The Lazy Business Of Leveling Up
Takuma absolutely hated idle time. It gave his mind freedom to wander. For someone who'd lived enough for seven lifetimes (some shorter than he'd hoped) it often inspired thinking of regrets or missed chances.
The woman he should have approached, the party member he could have saved — claiming the key item instead of allowing it to slip away under the guise of "a greater challenge". Takuma would never consider himself a "good" person, because he didn't necessarily believe in morality in terms of black and white. He felt all people had evil qualities just as some all had good qualities. The right combination of events, people or circumstances could bring out either on any given day, — at least that's what he experienced.
There were, oftentimes in his life, where he felt there was some unseen hand working its way through the days he lived. He wondered now if this person was the same goddess trapped in the abyss of blackness. He also wondered how she even ended up there to begin with. His thoughts next drifted to his last life, where he'd managed to conquer the unbeaten dungeon of Grimgamar — but that would have to wait for another day.
[Decel Resistance - 100%]
[Paralysis Resistance - 57%]
For some reason the Paralysis, the more severe of the ailments progressed much more slowly. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, after all, — paralyzed lungs could be deadly. Still, he'd prefer some kind of way to speed up the process. That's when he remembered Chloe's potions.
He put away the purified bracer and equipped one of the random items he'd set aside.
[Mute Resistance - 1%]
[Paralysis Resistance - 57%]
He took out a potential vial filled with purplish liquid, thick and clumpy to the swish of the bottle. He held it to his nostrils and shrugged — no scent, which wasn't surprising since many poisons were difficult to detect. He slowly sipped the potion and regretted instantly the bitter, soapy taste of organic poison.
[Poison Resistance - 2%]
[Mute Resistance - 5%]
[Paralysis Resistance - 57%]
He made to grimace and shout the word "Yuck!", he also noticed the Mute resistance shoot up to 5% instantly.
"Heh." At least that's what he wanted to say.
[Mute Resistance - 6%]
"Interesting." He lip-synced, the sound completely absent from his words.
[Mute Resistance - 9%]
Needless to say, within a matter of moments, Mute Resistance had been completely maxed. Bored once more, he was forced to focus on the dull, cold sensation running through his body. His stomach turned, and he felt absolutely nauseous. This wasn't the first time he'd ever been poisoned, but with this particular body *everything* seemed worse.
Takuma was still i'm amazement by the sheer # of times he'd fainted to date as well.
"I'm going to have to do something about this body…" He remarked after taking off the mute ring and placing it into his inventory. He equipped another item, this time a debuff bracelet, and continued to soldier through his self inflicted poison. After a few minutes, the effects wore off and his vitality had fallen to 75% of full—give or take.
"I'd probably die if I drank the whole thing. Chloe wasn't joking." He whispered as he held the vial of purple gunk up to eye level.
Truth be told, Takuma was aching for some adventure. He had only been in this world for two days, but he really hadn't done anything fun. Just… well, nearly die at the whims of cursed items.
"Dragons. I wonder if this world has dragons. Not that I could defeat one at all with my current strength."
He then remembered the Tavern and the Task Board within.
"Once I cure Chloe, maybe, I'll take some time to get acquainted with a proper adventure." The idea was very appealing and yet it also made him frown. He couldn't help thinking about her.
"Save The Goddess." He said to himself as he looked out of the window and sipped on more of the poison. He then chased it with a Vitality potion and tossed the empty vial to the far corner of his room behind his shoulder. The people in Arnia seemed to be going about their daily lives as usual. He half hoped to see Lilah walking down the street. He definitely needed to talk to her..
[Poison Resistance - 17%]
[Paralysis Resistance - 63%]
"This one looks interesting." Takuma said as he bent over and picked up a normal-looking dagger.
"
Brass Dagger (Quality: 155) [Bless Rank 1] [Armament] - A useless dagger, as the metal is so soft it bends against the slightest of pressure.
Curse Effect: Lesser Petrification - The wielder of this item has a chance of being petrified. (Small)
Curse Duration: Occasional 5% chance.
Mana Rewarded: 350
Experience Rewarded: 25
Secondary Effect: N/A
"
Immediately, a big grin spread across Takuma's lips as Chloe's words of caution echoed through his head.
"It won't be that bad…" He thought to himself, before adding. "I'Ll frEakinG Do It.". He had somewhat of a crazed smile on his face as he equipped the dagger and waited.
