The Insider System

Chapter 417: Not My Problem Pt.13

Lake didn't know what to expect when he'd asked Lucas to explain curses to him on their trip, but now he was starting to think this would have been something better learned in a class as opposed to on the road with the wind making it hard to hear what Lucas was explaining to him.

"Have you seen someone summon something before? It's rare, so if you haven't, just tell me, and I'll show you what I'm talking about." Lake had summoning skills, and he'd seen Hampton summon an eye just days ago, so his answer was just that. "I've seen it."

"Okay, good oops. The best way to think of curses is a summon that's been affected by the corruption principle. It isn't an exact definition, but that's how the first curses in this world came to be, from what I know of them. Of course, they've evolved over time to their own thing, but most curses you run into are still very similar to summoned creatures. The ones you want to know about are more like formations filled with things other than just plain mana."

What Lucas was describing now sounded closer to the curses he'd seen with Mana Vision. "How do you power a formation with something that isn't mana?" Lake had no plans of doing it, but he felt if it was possible, he should at least try it once or twice just to get his mind around the concept.

"We live in the Holy Domain, so I'm sure you've heard people speak of the things Holy Magic is capable of. Unholy Magic, and more specifically, the corruption principle, is capable of similarly great things. Of course, they're all heinous, but if you're willing, you can bend things out of order until you get what you want. Including yourself, mana, your magic, other people's magic, other people."

Feeling like Lucas would go on forever if he didn't stop him, Lake asked a question. "So you're saying that as long as you're willing to practice Unholy magic, you can use the corruption principle to change whatever you want in any way."

"No, no. There are limitations, but there seem to be a lot of possibilities to explore if you're willing to take the risk. All right, let's get back to curses." Lake could tell that if Lucas wanted, he could have spoken on this matter for days, but it wasn't really answering his question. "You are more asking the best ways to fight off curses, so the very best way is Holy Magic. As I'm sure you know, it's hard to find someone willing or able to use Holy Magic on a curse, so the second best is Unholy Magic. It's pretty easy to find someone who can use Unholy magic, but the difficulty comes from getting someone you can trust."

"Can you use the loyalty curse on people who can use Unholy Magic?" Lake could see there being a possibility that people with Unholy affinities being able to dispel curses that were affecting them. "Yes you can, but only because the curse keeps them from destroying it using their magic. It could still happen by accident, though, so you need to keep a close eye on anyone you're trying to control who's using Unholy Magic on a regular basis."

"What's the next best way to dispel a curse?" Lake had interrupted Lucas with his earlier question, so he wanted to make sure they went back to this topic. " Killing it by attacking principles; this can be done with any type of magic, but Healing and Light magic have the most principles that are useful in this type of combat, closely followed by Antimagic and Water Magic."

Lake had seen this when he helped save the Oracle guard back in the Metal Domain. At that time, it had looked like the Healer dealing with the curse was using strings of Mana to pull it apart bit by bit, and he had equated the order he'd done it to diffusing a bomb.

Lake doubted Lucas would know what a bomb was, so he chose a different description to use in his next question. "Is this method similar to picking open a lock? I think I've seen it before while in the Metal Domain."

"Yes, that's a good way to put it. The only difference is the lock you're trying to open would be actively trying to fight you while you did it. Also, if you're one affected, it can be extremely hard to do anything to a curse inside your body. When we get back to the guild, I would like to teach you a technique that seals your core; it will buy you time if you're ever cursed."

Lake thought this sounded like a good use of time, so he nodded and asked. "Are there curses that don't have anything to do with Unholy Magic?" Lake remembered people saying things about dark Magic that made him think there were at least things similar to curses that used other elements.

"The answer to this question is very complicated, but I would say yes if you just want a one-word answer."

"What makes it so complicated?"

"Since Unholy Magic was used to create curses at the very beginning, their origin will forever be Unholy Magic. So now that the field has progressed, there are curses that come from other elements; it doesn't change where they came from, though."

"Are you saying these newer curses still use whatever was corrupted in the past as their base, or are you saying they can't get away from their source, like in a spiritual way?" Lake wasn't sure if Lucas would understand his question, but it seemed a man understood at least what he was getting at enough to say. "Both. It's like a family tree with descendants that look nothing like the original parent because of how many generations have passed."

"So, where would you put the Loyalty curse on this family tree?" Lake felt this was a good question for him to ask to see just how close the curse every group used to control people was to the Demon Lord. "Near the beginning, controlling people was what the Demon Lord wanted when he made the first curse. The curse we all use today is different from the one he made, though. It's been both refined and weakened to serve its purpose without being all-powerful."

"What element is it based on now?" Lucas was quiet after this question, and Lake thought the reason was because the answer was bad, but this wasn't actually the case. "That's another complicated question. There's a job that lets one work with curses, and that means they are able to make them in a way that doesn't use Unholy Magic, but the job comes from the Demon Lord, so choosing to use it is similar to using Unholy Magic."

"Does the guild use someone with this job to make our curses?" This time, the answer to the question was bad enough that Lake was surprised Lucvas even said it out loud. "Yes, we do, and because of the nature of their job, we're unable to use the Loyalty curse on them, meaning they're quite free to try and screw us over, and they do try almost constantly."

Lake wanted to ask some follow-up questions about the person Lucas was talking about but decided to go back to the original point of this conversation by asking. "Should I learn how to make basic curses?" Lucas' opinion on this would probably impact his decision on whether this was a good use of his time in the coming weeks. "Learning about them is one of the greatest ways to learn how to defend yourself from them. I'll help you get started when we get back to the guild. Now let's switch our topic of conversation to making our plans for the Metal Domain."

Hearing Lucas wanted to switch topics to something more relevant, Lake asked. "Do you want to stop so we can look at the map?"

"No, we can plan our path after we're done in the city. For now, I wanted to see if you had any ideas on how we should meet up after we're done in the city. I can speak to you at any time using the mirror, but you won't be able to talk back, so I won't know if you're on your way or not."

This was a good point, and Lake didn't have a perfect plan on how they should meet up in a timely manner, but he did have a simple idea of how to mitigate the problem. "Will you be in the Metal Temple? If so, we'll know when the other is done. We'll just have to act like we don't know each other."

"Some of my time will be spent in the temple, but it's a big place. What if we don't see each other?"

"As long as you check in with the mirror every now and then, that shouldn't be a problem. Just try not to overdo it." With that and him keeping up with where Lucas was with the mark placed on his amulet, Lake didn't see either of them having to wait for very long after they were done in the city.