I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 125

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 125. Surrender Every Last Curse

“Why do you always feel the need to feed the kids the moment you see them?”

After eating with Haring, Krash heard Crimson Garden’s familiar jab once more.

‘Maybe I saw too many die of starvation.’

Krash had witnessed death by hunger more than once, which was why he took meals seriously.

Whatever else, people needed to eat.

“So Astria treated you?”
“Yeah, I heard the Saint came by.”

Krash learned between bites that Astria had provided treatment.

That explained why his body felt so refreshed.

It had been Astria’s doing.

He’d have to thank her the next time they met.

“What’s this poison research supposed to accomplish?”
“You have any idea what power I use?”

When Krash asked, Haring looked at him directly.

“Curse.”

So Haring saw it that way too.

The reality was darker than that, but Krash didn’t bother denying it.

“Right. I’m trying to make something using that curse and poison. You saw how useful the Crimson Tiger Pill was before.”
“……Something tells me you’re going to create something ridiculously dangerous.”

Haring watched him with worried eyes.

Since the mission, Haring had grown noticeably closer to Krash.

Seeing him through the lens of an older brother, she no longer regarded him as a stranger.

Now she understood how reckless his actions were.

And she also knew he’d been fighting like this all along.

“Krash, you’re going to destroy your body and die at this rate.”

Haring was earnest.

If he continued this way, his body wouldn’t survive.

“The human body’s tougher than you think.”

Krash laughed easily, speaking with the confidence of personal experience.

“And there are worlds where you die even if your body doesn’t break.”

Haring couldn’t grasp the meaning behind those weighty words.

But she understood one thing: she couldn’t stop Krash.

She knew well that someone who threw himself away like this wouldn’t listen to anyone’s counsel and simply halt.

After all, she too had grasped a dagger in her own bloodied hands after her brother’s death.

That scar remained vivid on one of Haring’s palms even now.

A scar can be hidden from sight, but it never truly fades.

Because she understood that truth, Haring looked at Krash.

‘What on earth happened to you?’

Krash’s open, artless smile drew her gaze.

The distant past woven into his laughter was plainly bound around him still.

What was his goal, this boundless hunger to grow stronger, even reaching for Curses?

Though she couldn’t truly know, Haring reached out and grasped his collar.

When their eyes met, she startled at her own thoughtless gesture, but she didn’t release her grip.

“Then at least let me help you break less.”

Hearing her words, Krash blinked.

He was aware that Haring had developed a peculiar fixation on him since he’d touched upon her trauma.

Even now, the hand gripping his collar trembled faintly with the fear that he might depart somewhere.

‘…So long as it doesn’t lead somewhere terrible, I suppose it doesn’t matter for now.’

This seemed like something he’d need to address eventually.

Krash didn’t want the Starry Generation to rely only on him.

What he wanted was the Starry Generation that could soar forward in his wake.

“If you’re willing to do that, then I have no objection.”

This wasn’t a problem he could solve right now.

So Krash resolved inwardly to address Haring’s issues gradually as well.

—A hero’s weakness for beauty.

At this point, denying yet another slur felt entirely meaningless.

＊ ＊ ＊

After that, Krash sought out the Special Studies Building with Haring.

The person Krash had sought out was none other than Darling Danpelion.

A specialist in alchemy who would one day become the Silver Garden Lord.

“Hmm, now that’s an interesting project,” she murmured.

When Krash outlined his rough conception, Darling showed immediate interest.

She’d already been researching curses and related disciplines for some time.

Of course she couldn’t help but be drawn in.

“So it’s essentially an elixir that blends poison and curses together?”
“Right. Elixirs have always contained poison anyway. I want to use that—combine the poison’s effect with the curses’ cancellation properties to create an Instant Amplification elixir.”

Darling listened to Krash’s explanation while clearing away the papers stacked high on her desk.

Then she pulled out a fresh sheet and began jotting down notes.

Naturally, Krash—lacking any grounding in alchemy—couldn’t follow a word of it.

