chsdbacks Chapter 221: Consequences
Chapter 221: Consequences
Chapter 221: Consequences
Grand Healer of Helikan, Lorana Lanya, can’t help but sigh as she rests her forehead on her palm.
“So you’re telling me the principal let that student continue with dangerous experiments?”
“He’s not going to admit it,” The Master of Elixirs, Tsulin, says. “But it is safe to say he willfully neglected the danger. He did lecture the student, as attested by witnesses, but that might have been just to cover his own ass.”
“But why would he let someone continue forbidden research? I can understand not expelling the student, but not setting up a watch? Not confiscating anything that can be used to make cursed elixirs?”
“Probably because the kid’s thesis is sound, and he secretly wanted it to be proven,” Tsulin shrugs. “And he’s right, the kid didn’t become a cursed being, although he is now exhibiting extreme symptoms of withdrawal.”
“We know too little,” Lanya says. “We have no way of knowing if giving him more of that elixir or not is the correct choice, or if both choices end up the same”
“Or it could just be a mostly benign side effect, and he’ll just have to live the rest of his life addicted to his elixir.”
“We need to ask Alysara, she clearly knows more about curses than we do, and this is a matter of national security” Lanya gets up and walks to the window, opening it to get fresh air.
“You’re worried Jetlin will turn into a cursed being?” Tsulin asks.
“Yes. This is completely new territory. We know nothing other than the one incident where a cursed being was created and nearly destroyed the city. We are still a couple of weeks away from meeting the—” Lanya pauses, noticing a dot in the sky that is slowly growing bigger. “... Or not, it seems she is ahead of schedule. Tsulin, prepare for the arrival of the Runalymo immediately.”
He bows and walks out of the room.
That is impeccable timing, Alysara.
Lanya quickly gathers her other advisors to arrange a greeting party. They arrange carriages and ride them to the port just in time for the Runalymo airship to land and dock. The first out are the Elders, which Lanya greets politely, then Alysara walks out with a strange Forron-like creature trailing behind her. Both Alysara and the creature have five tails, which is a surprise but is not at all unexpected assuming rare race evolutions.
Multiple tails, flaming hair, a glowing halo, changes in hair color, and other metamorphic changes do happen and are generally a once-in-a-lifetime thing for any individual, with around eighty percent of people getting such an evolution. Some people, however, get multiple, and it seems Alysara is one such person.
"You are quite early. I hope everything is going well for you," Lanya says.
"It is going quite well for us," one of the Elders responds.
"We made extra ships so we can dedicate a ship to each country," Alysara says. "Although, we do need to make one more since we only have four right now."
Lanya [Analyzes] the ship, and it shows that it is only enchanted tier, but magically empowered. A chill runs down her spine. If the Runalymo can make three just as powerful as an exalted tier item in one month, then they might be unstoppable if they ever decide to go to war. They can have over thirty exalted tier equivalent warships in one year! Plus, the casual way Alysara said that, as if making three more was as easy as snapping her fingers.
She had gotten more powerful in the month she was away, but that makes sense; she got two legendary achievements. Klaman had told Lanya about legendary points and how they can be used, so it's only natural Alysara should be legendary tier now; plus, she has a title too, which makes her even more powerful.
However, when Lanya [Analyzes] the young woman, she gets no results. That is strange. It really seems like the real her, but it’s probably just an illusory clone. She'll need to use her [Life Sense] on the area to find the real Alysara, but she won't risk angering the Elders if they have retaliatory items against sensing skills.
"Come, let us welcome you to the embassy," Lanya says, motioning the Runalymo to enter the carriages. "Also, I want to speak to you, Alysara, about curses."
"I accept. I also have questions to ask you, and I need my Anima healed again," she replies.
So soon? Lanya raises her eyebrow before glancing at the creature. It has blue fur with gold fur on the tips of its ears, tails, and feet. It has ears like that of the Forron but only two of them and has eyes; perhaps it’s a cousin species to them?
Is it hurt in some way? Lanya can’t imagine any other reason she’d have questions about it.
Alysara nods.
So, there is something about the creature she wants to know?
"First, didn't you cure your cursed skill already?" Lanya asks, getting the simplest question out of the way.Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com
"One of them, yes," Alysara replies.
One of them? If she only had two then she’d probably say she has another, so she has at least three, well, two now, after curing one of them.
Lanya motions for Alysara to enter her carriage, and she follows after her. A guard moves to enter, but Lanya stops him.
