Amber stood on the fifth floor, it was very whatever looking just like a lot of the floors. For a moment she considered returning back to Laria and maybe departing to look for the other tower after that. However, given the tower was fixed, she decided to keep going up the floors. At first, nothing seemed interesting, but floor ten resembled a roman bath-house. She made note of that and continued going through the floors.
And on floor number twenty, she found the floor that seemed to be made out of gold, except it now looked rusted and old.
Amber continued ascending, seeing vine filled floors and even one with a garden, and it didn’t take long before she reached floor forty— the floor where she had fought the Knight of All Mortals. It had been repaired. The destroyed and charred ground was no more— or rather, the floor was there once more given it had been completely obliterated. However, even though the floor had been restored Amber saw something.
Corpses. Two of them. She recognized their robes. They were the mage and the brawler that came to attack Ax’thra initially. Though it seemed that Dargon was missing. Amber looked at the two people and lamented the fact that their equipment seemed to be missing. Still, she checked even though the smell coming from them was something that made her stomach churn, and unfortunately, they did indeed not have anything.
She moved to ascend to the next floor, and then paused looking at the corpses.
A lot of thoughts passed through her head, part of her wanted to believe that Ax’thra had won the fight just fine, but again; Dargon was missing, and the Primordial Spirit was nowhere to be seen. So, she wasn’t so sure about her friend’s flawless victory, but she hoped that he was fine wherever he was. However, Amber’s thoughts didn’t stop there, because the main thing that was occupying her mind was something else.
It was the fact that the people of the Arcane Council had come for Ax’thra, but that wasn’t the exact thing in her mind either, it was much more broad. It was the fact that people did what they did; that bandits killed for money, that people wanted to summon demons to change the world, that the Arcane Council wanted to replicate what makes Primordial Spirits gods— it was all of that.
People act selfishly and for personal gain… she thought. I guess, it’s not that different from Earth… For a moment she thought about all of the things that also plagued Earth, from robberies, corruption, to even people abusing their power. Sure, the issues were a bit different between the two worlds, but they did share the common similarity of damaging someone else.
At least, that’s how Amber felt in regards to everything.
In the end, she didn’t really get it, and perhaps she never would. However, she tried to not let those thoughts linger, and instead began to ascend the tower once more.
She passed the floor of with the burning rocks — which now didn’t have any of that — instead, it was just a floor with a rocky ground.
Amber passed by numerous familiar floors, she even found the pair of chairs Ax’thra had summoned for their talk. But she continued higher and higher, even passing the frog floor, and then— she arrived at the place she called her home. The room she had nested herself in. There were multiple pieces of cloth on a table, a bucket-looking thing with stale water, and a very crude sleeping place, which was made up of a crude pillow and a crude blanket, both made from monster hide.
She stared at it for a long moment. Her phone was certainly gone, and that made her glad. Maybe Ax’thra had won after all.
Amber looked out of the window and reminisced about the time she had spent in the tower. And in the end, she couldn’t help but a smile.
“A nice introduction to the world of Vir,” she mused.
At first it wasn’t so nice, but now she looked fondly at her time spent with Ax’thra.
She smiled to herself for what felt like a few minutes before she left, continuing her ascent of the tower. She passed the familiar golem and guardians floors, but soon it became uncharted territory. She saw some completely empty floors, and others were collapsed or too abstract for her to make anything out of them. And the more she ascended the more frequent the theme became.
Maybe what made them special had largely to do with Ax’thra’s magic? That was her theory anyway.
It took about an hour but she reached the top of the tower. It was an open floor for it was the rooftop of the tower, and the only thing present there was a throne. It was ornate, almost pompous, and yet it was made out of rock. It had carvings, intricate details and moldings, even depictions of great battles that seemed to still be moving and Amber stared at it. She smiled, in the end she couldn’t help herself and sat on it.
The whispering cube was still as shiny as ever, but she didn’t really mind. Its curse didn’t even seem to do anything, which she found strange.
Though I’ll have to cover it when I go to the next tower.
She stared at the expanding forest and smiled.
* * *
Amber spent quite a long time on the throne, but in the end she left the tower. It had taken about thirty minutes to reach the bottom since she didn’t stop to view stuff, though she still did it in a leisurely manner. And now she stood at the bottom floor, looking out towards the forest.
So I guess I go to the capital now? That thought felt kind of wrong, boring even. And then she remembered something. She remembered her level ups and her new skill. She remembered how she had wanted to try it, and a smile slipped onto her face. She wanted to know how Curse Manipulation worked. And this was the perfect place to try it.
“I wonder if the monsters I previously ran away from are about my level?” Amber asked herself in an excited manner.
Cursed Momentum was still fully active due to the arrows in her body. So it was the perfect opportunity to go test stuff—
A roar echoed in the distance and Amber unsheathed her sword, her heart drumming in anticipation. She felt that the roar was familiar, almost too familiar. Finally, she took a deep breath, and ran. She used Quick Dash, dashing dozens of meters in a moment as she sprinted at full speed. The trees blurred around her, and everything became blurry, but Amber charged ahead in the direction the noise had come from.
