The next thing Takuma knew was darkness. He felt the intense surge of energy flowing through his body, his limbs seizing up and the pain which locked his joints, and finally nothing -- overwhelming blackness.
Only the sound of his breathing, faint though it may be and the chaotic beating of his heart was proof that he'd somehow survived. There was no telling how long he'd laid there, unable to move, his body racked with pain. Only when the raindrops began to fall did he finally begin to stir.
It was a pain to even open his eyes at this point. His vision blurred as he forced them open, above him dense gray rain clouds swirled. The precipitation was just as foreboding as hefty drops of rain pelted his body. It hurt to move even a muscle and the sensation of falling droplets didn't help. What's more his vision was still shaky, a faint red color flashing before his eyes. In the top right corner of his HUD he noticed two rectangular bars. The top bar, one he presumed to represent his health, was dangerously low. The tiniest of red slivers remained, suggesting that he was now in dire straits. His clothes were in tatters, most of the cloth burned away during the impact so he could now feel the full effect of cold water beneath him. He needed to find shelter or else he would surely die from a combination of exposure and his lingering injuries.
"D-dammit." Takuma muttered as he struggled to roll over onto his stomach. He could feel the sensation of both numbness and flesh burns in equal measure. There was no doubt that the lightning strike had nearly killed him, he was now hanging onto life by a thread.
"I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die.." He repeated to himself as he painstakingly pulled himself along the ground. The feeling in his fingertips was completely gone and his upper arms quivered like jelly as he pulled himself, each desperate tug sending indescribable pain through his muscles. At the least he needed to get out of the rain, and this thought drove him as he pulled himself towards the single corner of the chapel which remained intact. There was roughly two meters of roof which he could use to shield himself from the elements, but even then with these injuries Takuma wasn't sure if his struggle would be worth it. Determination, a burning desire not to die -- it was all he had at this point. Perhaps it was the pride of one who'd been humbled so helplessly -- but it served to spur him on.
After what seemed like an eternity he managed to pull himself close enough to prop his torso against the wall. The pressure upon his body was enough to make him scream, his hands were charred beyond recognition and his feet seemed to be in similar shape. He could barely move his fingertips, and in some cases his fingers wouldn't move at all. Though he couldn't feel a large portion of his body the cold was now setting in, biting into his flesh-- down to the bone as the rain continued to pour. The waves of pain assaulting his body was enough to drive him to madness.
With this in mind Takuma took the only action he could, he huddled up in the corner and glared at the Goddess Statue. The quest was still active -- "Survive", the word hovered in the top right corner of his vision like a commandment, one he felt compelled to follow. Takuma resolved to fight until the last breath. He rocked back and forth to himself, his eyes focused only on the statue before him as he repeated the word "Survive". He focused only on the sounds of his breathing and heartbeat.
He had no idea when the rain finally relented, nor did he remember passing out. As his eyes opened it was to the sight of the bright, midday sun. Everything around him, including himself, was drenched from the earlier downpour but now the weather was pleasant and clear. Not a single sign of a rain cloud in sight. His body felt less sluggish and a great deal of his pain was gone -- though his feet and hands still ached. He also noticed that most of his wounds had healed considerably.
"How is this possible? I was nearly dead…" He whispered to himself as he inspected his hands.
"Survive - Quest Complete." The alert appeared before him, along with several other lines of text.
"Class Bestowed, Relic Meister. Rank 0/10"
"Class Ability - 'Curse Eater' Acquired."
"Class Skill - 'Relic Hunter' Acquired."
"Class Skill - 'Relic Appraisal' Acquired."
"Cursed System has risen from level 0 to level 1. Menu Subsystem unlocked. Additional Character Info available via the Status Menu. Quest, Lore and Inventory Menus are now accessible."
"Lore Menu updated with (3) new entries."
"(3) new quests added."
"What the- ?" Takuma remarked as he took in all of the info, most of which made absolutely no sense. As the alerts disappeared Takuma noticed a small, circular icon in the bottom right of his view. He tapped it with his pointer finger and was shocked to find several small circular icons slide from beneath it, each with a different symbol on them.
"Let's see.." He said as he clicked on the book icon. This opened the Lore menu, a subsection of the menu system dedicated to 'chronicling inhabitants and information' about the world. The first heading, 01, was titled 'Relic Meister'.
