The Two Week Curse

by Michael Chatfield

  “Young Master Silaz, it is a surprise seeing you back so soon from your expedition. I hear that it was a rather…wet trip,” the man said with a friendly smile.

  “Lieutenant Hoste.” Young Master Silaz squeezed out a forced smile, the murderous intent clear.

  “Ah, hello there, travelers. You must be tired after coming to our great Chonglu City. There is plenty of food and drink to be had!” Lieutenant Hoste smiled.

  “We will thank Lieutenant Hoste for his hospitality.” Erik didn’t really want to get into a fight. With it being inside a city, if there was bloodshed then it was likely that they would have to run from the city guard. Erik wasn’t looking forward to that if things turned bad.

  Erik bowed slightly and headed out of the store, Rugrat beside him.

  Young Master Silaz’s eyes moved to some of the guards around him who pulled out devices, talking into them as he opened his arms wide. “What can my humble store do to help you today, Lieutenant Hoste? I did not know that you had the budget for our wares.”

  Erik and Rugrat didn’t continue to care for the rest as they headed away from the store and moved through the streets. They could both feel the eyes on them as they moved.

  “I’ve got one on the roofs to our right, on top of the tailor shop. There’s another tailing us on the street, by that wooden post with the rat skewers,” Rugrat said.

  “Mm, lovely,” Erik said sarcastically.

  They continued to move away from the store.

  “Break up and meet at the tailor shop at the south end of the totem square?” Rugrat said.

  “Got it.” Erik diverted down an alleyway as Rugrat walked into a busy diner.

  Erik broke out into a run. He moved through the alleyways quickly, then slowed down once he got back out to the main road, quickly and quietly blending in and sitting down in a group of people.

  He watched as the tail on the rooftops rushed over, scanning the crowd quickly before heading off in another direction.

  Erik got up and moved toward the tailor shop, changing his directions a few times to make sure no one else followed him.

  He entered the shop, finding a few people talking to the tailors in the shop.

  A woman looked at his attire and moved toward him, a smile on her face and a series of pins in her shirt with a tape measure around her neck. “Hello, might I be able to help you?”

  “Please. I am looking to get a big cloak against the elements,” Erik said.

  “Certainly.”

  It wasn’t two minutes later that Rugrat entered the store. He was larger and drew more eyes.

  Erik waved him over as he looked over a rack of different cloaks. They were made to drape over armor already, so they were suitable for what Erik and Rugrat needed.

  Twelve coppers later, they were outfitted in local cloaks. One couldn’t see their vests, pants, or weaponry. Their boots were the only things that were visible at the bottom of the cloaks.

  After settling up, they headed out of the store.

  Around the large totem that reached up into the heavens, a defensive wall was manned by guards. They seemed ready to receive people if they came through the totem.

  Erik and Rugrat moved closer to the totem. The rough gravel road gave way to smooth and level stone that enclosed the Ten Realms totem.

  As they stepped on it, a screen appeared.

  ==========

  Quest Completed: Welcome to the Ten Realms

  ==========

  Requirements: Reach Ten Realms Totem (Marked on map)

  ==========

  Rewards: Guide to the Ten Realms

  Minor ring of holding

  Minor Mana recovery potion

  Minor Stamina recovery potion

  1000 EXP

  ==========

  ==========

  8,700/23,000 EXP till you reach Level 7

  ==========

  Chapter: Welcome to the Ten Realms

  A blue light appeared in front of them. They hastily grabbed at the object held within that blue light.

  Glancing around, they saw a few sets of eyes thrown over in interest.

  Not wanting to attract more questions, they both headed out of the square as quickly as possible, making use of streets and clusters of people to disappear into the city once again.

  They found themselves at a restaurant sometime later. They ordered some food and got a secluded booth.

  Erik opened the screen that had come with the object he’d opened. It was a simple-looking ring with a line of lettering on the inside of it.

  ==========

  Tutorial: Storage items

  ==========

  The minor storage ring, like many storage items, contains a special set of formations that allow one to store items within a space that is larger inside than outside. The size of storage space varies on the quality of the ring of holding.

  To bind the ring of holding, one must erase the mark of the previous user and apply their own mark by dropping blood onto it. Once bonded, the ring of holding will be accessible only to the user if their mark remains.

  ==========

  Erik quickly pricked his finger and put some of his blood on the ring. He felt a connection establish between him and the ring. He sent out a thought and he was able to see everything inside the ring.

  There were the minor potions for Stamina and Mana recovery, though the thing that drew Erik’s attention was the Guide to the Ten Realms book.

  Erik looked around in the city. It was easy to see that several people had these storage rings or other items that allowed them to store more items on their person.

  Erik tested it out, holding his woobie that he’d wrapped up. It disappeared into his storage ring. He summoned it out again and it reappeared in his hand.

  “With this, we can sort out all of our supplies,” Rugrat said to Erik in a low whisper.

