This is more boring than I thought.

The removal of the curses was slow work, made only worse by the pace enforced by the limits of their Mana regeneration, and the buffer they decided to keep in case they need to make more sudden movements. Every time Reto cut one section of it out, another curled into itself more, or expanded to fill the space and forged new connections with the split ends. They couldn’t even say for sure whether or not it’s growing new parts all together, although that wouldn’t maintain the effects, surely.

It was quite strange that it was even possible to act like this. They were under the impression that the location of each part of the enchantment mattered, even here but either this isn’t the case, or the fact that the curse is just attached to the enchantment and doesn’t have effects anchored to any one location changes things.

It had already been half an hour with little to no discernible progress, so they decided to try something a little more drastic. Rather than cutting away sections on the very outside, they would try to cut it out from where it connects to the enchantment, and hope that it doesn’t reconnect. This would be more difficult, they have to be careful not to disturb the actual enchantment, and there wouldn’t be as much leverage making the cuts less effective, but there is little choice if they don’t want to be here for over a day.

The first cut seemed promising, they were able to manoeuvre the knife such that the cut ends joined with others of their ilk, bar few, meaning they should be able to make reasonable progress. If they were to estimate, they had already cut through around two percent, though it really was just an estimate. At this rate it shouldn’t even take an hour to finish it, accounting for anything that may slow the pace such as mistakes or surprises.

The further cuts implied much the same truly. Whilst they were able to get through less of it with each cut as they got closer to the centre, and more of the wires connected to the enchantment, overall they were still making positive progress. Though, there estimate may have been a tad generous.

After forty minutes, they reached the centre, where there was a much thicker bundle that connected deeper into the enchantment. Each cut only took out a few of these at a time, and they connected back to the main mass before being pulled down into the enchantment with each pulse. The location even made cutting it without skin contact much more difficult, and they were unwilling to test what would happen if they were to touch it directly.

Could I just use my dagger as well as the knife, sort of like a pair of scissors?

The dagger was much shorter than the knife however, and was designed more with stabbing animals than cutting wires in consideration, and needed to be short to be as easy and quick to move as possible. In spite of this, it was able to just reach the centre, and still had a sharp edge that could be used for cutting.

Admittedly, cutting it like this was quite awkward, needing them to hold the dagger with the tips of their fingers and risking it being dropped and accidently cutting the dagger they were trying to protect. In spite of those difficulties, the middle bundle came undone, and with it some wires seemed to die off. Not all of them, and mostly just the ones that had already been disconnected.

That must be because those were no longer connected to anything, though the ones that I hadn’t touched on yet are a bit of a mystery. Maybe they just didn’t have enough energy with just one connection, making the outer connections much weaker than the inner ones. That’s just a theory though. Unrelated to video games. Wait, could I even make that joke anymore? This whole system is pretty game-like to me.

They were worried that with the main support broken the curse might fall onto the enchantment and ruin all their work, but it seems that gravity is more of a suggestion here than they thought, even with the shadows of their own dimension showing through. After another thirty minutes they were entirely through. Where previously there was a malignant tumour attached to it, now there was only specks of purple wire that still stubbornly remained attached, some wriggling slightly before fading away and others managing to remain still, and alive.

Well, that was boring. How long was it, an hour assuming I went straight for the base instead of using my original method? Three more times and I’m done! I probably don’t have to cut it down perfectly, and in fact would not do that anyway. How would she know anyway?

----

He’s been gone for an hour by now, as soon as Kanan told him to break the curses on those weapons he activated some sort of skill that made him almost seem to move further away without moving. Very very strange indeed. Of course, she had seen other skills that do something similar, oftentimes enchanters that use tools will see them do the same thing, though only the tip. It seems that this Cursebreaker she’s found is far more interesting than meets the eye.

Nothing else about his skills, actual ones not Accomplishment based, seems to stand out however. None of the enchantments on the weapons have broken yet, although the curse on one has weakened substantially and seems to be on it’s last legs. Fairly standard as far as curse breakings go, these ones are simple enough to dismantle, they have little reactive capabilities and can just be disarmed by removing or destroying them, the main difficulty comes from actually doing so.