She skipped over a rock, her feet carrying her over a small hill. She was already raising her sword as she reached the apex due to Sharp Instincts informing her of something. And a moment later, she saw the Ruthar Bear from the past. Its colored patches of fur all in the same place. She slid down the small hill and stared at the monster that was eating an animal carcass.
[Ruthar Bear. Lvl. 58]
So it’s weaker than me. She felt some of her excitement dwindle, but a second later the monster turned towards her and roared. The Ruthar Bear charged into her direction and Amber grinned, immediately forgetting her disappointment. Perfect target to test my skill.
She raised her sword as the monster charged, and at first she couldn’t feel anything, but when she focused on her sword she felt it. The Curse of Laceration, how it seemed to cling onto the sword, how it fed on the things it cut to maintain its energy, and more importantly, the ways it would lacerate her enemies. And her skill allowed her to change that.
A moment later, the bear arrived and swiped its claw, but Amber ducked. She was much faster than it, and while she felt tempted to try to fight the bear bare-handed, she had something much more important to do.
The bear swiped again and she stepped to the side, and this time Amber focused on moving the lacerations inside of the sword, almost like fine-tuning them. At first they resisted, but slowly they began to move and her mana was consumed along with it; much to her surprise—
The bear took part of her hair. Perhaps she could’ve tried to figure it out just before battle, but she found that boring. Why do both separately when she could do them at the same time? Of course, she kind of hoped it would be a lot more tense.
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She dodged again, moving the pattern of the lacerations as closer as she could to each other, but after dodging the bear yet again, she found that— they refused to move further. They had been tightly packed in a circle, and she found that holding them there also took mana. She frowned and the bear hit her—
She skidded across the dirt ground and turned to look at the angry monster. Her forearm was bleeding from blocking the attack, but Amber grinned since it was time to— test. The bear came at her, and she took a step forward readying her blade. Her muscles bulged, the attack moved and she slashed— Cursed Cleave went off as it collided with the paw of the bear. And its paw burst.
Crimson blood splattered in all directions accompanied by pieces of flesh, the bear shrieked and Amber’s eyes widened for a moment before she slashed again deep into its arm. She saw dozens of cuts burst at once, its bone being shredded into shards. The monster reeled and Amber charged, attacking at once with a well placed Curse Cleave that was directed at the monsters neck.
The bear stumbled and the slash barely missed, finding purchase on the monster’s clavicle instead, but it didn’t matter as blood burst, spraying everywhere. And as the monster pulled back and fainted from blood loss, Amber knew that her skill was strong.
Except, given the mana consumption she could barely use it for a minute at most which was bullshit.
[You have defeated a [Ruthar Bear. Lvl. 58].]
[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from level 4 to 5.]
So curses with the skill are 25% stronger now, huh? she thought, remembering the level 4 entry. Hopefully leveling it up also reduces mana cost.
Amber looked at the dead bear, the creature that had once terrified her had now easily been slain by her hands. From predator to prey. A moment later, two different roars echoed in the forest, and Amber turned in the direction in which the city of Laria lay. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the way to the capital otherwise.
“Hopefully this next monster is stronger.”
Amber adjusted her grip on the Sword of All Mortals, and a moment later, she rushed.
* * *
She tore through two more monsters, testing her skill with a lot more finesse and found a few things. One was that the skill level up made the laceration pattern easier to move but it still became hard as soon as she tried to force it beyond what was a comfortable spot. Another was that the mana consumption did not decrease from level ups and that the skill had the same mana consumption regardless of whether she was moving the laceration pattern or just holding it in place.
The fact that the consumption did not seem to lower would've made her sad but after further experimentation she realized that; she was getting faster at adjusting the pattern and not only that but she could do it mid battle. And she was almost to the point in which she could adjust it to a comfortable circle in a mere second. Of course, she hoped that down the line, she'd be able to focus it all in a single spot— a single line containing all the lacerations and of course, do it instantly.
However for now her goal was to reduce the one second time in creating the circle to about a third of a second. That way she'd truly be able to exploit the skill to the max.
[You have defeated a [Great Simiasani. Lvl. 55].]
[You have defeated a [Ruthar Boar. Lvl. 56].]
[Cursed Manipulation has leveled up from level 5 to 6.]
Amber smiled at the last notification. The skill was truly too good. It was even easy to level too.
From what she had gleaned, skill level ups depended on two things, how many times they were used in battle and how strong the opponent was. And in this case, while the opponents weren't that strong, she was using the skill all of the time during the battle.
She truly couldn't wait for the time she fully mastered Curse Manipulation. Right now, she could only make a circle that was about the size of a basketball. Amber smiled and then turned in Laria's direction. She was having a hard time prioritizing returning, but she was still trying— just while killing the strong monsters she saw or heard.
She however, wasn’t a crazy monster hunter or anything, she would spare those that were too far away or the much lower level monsters. Amber wondered for a moment about whether her supplies would last her on the way to the capital or not, but she decided that she didn’t care. Maybe she’d return to Laria and find a caravan. Though she’d still try to subsist on her rations and nature this time around, probably.
