Chapter 138 137. ??? (Cursed) Activated.
"Ha! If all of you humans have 'only' reached this level, I'll be able to kill an entire army by myself." He scoffed and said while pointing at the dead Orc warrior chief.
"!" Quinn opened his eyes wide and stared at the kid's bold remark in disbelief, but his couldn't find any words to deny it.
-'That's a Rank-S monster!' Quinn roared, inwardly.
"Now, what will you do? My friend recently went back to his home, so I'm in a pretty bad mood, you better answer fast." He said with a nonchalant expression.
"O-okay! You can make a contract with those conditions!" Quinn agreed because he had nothing to lose in the deal anyway.
"Hmm, hmm." The kid nodded his head in satisfaction.
".... Um, so? Do I have to drink your blood?" Quinn asked as he found the strength to stand back up.
"....." The kid covered his upper body with his hands and stared at Quinn in pure disgust written on his face.
"Wh-what? What's with that look? I heard that's how you demons turn us humans into 'fiends,' what's with that face!?" Quinn roared with a flushed face.
"What the f**k is wrong with you old man? We're making a 'contract,' where the f**k did blood come from?" the kid..... He asked in disgust.
"Wh-what? Don't curse! Kids should not curse like that!" Quinn scolded.
"I'm sorry old geezer." The kid sincerely apologized with a scoff.
"O-old geezer?" Quinn mumbled.
"Then, f**k off and return next time!" The kid cursed again with a smug grin.
"Y-y-you!" Quinn looked at him in disbelief.
"Don't forgot to bring a contract with you next time, this place, unsurprisingly, doesn't have any shops." He said with a wide grin.
"Ha." Quinn scoffed and rolled his eyes.
***
Two years later.
Quinn was 83 years old, and today was the day he was supposed to meet the little devil whom he had made a deal with. The Eye, who had been keeping an eye on the living world, particularly on Quinn because it was bound to him, 'recovered' some of its feelings, and its 'hatred' towards Quinn grew because it realized he was an hypocrite who was taking care of a 5-year-old kid after abandoning an 8-year-old child who begged for his help.
'Recovered' was a word that the Eye thought would be appropriate because it 'felt' like that was correct way of describing.
Quinn became comfortable around the kid named 'Eshwar' after a few frequent visits; Eshwar's introduction was one of the incidents where the Eye felt its feelings 'recover.' After Quinn became comfortable around Eshwar, he too became comfortable enough to 'revert' back to his human form in front of Quinn, who was initially surprised, and now, he just thinks of Eshwar as an oddity, but nothing more.
"Where is he?" Quinn mumbled as he looked around in search of Eshwar after he arrived in sector one's middle area, Quinn who was not strong enough would simply sneak in and him sneaking into the sector one was limited until the middle region from where he would follow Eshwar if he wanted to go into the core of sector one.
SHWOOSH
CRUNCH (5x)
"Yo, old geezer, you're here!" Quinn was startled by the sudden sounds when a 3-and-a-half-foot tall white haired handsome kid hopped off a massive tree next to Quinn.
"Geez, you scared the 'beep' out of me." Quinn said.
"Old geezer, I'm an expert in curses, so speak comfortably! And what do you mean 'beep?' if you don't want to curse then don't, but don't add filters, okay?" Eshwar asked with a scoff.
"Alright, but you should not curs...." Quinn, who was nagging was cut short by Eshwar.
"Oh! By the way, I like 'f**k,' 'f**king,' and things that include 'f**k' in general!" Eshwar said with a wide grin.
"You damn..."
*
"So that's why you're so weak!" Eshwar exclaimed in shock.
They were now discussing the system, awakening, and heroes who protect the human domain, but Quinn winced when he heard Eshwar's words because, while he was definitely weaker than Eshwar, he was one of the strongest humans and a supporter of the human domain capable of dealing with a Rank-S monster after he awakened his second trait.
"I'm not weak! You're just absurdly strong." Quinn said.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you want something else to help you to get stronger? Now, I know why you are so weak." Eshwar just ignored Quinn and clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Look at me, I got stronger all by myself!" Eshwar said as he looked up with a proud face.
CLAP (5x)
"Wow." Quinn clapped and said, sarcastically.
"Hahaha! Say your wish, weak one." Eshwar pointed his index finger at Quinn and laughed.
***
A few years later, Eshwar turned 14, was 5 and a half foot tall and awakened the system, which suddenly made him weaker than before, but he still awakened at Rank-C, which could be considered one of the best ranks one could awaken at, because absolutely everyone had to start from lower rank no matter how strong they were, but there was never a case where one got weaker after awakening, so Eshwar was just an oddity who defied the logics set by the system.
"Old geezer, take me to the human domain, I can't survive in core of sector one if I'm this weak." Eshwar grumbled in frustration and stomped his feet on the ground as he walked in front of Quinn, who had just arrived.
"Hmm, you seriously got weaker...." Quinn mumbled as he scratched his chin.
*
"...Wha?" Quinn's mouth was hung open in disbelief as he stared at Eshwar. Eshwar was now covered in dark green and dark red monsters blood from head to toe, having slaughtered all the monsters that stood in his way as he walked out of sector one, and he had slaughtered around 500 monsters on his way.
-'Every single one of them are Rank-A!!' Quinn was shocked beyond belief and he was sure he saw 'Rank-C' on Eshwar's status window.
"You, are you sure you got weaker?" Quinn mumbled out in disbelief, involuntarily.
"Of course, can't you look at the galls of this weaklings jumping at me? They should have made way when their 'King' is walking ou...ou.....out...out....ou...out...." Eshwar's voice was being heard, but it abruptly repeated itself like a broken CD record to the Eye, who was staring at them with an apathetic expressionless expression.
'What?' The Eye looked around the pitch black space in disbelief, everything looked glitched.
Everything around the Eye began to glitch, everything became blocks, strips, streaks, pixels and space twisted with many colours, its 'instincts' which it 'recovered' as it observed Eshwar were screaming and a faint memory of a white-haired man running on a thick blanket of snow flashed in its head and the Eye began to get 'scared' of that ominous feeling, that screaming instinct meant danger and that danger was never aimed at 'him.'
(AN: memory is from the chapter 01 'The Fall')
'!' The Eye held it head because it suddenly felt many emotions and memories forced themselves into 'him.'
[Trait: ??? (Cursed) activated.]
A glitched system notification appeared in front of him, but he didn't have time to look at it, and when he forced himself to look at it, he felt like all of his emotions had just recovered turn number.
[Party member 'Anuke' has died.]