Hey dudes. Two new characters are going to be introduced!

Enjoy the read!

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Still irritated by the fact that my maximum HP went down because of my death, I tried to remain calm and gather my thoughts. That made me think they must've copied the consequence of death from the dark souls. Basically in the game dark souls, if you die you lose a fraction of your maximum health and the only way to regain the lost health is by using an item called “Humanity” or “human effigies”, Or the alternate way of regaining health is to be summoned by another player for a cooperative game and defeat a boss together. If one is able to defeat the boss, then your curse will be lifted no matter how low your health is.

Now what I need is information on how to lift the curse in Astria. I tried looking around for someone to ask and I found a nearby stall with the merchant beside it entertaining other players.

I decided to go to him to ask about this issue. The merchant was wearing what seems to be leather clothes just like the other merchants. He has a full beard and his nose was slightly crooked. The man was not that tall, maybe a bit shorter than I am. And it seems like he was selling a variety of goods like potions, leather, and other stuffs that s unknown to me.

After the merchant finished with his business regarding the other players, I quickly approached him before he would engage another conversation with someone else.

“Excuse me sir,” I tried to ask him politely trying to show some manners.

His ear perked up as soon as I called out to him. He then faces me with a smile and crosses his arms.

“Ahh! What is it young laddy? Feel free to look around the stall my boy!” He greeted me with a hearty tone and I felt relieved he wasn't one of them grumpy merchants.

“Oh yes. My names Aiken and I just started my adventure. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions sir.. ?” I was about to say his name but then realized that I don't know it.

“Its Jags! And sure me boy! Always glad to help others in need.” He replied and fortunately he got the hint of me not knowing his name and introduced himself.

“Well you see I died from a wild boar not too long ago and when I checked my status… it seems like I got cursed from death and my health went down.” I informed him before continuing to my question.

“Is there a way to cleanse this curse status effect and regain my lost health?” I asked as I opened my status window. The very sight of my low health irritated me because it will be very difficult to fight against monsters with such a thing.

Jags the merchant stroked his beard with his hand and then answered

“Well yes! Nothing to fret me boy! There's two ways to lose that annoying effect. First is you could always go to a priest and ask him to purify you and with a little Zeco he or she will make the curse go away regaining your health.”

“Really? And.. What's Zeco?” I asked in confusion but I was delighted to hear that the way to get rid of the stupid curse is easy.

“Zeco is this world’s currency!” Hr immediately answered as he showed me a sparkly gold coin that he took out from his pocket.

“I see.. And what's the second way to lose this curse?” I continued while nodding from his information.

Jags then took an item from his stall and showed it to me. It was a small round shiny stone. But for some reason Jags was careful in handling it.

“This is a purifying stone. Just from its name alone it'll purify that annoying curse of yours when you use this item. And you need to crush it with your hands to use it by the way, it's not that hard.” He continued as I got my answer as to why he was careful in handling it. And this was definitely just like the Humanity or Human effigy of dark souls.

Even more question started to appear in my head.

“How much does one of those cost?” I had to ask it.

“About 3000 Zeco. But the price varies from different merchants.” Jags replied and I asked another one.

“But why do you even need it when you can just go to a priest and ask him or her to purify you? Is it even worth buying one with that price?”

“Well you see boy, when you go in dungeons and die there. You respawn at the start of the dungeon and let me tell you boy that there is no priest in there that will purify you from your curse. Or you can leave the dungeon, go to a nearby town and purify yourself there but that's a waste of time someone else might come and take everything for himself.” He replied me in full details and I immediately understood what he meant.

“ I.. See..” I mumbled in a low tone. All my questions were answered and it was time to say farewell to Jags.

“Thanks Jags, that helped out a lot!” I thanked him in a jolly tone and he just gave me a laugh and patted my back.

“No problem lad! Now for that information.. That’ll be 25 zecos.” I replied and the fact that he was charging me for asking him questions left me in awe. I did not even have a single Zeco on my for Ygge’s sake!