  Erik looked at how much room was in the storage ring. “We’d need to get larger versions.”

  “That’s just a problem of money, and two silvers seems to go pretty far,” Rugrat said.

  Erik and Rugrat’s food arrived a short time later.

  The smell of the food was heavenly after being on rations for half a week. Rugrat and Erik had a deep aversion to anything that even looked like a ration now.

  They spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, getting to know it and seeing where different stores and places were.

  Rugrat took them to the smithing area of the city, looking over different places there.

  “Are you interested in becoming a smith?” Erik asked.

  “Well, with our gear right now, if any of it breaks down, we’ve got some replacement parts, but nothing else. Also, if we lose our brass, then we’re going to be screwed if we need some more. If one of us was able to smith out those parts, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

  Erik nodded. Rugrat’s thinking made sense. They had a limited number of resources right now. When they used a round, they might have the parts to reload it, but they only had a limited supply. Eventually they would run out.

  After touring the city for a long time, Erik checked on a few places, including the different apothecaries, which were the closest that people in the First Realm, unless they had a strong background, came to touching Alchemy.

  The healers were swamped. There were always people needing healing. Though healers weren’t ones to waste their time and Mana.

  There were two healing houses and then several different apothecaries.

  Erik looked over the different things that they were selling, including services. What he saw on the healing side made him want to shake them.

  These people knew how to use a few healing spells, but they clearly didn’t care to learn anything about a person’s biology. Why would you need to when the healing spell worked just fine? Rugrat’s knowledge of the human body was greater than their revered ancestors through a rigorous first aid t
raining he’d undergone.

  Erik, who had been a combat medic, had greater knowledge, could only see their abilities and shake his head. If medics back on Earth had these abilities, fatalities would plummet.

  As it was getting close to night, the two of them headed out of the city and moved for where their gear was hidden in the forest.

  They stored their gear in their storage rings and set up camp.

  While Rugrat was on first watch, Erik pulled out his sleeping bag and a glow stone he had bought. He used the sleeping bag to block the light and pulled out the thick book in his storage ring.

  It was a simple-looking book, with the cover showing the Ten Realms totem with its ten rings. Above it, written in gold, were five simple words: Guide to the Ten Realms.

  With a deep breath and a sense of anticipation he had since getting the storage ring, he opened the book and started reading the first page.

  There was basically two ways of increasing one’s strength in the Ten Realms: Body Cultivation and the Mana Gathering system.

  Body Cultivation walked down the path of enhancing their body through rare resources, Alchemy concoctions, or being tempered again and again to increase the basic strength of their body.

  As one increased the strength of their body, their Agility, Strength, and Stamina would increase in leaps and bounds. Walking this path, they would have to endure great pain, destroying and reforming their body repeatedly to advance their strength.

  This required healers or healing concoctions to keep the Body Cultivation practitioner from dying. They could also use concoctions created by alchemists to increase their body’s abilities. Using too many pills could weaken one’s foundation, though.

  The cost was not simple, and alchemists were incredibly rare in the Second Realm. In the First Realm, they were nearly nonexistent.

  The second system, the Mana Gathering system, could be improved in a couple of ways. The simplest was increasing Mana Regeneration. If one had more than ten Mana gates open, or their Mana Regeneration stat was at ten points or higher, they would step onto the path of a Mana Gathering practitioner. Erik had already taken this step as he had acquired the first level, Mana Vapor. Once his stats increased to twenty, then he would automatically gain the Mana-like mist; at thirty, this mist would condense into a Mana drop. Increasing past this level would require the practitioner to intervene as the next stage was forming one’s Mana core; five drops had to be compressed until they formed a core within their body.

  With each increase, their bodies would gain a greater Affinity toward Mana. Their Mana pool would also undergo an increase.

  This was the simplest method. Other ways people could advance down the path of Mana Gathering practitioner was to, as Body Cultivation practitioners did, alter their body so that they could increase their body’s Affinity to Mana or control over it.

  Alchemy concoctions could alter one’s body to increase the Mana that they could hold, artificially increasing the density of one’s Mana, or its purity.

  Also, one could take pills or undergo training to advance their own path to power at a faster rate.

  As the body was the foundation of the Body Cultivator’s path, the Mana gates were the foundation for Mana Gathering practitioners.

  At birth, people would find that they had different number of Mana gates open. The more Mana gates they had open, the higher their comprehension and control over Mana. They gained a natural advantage in the amount of Mana they could pull into their bodies and were tempered from birth with Mana running through their bodies.

  As one progressed through the realms, becoming higher, the natural density of Mana was greater; with this, the children were blessed with having more Mana gates open naturally. Some healers and alchemists were able to open the Mana gates of others artificially.

  The higher the realm, the greater the treatment, it seemed.

  Now, although these two paths were taken to strengthen most people, they were meant to augment and complement the main system that ran the Ten Realms: the Experience system.

  Experience was the essence of everything in the Ten Realms. As every action created entropy, the Ten Realms created Experience.