But Haring, who had some expertise in poisons, watched Darling’s writing quite intently.

“If it’s Instant Amplification-class, I can make it if you ask. I can make it as strong as you’d ever need, really.”

Darling marked several sections with X’s, sorting out what wouldn’t work.

“But the drawbacks are just as clear. You get the instant surge of strength, but the price is absolutely staggering. Most of the Instant Amplification elixirs passed down as secret techniques in our family come with stakes that include your very life.”

Darling turned to look at Haring as she spoke.

“You said you were from the Lagrain Family, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“The Lagrain Family has deep knowledge of poisons, so you’re already versed in these Instant Amplification elixirs. Didn’t you warn my boyfriend here about how dangerous they are?”
“Boyfriend?”

Haring turned to look at Krash.

Krash’s face twisted into a grimace as he spoke.

“Don’t take what she says at face value. And I’ve already had one of the Lagrain Family’s Instant Amplification elixirs—the Crimson Tiger Pill.”
“That one where your insides boil until you can’t take it anymore and your body dissolves and you die?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“You’re tougher than I thought, though I already suspected as much.”

Darling showed barely any surprise.

After all, Krash had even consumed the Nine-Valley Dragon Flower Pill and endured it.

There was no reason to think the Crimson Tiger Pill would be any different now.

“All right, then. I can throw in pretty much anything without issue. Is it all right if I ask your Lagrain Family member here to source what I can’t find?”
“It’s to help Krash, so I’ll handle it.”

Haring answered so readily that Darling turned to look at her slowly.

Then, her face full of meaningful smiles, she cupped her cheek with her hand and let out a long, dramatic sigh.

“So you’ve picked up another girl in the meantime? My boyfriend’s quite the libertine, isn’t he?”

Haring tilted her head.

“Was Krash a philanderer?”
“Just let what he says go in one ear and out the other. It’s a waste of mental energy.”

Looking at Haring’s expression, it seemed she didn’t quite understand what philanderer meant.

“So if Krash came asking for help from a woman who’s mentally unhealthy, is he in a normal state of mind?”
-Anything but normal.

Krash decided to stop paying attention to what Darling said.

“Hmm, so what about the Curses? I don’t have many stored away.”

This was Darling, who’d been writing her thesis on Curse Breaking.

So she did possess some Curses, but only lower-grade ones.

The higher one climbed, the more Curses became dangerous items that couldn’t be handled easily without a Curse Breaker.

Darling herself was listed under cautious handling.

“I’ve already thought it through roughly. We should be able to acquire them without much difficulty.”

And the way to acquire them lay within Rahelern Academy itself.

“In that case, I just need to deliver results.”

When new research materials arrived and Darling’s interest was piqued, she let out a suspicious laugh—someone already juggling multiple research projects.

True to form for a future Silver Garden Lord.

The moment fresh research material appeared, Darling’s interest sparked—entirely in character.

“I’ll draw up the list by tomorrow. Check on the direct junior from the Lagrain Family and tell me what you find. I’m curious about the Lagrain side’s take too.”
“Got it.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, my dear, wait a second.”

As Krash turned to leave, Darling opened a drawer at just that moment.

She flicked a bottle toward the departing Krash.

Krash caught the vial smoothly, and Darling grinned.

“That thing you asked me for last time.”

It was already finished.

Typical of Darling’s craftsmanship.

Krash watched the liquid inside—something close to water—slosh around, then carefully pocketed it.

He’d be using this within a short time.

‘Now all that remains.’

The first-year students of Rahelern Academy.

One of the twelve disciples of Belthua Lacroix, the world’s greatest Curse Breaker.

Curse Breaking Specialist Dorma Lac-rod.

And currently a member of the Sigrin Faction.

I had to see through that one.

＊ ＊ ＊

A bright spring day, the sun blazing overhead.

Even as the Student Corps members pushed forward with their missions or recovered from recent ones,

regular classes at Rahelern Academy were in full swing.

The second cohort, after six months of rigorous training and instruction, would be assigned to the Student Corps.

