Status Screen (2)

I mentally expanded the curse and blessing, curious as to what exactly they were supposed to do.

Cursed L-Rank - Cursed Star of Destiny (Rank 1): A curse placed on you by the creator of this world for being a child of the Nox Clan. Your very presence is a rebellion against heaven and the will of the world. 

As a child of the Nox Clan, you are marked and sentenced to death on sight if discovered by any of the 9 clan leaders or their allies.

Effect: You are a child born to revenge and death. Death and misfortune follow your every move. 

Effect: Your plans will fail mysteriously.

Effect: Your wishes will be obstructed in baffling manners.

Effect: Your enemies will win in obscure ways. 

Effect: You are not able to hide your presence or status from members of the 9 clans**

Effect: You must commit a crime or act of violence every day*. Failure to do so will reduce your stats by a rank every hour until you perish due to no vitality. As your stats reduce you will be in unimaginable pain.

Effect: The curse can only be removed by the being who created the curse or by subduing the 9 clans. 

Lionheart (0/1)

Nova (0/1)

Crimson (0/1)

Lancia (0/1)

Domare (0/1)

Isolde (0/1)

Meraki (0/1)

Mirage (0/1)

Raven (0/1)

*The number of daily crimes will increase as user rank increases.

**Regardless of whether an item or skill is used, once you are analyzed by a member of the 9 clans, your entire status sheet will be displayed to them, exposing you as a member of the Nox clan.

***As rank increases, More curse effects will be added.

"What the hell kind of bullshit is this?" I couldn't help but curse as I read the details of a curse. Any sliver of goodwill that had built up towards the Author quickly disappeared. This wasn't even on the level of a curse, this should be considered punishment or torture. 

Without even thinking too hard, I knew that the only one who could have put such a curse on me was that stupid fucking golden being. Although I had planned on figuring out how to smack that stupid Author to the ground before grinding his head beneath my heel, I hadn't actually planned on performing any villainous acts while in this world or in this body. The Author's words for me to survive as a villain had completely gone in one ear and out the other. I simply took it as if a crazy person was muttering nonsense.

After all, I clearly remembered how the original Asani Martin died. Why would I do anything to risk getting beheaded and turning into ashes by going against the heroes of this world? That would just be stupid. I had planned on quietly building my strength, gathering money, and lazing about while enjoying my life. Since I was stupidly talented in this world, I figured it would be simple enough to do. 

Now it seemed I couldn't even do such a thing since that fucking Author had used its head a bit. With this curse hanging over my head, I would have no choice but to actually become a villain. Otherwise, I would suffer unimaginable pain and torture.

Sighing in anger, I read the details of the blessing in hopes of better news.

Blessing L-Rank - Child of Night (Rank 1): A blessing placed on you by Night. As a beloved child of the Nox Clan and the last descendant of the Godfather, you are blessed by Night. As a child of Night, the Night will not allow you to perish due to curses and will embrace all that you are. 

Effect: All negative status effects will be halved under the cover of the night.

Effect: Curses that are meant to kill you will instead cause unimaginable pain that might drive you insane. (Pain will be stopped when the curse is broken)

Effect: At each Rank, remove a single effect of a curse of equivalent rank or lower. (Effects removed 0/1)

Effect: When one of the 9 clans is subdued, an additional effect of a curse of equivalent rank or lower can be removed. 

Lionheart (0/1)

Nova (0/1)

Crimson (0/1)

Lancia (0/1)

Domare (0/1)

Isolde (0/1)

Meraki (0/1)

Mirage (0/1)

Raven (0/1)

Effect: If you revive the Nox Clan to its former glory as the 10th clan - a curse of equivalent rank or lower can be removed. 

As a child of the night, your affinity to shadow magic is high

As soon as I finished rereading a simple counter popped up in my vision.

[Crimes committed: (0/1)]

[Time remaining until penalty - 6:59:37]

As I watched it, the clock continued to tick downward, a clear indication that time was passing but mentally my brain was frozen.

I quietly sat for a minute, trying to process the things I just read. 

What the hell was going on?

I felt as if I was a baby who had just been thrown into an ocean of information without a single floatie.

Two thoughts kept circling my brain as I looked at both the blessing and the curse.

Action and Reaction. Cause and Effect.

That's what this blessing and curse reminded me of. On one hand, was the Author who cursed me. On the other hand, was the Night who created a blessing to directly counteract it. Although my hatred for the Author was already cemented, it seemed I needed to also question whoever this Night was. After all, I didn't believe in people doing things simply from the goodness of their hearts. Something strong enough to give me a fighting chance against a curse of this level definitely wanted something in return or was benefiting somehow.

Instead of being comforted by the blessing, I now had a plethora of questions that I needed to start getting answers to as well as added additional problems to my plate.

What was the Nox clan?

Who was Night?

Why was there suddenly a 10th clan that wasn't mentioned in the book?

What did it take to subdue a clan?

And what the hell was considered a crime?

Other questions continued circling my head but before I could focus on anything, my stomach let out an unholy growl.

I was hungry.

Sighing once more, I gazed around the shabby studio that I was in. It seemed that in this life, I was poor. The only furniture in sight was the shabby twin bed I sat on. The only window in the room was boarded up with wooden 2x4 planks. There was a single flickering lightbulb hanging in the center of the small room, and when I walked over to the tiny white fridge, the only thing in there were 2 moldy end pieces of bread and a stick of butter.

Growl.

My stomach rumbled once more in displeasure.

Well, thinking could be done later once I had a full stomach. 

Plus I should head out and scope out my environment. With any luck, I could find some grub and commit a crime or two.

Before that though, I pulled up the blessing and curse once more.