  Creatures could increase in level by just existing, absorbing the Experience of the Ten Realms, or through killing one another and consuming their flesh and monster cores.

  As a human’s skills increased, they were rewarded with Experience. For building or destroying, they gained more Experience and more power. Killing another creature, they gained a portion of its lifetime Experience. Creating a sword, they gained Experience for improving.

  Humans could also increase their Experience over time without killing or creating. They would need to undergo meditation, drawing in the energy of the Ten Realms. It was much harder and took longer, but it was possible.

  One might have hidden injuries that kept their body back from absorbing more Experience from the world. Healing these hidden wounds could directly increase their fighting strength and their overall level. Taking pills that were made from items with concentrated Experience could directly raise one’s level. Though the Ten Realms weren’t simple: Alchemy concoctions would only be effective one or two times and they would accumulate toxins in the body. One needed to remove these toxins so that they would be able to get the full benefit of later Experience-enhancing concoctions or resources.

  Erik closed the book as Rugrat tapped on his shoulder. Erik put the light stone and the book away carefully. He took his watch, filled with more questions than when he had started reading.

  Rugrat got under a cover and started reading the guide book as well.

  Chapter: Testing Information

  Erik used his Simple Organic Scan spell, looking at his Mana system in greater detail, from the Mana gates and channels to the area between the bottom of his rib cage and his bellybutton. This was where his Mana gathered and his Mana pool was.

  He focused on trying to control the faint blue mist in his veins.

  At first, nothing was going on. Remembering how spells worked and the different ways that people created spells back on Earth, Erik imagined the Mana moving through his body toward his Mana pool. He thought of a few different things before he sensed a change in his Mana’s movement.

  ==========

  Mana Manipulation

  ==========

  Move your Mana in a more precise manner.

  ==========

  Substitutive effect; does not cost Mana but allows spells greater focus.

  ==========

  Erik felt his ability to move the Mana increase. He drew more in toward his Mana pool, but after a certain time he felt a full feeling that turned uncomfortable the more Mana he drew into his Mana pool.

  He stopped after a few minutes, letting out a gasp of air. His eyes opened as cold sweat covered his forehead.

  The Mana dispersed through his body once again, that pressured feeling falling away.

  Erik moved to Rugrat’s pack and pulled out the wrist strength device there. Along its side, it showed different numbers to show how much pressure was being exerted.

  Erik squeezed three times, remembering the three numbers.

  Erik pulled out his blade and rolled up his sleeve. He shook his head and jammed the blade into his forearm before he could think about his actions fully.

  He let out a groan through gritted teeth, his healing spell activating according to the pain. It was now an immediate response.

  Erik didn’t pull the blade out as he continued to heal. His Mana bar decreased as Erik stared up into a tree, tapping his leg and breathing through his nose and forcing it out through his teeth.

  His Mana reached about twenty percent when he pulled out the blade. He was at just five percent Mana when the wound sealed up completely.

  Erik took a few moments to gather himself, feeling light-headed from it all.

  He took the grip strength tester and squeezed it three more times. His strengt
h had increased by at least five percent.

  Erik waited for his Mana to fully recover, completing two of the three tests he’d thought about. It didn’t take long until his Mana bar was full.

  He focused his attention on the Mana gate in his left wrist. He studied it and compared it against the Mana gate at the back of his head that was open.

  Erik used his newly found Mana Manipulation spell. The more he used it, the easier it became. It was even faster to get used to compared to the healing spell as it was moving Mana through his body, not working on multiple different systems in his body to repair his injuries.

  He gathered Mana vapor together and drove it toward the Mana gate. The Mana hit the gate with a bang that ran through his body and made his hand shake.

  Erik’s eyebrows rose as he gathered more Mana together and forced it at the Mana gate. It shook and rang hard, the tremor reaching his upper arm now.

  Erik let out a sigh, thankful that the first method had worked. If it hadn’t—well, let’s just say he didn’t want to be stabbing himself all day long.

  His eyes focused on his wrist as he gathered up his Mana, shaping it into spears, directing them through his channels and striking his Mana gate. They struck again and again, the ringing increasing in frequency. A slight cracking sound could be heard by Erik as he sped up his hits, compressing his Mana to the limit and sending it hurtling at his Mana gate. Part of the Mana was being absorbed by the Mana gate each time. Another cracking noise rang through Erik’s body. His Mana system hummed as he drew in Mana through his head Mana gate and directed it straight into his wrist Mana gate.

  Unknowingly, his control over his Mana increased as he could compress it tighter and guide it easily through his channels, increasing the speed of his attacks.

  Erik lost sense of time. His eyes scanned the area but his mind was focused on his Mana gate. Cracks visible to Erik had spread across the Mana gate and there was a faint wisp of blue in the two circles.

  Under Erik’s relentless attacks, the gate weakened to the point of no return.

  Erik barely registered as the first part of the gate disappeared, dissolving.