There is one other thing that she should be thinking about however. At the half an hour mark, actually somewhat earlier though any method to keep time so precisely wouldn’t be worth the money in all likelihood, she felt a small surge of something come from Reto. Ever since then, there have been actual customers, as if the Aversion Field had been disabled. Now, were she to have done this herself there would have been a fine, but given that it was in fact someone else, and she had no way to stop it, nothing can be done, no?

Her attention was suddenly drawn to something, though what she doesn’t know. It was pulling her eyes towards the back of here shop which, if she were remembering correctly, is a similar direction to the centre of the city. Of course, there is a limited amount of ways such a thing could be caused, none of which seemed awfully likely.

Perhaps it would be prudent to find out what that is. Something of this scale cannot be done by just anybody after all. But first…

They picked up the Memory Tablet and quickly wrote a message on it.

‘Take your payment and the Twain Daggers, I fear something dangerous may have happened at the centre of the city. Should I return before you are gone, I will expect you to hand the daggers back over to me. Good luck’

The message was too long to stay still on the Tablet, but Kanan knows her way around these, if nothing else, and made it rotate through it. She then placed the book Reto was looking for on the table, ‘Extrapolation on the fundamentals of hand sigils’, before turning to the exit of the tent.

I just hope they actually use daggers as I assumed. I would feel quite the fool otherwise, no? Though, better a fool than correct in regards to this danger in the city.

----

And… done.

With the final cut, all of the curses were severed, albeit to less than perfect standards. With this they shifted back into their original dimension, where the now familiar stalling of time was able to take place.

I’d like to investigate why it didn’t slow earlier, but I honestly just cannot be bothered right now. That was like 5 hours of work or something, I am seriously glad I don’t need sleep anymore. Well, I haven’t been using {Mana Feeding} too much today because I didn’t want to destroy every spell I come across, so that might not have been the case before I released it.

Before addressing the screens, they decided to look around the room for any changes. For some reason Kanan had left, with a note left on the stone.

Take the daggers? Alright then, I won’t be the one to complain. Guess it’s good that I decided to leave the enchantments on then. Now, about this level up.

[Congratulations!] [For completing your fourth accomplishment you get to pick one skill!] [For your accomplishment being of lesser or higher difficulty, you get to slightly increase a single statistic!] [For your accomplishment being of common or higher rarity, you get to slightly increase a single statistic!]

That was way more difficult than just lesser! It took hours, that should be medium at the least!

[For completing the accomplishment of breaking four curses whilst maintaining the enchantments they were attached to, you get to pick between two skills or take a random skill based on your temperament.]

{Butchery} – Not quite what you were doing, but similar. When have you ever really used something for it’s exact purpose though? Increases skill at butchering, and increases quality of materials retrieved.

{Dealbreaker} – You played by the letter of the deal, and expect to take the rewards you earned. But did you follow the spirit? Aids with thinking of loopholes and technicalities.

Only two? These levels drop off quickly. And the skills I got offered are interesting. The first one sounds like it would help me dispel curses, but I don’t know how necessary that is really. I’m safe whilst I do it for the most part and no-one will steal anything I found in the mean time because it’s cursed, so I don’t strictly need it. It would be nice though, and the implications of the second part in relation to this is interesting.

On the other hand, the second option seems like it would be really helpful with skills, although I don’t like that that’s how I got it really. Hmm. This is a difficult choice. Why is {Dealbreaker} formatted in the same way as {Cursebreaker}, even with the lack of a space?

[You have chosen {Dealbreaker}!]

And why am I such an idiot? Brightside, I was struggling to think of anything anyway.

[Choose which stats to distribute statistic upgrades into!]

Recovery: Health/Will/Mana

Power: Physical/Mental/Magical

Durability: Physical/Mental/Magical

Speed: Physical/Mental/Magical

I can improve my regen? I think I definitely should in that case. Certainly with Health if nothing else. And I guess I can’t improve that actual max because that’s based off of stats? But that would mean recovery isn’t. Maybe it’s based on skills instead. My first choice is {Health Recovery}.

[Health Recovery has increased.]

