Cursed Heroine

Chapter 51: Ups and downs

Over the next few weeks, my new curse continued to assert itself. After a few more incidents with Sofy’s mother, an awkward silence can now be felt between the two of us. One time, Melony accidentally put too much catnip into her perfume and I was especially clingy with her during her teatime that day. The only reason it didn’t devolve into an outright licking session is due to the other components of her perfume tasting bad. I was totally late to meet up with Sofy that day.

Also, I completely lost my balance during dance lessons one day and fell on top of the instructor, straight into a typical kiss scenario with my hands bracing my fall by latching onto her breasts. As you can probably guess, I very much enjoyed the opportunity and took full advantage of our situation. Her lips were delicious, by-the-way. Amazingly, she didn’t get offended and the only comment she made about the incident was that my tongue is surprisingly flexible for someone who doesn’t speak. Sofy dragged me off her before, in my excitement, I could finish writing the instructor a note requesting specific extracurricular activities. Aww, she’s so cute when jealous!

I had thought that the new curse was manageable and sometimes even fun at first, until a certain accident that happened during Sofy’s apothecary class. Due to the flame being way too hot, her experiment basically vaporized in my face while I was stirring it for her. I ended up as high as a kite due to the effects of the concoction and sexually assaulted every female in the class, including our very hot instructor. As I started coming down from my high, the instructor finally managed to restrain me and I ended up purring myself to sleep on top of her lap. Sofy wound up being admonished by the somewhat mortified instructor for cooking up such a dubious substance during class in the first place. But that wasn’t that bad part, that came after.

The bad part was that one of the boys in the class, some musclehead moron named Ethen, became infatuated with me after seeing my girl-on-girl action. That numskull insisted that my silence was a form of consent to his attempts to woo me. I’m mute, you DIP$#*T!!! He even believed that any physical harm that I caused him while fending him off was merely a show of affectionate bullying, but the level of injury that I’ve inflicted on him goes well beyond what even the most ferocious beastkin would consider courtship. The freak’s body was just way too sturdy to allow me to put him down for long. Imagine it, a brawny elf-boy! Picture it! Now *barf!!!* I definitely would kill him if Sofy hadn’t explicitly forbidden me from killing him in time, though she did briefly reconsider her decision the first time he got close enough to us to smell his exceptionally bad breath.

Don’t get worked up thinking that he’s growing on me just because I’ve put in the effort to actually learn a guys name. For me, that just means that he’s on my hit-list. On the very top in his case. It’s a real list that I’ve actually made and keep in my inventory. The fat king, his foolish sons, and the three stooges are also on the list. Though, I’ve crossed out the shield freak and the dual-sword moron since they already did themselves in.

I’m really not into the whole persistent and endearing love thing. Those types of perverts are just creepy stalkers in my opinion. Not that I’m even into men in the first place. The novels that have a male lead constantly hovering around the female lead while ingratiating himself to her, honestly just makes me want to puke all over the book. That kind of annoying, selfish and shallow love story isn’t even dog-food anymore, it’s just dog-crap.

After a couple of days of using various means to fend him off, I seriously tried to kill him regardless of the order Sofy gave me. The order was to not kill our classmates, so I tried to convince myself that since he was no longer attending class due to injuries, he’s no longer a classmate. It didn’t really work and I now realize that I have to follow the ‘essence’, not the ‘letter’ of an order.

Nearly half-way through the quarter, I’d found a way to put him down for several days at a time. I’d put my hand on his shoulder until he’d pass out and then keep it there, draining him until he was nearly dead, yet not enough to actually kill him. Kat got mad at me for that exploit and quickly applied a hot-fix for my attire. My undies will now only cause harm to men who intend to rape me. 

Since she was already modifying it anyways, she decided to go ahead and normalize it a bit for the sake of fairness. First, my attire can now be removed manually and the removed items will disappear once no one is paying attention to them. Though, I am still not allowed to decide what I put on or to remove any items arbitrarily. Items like these darn Moody Gravity Cuffs! Second, attire sets will only automatically equip if my current situation allows for it to do so. For example, my weapons won’t reappear in my hands if I had just been disarmed and locked up in a dungeon cell. Lastly, my non-combat effects will always apply for whichever set is selected, even when it is physically removed from my body.

Getting back to the present time. After six weeks of dance lessons, I’ve finally managed to get my physical controls all up to at least ninety percent and began to cultivate towards the next rank of body. I’m a little peeved that all that work will get reset as soon as I rank up, but at least I get to keep fifty percent of it. Inventory and most of my sense skills also managed to level up.