"A specialist class suitable only to the most daring of adventurers. Unlike traditional classes, the Relic Meister cannot grow from task based progress or obtaining experience by normal means. In order to level up they must--what?" Takuma said in disbelief as he continued reading.
"Take on curses and purify them!?"
"What kind of garbage adventurer's class is this?" He nearly bellowed.
He quickly checked the other two entries in the Lore menu.
"02. Classes. Classes have ten levels of mastery. Raising a level for a class rewards the user with various boons , usually increased stats, skills or abilities specific to a class."
"03. Curse System. By performing various tasks one can level up the Curse System, giving the user a wide variety of QoL upgrades which make adventuring easier."
"What? That's it? Nothing useful?" Takuma griped as he closed the Lore Menu. He next decided to visit the Status Menu.
"Let's see." He said as he read the info there aloud.
"Stats in this world act as modifiers to one's natural capabilities. There are two types of stats, Modifiers and Base stats. Base stats are used as the basis for all calculations, while modifiers offer various boons, often percentage based, to determine the end effect."
"Hmm. Let's see…" Takuma said as he continued reading.
"Base Stats.
Vitality, Mana, Stamina, Force, Accel and Knowledge. But no descriptions of any kind... hmm."
Listed beside each of the base stats were a number, a rating that Takuma assumed represented his current value in each stat. Across the board he was fairly even. Vitality, Mana and Stamina were at 50, 50 and 25 respectively. Force, Accel and Knowledge were all ranked at 2.
While the numbers seemed relatively low to Takuma he couldn't really jump to conclusions when he had very little info to make comparisons. He'd managed to survive a lightning bolt after all, so perhaps a blow that generated forty or more points of damage would be considered 'devastating' for all he knew.
The listing for Modifier Stats, which were in a column directly to the right, were named identically. The only difference is that they are all rated as zero. As he scrolled further down the menu he noticed a depiction of himself (in a rather sorry state) and a button which read 'Skills and Abilities'.
"Maybe this will make me feel better." Takuma couldn't help but grimace as he looked at the singed avatar of himself. He quickly tapped the 'Skills and Abilities' button so that he could check out his newly acquired skills.
"Curse Eater (Class Ability) : Those who possess this ability can purify the dark miasma of curses, turning it into mana. As a trade off mana has no limitation or fixed amount--but also no longer regenerates naturally-- what the?"
Takuma could feel a vein popping in his forehead. The more he read about this 'Relic Meister' class the less he liked. He continued, regardless.
"Enables the user to obtain XP and mana through the process of purifying curses as well. Raising the level of this ability rewards the user with bonus XP and mana gains. +5 Vitality and Stamina with each level raised."
Takuma felt less angry now. At least there were some benefits to this cursed class.
"Relic Hunter (Class Passive) :The ability to identify the relative location of cursed relics. Within one meter cursed relics have a colored aura surrounding them."
"Relic Appraisal (Class Passive) : The ability to identify curses on most small objects. Effectiveness and information obtained increases with level."
"It seems like all of these can be leveled." Takuma whispered to himself as he stared at his "Current S/A" listing. Next to each entry were three hollow stars, save for the skills or abilities he'd already acquired. Next to the name of the section were the words "Skill Points(SP) : 4".
"Time to experiment." He said to himself.
Thinking about it logically, it was probably best to obtain the power needed to keep himself alive. Survival, Self Defense and finally the power to subjugate -- in that order. With this in mind he also decided to check out some of the other skills and abilities available to him.
The "General S/A" tab was locked, tapping on it presented him with the alert "Reach Class Level 3 to Unlock General Skills And Abilities". The same was true for the remaining class abilities, they seemed to unlock every third level -- four total.
This left him with seven choices to spend his points on--skills and passives. Four of the choices were skills, but since he had little to no idea about his class capabilities at this point he ignored those for now. What interested him more were the Class Passives.
"
Meister's Constitution (Class Passive) - Reduce the effects of curses by 20%. Also regenerate additional Vitality( +1 HP) and regen rate up.
Fate's Die (Class Passive)- 5% chance to nullify the effect of a curse. Works when taking on a curse.
