Chương 208: Golden Toads

I came back to myself. I was drenched in sweat, my head was both spinning and heavy, a migraine was trying to split my skull too. I was still seated cross-legged on the pillow in Miflin's private quarters, the aura ghost was drinking tea in front of me, a steaming cup was prepared for me too. Actually, I didn't notice any table when entering, but now the paintings had changed and furniture had appeared.

It was funny to think of Miflin scuttling around to change the room while we were training, but it drove home how much more skilled she was than me. But I did it, I managed to copy the technique. At least, according to her evaluation, I managed to reach nearly 80%. The red nail got gradually worse, but after a bit I started to grind it down, so she added more.

The pain was great but I endured, and I managed to end up with six nails simultaneously trying to fuck me up, but after passing the halfway mark on the mastery of the technique they became much more bearable. It took me nearly ten hours of accelerated time. Ten hours with the enhanced insight and experience from the tutorial was basically like 300 hours outside of here, and I didn't even manage to perform it fully, all that time and effort to try and copy the basic flow of an entry-level restoration technique…

but apparently Miflin was satisfied with the result, so I'd take it as a win.

"Drink, it would aid your recovery." I took a sip of the herbal tea, it was exquisite.

"You need to pay for borrowing Zijian's Shackle, I suppose you didn't forget that. I would lend it to you for free if the System allowed it, but alas… there are rules even I cannot break." Yeah, of course, I was starting to believe that she wasn't actually out to help me after the torturous training session.

"Of course I haven't forgotten." If it wasn't for the clear effect I was feeling on my trait, I would believe this was a scam. I opened my status just to get a look at my finances.

──────────── Name: Elias Mercer Race: Human Class: Hexer Level: 25 Titles: Apex Slayer, Paragon of Potential, Baron Slayer, Untouchable, Defiance of Tiers (I, II), Elite Slayer (I, II, III, IV), Paragon of Growth, Profane Substitution, Overpowering Magic, Genesis of Damnation, Butcher (I, II), Forced Evolution, A Drop of Blood, Origin of Unity, Deviation of Sequence, Paragon of Ascension, Dreadful Gaze, Enhanced Being, Paragon of Supremacy, Viscount Slayer, Giant Slayer, Colossus Slayer, Profane Execution, Paragon of Transcendence, Perfected Being, First Kraghslayer, Soul Delver, Curse Denier, Exalted Will, Eyes of Ruin, Fatal Dread, Kinslayer Stats: Vitality: 610 (97) Constitution: 696 (108) Endurance: 614 (95) Strength: 504 (78) Agility: 486 (78) Dexterity: 421 (68) Perception: 439 (68) Charisma: 474 (74) Wisdom: 516 (82) Intelligence: 563 (89) Willpower: 1083 (203) Free Stat Points: 0 Traits: Curse-Born Resilience, Arcane Shaping, Hexer's Touch, Unbound Arcana, Aura of the Fell Eclipse Skills: Arcane Sense Lv50, Arcane Manipulation Lv46, Entropic Lance Lv36, Curse Detonation Lv42, Curse Absorption Lv25, Reinforced Infusion Lv25, Passive Casting Lv25, Virulent Hex Lv25, Malignant Threshold Lv25, Feast on the Ruined Lv25, Veiled Marionette Lv18, Aural Manifestation Lv30, Accelerated Processing Lv10, Aura Tether Lv10, Piercing Eyes Lv10 Conditions: Curse of the False Saint, Zijian's Shackle Tutorial Points: 843781 Tokens: Skill Evolution Token, Class Evolution Token, Skill Insight Token, Bloodline Evolution Token ──────────── Holy fuck.

My passive income glitch was still working… I could see the numbers go up every few seconds, the toads were still killing the mosquitoes. Damn, I should go and create more of the things today. As it looked, probably some died, I was receiving too few points to justify those numbers now, so it meant that at some point the monsters fell after battling too long. Understandable… I gained nearly 650, 000 points since yesterday afternoon, in fifteen hours basically.

This way I would be able to reach the required twenty-five million that Miflin was asking for much sooner than expected, especially if I created more and more farming toads. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Actually, I would like to pay in full for the five days of use." She raised a transparent brow.

"Really now? How did you manage to get that many points already? I was under the impression you should have gone to great lengths to acquire them."

"I had a fortuitous encounter with a group of golden toads." I said smiling. I wasn't going to reveal my doing to her, she was my aura teacher, and after today I felt it was better to leave it at that. I was reconsidering working with her, she was way too unstable for my tastes.

"Did you now… fine, keep your secrets, and transfer the points." I did just that, and in a second half a million points went down the drain. I was still richer than before, but damn if it didn't sting.