The first cohort, having also completed their six months, attended training or classes whenever they weren’t deployed on missions.

While class attendance was technically voluntary, the students couldn’t afford to take it lightly.

The reason was simple: there was a Midterm Evaluation in every course.

Performance in classes directly reflected one’s standing in the Student Corps.

To secure high marks on the Midterm Evaluation, there was no way to skip attendance.

So the students, barring legitimate reasons such as Medical Leave,

all participated in training and classes once their missions concluded.

Today’s Special Studies class was none other than Curse study.

Curses were inseparable from World Erosion—a subject matter essential to survival.

After all, it was tied directly to one’s own life.

So among those who had chosen Special Studies as their secondary major, quite a few had come to attend the Curse study class.

As students were exchanging idle talk before the lesson began,

Creak—

a figure pushed through the open door.

Dark blue hair and piercing eyes.

That hair color was unmistakable to anyone attending Rahelern Academy.

‘It’s Krash Balheim.’

‘He’s here for the Curse study class.’

The students watched him with keen interest.

Krash had been nothing short of a whirlwind since arriving at the academy.

It began with him felling the vice-instructor Kairun and confidently entering as the top of Rahelern Academy’s Martial Arts Department.

Apparently, he distinguished himself brilliantly in his very first mission.

He’d crushed an Invasive Species, and not only that—he was said to have felled a Seven-Star Grade Invasive Species with a single blow.

The rumors had spread like wildfire among the students.

These whispers merged with the stories that had already circulated about Krash before he even arrived at Rahelern Academy.

The combined effect made him precisely the sort of person the Academy most closely watched.

As a result, wherever Krash went, eyes followed him without fail.

Those gazes carried so many mixed emotions they might have been annoying.

Yet Krash carried himself with ease even under their weight.

As if to say: whatever you all think of me doesn’t concern me in the slightest.

It could be read as detachment, or—viewed differently—an arrogance not unlike Charlotte’s own.

“Quite the celebrity.”

A red-haired man craned his neck around from behind Krash as he stepped into the classroom.

It was Aslan.

Watching the eyes that swung toward Krash the moment he entered, Aslan smiled thinly.

Krash glanced back at him with evident displeasure.

“You deliberately let me enter first and then followed behind, didn’t you.”
“It’s a good thing when your friend becomes someone worth talking about.”
“Don’t use me as a shield to escape the attention.”

Aslan’s appearance was striking enough to draw eyes on its own, true enough.

But when Krash was present, things changed—which was why Aslan often wielded him as a shield this way.

He remained uncomfortable with public attention.

Krash swept his gaze across the classroom.

Not all the Student Corps had returned, so a considerable number of first-generation students were absent.

But the person Krash was looking for came into view without any trouble.

The one sitting in the front row of the Curse Studies section, who’d been staring straight at him before flinching and looking away the moment their eyes met.

Hunched shoulders, a frail impression.

Hair in a pale shade, fluffy as an unkempt puppy.

A small frame that brought to mind a young child.

A perpetual flush on their face.

One of the twelve disciples of Belthua, the world’s greatest master of Curse Breaking.

One of the Starry Generation who had introduced Belthua to Krash.

Dorma Lakrod, a Curse Breaker.

She was exactly the target Krash had his eye on this time.

He needed to extract a curse from her to create a new Instant Amplification elixir.

And it might prove easier than he’d expected.

Krash knew her gaze had been fixed on him ever since the entrance ceremony.

‘A Curse Breaker doesn’t just walk past someone drowning in curses.’

A sparrow cannot ignore the mill; neither could a woman obsessed with curses ignore what lay before her.

And she was currently being recruited and led around by that damned Sigrin.

Until Krash took on the role of the cursed, Dorma was simply the most useful Curse Breaker available.

Krash allowed himself a thin, mirthless smile.

Forgive him, but theft was his specialty.

‘Sigrin, I’ll make sure there’s not a single soul left to break your curse.’

Let her rot in her own hex.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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