What next though? I don’t think I need anything in terms of magic, I’m set for the moment in that regard. I think that I would be best increasing my {Physical Power} honestly, everything else but that has been going up.

[Physical Power has increased.]

So where am I at now then? {Stats}.

Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.4

Health – 25/25

Will – 35/35

Mana – 9/65

Power

: Physical – 1.15

: Mental – 1.10

: Magical – 1.40

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.25

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.45

: Magical – 1.60

{Desolate Survivalism} - {Mana Feeding} - {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Dealbreaker}

{Adept Mage}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}

That increase in mental speed seems sort of disproportionate, and all my magic stats have increased by ten even though I didn’t take any magical skills. That must mean that I get a base amount of them every level due to being an {Adept Mage}. I don’t think it was doing that with any mental stats until this level though, and even now it’s only one of them. Why is that? Did reaching level four improve it, and why? I really just need to find someone to explain it to me don’t I? I would’ve asked Kanan but she left to the centre of the city. Now, though, I can find out what the deal with these daggers is.

Even when paying closer attention to the details, there wasn’t much that was particularly fanciful, whoever designed this was mostly focused on function. The most elaborate part of it is the runes on the flat sides of each weapon, which they couldn’t even guess at the meaning of. With the knowledge that they’re called the ‘Twain daggers’, they would assume that the two weapons are enchanted with the same thing, likely related to splitting something in half though it could be quite a lot.

However, if they’re held together they become one weapon almost seamlessly.

Twain as in split in twain? The daggers get split in twain, changing from one to two. That must mean I can make it from two to one of that truly is the case.

Controlling the dagger was similar to the stone, and soon they fused completely with a mental click. A grin broke out on Retos face as they figured it out, and they quickly began experimenting. First, they split them again before trying to reconnect them as fast as possible, discovering that there was little to no delay.

Then, they attempted to activate it when the two halves where at increasing distances from each other, causing them to be pulled together quite difficulty. They had tested up to approximately five metres apart before the room became too small, and were unwilling to test it out on the street.

This is brilliant! I could do so much stuff with this, like throwing a dagger behind an enemy and recalling it into them, though hopefully not a human enemy. If it’s big enough I could try to get it to swallow it and then pull the dagger out. Depending on how it prioritises, I could try to stop one half from being able to move, and then pull myself towards it with the other. I bet there’s more I could think of as well, this is so exciting! My first visibly magical item!

Next on the list was their new tablet, still on the table where it was left. They searched for a pocket on their clothes and, finding one on the inside of the shirt, slipped it into it. Whilst they thought it was an odd, choice, their attention had already focused elsewhere.

The last thing they were allowed to take off the desk was the book, which they had worked for hours to earn. In hindsight, it probably wouldn’t have been worth it, especially with the limited gains they got in terms of evolutions. In hindsight, Thrill seeker was starting to seem quite a bit better.

I should find a good place to practice with this. I feel like it would be a bad idea in this tent, but surely there’s somewhere else that would be suitable?

With that, they made the decision to start a search. Without any knowledge on the cities layout, or any experience in others of this world, it would be difficult to find something. They first thought to find a park or something, but didn’t even know if there would be any here.

Except for the forest by the prison. I don’t want to go back to that place, nor others like it, for more reasons than just the logical ones. But it does mean that there may be other locations with similar layouts. Worst comes to worst I could just find an alleyway and practice in there. If they even have any, I haven’t seen a single one yet.

As true as that was, it doesn’t making finding one any easier. Fortunately, they got lucky and stumbled across a signpost after deciding to travel through the market. It listed what seemed to be districts such as banks, schools and libraries, and some with weird names like Ravcraw, or Craffe. The latter category were possibly various housing sections, mainly because nothing else seemed to fit. The main one Reto was interested in however was the one labelled Frostcaster forest. At first they forgot that the city as actually called Frostcaster, and assumed it was named after a person or a class.

It didn’t take very long to get there. Similar to their previous experiences with towns in this world, it’s layout was both extremely regular and extremely simple, a consequence of magically-powered city planning no doubt. As a result, they didn’t even get lost a single time despite their terrible sense of direction, though the size of the forest likely helped. From what they could tell it took up an entire strip of the circular city, on average being an entire kilometre in width, getting wider as it becomes further from the centre. It seems like it should be a major weak point, but it would make sense if any defences extend to the edge of the forest as well.

