"
Vitality - 85 [93] (75%)
Mana- 4,332 (200% MAX)
Stamina- 70 [95] (65%)
Force- 4 [5] (165%)
Accel- 3 [5] (12%)
Knowledge- 4 (125%)
Food Bonus: {Roasted Ram Stew : +25 Stamina, +1 Force. Duration : 0 : 4: 22.}
*Additional Effects*
Phantom Cloak : +50% movement speed.
"
Force and Vitality would be easy to max out. Takuma simply had to exercise and keep taking damage -- severe miasma poisoning was good enough for that. For Knowledge, he'd turn to reading and puzzles, there were bound to be books somewhere about various subjects. He would probably need to teach himself to read, but that wouldn't be a huge problem. This only left Accel and so Takuma gathered up all of his relics and stored them away. He then got dressed and made one more trip to Pots and Oints. There, he purchased some stamina potions, then headed to the west gate of town.
"Excuse me, guard," Takuma asked as he neared the gate.
"Oh, it's you. Hello." Takuma realized it was the older man from yesterday.
"Hello. I was curious if you could tell me about the forest to the west. Is the area relatively safe? There aren't any predatory creatures out there? Or perhaps monsters I should be worried about?"
"Hmm. I've never really heard of anything too scary out there. You will want to stick to the path, though. All manner of wildlife live in this area but they tend to avoid the scent of humans. As long as you stick to the path, you should be fine. Why? Are you leaving already?" The guard asked, partially out of habit.
"Just going to check something out. I'll most likely be back before dark." Takuma replied.
"Well, be careful. Don't mess up your new clothes. Wouldn't want to mistake you for a zombie again." The guard replied as he opened the wooden gate. The gate relied on a rather large crank that needed to be turned with both hands in order to raise it.
Soon, Takuma was standing outside of Arnia once more, the long trail before him.
"Alright. Let's get down to business." He said as he stretched a bit then took off running. He had his status menu open which somewhat obstructed his view but that didn't matter. He was more concerned at the rate of increase on his modifiers. As he expecte,d the modifier rose more quickly based on the amount of effort exerted.
It was probably around midday or an hour after, and normally it would take six hours to reach the Goddess statue but thanks to his stamina potions and Phantom Cloak he would manage to cut the time in half. At least that was the plan. Unlike the vitality potions, stamina potions simply prevented your stamina from depleting for a certain period. No matter the action or exertion used, stamina would not drop. Coupled with the fact that stamina quickly regenerated on its own, it was possible in theory to continue running constantly.
The effects of each potion lasted about one minute, and he'd purchased twenty of them. This wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough for Takuma to really push himself. The goal was to return to the Goddess Statue and back by nightfall.
The wind against his face was a sheer joy as Takuma dashed along the forest trail. It seemed like forever since he'd taken the time to enjoy the simple things in life, and the weather was quite nice. There was a feeling of peace as he picked up the pace. He had to admit, it was a strange sensation to be able to run top speed perpetually. Everything resembled a blur as he dashed on, spurred on by the climbing Stamina modifier score.
Strangely enough the potions gave him time to consider his stance and gait, he stretched his legs to the utmost limit and kicked off as hard as he could to allow him to travel further. Soon he found this to be automatic. He'd already downed half of the stamina potions by this point. He refused to look at his map though, as it would require using all of his available HUD view thus he considered his progress a "reward" for when he was finally forced to stop.
An added benefit of stamina potions were that they completely healed muscle fatigue and soreness so by the time the effects of Takuma's tenth bottle wore off he felt no strain whatsoever.
Stamina- 70 (135%)
Accel- 3 [5] (75%)
He finally slowed to a jog and then a stop as his stamina emptied. The sensation of cool wind against his face still lingered, one of the many reasons he loved running. After taking a few breaths, he then opened up his world map.
"Holy hell. Ha!" Takuma said with a grin as he took note of the distance he'd already run. It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes since he left the city but he was already a little more than thirty percent of the way to the statue by his estimate.
If only he could run everywhere. He waited for his breath to steady and his stamina to refill before taking off again. Though his stamina emptied quickly, he noticed that he was growing faster by the moment. By the time his Accel modifier reached 100% it was as if he'd hit a plateau. He couldn't move any faster no matter how hard he pushed his body, but the modifier made a difference when it came to affecting his top speed.
"This is great!" He shouted as he ran along, the wind at his back. It wasn't long before he could see the ruins of the chapel. It was a safe bet to assume that all stat modifiers might have a more active role to play aside from stat gains.
"About an hour and a half. Compared to the first journey, much better." He took some time to catch his breath before wandering up to the statue so that he could inspect it.
"Goddess Statue - [Quality: 3.14] [Curse Rank ??] [Deity] A 'statue' of the Goddess. Seeped in the blight of miasma, this 'statue' must be purified if hope is to return to the world.
Curse Effect: Dark Prayers - All prayers to this statue are answered with malice equivalent to the level of the faithful's devotion.
Curse Duration: N/A.
Mana Rewarded: 0
Experience Rewarded: 1
Secondary Effect : Divine Body - ???
"
As Takuma stared at the description, he noticed an ominous black aura seeping from the stone statue.
"It's a miracle I even survived touching this thing.." He thought to himself. Experience told him that the strength of this particular cursed item was so potent that he couldn't comprehend the level of harm it could inflict. It was akin to standing before a warrior so powerful that your psyche struggled to understand the distance between yourself and them.
"Story Quest Acquired : 'Save The Goddess'."
"Main Quest Acquired : 'Purify The Goddess Statue'."
