Chapter 10, Episode 13: Training in the Field—Cleansing Cursed Energy
After a filling lunch of soup and sandwiches courtesy of Sebas, Hudom, and Eleonora, we were enjoying a nice, sit-down tea. My slimes had worked hard to clean the cottage, but it still seemed like a tight space for ten of us to sleep in. The cottage was a completely open concept (minus the bathroom) with no furniture, so we’d have to all sleep on the floor together, without so much as a partition to separate the men and women. I could admit that we were a large party, but a cottage this small still seemed inadequate.
“It’s only meant to be a temporary lodging for the warlock on duty. No amenities were needed besides a place to sleep. Since the warlock on duty could bring any number of assistants or apprentices, it was simpler to have one large space that could accommodate the whole party,” Rosenberg explained.
“Right, it’s only used a few times a year... And it’s easier to clean,” I said.
“Very true. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You’re the manager now, so you can always work on the cottage as needed.”
“Okay. I’ll build some more rooms later.”
“Later?” Rosenberg asked.
“With slimes and magic, I could build something similar to this cottage in less than thirty minutes,” I said. All I’d have to do was mow the grass with a huge bush slime, test and level the ground with soil slime magic, and lay the foundation with the help of a huge rock slime. After that, I could use sand slime magic to 3D print a building. That should suffice for our stay this time around.
Rosenberg looked confused, though. He apparently didn’t know about my constructions in Gimul, so Sebas gave him a summary of them while he served us tea.
Jeff and Welanna laughed across the table.
“Yeah, that’s the normal reaction,” Jeff said. “You’re the weird one here, Ryoma.”
“We would have had the same look on our faces if we hadn’t seen you renovate the city over New Year’s,” Welanna said. Sometimes, slimes were unbelievably versatile and helpful. “We should be getting back to work.” Welanna stood, and the other adventurers followed suit.
“There’s more tea,” Sebas offered.
“Just one cup was wonderful.”
“We’ve barely done anything to earn our keep yet.”
“There will be no stone left uncovered on the safer east side.”
“Tell us when you think it’s safe to go west. We will help.”
With that, the adventurers set out to scope out the area in greater detail.
“They are hardworking,” Rosenberg said.
“Yes, and very kind,” I added.
“Take care to maintain those good connections with others. Because hexes use negative emotions, warlocks are in constant danger of being ruled by them, losing their sense of either mortality or sanity. Even more so than other professions, it is valuable for a warlock to maintain friends who support them so they don’t fall. Who pull them back from the ledge... Who extend a hand and help you up if you should ever fall...”
Remily had told me the same thing. Hexes required magical energy warped by negative emotions, which were similar in nature to cursed energy. Even if a warlock only had good intentions of cleansing cursed energy, they were still susceptible to those emotions.
“I won’t forget it,” I said. “Regardless of any warlock business, I intend to cherish my relationship with all of them...and everyone here, of course.”
“It looks like I have nothing to worry about in that department. Once we finish this tea, shall we head out to investigate the cursed land? Put that magical item I showed you to practice,” my tutor said.
“Perfect!”
Magical items in hand, we set out for the settlement ruins. My afternoon class was going to be more hands-on.
“Is everyone okay?” I called.
“I can manage if we go slowly.”
“This is more treacherous than the file suggested.”
“They used to be bandits, right? They probably built these paths to make the village more difficult to invade.”
“Or the landslide has made this path smaller than it used to be.”
The trail leading up to the settlement was narrower and steeper than the file had indicated. Below us was a steep slope of at least sixty degrees, and some portions of the path were practically cliff ledges where we’d had to hug the wall and shimmy past. With a trail this narrow, riding slimes wasn’t an option.
“Let’s use Space magic or carve out a new path when we go back down,” I suggested. “That would be allowed, wouldn’t it?” I asked Sebas.
“Absolutely. The duke has already approved using any part of this mountain as a testing ground, and making any developments as you see fit. As long as it doesn’t affect the travel road on the bottom, you are free to add mountain paths.”
“If you decide to do so, please share details of the operation with me,” Eleonora said. “I will write up a report on it, along with one on the status of the cursed land, and submit it to the duke.”
“That would be great,” I said. There would still be some paperwork for me to fill myself, but I was mostly free to pursue the tasks that I enjoyed. In my previous life, I would have never imagined working under conditions like this. Just as I felt a surge of excitement, it was tainted by a mild sense of discomfort—a telling sign. “I sense cursed energy,” I announced.
“Then try out your item on a solid patch of ground,” Rosenberg said.
I did, just as he’d instructed. I pushed the stake into the ground, then held the balance level while I carefully poured my magical energy into it. I’d had a lot of practice with magical energy control, so that much wasn’t a problem. I saw the scales tip forwards to four degrees.
“Well done. Four degrees means we are still very safe. But there’s no guarantee as to what lies ahead. Let’s make sure to defend ourselves now. What is our objective here?” Rosenberg quizzed me.