Do cities even need defences anyway? That’s what every Isekai has made me think, but I can’t say that I’ve seen evidence for it. That one town did, but it was entirely full of people that have been mind controlled so I suppose it should be defended.

Regardless, they were now in a sufficiently secluded area, and it was still bright enough for them to see by.

It should definitely by brighter but alright I suppose.

They opened the book to the first page with words, which was also the first one. Looking at the back there was actually a contents page there rather than the front, which they either missed on the other book or wasn’t there at all.

‘Before I can extrapolate on the basics of hand sigils, I will first provide the basics, in brief at least. Whilst presumably if you are reading this you must already know these, yet I find it prudent to mention them here anyway. Should you feel that this is condescending or otherwise talking down to you just know that this section is not aimed at you and, rather, I applaud you for taking the time to further improve your understanding of the craft, as limited as the craft itself is. I dearly hope that this introductory segment doesn’t loosen your opinion of the rest of the book, and I hope you continue to put eff-‘

What the fuck is this. Like, I genuinely put so much effort into this, and for what? You know what, it probably gets better later on. I hope. I’ll just skip to page two.

‘And now, I believe it is time to start with the basics. The first thing you must know is that in order to use these signs, there are a few prerequisites. The first, is dexterity. Whilst you may think that magical talent is first and foremost the most important, truly it isn’t. There is minimal cost to using these, and all the power in the world won’t help if you’re too slow to use them. As such, I will provide some insight into methods to train dexterity. One method, is to simply twirl a-‘

Seriously? Training methods for the pre-requisites to the information required to use the basics in order to understand the extrapolation? This guy is seriously in need of mental help, I swear to god. I’m probably getting too angry about this, but I just want to use magic, you know?

They skimmed through the text, finding the passage on dexterity to end two thirds down the page.

‘And, of course, the second would be memory. I find that, whilst improving each of the mental stats can help with this in their own ways, it is also important to improve the base ability of it. As such-‘ ‘-The next would be magic power. The basic strength of the spells is limited due to the simplicity, so the only way to improve this is to improve your own strength. There are no known ways of training this beyond using spells, however I believe I know a way. As such, I will detail the methods of contacting my associates to buy a pill-‘ ‘-These sigils can be dangerous if used incorrectly, and as such I have included a list of safety requirements to be followed, including a nigh-impervious shield sold by some of my contacts-‘

Many as such’s later, on the twenty third page, they finally found some useful information.

‘Now the basics, though I may repeat some information here just treat it as a quick refresher. Hand sigils are, of course, sigils made with the hand. They can be chained to form Mantras, specific combinations that cause specific effects. Some have theorised there is some sort of meaning to be derived from each of them, however no evidence has been confirmed by the Royal Bureau of Information (RBI) as of yet.

The sigils can be made by anyone, however they will not have an effect unless Mana is channelled into them. Due to the fact it doesn’t leave the body, the majority of the Mana can be recovered. It is important that it is as evenly distributed and highly concentrated as possible, and there is a good supply. Each symbol will drain some mana, making the next become slightly less powerful when done quickly due the Mana not being able to recover quickly enough. It is best to use hand sigils if you have a skill or enchanted item that can pull or create Mana directly into your hands, however it is not a requirement.

There are many methods of doing this, though due to it’s esoteric nature it is hard to describe through words. As such, I will provide you with a poem.’

I think that’s enough of that. God, that was terrible. Every other word was just some weird supplement or other. Geez. Even still, I should be able to figure this out now, right? I just have to figure out how to put mana into my hands, should be easy enough.

They looked at their hands in consternation. Minutes passed with the expression on their face growing gradually more constipated looking, before gradually culminating in a sigh of despair.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.4

Health – 25/25

Will – 34/35

Mana – 64/65

Power

: Physical – 1.15

: Mental – 1.10

: Magical – 1.40

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.25

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.45

: Magical – 1.60

{Desolate Survivalism} - {Mana Feeding} - {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Dealbreaker}

{Adept Mage}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}