Under the bright sunlight, the city of Argenta thrived. The people went about their business, heroes conquered dungeons.
Under this same sky, an old man was listening to the rambling of a slightly crazed, homeless young man.
"And then I saw the most beautiful woman I have laid my eyes on in that same dark space. Guess what, she was the one who sent me back." Lucius said, smiling like a creep.
The elderly man was listening to his story with a smile on his face. The wooden bench creaked from time to time under their weight, and even passersby wondered why the old man was talking to a homeless person.
The old man wore a nightgown, wrinkles folding on his face as he smiled.
Meanwhile, the young man beside him looked feral—dirt was clustered in his dark hair, and dried mud stuck to his clothes and skin.
"Young man, you're telling me that a goddess sent you back to life. But you really do look like you crawled out of a grave." The old man chuckled.
"I actually died. Did I mention to you that the goddess was the most beautiful woman I've seen?" Lucius stared again, gazing at the empty road in front of them.
"You did, young man." The old man stood up from the bench, grabbing a walking stick that rested beside him.
"You're going already?" Lucius asked, and the elderly man nodded, still with a smile.
"It was great listening to your story, young man." The man turned to cross the road, and Lucius sighed.
"It was nice knowing you too." He mumbled.
Crash!
In that moment, a car ran into the man, sending his body flying forward. The car itself crashed into another, causing an explosion ahead of him.
[Quest completed!]
[Quest info: Cause the death of a person by getting close to them.]
[Rewards: +1 level, mana unlocked, Active skill unlocked.]
[All basic quests completed. Status screen activated, all features available.]
[You have earned a title, Villain. All heartless, evil acts will be rewarded randomly.]
[You're doing a great job.]
Seeing the text under the quest screen, Lucius couldn't help but be furious.
He had already arrived back on Earth a week ago. He couldn't use mana or any skill, even with him being awakened now.
And the system had been giving him a bunch of ridiculously disgusting quests just to awaken the skills under his brand.
"This better be worth it." Lucius mumbled, opening his system screen.
The screams of people reached his ears, and soon sirens were blaring. People wearing firemen clothing came to put out the flames.
Lucius looked out of place in the middle of this chaos as he stared at the air in front of him while rubbing his hands together.
[SYSTEM SCREEN]
Name: Lucius Denero
Title(s): The Villain, Crazy devil
Race: Human (Altered)
Level: 5
Brand: Null
Alignment: [Undefined]
Mana: 50/50
Stats—
Strength: 7
Agility: 10
Endurance: 21
Vitality: 2
Intelligence: 12
Willpower: 25
Luck: 0
Free points: 5
(Note: Stats above 70 enter Transcendent Threshold.)
{Attributes} {Sin gauge} {Skills} {Inventory}
{Quests}
[Attributes: Host of ruin, ]
[Host of Ruin (Divine): A young kid came into contact with a strange entity. This caused him to be cursed to experience the worst things life had to offer. He would bring ruin to himself, as he will to others.
User can feel negative emotions and hear negative thoughts.]
[??? (???): ???]
[Skills]
'Better be good.' He leaned forward, loading the section on his screen.
[Devour (Active). SSS: The user can devour a target upon contact to steal their memories.
Has a 100% chance to steal memories. 50% chance to steal stats, 10% chance to steal abilities.]
[-NEW- Abyssal Flames (Active). SSS: Flames from the land of souls, the abyss. Hotter than any normal flame. Targets have a 5% chance of becoming undead.
Undead creatures are bound to their masters.]
[+2 more skills]
"Heh. Hehehe, hehehehehe." Lucius couldn't help but find himself chuckling as he went through his new abilities.
[You're creeping the passersby]
"Shut up and let me enjoy myself. Wait, who the hell's fault is it that I'm like this now, huh?" He asked, looking at midair.
[...]
The people around him couldn't help but look at him with obvious disgust. There was an accident and the homeless man was laughing to himself.
He wasn't by any means surprised to see that there was a curse on him. According to the description, a curse was placed on him because he came into contact with something.
Throughout the one week he was here, he had gone through almost all routes. The system made him do so many disgusting things.
There was a time where he was passing by a farm, just to reminisce, and the system gave him a quest at that moment.
[Quest issued: Piss on the freshly watered plants.]
"YOU BASTARD! YOU SEE THAT I JUST WATERED THEM!"
The man had dogs chase him for miles. If he wasn't awakened, he probably would've been bitten.
There was also another time where he had to crash a random party he happened to stumble upon.
[Crash the party.]
[Random rewards]
[Penalty: Random stomach cramps every day for a month]
At the end, he dragged a bunch of skunks into the party and threw their favorite snacks that he stole from a nearby store.
This earned him a very annoying title: Crazy Devil.
[System Notice: The legend of the Crazy Devil has spread far and wide.]
[You're getting famous!]
Lucius ignored the system's message. Now that he was done with ridiculous quests like these, it was time to finally test his abilities.
There were two skills that he hadn't checked because he already knew about them. He was sure that they were both usable now that he could use mana.
He located his skill tab, reaching the bottom section.
[Reaper's Sight (Active). Unranked: You can see the level of sins committed by a person in the form of a red aura.]
[Soul Eater (Active). Unranked: Your body has been heavily altered. You have to absorb the power of souls to stay alive.
Current days left: 2 days.]
'Two more days till it finishes, huh?' he wondered.
Currently, he was at a deserted street in the Outlands.
The Outlands weren't part of Argenta; it was an area beyond the major parts, underdeveloped. He could test his skill here while staying low-key.
"Add three points to Strength and two points to Agility." He mumbled, looking at the top of a building.
[+3 Strength]
[+2 Agility]
Lucius suddenly felt his body getting stronger, and he leapt up, reaching the top of the single-storey building in one leap.
He activated Reaper's Sight, seeing various red auras in the environment.
Lucius frowned as his eyes caught a massive red aura coming from one direction. He couldn't help but smile, leaping from building to building toward the place.