Chapter:10 System

The second bug-like creature was blasted back with the same result. Renko watched as it too dissolved into a cloud of dark energy. 

Renko had to admit that it was satisfying. With her cursed technique in hand, she was able to lay waste to the creatures with a blast of flintlock shrapnel. But just as she stood up to admire her accomplishment, she began to feel... strange.

"Huh?"

She felt as if her entire body was shutting down, struggling to stand, she used the nearby furniture for support. Her legs felt weak, and she collapsed to the floor. She lay there in a pool of her own blood and struggled to comprehend what was happening.

Her mind was flooded with images of her cursed technique, apparently, her body was drained of all energy, and the overwhelming fatigue that followed was overwhelming.

"What..."

She felt every muscle in her body screaming and straining as the exhaustion of using up every ounce of energy in her body began to seep out of her body. Each breath of fresh air became harder to come by, and just when she thought she had reached her limit, she realized that she was no longer able to draw breath at all.

As her thoughts became incoherent and scattered, she felt the darkness creeping in and surrounding her. She was powerless against it as she drifted off into unconsciousness. She could only manage to speak in a whisper. She felt her vision clouding over, and as her consciousness drew to a close, she could only wonder...

"Is this my end?"

With that final thought, Renko's consciousness faded away.

**********

Renko's eyes fluttered, slowly coming back into consciousness.

She glanced around the room, trying to make sense of what had just happened. As the events of the past few hours came back to her, her eyes went wide with disbelief.

"No way... that's impossible."

She raised her hand to her head, trying to stop the pounding headache that was growing in her skull.

"It was all a dream... right?"

She tried to sit up, only to wince in pain as her body ached and complained about their recent torment. Looking down, she noticed that several deep wounds and bruises covered her.

"Damn it. That's right, I got my ass kicked earlier."

With a sigh, she forced herself to stand up. It was difficult to move, every joint complaining and burning with every motion. She was still exhausted from using her cursed technique, and the pain from her wounds made her want to curl into a ball and never leave.

But she had to keep moving if only to get back some of her strength. Ignoring the screaming voice in her head, she staggered to the kitchen, where she opened the fridge and took out a bottle of ice-cold water.

"Ah... that's the stuff."

She drank the entire bottle of water in one go. As the liquid rushed through her body, she felt the pain begin to subside and her thoughts become more coherent. She raised a hand to her head, wincing as her bruises and wounds reminded her of the pain she had just endured.

It had all been real.

A small smile played upon Renko's lips as the memory of those two bug-like creatures evaporating under the power of her flintlock pistol filled her with satisfaction. But she still had a lot of questions about her curse technique.

'What else could it do?'

'Was it just the creation of firearms, or could she create other things as well?'

'Was this all that it could do?'

She took another swig of water to wash away those thoughts. She took another look at her wounds and sighed again.

"This is going to hurt,"

After muttering to herself, she headed towards the bathroom. As Renko started to clean her wounds, she noticed that most of them had already begun to heal, leaving behind painful flesh wounds that stung when she tried to clean them.

Well, at least they had stopped bleeding, glancing out the bathroom door, she saw the floor and furniture covered in blood.

'Yikes! It's gonna be a pain cleaning all that up isn't it.'

Renko groaned as she finished washing her wounds. With a final splash of disinfectant, she dried herself off with a few towels, grimacing as the towel brushed against the open wounds.

"I'll worry about the cleanup later."

She took a final look in the mirror, her bruises and cuts were slowly fading, most likely due to the awakening of cursed energy in her body.

'Sigh.'

As Renko stood there, glancing at her reflection, a wave of fatigue swept over her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, breathing in and out to try and regain some of her strength before exiting the bathroom.

"Right, that's done."

She took a few hesitant steps out of the bathroom, trying to gauge if she could still walk properly without falling to the ground.

And she could.

"That's a relief."

Renko sighed, now all she had to do was clean up the mess she made. She entered the living room, her movements slow and deliberate as she tried not to step on any of the blood stains. She looked around, trying to figure out the best way to start the cleanup. Her eyes focused on the couch, at least that thing wasn't too badly hit... right?

She plopped down on the couch, mostly naked save for the towel wrapped around her waist. As she took a look around the room, her gaze landed on the large stain that covered a good majority of the carpet.

"Oh god. I'm going to need a lot of detergents to clean that up."

Renko shuddered as she sat on the couch, letting out a long sigh.

"I am going to hate cleaning that up..."

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, a sudden thought jolted her awake,

"Crap, that system stuff."

She had almost forgotten that system stuff!

"System, activate."

[Initiate System]

[Yes] [No]

Renko hesitated for a moment before selecting 'Yes.' The screen appeared before her, and she browsed through the options.

"Status."

[Name: Renko]

[Occupation: High School Student]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 50/100]

[HP: 34/100]

[MP(CE): 11/100]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 7]

[Vitality: 9]

[Dexterity: 10]

[Spirituality: 10]

[Wisdom: 5]

[Luck: 100]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skills]

[Active]

[Innate Technique: Malevolent Arsenal(1): 005/1000]

[Cursed Energy Reinforcement(1): 01/100]

[Observation(1): 0/100]

[Passive]

[Avatar(Max): Innate]

[Cooking(1): 11/100]

[Danger Sense(1): Innate]

[Gun Mastery(1): 2/100]

[Marksmanship(1): 20/100]

[Inventory]

[1*Antique Flintlock Pistol(8/10)]

[Money: $3,500,000(Bank) and ¥120,900(On hand)]

The system activated, bringing up Renko's character sheet. She scrolled through the data with a keen eye, taking note of her attributes, skills, and, of course, her level. She let out a sigh when she saw that she was still at level one. But then, she noticed something else...

