had someone working with me to control my compulsion like this before.

"I honestly don't know, I think there should be a real need for it, but let's try all we can anyway." She hummed for a moment, then she put the tome under her arm.

"I'll try to come up with something soon, don't worry, I got you." She said with a wink. At least I could count on her to help me.

"Thanks Rhea, really."

"It's a small matter for me, Eli. In any case, what other books did you get?" I looked at her, she was really going to read that brick of a book and ask for more? Well, if she insisted…

"I have two more about mana, a couple for aura and one on curses. I can give you the one for mana, maybe they'll prove helpful to you too, so it won't be a waste of your time."

"Yea, give me, I will skim them a little before bed, by tomorrow I should have some ideas… why did you get these books anyway?"

"To choose the path forward, apparently I never cast a spell, only skills, so I wanted to ty my hand at that, and see if it make sense to proceed with that or to focus more on aura or curses… I can't spread myself too thin. Especially with only eight skill slots free."

"I think I understand, leave it to me." She said with a smile on her face, I dropped the sound barrier and we returned towards the others. The discussion was still in full swing, I approached Alya who was talking with Melissa on the side about what skill to buy.

"Girls, sorry to interrupt," I told them while stepping close.

"Vix, the blue alien you saw before asked to see you Alya, said you could gain a lot from training with him, he's the real deal, I already had a little spar and it was very rewarding, my skills went up like crazy. You too Melissa, I think he'll have some good pointers for you too."

"That's where you went! For a moment I thought you skipped town, but ok, if you say it's so good, I'll give it a try. You Melly?" Alya asked the teen.

"I think I'll pass for now, maybe tomorrow, after all this time in the forest I just want a shower and a good night sleep." She stifled a yawn. Damn, it wasn't even dusk yet, anyway, I bid goodbye to the girls after asking where the shower was. Apparently outside of the common rooms there were showers too. Maybe a good night sleep was something all of us needed, but for me it was still too early, I will concede myself an hour of relaxation, then I'll start reading that stupid contract.