Disguised Blessing (Class Passive) - While afflicted by curses your Vitality and Stamina increase by 2-10% per curse, depending on the curse level. "
Particularly Meister's Constitution and Disguised Blessing caught his interest. While Fate's Die seemed exceptionally powerful, leaving his fate to luck wasn't Takuma's style.
He placed one point in Meister's Constitution, as well as Disguised Blessing. Immediately a bright flash of yellow light enveloped him for a moment as he acquired the new abilities.
"Your Vitality Regeneration has increased to +2 Vit per 7 m(s)." A new alert informed.
With two points left he decided to keep one in reserve just in case, the final point went to his Class Ability, Curse Eater.
"Curse Eater has reached level 2 of 3. +20% XP gained upon purification. +30% Mana gained upon purification." Another alert notified.
Considering the benefits he was tempted to max out Curse Eater completely, but there was no telling if he'd need the SP for an emergency so he closed the menu. Based on his current health (now 55 points) it would take less than an hour of rest to completely refill his Vitality. It was a nice start, considering that resting was the only requirement to heal grievous wounds to his body.
Still there was one major issue which didn't sit well with him. Takuma had to admit, he was annoyed by the fact that there seemed to be no offense type skills available to him. This would make it difficult starting out early on, but once he considered that the main method of leveling would be to acquire and purify curses that seemed less important at the moment. Besides, there was always the possibility that skills of this nature would be in the General category.
Still his current state wasn't close to sufficient, especially with random lightning bolts striking him. Takuma knew he couldn't relax, there was still much to do. He canceled all of his open menus then checked out his Quest menu.
"Level The Curse System [1 of 3] (Tutorial)."
"Examine The Goddess Statue."
"Purify A Cursed Relic.(Tutorial)"
"Hmm. Well, let's start with the easiest one." He said as he walked over towards the Goddess Statue. As soon as he drew closer he noticed a faint black outline appear around the statue.
"This must be Relic Appraisal." He thought to himself as he drew near enough to touch it.
"Examine it how?" He said to himself, finally deciding to poke the statue a few times.
"Goddess Statue - A 'statue' of the Goddess. [0/5]. Emanating with menacing energy, those who pray at this statue find equal parts misfortune and charity."
Takuma could feel his blood beginning to boil. "Couldn't that have been mentioned BEFORE I almost died?" He said between clenched teeth.
"Quest 'Examine The Goddess Statue' Complete.
100 System Points earned. The Curse System has gained enough XP to level up. Would you like to do so now? Y/N".
"Of course." He replied as he clicked the 'Y' button.
"Cursed System has risen from level 1 to level 2. Map Features Unlocked. Mini-Map, Regional Map and World Map have been unlocked.
Items Of Interest (QoL) - Interaction with items has been enhanced. Certain items now have a faint white outline surrounding them within four meters.
Tooltip (QoL) - Hovering over menu entries can often give additional info. This extends to relics and objects, just focus on them for a short period of time.
Lore Menu updated with (2) new entries."
"Oh, that's nice. Finally something good." Takuma said to himself as he rushed to check out his new map features. The first thing he noticed was the addition of a minimap in the bottom left corner of the view. He clicked on the icon to expand it, exposing the radar-like feature with himself at the center. Directly in front of his marker was a black dot which he realized to be the Goddess Statue. He also noticed an orange dot to his right.
"Hmm. I don't see anything." Takuma said as he glanced to his right. He turned and took a few paces, only to be greeted with another alert.
"Purify A Cursed Relic [1] : Cursed Relics are objects of incredible power that have been corrupted with Miasma. Miasma is a dark, negative energy that can corrupt objects and lifeforms.
As a Relic Meister you can purify curses by taking them upon yourself. Your body will naturally cleanse the Miasma during this process, turning it into Mana which can be used for various purposes. You've stumbled upon your first Cursed Relic. Do you want to equip it?"
Takuma looked around, a bit unsure at first. Was the system broken? He didn't see any relics. It took a few more moments before he noticed the faint, dim glow of orange light beneath the rubble at his feet. As he peered down a tooltip popped up over the item which read:
"
Goddess Amulet [Cursed] - An amulet crafted by those faithful to the Goddess. Currently corrupted by miasma.
Curse Effect: ???
Curse Duration: ??
"