Prologue
AN: Returning readers, sorry! I've finally gotten down to rewriting this fic, pls enjoy
"Hey, good morning."
"Oh God, it's him."
"Oh… it's you. Sorry but this seat's taken."
"Yeah, like I'll ever let you sit anywhere close to me, freak."
"Morning, I heard you did well on the physics exam last week."
"Did he cheat? He's never gotten good scores before..."
Various greetings came as I entered the classroom. I ignored them in favor of enjoying an apple I bought.
"Blech," it was sour and was probably rotten.
All of this wasn't new, misfortune came to me like moths to a gigawatt light. People distrust me easily, everything I did results in failure, I almost always got the short end of the proverbial stick.
Because of what? Because of a cosmic joke, that's what.
[Ill-Fated] (Given Trait)
You are dealt with a bad hand, the cruel wheel of fortune casts its shadow upon your soul. You are prone to accidents, failures, being hated, etc. Yet despite this, you gain the power to persevere. Who knows, something good might happen if you stick around long enough.
+5 END
-10 LUK
-5 CHA
[Psychic] (Innate Trait)
You are a natural-born psychic, all mind-based activities you do will be twice as effective. You also have the chance to learn various psychic abilities.
+5 INT
+100% EXP Gain from mind-related things.
+100% Effectiveness with mind-related things.
+50% Resistance to Mind damage.
[Psychic Skill Tree] unlocked.
Passive skill [Telepathy] and [Psychokinesis] added.
Two translucent screens appeared in my vision, reminding me of my curse. You might think this ability was cool and had potential, I would have thought the same if I hadn't had the first trait.
It didn't lie when it said I was prone to many bad things, I almost died six times this past week, two of those times ended up with me being hauled to the hospital.
The constant mockery from my peers I could handle, but being threatened to die every single moment of my life? It's unbearable.
But I held a small hope, a small spark. The trait said something good MIGHT happen to me if I survived, and that meant something good WILL happen to me if I did. It had foreshadowing written all over it. So I did my best to survive the constant danger towards my well-being.
The gamer system wasn't that bad either.
Hansel Malkuth Lv. 8
Title - Son of Belial
Race - Human
HP - 196 / 200
MP - 286/300
EXP - 16 / 800
STR - 4
PER - 7
END - 3 (+5)
CHA - 4 (-5)
INT - 6 (+5)
AGI - 4
LUK - 3 (-10)
Note: Stat Bonuses / Debuffs are applied after the first number.
HP Regen = END * 2
MP Regen = INT * 2
Status = Poisoned (2 DMG / Second) (8s)
Great, that apple gave me food poisoning. I threw it into a nearby bin and waited for class to start.
My stats were abysmal, I know that the minimum was 1 and the max was 10, 4-6 in all stats were an average for normal people. Though I knew some had more than 10 LUK and CHA (Morgan Freeman had 15 CHA when I observed him through TV. That one Japanese guy who survived getting nuked twice had 18 LUK.)
My only redeeming factors were Perception and Endurance, the latter of which kept me alive most of the time. And yes, my LUK and CHA were in the negatives.
One thing I noted was that I didn't have any Gamer's Mind or Gamer's body to help with anything, though my health regenerates far faster than any normal person.
Most people were Level 5-15, with the higher being adults. Though Level didn't just mean how much experience people had, it also meant how good they are at kicking ass. The prodigious taekwondo player at my school was Level 16 for example.
I… tried and failed to figure out the system, its stats were based on the SPECIAL stat system from the Fallout games, but that was it. I never got any quests and experience gained was random, except for killing. Random insects gave 1 EXP, birds gave 5 EXP, animals gave varying amounts, I once accidentally made a rabid dog explode and it gave 30 EXP.
Oh yeah, my psychic abilities were cool too. It was apparently an Innate Trait, meaning the system didn't give it to me, I was already a psychic since I was born. My abilities had two branches, Telepathy and Psychokinesis.
Telepathy was all in the mind, like talking to other people, reading minds, mind control, etc. All of these had skill checks though, and I couldn't affect others who were mentally stronger than me without their consent.
Psychokinesis had to do with the physical world, like lifting objects, setting things on fire, or just creating a tangible force that I could control. I played with it a lot, not in public of course.
According to the skill tree, I had many more branches and skills to gain, even going as far as Reality Warping if I somehow got there. But the reality was I couldn't level as fast as I needed to, at the rate I'm going, I'll reach level 20 at the age of 80.
Life sucks, Fate sucks, this game system sucks, a lot of things suck, but you just learn to deal with it.
There were also some things in life you just can't hate.
"Welcome home bro!" A cheerful greeting, this time without a scornful afterthought.
Celine Luchtaine Lv. 5
HP - 100/100
REP - [60/100] (Step-Sister)
Emotions: Happy, Cheerful, Curious
I smiled at the voice, "I'm home, sis." It took about an hour of walking to get home from school, and I couldn't afford public transport. "I bought you some snacks." I gave her a bag full of cheap fruits. I felt comfortable giving her the food, because it only went rotten if I was the one eating it.
"Yay! Thanks, bro!" She gave me a hug and I patted her head. There were only two of us in this apartment, which was pretty decent if you asked me. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and a small kitchen.
The owner took some sympathy because we were orphaned, but still worked me to the bone. We paid our rent by doing odd jobs for the landowner, my sister did the man's gardening and selling cookies to the neighbors. In my case, I sold drugs.
It was… one way to keep living. The landowner had a small greenhouse on the other side of the street that secretly grew all kinds of nirvana-inducing plants. They were herbal though, couldn't be as bad as factory-made cancer sticks, right?
The one upside from this job however was that I got 10 EXP for every packet sold, the money wasn't bad either.
"Are you going to work again today?" My sister asked as we ate, "Yep." I spoke through the sour fruit in my mouth. She was the best sister you could ask for; Cute, helpful, not annoying, and most importantly: Not affected by my trait.
Somehow, she was the only person in this world who trusted me, even the guy I sold drugs for didn't fully trust me. Either she had some sort of divine immunity or simply because we were step-siblings, but it was nice. I decided that I would protect my sister from any and all harm, even if it meant that harm was going to me.
But to do that, I had to deal with this stupid [Ill-Fated] Trait.
A few days ago I researched some ways someone could deal with curses. This leads me into a rabbit hole regarding an occultist website named 'Ring of Gaea' and eventually contacting someone named Louis Cyphre, who was their spiritual specialist.
We scheduled an interview and if everything went as planned, I just had to dedicate myself to some of their studies and I'd be curse-free. Today was that day, and I had to take a long trip. Louis said he'd meet me at the Worcester Cathedral in… Worcester, which was a two hour trip by train.
Was this dangerous? Yes. Was this probably a scam? Probably. Was I going to do it? Yes.
"I need you to hold the fort, okay? If I don't come back in three days, assume the worst." I asked and Celine nodded, she didn't know the true nature of my job but she knew it was somewhat dangerous and maybe illegal. "Buy me something?" I sighed and nodded.
"I'll bring you a souvenir."
Quest Added - [Paradise Lost]
- Meet with Louis Cyphre
- (Optional) Join the Ring of Gaea
Rewards:
2000 EXP
Change Trait - [Ill-Fated]
?
Celine could only tilt her head in confusion as I threw the rotten apple across the room, screaming in frustration.
"Seventeen years! It took seventeen YEARS until I got one."
That night, my poor sister's ears were deflowered.