"Actually, you are the shopkeeper here, are there some items you would recommend for someone like me?"

"You mean related to aura? Those are very expensive."

"No, I mean generally, for a curse and aura user. Actually I wanted to ask you about bloodlines too, and a couple other things, master." She huffed.

"You call me master only when it's in your interest. Fine, I suppose I should impart some of my vast experience on my little disciple." She said in a teasing tone.

"About items… there are many foci for curses, tomes you should study and theoretical knowledge to gain, even normal magical tomes would be a great benefit for someone so information-starved as a tutorialist. Don't forget that knowledge is power, sometimes even literally." What did that mean?

"But given the fact that you possess that foul grimoire, I would say that you are set in the curse department. You can always add more different curses for your use, but that I would leave to your judgment. As for aura… there are many, but most are for physical fighters. In the shop you would find very little of use. You see, the System shop may seem unlimited in its resources, but for someone like me it provides little to no use. You would realize it too if you climb high enough.

There are great items in it, mainly stat-enhancing ones, the skills, and the bloodlines, at least some, most are trash. So to be honest, in the shop I would not focus on items that much, they are entry-level at best, but some can be useful." She said while pointing at my Thirsting Halo, the ring that allowed me to store life-force.

"I'm capped regarding gaining more stats, and I am keeping some free skill slots for now. I will evolve my class as soon as I am done with the bracelet, that would give me more skills already. What about bloodlines?"

"There are no bloodlines related to aura if that is what you want to know, and for a simple reason. You can't extract a bloodline from a being like me, we have no blood after all. There are ways to gain some of our characteristics, mind you, but generally speaking they don't mesh well with flesh-and-blood creatures like you. Though, if you really wanted to get something good, I would advise you to point toward a curse-focused bloodline.

None would boost your curse magic directly, curses are not like fire, nature, or other elements, but there are some that would mesh well with your abilities, especially the Chaos Wyrm and Fallen Stormbearer, the Primal Titan too."

"I know about the Fallen Stormbearer, but won't that mess with my aura usage? If I don't remember wrong it would grant me the power of cursed lightning at the price of ruining my body the more I used it, consuming aura and life-force." She nodded.

"Yes, that is a nasty cursed bloodline, but there are workarounds, especially for someone who can actively manifest their aura and manipulate life-force. You could really make that work." I thought about it. It would add a kind of element into my build, lightning is well… lightning fast, so it would pair well with Accelerated Processing, then it's a kind of cursed lightning, I could probably empower it even more with my curses, and if I can somehow generate it externally with my cursed aura and borrowed life-force…

it would actually bypass the curse, as she said.

"I was thinking of removing the curse entirely actually, that would be much better." She shook her head.

"It doesn't work like that, you can't simply remove the curse from a cursed bloodline. The curse is intrinsic to the bloodline, without it, it would lose its power. At that point it would be just better to go directly for a normal lightning-type bloodline, if you could even remove the curse. It's nothing like the ones you had to deal with until now, a cursed bloodline is just a step below a soul curse." Dammit.

If I could have removed the curse I would have thought about it more seriously, it was the most promising bloodline I found that didn't cost tens of millions.

"What about the other two?"

"They are quite expensive, but the Chaos Wyrm would give you an extremely resistant constitution, especially regarding magic, and control over chaotic energies, something you have already started embarking on, while the Primal Titan would give you an incredible affinity with life-force and the ability to absorb it to empower yourself in a myriad of ways." Strong, I could tell that they would be really strong abilities to possess.

Imagine being a titan that already is nearly impossible to take down and at the same time stealing the life-force of your enemy to make yourself even more unkillable… I wouldn't want to face something like that. The Chaos Wyrm would play with my Entropic Lance and Feast on the Ruined skills, stealing all forms of energy to then blast them back at my enemies. It's something that I was actually already capable of doing, but I'm sure it would be cranked up to the heavens.

If I wasn't so invested in curses and took a more mundane magic approach I would have seriously considered it, but no. I didn't think it was the best I could go after.

"How do these bloodlines fare compared to the best in the multiverse?" I asked her. I didn't want to get some subpar, watered-down bloodline, if needed be I would save for something better.

"I would say that between the three, the Chaos Wyrm is nearly top-tier. Even in the vast multiverse there are only pure Chaos Dragons that would rank higher, but a bloodline, even the most powerful, won't be able to give you the most power if it doesn't mesh well with your skills. Don't forget that. If you suddenly gained the bloodline of the King of the Elves you won't really be able to exhibit more power than before, so keep that in mind, synergy is more important than raw power.

Then there is the matter of your bloodline to consider too."

"What? I don't have a bloodline."

"Of course you have, it's just extremely diluted, but there are ways of bringing it to the surface…" Oh now this, was interesting.