“To form a layer of Dark magical energy around us that will protect us from cursed energy,” I answered. Light magical energy could also protect us from cursed energy, but that would cleanse and eliminate cursed energy around us, skewing our measurements.
When I explained that reasoning, Rosenberg nodded in approval and demonstrated the spell himself. “Protection.” Dark magical energy enveloped him, almost like the Curse Block spell Remily had taught me. Curse Block was also able to shield us from some degree of cursed energy, but Rosenberg explained that Protection is a more specialized spell that offered better protection, but only from cursed energy.
“Protection,” I said, trying out the spell for myself.
“Let’s see... Very good,” Rosenberg said. “For your first time, your magical energy is remarkably stable. Perhaps it is thanks to your experience casting Curse Block. That will be more than enough to protect you from cursed energy.”
With that stamp of approval, I practiced Protection a little more by casting it on Sebas, Hudom, and Eleonora. Then, we continued walking.
We carried on following the tipping of the scales, which brought us to the settlement ruin before long. Almost no sign of the settlement remained after the devastating fire and years of the mountain’s elements.
“This is where the cursed energy is the strongest, but it’s only at twenty-eight degrees,” I said. I’d expected ground zero to be a little more dangerous. Partly due to the Protection spell, I was sure, I could barely feel the effects of the cursed energy. If this was already what things were like at twenty-eight degrees, I could only imagine how much these scales would have tipped in the City of Lost Souls.
“For a properly managed cursed land, this is par for the course,” Rosenberg said. “The City of Lost Souls was far more expansive, for one. If it was overflowing with Undead, I expect it to have been no less than forty degrees. I suspect the center of the city must have been at sixty degrees or higher. A typical example of a neglected cursed land.”
“So this place could turn out like that if it goes unchecked?” I asked.
“Exactly.”
With a better understanding of how dangerous a situation the City of Lost Souls had been, I quietly promised myself I would never let this testing ground turn into another version of it. Keeping an eye out for landslides, we navigated the mountain and its steep slopes, even using climbing ropes when necessary. Although we’d split up, it took a lot of time and effort to figure out the range of cursed energy. By the time the sun began to set, we had confirmed that the bald patch accurately reflected the range of the cursed land—about a two-hundred-meter radius around the center of the landslide. The area wasn’t a circle, but more like a rounded triangle, with the initial landslide area spreading wide as it descended the mountain. In particular, the settlement ruins towards the top of the mountain and the endpoint of the landslide lower on the mountain were teeming with cursed energy.
“So far, everything matches the reports,” said Rosenberg. “If there were any discrepancies, it could cause the cleansing to fail or lead to accidents. Always make sure to verify that the site is as expected before performing cleansing.”
“Got it,” I said. “Are those what keep the cursed energy contained to the landslide area? Those marks?”
A strange symbol—a snake or worm or centipede—was carved into trees surrounding the landslide area at regular intervals. I sensed magical energy from them, and I couldn’t really think of another answer, considering the circumstances...
“That is a hex that prevents cursed energy from spreading. Many warlocks use some sort of symbol like that,” Rosenberg said.
“Then would it be similar to barrier magic, or is it more like an enchantment? If these were set up half a year ago to coincide with the latest file, that’s a long time for a spell to hold its effect.” I could use some barrier magic myself, but not one that could retain its effect for half a year, unless I regularly reapplied the same spell. As the state of the cottage proved, no one had come up here in a long time. That led me to believe the hexes could be woven into objects like enchantment spells used to create permanent magical items.
“That is quite astute. In fact, curses are very similar to enchantments. They don’t call it holding on to grudges for nothing. Powerful, negative emotions last a long time. The hex in the trees uses that tendency to elongate its effect,” my tutor explained.
“I see... There’s a lot for me to learn.”
“And we will have time for it later. I had planned for lessons on curses, and you’ll need to learn that very spell once the cleansing is over. But first, we need to clear the cursed energy... It has been an arduous day. Let’s walk through the cleansing process before we call it a day.” Rosenberg turned to Sebas and requested a few things out of his Item Box. “This is where we start.” He brought over the largest basket that Sebas had produced. It was stuffed with over twenty magic wands, like an umbrella stand at a corner store during a downpour. The wands were simple ones—basically a wooden stick with a Dark magic crystal on its end.
Rosenberg plucked one out, took a few steps away from us, and pointed the wand at the ground. “Curse Transfer.” Magical energy poured out of the wand and into the ground. Instantly, I could see the cursed energy rise from the ground like a cloud of black dust. While the cursed energy wasn’t moving quickly, I could see that it was very dense and dangerous. I kept watching as Rosenberg spun the cursed energy with his wand, spooling it at the tip until it shrank into the magic crystal.
When no visible cursed energy remained, Rosenberg stopped releasing magical energy. “Did you see it?”
“It looked like you extracted cursed energy from the ground, and also from the air, and then sealed it within the magic crystal on the wand,” I said.
