My parents had co and gone. They dropped off plenty of supplies, and left with even more packed into their bags. My ti here was netting a whole host of materials from all the monsters that I killed, and I had them sell so of it for . From tanned hides and cleaned bones, to organs preserved by alchemical compounds. It was a big harvest, and my share of it would net a lot of gold!
I’d also ordered so more entertainnt for our next supply drop, and not just because I wanted to read shit. It was genuinely for training. To have sothing that would make happy, which I could then resist with my nace magic.
I made my way out of the base, stretching in my tal armor. Moonwash could now work with fantastreel well enough to fix up my gear. My friend too was getting stronger.
My sword on the other hand had seen better days. Moonwash often sharpened it for , but I noticed that the tal had gotten darker overti. Perhaps it was because of the constant use, and the constant blood and gore that hugged its surface. No amount of maintenance could maintain it forever…
Oh well. It still works fine. Maybe even better.
A lot of that surely had to do with my building strength. So of my Mutations had already reached the Level of 13. Luine and Baston were quick to remind just how ridiculous that pace was, and I loved it.
Seriously. Are they trying to feed my ego? Because that’s how you feed my ego.
Tendrils of nace magic word itself out of my skin absentmindedly, and I weaved it into the sword. My emotions flared up ever so slightly to make the process easier, but the rest was yet to co.
I made my way back into the forest, after nearly a week of rest. Already, I could feel the presence of low-level monsters, sohow already having forgotten about the threat I represented just because I was absent for a few days.
It is ti to redy that.
An evil smile spilled out of my face as my emotions flared up, and so did my magic rage in turn. A tiger in the low level 10s stalked , and I beheaded it in one swift motion.
“Who’s next? Who’s fucking next!?”
I charged, and monsters died by the dozen. From gigantic beetles called bigtles, to scurrying cat-like wolverines called catherines. I’m sorry to everyone who has that na, or maybe they’re happy about it! I don’t know!
A floader swept down from above. It was a flying spider born over level ten, a monster that did not naturally possess wings, but made the necessary mbranes out of their own webs in between the legs. Their flight was silent, if not very fast, and I swatted this one’s ambush before it could ever take place.
All the legs on one side fell off upon my attack, and the monster imdiately veered off course. It kicked off a tree before it fell, lunging for my gut to try and sink its fangs into . The attempt was swiftly shut down by a kick, because my hooves were good for that too. I gleefully stomped its head into mush afterward.
My rampage throughout the forest continued, until I found sothing over the level of twenty. My level sense had truly seen so rapid improvents in the days I spent indulging in my most base and violent desires.
So I did it so more.
My opponent this ti was glassmaw. A monster with a transparent body like that of a jellyfish, shaped like a horned warg except with a head entirely too big, attached to which was an even more oversized jaw filled with sharp teeth.
A wild Luine dropped down from the trees to warn , just before I decided to confront the beast.
“What?” I snapped. My emotions were still on their nacing arc, and I only stoked the flas further to make up for this delay. That Luine caused!
“That’s a glassmaw.”
“I know.”
“Even I would hesitate to take those guys on. Not that I’d lose, but they can actually deal damage to .”
“Then assassinate it if I lose. But I’m confident.” So saying, I flared up my magic once again, and slamd every bit of intimidation into my foe. From my eyes, to my aura, and even entire bullets of nace magic. The monster jumped to the side, but was still hit, its physical prowess far weaker than a bear’s even at a similar level.
And then the tendrils of mind magic ca. They zood through the air like lightning, extending from the creature’s brain and seeking my own. It was stopped by my natural resistance, but it grew closer with every passing mont, for that was what mind magic was. Insidious and vile. Even without direct contact, it was enough to whisper primal thoughts of pain, suffering and fear. A laughable attempt drowned out by my nace mana and my own roiling emotions within.
I continued to charge, heedless of it all. The entity was not expecting this, and I reached the glassmaw before it could react. My greatsword reaped a massive harvest across its shoulder, and then another. I was already running before the monster could even shriek. It missed a swat of its paw, and I continued to cut into the creature’s flank as I ran across its side and then around, keeping a wide berth around its head and the terrifying maw therein.
I then noticed the wounds on its jelly flesh growing writhing tendrils that tugged and hugged each other, closing the wounds and the damage that I’d caused. The transparent flesh could very quickly repair itself.
Let’s cut sothing that won’t regenerate then!
The mind magic finally reached into my brain, before I could enact that plan. A splitting headache hit like a freight train, followed by raw and unbridled terror. I wanted to run, crawl, die, and kill myself, that was all I could do! Except it’s not. What I want to do, more than anything, is to kill this motherfucker and feast upon its flesh!
