Lament of the Slave

It is said that poison is a woman's weapon, at least it used to. I didn't like this weapon. Maybe it was because of what I learned at school about the poisons used during the wars or what I saw on television about people poisoned in their homes, or on their way to work, just because someone decided to get rid of them. Hollywood certainly played a significant role in my displeasure with poisons. In movies, people dying of poisoning suffered from convulsions with protruding veins, red eyes, and foam at the mouth. I didn't like this way of dying.

However, this was the only skill on the list with some offensive potential, except brute force. At least I was willing to give it a chance not to throw away this possibility just because I didn't like it. That tail was part of me now, and I learned to live with it. I should also accept that it's a dangerous thing capable of killing in a way I didn't like.

Of course, that didn't mean I enjoyed killing.

Just the thought of killing a creature made me sick, not to mention humans. As in everything, there are exceptions, such as Dungreen or Fae.

In the basement, I often looked at a list of my available general skills and wondered which I could use to kill my captor. I didn't have many options because even after seven mutations, no skill similar to [The Tail of Poison Empress] appeared on my list. If such skills existed, they were not general skills. Or I just didn't get the essence of the creature that naturally possesses these skills.

That has changed with the last injection when my heart has undergone mutation. Even though I was clueless as to what heart I had right now, the essence Dungreen had given me must have belonged to a magical creature. After waking up in the Sahal on the river banks, several magically focused skills appeared on my general skill list.

I liked magic; it was cool. I've been to magic shows a few times, and what some people could do with ordinary cards was unbelievable. But it was all tricks, not real magic. To my knowledge, magic on Earth was only in books and people's daydreams. Therefore, the idea that I could use real magic was something I couldn't resist.

Heart of Magic: lvl 1

Passive I

You are a magical creature. Mana is an integral part of you, flowing through your veins. You can't survive without mana, but your intelligence and wisdom are 75% greater.

 

Arcane Magic: lvl 1

Active I

Arcane magic is the magic of pure mana, with no attributes. It is magic focused on mana's pure power, magic which only a few creatures have.

I liked the bonus that [Heart of Magic] gave. Unfortunately, even with this bonus, my intelligence and wisdom did not approach other attributes' level. I couldn't change what my captor and my would-be master had done to them. They were not the attributes of a magician, but the girl could dream, right?

It was clear to me that I would probably never be a first-class mage, but I just wanted to try. Give these skills a chance, and when I find out that these are not suitable skills for me, I was ready to exchange them for different ones, just like [The Tail of Poison Empress]. Although my class level was 92, in terms of skills, I started from the beginning. I could afford to experiment, try one skill, and exchange it for another in a few days or weeks. Although I will lose the experience gained every time the change is made, it is still better to find out which skills are best for me now than to regret my decision later.

When I chose [Heart of Magic] skill, I immediately felt the change. For more than a year, I had learned to control mana in my body and to some extent, I did, but now I felt it flow in my veins. I had much more of it in my body; it was thicker; it contained more energy, and I had more control over it. It was amazing what one skill could do. But one thing that worries me was a sentence in the skill's description of how I couldn't live without mana.

Did that mean that if I ran out of my mana for some reason, I would die? That could be a problem. It was sure that when I trained with mana and magic, there would be a moment when I would not estimate the amount of mana required for the spell correctly. I would deplete the mana in my body. It may have been a consolation to me that if, in some tragic way, the magic did not cause my body to disintegrate, [Never-dying] would bring me back to life.

I was hoping, but I didn't want to test it on purpose.

I didn't have suicidal tendencies.

As I said, I couldn't get rid of [Eleaden Standard Language]. Not now. It was a skill I kept forgetting I had, and now it bites me back. With [Heart of magic], I had my eight general skills. My knowledge of skills was sparse. I knew that. Still, I was sure that if I wanted to use magic, I needed to choose what kind. At least if I wanted to make magic a little easier. So I decided and replaced [Otherworlder] with one, for now.

Why did I choose [Arcane Magic]? Because I thought it sounded cool. The name had a mythical touch. In movies, games, and books, arcane magic was mostly ancient magic. It was the primary magic that every magic has roots. As such, it was the most powerful magic, but it was also challenging to master.

The skill description mentioned nothing like that. The fact that arcane magic was limited to a few creatures was not unique. I had more magical skills with this description. Here on Eleaden, it was just another kind of magic, another school of magic, perhaps rarer than some, but nothing unique. Whether it was stronger than the others was a question I wanted to try to answer.

Unfortunately, the fact that it was rare meant that arcane training would not be easy, just for the simple reason of finding a teacher with arcane magic. If this is not the way I should go, I had enough options to choose from. As I said after my heart changed, I gained access to a dozen other magic schools, not to mention those I had access to before.

