He looked at the blue, translucent system screen hovering before him.
---
Task – Mine 100 rocks in a dungeon
Progression – 99/100
---
Now I remember.
When I first got the skill, I was too excited. Too happy.
But that feeling didn't last very long.
Just after I used the skills I had acquired, I discovered something very major.
He paused, then said in a sarcastic, dead tone,
"Those are totally useless."
All Motherly Warmth did was increase the temperature of the things he hugged by five degrees Celsius.
And Blink was even worse.
"What do you mean I can blink faster?" he said with an irritated, angered face.
He shouted in anger, "Fuck this skill!"
He forced himself to calm down.
"But I thought that was just bad luck… that those skills were useless. The new ones I would get would be overpowered — or at least useful."
He gave a hollow laugh.
"But I could not be more wrong than that."
He had completed two more tasks after that.
"And know what?" he said with an irritated, angered face. "The skills I got from doing those tasks are too… useless as hell."
What even is the use of a skill that lets you sleep well for one minute?
Or a skill that lets you peel fruits a little bit faster?
He said in a calm voice, colder now,
"That was the time I realized something very important."
His eyes darkened.
"I knew the reason why the author described it as Shittest thing, even shittier than shitty shit itself ."
A breath escaped his lips.
"Because this skill is really the most shittest shit… in this fucking shit world."
He huffed in anger and frustration.
After a few deep breaths, he forced himself to steady his mind.
"But no… it didn't end there."
His fingers tightened around the pickaxe.
"When I realized there was fucking no point in doing the tasks anymore — because it was a total waste of time — I stopped."
A chill ran down his spine.
"But that was my biggest mistake."
The penalty.
It was a nightmare.
After he failed to complete a task within the given time, he was transported somewhere else.
A white room.
No walls. No ceiling. No floor.
Just emptiness.
But it wasn't physical.
It was his consciousness.
And there, something terrible happened.
A giant orc appeared before him.
And it killed him.
Crushed him.
His bones shattered.
He felt each one break.
Blood poured from his body.
It felt completely real.
He screamed.
He screamed and screamed in pain—
Until he died.
His face twisted with fear at the memory.
He clenched his fists tightly.
"You just wait… you fucking lunatic bastard," he said with an angered face. "I will give you a pain you can't even imagine… or forget."
He took a deep breath.
Then another.
And resumed mining.
"Just one more to go," he muttered, wiping sweat from his face.
Then—
Running footsteps.
A crowd of adventurers rushed past the dungeon corridor, panicked, hurried, some injured, some bleeding.
Lucas looked up with a confused expression.
"What's happening?"
Voices overlapped.
"Run! We can't defeat it anyway!"
"We are doomed!"
"He is dead! We can't do anything!"
"If somebody finds out, we will be in deep trouble!"
Lucas frowned.
"What happened to them? They look in pretty bad shape…"
As the crowd left, another figure emerged from the deeper floors.
A man in shining armor with a gold-mixed color scheme.
Handsome face. Blonde hair. Blue eyes.
Around twenty-six.
A broken sword in his hand.
His armor was shattered in places. His body bleeding heavily.
He coughed blood as he crawled forward.
Then collapsed.
Lucas rushed toward him.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me… I am fine," the man said while coughing blood.
"But you don't look like it. You are bleeding too much."
"Don't worry about that… I will be okay. My mana will recover in a matter of time… then I can heal myself," he said with a bright smile despite his injured state.
Lucas' mind raced.
Can he hold that long?
There must be a way.
Think. Think.
Then—
An idea.
He rushed back and mined the final rock.
The 100th.
He clasped his hands briefly.
"Please… please just give me some healing-related skill."
A message popped up.
Sound.
---
You have gained skill – Relief
Description – Loa… Load… Loading
---
"Perfect," he said with a hopeful smile.
He hurried back.
"Don't worry. I will heal you."
He placed his hand on the man's chest.
"Activate skill — Relief."
Small white light particles covered the man.
