A second’s miscalculation could determine win and loss, Ruzen was well aware of that. His steps moved before his mind could propose a plan, taking him towards the complex on the left, which was multi-storied and taller than any other.
A shadow like ‘being’ with glaring red dots for eyes hovered by his side, recording all his expressions and minor movement with ease.
The competition had begun and throughout the protected lands, the competitors were being broadcasted as they took action.
Ruzen was the first one to start, so his identity was revealed to all viewers who were watching the competition with rapt attention.
Ruzen’s master was one of them.
He’Da at present sat at the back of the hall as a loud mob of locals cheered and howled around him. Although proper manners indicated a person’s status, even the most important of identities looked ill at ease with excitement.
Everyone had heard.
They had heard of this new fresh arrival, a ‘keeper’ who as per rumor destroyed the stone when being tested. And those stones weren’t so easy to destroy. One had to know that even the most influential of men couldn’t do what that ‘keeper’ had done.
There were even words floating round that he wasn’t a local and had been brought in by the Blue robes when they went out for a hunt. Some said, that he was smuggled in for another purpose which was covered by the higher ups to avoid dirt being thrown their way. Some expected great changes to come now that such a strong cursed one had arrived.
Cursed ones were rare and each one was known by name because they weren’t many. There was one cursed one born for a million of other species. But due their history and heritage, they were seen as a bad omen in most provinces. Of course, in Protected lands of Manjo, such customs weren’t popular and cursed ones were actually looked up to, but despite what everyone thought, there was still a profound gap between a Keeper and a regular Cursed one. A keeper was seen as ‘tamed’ and were considered as more ‘friendly’ but those of other divisions were seen as impulsive and threatening.
Alas, a keeper wasn’t a keeper until they had a ghost/god/human by their side, and most of the time a ghost was one to take in a keeper as per requirement. However, it was a question whether they had the influence and status for that keeper to be seen as tamed. Because if a Ghost was unable to deal with his/her keeper, the said keeper was seen as rogue and the ghost’s name would be in ruins.
He’Da was not afraid of what others were thinking. He already knew that his disciple was going to be the keeper of the King, but the locals were still unaware and to them it was exciting to see which ghost would pick Ruzen up and what skills he had. If he was too powerful, wouldn’t the ghosts feel threatened by him instead? So even if he didn’t want to, he would end up changing divisions.
All sorts of whispers floated in the air these days and in the last few hours many had already predicted that this entire set up was leading somewhere they could only watch from afar.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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He’Da was sure his disciple would do good, but it was always advantageous to have a look at other kids who were not any less prepared.
On Ruzen’s side, he was surrounded by other contestants who had already focused on targeting him and blocking his path towards his room.
One was a blond female with sharp stare, the other was a floral patterned bun girl, and backing them were four males with subtle identities shadowed by hints of hidden malice.
These six people were only the beginning, because Ruzen had to stop his running feet due to a strange sensation racing inside his body. He turned to look backwards and as per his instincts, he was met with tens of other participants, all waiting to capture him.
The competition did not have many set of rules, one just need to avoid killing the others and that was it. Even if it was a very good rule, the rule had many faults.
There were several methods of rendering others physically disabled without killing them. And the numb sensation travelling Ruzen’s legs told him that he was probably poisoned by some herbs he somehow couldn’t detect.
He knew it wasn’t damaging and lethal with the body he had, but being cautious was always a good decision.
His master had told him that during these competitions, mob targeting wasn’t unheard of. And seeing Ruzen’s explosive debut, several participants might want to disqualify him or render him physical incapable of continuation. He had to be careful.
But Ruzen never considered that there would be people who would stop him first and not even care about points. Such prospect made him unsure of his future.
Still, he was determined to not let these small fries make his debut go to waste.
From the corner of his eyes he could see that others were catching up. Cursed ones were blessed with good physical attributes, such as strong healing potent, strong sense of smell, sight and hearing. They were far more superior to practicing humans when it came to potential strength, but their real enemy was larger energy output and slower energy intake.
That is why Keepers were sought after because a keeper’s energy intake and output were faster and reliable, and the cursed ones of the warrior divisions were the only ones who could battle a Keeper with one eye closed. The rest of the cursed ones whose divisions weren’t ‘Keeper’ and ‘Warrior’ had a hard time tackling energy consumption and intake rate.
Breathing in to compose himself, Ruzen called forth a ‘skill’ in mind, which was symbolically seen as an exclamation mark, and could produce a burst of strong wind in outward direction at a speed of 113 -157 mph. it was no less than a moderate tornado which was seen as a high energy consuming attack.
The first skill he had learned was to make a symbolic circle with a dot in between. It was a basic ‘skill’ which would let his opponent stay stuck for 30 seconds if they stepped on it, but when one advanced further, there were a total of 666 skills which made up the first set, a foundation for cursed manipulations.
The higher the skill’s ‘rank’ the more energy it consumed. The ‘skill’ he would be using was symbolically seen as an exclamatory mark, and its rank was 567. There were three sets of manipulations that a Cursed one could handle. But since Ruzen had just started, he was stuck at the first set of 666 skills.
