Chapter 11
I cast Purification without knowing what would happen. It succeeded—but it failed.
Purification succeeded, but it failed to purify everything... That's mildly upsetting.
Well, I'm a complete beginner at magic, so it can't be helped.
Come to think of it, magic had beginner, intermediate, and higher levels, didn't it?
I'm still at the super-beginner level.
It's self-taught, after all.
...
Apparently, the living rock has a powerful curse.
Hmm... Purification as I've used it so far is too weak.
I need to use stronger Purification.
Stronger Purification?... That's way too difficult for someone like me who doesn't know magic.
Should I make it stronger than the images I've used so far?
Until now, I've imagined dirt being lifted away and washed off... like laundry.
It was easy to visualize because I'd seen it in commercials.
But that doesn't seem very effective against the living rock in front of me.
To break the curse... I need to imagine a powerful curse,
then imagine forcibly erasing it.
When I think of curses, all kinds of movies come to mind, but that's not it, is it?
The dirt in laundry is something I imagine floating in water—a vague, fluffy sort of dirt.
When I think of stubborn dirt, I think of something stuck fast... oil.
Stubborn, clinging grease... Would this work?
I'll imagine it being difficult to remove.
I'll envelop it... No, that's too weak. I'll imagine scraping it away.
"Purification"
The living rock in front of me begins to glow white.
As I watch, the black parts of the curse gradually peel off, crumble, and vanish into the air.
It makes a crackling sound, but is this really the right way to do it?
Well, as long as the curse is removed, it'll be fine... Surely it'll be fine.
The last piece of the curse that had peeled away disappears.
"Ah... This was unexpected."
What a surprise. Apparently, it wasn't a cursed living rock after all.
In front of me is a blood-covered bird.
A bird... So that's why it gave me the same feeling I got when I encountered the wolf.
But this bird is only sparrow-sized.
It was such a gigantic mass of curses, yet it's the size of a sparrow.
The bird startled me, but its size startled me even more.
And it's covered in blood, too... This is more frightening than surprising.
Maybe it won't attack me if I get closer?
The blood-covered bird flies unsteadily toward me.
When I held out a finger without thinking, the bird perched on it.
The sight of it covered in blood is creepy. Extremely creepy.
Looking closely at the bird, I see a large wound on its chest.
Blood is oozing out of it... How did it even manage to fly?
Could my barrier have caused this wound?
If so, I feel terrible.
First, I need to close the wound.
Regenerating it... That's difficult.
I remembered my own injury, but all I could recall was an image of blood flowing.
That's not useful.
First I have to regenerate the cells in the damaged part of the wound, then imagine the skin knitting back together.
...This makes me incredibly nervous.
"Heal, then Clean."
The bird's chest is enveloped in pale pink light, and the wound gradually disappears.
At the same time, its entire body glows faintly, and the dirt disappears.
Once the blood and dirt were gone, an incredibly beautiful bird was perched on the tip of my finger.