I must've been more exhausted than I thought, because when I woke up, I'd never felt more groggy. Somehow, I rolled off the bed and was staring at the undercarriage of the bed. My bones ached, my mouth was dry, and my ears were ringing.
"Ughhh…" That's right… I spent all my mana summoning Hoglins and Salamancas. This exhaustion was also a symptom of mana deficiency, drooling is just before you sleep, the real pain comes when you wake up.
Either way, I had to get up.
I pushed off the bed, standing up and wobbling before gaining balance again. After getting ready, I stepped out. Valerie was already sitting on the bench on the patio. Tending to her sword, cleaning it with a cloth.
"Calvin. Sleep well?"
"Haha… did anything happen while I was asleep."
She stopped wiping her sword, sliding it back in the holster. And getting up. "No, the elves went out for a hunt. The chief did swing by though, and said she wants us to visit the forge… apparently she has a surprise for us."
Would it be meat? That seemed like all she cared about.
"Shall we?" She said,
I let out a deep breath, and then it got caught in my throat.
A dinging.
From the princess.
[Did I miss anything?]
She was about to get a weapon, and so was I. Still, for a ding to be heard, the event has to be important to the plot, then, just how strong is this weapon?
The princess tilted her head, "Calvin? What's wrong, it looked like you were about to speak, then didn't."
I shook my head, well, getting a good weapon can only be a good thing. "Nothing, just thought I saw a bird. Which would be weird, as we're underground."
"…yeah."
After that, we walked to the forge, the behemoth of metal, where I recently held a man over lava, and it was scary walking on the metal sheets knowing they could fold. But, they didn't. And we walked into the metal maw.
Along the walls was a fountain lava, there were no torches obviously. The floor was a mesh metal. And there was a thin metal fence along it. When you reached the center you'd see a bunch of similar floors going all the way down. Each one led into a separate room that had stairs that led down.
The first room was a storage one, filled to the brim with jewels. Why'd they keep all that up here?
The princess silently admired the sight.
Second, a forge for apprentices. Bearded female elves shouted at slightly skinnier elves to hammer harder. It was just a basic forge and simple hammer. But the things they were making looked better than the basic sword I could get at the village.
Third, all the pipes for the village, water, heat, and lights were here. There was a sign written in elvish that probably read. "DO NOT TOUCH."
Nobody paid any mind to us, besides nodding as they passed by. I guess our fame is known throughout the village. Some of these people were new faces though, even when we rushed the masked man, I guess they needed to stay here at all times?
Then, the final, tenth room. My legs were absolutely killing me. But there was no place to sit, at least not without sacrificing your butt.
A sign hung above the opening. Written in sloppy human language. "Calin, Valer. Gif, inside."
I translated it. "Calvin, Valerie. There's a gift inside."
We looked at each other, not knowing what to expect, we entered.
I don't know what I expected but it was rather anticlimactic. Two items were wrapped in cloth on a pedestal. Behind it was a gallery of elven relics.
Valerie grabbed the sword-looking one, the hilt was designed to look like folded leaves, after test thrusting it. She smiled, it came with a hilt as well which she connected to her belt, now she had two pretty looking swords.
I gulped, approaching my gift. It didn't look representative of anything really. At least it wasn't a weapon I was familiar with. Closing my eyes, I pinch the edge of the cloth. Ripping it off, I slowly open my eyes.
A stick.
An ordinary looking stick. If anything was weird it was the slightly bulb shaped tip and the spiral pattern in the middle. But all of that could be natural. Befuddled, I went to grab it, and Instantly I felt a shock.
[Prerequisites met!]
['Staff of Smacking' Bound to… Calvin Mallory.]
[Hitting someone with this staff will hurt a lot.]
]
Is that it?!
It wasn't. As, I started to feel a burning sensation. Like a fire had just started, on my forearm. I held my hand over it. But the pain which felt like someone pinching really hard didn't stop, nor did the burning. Like someone was holding a moving branding iron against my skin.
"Calvin! What's wrong?"
"I don't know!"
I managed to endure it, and the burning stopped. Slowly I moved my hand away.
Ah, my mom is gonna kill me.
I had a tattoo.
[You have obtained the mark of…]
['Some people need a good smack.']
[Totally looking for a job]
[The world… believes in you… you have obtained the class, 'Whacker']
Spinning Roulette…
[you have obtained, the unique skill, 'Thunk!']
[When you hit somebody with a 'stick' they'll be stunned for ten seconds, effect weakens with each hit]
]
Thunk… Whacker, is this a joke? No, all of my class skills are like that. Either way, the class effects weren't bad. I decided to just roll with it. The princess was looking at me weirdly, an unusual guilty expression on her face. After all she got a sword and I got… a stick.
I didn't want to tell her about my embarrassing new class so I enthusiastically spun the stick in the air. "Oh wow, the elves really outdid themselves with my gift. It may look like a simple stick but." I held a hand over my eye, a sensation I hadn't felt since my childhood in the village when I played the demon king in hero vs demons. "It's so… powerful!"