Every creature on Eleaden had some magic that most could use in some way or even had innate talent, skill. Thanks to my mutations, I naturally gained access to some magic schools. For example, thanks to my tail, I could choose [Poison Magic], but that one I'll only pick if none of the others work out.

When I looked at my status, I was happy with it for the first time. I couldn't influence things like class and individual stats, but I finally had control over the rest. I was delighted, satisfied, and exhausted after a hard day.

I undressed and, in my underwear, crawled into bed. There I tucked my tail between my legs, pressed it to my chest, and buried my face in its tail hairs, which were incredibly soft after the bath. I slept like this almost every night in the basement, and often my tail was the only thing that could calm me down enough to fall asleep.

…

I woke up still clutching my tail with my head buried in its fine hair. Outside the window, the sun shone, long ago rising above the horizon, telling me that I slept longer than I intended. Despite an undisturbed sleep, meaning noise from my neighbors, I didn't want to get out of bed.

However, I could not be in bed all day, so I forced myself to get up after a few more minutes of bliss. As I stretched out on the bed, I noticed system notifications that required my attention.

My morning concentration was not good enough for me to immediately read the notifications. So while I visited the backyard outhouses and rinsed with water from a well, I ignored them. Only when I sat down on a stool by the table in the inn was I able to concentrate on what the system wanted to tell me.

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) You were poisoned.

…

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) You died.

(ding) Never-ding reaches lvl 2

Oh ... what the fuck?

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) The Tail of Poison Empress reaches lvl 2

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) Never-Dying reaches lvl 3

(ding) You died.

How the hell did I die at night? I quickly started searching the log, skipping other notifications.

(ding) You died.

…

(ding) You died.

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) The Tail of Poison Empress reaches lvl 4

(ding) Never-ding reaches lvl 9

(ding) You were poisoned.

Four times? Did I really die four times last night? I didn't die because of the skill [Never-dying]; it had to treat me continually while I was poisoned. It even brought me back to life four times. But every time, I was killed again.

But who could want to kill me? Did Dungreen find out I was still alive and send a killer to end my life? Why would he do that with poison? He could just cut my neck, but who else could it be? Captain Rayden's Guardsman? Maybe she saw me as a threat to the city and decided to get rid of me? It could have been an innkeeper, but why would he kill his guest and someone who helped him in the kitchen?

I relented my caution, lulled by a sense of security. I forgot to watch out for those around me. I couldn't trust anyone. What if it was Tess who was going to my table right now? Could she see me as someone who took her job?

"Good morning, Korra," the smiling girl greeted me. "Will you have breakfast?"

Her question pulled me from my thoughts and the spiral of paranoia I sank into.

Despite my anxiety, I tried to smile. "Good morning; what did Byron prepare today?"

"Boiled eggs, cheese, and fresh bread," Tess said.

"It doesn't sound bad. I'll have breakfast," I said.

"Very well," the girl smiled but then frowned. "Are you okay, Korra? You are pale, and your tail is bristled up."

At that moment, I realized everything, and I could feel nothing but embarrassed.

"No, I'm fine," I shook my head, trying to figure out what to say. "... I remembered something from when I was still a slave."

"Oh ... I'll bring you that breakfast. You will feel better with a full stomach," Tess said.

I waited for the innkeeper's daughter to turn, then fixed my eyes on my killer. He knew very well what he had done. He didn't dare move. Now that the truth has come to light, he was not as proud as he had been. Yes, I was killed in my sleep by my own tail.

When I thought about it, it was obvious to me. I got three levels in [The Tail of Poison Empress]; how else would I get them if I didn't use this skill? However, I was not aware that I had used it, not consciously. It was possible that I did not fully control this skill and released a cloud of poison from my tail at night during my sleep. Or my tail just farted at night and killed me. Four times.

Hmm. I had my head buried in him all night. Maybe…

I raised my tail to my face, which I plunged into his fine and soft hair to take a deep breath.

(ding) You were poisoned.

"It looks pleasant," said Tess, who placed my breakfast on the table in front of me.

She scared me so much that I almost peed myself. Fortunately, I went to the bathroom a minute ago. I looked at her in confusion and understood what she meant only when I saw her eyes fixed on my tail.

I nodded. "It is; this always calms me down. Thanks to my tail, I slept like the dead. I mean, I was dead tired yesterday, so..."

"I understand what you mean. Can I touch it?" Tess asked, my body going cold immediately.

My brain was in full swing, trying to think of some valid reason why she couldn't.

"I ... my tail is quite sensitive. It's not even a week since I ran away - maybe next time," I said.

Tess winked at me. "Then, when you're ready. Enjoy your food."

"Thank you," I thanked her, but when she left, I looked at my tail again.

