Chapter 6: "The curse"

The next morning starts with going out of the northern gate of town and then further towards the forest. On the way some little fights with Pluffys may have occured and after the first ones are oneshot the others, seemingly wary, kept their distance to Kris. Instead of following the road to the Lumberjack he cuts short across the plains and then enters the forest a bit more to the East.

Theoretically there should be stronger mobs in the forest. Gaming logic dictates that the further away from town you go the higher the monster level should be. And even with forests near towns or cities in the deepest parts of the forest very often a few highleveled monsters can be found.

The indication for the Moonlight Flower is somewhere way deeper into the forest so Kris tries to keep his eyes open for any new monsers or maybe some special herbs or something similar that may be worth the time to go after it.

While walking through the forest the atmosphere is rather eerie. Most of the sunlight is darkened because the leaves cover the top with all trees being close to each other. Noises are all around and there may be a monster behind the next bush trying to get him. Thats what not walking on used paths does to one. It may be more dangerous.

After a while Kris can make out various paths the wildlife uses that are kinda cleared. Sometimes something small that seems to be similar to a squirrel makes its way through one of them and after some time he follows one of those because the target seems to be in a straight line of the paths direction.

The destination is a clearing at the end of this path but there is no special flower anywhere in sight. Kris already considered that with the name 'Moonlight Flower' it may only bloom under the moonlight so while preparing he packed some more supplies for the case that he has to stay here for a while. While waiting for the night to come he starts playing around with his magic a bit trying to find the mechanics behind it instead of just using system assist all the time.

The only thing that is taught to players is how to sense mana. Every other class is just aquiring the spell and then you can cast it if you have the right stats for it. So instead of using the system to make a spell Kris tries to feel mana again and draw it to one of his hands. Now that he tries to do it consciously it is very easy so he suspects a system help there too.

Per definition if he starts a spell now it should be an Arcane spell, so maybe that is why he doesn't have problems gathering mana in this way. Instead of directly trying to cast a spell he just observes the mana some more. The gathered amount in his hand has the same signature as mana in his core but it starts to behave a bit more erratic, maybe even unstable.

After still holding it in his hand (inside, not outside) it starts to flow out and covers the hand as it becomes too unstable. The signature changes while leaving the body and has a similar one to the simple Arcane spell people can learn in the institute. Thus he suspects that Mana remains unattributed in the body and just gains their attribute once it leaves the body. Against this theory is the fact that there are several attributed body strenghtening spells.

While thinking about Mana the day settles and slowly the night is coming. One more thing Kris does not notice is the pair of eyes watching and nearing him. The sound of something running towards him finally snaps Kris out of his concentration and he instantly does a roll to get out of the way. What he can see is a wolf leaping at him.

As fast as possible he draws his sword and readies himself for battle but the world doesn't give him a real chance to do that as the wolf instantly turns back to him after missing the jump. It is fast, very fast. With dark gray fur and piercing yellow eyes. It's expression and aura is around the 'do not to mess with it' level.

The charging wolf tries to bite into Kris right leg and gets countered with his sword but it is faster and still manages to scratch him while Kris misses complettely.

The difference in speed is not hard to notice. In direct combat Kris has no chance at all because even if he counters and dodges at the right time the wolf is just faster and can attack from another angle before Kris is up again.

After some more minutes and some more scratches on his body he decides to start a plan. Sprinting in the direction of the forest the wolf instantly follows him but as the fight is already at the edge of the clearing it cant catch up to Kris before he reaches the first tree. The wolf starts to jump in Kris direction and is about to hit him just as he reaches the first tree.

Instead of him hitting though Kris starts to jump towards the tree, rotating his body so that he is facing the wolf with his back and then making a walljump, treejump, into a backflip over the charging wolf.

During the jump as his head is facing downward looking at the wolf he tries to swing his sword at the confused wolf and somehow manage to hit his head.

In Kris imagination this was a really great plan. In reality he somehow manages to start a backflip, swing at the wolf or better said manage to place my sword at its neck and come crashing down on its back with his own back nearly breaking my neck cause he did not get the backflip right with thw sword and swinging at the same time.

