Experiment

Ashton didn't do anything with the crystal just yet because Jerry came with his food.

He will eat first then he went on with the experiment later.

While he's eating, he's doing some online research about the Soul Reflecting Crystals since he wants to know more about them.

One of the benefits of being an official student of the Mystic Academy is that, he was granted clearance for his magical studies. If he uses his student id to log-in and browse, he'll be able to view information online that previously weren't available to him.

When he searched for the information he wants, several results showed-up. He viewed the one at the very top and was satisfied to see a detailed explanation about the crystal.

The Soul Reflecting Crystal is something that doesn't form within the bubble of the Last Bastion. This resource is so rare and extremely risky to collect that often times, casualties are expected whenever a group was sent out to collect some. This was mainly the reason behind it's steep price but if course, that's not all.

Listed below the article were at least 30 uses of the crystal. Ashton casually read through them and discovered that almost all of the listed uses are extremely important.

For example; the blue-ish core inside the crystal. That can be used to create the more modern types of Smartwatches. It turns out that it's key ingredient for making them too. To top things off, smartwatches only needed a drop of that liquefied core to be functional.

Even the tiniest shard of this crystal can be used as a disinfectant using proper tools and chemicals. It is too versatile which is why, even though it's risky, many people still risks going outside to harvest these.

Now that he learned about majority of its uses, Ashton now feels that it's a little to wasteful to use this crystal to gauge how 'cursed' he is. There should be other ways to test this but since his sponsor told him that it's going to be fine, then he decided to just go along with it for now.

Once he was done with his meal, he let Jerry clean out the table first before initiating the test.

Once the bot was done, Ashton took out the crystal to prepare himself.

He used his smartwatch to record the process since he figured that his sponsor would appreciate that. Once he's done with his set-up and double-checked everything, he took a deep breath and went on with it.

Buzz!

Injecting mana from his finger to the crystal was easy, the reaction was quite swift too. Ashton blinked and before he knew it, the crystal turned pitch black before dissolving into a black goo. A second later, the goo dissipated into dust, nowhere to be seen anymore.

Everything happened to quick that Ashton didn't even had the time to react. In the end, he sighed and stopped the recording. He replayed it using the slowest speed he can use.

Under his observations, he could see that once he touched the crystal and injected a faint dose of his mana in it, the core instantly darkened and popped, tainting the entire crystal pitch black. A couple of moments later, the crystal slowly melted off into dusts particles.

Ashton sighed and decided to sent the video recording to the Regal King, once he's done with that, he rested his back against the chair and looked-up, whispering:

"...it's that bad huh?" There was a trace of helplessness on his voice.

To be fair, his curse doesn't really sound so bad in words. The Curse of Mediocrity, a curse that prevents him from learning Intermediate Offensive Spells and above. Again, it doesn't sound so bad and it shouldn't be...at least from what Ashton could tell so far.

It will restrict him severely, yes. But, it's not going to kill him...at least he hopes not.

Then again, judging by the reaction of the crystal, he really has it bad. He's now starting to wonder if he could even get rid of the curse in the future.

While waiting for the Regal King's response, if he's even planning on responding at all, Ashton decided to check the other things that his sponsor sent to him.

Several books about curses, the Staff Wielding Book and the small box that apparently contains a piece of jewelry.

He kept the books about curses first in his inventory as well as the book for staff wielding. He can read those later when he has time. As for the contents of the small box, it was a necklace with a sapphire gemstone.

'Identify...' Ashton whispered a command to his system.

[Clear Sky Necklace - Rare]

• Sharply increases focus and concentration

• +30% Cultivation Efficiency.

• Durability: 100/100

'Oh, it can break.' Ashton murmured inwardly. 'Oh well, I have a repair skill, once I level that up, that should be able to take care of this necklace as well.'

Without any further ado, Ashton wore the necklace and immediately felt its effects. This will prove very useful when it comes to studying and cultivation, it could even have a positive effect on his training in general.

There's really no reason for Ashton to never wear this at all.

He sighed once he's done with this. Jerry then came and informed him that his bath was ready. Ashton smiled and patted the bot's head, he stood-up and went upstairs to enjoy his warm bath.

'A nice afternoon nap after this sounds very enticing.'

Is what Ashton thought as he dipped his somewhat exhausted body to the tub.

Ashton frowned as he looked around.

He found himself treading across a very desolate area. A wide stretch of open land that has nary a blade of grass on sight,

Traces of battle are obvious every where he looked. The air is heavy, the land was uneven, there are pieces of metals scattered all across his vision. The atmosphere itself was quite frightening.

Ashton doesn't have a clue on where is right now or how he ended-up here. Now that he thought about it, why does it seem like he can't remember anything else aside from his name?

...and why does he feel a splitting heartache as looked at this desolate land?

He had no answers for any of this, so he could only do what he could and that is to continue moving forward.

Sometimes, he wondered why he could stop to look at a certain area of this place, he's also wondering why he could feel more hurt whenever he's staring at those places. He really can't make sense of anything that's happening to him.

Sometime after that, Ashton started hearing voices. It all started with faint whispers here and there, they were to faint to locate and incomprehensible so he selectively ignored them but as time went on, they were becoming louder.

The strange part is that, he didn't hear just one voice, there were multiple. Each voice was saying something but since they're all happening at the same time, he couldn't make sense of what they're saying at all.

Along with the voices, the heartache he felt made him feel extremely horrible. So much so that he's panicking and asking himself just what it is that he's forgetting? Why can't he remember? What is going on?

Nevertheless, despite what he's feeling, he continued moving forward. Somehow, he was hell bent on doing just that even though things are getting progressively worse.

He really doesn't know what was happening, he couldn't, for the life of him, remember why he's experiencing so much pain and agony, just what is it that he do to deserve this? And why is he stubbornly so hell bent on moving forward?

Where the hell did this drive came from?

It was when he took that one step that things changed. Suddenly, everything went quiet. The voices were gone and the heartache disappeared as well. He was left there, puzzled and very confused but relieved as well. But before he could even think about what just happened, another development occurred.

'Why are you here?'

'This doesn't make sense.'

'Are you supposed to be here?'

'You're not supposed to be here.'

'How did you come here?'

'Where did you came from?'

'Who are you?'

'What is your name?'

'What are your intentions for coming here?'

'This place isn't for the likes of you.'

'Stay away!'

'Begone!'

'Pest.'

'You'll die.'

'Ah, so you can hear and feel us too.'

The voices came back with a vengeance. They were louder and clearer. They spoke way too much, all at the same time too, making it hard for Ashton to think properly.

He could feel his body shaking under the pressure. The voices, they're too loud...too much for him to endure. He could feel a splitting headache that made him clutched his head. He desperately wants to silence them but he couldn't.

Then...warmth came to him. All of a sudden, a while light flooded his vision and the voices were gone. Then, he heard a gentle and affectionate sound on his ears.

'Not yet, child. You're too young for this place. You still have a lot of growing-up to do. One day though, you will return. By then, hopefully you've find your path.'

Gasp!

Ashton's eyes snapped wide open, he harshly got up from his bed and panicked momentarily. He took a careful glance at his room and was relieved that everything seems normal.

'What the hell was that?' He couldn't help but ask himself.