Chương 192: I Won’t Stand for It!

A fucking crazy translucent bitch, that's what she is. Her fucking plan is going to kill me, not that I would ever admit it to her face. I sighed loudly as I walked back towards the tavern. I would love to explore this city better if I wasn't always so busy. I waved to Mark, the fire mage in my group. I really was curious about elemental magic.

I saw some powerful bloodlines and a lot of items that could boost elemental affinity or even create an artificial constitution that would help store and better channel the elements, but for now I had to return. Everything I did was for a single purpose: removing my fucking curse. Even if that meant going around for five days with increasingly more curses affecting my body, mind, and soul. Miflin gave me a bracelet.

Eleven stones were embedded in it, and every one of them contained a powerful curse, something that would affect me all the time. This object was not a gift, but she lent it to me for a period of five days, and I would have to pay her a hundred thousand points for every single day I used it. Otherwise, by System laws, she couldn't even let me touch it. In exchange for this fair deal, I was to suffer immensely.

If I thought that my creation, the Curse of the Withered Vessel, was something terrible with the mental and physical pain it caused, not to mention the loss of a quarter of one's stats, this thing took that and cranked it up to the heavens. It actually reduced all my stats by 95%. Each of the eleven stones carried a curse that reduced the related stat by that amount, leaving me feeling incredibly weak. Well, incredibly weak was a fucking understatement. I was feeling like a burned and stomped-over piece of shit.

The curses were harmonizing with one another, of course. With a twist though, the curses were somehow stabilizing the Curse of the False Saint. Apparently the soul can only get affected so much, meaning that practically I was being pulled in so many directions that there was no way I could get worse. Thus, literally freezing my own personal curse from acting. Fascinating, and fucking horrible. Because I was still feeling the effects of every curse on me, constantly, without reprieve.

At the same time I would have to deal with everything with incredibly reduced stats, but Miflin assured me that it would actually be good training if I could resist, and I couldn't remove the bracelet or all my efforts would be in vain. In the five minutes I had it on me I already felt like if I were to cut off my arm, it would be a liberation.

Instead I waved at Mark, who was entering a building that was clearly on fire while talking excitedly with a couple of fire elementals in the shape of a flaming bear skeleton, at least it looked like a bear, and a small flying snake with wings. Of course both of them were entirely made of fire. I sighed again, these would be hard days... I forced myself to continue forward, my body weak, my mind in disarray, and the pain and misery clawing at me never seeming to abate. They were eroding me already.

But I had a plan. I would deal with lunch, then start toward enhancing myself. At least my aura wasn't affected. I had the feeling that she proposed this training to force me to rely on aura more. Not that I minded, I was already trying to enhance my physical body with it, though I wasn't successful in the slightest, yet. Still, I had to avoid revealing any external manipulation to Adrian and company, so only curse skills when they were around.

I would have to go out of the city to hunt and practice, and with my stats it wasn't going to be easy. But I had an idea about a skill I wanted to mutate. If I managed it, it would become my strongest combination, enhancing my combat potential tremendously, I was sure. That "if" though, was a big one. I sighed again. This was for later, now I had to deal with the guild. I entered the tavern and knew with just a glance that it wouldn't be an easy affair. ──────────── Marcus P. O. V.

I sat down at a table in the corner. Everyone and their mother was screaming at each other, with Chloe trying to restore a bit of order. The girl had nerve and was clearly smart, but she lacked something that was inherent to a leader in this new world: power. And even the weak among us could subconsciously detect that.

"Quiet! If you want to speak, do it one at a time, and after we are done explaining!" Tom finally brought some semblance of order back, but it wouldn't be for long. These people felt wronged and no amount of words would make them back down, not if they didn't come from a place of power, real power. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Talking about power... I felt my stats increase little by little, and I wasn't the only one.

Now all stopped listening to Chloe as she finished explaining why she had put a guild-wide tax on their hard-earned Tutorial Points, and they all stared at the door.

"Finally," I heard Mary muttering. The guild achievement granted us an increase in stats the closer we were to the Guild Master. It was a significant boost, and the more Elias approached, the more the boost grew. More than having the effect of boosting people though, it had the effect of raising his importance in the eyes of the members, though some were starting to talk about selecting a Guild Master who was more present, so as to enjoy that benefit more often... yeah, good luck with that, fellas.

