Chapter 33: New Goal

Status.

I let out a deep breath. The past few days had been a blur. I wasn’t even sure what to think of anymore. Had I been dreaming? Was this all just a joke? What was my purpose?

I sat on my bed, at least what my benefactors insisted was mine, and recalled what happened on that day for the nth time, hoping to notice something I missed somewhere.

After retrieving Rihoku’s horn, I let Meru, the slime I managed to subjugate, consume his remains. It wasn’t that I had no lingering emotion for Rihoku. Then and there, I decided that Meru would symbolize Lureschka’s betrayal, as well as my bond with my former army, Rihoku included. I swore not to let their deaths be in vain. At that moment, I could feel my rage burning inside me as if it wanted to consume my being, but I knew I was still nothing.

After Meru was finished, we immediately set off. I wasn’t sure why Lureschka let me off, but I was certain we needed to leave before she changed her mind. However, we were in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t know where to go. Even the minimap offered no help. There was only darkness around a tiny bit of lighted part, which I assumed was our position. 

And so, we started heading to nowhere in particular. At that point, only adrenaline was pumping in my veins. I barely recovered my strength, and my knees buckled for every step I took. Before I knew it, I had once again collapsed in exhaustion and hunger without any idea how far we managed to walk. 

When I woke up, I found myself already covered in a soft blanket and lying on a hard, but comfortable bed. I could bleakly remember myself searching for my sword when it hit me. I had no sword or gear, or anything for that matter. 

I could remember scanning the room in hopes of finding an explanation. It was a rather empty room with no hint or clue of its owner. Meru was slumped beside me literally doing nothing, offering no help. Just when I was about to stand up, the door opened. My benefactors, an elderly couple, brought me some food. Their expression was what left an impression. The old woman was smiling brightly as she held the tray with both hands. The old man, however, was scowling. He was obviously unamused of my presence. If I had to guess, I figured the woman was the one who I should truly thank for.

They gave me the food, then we talked for a bit. It turned out that we did manage to luckily walk towards human territory and collapsed only a few hundreds of meters away from the human village. The elderly couple supposedly found my unconscious body and nursed me in their home. As for why they did it, I didn’t bother to ask. No matter their reason, I had already decided not to trust them. I didn’t even know if I could still trust anybody with what just happened. But that didn’t mean I would ignore help, especially when I badly needed it.

It’s been almost a week since then, and I focused on understanding the system and myself the past few days. If I was even to stand a chance against Lureschka, I figured I needed to understand myself and the system further. Plus, I was determined to verify everything I learned from Bria. My mind was certain that none of what she told me was the truth. It was convincing me to question as Bria’s expression while obliterating my army flashed in my head.

From what I figured out, I had indeed reverted to the lowest level. My best guess was that it had something to do with Lureschka and her seal. Just thinking about her and what she’d done sent chills down my spine.

What was weird, however, was that my stats and the stats I initially had weren’t the same. Even though I couldn’t remember my exact stats from back then, I was a hundred percent certain it wasn’t as high as what my current stats were. More so, those I gained from training didn’t seem to have been reduced that much. 

Is it because unlearning knowledge and reducing actual strength is impossible? But, is that really impossible? I asked myself. I could no longer discern between what was feasible and absurd. Everything I knew about this world was from Bria’s lectures. Now that I couldn’t even discern which of those were the truth and which were lies, my knowledge was reduced to nothing. Nothing, literally nothing. Despite feeling like I was playing a game after skipping the tutorial, I was slowly figuring out how the system and this world worked through observation. 

One of my notable discoveries was that the amount of increment each attribute received every time I leveled up. Back then, every level up should warrant me two points per attribute, but now, it was reduced to one. Learning about that made my heart sink. It was like my only rusty dagger had just disintegrated, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

Still, I brushed that aside for now. What’s bothering me the most was the small icon beneath my stats. It was a little box with what seemed like a skull with horns. When I focus on it, it said, 

[Demon Lord’s Curse]

[Being cursed by a strong demonic being, you reek of monster strength. Non-monster and non-demon entities of a certain level can easily identify you as a monster.]

Beside that was another icon. This one was less vile with only what looked like a tail was depicted. When I tried focusing on it, it said,

[Brand of a Demon]

[Being a member of demons, you can identify monsters and demons.]

I had no idea what both meant, but I was sure the curse was going to be a problem. I tried tinkering the system to lift that curse, but to no avail, so it was added to my list of questions.

Why did she let me live? Even now, I was still left in the dark as to why Lureschka left me alive. With her power, I was certain she could’ve finished me on the spot. I tried thinking deeper, but the more I reasoned out, the more terrified I became. No matter her reason, I was absolutely certain it wasn’t for my sake.

I let out a deep breath. No matter how much I thought about it, I wouldn’t arrive at any answers. What I needed to do was learn more and get stronger, not for my sake, but for my former army. Despite my gut turning upside down just thinking about it, I swore I would avenge them, or at least die trying.

Goblins, Kobolds, Gorda and the War Orcs, Nighthowls, Rihoku… Just wait… I thought as I gently patted Meru’s top.

***

“Gather your mana on your feet,” said Crit, the old man who saved me. “Then, inject it to the ground, but don’t just throw it. Make sure you remain connected to it.”

I planted my foot on the ground, carefully taking in its texture, temperature, and overall feeling. Then, I gently let my mana flow down my foot. Focusing mana on the body part was no problem for me. After all, it already became a habit for using Wind Walk a bit too much, and although my mana was far fewer after being reset to level 1, I found it easier to control it.

I could feel my mana flowing from my foot towards the ground. It was like a steady flow of water running beneath. Somehow, I could see below. I closed my eyes to focus solely on my mana. Slowly, I injected it deeper and wider, while making sure I could still control it. It felt like my eyes were slowly being opened. I could sense traces of mana everywhere. I couldn’t specify what those were, but I could sense a slight difference, as well as their distance. Then, it cut off. The mana I gathered were spent just after reaching five foot diameter.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Crit was looking at me like everything was as he expected, while I caught my breath, panting.

I lowered my head to inhale, when a window suddenly popped in front of my face.

[Congratulations! You’ve learned a new skill. Mastery: 10%]

My brows furrowed as I read the prompt. That was something that popped up before. Not even when I learned Crescent Slash. 

My thoughts were cut off when Crit said, “Not bad. That’s how you use Search.”

Just then, another window popped up.

[Skill name registered!
Search
Mastery: 10%]

Before I could think further, Crit continued, “Familiarize yourself with this. This is what we’ll be gathering.” He pulled out what seemed like a crimson mushroom, but three times the size of normal.