Sitting cross-legged on his hotel bed, Alex looked grumpily at the book in his hands.
"The book of curses... Bla-bla-bla... Use your mana to twist cause and effect into a karmic attack on a hated enemy... Bla-bla-bla... Curse at a distance, cool... Bla-bla-bla... Effective against enemies with karmic ties to the caster...".
"The book of curses... The name seems interesting and its description is impressive, BUT HOW AM I GOING TO TEST THIS!" Alex said, frustrated, falling back onto the bed.
"All the damned who kidnapped me have already been killed by the psychopathic hero, there's no one left to curse...".
"...".
"Wait!" Alex said, sitting up again, as if he had an idea.
"I am living proof that the soul exists. What if I curse those damned even in their deaths?" Alex smiled maliciously.
~~~
*Vomit*
"Mr. Henry, are you okay?!" Adam asked, frightened.
*Cough - Cough* "Damn, what happened?! I was just about to fini-" Henry said, reflexively covering his mouth and vomiting another large jet of black blood.
*Cough - Cough* "Damn, damn. I was almost finishing my first mana circle! Luckily, I moved the location of the mana ring at the last second, otherwise, I would have definitely died!" Henry replied, stunned by the sudden error that occurred at the end of a calm rank change.
"There must be some problem with the method we bought to make your first mana ring!" Adam said angrily: "Mr. Henry, let me go after the smuggler right now!".
Hearing his subordinate, Henry, still stunned, just nodded his head, wanting to be alone, making Adam run out immediately.
Alone in the room, Henry forcefully unbuttoned his silk shirt, looking at his right chest that had turned purple, as if an internal explosion had occurred. "Why did I remember that bitch at the most important part... Damn, Jane...".
~~~
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand, Alex was breathing heavily as he sprawled out on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“That was so exhausting! 5 minutes of curse were enough to drain my mana, not to mention making my whole body feel like it’s burning!”.
*Sighs*
“Wherever you guys are, I hope this makes your life a lot harder.” Alex said, with a faint smile, falling asleep from exhaustion shortly after.
~~~
“Ok, this acolyte book is very useful.” Alex concluded, as he closed the last page of the acolyte volume, purchased for 25 platinum.
Closing his eyes and sighing, Alex says: “The difference between a mage and an acolyte is that the mage has condensed the mana stored in the brain into rings. These rings are denser and cause both, a quantitative change in the level of mana storage and a qualitative change in the power of spells. This is done because, normally, despite mana being in a sub-dimension called astral, and not being entirely physical, it is stored in the same spatial location of the brain which, in turn, at high quantities, directly interferes with the physical dimension, causing terrible problems that lead to inevitable brain death. By transforming them into dense rings, the mana anchors itself in its original dimension, not directly interfering with the physical field, that is, the brain. The main problem in crossing levels is having enough mana accumulation for the condensation of mana in the astral which, if it fails or is interrupted, can cause serious damage to the physical body.”.
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Sighs Alex sighs as he enters his mental space.
“The main problem is: I don’t store mana directly in my brain but in the mysterious space of my consciousness, which is more like a private sub-dimension, so the technique described here is not useful.” He says, looking at the tireless vortex that every moment absorbed more and more mana.
“Well, I think for today I will just do the breathing technique and study the curse book a little more.” Alex murmurs, returning his consciousness on his body.
~~~
A large wolf with lush black fur exuded wildness and dominance, even now, as it merely drank water from a small lake. Traces of blood that did not belong to it created a predatory air, and its mere presence drove away any other animal that dared to drink water from the place.
“Mors Maledictio”
*Poof*
“This is the last one. 5 obsidian wolves; damn hard to find.” Said Alex, emerging from the trees around the small lake, heading towards the wolf that, before exuded life, but now lay dead on the ground. No sound, no struggle, just instant death.
“It’s really absurd that I can kill a beast like this alone… Even though I can only do this if the target doesn’t have intelligence, has a shorter life expectancy than mine, and has a lower mana reserve.” Alex murmured, as he put the large wolf into his mental space, retreating towards the city.
~~~
“Here, Abgail, 10 obsidian wolf eyeballs.” Said Alex, as he handed over a glass container with the eyeballs preserved in sleeping flower oil, which had been provided.
“Your first mission was a success, Alex, congratulations.” Said Abgail, the mission manager of the first floor of the mage tower.
“With this, your acolyte goal for the month is fulfilled.” She continued. “By the way, I’m surprised you were able to complete this mission in just 3 days. These wolves are so voracious.”.
“Fast?! I came the day after arriving and spent about 10 hours just to find a single wolf in the crimson forest.” Thought Alex, angry, not for the difficulty of battle, but for the difficulty of finding the target.
Even so, he expressed: “Haha, I had to rest a bit, the battle was fierce.”.
“Yes, there are many of them in the Pink Forest, be careful, they are low-level beasts, but they are still beasts.” Said the middle-aged woman, as she took the glass container and took a more concentrated look. “You didn’t damage any of the eyes in the fight, very good, very good, Alex.”
“Haha, thank you. Real-, wait, did you say Pink Forest?” Asked Alex, confused.
“What else would it be?” Replied Abgail, even more confused.
“It’s not possible, I was in the wrong forest the whole time!” Cried Alex internally, as he picked up the mission paper and reread it. “Oh, my proficiency of the language is still lacking… The words are very similar, differing more only in pronunciation.”.
“Alex, by the way, are you interested in joining any wing of the magic tower? You will have access to much more information and can learn some useful things.” Said Abgail, taking Alex out of his daydream.
“Wing?”.
“Alex, sometimes I think you chimed in here.” Said Abgail, sighing, but still explaining: “In the mage tower there are several Wings, with various themes such as: alchemy, archaeology, study about magical knowledge of a specific magical area, etc. Every wing is commanded by a different mage professor of at least 5 rings.”
After a few seconds of silence from Alex, absorbing what Abgail had explained, she continues: “By the way, Alex, I don’t do much of this, usually I just do my job, but since you are cute-, *Cough - Cough*, since I liked you, I’ll give you a tip, since the incompetent attendants don’t do their job right... So, you are already an acolyte who has done your monthly mission, earning the right to stay 5 hours per month on the 2nd floor of the tower.”.
“Second floor of the tower?” Asked Alex, interested.
“Yes, the library floor.”.
“Wouldn’t this be the library floor?” Asked Alex, looking up, where several books floated from one side to the other.
“Of course not silly, here is where they sell the worst books to unsuspecting people without knowledge. Magical books are not so easy to get, not even the library has them.” Explained Abgail, with a smile.
“But… what would be in the library if not magical books?” Asked Alex.
“What’s in the library, Alex? The common sense that you lack.” Replied Abgail, ironically.
*Footsteps approaching*
“Well, sweetie, come talk to me more later, now I have to work.” She said, turning to the newcomer.
*Sigh* “Indeed, that’s what I lack.” Thought Alex, as he waved to Abgail and went to the stairs that were in the center, surrounded by counters.