Kyle looked at a small town as he hovered far above it.
He took a deep breath.
'What the fuck am I doing?' he thought. 'Am I actually going to do this? I mean, yeah, my first genocide was fun and all, but those were ants. Also, they could actually fight me.'
'But these are helpless people.'
Since Kyle was the Overseer now, his Ether Sense encompassed the entire world, and he could see whoever he wanted.
He couldn't see everyone at once since that would overload his brain.
It was like looking at a city. One could see the entire city from above, and one could also see all the individual moving people.
However, if one wanted to focus on what the people were actually doing, one had to focus on them.
Kyle's brain was much more powerful. He could probably focus on over a thousand people at the same time.
But that was nothing when compared to all the people living in this world.
After receiving his first two tasks, Kyle looked at the world.
The world had around 30 million inhabitants, and about 500,000 of those had undergone a ritual.
500,000 people…
He had to kill 500,000 people.
Sure, Kyle didn't feel a whole lot while killing people, but murdering half a million people one at a time still made his stomach drop.
'Right mindset, huh?' Kyle thought, remembering the time Magic Lady had told him that he had the right mindset.
'Guess somebody who feels more when killing helpless people would just refuse or collapse. I know I'm not like most people, and this feels bad, even for me.'
Kyle looked at the small town below him.
There were a couple of people who had undergone a ritual in there.
Some guards were Knights or Fighters.
There were two Sorcerers who were here to study the surroundings.
A couple of Adjutants had gathered here to plan something.
All in all, there were 47 people who had undergone a ritual in this town.
Kyle looked at them one by one.
One of the Fighters was currently out in the market with his family, impressing his new girlfriend with his money.
As Kyle saw the Fighter living his life, he felt a bit bad.
Kyle took another deep breath.
'I guess it's for the good?' he thought, trying to cope. 'I mean, when there are no rituals, everyone starts at the same level… at least, in some way. There are still differences, but you don't need a ritual anymore to get a good shot at power.'
Kyle looked at the Fighter some more.
Then, he sighed.
'Well, whatcha gonna do? Just gotta get through this. '
The next moment, a fierce burst of fire came out from beneath the Fighter, turning him into ash in an instant.
His girlfriend just looked at the spot in confusion.
Huh? What had happened?
Where did her boyfriend go?
It was like her mind refused to register that there had been a fierce flame just now.
"AAAAHHH!"
Then, the first scream appeared. One of the ladies selling exotic fruits shouted and hid behind her stall.
Kyle just watched in discomfort as more people started to panic.
'Yeah, well… here we go, I guess.'
BANG! BANG! BANG!
46 more individual flames burst out from the ground, killing all the other people who had undergone a ritual.
The entire town broke into a panic.
At the same time, Kyle's instincts were screaming at him.
What he was doing was extremely dangerous!
'I fucking know that!' Kyle thought with gritted teeth. 'I know that I'm completely ruining my Karma with this, but the only other choice is death!'
'500,000 innocent people or me…'
Kyle took a deep breath.
'Sorry, everyone.'
Kyle flew to the next town.
'But I'm not a hero.'
'I'm a rat that just gets by.'
'I just do what I need to survive.'
Kyle quickly reached the next town, which had no idea about what had just happened in the other town.
'33 people here.'
BANG!
Flames consumed the 33 people.
'Onto the next town.'
The next town had 58 people.
As soon as Kyle killed them, he felt like something had changed.
For some reason, he felt more afraid, but this feeling didn't come from his instincts.
It was like his surroundings had changed slightly.
He couldn't exactly see what had changed, but he felt like something had changed.
"This is the first Karmic Curse," Magic Lady's voice appeared in Kyle's head. "It reduces your natural luck by 10%. Humans, on average, have a value of 50% of their natural luck. You either win or lose a coin toss. There's an equal chance."
"The first Karmic Curse reduces your luck by 10%, which means you will lose six out of ten coin-tosses on average."
"This is a warning from the world that you should not continue down this route."
Kyle took a deep breath and closed his eyes as another bunch of people burned away.
He was furious with Magic Lady for forcing him to do this, but he knew that he couldn't annoy her too much.
After all, she had his life in her hands.
Kyle dealt with five more towns.
By now, his eyes were defocused, and he just kept going from one town to another. His instincts kept screaming at him that he was committing a horrible mistake.
After the 15th town, Kyle closed his eyes and touched his head.
It felt like a hot needle was pushed into the skin and flesh of his head.
Kyle could deal with a lot of pain, but most of the time, he was prepared for it, and he knew that it was only temporary.
However, from what he knew…
"This is the second Karmic Curse," Magic Lady said. "It causes a monumental and constant headache. The headache increases in intensity based on your Realm. Stronger people can deal with more pain, and the headache adapts."
"Relatively speaking, the headache should be as bad for you as it is for everyone else."
"You should still be able to function normally, but it is a constant pain and reminder of your past actions."
"Law Comprehension is also more difficult since it is much harder for you to focus."
Kyle gritted his teeth.
This was his life from now on.
This headache was permanent.
The next moment, Kyle appeared in front of a major city.
There were over 700 people who had undergone a ritual.
Kyle took a deep Fart(breath).
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