<Status> +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats]
Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female
+Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood Demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)}
Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(1%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 3(0%)}{Divine: 3(4%)}{Law: 0}
Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 64900/64900}{Spirit: 10000/10000}{Divine: 10000/10000}
Attributes: Str: 10000(90%) | Vit: 10000(90%) | Agi: 10000(95%) | Int: 64900(65%)
Soul Potential: 183
<Skills>
{passive}
[Sense Mana 4], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Intent 4], [Sense Danger 3], [Second Sight 4]
-[Soul Devourer 2]
{active}
[Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 3], [Inventory 4], [Tamer 3]
-[Shadowmeld 3], [Contract 1]
<Traits>
[Agility Boost], [Exquisite Fur], [Regeneration]
-[Vampiric Bite], [Body Manipulation], [Dragon’s Perception], [Adaptive Blood]
-[Pure Yin Essence], [Love Serum], [Longevity(unlock: 500sp)], [Mana Affinity(unlock: 1000sp)]
-[Glamour(unlock: 1000sp)], [Green Thumb(unlock: 1000sp)], [Multi-Form(unlock: 2500sp)]
<Blessings>
[Eidetic Memory], [Don’t Mind Me], [Assisted Body Contortion]
[Priestess(Goddess Katherian)]
{Prayer}{Bless}{Ability}
-[Status Manager]
<Curses>
[Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute], [Kat’s Revenge]
[Destined to Serve(Mistress: Sophia)]
{Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link}

I took an opportunity one day to get the dryad traits from Flora. The required soul points to unlock multi-form is insane, most likely having something to do with how unsuited the skill would normally be with my body unlike a dryad. Her blood or rather sap tasted wonderful, like the most delicious juice ever. Due to the nature of the plants in the area of her birth, her sap got me high and very aroused. Her expert use of vines that night was envious. On another note, Flora is making pretty good progress, considering her issues.

<Status>
Name: Flora | Age: <1 | Sex: Female
Race: Dryad(Base: Feeder Vine)
Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(10%)}{Mind: 1(10%)}{Spirit: 0(60%)}{Divine: 0(0%)}{Law: 0}
Energy Reserves: {Qi: 100/100}{Mana: 100/100}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0}
Attributes: Str: 100(15%) | Vit: 100(15%) | Agi: 100(20%) | Int: 100(30%)
Soul Potential: 50
<Skills>
{passive}
[Sense Mana 2], [Synergy 1]
{active}
[Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 1]
<Traits>
[Green Thumb], [Multi-Form]
<Blessings>
[Dryad’s Natural Gifts]
{Fragrance}{Needles}{Symbiosis}
<Curses>
[Tamed Familiar(Tamer: Lilia)]
{Link}

Due to her race, she actually managed to gain the synergy skill without having to use a skill crystal. She got a little carried away with cultivating her body and mind cultivation before I kindly reminded her that increasing her spirit cultivation would make things faster in the long run. Speaking of spirit cultivation, Sofy has finished getting her body and divine cultivations up to stage three and is now focusing on spirit cultivation.

<Status>
Name: Sophia | Age: 24 | Sex: Female
Race: {Human(50%)}{Wood Elf(50%)}
Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 2(30%)}{Divine: 3(0%)}{Law: 0}
Energy Reserves: {Qi: 1000/1000}{Mana: 31000/31000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 1000/1000}
Attributes: Str: 1000(10%) | Vit: 1000(10%) | Agi: 1000(10%) | Int: 31000(35%)
Soul Potential: 120
<Skills>
{passive}
[Sense Mana 6], [Sense Presence 5], [Sense Danger 4], [Synergy 5]
{active}
[Mana Control 5], [Mana Shaping 4], [Tamer 4], [Assess 8]
<Traits>
[Longevity], [Mana Affinity]
<Blessings>
[Child of the Forest]
[Destined to Serve(Servant: Lilia)]
{Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link}
[Priestess(Goddess Katherian)]
{Prayer}{Bless}
<Curses>
{none}

Sofy’s skill progression speed is as envious as always. She increased multiple skills by one level and assess even went up by two levels. At her current speed, she’ll have no problem evolving the skill into appraisal before our next dungeon dive. The other girls won’t be coming with us again because of their own family training. Sofy’s mom decided to go with us though. She’s become interested in the auction house business that we opened and wants to take a look.

Tomorrow is the first day of the second half of the academic quarter. The instructor is holding a group evaluation for our dancing skills. I just hope that I don’t mess up too badly. *sigh* My expectations for success have greatly fallen due to ‘Kat’s revenge’. When will she get over it?!