The Cursed blessing

Chapter-1

Darkness Meets Light

Living without a reason is tiring.

I've lived all my life like that but I don't think it has made any changes in my life. All my life I just did things because I didn't know what else to do.

My parents are not alive, I didn't even bother remembering their name and nobody said their names to me either, and none of my relatives from my mom's side or dad's side cae for me. They died the day I was born because a gate opened directly on the hospital where my mother was admitted. Apparently the gate was an over-ranked one, one of the 3 over-ranked gates to have ever appeared. There were no prior warnings, the gate just appeared and a large monster which looked like nothing the world had seen before appeared out of it.

The moment the monster made an appearance, all the beings in the world felt a sense of death and dread apparently and many died, all the newborn babies straight up died and I was the only one who was born that day to remain alive. I wished I didn't sometimes. And the monster which just disappeared, no one knows what happened to it and the association named the incident, 'The Catastrophe'.

My name is Keith and I am a hunter.

I am currently waiting in the association waiting room for them to assign me a dungeon.

I hunt the monsters that appear when a gate is formed connecting our world to the monster's plane, dungeons.

Each dungeon and hunter is ranked according to their strength From F, E, D, C, B, A, S and Over-ranked. F being the weakest and Over-Ranked being the strongest. There is no Over-ranked hunter in the world but there are many S-ranked ones.

About 40 years ago, long before I was born, gates, also termed as the doorways to hell, appeared all over the world. Countless numbers of monsters of all varieties started pouring out of all the gates. A while after that, a blue screen appeared in front of some humans who fought back and killed the monsters, they were termed as awakened humans or hunters of the monsters on the other side.

I am a B-ranked hunter.

I became a hunter to find my reason to live.

"B-class hunter Keith. Can you please report to the manager's office" The robotic voice announced from the speaker.

Why are they calling me? Does that guy want me to take the hunter evaluation again? He should learn to mind his own business.

"Is that him?"

"He's the one who goes raiding dungeons alone"

"Ugh so scary I can't even sense his mana"

"Hmph attention seeker"

I just walked past the ones who were looking at me, not caring about their comments.

I am not like others, every living being has some mana, even microorganisms have some but I have none, it was like that my whole life. The Association researched me for some of my childhood but soon stopped after finding no reasonable explanations they sent me to an orphanage. My whole life I was alone. Maybe it's because of my looks or attitude, everyone who sees me for the first time is scared. Maybe it has something to do with my birth.

Frankly, I don't care.

I walked to his office and knocked on the door.

"It's Keith," I said.

"Come in" His voice came from the other side.

I opened the door and entered his office. William Loveheart, titled as the sir of strategy and the manager of this association branch was sitting on his chair behind his desk, he wore his usual suit and looked at me with a kind smile. He is one of the few who wasn't scared by me.

In front of his desk was a young girl with bright blonde hair sitting with her back facing me, she didn't turn back to look at me but her bright and golden mana slightly repulsed me. She looked like the exact opposite of me. If I am a dark hole which sucks up everything, she is a star which produces endless light.

"This is who I talked about Rebecca" The manager said to the girl and she turned back to look at me.

The moment she froze, her eyes wide opened and a few drops of sweat appeared on her forehead.

Guess I overestimated her. But why is she blushing?

I ignored her and asked the manager, "What did you call me for?"

"This is my niece, Rebecca Loveheart."

"..."

"She just awakened all of a sudden and after evaluation she was recognised as a C-ranked hunter"

Oh I see, I get it. Every individual who has awakened will be evaluated by the association and if their rank is higher than D they have to complete or participate a set amount of dungeons without exception.

In her case a C-ranked has to complete or participate in 10 dungeon raids.

Sigh

"You can guess what I'm trying to say right?" It wasn't hard to..

"I refuse" I am better off without handicaps and in the worst case she dies, I can't look at his eyes straight ever again. So I'm better off.

"Why?"

"Cause She's weak" She may be a C-ranked hunter but a newbie without any real experience is just a hindrance.

"I'll take my leave then manager" I turn around and start to leave.

"Wait there Mister Emo"

Huh?

Did she just call me emo?

I slowly turned back to see her smirking at me, the fear she had before when she saw me was now gone.

"What did you call me?" Maybe I heard it wrong.

"What? Have you gone deaf with all your gloomy thoughts?"

… Guess awakening gave her a boost in Ego.

She needs a reality check.

"Fine I'll take her with me but…" I looked straight in her eyes to see if she showed any signs of hesitation "I'll only go on a B-ranked one"

"Fine"

… I was tricked.

Both the manager and his niece had a smirk on their face.

When did I become impulsive?

-Rebecca Loveheart-

Looking at the twitching face of the destroyer makes me very happy.

The others should have seen this, mainly that demon bitch.

