20 – Curse

Journal in hands, Alexandra read her skill quest list, taking in the unexpected additions.

Active Skill Quests:

• Running

• Diving

• Summon Lesser Fiend

• Basic Herbology

• Drain Life

• Life Curse

She recognized Drain Life and Life Curse as Warlock skills. But, much like the other ones, she had no idea where they were coming from. Clearly, mastering Dark Bolt had played a role in the new options, but she couldn’t link it with what she knew of the class system.

It wasn’t normal.

Then again, being summoned to another world wasn’t normal either.

In any case, the quests were there, and she would be remiss not to take advantage of them. She read the skill descriptions.

Drain Life:

Drain the lifeforce of your target, replenishing your own.

Lifeforce drained cannot exceed the maximum capacity for your rank.
Each level increases the amount of lifeforce drained.

Each level improves conversion effectiveness.

Alexandra stared at the skill for a long time. This was the most elaborate description she’d seen so far, and exactly what she needed to make Dark Bolt viable. Yet, she could already tell that the quest to acquire it wouldn’t be simple.

Drain Life: Make a deal with Augustus, Demon of Blood (0/1).

“Figures.” She sighed. “I care about my soul a tiny bit too much to do that.”

Shaking her head, she moved on to the next skill.

Life Curse:

Lifeforce costs are replaced by a random, self-inflicted curse.

Curse potency is inversely proportional to the initial lifeforce cost.

Each level improves curse to lifeforce conversion effectiveness.

This wasn’t nearly as good as Drain Life. Alexandra’s fingers danced on the page as she considered the implications of Life Curse. Her knowledge of curses was limited to the curse of weakness, which she believed reduced strength. However, she could easily infer that many curses existed in this world. Some had to be particularly nasty.

Getting one of those during a fight could be disastrous.

Yet, it was a way to use Dark Bolt, her most powerful skill, without reducing her lifespan.

She read the skill quest.

Life Curse: Be inflicted by three curses simultaneously (0/3).

She tilted her head. “Not too bad…”

Granted, it wasn’t going to be pleasant, but there was no mention of a minimum potency for the curses, and she could do it in a controlled environment. A self cast of Inflict Weakness couldn’t be that bad. It would fade after some time, anyway. Alexandra just had to find two other curses. Mild ones.

She was immediately tempted to run after Lara and ask her, but she stopped herself. It wasn’t a good time. Her friend was disappointed enough about her constant risk taking.

Telling her she was planning on cursing herself multiple times wasn’t going to go down well.

However, there were few people in the entire world she could even talk to. Was there another solution? Not really. If she wanted to find more curses, she’d have to ask someone.

So her thoughts moved to Bamir. So far, the priest had been nice to her, and honestly, he seemed to have accepted her tendency to seek danger. For the most part…

Her only reluctance was that curses seemed to be associated with demons. But even then, if she thought about it in gaming terms, curses were pretty standard debuffs. Surely, many classes had access to them.

It was worth asking. Worst case scenario, she could spin it as wondering if her amnesia was a curse.

Yes. That’s a good plan.

She walked toward the village.

As she reached the first houses, the looks started coming. Alexandra was aware that the hood hiding her hair didn’t make her look the most approachable. If anything, it made her suspicious.

Not much she could do.

Showing her hair which had suddenly turned white would only make things worse. With her growing perception, she was able to hear the locals whisper among them. Their stats must have still been higher than hers, as they were talking so low that she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

After passing the third house, she realized that she had no idea where the healer lived. She stopped at the edge of the road and looked both ways.

An old man sat on a stool outside the house opposite, a knife in one hand and a small piece of pale wood in the other. Short strokes, consistent. He wasn’t looking at her.

She stood there for a moment. Then she crossed the road.

He looked up when she was five meters away. His eyes went to her hood, her gloved hands, the scars on her cheeks. His knife slowed but didn’t stop.

She stopped in front of him. “I’m looking for Bamir’s house.”

He said nothing. Another curl of wood fell between his boots.

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“The priest,” she added.

His knife stopped. He turned the piece of wood in his hand, examined the edge, set it on his knee. He looked at her.

“I know who Bamir is,” he said. Then he returned to his work.

Alexandra watched him carve. “Then, can you tell me where his house is?”

The man didn’t look up. “I could.”

She waited. “Hello?”

He grunted, and pointed down the road with a jerk of his chin. “This way. Blue door. Leave me alone, now.”

He went back to work.

Alexandra thanked him and followed his directions. Lanterne wasn’t large, and soon she found herself standing in front of a blue door. The house was smaller than most.

She knocked.

Footsteps. A pause. The door opened. Bamir looked at her, then past her, then back at her. He stepped aside.

“Miss Alexandra.” He rubbed his eyebrows. “Come in.”

She stepped inside.

“What do I owe the pleasure?”

“I was thinking about my amnesia,” Alexandra answered.

Bamir raised his eyebrows. “Your amnesia?”

“Do you think it could be the result of a curse?”

Bamir paused, his eyes locked onto her. “Please sit down, Miss Alexandra.” He pulled one of his chairs from under the table, and sat opposite from it.

Alexandra did as instructed.

“Curses…” Bamir murmured. “What prompted this question?”

She looked down, not meeting his eyes. “I… I just want to understand what happened to me.”