Through the pressure of his crash the sword that is placed on the wolfs neck it pierces and kills it together with Kris being damaged with his crash.

And that is the tale of how Kris managed to defeat a wolf that is several levels higher executing a perfect backflip and killing it oneshot.

After collecting the loot he can finally move on and go to the middle of the clearing where a beautiful flower is blooming. It has a crystal blue colour and exudes a light glow around it, almost seeming to be a mystical flower. But because it is a quest item he has to get it. As he places it in his inventory Kris can feel a twinge in my body. It leaves as fast as it started and thus he goes back while wondering what exactly happened as he picked up the flower.

Nearly an eternity later, or atleast a night later he arrives at the town again and goes to finish the quest. Its rewards are like earlier mentioned 2 silver and Kris kindly asks if the flower has some special traits. After questioning why he would ask that Kris tells the receptionist how he felt something when he picked the flower up and she instantly mentions that he should probably go to the magic Institute since the Moonlight Flower is a magical one, they might know more.

So a bit later he is told that the flower may have left a little curse on the Mana Core and they are more than willing to remove it. The process of removing recuires someone else to be in contact with him while moving some of their mana towards his core and then remove the curse.

"Can you maybe explain how to remove it and I try to do it myself? I kinda don't want somebody else messing with my body if it is not complettely necesarry."(Kris)

"Of course, although it may be too hard for you at the moment. It requires a very fine control of your mana. If you want to practice it we could help you with that and then guide you as your control becomes better. That would require you to leave the curse as it is at the moment though. It negates some of your magical strength and will leave you with a huge disadvantage until removed. "(Receptionist)

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"Yes please help me like this. I did not plan on fighting with magic very soon anyways so if it only lessens my impact it is not that bad"(Kris)

"Which method of learning finer controll would you like to do, sir? One way would be practicing it outside of your body in form of a magical pearl that levitates as you controll your mana or internal methods like body strenghtening. Outer methods are easier to demonstrate by trainers while internal methods can boost your strength if used in the right way."(Receptionist)

"For the beginning I prefer the outer method"(Kris)

"Then move through the middle door to our training area and ask for a magical pearl."(receptionist)

And thus he walks to the training area and asks an Instructor to help with the magical pearl. In essence after receiving a pearl one has to keep it in ones hand at the beginning and will their mana into it. Instead of changing to Arcane mana it behaves as if the pearl is a part of ones body and they can still kind of feel the mana while moving the pearl around. Now the hard part is willing the mana to move.

That is exactly how Kris imagines an extra limb or something similar to be. The feeling that something belongs to him but is not in a place where it should be. But after a day of doing this he can already let the pearl slowly rotate around him if he does not do anything else.

While practicing there are some people throwing something similar to a boomerang towards practice targets. Atleast that thing behaves similar to a boomerang but its look is complettely different. It is a perfectly circular blade connected to a bigger magical pearl in the middle. And 2 smaller circles on each side of the blade that extend a bit outwards from the middle to each side.

The people can hold the weapon at these 2 rings and throw them like that and after some time Kris notices that after they start the throw these 2 rings move towards the middle so they do not block if the boomerang cuts through something. At another place some people spar in close fighting with the same weapon. To him it looks a bit weird but you fight as if you have a circular small shield with a very sharp edge in general.

After Kris finishes his training for the day he asks an Instructor what exactly that weapon is.

"It is based on the concepts of a boomerang but works different. You throw it in the direction you want it to hit and can then guide it with the mana pearl in the middle. Of course it is very hard to concentrate on that during a fight and thats why most people do not use these. There are 2 rings that work as a handle and can retreat into a position where they do not hinder movement if mana is applied at the right place. The weapon returns because the further away the pearl is the stronger is the pull of your mana in it to return to the rest of your mana. To fasten it you can additionally pull on your mana to guide it back. The hardest part is to catch it again. To make that and essentially everything easier the greater ones do not only have the pearl in the middle with the function to contain your mana but the handles as well or if you ever found a masterpiece the whole weapon may be able to contain mana. The name of this Weapon is an Asser-Blade, shortform Asser."(instructor)

And that is how Kris found the weapon he wants to use in the future.