I regressed my consciousness and memory back 20 years, the maximum my mana and soul could handle at that time to make sure humanity isn't destroyed in the future.

The same emo guy standing in front of me became the first human to ever reach Over-ranked status after that demon bitch put him around her finger. He did whatever she asked him to and in the end he ended up killing all the monarchs and humans just because she asked him to.

And that demon bitch is me.

More specifically that demon took over me during a raid and used me and him to do whatever it pleased.

But my ability blessing, which passively worked all those years the demon took over me slowly undid that demon's consciousness making my repressed consciousness take control over my body again but sensing my change the guy didn't even hesitate to cut my head off but luckily the ring the demon always wore was a Over-ranked item, The returnee's ring. It would send the consciousness and memory of the wearer back in time as much as they could withstand if the condition they set is fulfilled. And the bitch's condition was, 'If my current body dies' .

Therefore here I am looking at him with a victorious smirk.

I still remember this day, He ruthlessly refused me in my previous life but in this one, I'll make sure that won't happen.

And frankly I empathise with him, I was technically with him for nearly a decade so I learned a lot about him, he needed a reason his whole life, a reason to live but he never got one till that demon met him, the demon gave him exactly that, it said to live for him.

And I'll do the same, what can I do? If I have a literal shortcut to guaranteed survival while getting a super hot guy as my partner. Fuck morals I'm in.

-Keith-

What's with her? I thought it was her first dungeon. Why does she look happy and is laughing?

Her Ego must have been boosted too much. Manager should have given her the reality check she deserves sooner.

"Show me your status card" I asked her.

We are currently sitting on a bench waiting for our dungeon to be assigned and she is sitting very close to me for my liking. She just comes closer again if I get moved so I give up.

"Only If you showed me yours"

"..." I blankly stared at her.

"Fine, Fine. But you should show me yours after I show mine" That's fair.

"Fine"

"Here" she pulled out the card from her pants pocket.

I took the card from her hands and read its content.

Name: Rebecca Loveheart

Age-19

Sex-Female

Ability- Bless and Construct Creation

Evaluation- C-ranked(She just became a hunter)

Affiliation- Hunter Association

Two abilities huh, that's rare. The most ability one has ever awakened is 4. It is very rare to see someone with more than 2 abilities. But having more abilities doesn't always make one powerful.

In the end it all depends on the versatility of the skill and the proficiency of the user.

"Aren't you surprised after seeing two abilities" Tch, she is very smug.

"No"

"Ahh! Why?"

"It's nothing special" Though I'm curious about her abilities which sounds useful but it's nothing special.

"I'm sure you'll be surprised when you know what my abilities can do"

"What?"

"I can buff and heal others and make any constructs with available materials"

So she's weak when it comes to the physical side, though I shouldn't estimate now her buff may give her a boost in physical strength but I should be careful about her second ability, if she can transmute any element to make various constructs her value and danger increases a level, she should be able to manipulate any element then, what are those evaluators thinking while evaluating her? She's clearly a B-ranked by this ability alone? Wait.

I looked at the window of the manager's room and just as I expected he was looking at me with a smile.

I fell for his plans twice in just a day without even realising.

"B-ranked hunter Keith and C-ranked hunter Rebecca please report to Gate-11" The robotic voice announced.

"Check if you have all the required materials" I tell her.

"Checked!" She's so fired up. I wonder how she will feel after seeing the first monster.

"Is the 'Solo Hunter' really teaming up with someone?" That nickname makes me cringe.

"Who's that girl with him?"

"Isn't that the manager's niece?"

"Guess money can really buy anything?" Fuck your broke ass.

"They are really noisy, are you that famous here?" She doesn't seem to be fazed by the crowd. I may have underestimated her.

" And 'solo hunter'? Really?" I didn't make it.

"Rule 1: Don't be distracted" I avoid answering.

"Rule 2: Always expect the unexpected in a dungeon" I say as we both enter the large blue portal.

A bright light flashes us and the sense of being twisted soon came because of the portal.

[Individual Keith and Rebecca Loveheart entered the B-ranked dungeon, The Damned Pits]

The words suddenly appeared in our mind, no one knows why the words appear.

I look around the dungeon. It seemed to be a forest type. The sky was dark with a full moon and the air was cold.

"Hey I never got to ask, what's your status?" Is this really her first dungeon? She is very calm and doesn't seem to be afraid.

"Here" But I just handed her my status card.

"Ooh that's why you weren't surprised! You too have two abilities" She's too loud maybe it is her first time. I'll just let her learn the lesson herself. You don't shout in a dungeon.

I can sense two presentes with an average C-rank amount of mana behind us hiding in the bushes.

I may not have an ounce of mana but I can easily sense it. They are garnering their mana on their feets and they must be two-footed. They are either going to rush or jump, maybe both.

