I asked Afal to teach me the cursed arts. It was painful as hell seeing I need to stab myself every single time.
"Hey Afal, do I really need to use my blood everytime I need to use this?"
"No. You could use the blood of your slaves."
"Tsk. You know I won't do that."
[900,000 players left. Congratulations on surviving this far. For the reward, here's a trinket. Once you grab it, its stats will change and will be bonded to you.]
A menu suddenly popped up infront of me. It seems a lot players were eliminated really fast. I accepted the reward and got the trinket.
[Necklace, useless item. Does not give any buffs or stats. No one knows what's the use of it.]
"Then what's the use of this!"
"Hmm? You asked me to train you. Want to back down?"
"Ah. No. I was thinking of something else." I put the necklace in my inventory. "Let's continue."
Hours have passed, days then a week.
After a week, I finally completed one cursed art for my Bloodlust.
I mostly failed on manipulating the skill. It so taxing on my body and the skill.
I use the Bloodlust to take some blood from me. With the Bloodlust imbued with the blood, if I hit the enemy with this blade, I can use the first cursed art. Karmic Pain. I can open, worsen or even heal wounds once struck by the Bloodlust imbued with blood.
Karmic Pain had a long chant. Pa Ma Na Da Ba. I don't know what that means but Afal simply said cursed arts came from a language lost long ago and abandoned since it was far too dangerous for anyone to even say these simple words.
"Congratulations my lord." Afal clapped in awe.
"You can do this better than me."
"No. I can't even handle the curse of the Bloodlust. I'm surprised you can handle it fairly easily."
"Well... I have my own strengths and you have yours." Insanity Immunity is helping me a lot. Even though I need to stab myself a couple of times to reuse Bloodlust, I can remain calm. If this was me in my previous life, I would've fainted when I grabbed this sword.
I went ahead and rested for a couple of days.
I went to Itz again to buy some armor and weapons. Ruz and Ruf were pretty angry at me for breaking all of their work. I ordered a rapier, twin daggers, greatshield, mage staff and a simple sword. I also made Ruz to repair Devoratrix and Gyries. I told Ruz to make the greatshield so heavy even I, can't lift it. The greatshield I had before was pretty weak in terms of defense. So this time, I asked him to make a greatshield that is heavy and can stick to the ground. It costed me an extra gold but it was worth it.
I then came to Ruf's workshop and ordered a new armor. I gave him the unstable metal and a smile grew on his face.
"You're in for a treat kiddo. This is a nice metal." Ruf said.
I didn't really took note on what he said but I bet if those two are making at what they're best at, I'm sure its top quality.
The overall cost was 200 gold. The price skyrocketed when the famine was over in Itz.
I have 3700 gold left.
I went back to the slaver and looked around some more.
"Are those... Children?" I looked at the back of the store and found several children hugging their mothers. "Where are their fathers?"
"Well since slaves are hard to encounter, some people like to raid villages and most of the time its men who raise up to fight." The slaver said. "And they're at the back since no one will buy these good for nothings." He then began to kick the cages and then all of them flinched when one of the cages were hit.
I don't have enough money to spend on these children. They are in a staggering amount. I just hope they can endure for some time. One day, maybe one day. But not for now.
I clenched my fists and asked the slaver to show me some of his best.
"Yes, yes. These are some new shipments."
"Do you have some slaves that are into magic or just into combat?"
"Ah yes. Hey guards! Bring that one, that one, and that one over here." He said as he pointed on the different cages.
The guards carried the cages and put them infront of us.
"This is some of the slaves intelligent in magic as my provider has said. Its this dark elf proficient in dark magic and close combat, this beastman is great at offensive magic and this human is good at healing. And don't worry sir. Just like the three you purchased before they are..."
"They are what?" I asked.
But he just gave me a wink.
"I told you I don't need to know that. Haaa... I'll take the dark elf."
The slaver took out his key and began unchaining the cage and the dark elf.
The dark elf as expected, has a dark skin. Her hair was short just around her neck and her hair glowed in blonde. The thing she's wearing are just ragged clothes.
"Go say hi to your master." The slaver commanded.
"Tsk." The dark elf clicked her tounge.
The slaver grew angry and tried to hit her but I prevented it.
"No need for that. What's your name?"
"Dark elves lose their name once they've been turned into a slave." The dark elf clenched her fists and looked down.
Dark elves seems to have a large pride. So I need to be careful to choose my words carefully.
"You seem to be a great warrior and a mage."
"I'm a battlemage."
"You shut up when your master is talki-" The slaver butted in.
"Now, now. What did I say about my slaves?" I emitted a killing aura on the slaver.
He immediately apologized and let me speak to her.
"I'll name you Yefa. Yefa Reysh. Welcome to the family."
She shrugged it off and said, "Thanks."
I paid the slaver 200 gold. It seems she was a pretty reliable combatant. When I left the black market, a menu popped up infront of me.
[A player has reached Level 100. All players receive a bonus 20% EXP gain except for the player that reached Level 100]
"What...?"