Cursemancer

by A P Gore

  The fat goblin was losing his life pretty fast, but before the last chunk of his life vanished, he hit Thia with some kind of charged spear attack, and she dropped like a stone. 10% of her life vanished from her health bar like it was nothing.

  Noah zipped forward and scooped the little girl up. She was injured, but she wasn't losing any life. A stun icon had popped up in front of her tiny name in his vision. He put her on the grass near the tree trunk and turned back. The fat goblin was dead, but the other goblin was going to pay for his friend's atrocity.

  But the slender goblin was already on his feet, and a strange white glow had encapsulated him in a bubble. His health was going up—not fast, but enough to worry Noah. Noah shot a poison orb at him, as he didn't have enough spirit to cast a fire ball. The first two fire balls had almost emptied him, and keeping the poison shield active was making his spirit replenish slowly.

  Noah was running dry after one more poison orb, and the goblin was done casting his spell too. His life was above 100 mark. The goblin held his spear to his right side and charged straight at Noah.

  The goblin was targeting Noah’s heart, but Noah knew a thing or two now. He parried the goblin with his poison shield, dealing 5 damage to the goblin. But it wasn’t enough. Noah was fool to think he knew how to parry. He successfully parried the spear but failed to avoid a knife attack from the fat goblin, whom he thought to be dead already.

  Noah’s life dropped by 30.

  Noah drew his dagger and stabbed the fat goblin, ending its life once and for all. He had paid the price for negligence already. Not again.

  Noah needed something big to shoot the goblin down, but his spirit had recharged to only 50 points by that time. Waiting until 100 would require ten more seconds. Noah had to buy that time while staying alive.

  The slender goblin was once again charging at him with his spear held as an extension of his body. Noah planned to parry him once more and continue doing so until his spirit was high enough to cast again. He had to change his plan when the goblin changed direction and dashed towards Thia, who was still laying on the ground, stunned.

  Noah only had a split second to take his decision. He was closer to Thia, so he could jump in the goblins path and parry him, but by doing that the enemy could use the same parry force to hit Thia. The other option was to get pierced by the spear, which would require him to deactivate his poison shield.

  Noah jumped in the goblin's path and threw his body on the spear. The spear went through his gut, making a big hole in it. Pain fogged Noah's vision, along with a splash of red. But his whole attention was focused on one thing. His spirit level. When it reached 100, he chanted the fire orb curse and a large fiery ball hit the goblin’s head and shredded it like it was made of cabbage.

  The goblin dropped dead, taking Noah down with him.

  Thia was awake by then, and she jumped over next to him. Her tail shot up and came down like a bullet to pierce his neck. But Noah didn't need healing from her today. He had already pulled a healing potion out of his bag. The healing potion was of a minor quality, but it brought his life back to one third. That was enough. They also had food, which would start a slow regeneration of his life.

  Within a few minutes, they were making their way back to the town with their tummies full and the goblins’ skin and spears in Noah's bag. Noah also found an interesting thing on one of the goblins: a ring. It had a property he couldn't see, so he tucked it away in his bag of holding. For the first time since entering the game, Noah was singing a song. The goblin duo had given him great experience. His new health was standing at 390 and stamina at 230—a good value for a level 4 character, he thought. He’d also bagged almost 1000 experience, bringing his total to 9110.

  26. The God's Realm

  N oah got shot in the sky like an old school rocket. His insides gathered in a tight ball as his speed increased beyond imagination. Noah lost everything. First his consciousness, and then his life.

  But he wasn't dead.

  He opened his eyes to a familiar white room. It was the same room where he had met the glass-man at the beginning. A white table that looked like it was just out of a furniture mall stood in the middle, and couple of chairs accompanied it. He was sure the table would even smell fresh cut wood if he sniffed it. The game was so real to all of his senses.

  But how did I get here?

  He was with Thia, walking back to town after killing a couple of goblin scouts, singing a sing, enjoying the aftertaste of fried chicken on his tongue.