"Wait a minute" She suddenly said and crossed both of her hands forming an 'X'.

"I'll take care of these" The air around her hands became translucent and formed a pair of daggers.

*Swoosh* The two monsters came into view as one jumped high in the air and another rushed towards us from the bush. They were brown Kobalts, a species who failed to evolve into werewolves.

They are not as strong as the A-ranked monster Werewolves but they are solid C-rank without any magic.

She threw one of the daggers at the Kobalt who was falling towards us and rushed at the one coming towards us. I simply stood to see her performance. She cut down the Kobalt vertically as her dagger expanded, cutting it exactly in half and the other dager exploded sending slices of sharp winds cutting the other Kobalt into various pieces.

She's definitely not a C-rank. That broke guy was right, money can buy anything.

That guy said she just awakened? That fool, either she's really talented or he just lied. But why did he do that? There is no point.

"Did you lie about your awakening to Willaim?" That is the only possible scenario I could think of, maybe she awakened a long time ago and trained.

"No"

That was not a lie. But there is something more to it.

"Come let's just complete the dungeon and the contract has changed, you can have half of the money" Since she is this strong there is no point in getting ¾ th of the money I don't need to steal money.

"Aww you are a nice guy Keith!" She suddenly hugged my arm.

"Get off and don't call me by my name" I swat her away.

"Then what should I call you? 'Solo Hunter'?"

*Twitch* I should have stayed quiet.

I simply start walking more into the forest towards where I feel the strongest Mana in the dungeon.

"Hey! Wait for me! You never said how your Abilities work"

"My Ability, Curse works similar to your Bless except mine debuffs while yours buffs and Mimicry is self-explanatory" I explain as little as possible.

"And can I call you Keith? 'Solo Hunter' is too childish and can you explain this mimicry?"

…. Fuck this.

"I'll just show you"

-Rebecca Loveheart-

Hehehe seeing him annoyed is so funny. Acting like an annoying teenager pays off very well. It's the first time I see him annoyed, I won't lie, it's a little cute.

He seems to be getting serious now though.

"I'll just show you" He immediately disappeared, leaving an after image.

I suddenly hear a message in my head, [Individual Keith has entered the boss's domain]

Fuck he's fast, even now and tracking him is impossible as that guy has zero mana. Guess I'll have to do this the old way.

I manipulated the air around to create a platform for me to stand as I went higher to see where he was.

"Buff: Night Vision, Buff: Eagle Eye" I buffed myself to see in the dark.

I looked around and spotted dust rising nearly 10km away.

"Hooooooooooowwwwww!" I heard multiple loud howls of the Kobalts as I neared.

And when I reached the scene it was no battle, it was a massacre, his hands were morphed into two large claws which sliced through all the kobalts. It's his mimicry, he can mimic anything he sees, appearance, ability, skills anything. Though he may not be as versatile and creative, his proficiency will be the same as the one he mimicked from. For instance if he mimicked my construct creation he will have the same proficiency as me but he will lack creativity. But he can only mimic one ability once, at least that's what he thinks now, in the future he'll store all the mimicked abilities in a 'vessel' made by that demon bitch.

*ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!"

The boss of the dungeon, a Red Kobalt which is a B-ranked monster appeared as it rushed at him.

He just looked at it and said, "STOP!" His voice was slightly distorted and the red Kobalt instantly stopped.

It's his second ability, curse, though he said it is similar to my bless it's nothing alike, He can say anything that he thinks is harmful to the opponent and it will happen, if the opponent is a demon all he has to say is 'bless you' and the demon will die cause it will be blessed. Though the more powerful the opponent the harder it is to use. It was using this that he killed my uncle, though that demon bitch asked her to do so, he just asked him to 'Die' and my uncle died.

He didn't take long to kill every kobalts in the dungeon while the Red one was in the same position, it didn't even blink, more like it couldn't.

He stopped and looked at me in the air and asked, "Did you enjoy the show?"

Fuck I did.

-Keith-

"Did you enjoy the show?" I asked Rebecca who was sitting on the air platform she made while hanging her legs down.

"I did"

…okay?

"Disappear" I cursed the air platform she made.

It disappeared and she fell down, very slowly. She's manipulating the air around to make her fall slower.

"That was mean you know!"

"Cut the act. I know you are not a newbie"

"But I am" she said in a whining tone while leaning her back on the tree behind.

"Cut it!" I punched the tree behind her, my hand going right through it with an inch gap from her head.

"Huff!"

… Fuck is she crying?

She bowed her head down and her body trembled.

Why am I this emotional today?

"Hey ar-" I lifted her head to look at her face but she suddenly cupped my face with her hands.

"Wha-" I was shocked to react

"Now take this" I suddenly felt a wet and warm feeling on top of my lips. It was soft and nice. I never felt something like that before.

I was kissed.