Novel Bin Chapter 10: Curse of the Undead
Chapter 10: Curse of the Undead
There were no complicated love or grudges between the treant Emos and the black sorcerer. It was merely a beautiful encounter and a phrase, "What are you looking at?"
You might not believe it, but this gloomy treant standing before us was a vibrant and energetic young man just five years ago.
At 180 years old, he had just reached adulthood in the long lifespan of a treat.
A fourth-tier treant battling against a high-level fourth-tier black sorcerer!
As the saying goes, "The first fear is the young." That aging black sorcerer ultimately couldn't surpass the youthful and vigorous treant, meeting his bitter end.
However, this old practitioner of dark magic, right before his death, imposed a curse on the treant at the cost of his own life. It became a shadow that enveloped the treant for his entire life.
The magic practiced by that black sorcerer involved absorbing the life force of living beings to prolong his own life and cruelly manipulating the undead as a means to combat his enemies.
The curse on Emos had a certain connection to the undead as well.
Whenever he was exposed to sunlight, the curse would corrode his body, accompanied by vengeful spirits that inflicted great harm on his psyche.
Charlotte looked at the treant and made a serious suggestion, "Then you should seek out a mage skilled in Holy Light magic and Purification magic. They should be able to remove this curse, right?"
As a former high-level mage, Charlotte had some knowledge of magic.
Necromancers were a despised profession in the world of mages. Their ability to manipulate and control the undead allowed them to surpass mages of the same tier in power, but their methods of practice were extremely cruel.
To quickly become stronger, necromancers would often engage in the mass slaughter of ordinary people, engaging in extremely heinous acts of violence, thus creating an abundance of vengeful spirits.
As necromancers grew stronger and controlled more undead, their minds would be influenced by the undead, becoming prone to bloodshed and madness.
Therefore, necromancers had always been the target of public condemnation. In recent centuries, Calwa had even established a bounty list, offering a substantial reward for the heads of necromancers on the list.
Charlotte had a valid reason to suspect that the once young and arrogant Emos might have had the idea of exchanging people's heads for wine.
Of course, that wasn't the point.
As dark magic practitioners, necromancers were naturally countered by light magic mages. A single Holy Light spell would be enough to dispel the attached vengeful spirits.
Even if light magic mages were rare and difficult to find, finding a high-level mage proficient in Purification magic shouldn't be too hard, right? Although the effect might be slightly inferior to Holy Light magic, with multiple castings, the curse should still be able to be eliminated.
If he asked someone who didn't know magic, currently he could only be considered a surgeon and half-hearted alchemist. Wouldn't that be a blind attempt?
Emos' gaze dimmed, and he shook his head. "I thought the same way at first, but neither Holy Light magic nor Purification magic had any effect on this curse. I exhausted all my resources, including the bounty I obtained from exchanging that black sorcerer's head, but I couldn't find anyone who could heal me."
"That doesn't make sense," furrowed Charlotte.
Holy Light magic did not affect the curse of the undead?Updated from nov𝒆lbIn.(c)om
Wasn't this challenging the world's foundational rules?
"Are you sure you didn't encounter a scammer? Like someone using Illumination magic as Holy Light magic?" Charlotte proposed his speculation.
"The person was Professor August from the Calwa Academy of Magic."
"In that case, there shouldn't be a problem." Charlotte recognized Professor August. Light magic mages were a rare species within the field, and one could count them on a single hand in Calwa.
Professor August said that the curse had unique rules and required the caster's life as a cost to activate it. He had never heard of such a curse in his extensive knowledge of dark magic, and his powerful Holy Light magic was unable to destroy the curse. Emos lowered his gaze, and a sense of gloom filled the air.
Charlotte sighed inwardly. With Professor August's knowledge and expertise in the field, if he couldn't find a solution to this unknown curse, what could a medical monk like him do?
"Just to gather some information for later, can you activate the curse so I can observe its characteristics?" Charlotte maintained a calm expression.
Emos looked up and glanced around before taking a step back and extending his left hand into a faint ray of sunlight.
Hiss
As if sulfuric acid had been poured on it, Emos' left hand instantly emitted white smoke. The back of his hand was corroded at a visible speed, forming black holes.
Simultaneously, a dark mist suddenly emerged and enveloped his body, emitting a chilling low growl and a putrid smell.
Charlotte squinted his eyes and saw through the mist. He noticed some strange runes, unlike any symbols he had seen before in this world's writing.
What was even more peculiar was that these runes were not static but constantly changing, like living worms.
However, after staring at them for a while, Charlotte felt a strong dizziness, rising nausea from the depths of his soul, accompanied by demonic whispers.
"Oh no!" Charlotte was startled and quickly bit his tongue.
The intense pain snapped him out of the trance, and he averted his gaze, afraid to look at the runes any longer.
On the other hand, Emos had already returned to the shadows, and the dark mist gradually subsided.
The excruciating process seemed to not affect his composure, as if he had long grown accustomed to it.
