[Killing a Bronze-rank enemy in battle, you have gained 650 communal experience points.]
"Still feels like the experience given is a bit too low..."
Annan sighed, not even bothering to wipe the blood off his boning knife as he placed it back into his bag.
He supposed he’d have to put up with Hammer Bro’s grievances for now.
He hoped it wouldn’t think the blood on this kitchen knife was half of the offering...
Otherwise, it might hold its head high, mouth open, waiting for more than half a week, unable to feast on a single bone.
Who the hell knew whose blood that was or whose bone should match it.
It was just that after Justin’s death, Annan really did not want to absorb several of the Curse Bindings that he left behind.
Because to him, their costs seemed far too heavy:
"Overloaded Hunger (Permanent Type): No matter how much food is stored in the stomach, if injured once, extreme hunger will inevitably set in after one hour."
"Loss of Pain Perception (Permanent Type): Pain perception reduced by 95%."
"Break Free (Taboo Type): Consciousness must not be lost while restrained."
"Death is a Dream (Taboo Type): Not allowed to dream after being severely injured."
Apart from "Loss of Pain Perception," which did not seem too severely punishing, Annan wasn’t particularly keen on accepting the other Curse Bindings.
While "Break Free" might seem harsh, it could be unintentionally triggered while unconscious; and "Death is a Dream" was clearly suited for Transcendents with self-healing powers or dream-manipulation abilities.
The cost of "Overloaded Hunger" was indeed not severe for Annan at present. But Curse Bindings could be brought into nightmares.
Its side effects in the nightmare copies immediately became very severe—
What its cost actually meant was "replenishment must be carried out after one hour of battle." But the environment in nightmare copies is quite special, and it’s entirely possible that one might not be able to replenish after getting injured...
Compared to this cost, the positive enhancement it brought to Annan could only be considered icing on the cake.
Annan made up his mind.
He took the slender lady’s ring from Justin’s hand and removed his own bearer object—the bronze bracelet.
Like Salvatore had done before, Annan placed his left hand on his bronze bracelet and his right hand on the ring, whispering softly:
"Here I establish a Curse Binding.
"I will inherit the oath you have made and bear the curse you carried..."
At that moment, Annan’s vision blurred.
He suddenly felt as if his view was lifted much higher, as though he was occupying another body... In a way that felt like watching a cutscene CG, where he couldn’t move.
Annan looked down slightly, noticing what seemed to be an adult woman’s body.
Her left arm appeared to be broken, but Annan couldn’t feel any pain at all. She was struggling to breathe as she slowly backed away.
Approaching her slowly was the very Justin whom Annan had just slain.
He flexed his wrist, revealing an ambiguous smile on his face, while his right hand gradually clenched into a fist.
"It won’t hurt, Mrs. Nettle. I think it’ll be quite comfortable,"
Justin chuckled, his face, younger by about a decade or so, filled with cruelty: "And besides, if I’m not mistaken... you can’t feel pain either, can you?"
Then, he suddenly stepped forward and hammered a fist into "Annan’s" jaw.
Annan only felt a dull sensation from his chin before darkness enveloped his sight, and his body slumped weakly, losing consciousness—
But before she lost consciousness, the right thumb suddenly made a forceful move, snapping her right index finger.
Thereafter, an intense, destructive heat burst forth from her right arm, enveloping everything around—
The scene then turned dark.
...This must be the memory of the death of the witch named Nettle.
In the next moment, Annan’s vision blurred once again.
His perspective lifted, transforming into a godlike bird’s-eye view.
A female wizard with curly brown hair, who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, stood alone in the wilderness.
Her hair was tied up and draped over her chest from the left side, her expression somewhat tense.
In front of her was an altar with three pedestals, each bearing a box. Annan’s view was right above that altar.
She reached for one of the boxes... on it was the image of a woman with a face of serene calm.
In the next moment, she seemed to have an epiphany.
"From now on, I shall bear the ’Loss of Pain Perception.’"
Annan echoed her, reciting in sync.
The next moment, the scene before his eyes suddenly shattered.
He came to his senses just in time to see the ring in his hand crack. A red glow rose from it, swirling in the air for a few moments before flying off towards the southwest.
Remotely, Annan heard a voice filled with gratitude:
"Thank you, thank you..."
Upon hearing that voice, Annan suddenly froze.
Seeing this, Annan suddenly remembered—
Previously, Salvatore had indeed only started to change after absorbing the Curse Binding and the remaining curse transformed into a nightmare.
So, what happens to a body that has been stripped of its vessel...?
No, could it be that those Transcendents killed by Hunters don’t ever find peace? That they aren’t actually dead... but imprisoned in the rings, using their own souls as ’fingerprints’ to replace the Hunters in using the Curse Binding?
This thought suddenly emerged in Annan’s mind.
And before him, belated system notifications began to flicker.
But it wasn’t an indication that he had obtained a new Curse Binding:
It was a line of blood-red, somewhat sloppy letters:
[Sever the Curse—Prisoner of the Hunter]
The next moment, the two remaining rings also burst open.
But perhaps because the curse had not been fully drained, what rose from the rings was not red light but black smoke like that of Gerald’s.
They too circled the room before departing.
Bizarre auditory hallucinations echoed in Annan’s ears... but they didn’t thank Annan, instead it seemed they were driven by a certain obsession:
"I’ll kill him, Justin... I have to kill him..."
"Mr. Notre Dame, I’m sorry..."
Only after that did Annan receive the prompt for his new Curse Binding:
[Curse Binding: Loss of Pain Perception (Permanent Type): Pain sensation reduced by 95%.]
Very simple and clean, just one line of description.
The cost and function were completely intertwined, and for Annan, this cost was almost non-existent.
Ordinary humans need pain as an alert and a signal, like feeling pain when near fire or cut by a knife. It serves as a reminder to the owner to "stay away from danger."
But Annan was different.
He had already lost negative emotions, yet he could still live, fight, and learn normally, relying on his "common sense."
He was more like a machine driven by common sense and experience.
He did not need the alarms of pain perception—Annan believed his understanding and judgment of humans to be sharper and superior to that.
And himself, of course, could also be considered human.