[Luck: 100]

"Huh?"

She couldn't help but feel confused. Why was her luck stat at one hundred? She wasn't blessed with any supernatural luck that would warrant such a score.

Unless...?

When that shitty celestial woman was talking about returning her luck, she was referring to this thing.

[Congratulations!]

[Luck has risen above 50]

[Perk Unlocked: Fortune's Favor

Description: Your uncanny luck has caught the attention of Fortuna herself. Your life takes on a touch of serendipity, and small strokes of luck become more frequent in your daily affairs. The winds of fortune blow in your favor, you now have a higher chance of finding rare items and resources in the world.]

'Uh, what?'

[Congratulations!]

[Luck has reached 100]

[Perk Unlocked: Destiny's Chosen

Description: You have become a living embodiment of luck, blurring the lines between chance and destiny. Critical moments in your journey are now guided by an unseen hand, ensuring favorable outcomes.]

Hold up!

What the hell was going on here?

Renko froze as she read the perks she had unlocked, her mind reeling from the revelation. She had been gifted with luck beyond comprehension, practically becoming a walking manifestation of the force itself.

'It's like I was chosen by a higher being...'

She scoffed at the thought,

'This is getting ridiculous.'

But she couldn't help but find her body shivering with excitement, and she scrolled through her skills and attributes once more.

[Name: The name by which one is called.]

[Occupation: The job one does.]

[Level: The level of a being.]

[HP: Health points. (Once someone's HP reaches zero, you die.)]

[CE: Cursed Energy.]

[Strength: Physical strength(Grip strength, lifting capacity, etc)]

[Vitality: Physical Endurance(Stamina, Regeneration, etc)]

[Dexterity: Overall Speed(Speed, Reflexes, etc)]

[Spirituality: Cursed Energy Capacity]

[Wisdom: Intellect(Learning capacity, Curse Energy Regeneration, etc.)]

[Luck: Increases the chance of drops and increases real-life luck.]

[Points: Can be spent to increase stats. Receive 5 stat points at each level.]

[Skills: List of all the skills learned.]

[Innate Technique: Malevolent Arsenal(1): 010/1000

Description: An Innate Cursed Technique that, at its fundamental level, allows the user to create cursed tools (firearms) using cursed energy. 

At level 1: Create ancient firearms from muskets to flintlock pistols along with their respective ammunition. Each shot is charged with curse energy which allows the user to exorcise curse spirits and at the same time the projectiles are materialized in the real world and therefore, can harm normal humans too.]

[Cursed Energy Reinforcement(1): 0/100

Description: With Cursed Energy Reinforcement, the practitioner can temporarily augment their strength, speed, or resilience through the manipulation of cursed energy. An eerie blue radiance enveloping their limbs signifies the fusion of the cursed energy with the physical body, allowing for feats beyond ordinary human capabilities.

- Increase Strength Stat by 10%

- Increase Vitality Stat by 10%

- Increase Dexterity Stat by 10%]

[Observation(1)

Description: A skill to observe objects, situations, events, people, etc.]

[Avatar(Max): Innate

Description: Allows the user's physical and spiritual capabilities to be quantified, allowing the user to live the real world like a game.]

[Cooking(1): 11/100

Description: Embarking on the culinary journey. A novice cook ventures into the world of flavors with Cooking. At this basic level, the practitioner has mastered the art of barely being able to cook an omelet without turning the kitchen into a battlefield.]

[Danger Sense(1): Innate

Description: The primal instincts of survival, a subtle yet unmistakable awareness, alerting the individual to imminent threats and potential dangers in their surroundings.]

[Firearms Mastery(1): 2/100

Description: Allows the user to freely handle firearms.

- A 10% increase in attack damage with weapons categorized as firearms.]

[Marksmanship(1): 20/100]

Description: Increase precision and accuracy with ranged weapons.

- A 10% increase in accuracy when firing a firearm.

- A 0.5% increase in chances of landing a critical hit.

- Critical Damage +20%]

Renko's eyes bulged as she took note of the skills she had unlocked. She could create cursed firearms, and the shots had a chance of dealing critical damage. The projectiles could harm spirits and humans alike. But there was something else.

The system called her cooking skills a battle and that she mastered the art of making omelets "without turning the kitchen into a battlefield."

What?

She had to give credit where it was due, but there was no way her cooking skill was that horrible, right?

... right?

Sighing again, she turned to look at the clock, which was thankfully undamaged, and her eyes bulged at the sight,

[02:40 AM]

'How is it already so late?!'

She gasped, quickly glancing around her living room, making note of all the blood, dirt, and debris that littered it.

'Crap, how long did that shitty masochist take!?'

She felt panic and helplessness as she took in the state of her home. 

'No point in cleaning up now, might as well get some shut eyes and do the chores tomorrow.'

Renko walked over to the second bedroom, retrieved a futon from the shelves, carefully spread it over the floor, and promptly fell asleep.