“W-well.. You see..” I tried to tell him the I don't have any money.

“Don't have any cash on ya do ya??” He hit the mark and that made me scratch the back of my head.

“Well.. I guess I can let you off the hook since this is your first time.” He said as he also scratched his beard.

“But if ever you need something! You come to me first got it?” He informed as I nodded in agreement. To be honest I owed him that since he gave me good information.

“Thanks Jags and one more thing.. Where's the priest of this village?” I continued and asked him again. That was slightly embarrassing since he already left me off the hook from my questions earlier.

“Well just go to the center of the village,she is usually there praying to the gods.” He answered again.

“Oh.. Okay. Thanks once again Jags, I gotta keep going now if I want to lose this curse.” I thanked him one last time before walking away.

“No problem laddy! Just remember our agreement!” He yelled out to me a and I gave him a nod and ran to the village center.

It wasn't that hard to find the village center since I just had to ask players about its location. They just pointed the way and I just walked to where they were pointing. After a couple of minutes I was finally at the village center.

The place was filled with players doing their thing like looking for parties, engaging in conversations, and etc. And there were also NPCs too, from men to women and also children. Most of them were villagers of the area and some of them were merchants. They were living their everyday lives, minding their own businesses. And in the middle was a small fountain and a statue of what seems to be Ygge, the God of the Sun, and underneath the statue beside it was a lady in white robes kneeling down and praying. She was probably the priest Jags mentioned and I walked towards her.

“Excuse me my lady.” I once again called out to her in a polite manner.

The moment she heard me call out to her she slowly stood from her spot and faced me. And wowie! She was a beauty. She had a long blonde hair and her eyes were blue just like the sky. She gave this feeling of innocence and purity.

“Yes brother?” She asked me and her voice sounded so beautiful.

“Well.. I heard that priests can make curses go away,” I replied while blushing slightly.

What?! I could not help it! With such a beauty right in front of me.. How could I be so calm!

“Well that is true.. Hmm.. I could sense dark aura on you my brother.. It seems like you are cursed.”

Spot on.

“No need to worry. The God of the Sun will always shine light even in the darkest places.. With his teachings.. I can purify you.” She added.

“Yes please my lady.. And may I please know your name? “ I asked her as she gave me a pleasant smile that made me blush even more. Ygge! What a beauty this lady is!

“It is Jeanne. Please kneel.” She replied as I did what she told me.

She placed both hands on top of my head and started to chant some kind of a prayer.

“Ygge.. Please help this one find his way back in the path of light.” Her hands started to shine and he could feel his body slowly warm up.

“It is done and you may now stand.” Jeanne informed me as I stood up and quickly checked my status.

Praise the sun!!

“Thank you Jeanne.. And about the payment.. I don't have any Zeco on my right now but when I get some I swear to pay you twice as much.” I immediately told her as she gave me another smile.

P-Praise the sun!!! She's too beautiful.

“Worry not brother. Brother Jags has told me about your situation and I completely understand.” She replied and Jags knew her?! The hell?!

“Thank you Jeanne.. I am Aiken by the way.” I thanked her and told her my name as I offered her my hand to shake.

“It is nice to meet you Aiken.” She replied with another gracious smile and shook my hand.

What soft hands!

“You too Jeanne” I returned the smile and pulled back my hand after shaking it with hers.

“I really appreciate this charity Jeanne I swear to repay you someday.” I continued as she just shook her head.

“If you wish to repay me, please save the corrupted Gods.” She answered.

“I will do my best Jeanne!” I reassured her and she just smiled.

“Now go Aiken, save Astria from this darkness!”

“Yes!” I replied and immediately ran off.

Now fighting against monsters all by myself will be difficult since I am kinda slow with my great sword. I really need to party up with people and make some money as well. Now that I think about it, how does one level up in this game? He could see the “level” tag in his status window but he has no idea how to level up. It could be the same as dark souls where you need to pay a certain amount to level up. I decided to think about that later since I have nothing cash on me at the moment.

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Hope you enjoyed the read!

-UnimportantReader