My demonic brain resisted the attempt, and tendrils of my own magic attacked the very mind mana that linked us, pushing it out of my brain. Such a thing was possible with my nace mana, whereas mind magic had also shown throughout this fight, capabilities that could never be replicated with most other kinds of magic. To be this active in proximity or even inside another being was commonly accepted as sothing that just didn’t happen, but there was an exception to every rule. At least the elent was still limited in a lot of ways, complex brainwashing couldn’t typically be done during a pitched battle such as this. Only mind-numbing pain and the rawest of emotions could be transmitted in such short notice.
I resud my grand plan and reached my opponent's flank. A back kick managed to hit before I could start, making roll and stagger, even break a bone or three. But I quickly regained my bearings and began hacking into the glassmaw’s leg.
It shrieked at the first strike, and tried to jump away at the second. I quickly followed, and bone cracked in the next. Another attack widened the fractures, and one final beautiful slash snapped it entirely. The glassmaw could walk straight no longer.
It let out a long howl, and the headache of its magic was renewed, but it was nothing I could not ignore. I just kept on going, breaking every leg, made easier by how the bone was visible through its transparent flesh. I could aim easily for the weaker parts, but not the joints. I’d quickly co to learn that dislocated parts would just be stuck back together by the jelly flesh.
The guts, the intestine, livers and other things. I also aid for all the other vitals that were in easy reach. The glassmaw forced itself to stand, carried only by its jelly-like musculature. It t for one final bout, and I ran around it to evade its crushing maw.
A smart move, that. Targeting my sense of honor and respect. Emotions that I did have, but had little sway on . Unless when it’s fun, and I was very confident in my victory.
I stabbed it in the back, along with many other kinds of attacks, until the creature Finally. Fucking. Died.
“I told you so,” I whispered aloud before Luine could even make her appearance.
“Yes, yes. More respect for your elders, maybe?”
“Do you want that?”
“Heh. No. Not really.” She bumped her fist with mine as I collapsed to the ground. “You really showed what for back there. Good job.”
“Thanks. Now carry .” I made grabby motions with my hand.
~~~
“This is amazing.” Moonwash gushed over my sword, the next ti I had it sharpened.
“What? You’ve seen it like a thousand tis before. Hell, you made it yourself. So good job patting your own back, Moonwash.” I spun the lever of our big magic well. It was actually my idea, which Moonwash brought to fruition. She created an industrial-sized contraption that spun a ridiculous amount of cloud feathers to create water and then routed all that water into a faucet. I was currently filling out a bucket.
“It’s exactly because I’ve seen it before that I am amazed. This is not the sa sword you once had.”
“Uhm. I’m pretty sure no one switched out my baby. I would know. Also, I should na it.”
“Cursword.”
“What?”
“You could na your sword that.”
“Well sure. I could. But why would I?”
“Because this is now a cursed weapon.”
I blinked. “Wait, seriously!?”
“Yes.”
“Because of how often I’ve used it, coated in nace magic…” I took out the knife that Moonwash gifted . “How about this? I have been feeding it nace magic as you asked. It’s more full of the stuff if anything, because the mana on my sword just gets cycled back into . It’s very cool actually, it takes a whole lot less of my ntal power and focus capacity to keep it up once I’ve finished the weave.”
“No.” Moonwash hovered her hand just above the object. “The knife has actually not beco a cursed weapon, although I can feel sothing from it…”
“Haha. That sounds like bullshit.”
“It’s not. More importantly, whatever you do with that sword, it has definitely beco cursed far faster. Hmm. Dump so more nace magic into the knife.”
I did as she said.
“Just as I thought. Most of it just dissipates into the air anyway, so it doesn’t actually matter that you spend more of your mana on this. Sohow, you cycling nace magic through your sword might be a better way of cursing sothing.”
“I see.”
“I want you to cycle your magic through that knife too. And then I have another theory.”
“Alright, I can do that. What’s the theory? Also, what does my sword being cursed do?”
“Your sword might be becoming cursed or infused faster because there’s a purpose and a will behind the magic cast into it, and it then enacts that purpose. As for what the infusion does… I’m not sure yet. The curse seems… young.”
“Heh. Bullshitting again.”
She ignored . “From what I know of other cursed weapons, because I have only rarely been able to get my hands on them… Well, the most obvious thing is that they drive their hosts mad, which this one isn’t doing a good job of yet. As for beneficial effects, they just deal more damage, sohow. Swords slice deeper, spears penetrate harder, hamrs break bones more easily. It can also co with effects that you’d expect from curses anyway, like making soone delirious, causing greater pain, making wounds harder to heal. That sort of thing.”
“Hey! I’m able to do most of those things with nace magic!”
She nodded. “That’s good. It would require testing, and we should get so concrete data now before the sword matures further. I would think that it would take on the effects you normally put into it. So intimidation effects, anti-healing, and others.”
“Wait, would that make threading nace magic through it redundant, then?”
“I don’t know.” There was an excited quality to her voice. “Would it stack? Would it not? That’s what we should find out.”
“Yes.” I smiled. It was good to see my friend having fun, even if it could be so hard to tell most of the ti.
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