4 Chapter 4: Binging with Curses
I woke up wishing that I really didn't.
This class is a NIGHTMARE.
It may show its potential later as like a late-bloomer class but holy hell did it suck the largest of bananas right now.
I nearly died against the tutorial boss. And I can't even properly use the only good aspect of the class yet.
Groaning in frustration I kicked off my blanket and went to the bathroom to wash my face. And as I arrived at the bathroom I had realized that I hadn't even checked how I looked like since I arrived in this world.
And the man in the mirror sure surprised me.
Reflected in the mirror was a handsome young man with snow-white hair caked in dirt and blood with vibrant blue eyes that looked like the sky underlined by heavy eye bags.
Yeah, I looked like if Satoru Gojo underwent mitosis with slight changes. First the family name and now this? Did the game just give me an appearance preset according to my class?
'What lazy game design.'
Well, I am not complaining. I wasn't really attached to my old looks before and well...
You don't really have the right to complain if you look similar to Satoru Gojo. I am very handsome, a bit uncanny really. Though not TOO handsome to the point where I would attract attention walking through the streets.
That is of course with my eyes covered. Honestly how these eyes can even exist baffles me. It's like there is a literal picture-perfect clear vibrant blue sky in my eyes.
I was also very tall. At 17 years old I was already 183cm tall. Which I am certain was taller than I was before. I also had a lean build with decent muscle definition that would surely fill out as my stats rose.
After a quick shower, I noticed the fact that I hadn't eaten since I transmigrated, and man I was starving. Maybe quite literally.
But the question was, was I desperate enough to go outside to eat food?
Now that may seem like a no-brainer seeing as I have done nothing to get the attention of any supernaturals by this point. Hopefully.
But you would be wrong. Well mostly wrong.
I have close to 0 control over my cursed energy. This means that if I go out that would be advertising that I have a lot of energy. I know that devils probably have ways to sense someone's magical power. Probably.
They may not know what exactly I am but they will know that my energy reserves are several times larger and more potent than a normal human.
From what I know, that is the equivalent of basically a JUICY steak for any devil in this town. Or I guess the two main devils in town.
If I was a devil and I randomly saw someone who wasn't affiliated with any faction and was seemingly not a magician that had several times the magical power of a normal human I would be busting my balls to get them in my peerage. Especially if I had an arranged marriage looming over me.
So if I went out right now without knowing how to control my energy and encountered anyone of either Sona or Rias' peerages that would just be screaming "Hey, I am available to be recruited as a peerage member! Please pick me!".
Now, I am not really TOO against becoming a devil but I really don't want to be "recruited" at this moment.
Because if I refuse they can just force me. And I cannot do anything about it.
Choice is a privilege afforded to the strong.
Before I get noticed, I want to be at least strong enough to negotiate on my own terms.
For that, I really need to figure out my cursed energy. But first I need to eat before the game makes me die of starvation or something.
Thankfully the fridge was decently full. So whipped a large portion of sausage and eggs before devouring it like those zombies tried to devour me.
And I was greeted with a pleasant surprise after I was done cooking.
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[ Cooking - Lv. 1/100]
- Lets you cook a variety of meals, and enhances the effect of food.
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Obviously, I wasn't going to spend time grinding it out at the moment. At least now I knew I could also get mundane skills and maybe even increase them beyond mundane.
After I was done scarfing food down my throat I plopped myself down on the couch and checked on my gains.
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22x Undead Flesh
3x Iron Dagger
2x Gatcha Token
1x Small Strenght Crystal
1x Skill Book: Cursed Flame
1x Slaughter Demon.
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I grabbed the str crystal out of my inventory and it plopped into my hand. It was a red translucent gem the size of my palm.
[Small Strenght Crytal: Break it to get +5 Str]
'Score!'
My physical stats were lacking thanks to my sorcerer class which relies exclusively on my physical stats.
I gripped my hand and crushed the crystal.
Or at least that was what would have happened if my meager strength could've crushed the crystal in my hand. Instead, I had to do a walk of shame over to my kitchen and had to slam the cutting board down on it a couple of times.
After the crystal broke the pieces turned into red energy that entered my body and made me visibly get bigger.
[+5 Str]
Also now that my stats have met the requirements I can also learn the skill {Cursed Flames} so I brought out the book from my inventory.
It was a purple book with dark pink borders in the middle of the cover were 3 green dots on top of one another with the middle one being the biggest. For some reason, it felt awfully familiar but I ignored it and used the book.
[You have learned the skill: Cursed Flames]
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[Cursed Flames Lv. 1/100]
Cost: 100CE
Shoot a ball of cursed flame from your palm. Deals (Int x 1) damage. Has a 5% chance to inflict cursed flames. Affected by gravity, will bounce once before dissipating.
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That's totally Terraria. But that's good. While I dislike the fact that it is affected by gravity which hinders its range heavily, it is still a ranged option. It seems worse than its Terraria counterpart right now but I'm sure that will change as it levels up. Besides, no one will expect a fireball to skip like a goddam basketball.
The problem I have with is the CE cost of it
Next, I brought out the [Slaughter Demon]. It was a heavy large combat knife with a wide single-edged straight blade with two holes in it. It had bandages wrapped around the base of the blade. It had a black fur guard with a black handle.
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[ Slaughter Demon / Tozama ]
A combat knife infused with cursed energy that has turned into a cursed tool. It can wound intangible creatures such as ghosts and spirits.
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This was great. A big, sharp, and durable knife that I could really on should really help. The iron dagger drops weren't really sharp or durable.
Now onto the gatcha tokens. What the hell were they?