[Poison Resistance - 36%]
[Paralysis Resistance - 67%]
[Petrify Resistance - 5%]
"Ah, another quick leveler. Good." He said to himself as he inspected the dagger. It really was one of the cheapest items he'd ever seen, but it looked nice. He opened his hand and flicked his wrist a few times and sure enough, the dagger would not be moved from his grip.
[Petrify Resistance - 10%]
He then mimicked some cutting moves as he gracefully moved around the room.
[Petrify Resistance - 15%]
"Eat my brass blade of uselessness scum dragon!" He said as he lunged forth.
[Petrify Resistance - 30%]
"Damn, this poison is taking forever to run out.." Takuma remarked, his body had become somewhat used to it by now, no doubt due to the effects of the Goddess Amulet. Not only was resistance being built, but the effects were diminished proportionately as well.
[Petrify Resistance - 45%]
"Almost done. Pfft. What was I even worried about?" He said as he walked towards the window once more. He gazed out once more at the main street of Arnia before spinning on his heel and thrusting the dagger forth.
"My name is Aldo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to di--"
[Petrify Resistance - 55%]
And then he noticed the flesh of his right hand growing dry, cracked and white.
"What the f-" But before he could finish his words, the petrification process took hold of his body, instantly coating his body in a block of stone from head to toe.
[Petrify Resistance - 65%]
[Petrify Resistance - 72%]
[Petrify Resistance - 88%]
[Petrify Resistance - 100%]
The stone encasing Takuma shattered with a loud pop as he fell forward onto his hands and knees.
"Holy hell, that was trippy!"
Takuma struggled to catch his breath after being trapped in stone for nearly half a minute. The large chunks of plaster-like stone had begun to fade away.
"This really is a game-like world." He sputtered as he got to his feet. He immediately purified the dagger and glanced at the description.
"
Brass Dagger (Quality: 155) [Bless Rank 2] [Armament] - A useless dagger, as the metal is so soft it bends against the slightest of pressure.
Bless Effect: Stone Strike - Being pierced with this blade will inflict slow acting petrification on the target. In exchange, the blade will be consumed.
"
"This is actually useful. I'll have to keep this one." Takuma said as he moved the item to his storage. It would be another two to three hours before he was satisfied with his progress. Ultimately, he purified thirty or so rank one relics and managed to gain several resistances in the process.
[Confusion Resistance - 100%]
[Poison Resistance - 100%]
[Mute Resistance - 100%]
[Paralysis Resistance - 100%]
[Petrify Resistance - 100%]
[Decel Resistance - 100%]
[Lesser Miasma Resistance: 99%(MAX) ]
[Severe Miasma Resistance: 99%(MAX) ]
[Blight Resistance - 10%]
[Void Resistance - 1.25%]
One important thing Takuma noticed was the fact that some status ailments could be negated altogether. Unlike Miasma, Poison, for example, was something he'd become immune to. Takuma wasn't sure if this held true for all poisons, or simply the one Chloe had given him, — he'd have to test it later. The same held true for Paralysis, Petrify, Mute and Decel as well. The final thing Takuma noticed was that the previously mysterious resistance turned out to be 'Void' Resistance. No doubt this was revealed after his misguided attempt to purify the Cursed Statue.
So far, the Goddess Amulet had gained a wide array of resistances, for now Takuma was content and thus he went ahead and improved his Class Rank.
"Relic Meister has reached Rank 3 /10. Visit the Status Menu to level up.
You've obtained a new Class Ability:
Relic Activation (Class Ability) - Allows the user to activate any two purified relics in their possession (non equipped relics only). The duration of the effect is based on the level of the skill and secondary effect of the relic. Furthermore, for each additional level of the skill, another 2 relics can be activated (6 total). Duration scales evenly among active effects.
Class Ranks [3]: General Skills And Abilities have been unlocked. Visit the Status Menu to learn more.
Vitality- 85>> 100
Mana- 5,921>> 5,921
Stamina- 70>> 90
Force- 4>> 6
Accel- 3>> 5
Knowledge 4>> 6
"
Upon clicking the sub section for General Skills, aka G.S.A. tab, Takuma was introduced to a whole new world.
"My my.. This looks interesting." He remarked as he glanced over the interface before him. Essentially, the G.S.A. tab was a collection of general purpose active and passive skills or abilities which was sorted into four categories; Offense, Defense, Support and Special. Each had well over two dozen different listings in each category.
