Before Damien could even utter a single word, a very devastating slap landed on his cheek with a sharp crack that echoed through the corridor. Damien sighed with his face still tilted in the direction of that quite painful slap, a red mark already forming on his pale skin.
'I remember her now from my previous life. She was a noble, a defective mage who had what others perceived as a curse on her, she had a Lucky Lecher.' Damien thought, his blood-red eyes studying her trembling form through the veil of his disheveled hair.
The curse that made every accidental touch trigger unwanted desire in those around her—a burden that had destroyed her reputation and left her branded as untouchable.
'Tch… how adorably inconvenient' Damien sighed as he lifted his head to face her, brushing a strand of midnight-black hair from his eyes with deliberate slowness.
'Here it comes, the insults.' Daisy's mind raced as she shut her eyes tight, her delicate hands trembling, waiting for Damien to insult her with something like,
"How is that my fault?" they always say.
"Control your filthy curse, you wretched thing.". She had received many insults from nobles and commoners alike because of her curse, each word cutting deeper than the last, carving scars into her already wounded soul.
Damien just scrutinized her from head to toe with calculating crimson eyes that seemed to pierce through her very being. Then, unexpectedly, he sighed again, the sound carrying an odd mixture of weariness and dark amusement.
"I'll take that slap as punishment for trespassing your privacy. If you don't mind, I need to rest in my room now" he began to walk past her, his footsteps echoing softly on the cold stone floor.
Daisy's eyes flew open in shock. 'He... he didn't insult me? He didn't call me a cursed whore or a walking plague?' For the first time in years, someone had witnessed her curse activate and responded with neither lust nor loathing.
But just before Damien completely passed her, he whispered something to her…
"If you ever call me little insect again, I'll give you a death that has never existed in this world before." Damien whispered, his voice husky and calm yet carrying the promise of unspeakable horrors as he completely walked past her, leaving behind an aura of quiet menace that seemed to chill the very air.
Daisy stood frozen in fear, no, more like she was terrified to her very core. Something primal in her knew that he wasn't joking about what he said just now—every instinct screamed that this man was capable of delivering on such a dark promise.
Damien finally arrived at the room that Max took him to. It was big but was probably the most dirtiest room he'd ever seen in his life. There were spider webs hanging from every corner like tattered curtains, cockroaches scuttling across the wooden floor, and rats running across the room with bold confidence. At this rate, he'd prefer the small confined orphanage room that he used to sleep in—at least that had been clean.
"Well, looks like you got a lot of cleaning to do. I'll leave you to it" Max said tapping him on the shoulder as he turned to leave, a smirk playing on his weathered face, but before he left…
"Oh, and what you did back there with Daisy, it was very manly of you Phoenix" Max said, giving him a thumbs up with a wink as he left the room with heavy footsteps echoing down the hall.
Damien sighed as he sat on the creaking bed, dust particles floating in the moonlight streaming through the grimy window. Plan one was successful, he had finally gotten into a guild. The second would be knowing what his new bonded grimoire can really do.
"Oh yes, I remember after defeating Anita von Britton, I had a few unread messages. Open status window" Damien said, his voice cutting through the silence. And immediately,
DING!
[SYSTEM STATS INITIALIZED]
[Grimoire Rank: SSS-Class]
[Basic Information:]
- Name: Damien
- Rank: E
- Level: 50
- Experience Points: 12,000/12,000
- Health Points: 2,000/2,000
- Mana Points: 200/200
[Status Attributes:]
- Strength: 60
- Agility: 40
- Intelligence: 35
- Vitality: 50
- Defense: 30
- Luck: 15
[Magic Attribute:]
- Chaos Magic [UNIQUE]
[Equipment:]
- Weapon: Avarice; One of the Seven Deadly Sins' Legendary Swords
- Gear 1: Can cut through Elemental Magic.
- Phase 1: Compulsion; Allows the user to bend weaker wills to their command (Mana Cost: 30 MP)
- Phase 2: Black Flash. (Mana Cost: 90)
[Skills:]
- Gluttony: Enables the user to devour or absorb enemy attacks, nullifying or significantly reducing their effects (Mana Cost: 90 MP)
- Ice Dragon Roar: Releases a devastating ice magic (Mana Cost: 1000 MP)
"Whoa, all my stats increased just with that one duel, even my Mana multiplied exponentially. This is interesting. I even got a new skill, Black Flash" Damien muttered, his eyes gleaming with dark curiosity as he stared at the floating text.
He didn't know what it could actually do but he just couldn't wait to try it out, to unleash whatever power lay dormant within that mysterious ability. But among all of the surprises, the one that caught his eyes the most was…
"Ice Dragon Roar? Isn't that Anita's skill". Damien's eyes suddenly widened in realization that he just absorbed her skill with gluttony during the last clash, the moment when their powers collided in that final devastating exchange.
"Even when I'm seeing it"… Damien gazed at the skill again, disbelief and wonder written across his sharp features.
- Gluttony: Enables the user to devour or absorb enemy attacks, nullifying or significantly reducing their effects (Mana Cost: 90 MP)
"I still can't believe it. I could actually absorb and use people's Magic skills no matter the element, as far as I use Gluttony? This is better than I thought." Damien said to himself, a predatory smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he realized the true implications. This particular skill will be the main key to his revenge and becoming the next Sorcerer King.
Then all of a sudden, the system started glitching uncontrollably, the text fragmenting and distorting before his eyes.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Damien suddenly screamed as he knelt to the ground, clutching the floor with desperate fingers. He could feel this immense insatiable hunger erupting from within him, like a beast clawing at his insides, demanding to be fed. But only that it wasn't hunger for food, it was hunger for blood.