According to his master, Cursed ones avoided skills higher than 300 to reduce their energy consumption rate, but Ruzen was an exception, his reserves were huge, so even using a skill of rank 3000 would do him no harm. Yet with higher rank skills, the manipulation had to be strong to avoid self-harm. If practice wasn’t given into these ‘skills’ even using these symbols would have a reverse impact on the user.
So Ruzen was good with what he knew, until and unless he was careful about it.
With his master’s guidance, he was later able to use ‘skills’ without marking them on surfaces. It took him some great deal of patience, but being a modern man, his imagination was high and his adaptive learning was no joke.
He just thought of the symbol in his mind and targeted his attack towards his opponents by staring at them hard.
Others did not know what Ruzen was doing, staring at them, even the audience behind the screen couldn’t tell. They thought he was angry or anxious so he resorted to glaring, but He’Da smirked, his disciple was going to leave a strong impression on all these people watching.
He felt his chest puff with pride.
And as per norm, one would consider themselves a protagonist if they ever landed in a strange land and met an almighty king catering to them. But Ruzen was different, he never considered himself a protagonist, instead, he felt he was the greatest enemy born against the Gods. Over time his earlier suffering had led him into hating Gods, and his feelings towards happiness and satisfaction had dampened, instead, he always felt like the things in store for him were never bright and his future lacked a certain spark which a protagonist would generally have. Even his meet with the ghost king did not seem like a fateful encounter filled with first time love and warmth. Instead, it almost felt forced and rigid. Maybe it was just him, he knew he over thought things and seldom had an optimistic outlook, but he knew that he would never have the same happiness that came with that protagonist halo.
To some this dark thought would make them dull and restless, but to Ruzen it felt more practical and a given.
Yet he wasn’t sad about it, he had come to terms with it and inside his heart, he even liked how things were. He was never a good person, so this future didn’t faze him anymore. He was selfish and insecure, even a bit grouchy and impulsive. So when he made that pact with the King, his self finally settled down. He didn’t have to be selfless. He didn’t have to behave as if he was born for the greater good. He didn’t have to please others and do what they wanted him to. He was his own man now.
The sense of freedom only came to him when the King gave him his word about protection and safety. So with someone looking out for him, Ruzen’s heart finally let out his darker thoughts which always made him want to do things others wouldn’t.
Not killing per say, but deeds such as being naughty, breaking rules, exploring the unexplored corners…
It wasn’t as if he became ignorant of the rest of the world, but to certain extent he had started to disregard what others would think of him, not entirely though, he still cared and had a thin skin, but he did see that he was changing. He was shedding his previous shell and it remained unknown what dwelled inside that remaining shell.
Even he was curious about his future.
Shrill screams were heard when a strong wind force almost tore away the skin of the contestants who went flying back to the platform’s centre.
A few who foretold such attack were able to shield themselves with their own set of skills, but a look of silent horror laced their features.
This powerful move wasn’t low-key, it actually was able to send everyone into panic because it even destroyed the tiles beneath their feet which was said to be laced with strong spells to retain even heavy attacks.
Although the attack in itself could still be considered normal, since cursed ones always used several big rankers to avoid dangerous situations, still, among those present, Ruzen’s attack mattered because he did not even ‘physically’ spelled it out. He was able to attack with his mental strength alone, which was what made everyone vigilant.
Seeing the looks thrown his way, Ruzen was satisfied. In competition such malicious attacks couldn’t be avoided, so even with the unknown poison taking effect on him, Ruzen was sure the others wouldn’t surround him again. The wind attack had let them suffer a fallout so he was confident to say that he was in the lead.
Quickly climbing up the steps of the complex in front of him, Ruzen reached the first floor of it, finding his room with ease.
In his rush he did not notice that the corridor was filled with expensive sculptures and arts, but his focus was on the handle of the door that he had to open to get those 10 points.
Thankfully there was no key required to open the door.
The ‘being’ that had been following him despite the wind rush, hovered right in front of his face as it announced in Hordor Na’Ris’ voice, [Congratulations Participant number De’Ji De’Ju. You are now rewarded 10 points for successfully entering your assigned room at first place. You now may proceed to the next step of the competition. Please select your outfit of the day and a weapon to ensure your participation in the night hunt. Until then you are free to rest and do as you please.]
As expected, no problems for Ruzen; first place is a given
thanks for the chapter!!
im loving this ‘battle’ xD
Thanks!!!
Thank you for the chapter😊
Good job Ruzen!
Thanks for the chapter <3
OP! Way to awesome. Keep it rolling Ruzen. One impressive move after another. 😎
I love his transformation. From a weak helpless being to a powerful cursed one.
Love it! Its always a little sad to see MCs that are isekai to others worlds then pressurred to save the whole world or something.
Ruzen is more practical and I love it😍😍
I rlly like ruzen’s way of thinking. I feel tht tht is what make him strong in many ways.
Thank you for the chapter!
So awesome! I’m loving this powerful Ruzen!
Hilarious. When I read that part with Ruzen blasting people away I heard singing, “Married in a hurricane! What a joyous day!” If you get the Disney reference you’ll understand why I’m calling skill 567 We Don’t Talk About Bruno. Oh man the mental image was too much 😆 Also, loving how his character is developing.