"Ho? That's interesting…" Takuma said as he rubbed his chin.
"Purify the Goddess Statue?" He said as he clicked on the Quest alert for 'Purify The Goddess Statue'.
"Bound in a prison of black, the Goddess Statue awaits the one who shall purify her. Infuse your mana into the statue to weaken the curse on it. [0/5]."
"Infuse mana? I wonder how that even works." Takuma was hesitant to touch a statue with a curse level SO toxic that it couldn't be measured but as he drew closer, a prompt appeared.
"Infuse Mana Into The Statue? Y/N."
Takuma debated for a moment as he mulled over the situation. The name of the quest was 'Purify The Goddess Statue'. Why would he need to infuse Mana into it? Couldn't he just use purification? This did make more sense, but as he also considered the description listed in the quest, perhaps he was about to learn something new.
He decided to give the prompt a try. Immediately after clicking yes an input appeared.
"How much mana will you sacrifice? ______ "
Uh… one?" He said aloud, and the input accepted the answer. Moments later the statue took on a faint glow which quickly disappeared.
"1 / 1,000."
"So it's asking for 1,000? Well...I guess that shouldn't be too difficult to get back."
Takuma initiated the infusion again, this time inputting 999 as the amount. As expected, the statue glowed again, but this time the light appeared to come from within the statue as tiny streams pierced through from the center. Then, just as quickly as the phenomenon began it stopped.
"Quest Updated: Purify The Goddess Statue [ 1 / 5 ]."
"Goddess Statue Curse Rank decreased to ???. Continue weakening the curse to obtain a blessing."
"Holy hell, how cursed is this thing?" Takuma nearly shouted as he noted that the curse rank still couldn't be fathomed. However, the promise of a blessing did seem appealing, especially since he needed to grow as quickly as possible.
He infused the statue again, this time with another 1,000 mana.
"1,000 / 2,500"
"Oh, really?!" Takuma protested. He currently had 2,332 mana remaining and he wanted to keep at least 1,000. This statue was threatening to throw a monkey wrench into his plans, still the lure of a reward spurred him on.
"Fine…" Takuma relented as he added another 1,500 mana into the infusion.
Once more the statue glowed with white energy; this time the bluish tint of the stone began to turn grey as large patches of dirt and grime began to fall away.
"Quest Updated: Purify The Goddess Statue [ 2 / 5 ]."
"Goddess Statue Curse Rank decreased to 7. Continue weakening the curse to obtain an additional blessing."
"+1 Skill Point Acquired."
Of all the things Takuma expected to receive, a skill point didn't even cross his mind. He clenched his fist and thrust it into the air.
"Heck yes!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
He even did a little dance, as now he'd realized the endeavor wouldn't be a complete waste of mana.
Takuma could practically feel himself salivating as he contemplated what to do with his shiny new SP. With just over 800 mana remaining, he decided on two things. First would be to see the amount required for the next mana infusion --he learned the amount increased to 5,000. The second would be to see if Partial Purification would work.
"Goddess Statue - [Quality: 3.14] [Curse Rank ??] [Deity] A 'statue' of the Goddess. Seeped in the blight of miasma, this 'statue' must be purified if hope is to return to the world.
Curse Effect: Dark Prayers - All prayers to this statue are answered with malice equivalent to the level of the faithful's devotion.
Curse Duration: N/A.
Mana Rewarded: 0
Experience Rewarded: 1
Secondary Effect : Divine Body - ???
"
As the Statue's info suggested, 0 mana cost would be rewarded. This technically meant it would also not cost any mana to attempt to purify the curse. It was a gamble to be sure, but Takuma was feeling lucky. Everything had gone his way today (so far) and he was only taking advantage of rules placed upon him. It wasn't his fault if he managed to discover an advantage in the system….
He took a deep breath as he approached the statue and held out his right hand. Much as he expected, the surface of the statue was ice cold to the touch -- completely devoid of warmth. The black aura immediately began to coil around his fingertips as if it possessed a will of its own.
"Partial Purification!" He shouted. He didn't know *why* he shouted, he just did. His hand flared up with white energy but instead of the normal conflicting dance of energies, his skill was snuffed out completely. What happened next was an experience Takuma would never forget.
"Blight Resistance - 10%"
"*???* - 1%"
"Blight? What's tha--" Takuma's words were interrupted by a sensation of overwhelming apathy. It was as if his whole being had been sucked dry of every ounce of feeling-- in every sense of the word. His body began to shake as a pitch black darkness flowed forth from the statue and consumed him. He was certain his eyes were open, but he couldn't even see his own hand before him. He couldn't "feel" his own body or hear sounds. All was darkness, all was absence and within a second he even began to doubt whether he was alive. Soon this gnawing thought turned extreme.
"Do I even exist? What am I?" The thought evolved, rapidly gnawing away at his consciousness until even his sense of self became lost. He could feel the very fabric of who he was distorting under the weight of something sinister and cold. As the concept of time melted away so did the passage of it. Every moment felt like an infinitely long, immeasurable stillness. In a split instant, Takuma had become the epitome of a paradox, an entity that should not exist in mind, body and spirit.
As far as Takuma knew this sensation only lasted a short while, but when he came to he was on his knees -- his eyes cast downward to the ground. There was the feeling of great pressure on his shoulders, so intense that he couldn't move even if he wanted to. Only his eyes and fingers could react and even then, no more than a twitch. He desperately struggled to gain control of his body but it was no use. He couldn't breathe, he could barely think as the sensation of all his nerves firing at once overwhelmed him. This too lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough to leave Takuma face-first on the dirty floor of the broken chapel.