  “Hello, mate.”

  Noah's eyes jumped to the man in the white robe walking out of a vanishing door. He wore the same circular glasses Noah had seen him in before. “Hello, glass-man,” Noah growled. Seeing him brought back memories of the asshole demon responsible for every crappy, painful death he’d faced in the game.

  “Did I ever mention my name?” Glass-man pushed his glasses up his nose.

  Noah gave him a poisonous smirk. “You did, but it was so common that I forgot it.”

  “Fifteen days in the game and you are already talking shit?” The glass-man raised his brows and produced a chair out of thin air.

  “What do you expect? Me on my knees, praising how grand the game is?”

  “You seem angry. I've only met people who swear by the game's comfort and easiness. Did you face a tough challenge or what?” He made an innocent face.

  Noah laughed contemptuously. “You are asking me, seriously? After you sent a dick, calling himself a demon, who forgot to tell me I needed a name to enter the game or I'd be put into a shit-hole.”

  “Did he?” The glass-man closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, a display had appeared in front of him. “A Cursemancer, and spawn location Drakonia City. That's bad.”

  “Bad? That’s what you call it? No, it wasn't bad at all. It was worse than bad.” Noah lifted his chair and slammed it on the table. “I was killed three times after spawning, and I wasn't even aware what was wrong. If not for the goddess’s blessing, I would have gone crazy by now.”

  He leaned forward. “Interesting. A goddess talked to you?”

  “Yes...”

  A strange voice filled Noah's mind. “Noah, it's me, Sumara. Do not tell him about our little conversation. I'll say it again, do not fucking tell him about our little arrangement or I'll yank that title of yours right away, and you can go fuck yourself until eternity.”

  Noah's heart leapfrogged into his throat.

  “Tell me more about her.”

  “I don't remember much about her.” Noah put his finger on his chin, faking a ponderous expression. “I guess it was Mumbara, or Marumba. Sorry. It was so common that I forgot it already.” Noah flashed a smirk at the glass-man. “Anyway, she offered me a title that made me neutral with demons for few days until I make my way to a human town.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Glass-man didn’t seem to find that very interesting. “That makes sense. Sometimes the game AI can do stupid things like that.”

  Noah couldn't put a finger on it, but there was something wrong with all of this. The way the glass-man's face lit up after Noah spoke of a goddess was fishy, and then Sumara's warning… It just confirmed his suspicion. Something was wrong.

  “Anyway, why am I here? Did you already find the cure for my coma?”

  “No. It's only been two days since you are went into the game, mate. Why would I have a cure in so short a time?”

  “Only two days?” Noah's mouth hung open as realization kicked in.

  “Yes, didn't I tell you about the time dilution? So, 1 month in the real world is 1 year in the game. Your fifteen days in the game means about one and half days in the real world.”

  Overwhelmed, Noah couldn’t respond right away. He’d known about the time dilution it, but he’d never really thought about it. “It's odd when you realize it.” It meant he had to spend a year in the game before meeting Tia. What about Tia, my daughter?”

  “We haven't contacted her yet, but we will soon. I h
ope by that time you'll get to a human town. You realize that we can't send her to the demon town, don't you? Technically, the continent you are in is not yet explored by the humans.”

  “I know. It's a bad situation. But don't worry. I'll do anything to get back to a human town.” Noah vowed with determination. He would do anything to get a glimpse of his daughter. “Anyway, why did you bring me here if it's only been two real-world days? Do you miss me that much?” Noah winked, teasing the glass-man.

  The glass-man shifted in the chair, awkwardly. “Let's start with my name. I'm Balthazar.”

  “Okay,” Noah said.

  “I was hoping you would give me a progress report for your last fifteen days. Did you recover any memories about the experiment you were doing?”

  “No. Nothing about the experiment.” Noah gave him half-truth. He wasn't sure why, but after hearing Sumara's warning, he was skeptical about everything.

