Chapter 9: Curse and Blessing

[Activating Blessing and Curse]

[Blessing: Every sacrifice of 10 Order souls will receive a random reward]

[Curse: Player's attraction to beasts will double]

"Attraction to beasts? Does that mean The Hanged Man will become a magnet attracting beasts around me?" Adam had two reactions. First, with this Curse, the likelihood of encountering Level C beasts to complete the mission would increase. But on the other hand, the attraction wouldn't differentiate between Level C beasts or even Level S ones.

Regarding the Blessing, Adam couldn't get a clear picture. "What does 'random reward' mean? Considering it's a Blessing, it should be a useful reward." Adam shook his head.

Aside from Blessing and Curse, The Hanged Man also awakened other features.

[Chaos and Order points will no longer be automatically converted into experience points]

[The Hanged Man]

[Level 1]

[Experience points: 12/50]

[Chaos Points: 0]

[Order Points: 0]

[Chaos and Order Points can now be exchanged for skills]

The image of The Hanged Man card on the left screen shrank and took its place in the upper corner of the screen. Other information now filled the screen.

[Exchange]

[Available]

[Poison Touch: 20 Chaos Points]

[Silent Step: 10 Chaos Points]

[Gallows: 1 Order Point/100 Chaos Points]

"This game is getting more complicated." Adam realized that the existence of many features proved that the game would last quite a while.

Checking the time, Adam stopped contemplating and continued his hunt.

[Sacrificing thirty Chaos points to The Hanged Man: 0/30]

At that moment, Adam just realized that the Chaos points he obtained from the Ghost Sheep and Shooter Porcupine were not counted in his mission.

"Before The Hanged Man reaches level 1, all Chaos points will be automatically converted into experience points. So I have to start over from scratch..." Adam sighed.

And thanks to his Curse, he was able to find ten Level C beasts before nightfall. On the way back to the castle, Adam felt very confident that his encounter rate with beasts had indeed increased.

So far, he had only encountered Level E, D, and C beasts. "I can say that I'm lucky enough not to encounter more dangerous beasts..." He muttered.

The clock on the right screen showed 3:12, which meant Adam still had plenty of time before reaching the castle. But to be cautious, Adam wanted to reach the castle as soon as possible. Although he hadn't encountered beasts of Level B or higher yet, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't encounter them if he lingered in the forest.

[Chaos Points: 8]

[Order Points: 0]

After sacrificing thirty Chaos points to The Hanged Man, he now had 8 points left. Adam also realized that the mission he received was a dual mission. Killing ten Level C beasts and sacrificing thirty Chaos points were two different things.

The minimap guided him along the way.

Adam deliberately avoided the black spots on the map representing Level B beasts. He didn't know how dangerous beasts at that level were.

Level A beasts had a danger level that was almost unimaginable. Just by remembering the Gigantic Boar, Adam abandoned his intention to approach the black spots. "How far is the difference between Level B and A beasts?" He murmured, criticizing himself.

With that, Adam took a different route and sometimes took a detour. By the time the clock on the screen showed 5:00, he arrived at the castle gate, which was still closed.

Some players were already waiting there, even setting up a bonfire and now roasting Rabbit Pendant and some strange beast meat.

It seemed that the players were still keeping their distance from each other.

"That's right, another problem lies in the game itself. To find the holder of The Fool card..." He understood the current situation.

Another thing about this castle was that there were no beasts within a hundred-meter radius around it. Perhaps it was related to the castle itself. "I wonder if the curse is still working now?" He muttered to himself.

Adam found a shaded spot.

He sat down, contemplating game strategies. "How do I find the holder of The Fool card?"

"There's no way to distinguish between each other..."

"Could we differentiate players' characteristics based on the cards they hold?"

"Just like The Hanged Man, which has a weakness of attracting beasts, surely other cards have different characteristics..."

"The Hanged Man focuses on sacrifice, Chaos, and Order are the key. It's normal if its characteristics involve luring sources of Chaos souls to it. This might also apply to Order souls, which are none other than humans themselves..."

"But, since this game requires us to complete missions before discussions... There's no time to figure out other players' characteristics."

"Well, let's hear other players' opinions when the discussion session begins." Adam tried to conclude, but he still couldn't find some crucial clues.

Shortly after, the players began to arrive. There weren't many players Adam knew. Elly, Leon, William, and John. Besides them, other players remained a mystery.

Leon appeared last with a calmer expression. It seemed like his worries had disappeared.

He greeted Adam warmly.

"I thought the mission would be difficult," he said casually.

"What's this? Isn't he worried that I might be the holder of The Fool card? Or is he behaving like this to give a good impression to all players, thus reducing the likelihood of being disqualified by the holder of The Fool card?" Adam felt Leon's behavior was a bit strange.

Time passed quickly, and night fell.

The time on the right screen showed 8:30, and the castle gate opened by itself.

[Discussion Preparation will commence]

[Each player is expected to be in their respective positions]

Leon took a deep breath before stepping into the castle. Meanwhile, Adam realized that there were only twenty participants present at the moment. "..." Adam wore a suspicious expression.

Unlike before when they rested outdoors, they were now guided by the System to enter the magnificent castle.

The castle door looked heavy, combined with a brownish-black color, showing some rust spots.

Upon entering the castle, the first thing that caught their attention was a red carpet, as if it was set up to welcome them.

In the middle of the room, there was a podium in a circular shape. Twenty-two stone chairs were placed on the podium, forming a large circle.

On each chair, there was a blue screen displaying the player's name. This included Adam and the others.

[Players are expected to sit in their respective chairs]

Adam took the chair corresponding to his name. It was directly facing the castle entrance, at the far end from the entrance.

"As I suspected... There are two empty chairs..." Adam muttered to himself.

The first empty chair was two seats to the left of Adam. Displaying the name of the corresponding player.

[Jim Walker]

Then, right next to William, there was another empty chair.

[Rachel Gray]

"Jim Walker is the holder of The Sun card who was disqualified earlier. While the other is Rachel Gray who hasn't arrived yet... Is she facing some issues with her mission? Or has the holder of The Fool card already begun their actions?"

The players took their seats.

An ancient wall clock was hung on the wall behind Adam. It ticked every second.

[Five minutes before the discussion session begins]

For some reason, the atmosphere felt grim. Besides the monotonous sound of the system and the ticking of the clock, there was no other sound. The players seemed lost in their own thoughts.

After waiting, the time for the discussion session finally arrived.