04 - Purification (2)
Shortly after giving the system an affirmative response, Nic would come to nearly regret his choice of an answer.
"Fuck!" he screamed as a sharp pain seared through his entire chest.
It felt as though two massive hands were compressing his chest while it was burning at the same time.
Sweat flowed from his entire body like a stream, pouring on the ground as he fell to his knees and breathed heavily.
Nic tried to talk but he couldn't, as if the words were trapped in his throat.
He was in so much pain to even concentrate on any other thing.
[Purification process: 20%]
The purification process had begun, leaving Nic no time to understand what was going on with him or for what purpose it occurred.
The only thing he could recall was the system telling him that he had been poisoned and at the same time, he was cursed as well.
By whom? Nic did not know.
For what reasons could such things be done to him? He did not have an answer to that either.
Soon after, black goo started to seep out from the pores of his skin along with sweat. The substance was thick and slime, like an impurity that was being excreted from his body.
The black goo exuded slight steam as soon as it touched the floor and this went on for minutes with Nic suffering immense pain as the process lingered, so much that he was very close to losing his sanity.
[Strange substance has been detected in your system]
[Toxin: Curse of Endymion]
[Toxin is currently being removed from your body]
[Purification process: 53%]
More and more goo continued to leak out from his skin.
A good look at Nic and one could tell that he was shedding some weight on the spot. Not much to be bothered about but with a good pair of eyes, it would be noticeable.
The black substance soon stopped spilling out from his skin and Nic was able to catch his breath.
His heart pounded violently against his chest wall as if it wanted to burst out to grasp its freedom from the amount of work it was forced to do just now.
Nic was still sweating profusely but at least he felt much better than he did a second ago.
Amidst all of this, Nic was taken aback by something, and that was the fact that he was currently not feeling any form of pain despite nearly dying because of pain just a moment ago.
"The pain…" he murmured, surprised to feel nothing but tiredness, "it's… it's gone."
He was glad that his suffering had come to an end for now.
[Purification process: 71%]
[Alert! Cursed detected]
[Curse: ???]
[Curse has been attributed to being able to block off affinity for mana]
[Breaking curse…]
Nic's eyes widened more than they have ever done since he was reborn.
What did the system mean that the curse was responsible for blocking off his affinity for mana?
Was that the reason he couldn't use magic as an Emrys?
'Does it mean that I was already cursed in my previous life?'
[Yes. Curse had been placed on the host's soul and link to magic had been severed because of that]
Nic ground his teeth bitterly as anger boiled inside of him.
As though following his present emotions, Nic suddenly felt a fiery feeling rising from his navel and starting to spread all over his body.
The feeling was intense but not as bad as the pain he felt when the black goo was leaving his body.
It was not a painful feeling. If anything, the feeling was soothing and calming, almost as if it was recharging him instead.
[Curse has been lifted]
[Host has regained affinity for magic]
[Purification process: 100%]
With the curse lifted, Nic started to feel different.
Soft flame slowly covered his entire body and felt like he was floating in the air, experiencing what it meant to be as light as a feather.
This lasted for just a few seconds before the flames abruptly vanished and Nic returned to the ground.
His cloth was soaked in his own sweat and black goo just like the floor he was standing on.
Nic looked around and sighed. "I can't let anybody see this."
Quickly, he removed his shirt and used it to clean the black goo from the floor, wiping the ground clean of sweat and the mysterious black substance.
Nic heaved a sigh as he looked at the clock that hung on one of the walls.
The entire purification process had eaten into the one hour limit that Bischoff had given to him to get ready for today's event.
Nic just made his way to the wardrobe, swatting off the first shirt and pair of trousers that his eyes noticed. He put them on and rushed out of the room.
If he moved fast he could still make it to the arena and have some minutes to spare to gather his composure before the ceremony begins.
As he ran towards the arena in a bid to beat time, Nic couldn't shake off some thoughts that have lingered inside his head since he encountered his system.
'This only meant that the Emrys clan was the reason I was able to use magic in my past life,' Nic thought to himself.
'The same clan that castigated me and bullied me, tossing him about like some useless dog. Those same people were reasonable for my predicament then.'
Nic's insides boiled and his thirst for revenge grew exponentially. The Emrys clan deserved to perish by his hands right now as far as he was concerned but Nic was still too weak to exert any kind of revenge.
To get to the Emrys clan, he had to survive the skirmish of his current life as Nicolas Aurelius of the Aurelius Sword Clan.
He only just reincarnated and had already overcome the effects of a poison he knew nothing about.
'Why did they poison me? Who could have done such a thing?'
Nic tried to reach into the memories of the original owner of his body but they were too chaotic right now as he couldn't keep his head straight.
He couldn't organize his facts properly and thus, pushed them to the back of his mind so he could think about it later on.
Nic needed to keep his head in the game.