"It feels better… the pain is less now. Thanks, kid."
Lucas smiled in relief.
Then—
The white particles turned black.
The man began screaming.
Coughing more blood.
The bleeding worsened.
"W-what's happening?!" Lucas said with a confused, panicked, worried face.
The man screamed.
And then—
He died.
Lucas froze.
"…What just happened?"
He shook the man.
No response.
Dead.
"But how?"
He opened the system.
---
Skill – Relief
Description – Once an old man's son was too ill. He had no way to treat him because he was too poor. They couldn't buy medicines. His son suffered daily, and the old man cried every day for being such a father. But one day it all ended. The old man gave his son soup and said it would cure all his pain. The son drank it and felt better. His pain was gone. But it didn't last long. Suddenly he started screaming in agony and died. After that, the old man cut his own neck with his two hands. The soup was not medicine but poison. It first relieves pain for a moment, then increases it many times, injuring the whole body and killing them. It is known as freedom from suffering by a moment of relief followed by suffering far greater than before, erasing all suffering.
Simplified description – Relieves all pain of the target the user touches for a brief moment, then increases all pain the target is suffering by 1.5 times. Only work on injured humans.
---
He blinked.
Blank face.
Then—
"What the fuck! Can't you tell me this before you fucki—"
He stopped.
"…Am I responsible for killing him?"
His heartbeat quickened.
"I should get out of here as soon as possible."
He rushed out in panic and haste, heading back to his inn.
What the fuck…
"I finally get one good skill… one," he hissed. "And this is what it does? Goddamn fucking trash."
He clicked his tongue, irritation boiling over.
"Skill description says 'relief.' relief from what? Ruining my life?"
A dry laugh slipped out.
"He was just running."
Silence answered him.
His jaw tightened.
"So what? It's my fault now?"
Another pause.
"I didn't even aim to kill him. I just activated it. To help him. That's all."
His breathing grew uneven.
"It's not like I stabbed him."
A bitter scoff.
"And in dungeons people die every day, right? Adventurers. Criminals. Monsters."
Another pause.
"…He would've died anyway."
The words sounded hollow.
"I got a good skill for once. Everything was finally going well."
His voice dropped, darker.
"And the first thing it does… is this."
He exhaled sharply.
"Shit skill."
A beat.
"…He stopped moving."
Silence pressed in.
"…I killed him."
The words felt strange.
Then he forced a dry laugh.
"No one saw. Right? So it doesn't matter."
He reached his inn and shut the door behind him immediately.
He took a deep breath.
"I think I am safe now… no point regretting things."
A message popped up.
---
You have completed the hidden task – Kill someone far, far, far more stronger than you
Initiating reward – Lo… Loadin… Loading
---
"What the hell is this about now?"
---
You have obtained Unique Skill – Fusion
Can't be used without a system
---
"What skill? And what with the hidden task?" he thought in confusion.
Another message appeared.
---
System founded… Oracle System…
Merging with Oracle System…
Corruption detected…
Overriding Oracle System with Fusion Skill…
Oracle System now Rebooting…
To Fusion System…
Adding Unique Skill – Fusion to the system…
Access Granted…
Initiating…
Initiating…
Initiation Completed
Reboot Completed
---
The system screen refreshed.
---
[Fusion System]
Unique skill - Unlucky Gift
Detailed Description.....
Unique Skill – Fusion
Description – Once a God of Martial Arts tried to merge good and evil, sky and ground, day and night, life and death, sun and moon, water and fire, demon and angel, earth and heaven, rich and poor. He tried to merge the very principles of existence. He tried to merge yin and yang as one to form something greater. But he failed because he did not have the cauldron — a medium. The result was his destruction… and the birth of Fusion.
Cannot be used without a system.
Simplyfied description – Can fuse two skills together to create a new skill, as long as they have compatibility. Failure results in penalty.
Penalty – Experience of death in worst possible ways. Does not affect the physical body but affects the soul and mind.
Reward – New fused skill
---
"What the—" Lucas snapped.