Atleast it is the weapon he would like to use if he ever manages to control the mana pearl to a higher degree. At the moment he would probably cut his own arms while trying to catch the blade and thus be stuck at close combats which is possible but not the best method of fighting with an Asser.

The next day he comes back and ask for further advise on how to get rid of the curse. He has to feel out the impurities and then remove them with finer control. It is like feeling the difference between different attributes just being a bit more difficult because curses hide themselves better among ones own ;ama. Since Kris Mana control is not nearly at that level yet he tries to atleast sense my own mana and find the curse so that once trained to the point of being able to remove it he doesn't have to find it first.

And like that a week of playing passed and he still only faintly senses some mana that is kinda static if he does not use it and has more of a flowing stream apon using some magic. The curse is positioned at my back where I hit the wolf when I crashed down on it.

While trying to sense his own mana after some more days he starts to sense something else. Although sensing may be too much. That something does have the character of mana but does not involve only parts of the body but the whole one. It is weird to describe it is as if his whole body is afflicted and although he cannot sense what affects it yet, there seems to be something affecting it but not on an obvious level like the curse but more as if it would have been there from the beginning on.

Anyways, practice with the Asser has started for now that Kris mana control is atleast halfway decent and he can atleast control the blade so that it wont cut me at returning. Of course my throws at the moment are weak ones as slow as possible. But if after one weak he can start to train with them there may be hope that after some more time he will be able to use them in combat.

Along with training like this he tries to feel the exact positioning of the curse and can move on with removing it. But after this first week complettely concentrating on gaining a decent mana control Kris returns to a more mundane routine where he starts the day with training close combat with the Asser blades, then the afternoon on mana control and trying to control the Asser and then reading more books in the evening in the library.

It may seem to be a very boring kind of playing a game for some people but for Kris its the best kind because although it is very slow paced it will be worth it in the end and he does not ignore the whole history of this world like most people do. His main focus at the moment in the library lies in the history of Acros.

The earliest books tell a story about another race, the Ancients, who have a religion with 7 different gods.

There is no mentions about how exactly they lived on Acros. At some point in time though several cults started all around the continent. Several hundred years later these cults took over the main religious belief of the Ancients. There were 7 different cults then, each one only believing in the existence of 1 god.

After a long time differences began to start between these cults, or rather religions at that point in time. A long war started and no side was able to win so every side started to become more and more extreme in their actions. In the end they destroyed nearly every single place of Acros and nobody survived.

The Gods did not want to take part in this war as the Ancients were the creation of every god working together. Now that the Ancients died they were at the beginning of their creation again. This time to not let the same faults happen again every god created his own race, all based on the Ancients in general. Like this the 7 races that are known today were born.

After several thousand years and through some conquests et cetera the continent regained its current structure.

The Southern Wildlands are actually hard to settle in because it was an area wher the destruction was still obvious and thus it was hard to get anything to grow there and the monsters in general are stronger there because there was a huge amount of magic still affecting the area.

Now it has started to become better and thus there are some frontier towns trying to conquer the area slowly again. The Rapider were the only ones traveling through the Southern Wildlands hundreds of years ago already in the pursuit to find forgotten treasures.

The only area that is evn more deadly is the Desert of Death. Although the Dersirs seem to survive there somehow and no other race knows exactly how they do it that area is a deathzone for everyone not prepared enough to take it.

Also the whole continent is surrounded by a thick fog all around and no one who tried to pass through has managed to survive it.

Like this another week passed. During this time Kris gained 1 Strength, 2 Agility, 2 Wisdom, 4 Mind and 1 Intelligence.

Status Window Name: Kris Level: 1 Race: Kera Gender Male Class - Alignment Neutral Titles - Fame 0 Infamy 0   Heath: 95/95 Mana: 125/125 Stamina: 111/111 Satiety: 100/100   Strength: 7 Endurance: 6 Vitality: 7 Agility: 13 Wisdom: 16 Mind: 17 Intelligence: 12 Luck: 10