The Asshai's Bloodmage

 It took Rafael over a year and a half to finally regain his sense of smell and taste, but those were the worst senses to recover first. Because now, Rafael could smell a horrible sulfur smell coming from the Demon, and also the smell of the Tainted Blood, which was mixed with the Ghost Grass and other ingredients he couldn't identify…

Rafael was sure that the Demon was feeding him with its blood… He tried checking the Mirror ability frequently over the past year, but the same message kept popping up… Rafael began to suspect that it was he who was no longer in the Shadowlands. His system confirmed that he had been unconscious for at least a few months before waking up…

Being able to taste and smell the horrible food, the next few months were torture for Rafael. But his fear grew as well. That was because every day he saw the Corruption and Impure statuses increase with each meal…

And then, the day he feared the most finally arrived…

[The Corruption and Impure statuses have reached the maximum level!]

[The user's race has begun to change!!]

Rafael couldn't move his body, but he somehow managed to feel his blood boiling throughout his body. When his blood finally stopped boiling, various sounds entered his ears, proving that he had regained his hearing. The alerts also continued:

[Your race has been changed from Valyrian to Half-Demon.]

[The Corruption status becomes a permanent passive status!]

[Abnormal Effects Resistance(Average) has been obtained!]

[Poison Resistance (Low) has increased to (Average)]

[Curse Resistance (Low) has increased to (Average)]

[Body Affinity has been gained!]

[Due to the Impure status, the Body Affinity remains locked!]

Shit! It was bad, really bad… According to the "Race Guide,"1 this made Half-Demons a race at the lowest levels, second only to mutants… Corruption became a permanent liability, and Body Affinity was useless for the moment… But just as Rafael was lamenting, more alerts started:

[Due to the effect of Abnormal Effect Resistance, various negative statuses are beginning to be dispelled!]

[The Fragmented status has begun to weaken!]

[Permanent Damage status has been changed to Severe Damage!]

[The Recession status has been completely removed!]

[The Impure status has begun to weaken!]

Rafael still couldn't believe what was happening, unlike permanent damage, severe damage was something that could be treated... Without Recession, meditation should be possible again, but I decided not to try that at the moment... Although Corruption didn't let him use any healing or holy spells, his situation was still complicated to solve...

"Crack"

Rafael heard a noise and turned his head. It was only then that he realized that the movement of his neck had also returned...

The Demon had returned from somewhere outside the cave, saw Rafael looking at him as he entered, and said nonsense words again. But this time his ears heard a rough and hoarse voice.

[Unidentified language... Trying to translate...]

Ah yes... His system now had this function, but it wasn't something immediate if the language wasn't registered in the system...

The Demon approached him, speaking several different languages ​​before finally an ancient language was recognized, and Rafael finally understood...

"Can you understand me?"

Still speechless, Rafael just nodded "yes" with his head…

"Now tell me… Where did you find this?"

The man put one of his hands in the pocket of his tattered cloak and took out a necklace. Only then did Rafael realize that it was his necklace. The Chief Exorcist's Necklace… He stood still without answering since he could only say yes or no… The Demon then reformulated and asked 3 questions:

"Did you get this necklace from someone?"

"Did you buy it, or did you take it from someone?"

"Did you find it somewhere?"

Rafael gave two "no's" before a "yes,"… But the questions stopped there. The Demon put the necklace back and went back to feeding Rafael daily as usual. But this time, it was slightly better food, the meat of some animal he had hunted... He stopped feeding Rafael his blood and the Ghost Grass, which was a relief, and Rafael finally realized that he had misjudged the Demon...

He was helping him heal from his injuries... Even though his methods were absurd, he was getting better, right?

That was until the Demon started feeding him soul stones ground into powder and other strange herbs, the final ingredient of this mixture was a beautiful spit from the demon that left that new meal with a smell and taste of sulfur... As soon as Rafael ate, besides almost wanting to vomit, his system went crazy again, announcing at least half a dozen new negative statuses for literally devouring living souls...

[You have been affected by the curse of the Vengeful Sou1l!]

[You have been affected by the negative status Defiler1!]

[You have been affected by the negative status Necrotic Energy1!]

[You have been affected by the curse of the Nightmare1!]

[You have been affected by the curse of Bad Luck1!]

[You have been affected by the negative status Haunted1!]

[You have been affected...]

And that was his new routine for a few more months, before Rafael finally recovered his voice and also the movement of his body...

****

Special thanks to the Patreons:

Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!

Magic Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, Niteo akuma, and 704Corleon!

Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley and Avacus!