I'm Never Doing That Again

The sound of wooden spokes as they bumped along the uneven ground of a forest trail. It was the first thing Takuma noticed. He groaned as his eyes opened, revealing the evening sky above him. He could hear all manner of creatures in the distance, mostly bugs serenading the environment with their own particular brand of song.

"Where..the hell am I?" He whispered, as best he could anyway but his throat felt shredded. In fact every part of his body ached-- as if he'd exercised way too long and hard.

"Oh-- you're awake." The voice was familiar to Takuma yet he could not place it. After a few moments he would realize it was because he'd never gotten the man's name.

"You're the town guard?" Takuma asked, his voice low and raspy.

"Mhmm. That I am." It was the same older gent who'd greeted him the night of his arrival in Arnia and his departure earlier in the day.

"How..what's going on?" Takuma struggled to find the least amount of words to convey his curiosity. He was clearly in the bed of a moving wagon. Hardwood judging by the feeling of discomfort at each bump.

"I'm not sure. I was hoping you could tell me. You left hours ago, and then some lass, a lady adventurer passed into town. She mentioned seeing someone on the outs -- a traveler on the road. So, of course I came to look for you."

"What's your name?" Takuma then asked.

"Glenvi."

"Thank you, Glenvi." Takuma said as he breathed in deeply, taking in the totality of the moment. He remembered what happened -- for the most part.

"It's nothing, don't mind. Can't have the town's only Curse Meister succumbing in the middle of nowhere, after all. So...you gonna tell me what you were doing out there?"

Takuma could hear the words but his body hurt too much to focus clearly, so instead he offered a groan. Glenvi just chuckled to himself, with the response of "I've had a day or two like that in my time."

Thankfully his pained groans conveyed the message properly and Glenvi left him in peace. There was no telling how long Takuma lay there, focusing his mind to take the edge off the harsh ache that racked his body.

"Void Soul - Your sense of self has been shattered. Those who survive this ailment are never truly the same. Duration: 9.42.3"

When he could focus, that was the element of his hud which stood out most to him. A strange icon he'd never seen before and the description that accompanied it reminded him of the sudden darkness that gripped his body. Just thinking about it made his head pound, his eyes water.

"What was that?" He thought to himself.

"Glenvi." Takuma said.

"Yes?"

"I have a..potion. Can you..use it on me?"

"Of course. But that will have to wait. Lately these woods have been dangerous .Wolves I hear. I can't stop the wagon until we're near to town, it's just not safe for anyone involved."

"How long?" Takuma mouthed.

"I'm not as fit as I used to be, kid. Maybe another thirty minutes? You were pretty far from town."

Takuma didn't really understand Glenvi's response at first, but after some thought he realized Glenvi was the one pulling the cart.

"Thank you." Takuma said, this time his voice filled with graciousness and gratitude.

"You already said as much. Don't sweat it." Glenvi replied as the two continued traveling through the night. Takuma closed his eyes, because honestly that was all he could do. It hurt just to move or flex his fingers let alone his arm. He wanted to use a Vitality potion to try and heal some of the pain but moving his arm would be excruciating.

He took several deep breaths and then forced his arm upwards as he opened his inventory and called forth the potion as quickly as he could manage. He then allowed his hand to fall onto his face so that he could bite the cork of the potion bottle and drizzle the syrupy liquid into his mouth.

He could feel the regenerative properties of the potion going to work as a cool sensation washed over his battered body but that wasn't enough. He felt better, good enough to move but his body still felt heavily damaged, his muscles ripped asunder--even his mind felt frazzled and heavy. He chased the first potion with another, this time a stamina potion. The idea was to soothe his aching muscles. This too had a similar effect, but ultimately it only eased the pain to minor degrees. It was now bearable, no more or less.

"I'm never doing that again." Takuma whispered to himself as the wagon hit a particularly nasty bump.

"Not doing what again?" Glenvi added, keen to know exactly what Takuma was doing in the woods alone. Takuma completely ignored the question once more, this time closing his eyes as the two continued on their way. Ultimately, as Glenvi guessed, the two arrived at the gates in little less than a half an hour. Once there, Chloe and Glenvi helped Takuma to the inn and up the stairs to his room. Glenvi parted ways after wishing Takuma well while Chloe decided to stay behind and tend to Takuma for a bit more.