Amber quickly began to run again, her body felt good. No, it felt more than good. She felt stronger than ever, and maybe she was just imagining it but the Curse Manipulation skill just made her feel giddy. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of a way to exploit it just yet, and maybe it couldn’t be exploited, but she didn’t mind. The skill had too much potential.
* * *
Amber felt her blood pumping through her veins, her heart rushing in excitement. She hadn’t heard or even seen a monster in the last two hours, but now she found something. Sharp Instincts told her the monster was in that direction. And she didn’t miss the opportunity; slightly deviating from her route towards Laria.
She was crossing the forest at great speed, narrowly dodging the trees as they became nothing more than a distant blur in the distance. She was close, she could feel it.
Amber ran, climbing an upwards slope and that’s when she raised her sword and made use of Curse Manipulation, immediately shifting the pattern of the lacerations. Holding her breath, she reached the end of the slope and jumped. Her eyes quickly locked on a large monster. It resembled an alligator except for the fact that it was blue and had an eye at the center of its head. Its middle eye was looking right at her, and the other two locked in like a chameleon.
[Azuli Allitoris. Lvl. 60].
However, it was too late for the monster.
Amber grinned, shifting her weight as she spun in the air. Doing a front-flip with the weight of her sword. Flipping in the air she carried all of the momentum and used Cursed Cleave as well as Cursed Rage Synergy. The monster opened its large maw, baring its serrated teeth and— the sword clashed against the Azuli Allitoris’ maw, and a moment later blood exploded. Bone fragments burst, brain matter splattered and blood ripped through the air, hitting the nearby surroundings.
Amber landed, stumbling as she turned only to see the lifeless monster, missing a large part of its head.
Shit… was that too much…? She didn’t even get to learn anything!
A moment later the confirmation came.
[You have defeated a [Azuli Allitoris. Lvl. 60].]
[Cursed Manipulation has leveled up from level 6 to 7.]
She was surprised to level up her skill from that, but she wasn’t complaining. She didn’t expect to get a level up any time soon, given she was bullying monsters that were at the very minimum 15 levels below her, but she was learning a lot. She did wish there were stronger monsters, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.
“Oh well.”
She took a deep breath and resumed her trek back to the road outside of the forest.
* * *
Vald was pleased, based on gossip he had heard the capital was due to reopen its gates in about a week. Which meant, prime opportunity for merchants like him. Of course, many others thought the same so a caravan was quickly assembled as soon as the rumors got around. They set off quite late in the day, and hastily hired adventurers to help with their journey, which — hopefully wasn’t going to be that dangerous. But Vald didn’t care too much so long as he got to keep his life.
He had grown numb to the deaths of the adventurers that accompanied him through his different journeys. Of course, he still felt a bit bad , but he stopped losing sleep over it a very long time ago. Ultimately, it was a trade, the adventurers risked their life for money, and Vald as a trader supplied it. Not only that, but he also supplied food and drink, shelter and warmth; he gave anything an adventurer would need to survive. It was an exchange of services.
He yawned, looking at the road ahead. They were passing through the Arthra forest. Unfortunately, they couldn’t set up camp here due to the large volume of monsters, so they had to continue until they found a safe place. Which in Vald’s calculations was about two hours away.
He hoped for a peaceful trek, but the distant angry roars told him otherwise.
The adventurers got ready, the roars were powerful, powerful enough for him to forget of his tiredness. Vald looked towards the forest, and he could sense the tension in the air as the roars got closer and— they began to turn into shrieks, pained wails of agony. The monster still roared, aggressively so, but sometimes it would yelp.
Then with one powerful roar, Vald saw a burst of flames within the forest and for a moment he paused.
A Grand Drake.
Probably the strongest monster in the Arthra forest, and something was killing it. Everyone recognized the significance of what was happening as they began to hurry their horses with bated breaths. Vald was nervous, and began sweating as the shrieks grew closer and closer until—
A burst of flames crossed out of the forest and into the road ahead. That’s when he realized— they were doomed—
A moment later, a large figure flew through the air, gore splattering across its path as it landed on the road. Dead.
Everyone stared at it with wide eyes and horror. The Grand Drake was shredded apart, thousands of cuts marring its body, blood pooling onto the ground even though it had long died. Then, the rustling of bushes echoed, and Vald felt his heart stop.
“Run!” one adventurer cried and began to run into the opposite side of the forest.
The others followed shortly after.
Vald along with the other merchants panicked to get off their wagons, but for Vald who was the closest to the monster it was too late. A figure emerged from the bushes, a disfigured monster that was made out of blood—
And Vald paused.
It was a woman with a backpack. Which made him even more alarmed than ever. After all, no one fought like that, no one killed monsters with such brutality, no normal person did anyway. So, who was she?!
Is she a murderer? A psychopath? A crazy forest dweller?!
“Hey,” she called and he flinched. “Are you by chance going to the capital: Cytel?”
He felt her gaze boring into him and at that moment he realized. He couldn’t lie to her, lest his head would fly off. Bracing himself he answered.
“Yes.”
“Nice, I’ll come along too!” she beamed.
And at that moment, Vald fell on the ground, inwardly praying for his own survival during the journey.