  “Fair enough. Coming to the point, I received an abnormal report on your case. Did you visit the God's Realm at any time in the game?”

  “What's the God's Realm?” Noah asked.

  “Fair question. It's a continent set aside for the gods of the game. It runs parallel to the continent you are living on. The respawn room is in another realm that connects the God's Realm to the Earth. My team noticed a lot of downtime from your character, that means you were inaccessible for lots of time in the last fifteen days.”

  Sumara's voice echoed in his mind once again. “Be careful here, Noah.”

  “I was in the respawn room. Thanks to your asshole employee who forgot to tell me the importance of the name setting. I guess I died too many times, and I went there twice by myself to access the game forums.”

  “You found the hidden door in the spawn point? Wow! That's something new. Only five people had found it in the history of the game, and none were below level 80 when they found the door. That makes sense now. Okay, good enough for me, but I must warn you not to spend too much time there, or the game's AI will flag you as a cheater and put you in the Prison of the Damned. And trust me, that's not the place you want to be.” An unknown threat lurked in his eyes.

  “Thanks for your suggestions. But can I go back? There’s someone waiting for me.” Thia had been left behind, and he knew she would be worried by his sudden disappearance.

  The last time he’d vanished, she scrapped all of his face with her nails. He didn’t want to repeat that.

  “Okay. Take this.” Balthazar threw him a black rectangle that looked like an access card to a lab door.

  “What's this?”

  “A communication device. It’ll give you direct connection with my team. Whenever you find something useful, just call my name while holding this in your hand. My team is always listening to the communication channels, and we'll pull you here. It's better this way, rather than pulling you in this room every other day. That's costly you know.”

  “I understand.” Noah threw the device in his bag. Surprisingly, it didn't occupy a space in it. Good to know.

  The glass-man waved his hand, and the room faded away. For a moment, he felt like he was falling from a two hundred story building, but then he settled on the ground. He looked around, but Thia wasn't anywhere. A wave of panic washed over him.

  Then the wave turned into a river—a fifty-foot-wide river. Before him, a human male kneeled on the ground, pushing something into the earth. Had Noah just dropped near a human town?

  27. The Offer

  T he man in steel armor and a pink bone helmet was putting something inside the ground. An ornate azure staff lay on the ground beside him. The staff held intricate carvings, and a soft glowing ruby was fixed atop it. The weapon had its own frightening demeanor, but the man otherwise looked like a harmless fellow and reminded Noah of a colleague, who loved to call himself Asian from old earth, working in the IMT. The stranger wore multiple things that Noah didn't recognize, and he was so preoccupied with his work, he didn't even notice Noah standing right behind him.

  Noah cast perception on the man.

  Perception failed. Despite regular warnings, you keep casting perception on everyone. -1 intelligence for 10 minutes. A fool doesn’t need any intelligence at all. XxX.

  What the heck is wrong with this game?

  Noah coughed to call attention to himself.

  The man spun to face Noah and tapped his staff on the ground, sending a shockwave rippling outward in a ring around him. Before Noah could react, the shockwave hit him, draining most of his life. When his vision faded, he had only 10 life remaining in his health pool. He couldn’t even resist before falling into unconsciousness.

  Something entered his mouth before he died.

  Noah's vision cleared in an instant, and a wave of energy passed through his body. His health bar filled rapidly to its maximum, and a small heart icon appeared beside it. A bright red notification appeared.

  Greater Healing Potion Buff applied. 10% health recovery every 5 seconds for the next five hours.

  The man in the pink helmet stood next to him with a red vial the size and shape of a bottle of water. The healing potion vials Noah had seen until then were more like test tubes. Maybe the greater healing potion required bigger bottles.

  “This one is extremely sorry, my human friend. This one didn’t know you were only level 4 before casting that shockwave spell.”

  “What the heck was that spell? And who are you? Did I land in a human town?”