The discussion stopped for a grand total of twelve seconds before resuming. Even when Elias entered the tavern they didn't stop, too focused on their shouting to notice. He looked like shit. He was clearly tense these past days for some reason, but now he literally looked bad, as if he hadn't slept for days and was constantly under pressure. Even his shoulders looked slightly hunched, but his eyes still shone brightly. He straightened before approaching us.

I noticed how he scanned the room with a glance, stopping a moment longer on the table opposite our own. Where most of Adrian's team sat right now. The man was absent, but not his underlings, all talking and drinking, but clearly paying attention to us. My skills, despite being more suited for the wilds, still allowed me to perceive when I was being watched by a dangerous predator, and they had been warning me since I entered the tavern of the danger.

But nothing screamed danger more than when I crossed eyes with Adrian, not even Elias. Actually, Elias despite all his strength was a puppy before a rabid dog, that was how big the distance was. If even him was considered so weak compared to the Hero of Humanity, what a dumb title, then what about us? I was not even remotely in the same league as the puppy. That meant I was less than an insect to Adrian. It was maddening for someone like me not to see a path to survival against this guy.

"Enough, what is going on here?" Elias' voice carried to the complainers and as one they stopped and looked half at him, and the other angry half at Chloe.

"They are complaining about the 5% tax on all earnings I applied this morning." The girl said while crossing her arms.

"What about it?" His words were directed at the group as a whole, as if he was the one who decided to put that tax in place, and now was challenging them to go against his decision. That alone put a damper on most of the protesters, but some felt it was a good idea to continue with their complaints.

"It's not right that you just take what's rightfully ours and use it for whatever reason you see fit! I won't stand for this!" shouted a black woman from the new group whose name I didn't bother remembering. She was quite nice-looking though, I could give her that.

"You won't stand for what? For getting the protection offered to you until now? For the thousands of points spent on that elven bloodline you are clearly enjoying? Or maybe for freeing you from that contract?" One by one his words hammered into her, making the woman sit back down by their sheer weight alone. I couldn't speak for all of them, but some were absolutely out of their mind, believing that something, anything, was owed to them. And then they ask me why I prefer to spend my time alone.

Yeah, I don't want to deal with these people. How I miss you, Rocky. A dog really is a man's best friend. I hope you're fine back home. There was something different in the man today. Usually he was more understanding, too much even, despite what many thought. But not today, no sir.

"You are getting a 10% increase in experience gained while in the guild. That alone is worth its weight in gold. Not only that, I still have yet to see the points spent on you all returned. Not even one of you has repaid that debt, and trust me, you will. Lastly, when Chloe speaks, she speaks for me, so you will listen. Actually, I believe that 5% of your points is a ludicrously small amount, so that's bound to increase. And mind you, I don't need the peanuts you generate.

I can gather hundreds of thousands of points by myself, but this guild, and all of you, need to grow, to keep pace with the challenges ahead. So if your Guild Overseer decides that there are expenses for the betterment of the guild, and in turn yourselves, she gets to raise the taxes as much as she likes. To end this discussion I'll tell you just this: being in this guild, in this group, is a privilege, and if you are not satisfied you can go and deal with the tutorial by yourself.

So make up your mind before coming at any of the leaders of this group and shouting again." Silence. Not only in the group, but in the whole tavern. Every eye was locked on us, some with seriousness, others with greed. I'm sure someone would jump at the opportunity to join soon. Others were looking at the chastised ones with naked schadenfreude, enjoying the drama.

"Nobody?" Elias asked. After a second he nodded and took a chair. It was the first time he moved since starting to speak.

"Good, then we have an understanding. Now, Chloe, Tom. Report. We need to make this group functional, increase everyone's level, provide skills and stat boosts, you know what I'm talking about already, so I assume you have a plan in mind."

"Allow me," Tom said in his deep voice while looking at Chloe, then began to explain what he learned, actually what I learned. There were numerous monster territories around here, some particularly nasty. After my reconnaissance I gathered intel on the best hunting grounds based on level. While he talked, my mind wandered to my encounter with the Kaleari. Damn monster, it nearly got me. I was still feeling the effects of its poison, and if it wasn't for Mary I would be missing a chunk of my back right now...

I needed to step up my game. Aside from the low-level monsters, the others around here were really dangerous, and I needed a boost to face them, or every encounter would become a fight to the death. If I wasn't geared toward surviving, I would have died. I had some points saved up for a particularly expensive skill, but I would invest them better in enhancing my stats for now, and for that, I needed Elias. I just hoped the price to pay wouldn't be too steep.