Chương 152: Chapter 157: Refreshed

I placed the eggs on the crystals in one of the cells, along with the core from the serpent too. It could help develop the beasts better. Then I used Veiled Marionette on the eggs. The flickering torches down here were giving off far less light than upstairs, but the shadows looked far more sinister as the two curses entered the eggs, finding easy purchase in their new home. I planted a single command: obey me. They didn't need anything more than that.

The two serpents would be subjected to conditioning even before they were born. With some luck I wouldn't have to resort to beast collars or other items for controlling them. As I looked at my handiwork I decided to try something else. I removed the black egg from the crystal nest. I would leave the white one there, crystals and both cores available for its development. A standard one, if extremely powerful given the resources, would be consumed only by it.

While the black one was already a mutation, so following a passage from the booklet about raising the eggs, I decided to place it on top of a pile of cursed weapons and items. I used my grimoire to replace any curse in the proper item, then I applied a series of curses to the egg too. Nothing too dangerous for the life inside, but enough to push it to evolve or mutate again to resist the curses. Over-Attunement, Duskvision, Resonant Suffering.

If my theory was right, the egg should "eat" the curses in time, or mutate to counter the effect. If it worked I could think of upping the difficulty for the unborn serpent. Don't let me down, little one. I exited the dungeon while closing the door behind me and made my way upstairs to the master bedroom. I used the ring to clean myself and my clothes again, then removed them and took out the magic repair kit. I infused it with mana and watched as needle and thread started to repair my overcoat, coat, and shirt.

The cut from the guard seemed to pulse despite no pain or scar remaining, but I watched as my items got restored to perfection. This thing was really good. I put them aside on nearby hangers, then removed my satchel, grimoire, and boots. I stripped naked and simply threw myself on the bed. The sheets were divine. I had no idea what they were made from, but the sensation on my skin was indescribably soft. I slipped inside and put my head on a pillow which felt like a cloud, and thought about recent happenings.

I sighed. I was too tired to annoy myself with these things. I really just wanted to sleep and forget my problems for a bit. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I was about to do just that when I thought of something. With a mental command my grimoire came flying to me, its pages fluttering open, always eager to dispense pain and ruin. Tonight I would use it to train my curse resistance trait.

I still had to recreate all the curses I placed on the eggs and items, but some of the less powerful ones required little life force and would not be so annoying as to prevent me from sleeping. After re-checking some of the curses I went another route. I forwent Resonant Suffering so they wouldn't trigger all at once, and instead just placed on myself some that wouldn't activate by themselves while I slept.

They would still be slowly destroyed and removed by my trait, which would hopefully get a workout out of this. Recoil Rupture, Undertow Pull, Anchored, Overcommit, Echo Addiction, Shatter Feedback. They were all curses that would activate only in case I physically struck something, or somebody. I could feel them resonating with one another. Maybe I could merge them, creating another curse, stronger, more vicious.

But right now, my strength was leaving me, not because of the curses, but because of the too-comfortable bed. In no time my world became dark. ──────────── I woke up to the same bright light of the braziers. I checked the tutorial quest timer to see how much time had passed. Five hours. I slowly rose from the bed. I was completely refreshed, and more. The curses I placed on myself were no more. I destroyed them quite easily, all things considered. My trait was working its magic.

I somehow felt it was more stable than before, not too much, but enough to be felt. Then I considered my aura. It was slightly stronger than when I went to sleep, and that wasn't because now I was rested. No, it was because of my aura destroying the curses and getting tempered by them. It was both good and bad. Good because I had another way to increase the power of my aura. Bad for the simple fact that I was already having trouble controlling said power, and adding more to the mix wouldn't help.

I retracted it as much as I could into my body, but I couldn't seem to get below that two-yard limit. I would have to do this quickly if I wanted to regain my peak capabilities, especially for my defense and flight, but defense first. Now my aura was really the only defensive skill I possessed, and it was dedicated to that role after mutating from my Arcane Barrier. It retained great capabilities in forming barriers and stable constructs.

I went to the bathroom for my morning necessities, then took out cleaning amenities from my satchel and placed them there. I got dressed and had a cold breakfast with some kind of mystery ham, cheese, and bread. All washed down with orange juice. I would have to pay more attention to my diet. I was burning a lot of calories these days and I was skipping meals. Something that happened to me when I was too focused on something, but it shouldn't.

After that I sat down on an armchair in front of the silent fireplace in the living room. I had my things with me. My grimoire was replenished, even if my Thirsting Halo was pretty much drained again. Now though, I was early. Probably the town was asleep. I would have to plan what to do. I had some hours to myself before sunrise. What was the thing I needed most? Well, I needed a lot of things, but mainly it was to rein back my aura.

It was limiting me, preventing me from interacting with people, and preventing me from having some alone time with Rhea… What happened after I went away yesterday I didn't know, but I'd bet escaping that thorny situation was for the best. Still, I wouldn't be able to approach anybody like this. I decided to use these few hours to purely work on controlling my aura. I went up to the empty room with the pillow. Actually, this would be perfect right now. I needed zero distractions, and this place was perfect for that.

I sat cross-legged on the pillow. It was big enough to accommodate me, and soft enough not to allow any discomfort. I closed my eyes and started by releasing my aura fully. A grey haze, like mist, started to expand from me. No, not like mist. This was more homogeneous. It felt more like steam that was about to return to water any second. It was in a nearly liquid state, but not quite. I didn't realize how much it had grown since the serpent fight. Now the room was filled with it, and the ceiling was tall.

Ok, how should I go about it? What a stupid question, I chastised myself. I could go about this the only way I did things until now. With grit and pure willpower. So I started working on it.