She had a million questions herself, so Takuma took the time to finally recount his purpose in returning to the chapel as well as the mysterious black statue.

"That sounds creepy. And you actually touched it? After it nearly killed you the first time?" Chloe's voice showed that she felt Takuma's actions defied all reason.

"...Yes?" He responded. Now that she voiced the absurdity of the situation out loud Takuma indeed felt pretty stupid.

"At the moment it seemed right…" This was the reasoning he gave himself as Chloe tended to his body. The healing that she did on his body felt good, but ultimately it was futile.

"The problem isn't with your body Takuma. I think..this might be some kind of side effect. You said there was a timer on this 'Void Soul' status, right? Perhaps you just need to let the effects wear off." Such was Chloe's diagnosis for Takuma.

"You're probably right. But there's well over eight hours left. Do you at least have something that will help me sleep?"

"Of course." Chloe said as she reached into a waist pack and pulled out several small blue flower petals. She closed them in her palm and they instantly turned into misty vapor as she moved her clasped hand towards Takuma's nose.

"How do you do that? It's so...cool.." He said as he quickly succumbed to slumber by the power of Chloe's Herbalist skills. Chloe lingered a few more moments to study his breathing before leaving him to sleep in peace. Or so she thought--

But Takuma's dreams were neither pleasant nor refreshing. His notion was to escape the physical pain but instead he found himself in a world of darkness. It was as if the air surrounding him was alive, a living swirling mass of black. In the center of this place was a body, a young woman wrapped in the bleak darkness. Her eyes were hollow and black, her ears leaked thick black fluid and her mouth was sewn shut by thick black threads.

She writhed in endless agony and Takuma finally understood, for he could see himself within her -- for just a few seconds back at the chapel, that was him. Trapped in endless darkness, questioning his own sanity--his own existence. He drew closer to the woman and placed his hand on her shoulder but she couldn't feel or sense his presence. He grabbed onto her and whispered repeatedly "I'm here. I'm here.", but the words fell on deaf ears, she couldn't register them as her mind was blocked off from her body, all of her being scattered into thousands of fractured pieces amidst a landscape of endless black.

And in this way the two stayed for hours to come.

Waking up was one of the hardest things Takuma had ever had to do, particularly since he was violently ripped from the dark dimension. The second the timer for Void Soul expired he awoke with a start, falling out of his bed to the floor below.

"I'm here! I'm here!" He continued to shout, though he was alone in the room. The morning sun pierced through his window and he realized he was no longer trapped in the dark prison.

"So that's what it means. Save the Goddess." Takuma remarked as he wiped the tears away with the back of his hands. The thought of being trapped in a place like that for minutes, let alone months was enough to send his mind into overdrive with pity. He couldn't help it, at the thought of such torture tears simply welled up from within his eyes. Apparently there was a reason many men feared the darkness.

He sat on the floor for some time until he could focus his thoughts. The effects of Void Soul aliment were gone but he still felt quite groggy and sluggish. What's more the only word he could truly use to describe how he felt was empty, physically and mentally.

After regaining his composure he got dressed and reaffirmed his goal.

"Save the Goddess, Save The Girl." He whispered. With that in mind he figured he should start with the simpler of the two tasks. He went to his status menu and placed his spare SP into Instant Purification -- at least that was the goal, but he noticed that all of his modifiers had reached 200%, even the ones he hadn't actively attempted to train.

"I wonder if this is from….that horrid experience." It was certainly true he'd been pushed well beyond his limits after all, it would make as much sense as any reason.

"Now I just need experience." Takuma whispered as he took a glance at his current stats.

Relic Meister - Rank 2 / 10 [3,540 / 4,000]

Vitality - 85 [93] (MAX%)

Mana- 251 (200% MAX)

Stamina- 70 [95] (MAX%)

Force- 4 [5] (MAX%)

Accel- 3 [5] (MAX%)

Knowledge- 4 (MAX%)

*Additional Effects*

Phantom Cloak : +50% movement speed.