"What… what is happening to me!!" His eyes started glowing red with an immense malevolent red aura erupting from within him like hellfire, painting the dirty room in crimson light. Immediately two sharp fangs came out from his upper teeth, gleaming like ivory daggers thirsty for flesh.
DING!
A system notification chimed with urgent intensity.
[URGENT QUEST NOTIFICATION]
[Quest Title: Feed the Gluttony]
Quest Description: The Gluttony within you has awakened and demands tribute. Consume 100 souls to sate its insatiable hunger and maintain your sanity.
[Time Limit: 7 Hours]
[Rewards:]
- 3,000 EXP
- Unlock Gear 2: Avarice's Hidden Power
[Penalty for Failure:]
- Complete Berserker State (Permanent)
- Loss of Rational Thought
- Uncontrollable Bloodlust
[Accept: Yes/No]
"Damn it! It's not like I have a choice..." Damien snarled through gritted fangs, his fists clenching so tightly that his nails drew blood from his palms.
" I Accept!" Damien yelled and as soon as he said that, the crushing pain stopped like a switch being flipped, leaving him gasping on the floor, together with the overly obsessive urge to kill anyone or anything he lays eyes upon fading to a manageable whisper.
"Hah... what the hell was that!" Damien said in confusion with his fist clenched together in barely contained anger, cold sweat beading on his forehead. If he knew Gluttony had this kind of drawback effects, he wouldn't have activated it so carelessly. Slowly Damien stood to his feet on trembling legs, still feeling the lingering effects of whatever dark transformation had just tried to claim him.
"Where am I supposed to get hundred souls now" Damien thought in confusion, running a hand through his disheveled dark hair, then a sudden realization struck him.
In the quest, it never said anything about human souls which means any other souls is acceptable and he just happened to know where to get it thanks to the forbidden knowledge of his previous life.
"Alright then," Damien said as he slowly stood up, cold determination flickering in his red-tinged eyes. He had already wasted thirty minutes of his precious time and the countdown to the quest was already ticking away like a death sentence.
[Countdown: 6 Hours, 29 min]
He looked by his left and saw a black coat that had a hood hanging on a rusty nail, just the perfect disguise he needed. He put it on after dusting it off, the fabric settling around his shoulders like a dark shroud.
He contemplated moving down the stairs but he could hear the other guild members still partying or whatever they were doing, their raucous laughter echoing through the building. So he opened his window and jumped, leaping through the night and landing silently on the cobblestone below.
Damien started walking, but then, something prickled at the edge of his awareness—the unmistakable sensation of being watched. He immediately turned back to his guild building but he could see no one lurking in the shadows. With a dismissive sigh, he started running forward, his boots echoing against the empty streets.
"Where do you think our newest Phoenix is heading at this hour, Captain?" Eric asked, his voice carrying a note of curiosity as he stepped back from the window.
"Hell if I know!" Steffen replied nonchalantly, sipping on his cigarette, smoke curling into the night air.
"What did you say his level was again during the examination?" Steffen asked, flicking ash into the night air.
"He is currently level 50" Eric said, though his brow furrowed with troubled confusion. Eric's magic attribute is to see other people's stats and magic skills, but something about Damien defied easy categorization.
"I see... that puts him on par with a first-circle mage, at minimum. But then, how the hell is he this strong?" the captain said, but Eric just frowned, dark thoughts swirling in his mind like storm clouds.
'To be frankly speaking, the level I saw back then, in the magic knight selection exam, the time he used that mysterious skill against Anita von Britton, it was 5001, the same level equivalent to that of a captain's strength. Hmmm… Perhaps a glitch or something?' Eric thought in confusion, but deep down he suspected there was more to Damien than met the eye.
Damien finally arrived at a magic teleportation pavement where a single fourth-circle mage sat stationed at the control podium, his robes marking him as official transportation authority.
"I would like to be teleported to the mist village" Damien announced, his face still shrouded within his hood's shadow.
The mage looked up with the expression of someone whose evening had just been interrupted by something unpleasant.
"Who the hell are you, kid?" the mage asked, scrutinizing every inch of his body with obvious disdain and growing irritation.
'Judging by his ragged clothing, he must be a commoner' the mage thought with disgust.
"Tsk, Go back to whatever hovel you crawled out from, whelp. This isn't public transportation made for some filthy commoner" the mage said as he turned around dismissively, waving his hand like he was shooing away a bothersome insect.
'Tsk, I don't have time for this' Damien sighed. He was running out of time and even worse, since he stood here, he had been fighting the overwhelming urge of ripping this arrogant mage apart. He could hear his pulse, his heartbeat and the blood flowing in his veins, and for some reason to Damien, he wanted to kill him and suck him dry.
"You mistake my intentions, mage" Damien said as he took off his hood and brought out his silver wing badge, the metal gleaming in the moon light like a fallen star.
"It wasn't a request. It was an order" Damien said as his aura started flaring up like dark flames, malevolent energy radiating from his form in waves that made the very air shimmer with menace.
As soon as the mage saw Damien's face clearly for the first time, his blood froze in his veins as bone-deep shivers ran down his spine like icy fingers.
'A Phoenix? What the hell is a Phoenix doing here at this time of night?' the mage thought, terror creeping into his features as recognition dawned.
"Y-yes sir!" the mage said as he immediately saluted by hitting his right hand to his chest with such force it was audible.
'This Phoenix badge carries more authority than I anticipated' Damien thought with dark satisfaction.
"But sir," the mage ventured hesitantly, curiosity warring with his obvious fear, "if I may ask... why Mist Village? It's nothing but a backwater settlement, especially at this time of night."
Damien's lips curved in what might have been a smile, if smiles could carry such dark promise.
"Because," he said, his crimson eyes gleaming with anticipation, "I'm going to prevent a Dungeon Break."