"I'll have to look into this after I get some real world experience." Takuma finally decided. He'd made up his mind during his idle hours and he was definitely going to put himself in a few combat situations. He would then be able to better make decisions as to what areas he should improve upon.
He was more concerned with trying out his new ability, Relic Activation.
"Hmm. Let's see." He just happened to have two items he could use for a test run.
"Hmm…."
A few minutes later, Takuma made his way to the ground floor of the inn and peeked around the corner of the stairway. There, in the usual place behind the front desk, was the innkeeper. He removed his Phantom Cloak and placed it in his storage, along with the Dream Gourd.
"Relic Activation." Takuma whispered, expecting the Dream Gourd to activate.
[You have multiple items that can be activated. In this case — repeat the name of the item you want to activate.] The system kindly alerted him to this fact.
Thus, he tried again.
"Relic Activation: Dream Gourd!"
The small ornate gourd appeared before him as an apparition then glimmered with faint blue light as waves of magic radiated in all directions from the relic. The apparition then flickered out of existence, fading away. This happened in only a matter of seconds, but the effects were not immediate. Thus, Takuma began to doubt the ability was even worth having until—
The elderly man who was entertaining himself with a card game wobbled back and forth before falling face first on the table with a thud.
"Ha. It worked!"
[Dream Gourd Uses 4/ 5.]
"Agh! I forgot about that. I probably should have used the cloak instead." Takuma said as he lamented the loss of an item charge.
"Relic Activation: Phantom Step." As before, the unequipped item appeared as an apparition, this time draped over Takuma's shoulders as if it were being worn.
Takuma could feel himself being propelled forward by several steps the moment he spoke the words. He stumbled forward as the effect of the skill ended. Behind him was an identical after image of himself. For a moment, it felt like his feet glided across the floor, minus any friction. It was a strange feeling, to say the least. The after image lasted for several seconds before slowly fading away, along with the cloak's representation.
He tried Phantom Step several more times, mostly to get a feel of using it. It seemed to work based on which direction Takuma "felt" like moving. He didn't need to reposition his body, only to think, and the shift would happen upon skill activation.
"This will take some getting used to, but it's definitely a useful skill. I'll see what other relics I can scrounge up to make full use of this ability." Takuma said as he walked towards the front desk and shook the innkeeper several times. Despite how hard Takuma nudged him, the elderly man simply slept.
"Wow. That's one deep sleep." Takuma remarked as he shrugged and went back up the stairs.
"Eh, He'll wake up, eventually."
The newly acquired ability relied on mana to activate the skills and luckily the amounts needed were miniscule in comparison to the thousands of mana points Takuma had. In fact, mana was the only thing he felt confident about when it came to his stats.
Being a weapon bearer was much easier in past lives. It only required training one's body. From what he could tell, Relic Meister was more of a caster type. No armor or weapons could be equipped — unless they were previously cursed relics. He could currently equip to attack type relics and utilize any secondary effects for any of his equipped items. That at least gave him a way to defend himself — for now. He re-equipped the Phantom Cloak, then pulled out the Dream Gourd to inspect it.
"Come to think of it… how do I use this thing normally?" Takuma said as he sat down on his bed and held up the Dream Gourd.
"Doze is the normal use while Slumber is the secondary. I'll have to play with this a bit more than well. Grah! So much to do."
Takuma wasn't normally one to get flustered or frustrated, but ever since his experience with the Goddess Statue, he felt as if time was of the essence. Then there was Dot to consider. With that in mind, he decided to distribute his skill points. He acquired the Manipulate Curse skill and improved his Relic Hunter skill as previously planned.
With one SP remaining, Takuma decided to max out Relic Hunter. Thus far, Class Abilities had proven extremely useful. He was pleasantly surprised when his hunch proved right.
Manipulate Curse [1]
Relic Hunter [3]
[Map Features Upgraded, you can now locate and track cursed relics via the world map and local map.]
"Great. This should make my life much easier." Takuma said as he opened his mouth. Unfortunately for him, those words were short-lived and quickly drained of all gladness.
The map features had indeed been upgraded. The regional map of Arnia now showed all the cursed relics in the city. It also sorted these relics according to color coded curse rank as well as the total number in the given area. The problem was that there were over two hundred in the city of Arnia alone.