"This will be a private conversation."
"As you wish, Grand Healer," the guard bows and joins the driver at the front.
"Is this the real you?" Lanya asks once the carriage door is closed and the sound protection enchantments activate. "I can get the healing out of the way now."
“I’d teleport directly to the room, but I didn’t want to alarm anyone,” Alysara’s clone says to hers.
“I need to talk to the principal anyway; he needs to know the consequences of dabbling in curses, if there are any.”
They go to the principal’s office, the hallways being mostly empty with classes still going on. Lanya knocks but doesn’t wait for permission to enter.
“G-Grand Healer?!” a completely bald man says in a panicked tone before quickly bowing. “I-I didn’t know you’d be arriving; if I had known, I’d—”
“That’s enough, Korathan,” Lanya cuts him off. “I know this is sudden, but I brought someone knowledgeable in curses with me; take us to the boy so she can examine him.”
“Right away!” Korathan jumps out of his chair in a hurry.
Once they arrive at the room, pained groaning can be heard.
“I asked you about any retaliatory items on him in particular before, but are there any in the room?” Alysara asks.
“No, not in this particular room.”
They enter and Alysara stands in the middle of the room for several long minutes, examining the boy with her sensing ability. An awkward silence falls over the room only broken by the pained noise coming from the bed.
“I see... Elixirs can influence race evolutions, right?” Alysara asks.
“Yes,” Korathan says.
“His evolutions are cursed, all of them. If he tries to evolve his race, he’ll turn into a cursed being. I don’t know if he’ll ever have an uncorrupted option again, but that’s not all. It’s clear he is suffering, a lot more than you think he is; this is causing even more Miasma to build up in his body. If it continues to build up, it’s possible that it will have unforeseen effects and, at worst, turn him into a cursed being.”
“So we should try to alleviate his symptoms?” Lanya asks.
“Maybe. Have you tried to reduce the pain?”
“Yes,” Korathan says. “But it seemed to have no effect, we’ve made another cursed elixir, but we need permission to give it to him.”
“It’s really dangerous no matter what you do. With the amount of miasma in his body, it’s possible that another dose could turn him into a cursed being, or not, I really don’t know.”
“Is it worth the risk?” Lanya asks.
Alysara doesn’t answer for a minute.
“No. Once cursed, the miasma won’t leave, so taking more elixirs will build up more miasma and turn him into a cursed being regardless.”
“So what do we do?” Korathan asks.
“Can’t you cure his curse? You’ve already cured one of yours,” Lanya asks.
However, Alysara shakes her head. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t, nor would you be able to afford the price.”
Just what is required to cure a curse? If Alysara had the power and still wouldn’t be willing to heal this boy, then it can’t be something she can just do, unless she’s heartless. So it must require something extraordinarily difficult to obtain or something just as rare, perhaps both.
“How do you cure curses then? I’m willing to pay for that knowledge anyway, we can work out the price later.” Lanya says.
“Alright.” Alysara says after a moment of thought. “You know Klaman, right? Do you know about Legendary points?”
“Yes,” Lanya nods.
“Miasma is equal and opposite to Experience, or rather Aether. Legendary points are, in theory at least, a large pack of Aether. This means you can neutralize the miasma from a curse with a legendary point.”
Now it makes sense. Alysara gave more knowledge than she needed to, but having the nuance to go with it helps a lot. Legendary points just aren’t for sale, and it’s probably not possible to transfer them to others anyway. This means that the only way to cure curses is to first achieve a Legendary feat. This explains why Alysara is still not legendary tier despite having multiple legendary achievements; she needs them to cure her own curses.
“So what do we do? Just end his suffering?” Lanya asks.
“No, with the Miasma in his body, he might still turn into a cursed being if killed.”
“So, all roads lead to him becoming a cursed being,” Korathan says. He suddenly bows to Lanya. “I beg your forgiveness, if I had known this would happen, I would have taken more care to make sure this never happened.”
“It was going to happen sooner or later. It is better that this happens now while we have an opportunity to learn from someone knowledgeable in the subject. We knew it was bad last time this was tried, but we didn't know enough about why it was bad, and this is why we were unable to deter this young man from doing this. Now, we have an authority on the subject who has told us just how bad it is to dabble in curses and that there is no safe method. It is now our duty to remember and record this in history to let this be a warning for all and for the rest of time, so no one else makes the same mistake in the future.”