Chapter 347 Devourer Curse Cure
Alex tested the Devourer skill a number of times on creatures with varying strength, going from weakest to strongest, and what he had learned till this point was disappointing at best.
All the creatures on whom he used the skill till this point gave him a total of four stat points, and that came from a total of thirteen creatures with their strength varying from peak fourth Rank to peak fifth Rank.
All the creatures below the fifth Rank gave Alex 0.1-0.3 points in two stats with rarely in three stats on average, which was not bad if he could use the skill on mass, which was not possible for the time being as he needed to be in contact with the creature to be able to use the skill.
'Let's hope this one is not as disappointing as the named Fifth Rank Thunderpaw Fox,' Alex thought, looking at the massive, bloodied carcass of the storm serpent lying before him.
Alex used the devourer skill, and instantly, his hand turned pitch dark, with darkness oozing from it before he placed it on the white shimmering scales of the serpent.
The darkness seeped into the serpent, spreading through his body, and after close to two minutes, the shimmering white scales of the serpent started to lose their bluish sheen.
Alex felt the mana usage burn a hole in his vast mana tank, which now stood close to six million, and it was possible because of a 100x multiplier to the intelligence after entering the Elementalist Rank instead of the previous 10x.
Alex felt the darkness return, circulating throughout his body, making him feel no pain or unease, and it went on for close to half a minute, which only made him smile as the longer the absorbing process lasted, the better the results would be.
[Attributes Acquired: STR +26, AGI +28, VIT +37, STA +24, INT +30]
'If this skill doesn't face extreme restriction or limitation as my stats grew, then there is a chance that I could reach the stat maximization of the Elementalist Rank,' Alex thought, happy with the results.
The stat limit for the Mortal Rank was 20K, while the stat limit for the Elementalist Rank was 400K, ten times what an individual would have if he got promoted to Fourth Rank after reaching the stat limits.
The stat limit for the Elemental Ruler Rank was not known as there were hardly any myths about someone having reached that level, and they were all vague, giving no real information.
Alex would have 250k stat points at the very least at the peak of the Sixth Rank, but he would need more than just magical treasures to gain the remaining 150K stat points in a short period, and now, with the devourer skill, there was hope to reach that without wasting years.
There was also the possibility of finding a treasure like the evolution fruit, but Alex doubted that he would get his hands on something that could make him reach the stat limit of the Elementalist Rank in one go.
Now satisfied with testing his strength and skills, for the time being, Alex left the area and went to Lady Elmara's Lab to see if the Red Gem was now capable of completely removing the Devourer Curse.
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Alex stood in the lab room before a red dome of revolving mist, and by his side stood four more individuals with their eyes glued to it, with their expressions hardened in anticipation, creating a pin-drop silence in the room.
After moments had passed, the mist started to retract back into the red gem, and a notification rang in Alex's mind, putting a bright smile on their face and making him sigh in relief.
[Devourer Curse Successfully Removed]
[6K Energy Point Spent]
"It is a success," Lady Elmara said, beating Alex to announce the good news, but it didn't seem like her words were needed as all three individuals held smiles like they already knew the results.
"I've eagerly awaited this outcome for seven lengthy decades," Lady Elmara said, her voice carrying a touch of emotion.
"We All did, and after Domain Ruler took his position, we knew this day would certainly come, but even the most hopeful of us didn't expect it to be this early," Varon said, his voice filled with a mix of relief and joy.
"We will celebrate later, but for now, I need to gather more data," Lady Elmara said, her face brimming with a smile.
Lady Elmara already knew about the current limits and all the information on the Red gem they got from the Beastman, so she asked Varon to bring a Mortal individual, with his strength being at peak First Rank.
The Curse removal was successful, and the same went for the following two individuals, with the removal process failing only for the Fourth Rank individual.
But it was not a complete failure, as even though the curse remained at its core, more than a third of the corrosion to the mind and genetic structure was completely gone, and using the skill six more times on the same individual removed the corrosion completely.
The effects of the skill only lessened as the strength of the targeted individual grew, as a Fifth Rank individual needed sixteen tries for complete healing of damage and close to eighty for a peak Sixth Rank individual.
The time required to complete the healing of the corrosion of an elemental Ruler would range from 400 to 2000 tries, which would take a few years and a few hundred million energy points.
The time needed was an estimate made by Lady Elmara, according to the little data she had gathered, and Alex nor anyone else in the room doubted her words even a bit.
By now, everyone was happy for one reason or another, but Lady Elmara looked to be happiest among everyone as she excitedly examined the plethora of runes with shining eyes, like a kid in a candy store.
Lady Elmara asked Alex to use the selective refinement skill on the person who had reached the second stage of the curse, the Endless Hunger state.
As an individual reaches the Endless Hunger state, his internal organs have been modified to consume and digest a large amount of organic matter.
So, the amount of time needed to heal just a mortal was ten times the normal, but the damage was successfully healed, and he was back to being a sane human once again.
However, the changes made by the Curse to the individual body were not completely reversible, but where the changes had their side effects, like making the individual need more than the usual amount of food, it also had its benefits as the food was converted to strength.
It was Boone and Curse at the same time, but according to Lady Elmara, it was not a permanent one and would gradually dissipate with the passage of time, leaving no lasting effects.
Alex spent the following thirteen hours using the skill on stronger stage-two cursed individuals, and the results were the same as for stage-one individuals, except the time required was much longer.
The final tests were conducted on a Devourer Beast who had reached the third stage and had fully mutated.
There was some mutation reversal with the first two tries, but after four hours and more than ten more tries, there were no more changes and no hope of recovering the person back to being a human.
'I think it is time I discuss a plan to collect the Archaic Ring from the Demon Rongradin,' Alex thought, seeing the happy faces of everyone around him.
Alex was happy with finally having a cure for the curse, but he knew even after unlocking the next skill, 'Space Trove,' that would grant him a private and fully secured space pocket with a size of 100 x 100 meters.
The space specialty was that it allowed Alex to store anything dead or alive, which was an extreme rarity among mobile storage items, and it could be further expanded as enormous as the energy stats the holder was willing to spend.
Alex could simultaneously use multiple skills of the Red gems for different tasks inside the space, and he would not need to be stuck in a single place and wait for the process to end.
After his Rank promotion, Alex could use the features of the Red Gem much more freely, but he was well aware that due to the Gem's incomplete nature, its utilization demanded significantly higher energy stats and time, consequently yielding poor outcomes.
This was the reason why Alex wanted to collect the Archaic Ring as quickly as possible because it would make a significant difference in the number of individuals he could cure, and it was not like he could go to the demon continent and collect the ring.
Alex knew that Rongradin was the son of Ahrimon, and he would by no means be a weakling that he could push around and would be well-protected, but he had a plan in mind to create an opportunity to kill him and take the ring before vanishing.
After meeting Ahrimon and knowing about that monster's past, Alex knew he required a safe, well-thought-out plan to take the ring without losing his life or anyone close to him.
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