37. A: Power

Oooo.

And a cold eerie wind was howling.

Oooo.

In a place covered by darkness, not reached by light.

Oooo.

Where giant mighty trees stood, blocking the starlight of a clear night’s sky.

Rustle. Rustle.

A low sound of leaves rustling, as they danced in wind, was audible.

Rustle. Rustle.

And in such a dark distorted picture, where nothing but the wind’s howl and the leaves’ rustling is heard, two humanoid shadows existed.

The first one was a horrific human-sized wooden puppet, with its body surrounded by a chill-inducing black mist, and its limbs disintegrating into such a mist.

While the other one was a beautiful dark-silver-haired girl wearing black.

Ah. Just in case you don’t remember, that beautiful girl is me, Okay?

Yours truly, the one and only, great Alice Whitfield, that’s me.

And as a one-time-only favor, I will let you can call me Alice if you want, so be honored. Hmph.

Of course, it’s just a joke, though.

But leaving that joke aside, for now, I once again start staring at the black mist around the puppet, or as the Analyze skill called it, the Curse.

Having gotten some information on it, and even answered some questions of mine, I was ready to move on, leaving it behind me.

But when trying to take a step ahead of me, I tripped as a red notification suddenly appeared, taking me by surprise.

-Tutorial End: 03:00:00.-

-Tutorial End: 02:59:59.-

Then looking at the decreasing countdown, I was confused.

Huh?

Tutorial ? is ending?

But ? wait ? so everything until now was only a part of the tutorial ? are you serious?

Reading it, I end up feeling surprised by the notification’s content and tripping, though of course, I don’t fall on my face, it was a close one.

“.... ?”

Then looking again, it seems I mistakenly grew closer to the Curse more than I thought, and so acting cautious, I quickly retreat in case it affects me.

But it seems I was late, and just as I retreated, it suddenly moved and started following me.

“well, that doesn’t look good.”

Stepping back, I use a tree as a cover, then move to the side, and jumping back passing by another tree, I try losing its tailing.

But no matter what direction I moved in or what I hid behind, the black mist simply followed me around, as if it’s being attracted to me while showing no signs of leaving me alone.

“tsk. So evading is meaningless.”

Judging my efforts as useless, I give up evading and stand in place, waiting and looking at the Curse mist being attracted to me, when ...

Fooosh.

Suddenly it’s started to get absorbed into my body.

“ho, now this was unexpected.”

Looking at myself again, the curse is slowly getting absorbed into my body, and at the same time, nothing is happening.

No weird changes, or even a decrease in HP, so it’s not a hidden injury at the very least.

Then, feeling that, all I could do was to coldly sweat while looking at this weird phenomenon, waiting for its end, while hoping not to turn into a weird-looking monster.

“ a beautiful or a cool monster would be fine though. Maybe ?”

Then waiting, I watch all the curse getting absorbed inside of me, but nothing changing or happening. Feeling lost, I was about to make a move, when ...

-Conditions have been met.

You have acquired skill: Magic power Lv1.-

An unexpected notification throws my thinking into disorder.

“HUH ? no, no, no. I don’t even know how to use it, you know ?, so how would I ? even ?”

I mean, I did not use my mp before, like never. How would I even ...?

Stare.

Looking at my hands, I stare at it, while thinking of the black mist of the curse.

“Could that be the reason? no, that was a stupid question. Of course, it’s the reason, but ...well, I will think about it later, if I were to get a chance. Thinking with no information is meaningless after all.”

Sigh.

Sighing, I give up thinking, feeling mentally tired of everything that happened to me now, and feeling physically relaxed.

“hmm? relaxed? now that I mentioned.

yeah, somehow, it’s relaxing to move right now.”

I can feel it, the good state I am in now. It’s like my body when I am just waking up, or maybe like when I just take an amazing energy drink.

It’s a little weird, but a nice feeling.

Then taking a step ahead to see how it affects me, I can only smile.

“wow, it’s really nice. It’s like even my power has increased by about a half, and I suddenly feel full of energy too.”

Even my head does not hurt anymore.

Finally. How good it’s to escape that headache.

Though it’s confusing why I am in this good of a state.

“was it another effect of the curse, or is it the magic power skill? or maybe both? hmm. Well, whatever.”

Deciding to not think about it, but to check my status instead, I summon it.

-Status :

Anon Zero Lv6

hp : 120

mp: 120

sp : 210

atk : 180

def : 150

agi : 120

Skills:

Observer - Analyse lv3 - Stamina lv4 - Sp enhance lv3 - Advanced Physical Mastery lv3 - Attack lv3 - Defence lv2 - Health lv1 - Hp auto-recovery lv1 - Thought Acceleration lv2 - Precision - Clear Mind - Advanced Weapon Mastery lv1 - Weapon Arts Lv1 - Memory lv1 - Physical Art lv1 - Agility lv1 - Magic power lv1 -

Looking at my status and checking it carefully, I caught a glimpse of a small detail.

And that is the MP count.

-Mp: 207/120-

It’s a little higher than the max mp I should have.

Then if this amount of increase was a result of the curse, then is this overflowing mp the reason why I am feeling too full of energy?

“well, it IS overflowing energy if we are talking about mp. So maybe this is a normal thing ?”

Well, again I don’t know.

Seriously, can’t I get more information, please? I really need it, after all.

Hmm? Oh, I forgot, but what about the puppet?

I was only focusing on the curse that I totally ignored it, and only now remembered it.

Then glancing where I have last seen it, all I see was an empty spot, with nothing in it.

“so it has disappeared? was its disintegration accelerated by me absorbing the curse or something ?”

Feeling lost about what happened, all I could do was stare.