Ajax was overloaded with information following the strike. Not only from the system as the skill imparted the necessary muscle memory for him to use it but also from everything else he was observing as he was carefully monitoring everything.

With the battle still ongoing he didn’t take a look at the notifications he could feel popping up and simply focused on the fight. He did feel a slight discomfort in his left arm following the slash so didn’t make any attempts at using the newly gained skill. A few more wind empowered slashes made quick work of the imps near him, by the time he was done with that the rest of the team had already finished off everything else so he got back to the camp to review his notifications.

The first notification to quickly assert itself was an obvious one. One that he should very honestly have expected since the moment he thought about testing this skill.

Curse of Weakness

Type : Temporary

Strength : Minor

Effect : Strength lowered by 10 in the left arm.

Cause : absorbing too much cursed mana in the left arm

Duration : 15 min

In order to generate the cursed mana required Ajax had sacrificed his Stamina. Sadly without the use of a skill to guide the mana in any way a bit of the generated mana got absorbed into his left arm. Thankfully the amount was small enough that the curse was temporary and it wasn’t any cause for concern so Ajax would just have to wait it out.

As Ajax felt out the skill he knew that he had also gained a method of somewhat directing the curse mana generated, future uses of the skill wouldn’t be affecting him, not only that but they wouldn’t be affecting his sword or axe either, an important boon as even a single brush with curse mana seemed to have had some effect on his sword. Considering the effect on the imp was easily visible he knew that a decent amount of curse mana was generated.

As he inspected the blade Ajax could tell that it would need to be sharpened, not only that but his [Blacksmith] skill was pointing him towards some minor structural damage as well. Curse mana was definitely more destructive than any other mana type he had interacted with, the only one that came close was Void and that one bypassed defenses to strike at the target.

The next aspect Ajax examined was the cost, that single strike had lowered his stamina by a staggering two hundred. He knew that he would have to do some tests with his new skill but if the cost hadn’t decreased with him gaining the skill he would have to use it sparingly, That or his reliance on [Berserker] would increase drastically.

His next notification was one that he had a hard time not laughing at.

Achievement: Maybe Curses are not for you.

Have the first three curses inflicted by you also have you as the target.

Requires one Discoveries to earn : Some mana types are inherently aggressive to some hosts. (Has been discovered by others before you)

Reward : [Curse Resistance] skill.

All of his inclination to laugh was lost as he read the last line of the Achievement. How can he gain a reward that he already has? Not only had this Achievement not given him anything, he had in fact lost one Discovery for it. It wasn’t until his next notification that his outrage subsided.

Reimbursement

You have been awarded a Reward you already possess.

Reward offered : [Curse Resistance] Skill.

Reimbursement : [Curse Resistance] increased by 10 levels.

The Reimbursement notification not only meant that he had gained 10 levels, but he was sure that finding out about Reimbursements also meant that he had regained the Discovery he lost gaining the Achievement in the first place.

“No you can’t use it!” the exclamation of the smith brought Ajax’s attention back to the here and now.

“Why not?” the combatant that was examining the sword the smith had spent two days working out asked.

“I made it, if anybody is going to be using it for the short time it will exist it might as well be me.” the smith said as he reached for the handle.

Ajax hadn’t had the chance to properly examine the blade in question but looking at it from afar he had to admit it looked like a very good weapon, not the best he had seen by a long shot after his he took a look at his physical instructors weapons in the first class delve , but much better than his sword. The workmanship on his blade was actually slightly better, just eyeballing it but his was made out of simple steel whereas this blade was made out of mana infused steel.

“None of you are going to use it.” Nina interrupted the argument with a stern voice.

“But why not?” the smith asked.

“Because it’s Cursed.” Nina said.

This statement instantly brought Ajax from barely being aware of the argument to giving it his undivided attention. Was he going to get some information on how curses work?

“It’s Cursed?” the combatant dropped it like the handle suddenly burst into flames.

“Yes it is.” Nina confirmed.

Nobody questioned Nina’s declaration as such everyone in the vicinity was giving the sword on the floor a dirty look.

“What did I do wrong?” the smith asked.

“You didn’t manage the mana pathways inside the metal when you forged it.” Nina said. “Almost all of the equipment forged from the steel we pulled out of the mine is cursed. It wasn’t something you, rather it was what you didn’t do.”

Everyone was quick to put it together that all of the metal was cursed. Two people that were sharing the tent closest to the pile of smelted bars started heading over and moving their tent to a place further away.

“Cursed metal isn’t all bad.” Nina explained to all the crafters as they had all approached once they found out something was wrong with the steel. “ If we manage to find any cursed ore that we can take outside you will find that it is one of the most expensive mana infused forms of steel.”

“How come?” the smith asked, his reluctance turned into fascination as he listened to her explain his craft.

“Cursed items aren’t all inherently bad. In fact cursed items are some of the strongest items out there. This all comes down to the form of curse they inflict.” she said. “Your sword simply generates and releases curse mana, this means that the wielder will be constantly exposed while also allowing any cuts made with the weapon to only infect the target with small amounts at a time. With proper care put into the mana pathways of the blade the curse can be changed”

“How can the curse be changed?” one of the other crafters asked.

“I’m not all that sure.” Nina admitted. “I am not an expert on crafting with curse infused reagents as finding them in blacksmithing is not usual.” As she said this she pulled out the blade that she had crafted in her time in the dungeon.

“This blade here isn’t that much different from the one he made. At least when it comes to how it handles the cursed mana” her little joke helped loosen the atmosphere. “All I did was make clear mana pathways throughout the metal to lead the curse mana the steel naturally generates to the outside of the blade through the edge.”

“This means that unless the wielder cuts himself he won’t be exposed to the mana.” she took on a bit of a predatory smile after that. “But it also means that the amount of mana that is infused into the target when cut is a lot bigger.”

“Can you give us an example of a different type of cursed item?” one of the other crafters asked.

“Of course, but I would warn you not to go around spreading the information around as the royal family isn’t too keen on it being spread everywhere.” Nina nodded. “They have a cursed rapier that takes stamina from its wielder every time it lands a blow on a living being. In exchange for that it takes two hundred points of mana from the target.”

“That doesn’t sound like all that great of a thing.” the combatant who originally wanted to take the blade for a spin said. “I’d much rather have a good enchanted blade.”

“I never said that the curse blade can’t be enchanted.” Nina corrected him. “In fact curses can be used to allow for stronger enchantments to be placed on the weapon. The rapier in question is enchanted to store the mana it drains from its victims, that mana can then be used to release wind slashes.”

This new information made Ajax extremely glad to have received the ten extra levels in curse resistance. He knew that he was overly paranoid towards the mana type because it was new to him and he fully intended to research it further.

One of the other things he wanted to research was if the Achievement he earned had multiple types. While he had used poisons in the past all of them were bought or extracted straight from an animal, what if he could gain ten levels in poison resistance for creating three different types of poison and using them on himself first.