Two methods?
Leinas's body trembled, her face alight with disbelief. She'd hoped the alchemist before her could find a way to lift her curse, but she knew a single night wasn't enough to yield results.
"If you can remove the curse from my face, I'll pay any price within my power." Leinas said, stepping forward, her gaze earnest.
"Hmph." Imina scoffed from the sofa.
"Don't get too excited." Adam said, glancing at Leinas, unmoved by her offer of "any price." He continued calmly, "Work on truly mastering the cursed power within you. Once you can control it proficiently, the curse on your face will naturally fade."
After a night of analysis, Adam had a rough theory. Leinas's facial decay wasn't just tied to the magical beast that attacked her, it stemmed from her lack of control over her cursed power.
He estimated that if Leinas raised her Cursed Knight class to level 3, she could likely dispel the curse herself.
It boiled down to her power running unchecked.
This might be a drawback of natives in this world skipping base or mid-tier classes to directly acquire high-tier ones.
In YGGDRASIL, a class was just a game mechanic, but in this real world, a high-tier class embodied immense power.
Even Adam, as a Player with the Genius class aiding him, had spent six skill points to acquire Cursed Knight.
Leinas's eyes clouded with confusion.
Master the powerful force within her?
The problem was, she'd been trying to control it since gaining it, with no progress whatsoever.
Adam understood her feelings to some extent.
For natives, advancing a class required dedicated training or study, akin to being told to study advanced math in his past life. The issue wasn't about effort.
It was that she couldn't comprehend it.
"The second method." Adam said, his voice steady.
Leinas snapped back to attention.
"Die once."
The flat words silenced the hall.
Whoosh!
Imina hesitated for a breath, then twisted her slender waist, vaulting off the sofa. Her right hand flashed to her waist.
In an instant, she planted one foot on the living room table, her twin purple ponytails fanning out as she hurled a dagger at Leinas.
Boom!
The dagger sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.
Leinas's eyes narrowed, her face turning icy. She seized her gray robe with one hand, retreating while twisting it into a whip-like coil, lashing it through the air.
Crack!
The air exploded, the fierce strike effortlessly knocking the dagger aside.
Imina's lithe legs carried her in two leaps to the base of the stairs where Adam stood, a bow now in her hands.
"Heavy Shot!"
Her amber eyes chilled, a brown glow flickering on the arrow nocked in her bow.
Whoosh!
The arrow shot forth, tearing through the air with a piercing screech.
Thud!
Leinas grabbed a small leather pouch from her waist, drawing a black, human-height spear from it.
"Flowing Acceleration!"
Leinas's voice was low, her killing intent surging. Her form blurred, splitting into two afterimages that charged from both sides before merging back into one.
At that moment,
Buzz!
The air shimmered, a dazzling white light coalescing between Imina and Leinas, forming a Archangel Flame.
Bang! Bang!
Two thunderous clashes rang out.
The Archangel Flame's flaming sword met Leinas's black spear, producing a heavy thud.
Imina's arrow struck the angel's radiant silver armor, leaving a dent.
The collision of three forces unleashed a shockwave, toppling furniture in the living room.
An angel?
A Archangel Flame?
Imina and Leinas froze, then turned to Adam, who stood on the stairs, looking bewildered.
"What are you two doing?" Adam asked, his mouth twitching as the two women clashed in the blink of an eye.
"Aren't you trying to kill her?" Imina said, still holding her bow, glancing at the towering Archangel Flame.
As expected!
She'd known it. Last night, facing three intruders, this guy had stayed calm, he had tricks up his sleeve.
Summoning a Archangel Flame, a third-tier spell, put him at least at Platinum-rank among adventurers.
With that in mind, Imina's grip on her bow steadied, her confidence in the situation growing.
The golden-haired woman was strong, but with the Archangel Flame in close combat and her own ranged support, they could handle her.
Leinas said nothing, her black spear still pressing against the flaming sword, the contact point creaking.
Her golden hair draped over her right cheek, obscuring most of her face, hiding her expression.
"My apologies. I misspoke." Adam said after a pause, waving his arm.
The Archangel Flame dissolved into white motes of light, signaling he meant no harm.
"Hey, telling someone to 'die once' doesn't sound like a joke." Imina said coldly, lowering her bow to point at the ground.
Adam felt a touch of helplessness.
His phrasing might've been off, but Imina's instant, lethal reaction was the real issue.
As expected of a mercenary-style worker.
"I don't jest, Master Alchemist." Leinas said, slinging her spear onto her back and lifting her head, her fair face cold.
"No." Adam said, his tone still serious, meeting her gaze. "My phrasing was unclear, but I wasn't joking. Die once, then have someone with Resurrection revive you. Your curse will vanish."
This method was essentially sacrificing levels via suicide to clear abnormal statuses.
The fifth-tier Resurrection was a spell only Hero Domain casters could wield in this world, a high-level magic.
But among revival spells, it was the lowest, dropping four levels of vitality. Leinas's Cursed Knight class likely only needed one level lost to be removed.
However, whether it was the seventh-tier Raise Dead, which dropped three levels, or the ninth-tier True Resurrection, which dropped two, no one in this world was known to wield them publicly.
Beyond these three, divine type magic had other revival spells, but they weren't suited for level-dropping suicide.
Leinas's deep blue eyes flickered.
She understood Adam was genuinely considering how to lift her curse, but the method was hardly something a sane person could accept.
Resurrection?
The number of divine type magic casters in the Baharuth Empire capable of such magic could be counted on one hand.
Leaving aside the immense cost of hiring such a caster, "death" itself was something any living person recoiled from.
Even to lift her facial curse, Leinas wasn't willing to die. Who could guarantee revival?
If something went wrong, she'd be truly dead.
"Making such a beautiful woman die." Imina quipped. "You're heartless."
Having followed their conversation, Imina pieced together the situation. Glancing at Leinas, she was fairly certain who this woman was.
***
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