“Good. This is the basic process of cleansing cursed energy—extracting it from corroded materials. The cursed energy doesn’t necessarily have to be transferred to a magic crystal... Take another look at the wand, without coming any closer and certainly without touching it.”
I could see what he wanted me to see immediately. “The tip of the wand looks...worn out. It looked brand-new a minute ago.”
“Objects rapidly deteriorate when exposed to concentrated cursed energy. The purpose of this wand is mostly to put distance between the user and the magic crystal where the cursed energy is going to be stored. I use Dark magic crystals as the receptacle not only because they make it easier to cast hexes, but because they’re exceptionally durable against cursed energy.”
That explained why there were twenty-plus wands ready to go. They were cheap and dirty wands that Rosenberg could easily replace as soon as one showed signs of damage.
“Some people use materials especially resistant to cursed energy, but most warlocks can’t afford such luxuries, especially when we have so many other tools we have to purchase. We don’t have too many corners to cut, out of safety concerns.”
“That has to be rough...” I said.
Rosenberg’s eyes were fixed on the distance. He deserved commendation for not cutting costs. There were plenty of workplaces that would ignore their workers’ safety to save money. “It won’t be easy, but you do have a brilliant financial manager who should be able to make ends meet,” Rosenberg said.
“Absolutely,” Eleonora said simply.
Now, it was time to practice. Plucking a fresh wand, I took a few steps away from the others and pointed it at the ground. “Curse Transfer.” I cast the spell, replaying Rosenberg’s demonstration as I did...but it felt like something was stuck, preventing the cursed energy from coming out. Did I mess it up?
“The spell was successful, just not powerful enough. Concentrate more negative emotions in your magical energy, and capture the cursed energy that lurks in the darkness below the soil,” Rosenberg said.
Taking his advice, I focused on magic detection. Sure enough, I could sense cursed energy that threatened to prick me with discomfort, even though it couldn’t touch me past the layer of magical energy I’d set up. Still, it was unmistakable—the air beyond my thin layer of protection was tainted with cursed energy. I shifted my energy to my feet and saw a clump of cursed energy. My detection didn’t reach far enough to see how deeply it corroded the ground. I could only tell that the cursed energy that had seeped into the ground seemed bottomless—pulling all that out would be quite a feat.
“There is no need to dredge up all of the cursed energy at once. In fact, doing so would be dangerous. Do not overextend. Mark out a section of cursed energy that you will cleanse, just below the surface. Concentrate on that patch of cursed energy, and pull it close.”
I cast my spell again, with a better focus on my target. This time, I felt like there wasn’t much of a clog, and I could see the cursed energy lift out of the ground, quickly mix into the air, and begin to spread—just like normal magic. I kept the cursed energy around the magic crystal on my wand, spooling the torrent of cursed energy into the crystal...until I managed to contain all of the cursed energy that had emerged from the ground into the magic crystal.
With my task completed, I couldn’t help but let my shoulders slump in relief. When I looked up from the ground, the setting sun stung my eyes for a moment. “How did I do?” I asked.
“You were already casting the spell on your first try, and I have no notes on your second. It is fair to say that you’ve mastered the basics of cleansing cursed energy. I plan to cover different applications of this technique, but let’s save that for tomorrow. We still need to clean up.”
Even though we were done with the cleansing for the day, my class wasn’t over yet. When Rosenberg raised his hand, Hudom came over with a long and slender wooden box. Magical energy hummed within it, so it must have been hexed.
“This box can contain curses and cursed energy, so we can safely transport them without worrying about contamination. Even if you only use a wand once, make sure to put it in here and not with the other wands. Some warlocks take their clothes off after cleansing, but if you apply the layer of protection magic and follow safety guidelines as we have, there’s no need to go that far.”
“What happens to the tools we put in here?” I asked.
“The wand we used today still has many uses in it, so we will continue using it tomorrow. Wands that have been used to their limit are sent off in the box to a disenchanter I’ve done business with for a long time, who will cleanse the wand there. Unlike warlocks, who use Dark magic, disenchanters use Light. Even though both professions can break curses and cleanse cursed energy, we each employ different methods that suit our element. While warlocks can erase cursed energy, disenchanters are better at it. On the other hand, warlocks are better suited for removing cursed energy as we have just done,” Rosenberg explained.
Perhaps because they wielded opposite elements to achieve similar results, there was a stigma that warlocks and disenchanters didn’t get along...but Rosenberg said that the two professions often worked together to cover each other’s shortcomings.
“I only send my used tools to a disenchanter because I can’t wield Light magic myself. If you can treat them yourself, feel free to do so. Just make sure to reuse the Dark magic crystals as much as possible—they’re very rare.”
So the wand itself was disposable, but Rosenberg recycled the magic crystals, using leather gloves treated with the same magic as the toolbox. Maintaining and properly disposing of tools was another important part of a warlock’s job.
After learning so much on my first day, I was excited to keep this going tomorrow.
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