Charlotte swallowed the blood in his mouth and looked at Emos. "I understand the situation now, but you shouldn't hold too much hope. I'm just an ordinary doctor. I'll do my best to help you find a solution to this curse, even if it's something that even a professor from the Calwa Academy couldn't solve."
"Thank you. I'll come back in a few days," Emos nodded and turned to leave.
"What a damn task! I almost sent myself away. I won't dare to casually accept these high-reward hidden tasks in the future," Charlotte muttered to himself as he closed the door, still trembling with fear.
He had no idea what terrifying things would have happened if he had fallen into that curse just now.
In this eerie world, he had to remind himself to stay safe at all times.
Before his memory faded, Charlotte returned to his study and began drawing the runes he had seen earlier.
Even the static runes on the paper emitted a strange aura.
"Necromancers are not to be trifled with. I'd rather leave these head-for-reward tasks to adventurers and mercenaries," Charlotte covered the paper with runic drawings using a book, trying to ignore them.
Tonight, he planned to take some time to browse through the books in his study to see if he could find any useful information.
If he couldn't find anything, he would consider giving up on this task.
Although it was a precious hidden task.
But there were no punishments for not completing a task!
The next task would be more obedient.
With the door opening, he had already achieved a revenue of one thousand copper coins, filling Charlotte with confidence for today.
Soon, patients started arriving one after another.
One was a pitiful goblin who had just been robbed. He had been stabbed twice in the left chest, but luckily, his heart was on the right side, saving him from a fatal blow.
Charlotte helped him treat the wounds and sutured them.
He thought the goblin, having just been robbed, would have no money, but to his surprise, the goblin took out six silver coins from his remaining pockets and paid for the medical expenses.
Charlotte was amazed and at the same time lamented that the robber wasn't skilled enough. After all, he had experienced being robbed naked a few times in his memory.
In the morning, Charlotte treated ten patients, and aside from the treeman who arrived early, all of them had external injuries.
"This is a hemostatic potion, and there's still half a bottle left. If the wound reopens and starts bleeding after you go back, you can pour an appropriate amount of the potion on the wound to stop the bleeding. Remember, don't engage in vigorous activities these next few days, and keep the wound dry. It will be 300 copper coins in total. Thank you for your patronage..."
Charlotte watched as the orc, who had been slashed seven times on his arm, left. Glancing at the sky, it was already noon. He flipped the wooden sign hanging on the door, announcing the end of today's business.
"Now it's time for the most wonderful moment, counting!"
Charlotte took out his money pouch and emptied the morning's earnings onto the counter.
The clinking sound of coins colliding was mesmerizing.
After careful counting, there were 24 silver coins and 425 copper coins, which amounted to 2,824 copper coins.
Among them, 550 copper coins came from the system's task rewards.
In addition, there was collateral worth 500 copper coins.
This was the normal daily revenue of the clinic. Yesterday's income exceeded 4,000, thanks to the boost from the Moisturizing Elixir.
Charlotte also counted his savings. After deducting the fifteen silver coins spent on restocking yesterday, he currently had 5,640 copper coins.
This would cover the rent!
Indeed, running his clinic was much better than being a laborer!
Of course, this money couldn't be considered as net profit.
In these two days, he had been consuming various potions from the shelves. Stamina potions were depleted, Moisturizing Elixir was depleted, and only two bottles of cleansing potion remained.
After deducting the forty silver coins that he had to give to the landlady tomorrow, which he secretly kept in a hidden compartment under the counter, he had 1,640 available funds.
And his personal panel's wealth value had already reached 7,148.
If luck was on his side, he could surpass ten thousand tomorrow and unlock the system's store!
"I need to brew two more pots of hemostatic potions today, and I'll also try to make some cleansing potions. Otherwise, I'll have to go to the potion shop and buy a batch, but the price will be different."
Charlotte collected the money, took a bite of black bread, and started planning his afternoon's work.
Hard work leads to prosperity. It's a fine tradition of the Zhuang family and a truth that Charlotte has always believed in.
Knock! Knock!
Suddenly, there was a knocking sound at the door.
"Isn't the 'Closed' sign hanging on the door?" Charlotte sat in his chair without moving, thinking that the person outside would leave if nobody responded after a while.
But Charlotte murmured a bit about the patience of the person outside the door. The knocking continued until Charlotte finished munching on the unappetizing black bread and even drank a glass of water in between.
"Do you not know how to read?"
Charlotte was annoyed by the knocking and had no choice but to get up and open the door.
Outside stood a petite girl wearing ill-fitting black clothes. She had long brown hair tied behind her head and a lovely and delicate appearance. Her face still carried some baby fat.
She lowered her gaze, her hands crossed and twisted together, appearing somewhat nervous.
Why is it her?
As Charlotte looked at the familiar figure before him, his eyes widened instantly.
The girl raised her head, looked at Charlotte standing inside the door, and her eyes widened as well.
Oh my...