  “This one is called Shui, and my character name is KickTheAssX12.”

  “I’m Noah. Just Noah.” Noah jumped to his feet and extended his hand to the weird man who went by name KickTheAssX12. “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to call you by your real name. Now tell me, where are we?”

  “This one doesn’t know and was trying to find out. This one teleported here by accident and doesn't know where this place is. Even the map is showing a white circle in the middle of a black cloud, and this one can’t even zoom out in the map. This one was hoping you would have an answer, my friend.”

  Listening to him speak in third person was annoying, but it was his style. There was nothing Noah could do about it. “That's a bummer. I thought I landed near a human town. That would have been the happiest accident of my life. Anyway, we are near the demon town of Sumara. I know nothing other than that. I ended up here accidentally too.” The sadness in his voice was audible even to Noah.

  “This one is sorry to hear that, Mr. Noah.”

  “What will you do now? Where’s your respawn location? I hope it’s in a human town.”

  “Yes, this one is bound to the City of Ampethia. But this one doubts any demon in a ten mile radius is strong enough to kill a level 45 pathfinder.”

  Noah’s hand shook for a moment. H’d tried to cast perception on a level 45 character. No wonder the game had penalized him -1 intelligence. “That’s nice. But as far as I know, the nearest human city is like twenty days walk from here. Even that walk is filled with lots of demon towns in between.”

  “That’s not a matter of concern, human friend. This one has set a timer on the teleportation spell. This one will jump right out of here once the timer reaches zero, which is exactly after 20 minutes.”

  “That’s a nice spell to have.” Noah could only imagine the spells this man had access to. Level 45. “Anyway, have you seen a small demon girl around here? A level 3 girl.” Noah’s body shuddered with the next thought, but he spoke it anyway. “And please tell me that you didn’t kill her for the sake of it.”

  Shui took a step back, putting a hand to his chest. “No, my friend. This one doesn’t kill anyone below level 40. This one has a code of conduct, and a level 3 demon wouldn’t even scratch this one’s skin.”

  Noah’s shoulder blades relaxed. Shui hadn't killed Thia, and that was a relief, but she was still missing—which wasn't good at all. “Thank god. But did you see her anywhere? When I took a detour, I left her here, but now she is gone.”

  “This one might know where she
is. This one sensed a few low level creatures when this one cast perception on the surroundings. Let’s go there and see if this one can help you somehow. This one is still sorry for hurting you before. And this one is interested in your story too. Maybe something from your story would turn useful for this one too.”

  Noah shrugged. “Okay. I'll tell you my story.” Except for the parts about him being in a coma and the pieces about the goddess and the glass-man, he told the stranger everything. There was no point in hiding when the stranger could be useful to him.

  In return, Shui told Noah a bit about himself. Shui was a perma-gamer too. He was from the capital of Gamisha, a gaming city in the real world. He’d been in the pod for about a year in real life, and he was planning to spend his next ten real-life years here. When Noah expressed surprise about this, Shui told him that there were hundreds of thousands of gamers who were using perma-pods, because they liked being in the game more than being in real life.

  “For most of us, real life sucks! Here we can do anything we want.” Shui flashed Noah a weak smile.

  “Did it really take you twelve years in game to reach level 45?” Noah asked.

  “No, this one was level 70, but then this one died repeatedly in a dungeon. That was the only way to escape it. But that’s fine. I also received my unique skill just after that, a skill of teleportation with unknown destinations. Once I received the skill, I changed my class to pathfinder and started my journey to discover unknown lands. So far, this one has discovered the world of the fae before they killed this one, and now this one has also discovered the world of demons.” A proud smile appeared on Shui's face. He had a reason to be in the game. Noah had one too, but right now his priority was to find Thia.

  “Trust me, friend. You don't want to be here. I was killed three times before I received the blessing of some goddess. And that experience was brutal.” Noah's skin crawled with the thought of the torture he had gone through back then.