[Gatcha Token: Can be used to roll the random gacha]
On cue, I saw a new screen pop up in front of me. A gacha screen.
Gacha.
Gacha.
This system has a gacha feature.
Random roll.
Grinding
Rate up.
10 Draws. 5-star craft essence.
Rate-up is a lie.
Rate-up is a lie.
RATE-UP IS A LIE
I snapped out of my episode and looked at the tokens. Seeing as there was no 10 + 1 draw option I had no reason to wait to draw my gatcha. Who knows? Maybe I will get something like the Enuma Elish?
Hah, as if. I would be grateful if it just didn't give me cock shredder 9000.
At least hopefully the gatcha doesn't scale with my luck. With bated breath and a clenched ass, I pressed the roll button.
[ Cursed Corpse: Tsukamoto ]
[ Blackout Sunglasses ]
Although it looked incredibly unimpressive, it was probably one of the best things I could've drawn in my situation.
Because I am fairly certain that cursed corpse is the one Yuji used to train his cursed energy control. The system really threw me a bone here. Maybe it has sentience?
Hey, are you sentient?
...
Guess not.
As for the blackout sunglasses, they were just a pair of sunglasses that were too dark for a normal person to see through. Maybe that would help with my often eye aches?
Ever since I got reincarnated I started experiencing often eye aches. Because it seems like thanks to my ratshit luck I was born with hypersensitive eyes.
Anyways, now that I had the equipment I could start training my cursed energy control.
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[New Quest: Cursed Energy Training]
Due to your lackluster control over your own cursed energy, you need to train it the only way you know how.
By watching movies with a bear doll wearing boxing gloves.
Condition: Finish an entire movie without waking up Tsukamoto.
Reward:
+Cursed Energy control(Novice)
+1000Exp
+5 Int
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Alright then, this will either be torturous or easy. I went into my living my and turned the tv on before scouring around and finding a few movie disks. And I'm 90% sure that over half the movies here shouldn't exist in this world.
Paul Blart - Mall Cop.
The bee movie.
Shrek.
Shrek 2.
Predator.
Alien.
And various others. I am half convinced that the game just spawned them into existence when I got the quest.
I decided to start off easy with Predator as the was no way in hell I was watching the Bee movie of all things with a straight face.
I got myself some snacks and drinks before settling down on the couch and popping the DVD in and bringing out the doll.
It was a very ugly Bear doll with a goofy face and elongated arms that wore blue boxing gloves.
Before I could look for long though I was met with a fist to the face. A very powerful one as I felt my nose shatter from the blow. Immediately I sent my cursed energy into it to stop it.
Fucking hell, that punch took an entire quarter of my hp. Thank Go-
Hmm.
Considering the world I am in I don't think that is really right to say.
Thank lord Helix I can somewhat use Cursed energy. At least enough to stuff some into the doll.
I imagined a flame in my gut that flowed from my arms to the doll in my hands. I carefully sat down and started watching the film while maintaining contact with the doll and sending small amounts of energy to it.
...
I hate this fucking ugly ass doll. The moment I finish this quest I am burning it. Hopefully, it possesses sentience so that it can feel itself dying.
This motherfucker cracked my jaw 3 times during the movie.
I swear my control only improved due to my annoyance with this ugly ass bear. I was now slightly better at controlling and maintaining the flow of cursed energy. But the goddam bear nearly put me in the grave while I was trying to readjust my energy flow.
Onto alien I guess.
...
At least I didn't nearly get murdered I guess. I still got clocked a few times due to my attention slipping up. But this time I was able to restart my flow quickly after to put the fucker back to sleep.
It's mall copping time.
...
I only got hit once this time. But the bastard hit me as I was biting my burger. Nearly biting my tongue off and breaking my jaw. It took me all my mental power to get him back to sleep and NOT burn it to death right then and there.
Remember Akira, you are doing this for the quest.
You will get to burn the bear later.
...
Don't burn the bear.
Don't.
Don't burn it.
10 times.
I knew I shouldn't have watched the goddam bee movie.
It is just so hard to not be unaffected when you see a guy get cucked by a fucking bee-
*BAM!*
...
I think I am getting the hang of this. Through spite, I am improving incredibly fast. Turns out spite was the motivation I needed all along. I was finally able to keep a proper flow of cursed energy going into the doll without being disturbed much by outside stimuli. I can start and stop the flow on command now.
But too much emotional disturbance can affect the flow of my cursed energy. But I have figured out that, it isn't the emotions that disturb it but being driven by them that does. You can't let your emotions disturb your control.
It feels quite weird to have the revelation while watching Shrek of all things.
But... I think I am ready.
...
I DID IT!!!!!
I managed to watch Shrek 2 without waking up that fucking bear!
I am honestly surprised I managed to watch that without interrupting my flow at least once.
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[Quest Complete!]
Reward:
+Cursed Energy control(Novice)
+1000Exp
+ 5 Int
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Ignoring the level-up notifications I did something I had been begging to do for 10 hours now.
I brought out Slaughter Demon and plunged it into the back of the cursed corpse's head. And watched in delight as the cursed corpse twitched in pain before slumping.
[ You have slain Tsukamoto +500exp +Cursed Corpse Core(Minor) ]
That was the most delicious bit of exp I have ever gathered. I put the bloodied corpse back into my inventory. Now that I had gotten revenge and I could actually control my energy it was time to back to the dungeon.
Note: Do not forget to give me some stones if you liked the chapter!
Authors note: If anyone has interesting ideas for the random gatcha I will be glad to include those ideas if I like them. You can also recommend characters for the occasional companion card mc may pull from the gatcha.
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