章節 4: Chapter 4: Karma Alignment
Andrew's POV
"I see." I couldn't help but frown at this situation.
It seems I'm facing an important crossroads in my personal evolution and within the agency.
The "Warlock" option is the only one mentioned as rare, and it seems to have a huge affinity with me because of the passive skill "Five Points Star Mark." But I'm not really sure I want to associate with evil entities.
I've lost a lot because of someone's wickedness in my past life, and I don't even know yet who trapped me.
The other more viable option that's compatible with me seems to be "Killer." I don't know what kind of powers I could get from it, but it will probably compensate for my weak offensive capabilities, which represent my biggest problem.
Options like "Student" and "Alchemist" are out for me for several reasons, such as the research equipment that costs PK in the shop and that I can't afford right now.
There's also the fact that I don't really feel comfortable staying locked in a room to study anymore.
I literally have memories of several months of confinement.
"System, can you give me more information about the repercussions after obtaining my class?" I need more details.
[There's little information I'm authorized to disclose, but I can still say that...]
[You must understand that a class will affect prices in the shop, as you will be officially "aligned" either as an individual using positive karma or negative karma in your purchases.]
[Positive karma won't have much value for some entities, and negative karma won't be very useful for others. But don't forget that the karma collected also influences the one who collects it.]
"You said there wasn't much to say, but this is crucial information!"
It seems I shouldn't just speculate, but ask more questions on various topics.
Now, I'm really starting to wonder about the importance of this karma.
*sigh* I'm not qualified enough to dig deeper yet.
[Indeed, you are not yet qualified to understand the true nature of karma.]
[You risk damaging your soul by trying to unravel this concept that goes beyond mortals.]
It seems this thing can read my thoughts.
"Okay, I choose the Warlock class."
The only magical entities in this universe are demons, so it would be logical to strengthen my ties with these evil beings, which are already good thanks to my "Five Points Star Mark" skill. And the Killer class is too vague.
I really know nothing about it and I have no real clues, apart from accepting my lowest instincts.
[Congratulations, you have unlocked the Alignment sub-section.]
[Reward: 100 PK.]
[Congratulations, you have obtained the class: Warlock.]
[The passive skill: Five Points Star Mark seems to react to the Warlock class.]
[The skill is being restored...]
[The skill: Five Points Star Mark has been restored to its peak.]
[You have received the basic skills related to the Warlock class.]
Name: Andrew Graves
Age: 22 years old
Class: Warlock
Alignment: Pure evil
Status: Mental fatigue
Strength: C
Speed: D
Potential: B+
Intelligence: S+
Robustness: D
Mana: B-
Passive skills: Eyes of truth (Weakened) (rank D), Five Points Star Mark (restored) (rank C)
Active skills: Weapons basics (rank F): lvl 1, (new) Evil Sponsorship Contract(rank B): lvl 1, (new)Demonic summoning (rank C): lvl 1.
Talent: Jack of all trades (rank C)
Karmic points (negative): 150 PK
[Your old karma was neutral because of your neutrality in the agency, but that's no longer the case. Your old karma has been exchanged for free.]
For free? Does that mean I can still gain good karma?
[Indeed, but there are fees to pay to the agency during exchanges]
I was a bit worried about the side effects of karma harvesting, but now I've found a solution.
"Can you tell me about my new skills?" I was really intrigued by them.
[Affirmative]
[ Evil Sponsorship Contract (rank B): lvl 1]
[Description: You gain a skill from a demon or Evil entity if it accepts a permanent contract with you.
Small note: It must be aware of the contract details, and if the demon dies, you lose the acquired ability.]
[Contract space: 1]
[Demonic summoning (rank C): lvl 1]
[Description: You can summon a creature or entity with which you have made a contract.
Cost: mana and endurance]
[Summoning slot: 1]
I can see that the skills tied to a class are really powerful, and I haven't yet seen a rank A skill.
Now, I'm really curious about higher-ranked skills, especially if Evil Sponsorship Contract skill is just as powerful.
"I need to think about something else for now." I still had things to sort out here. So, anything related to the system will have to wait.
"Lucky I watched Juujika No Rokunin in my past life."
I went back to the room with cleaning products and quickly cleaned up the crime scene. I had to finish before dawn, because of the guard.
...
Narrator's POV
It didn't take long for Andrew to clean the room and erase all traces of his passage in the apartment.
He disposed of the body by buying sulfuric acid, which cost him 10 PK.
It seems that products deemed for evil use by the system are now more affordable, while those for curative or benevolent use are more expensive.
Andrew left the apartment at dawn, before the guard's round.
