Curses

With a scowl on my face from the previous events, I asked a few locals where I could find lodging for the night, and all of them pointed me toward a hotel called 'Through Day and Night'. it was a decently sized building that stood out from the other structures around it due to its massive sign with its name over its entrance, and 

I enter the lobby and notice the profound lack of people inside the lobby beside the receptionist, who seems to have slow enough business to be able to read a book. I mean, it makes sense given how late it is. Most people would be sleeping by now.

"Hello, can you tell me how much a room costs each night?" I greet the receptionist as she looks up from the book she is reading.

She puts on a customer service smile, as she notices me. "Yes, each night is 1400 credits."

"Can I pay in strales?" Thankfully, I have enough for a night after wasting 48 strales. She nods her head in response. When I give her the 14 strales, she has a confused expression on her face for a second, before speaking up.

"Excuse me, sir, you seem to have paid 14 when I only needed 7."

"What? I was told that each strale was worth 100 credits."

A frown forms on her face. "Sir, a strale is worth 200 credits, not 100. Where did you get that conversion rate from."

I was scammed. If I ever see that man in public again, I'll probably have to sort it out myself if he doesn't refund me. "Oh, my mistake." I take back 7 strales, as the receptionist reaches into a drawer and hands me a key numbered 7.

"Your room number is 7. If you're interested, we have an offer for an additional 200 credits per night, you get breakfast once a day. Would you like to participate?"

My mind quickly flashes back to my horrible experience with Xianzhou food, as I inform her that I am not interested in the offer, take my room key, and go to my room.

As I open the door, I see a simple room with a bed, table, chair, and bathroom. I take a shower, the warm water revitalizing me, as I brush my teeth with the toothbrush and toothpaste given by the hotel.

The toothpaste tastes like ginger but surprisingly isn't unbearable to use. I put my shirt back on, as I sit on the bed.

Before I go to sleep, I need to have at least a semblance of a plan. I need to experiment with my cursed energy and find a way to make some more money to keep paying my fees for this hotel, and for any non-Xianzhou food I may find.

Let's start with cursed energy. From what I remember, cursed energy forms in the gut, and positive energy forms in the brain. I'm nowhere near confident to try to touch positive energy, so let's start with negative energy.

I close my eyes and try to feel around in my gut for any feeling of something there. It takes me a minute, but I begin to feel a sort of cold sensation in my gut, which I know is my cursed energy. Next, I try to sort of grasp it and move it around.

The best way I could describe trying to move it is trying to squeeze Orbeez. You try to, but it just slips out of your grasp. Instead, let's try to work on a smaller scale before trying to move it all at once.

I take a 4th of the mass of cursed energy and immediately notice how much easier it is to control. Next, I try to disperse and spread it equally through my body, but fail.

Sometimes some areas had too much Cursed Energy, sometimes some areas had too little or none at all. I keep going though, and with each attempt, it gets a tiny bit easier than the last. After about a good hour of attempts, I'm able to spread a 4th of my cursed energy through my body pretty equally, if I say so myself. Excluding my gut though, as that's where the unused cursed energy lies.

I increase the amount from a 4th to half and begin to do it again. Molding, dispersing, recalling. This time it takes me another two hours. Sleep calls to me, but I'm determined to try to get proficient at flowing cursed energy before going to sleep.

I take all of my cursed energy, and compared to when I first tried to move it, instead of feeling thick similar to molasses, its viscosity has decreased to around the viscosity of honey. Still thick, but a major improvement.

By the time I'm confident in spreading my cursed energy equally, the sun's already risen. Exhausted, I leave my cursed energy alone, and let sleep take me.

-/-

I wake up from my dreamless sleep, with my neck aching, stomach empty, and bladder full. After taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and putting on the same clothes as yesterday, I feel awake enough to get ready to leave the hotel.

I walk out of the room and lock the door behind me. I walk through the lobby and leave through the main entrance. I don't have a phone, do I? I probably need to buy one sometime.

My stomach aches and groans for sustenance, and who am I to deny it? I look around the plaza, noting various food vendors that I quickly note off. There's a pawn shop, a tea store, and a library, but no food that's not from the loft.

I walk over to one of the cloud knights stationed in the plaza. "Hey, could you do me a favor? Do you know where I can find somewhere to eat that has off-world options?" He looks towards me and puts his hand to his chin for a moment.

"Well, you could try Aunt Bai's shop, she can try to make anything you ask her, as long as she has the ingredients. She's pretty expensive, though. She's to the left of the Jewelers Pagoda." I thank him, and quickly leave.

I reach the shop, and the first thing that stands out about it is that's its small. Like a shack compared to all the other buildings. I enter and instantly the aroma of spices hits my nose. The interior is a few stools around a counter, with a open kitchen directly behind the counter. Also behind that counter, is a short old woman who notices my arrival, and starts to talk to me.

"Oh? We have a customer. Take a seat anywhere you like, and tell me what you want and I'll see if I can make it."

Can she really make anything that I ask? Let's see. "Can I please have some boiled eggs with a side of soup?" I leave the order open to interpretation, as I doubt she has chicken eggs and tomatoes for soup.

She nods, and I take a seat on a stool and watch her begin to work. She takes a pot of water, and sets it to boil under a large flame on the stove. While the water boils, she takes two red eggs from a small fridge next to the stove, and pokes small holes in their shells. She then funnels a few seasonings into the holes, and softly puts the eggs into the water.

Next, she takes a red root, what looks to be a miniature smooth pumpkin, and an ingredient that I can recognize, an onion.

She dices the onions, and places a pan onto the stove before putting a light coat of oil on the pan, and putting the diced onions into the oil. As the onions cook, she shaves the root and the orange vegetable, and then shreds the root, and dices the orange vegetable into cubes.

Reaching into the miniature fridge again, she takes out what looks to be an unknown stock, and adds it to the fried onions. She then adds a splash cream and adds in the other two items.

After around another 7 agonizingly slow minutes, the food seems to be ready. She peels the eggs, revealing them to be a vibrant orange. She then plates them and adds the soup to a bowl, with its moderate thickness and strong aroma, my mouth starts to water.

"Okay, here's your food. Tell me, would you be willing to do me a favor? If you do, I'd be willing to let you have this meal, free of charge."

With free food on the line, my mind was already made up. "Sure. What is it you need me to do?" She reaches under the counter and hands me a letter.

"After you finish your meal, could you go to cloud knight headquarters and bring this letter to someone named Baizhu? Tell him its from Bai."

I take the letter softly from her hands, and place it into my pocket. "Sure, thats no problem at all. After I'm done with my food, I'll bring the letter to them and come back." She gives me a smile and turns into the kitchen to being to clean the dishes that she used.

I look down at my food, and after a moment of hesitation, take a pair of chopsticks and grasp an egg within them. I take a bite, and a strong umami flavor fills my mouth. The egg white is soft and bouncy, while the yolk is not fully cooked, and slightly runny, amplifying the sheer deliciousness of the egg.

Before I know it, I've already finished both eggs. Next, I take a spoon and take a sip of the soup. A mix of salty and sweet with something else in-between once again assaults my mouth, making me smile hard enough for my cheeks to hurt. The slight thickness of the soup makes me think that it was meant to be eaten with the eggs, and a deep regret for eating both eggs before I had the chance to try the two foods mixed together fills my heart and soul.

I finish off the rest of the soup, my stomach full, and my soul fulfilled. I feel like I could attain enlightenment right now. I sit there for a while, reminiscing on the meal I just ate, before I stand up, and go to deliver the letter to not have to pay for this.

Maybe xianzhou food isn't so bad after all?