All things considered he was much better off than yesterday. Was it due to the fact that he'd infused his mana within the statue? He only needed five hundred exp, a paltry sum with the many relics in his possession -- however his mana was looking extremely poor.

He placed all of the relics onto his floor once more and took a few moments to decide what to do. If he were to purify only Rank three items he would easily reach rank up to the next level with just ten or so. Unfortunately that was also half of the more powerful relics he possessed. IT made sense to believe that the more potent a relic's curse the more mana gain he would get from being exposed to it. With that in mind he decided to use as many of the lowest rank relics first. He thumbed through them all, looking for anything that might be of use to him. Most of the items were related to stat debuffs or ailment afflictions.

"Wait-- ailment afflictions?" He thought to himself.

"These could be very useful. I better acquire some potions first, just in case." Takuma said as he got up and exited his room. A few minutes later he was at Chloe's shop, struggling to ask for any "dangerous" or "poisonous " potions that might afflict him in some way. As he predicted, her habits as a healer went into overdrive and she lectured him on "doing anything dangerous after he'd just woken up".

After fifteen minutes of an ear full he managed to purchase a few Vitality points, two "very weak" poison tinctures (according to Chloe anyway) and antidotes to go along with them. In addition he was only allowed to leave if he promised he wouldn't do anything extreme.

Of course he said he wouldn't, and of course that was a lie.

Back at his room Takuma began his mad experiment. He purified the Iron Ring in order to make space for the new items he was about to equip.

"

Iron Ring(Quality : 75) [Bless Rank 1] [Armament] - A sturdy iron ring that can be enchanted with one or more magic effects.

Curse Effect: Mana Regen (Minor) - Mana will increase by minute amounts while this ring is worn.Secondary Effect : N/A

"

"I figured something like this might happen." Takuma said to himself as he examined the description of the Iron Ring. A pattern, cursed items seemed to provide the opposite benefit of their curse. If that was right, he had two items he wanted to try first.

"

Vampiric Pendant (Quality : 155) [Curse Rank 1] [Armament] - A necklace made of silver. Said to grant protection from creatures of the night--for a price.

Curse Effect: Vitality Drain - Periodically lose small amounts of Vitality while wearing this item.

Curse Duration: Constant

Mana Rewarded: 250

Experience Rewarded: 15

Secondary Effect : N/A

"

Takuma equipped it and then spent his solitary SP on 'Instant Purification'. With a mana of :

Mana- 851 (200% MAX)

This cost him 30 according to the skill's description:

Instant Purification (Class Skill) - Use mana to instantly purify a relic. Costs 2x the XP gained for purifying the curse. Cost lowers with skill level.

Upon looking a second time, Takuma was pleasantly surprised. 

"This can't be right. I only have to spend 30 mana to instantly purify this? This seems like an infinitely better deal than Partial Purification. I wonder.."

Now that he thought back on it, he did remember receiving much more experience for rank four or higher cursed items. Which meant at higher ranks Partial Purification would be cheaper, but also problematic.

"Interesting." He said as he activated the skill. Much like it's counterpart, white energy enveloped the relic and purified it wholly as wisps of black smoke rose from the item. 

"

Priest's Pendant (Quality : 155) [Bless Rank 1] [Armament] - A necklace made of silver. Said to grant protection from creatures of the night--for a price.

Curse Effect: Vitality Regen - Periodically gain small amounts of Vitality while wearing this item.

Secondary Effect : N/A

"

"Yes. As I figured, this one will be useful. Now if only I had more slots to equip items…"

Takuma's gear slots were currently restricted to just three spaces. With his Goddess Amulet, the Priest Pendant and other cursed items he now felt more comfortable to take on a bit more risk. Ultimately his desire to quickly gain power got the best of him and he chose to leave the Goddess Amulet and equip two other items, one a bracelet that inflicted "slowness" and another a paralytic belt.

He waited for the relics to take effect, first watching as his movements slowed to that of a sloth, then curiosity took hold of Takuma as he felt his joints lock periodically.

After a few moments the results he desired appeared on his Goddess Amulet.

[Decel Resistance - 1%]

[Paralysis Resistance - 1%]

"Bingo, he said to himself with a smile."