Although he feels a bit bad about killing a man for the first time, he reassures himself by saying that this idiot was going to lose his soul anyway without him.
"Where were you?" an annoyed voice echoed at the entrance of the room where Andrew was.
Andrew followed the source of the voice, and his gaze met Leyley's, who was waiting for him with a clearly angry expression. This expression changed slightly when their eyes met, before becoming angry again.
"I went to get you this," said Andrew, showing his bag containing various cooking ingredients.
The moment Leyley saw this, she forgot about Andrew for a moment and started eating apples and carrots avidly.
*Cough* She choked for a moment during her frantic tasting.
"Here, drink." She snatched the water bottle from Andrew and drank eagerly.
"Don't think you'll get away with just that. Where were you and how did you get all this?" Leyley narrowed her eyes, staring at Andrew.
"Promise me you'll keep it a secret."
Andrew looked at her with a serious air.
"Why so serious? You know I know A LOT about you, and it's reciprocal," she said, shrugging.
"So, one more secret or less..."
She settled more comfortably in the chair, leaned on the table, and put her hands on her cheeks.
The atmosphere was strange, but surprisingly pleasant.
"I killed the neighbor to get food..." Andrew's words created a heavy silence between the two.
It seems she wasn't expecting that, Andrew thought, observing Leyley's surprised face.
"You heard me right, I killed grr"
Andrew couldn't help but growl in annoyance at Leyley's silence.
Andrew didn't really like this side of Leyley. She played innocent, but she also had blood on her hands.
"Okay, okay, don't get mad. I was just surprised you could go that far," she said, a bit embarrassed by Andrew's reaction.
"It's just that... we were getting weaker and weaker... I had to do something otherwise..."
Surprisingly, Leyley interrupted him. She hugged him so suddenly that he was a bit surprised.
"I don't care that you killed that poor guy, the main thing is that you did it for US ~"
If Andrew had been able to see Leyley's face, he wouldn't have been relaxed by her hug, but alarmed by the happy and frightening expression she displays.
創作者的想法 
Soul_Eater_0252
Soul_Eater_0252 Author's note: Lol, Andrew has fallen down a rabbit hole.
章節 5: Chapter 5: Available Quests for Beginners
Narrator's POV
After Leyley's hug, Andrew decided to go back to the room to rest a bit. He's not really suffering from physical fatigue.
He just wanted to relax because of the stress from his first mission, which seemed simple but still gave him some trouble, especially due to the last remnants of his past as a decent person.
After a few small difficulties, Andrew finally falls asleep.
"Andrew, I've finished cleaning the whole apartment, I've regained some strength..."
Leyley entered the room after about ten minutes. She wanted to talk with Andrew about their next moves, now that they had full stomachs. But her brother was already sleeping deeply because of his nighttime quest.
She wanted to leave to let him have his well-deserved rest, but she stopped in her tracks, her eyes fixing once again on Andrew, unconscious on the bed.
A feline expression that Andrew would easily recognize slowly appeared on her face. She approached the bed softly and snuggled against her brother.
*Sniff sniff* She took light whiffs of Andrew's scent.
"You're mine, and mine alone," she whispered, a dangerous gleam in her eyes, thinking about Julia, Andrew's ex-girlfriend.
'We don't need other people, just each other, you understand, right?' She wasn't sleepy, but she just wanted to stay like this, in Andrew's arms, for as long as possible.
Andrew is unaware that the passive skill Five Points Star Mark (weakened) had already had a considerable effect on his sister, far beyond his expectations, and that his recent act of getting his hands dirty has only made things worse, because Leyley thinks Andrew did it for both of them.
Thus, the restored version of the Five Points Star Mark skill has had an immense impact on Leyley, who is an evil person and who already had a strong bond with Andrew to begin with.
The romantic feeling that Andrew hoped to better exploit Leyley had given way to something twisted by Leyley's distorted worldview.
A form of emotional dependency and morbid possessiveness pushed into a dimension rarely seen even by the most experienced psychologists.
Leyley stays glued to her brother until he wakes up in the afternoon.
....
Andrew's POV
"Andrew, you... can't... "
I woke up from a long unexpected nap because of a wet sensation on my chest and some mumbling.
In front of me, Leyley was sleeping, her head resting on my chest, drooling and saying incoherent stuff.
"*Sigh* This little crazy girl will never change." I slowly got up from the bed and headed to the kitchen.
I wanted to prepare something to ease my hunger. Unlike Leyley, I hadn't eaten much besides a few apples.
My Jack of all trades talent is really handy in this kind of situation.
