86 – Checking In

You and your colleagues wrote countless tomes and treatises on the most prominent demon cults of Laika. The Pale Bloom, the Brotherhood, the Velvet Masks.

I even have an entire shelf of works dedicated to the Watchers, despite their harmless nature.

I say, my friend, those followers of Oc believe that decay is inevitable and, as such, nothing needs to be done to prepare for its coming. You wrote it yourself in three different volumes. I won’t bother listing the pages.

Why, then, has nobody but you studied the apparently common; dare I say, banal worship of demons in remote communities?

They sing to Zabatrid for healing, beg San for love and riches, call on Augustus before charging into battle, whisper prayers to Ummi for their secrets to be well guarded.

Yet, I see among them not just adoration for demons but also honest love and admiration for the Seven.

Alfred, I do not appreciate being lied to. Even by omission. I expect a report on my desk by morning.

Specimen from Alfred Dumries’ early correspondence from the Iron Vein Magus.

The walk back to Kator quickly turned into a run.

Alexandra felt lighter. The malediction had affected her more than she realized, gnawing at her from the inside. Now that it was gone, the thoughts of striking out on her own had subsided.

She wasn’t going to take over the Iron Library, like Raymond wanted her to, but she was fine with staying a while longer. There was so much to learn, so much to achieve.

She hadn’t forgotten the sickness of empathy. The way she dealt with infinite hunger was a fluke she knew she couldn’t replicate.

Then there was her study on lifeforce, enchantments, weapons, mana.

It wasn’t like she had a plan besides continuing her streak. So she would use her time here to figure one out. Hang out with Willow, Louis, and maybe even Kam. The boy was a little weird, but he’d helped her complete a quest, so she’d grown fond of him.

She’d leave when she was ready.

If Raymond let her.

She shook the thought away. Today was a good day, and she wasn’t going to let anything ruin her mood.

Her feet hit the sand. The beach unfurled before her. She was faster than ever.

Her body felt good. Better than on Earth, even if she didn’t have the same level of comfort.

Sickness of empathy sent a burst of pain up her legs, letting her know that she’d crushed something.

She winced.

She slowed down as she entered the city. The sky was grey, and so were the roofs, but it didn’t stop people from living. Rows of shops opened onto the street. She passed a bakery, a sweet smell drifting into her nose.

Alexandra didn’t stop.

She’d eaten enough pastries in the past week to last her a lifetime. Even through the clouds, photosynthesis was feeding her enough that she wasn’t hungry.

When she reached the top of the stairs and stepped into the academy, she decided to go to the baths. For the first time, she did it of her own volition.

She went down to the bath floor, found an empty room, and plunged into the warm water. Her mind drifted. She hadn’t slept in a while, so she took this chance for some rest.

A few hours later, she stepped out and dried herself off.

She smelled good and felt particularly clean. More than usual. Probably the malediction.

Alexandra went back to her room and sat at her desk.

She summoned her journal.

A Face Among Many 4 -> 5

Running 5 -> 6

Sure Footing 9 -> 10

Mana Manipulation 5 -> 6

Curse Unraveling 3 -> 8

She smiled. Sure enough, skipping sicknesses to go straight to maledictions proved to be a massive boon for Curse Unraveling.

She’d also reached the maximum level on Sure Footing and would need to start thinking about an upgrade.

Still, for a total of nine skill levels in such a short time, Streak Enhancement was already showing its worth. It wasn’t responsible for everything, but it had to have helped.

But as her eyes drifted to the next line, her smile morphed into a grimace.

Basic Hygiene: Bathe once a day for nine days in a row (9/9).

Fucking system. The hell is this skill quest?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She hadn’t paid attention to it when she received the skill quest. Out of principle. And the village she was in was attacked by Duskmaws right after anyway.

“Do I really need a skill for that?”

She flipped the pages, looking for the description.

Basic Hygiene:

Passively applies the most basic hygiene.
Each level increases the effect.

She raised her eyebrows. This actually wasn’t bad. In fact, it was pretty good. That skill would definitely save her some time.

“What should I do now?” she said out loud. “I could try locating the sickness, but failing would sour my mood.” She paused. “I’ll wait for tomorrow.”

She turned the pages back to her status and pulled up her skill list.

It was starting to be unwieldy. She thought it’d be nicer if the skills were sorted by grade. As if they were answering to her will, the words in the journal rearranged themselves.

General Skills:

• [Giant Slayer] (Rare) – 2

• [Inflict Weakness] (Uncommon) – 8

• [Dark Bolt] (Uncommon) – 9

• [Life Curse] (Uncommon) – 11

• [Drain Life] (Uncommon) – 1

• [Curse Unraveling] (Uncommon) – 8

• [Sickle Mastery] (Common) – 10

• [A Face Among Many] (Common) – 5

• [Combat Sense] (Common) – 9

• [Sure Footing] (Common) – 10

• [Running] (Common) – 6

• [Mana Manipulation] (Common) – 6

• [Reading] (Common) – 4

• [Basic Hygiene] (Common) – 1

She smiled. That was better.

Alexandra read through her skills one by one, looking for those she had neglected. There wasn’t much she could do to train Giant Slayer except fight above her rank. But she felt that there were better uses for her time at the moment.

Inflict Weakness, Dark Bolt, Life Curse, and Curse Unraveling were all part of her regimen to cure her sickness along with the lessons from Tristan.

She had started studying lifeforce at the library for Drain Life.