My arm trembled.
The princess didn't look guilty anymore.
Why are you looking at me like that with that look on your face? I went silent, ah… so embarrassing.
Outside the forge, the chief of the elves was waiting. "Calvin… Valerie! Did you enjoy the surprise?"
Valerie smiled, glancing down at her elegant sword. "Yes, thank you chief. When I become crown princess I'll make sure to repay your kindness."
I looked at her, a blank expression on my face. So that's what she wants to do huh? The scale was so huge I actually forgot I was her only ally.
The chief smiled and nodded towards the princess and turned to me. "And you, Calvin?"
Looking down at the stick in my hands, I replied. "…Yep, thanks."
"NO PROBLEM!"
Ah, shit. So loud.
"Is there something you need from us chief? If you wanted to ask our opinions you could've asked later."
She smirked.
"Yes. Actually some of the hunters stumbled upon what they believe is the masked man's curse on the forest that's driving monsters away. We drew the design and showed it to the masked hostage, he recognized it. Said it was the archbishops of the Black Dawn's doing."
What's that? An arch-bicep? So there were ranks like churches. It feels contradictory when you follow a demon.
Valerie stepped forward, she was ready for battle. "Where is it?"
"I'll take you both there. Ah, but first. Calvin summoned about ten hoglins, the citizens were hungry."
God, I need to solve this famine or else I'll really become a meat fountain.
After doing that, we ascended the spiral steps, the footprints of the salmon stampede were still present on the last few steps. I couldn't help but flick my nose. That was pretty smart and cool wasn't it?
The chief suddenly burst out. "Man, we sure were lucky you're sudden and completely luck-based strategy worked and that the person they sent was a rookie! If we didn't have all the odds in our favor, we totally would've lost! HAHAHA!"
Maybe I'll let the famine stay. What have elves ever done for me?
We walked through the forest, cautious but with the chief in front we didn't run into anything and enjoyed a smooth walk. The princess seemed a bit disappointed that she wasn't able to test out her new sword. Rubbing the hilt like she was consoling a dog.
"Right here." She pointed to a marking painted on the floor in purple blood, a miasmic mist rose from it. The image of a screaming demon, its mouth gaping unnaturally. Just looking at it felt wrong, for a person like the chief who had a high spiritual affinity it must be even worse.
Out of curiosity, I put my palm towards it.
summoning a hoglin on top of the marking.
It instantly fell dead.
All our faces twisted.
I expected to run away but instantly died. Whoever made this mark, I really didn't want to face them.
Moving the hoglin carefully off the mark, I inspect the mark.
But as I did, a bit of my hand touched it. "AHHHH!" Instantly, I shot backwards. Checking my hand for any sight of disintegration or sudden color changes. But, there wasn't a single thing.
The chief and princess ran up to me.
"Calvin, are you alright?! You idiot, touching that thing even by accident?" The princess scolded me, and I hung my head in shame.
But in my lap, my status window unfurled.
[You have been cursed by [Instant Death]
[The effects and evil mana have been purified by, 'Some people deserve a good whack']
[A new feature of 'Some people deserve a good whack' has been unlocked'']
[Thud!] has been unlocked!
[Effect Details: When striking with a 'stick' there is a small chance to instill a 'fear of death' in your opponents, weakening them for 30 seconds.]
[You are immune to death curses]
]
Isn't this really good? But… frustratingly it doesn't tell me how small that chance is, well with my luck it's extremely low. I sighed and picked myself up. Informing The princess and chief that they shouldn't touch the marking. "I just got a skill, apparently it was an instant death curse. But, I survived because of the mark from the tattoo.
The chief looked at the mark on my arm, the one from the stick she gave me. "Wow! Where'd you get that from? Didn't I just give you a normal sti-"
She stopped herself but it was obvious what she was gonna say. "What! You just gave me a normal stick, but you gave Valerie an actual weapon." I facepalmed and let out a deep breath, in any case, the stick saved me.
The princess turned her head, but from the side of my eyes I could see a faint pink on her cheeks, was she not feeling well?
"I'm sorry! You don't seem like an honorable warrior like Valerie, And I didn't know what weapon you used so I grabbed the sturdiest looking stick from the treasure storage room."
Couldn't argue with that. Looking at the weapons on display it was all bladed weapons which needed a level of precision I didn't have. I seethed but I let it go. "Whatever… Let's focus for now." The death marking still radiated purple miasma, a steady amount constantly escaped it.
Valerie turned her head, the pink on her cheeks replaced with her normal stoic expression. "Since you can touch it, we'll be counting on you."
Agh, I don't want to. Even with "immunity" I didn't feel comfortable touching an instant death curse. But those gazes, ah, curse my luck.
Crouching beside the mark, I touched the dirt the mark was on. It felt warm where it was. But weirdly cold in between the gaps in the lines.
"Are you… figuring anything out?" The princess said.
"Yeah, that I have no idea what to d-"
['Some people need a good smacking' detected an influx in cursed mana. Would you like to purify.]
[>yes >no]
]
Obviously, 'yes.'