This ability literally gave me an above-average talent in every field.
It's really a powerful skill, but it's a shame I didn't have enough PK to get the Genius talent.
"I could never have afforded it, and it's the same for the False Genius talent, which used to cost 1000 PK and now 10,000."
Just thinking about it makes me dizzy because of my poverty.
The False Genius talent is a degraded version of the Genius talent. It allows me to be at the door of the realm of geniuses, without entering it.
You can see it as the 'Uncrowned Kings' and the 'Generation of Miracles' in the Kuroko's Basket manga.
Both categories are composed of geniuses, but there's a huge difference between them.
If someone meets a member of the 'Uncrowned Kings', they'll probably call them a genius. However, if they then meet a monster like Murasakibara, they'll be ashamed of having called the other one a genius.
"Oh shit, I almost burned the meal." An enticing smell started to fill the apartment.
I hurried to the shower to take a bath and really relax for the first time since my reincarnation as Andrew.
'System, you mentioned that you're here to help me better understand the agency and your functions, right?'
[That's correct.]
As I expected, it can really hear my thoughts.
'How does travel to other dimensions work? There is the word "dimensional" in the agency's title, right?'
[There is indeed the word "dimensional" in the title "Dimensional Mercenaries Agency", and yes, you can travel to other dimensions thanks to the agency, but...]
There's never good news when the word "but" follows positive information.
[But the agency will only provide quests corresponding to your strength level. If it judges your strength too weak, then the agency will use your current world as a base to select adequate missions.]
[Note that the agency rigorously selects its missions. So, even if it may seem difficult, they are achievable... "logically".]
Surprisingly, this isn't such bad news.
'Just to know. If I leave this reality, will time stop?'
[Negative, time will flow at the same speed as in the world you'll go to.]
It seems that these novels I used to follow idealize everything. If I want to earn PK without relying on hidden quests and achievements like my first spilled blood, then I need to leave this building.
I would personally be safe in the other world, but Leyley would be in danger.
'Is there a way for me to bring someone with me?'
I could only ask, since I haven't seen a section allowing someone to benefit from certain advantages.
[Yes, but it takes PK to unlock this function, just like my ability to analyze data and transfer it to you.]
The problem is always my poverty, huh...
'Can you show me the worlds available for now?'
[Affirmative...]
[Quest title: Help, no NTR (Rank F)]
[Description: A young boy has lost his mother because of one of his friends and he really regrets the situation.]
[Goal: Teach his friend a good lesson.]
[Failure: Not succeeding in convincing the mother to stop her immoral activities with this minor.]
[H Anime universe: No Waifu No Life]
[Reward: 50 PK (negative) + the kid's recognition for teaching his friend(Matsuda) a good lesson.]
[Quest title: Save my friend (Rank D)]
[Description: Zero, the god of Han Gyu-Hwan's world, is currently in trouble. Please save him and put him in safety.]
[Goal: Save the god Zero from 1 and the organization after him.]
[Failure: Zero ends up absorbed by 1 or captured by the unknown organization]
[Manhwa universe: Shotgun Boy and Sweet Home]
[Reward: 1000 PK (converted to 500 negative PK) + friendship with a naive god + healing of your soul.]
'How long will these missions remain available?'
[Until the moment a beginner from the agency chooses them.]
I see, they won't be there forever.
I wanted to do the first mission to get more PK and buy a really offensive skill, not support or passive ones like those I currently have.
The second quest interests me because of the reward titled "Healing of your soul". It's the power that allowed the protagonists of Shotgun Boy and Sweet Home to become more than just humans.
(Image)
They became Übermensch, or simply superhuman. They acquired superhuman physical strength, incredible endurance, and a very strong regeneration ability.
One way to become an Übermensch is to become a stupid monster, a process that pushes the host of a virus to live a period of incredible and prolonged ecstasy.
This is meant to purify all their desires, and the other method is simple: you need to receive the healing of the soul from Zero and not from 1.
The other quests I've spotted come from universes that are too weak, like Fruits Basket, or are painful to do, like the one from A Silent Voice, which consists of healing Shōko Nishimiya's trauma.
Of course, they offer a good amount of karma since they are long-term quests.
knock knock
"Andrew? Are you inside?" Leyley's voice came from the door.
"Yeah, I'm almost done." I started to get out of the bath.
*door sound*
"I sweated a bit while cleaning the apartment, can I wash at the same time to save water ~"
Shit, I think I just stumbled upon a legendary cliché.
創作者的想法
Soul_Eater_0252
Soul_Eater_0252
Author's note: Shit, why am I writing this...
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