The Curse

The exam ended, and the students left their virtual cabinets, gathering in the grand hall of the academy. However, confusion spread when the academy didn't announce the results in time.

"Why is it taking so long?" Julian asked, annoyed. "How long are we going to stay here for?" The other students, who couldn't sit still for more than a few minutes before wanting to kill themselves, shared his annoyance.

"It seems," Miss Jena furrowed her brows. "The exam hasn't ended for everyone; someone is still taking the exam."

"What?"

"How can that be? Didn't the exam only last for three hours?"

"Is it some sort of bug? That's not fair!"

The hall grew chaotic as all of the one-hundred-fifty students talked at once. They felt betrayed by the fact that someone had more time to score than them.

"Silence!" Mr. Heartwrath arrived with a bald older man. As soon as they appeared, all students closed their mouths. It wasn't because of Mr. Heartwrath, but because of the man standing next to him.

Even though Mr. Heartwrath towered the man with a thin frame, their auras were vastly different. The man looked to be in his sixties with a beard mottled with white, the wrinkles under his eyes giving him an ambiance of wisdom.

"Principal!" Miss Jena bowed. Even though this man was her father, their relationship was still professional in public.

Her father smiled and waved his hand before taking the stage. His magnetic voice rang in the grand hall after he let out a faint cough to clear his throat.

"It's the first time you take this exam, so, understandably, it's the first time you witness such a case. The exam format encourages competition as you have all read the instructions. A stealth-class can take a long time to clear floor one, but easily finish floor too."

The principal waved his hand, and several pictures appeared on the giant screen behind them. They were pictures of every floor, and the classes needed to finish them quickly.

"Thus, the student would finish at different times. We reward everyone with a ticket that increases their time by ten minutes. Usually, that means the results will be delayed by ten minutes, twenty if someone is a dual-classer."

"Sir, you mean..." Mr. Heartwrath looked at the clock with a shocked expression. It was a bit over an hour since the end of the exam for most students.

"That's right, this time, a single student was the first to finish several floors!" The principal grinned with an unusual excited expression. "That student not only finished seven floors, he even finished them quickly!"

The students began to look around, looking for the missing student who was still taking the exam. However, they couldn't find out with so many people here.

"The game will announce the result in a few minutes after that student's time is done. Of course, I simply calculated the extra time to know how many floors he finished; he might have finished even more than this."

After saying that, the principal went silent and waited. The rest of the students felt their skins crawl. They were going to school with a monster, a mighty hidden dragon, and they had no idea.

Seventy minutes after the exam was over, as the sky was getting darker, the screen finally turned bright, and rows of words appeared. Every student snapped their head in its way with great zeal to know the identity of the abnormal student.

[This exam is over. The system is calculating the scores of every student. adding them to their class battles scores, establishing several rankings, creating a list...]

After that, three columns appeared. Ranks and scores of the Class Battles, the Ascension of Immortals, and the Final Ranking. The first place of all three was seized by the same name, shocking every student and teacher in the academy.

"Heavens!" A teacher of another class exclaimed. "It's him!" He gasped in a shocked manner. "Wait," He then frowned. "Who the hell is Nikolai Yaran?"

***

His phone vibrated in his pocket as Nikolai left the academy. An email telling him he was the first ranker arrived. As he left the ancient gates of the Rohan Academy, he read through the notifications in his system.

[Fate has been stolen! You obtained 20 Fate Points.]

[Fate Points: 37.]

After subtracting 7 points he used in the Virtual Realm, Nikolai ended with 37 points. That was a small distance away from the 49 Points he needed to awaken his bloodline, but his stats were nowhere near enough.

Inside, Nikolai wanted to step over everyone who looked down on him. However, he had more important things to do. He went to Hunters Street and took a detour from there.

When he entered the workshop, he heard mumbling sounds like that of an evil ghost. He found the genius alchemist sitting with a pile of books beside him. Nikolai smiled and sat beside him, startling the alchemist.

"Oh, it's boss." Sergio sighed. "You should've knocked. What would you do if I had a woman over?"

"You're too young for that." Nikolai frowned. "Besides, if you do something like that here, you're fired."

"Ha, ha, ha," Sergio laughed dryly. "I'm kidding, boss! Anyway, I've done what you asked. I've adjusted the portions of the formula to suit the abdomen instead of the head."

"Good, are you ready?"

"What, now?!" Sergio gaped. "Boss, I'm still not familiar with the process. My success rate will be 1:5! We only have one set of materials!"

"Don't worry; I'm quite lucky." Nikolai smiled. "Come on, take out the materials."

"Boss, even the heavens look down on arrogance. Let me have two more, no, one more day! I'll raise that success rate by 10!"

'A 30% chance is not a lot different than 20%, but the fact he can do that in a day is monstrous.'

Sergio went on to convince Nikolai, but he didn't know that Nikolai had very little time. Madness will use the curse in less than a week, and there will be no escape then.

Defeated and pressured, Sergio took out his cauldron and materials. He lit up the flames and controlled them using his mana. As the metal turned warm, he started pouring the materials Nikolai brought one after the other.

[The chosen event: Sergio's success in brewing the potion.]

[Probability: 25%]

[Fate Points invested: 3.]

[New Probability: 100%]

[Fate Points: 34.]

[Manipulate Probability]

Nikolai wouldn't take any chances with this potion, so he made sure the probability was 100%. Sergio worked with laser-like focus despite his protests, and to Nikolai's amazement, he had a 1:4 success rate. This young man underestimated himself.

The process took half an hour, and by the end of it, Sergio was sweating. As he placed the final material, the skull's refined power he made, the potion began glowing.

"A success?!" Sergio was shocked and turned to Nikolai as if he was a descended god. "Boss, what kind of luck do you have exactly?"

"Shut up and put it in a vial." Nikolai started undressing. Sergio rushed ahead to place the potion in the vial. As Nikolai lay down on the bed, Sergio looked at the curse with dread.

"Seeing it up close, it's gruesome..." Sergio muttered.

"Hurry up." Nikolai frowned. Sergio nodded and poured the vial on his abdomen, starting the torture.

As soon as the liquid came in contact with his body, Nikolai felt like it was on fire. He gritted his teeth and didn't let out a single scream.

"Hold me down!" Nikolai shouted, and Sergio hurried to restrain his hands. Nikolai fought the urge to scratch away his skin as the curse and potion collided.