So it was you ... the killer. I finally knew who was responsible for my death, and it wasn't Dungreen, or anyone else. It was me. I don't know if it was the natural state of my tail or just my inability to control my new skill, but my tail emitted a small amount of poisonous gas. My mistake was sleeping all night with my head buried in his fur.

You could say I committed suicide.

Well, after what I've been through, it wouldn't be weird, but I didn't plan on killing myself. Plus, as you could see, it wasn't that easy to kill me.

However, the question remained whether it was [The Tail of Poison Empress]. I often slept like this in the basement and never died of poisoning. However, the [Nerve Poison] skill was much weaker than the current one, and I also had the [Poison Resistance] skill. The poison was probably so weak back then that my resistance didn't let it work in my body at all. But now I had in my hands, more precisely a tail, on a potent poison and no defense against it.

"I must be careful not to get my tail caught by a kid," I sighed.

If I want to keep [The Tail of Poison Empress], it will require training and soon. The bright side was that it was good training for [Never-dying]. Getting eight levels during the night was incredible.

I was thinking about how to train this skill, and the only thing I came up with was pain and blood. The injuries I would have to suffer for this ability to heal me. My new poison was apparently so painless that it didn't even wake me, but so damaging that my body needed healing. Healing that could not rival his strength, and the result was my death.

Of course, at that moment, my tail stopped releasing the poison, and [Never-dying] could heal my body to its full strength, bringing me back to life. At that moment, my tail released poison again, and this was repeated in a constant cycle until I woke up.

Fortunately, I did wake up.

But where to train such a skill? After breakfast, I planned to visit the city hall, and it was an excellent place to start my search for such a place.

Now that I knew what had happened at night, my mood had drastically improved. I enjoyed the prepared breakfast and went to town. My goal was city hall, but I didn't just go there blindly. Along the way, I visited every store or business I met and asked about work. This alone was extremely difficult for me. Forcing myself to talk to strangers was too stressful for me, not to mention the meeting itself.

After that unnecessary stress in the morning, I couldn't be surprised when I received another notification from the system when I was talking to a giant man in a carpenter's shop. I know I shouldn't judge by appearance, but his frown was terrifying. I was just preparing for the moment when he threw himself at me with a chisel in his hand.

[Carpenter - lvl 53]

His level was far from mine, but I was sure his abilities were not at level one like mine. The only advantage I had was in my stats, but I didn't trust myself too much against the big guy in front of me, even with those stats.

(ding) Indomitable Will reaches lvl 109

They didn't have a job in carpentry for me, nor in the other shops and workshops I visited. So I got to the city hall empty-handed, and because nothing changed on the notice boards, I stood in line for a familiar receptionist. I could choose another receptionist, such as a man standing behind a counter with fewer people in his queue. But I didn't know him, and it wasn't worth the stress. A few more minutes of waiting couldn't kill me, but too much stress could hurt me.

"You again," the receptionist grinned when she saw me. "Hello, Grey. What can I help you with today? Did you manage to find a job?"

"Hello," I greeted her and smiled. "Yes, I did, but I'm still looking for another job."

"Why, what job is it? Was it posted here? I would cross it off in the book and take it off the notice board," said the receptionist.

"No, it wasn't on board. I was told they only posted it for the first month," I said, not wanting to say because it's free.

"I see ... so why are you here?" The receptionist asked.

"Because of training, we talked about it yesterday. With an experienced seeker," I said.

The receptionist nodded. "I see you still haven't changed your mind. But it's up to you. So what type of training?"

"Oh, ... what types of training do you offer?" I asked, startled by the question.

I didn't even think about what I wanted to train.

"Well, it's up to you. The type of magic, the type of combat, with or without a weapon, with which weapon. According to your choice, we will find a suitable trainer for you," said the girl behind the counter.

The problem was that I had no idea what I wanted to train in. Of course, magic was a tempting option, but first, I wanted to try it myself. Find out how far I will be able to go without the help of others.

That left me with only the possibility of fighting with weapons, but with what weapon.

"Would it be possible to train with someone who would tell me which weapon or what style of combat would be suitable for me?" I asked after thinking.

The girl smiled. "That's a good start. Yes, we have an excellent seeker at this, but she is training someone right now and has already booked the next hour. I can book you another hour with the seeker, or more if you want."

"No, one hour is enough," I said.

"Okay, so from eleven o'clock, you will have an hour booked with this seeker. Be here on time, wait at the entrance to the training halls. It's over there," she pointed to the door, above which was a sign with the inscription [Training halls]. "I'll give you a card to show the official who will pick you up. He will take you to the right room. Do you have questions?"

"No," I shook my head. I had enough experience with the authorities on Earth, so this was not a problem for me.

Complete Status Screen