Realizing that she didn’t know all that much about it, Theo turned his attention back on the system. There were two buttons or rather, squares at the top left corner numbered as 1 and 2.

He pressed or rather focused on 1, then a couple of words popped up on the transparent, white-rimmed panel.

[Achievements]

-Quests

[Shop]

[Inventory]

Opening inventory for reasons apparent to anyone who has the capability to rub two brain cells together, he expected to see another panel full of RPG-styled inventory slots, yet that did not happen. Instead, his mind was sent to another dimension, completely black, which appeared to be a recurring pattern for expanses of empty space.

The only exception to the emptiness was the origin of bright white light. Because of its luminescence, it was difficult to make out its shape, but it was mostly rectangular with multitude of constantly moving parts as well as whisps of light rotating around it.

Not sure of how to continue, he repeated what worked until now and focused on the bright object.

[Do you wish to open the ability card crate?]

‘Yes.’

All the orbiting whisps of light quickly retreated into the crate, the moving parts stopped for a second and the bright light flickered. Then the rectangular crate started folding in on itself until it took the shape of a card, which shone with light even stronger than the crate previously did.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained a curse reversal card!]

The bright light slowly faded until the image of the card became visible. Rather than a normal picture though, each side appeared more like a 3D movie screen or a portal to another plain. One side was black with an image of a grim ripper and the other white with a cloaked angel.

“This doesn’t seem like much of a coincidence, does it?” Theo asked rhetorically.

“The result of a crate is decided by the amount of energy it’s composed of as well as your current condition and goals. Why would it be coincidental?” Asked Eileen back, rather confused by his question.

“But the crates in games…” Theo didn’t continue as he realized that treating this as a game wasn’t a good idea. But the implication of gaining an ability card that reversed curses scared him. Did that mean that he was still cursed?

“El, come over here for a minute.”

“Why?” She asked as she slowly floated towards his sitting figure.

Theo extended his finger and poked Eileen on her head, then brought his finger closer to his face. Yet, nothing happened, there was no pain and no skin discoloration.

“Forget it, it’s better to be safe than sorry.” He said as he focused on the ability card… but nothing happened.

“El, how do you use an ability card?” He asked the still confused Eileen.

“What? Oh, you just need to destroy it in some way.”

Imagining bringing the card out of the black space did the trick, as a black and white card appeared in front of his face and just floated there.

He understood that he might just be wasting an ability card, but he didn’t care. The curse traumatized him his whole life, so he was willing to make a potential mistake for some peace of mind.

Grabbing the card with one hand, he put some force on it with his thumb finger and it immediately broke in half. The two halves transformed into white light which flowed into his body.

At first, he felt a subtle chilling sensation which subsided in a couple of seconds, then his body started heating up. It only lasted for about a minute and was just a little uncomfortable.

[Congratulations!]

[Your curse of solitude has been reversed!]

‘Solitude huh? Seems about right.’ At that moment he felt tremendous weight lift off his shoulders. He didn’t know if it was all in his head or a physical reaction to getting rid of his curse, but he felt amazing nonetheless.

The fairy, however, had a different reaction.

“Ohhhhh.” The first ‘Oh’ was one of wonder and amazement.

“Ohhh.” The second was that of realization.

“Oh.” Yet the third was one of surprise and worry.

“What is it?” Theo inquired as he noticed her strange behavior.

“I’ve got very very good news and not-so-good news, which one do you want to hear first?”

“I don’t care, just tell me quickly.”

“Ok, ok. So, as you probably realized, the reversal of the curse means that you gain the opposite effects of the curse, in other words, benefits.”

“Of course.” Said Theo as he turned hi head to the side in embarrassment.

“You know how I told you about that dirty guy before?” Eileen carefully asked.

“Yes.”

“You see, since he works as the processing unit of the system, he can influence some parts of it and while he holds no sentience, his intent is still infused within it.” In her normal airheaded manner, she hesitated to continue again.

“Go on.”

“Basically, since the whole process of crate opening and using ability cards goes through the system, he can tamper with them to an extent.” She continued specifying, as to ward of any responsibility for the predicament.

“Can you just get to the point?”

“Fine… He tampered with the beneficial effects and strengthened them, but that resulted in a couple of side effects.”

“Can you be more specific?”

Eileen paused for a while, contemplating how to explain it and tapping into the system to check over the effects one more time, then she recounted the history of the event.

“So, at first, with the reversal of the curse you gained the obvious effects. The curse made other people uncomfortable when interacting with you and caused you pain upon touch, the card simply reversed that. But, when the effects strengthened, you gained the side effect of suffering from insomnia and becoming irritable with prolonged lack of contact.”

“That’s annoying to say the least.” Although he didn’t regret using the ability card, he hoped that the side effects weren’t too potent. He put it in the back of his mind on the constantly growing pile of problems.

Eileen continued to observe him, but after a while she just couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore.

“You know, there is a quest waiting for you!”

“Oh?”

At that point he was quite used to operating the system, so he quickly opened the ‘quests’ bracket.

[Untapped potential 0/4]

[Use the remaining unconverted energy and transform it into sub-systems by entering new realms.]

[Reward: ???]

Although he didn’t completely understand the quest, he was also a little relieved as his current circumstances weren’t ideal.

“El, how am I supposed to enter another realm?”

“Oh, oh, oh! That’s the amazing part! Normally nobody except my clan is capable of traversing through realms before the end of an epoch. There are exceptions of course, but they are rare and even my clan can only do it on certain occasions and by fulfilling special conditions. Go check out the second page of your panel.” Said Eileen excitedly.

Deducing that she was talking about the 2 in the top left corner, he quickly selected it.

[Constitutions]

[Physiques]

-Quintessential constitution

-Inner realm constitution

[Talents]

[Skills]

-New chapter

“I assume that ‘Inner realm constitution’ is the reason for me possessing a realm, but what about the other two?”

“New chapter is the ability to enter other realms I was talking about, but it’s a little strange.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know how to put it exactly. It’s not just about entering another realm; it also has something to do with manipulating primary energy and affecting the realm as a whole. This ability infringes on almost every basic principle of my clan, seriously, what are you?”

“I don’t follow.”

“In simple terms, this ability sends a vessel that is capable of housing that thing that you have instead of a soul to form an anchor in a certain realm. That’s not the weird part though, as there seem unnecessary conditions added to it which make no sense. Like making that vessel enter through the reincarnation cycle, which only makes the process needlessly difficult. Then it also manipulates the fate of the vessel through the usage of primary energy to establish a wanted scenario. The ability is able to achieve wonderful effects for a subpar result, it really makes no sense. I don’t have a better way of explaining it, maybe we can figure out more if you use it?”

Although he didn’t understand half of what she said, he comprehended that it was his ticket to getting out of here, so it was enough for him.

“What about the other constitution?”

“I have no idea. The only thing I was able to gather is that it is capable of controlling primary energy and works as a source for this realm, but other information seems inaccessible.”

“Forget about it then, how do I activate the skill?” He asked as a tinge of excitement could be detected from his voice.