I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 8

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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 8. The Alchemical City Lord

Krash was Charlotte’s younger brother, blessed with the same fierce and striking eyes.

All attention was bound to gravitate toward him.

“Ahaha! So the young master of House Valheim has business with me? Don’t tell me you fell for me at first sight.”

Krash, paying her words no mind, broached the real subject.

“You seem to have developed quite an interest in World Erosion Entities lately.”

In that instant, Darling’s shoulders stiffened.

The bright smile that had painted her eyes began to fade, slowly shifting into something else.

“This much should have piqued your curiosity, shouldn’t it?”

Darling soon let out a slow laugh.

“A provocative little one, aren’t you.”

She stepped closer to Krash.

“You’ll have to pay dearly for drawing my interest.”

Don’t worry.

‘I’m the foremost expert on the very information you’re curious about.’

Krash nodded slightly and turned to leave.

The future world’s greatest alchemist, the Alchemy King.

The Alchemical City Lord, Darling Danfellion.

It was time to forge a bond with her.

* * *

Afterward, Krash and Darling found themselves alone in a private room.

The moment Darling entered, she flopped casually onto the bed and looked at Krash with an amused smile.

“Coming to a room like this already? Aren’t you a bit too precocious?”
“Don’t sexually harass a child.”
“A child wouldn’t understand what I just said anyway.”

Fair enough.

Krash pulled up a chair and sat; Darling propped her elbow on her knee and rested her chin in her palm.

“How old are you?”
“If you knew our sister’s age, you’d understand.”
“Thirteen, isn’t she? But she doesn’t look it at all. Her face is like a child’s, yet…”

There was nothing to be done about that.

Inside that thirteen-year-old body lived Krash, an adult who’d already graduated from the Academy.

“Does that matter to what we’re discussing now?”

But that was no reason for Krash to indulge her.

It was winter now.

Only two years remained before enrollment at Rahelern Academy.

There was a mountain of work to be done before then.

He couldn’t afford to waste time on her wordplay.

“That’s beside the point. Go on. Since you came to me with information about the World Erosion Entity, House Valheim must have uncovered something, yes?”

Darling wasn’t particularly interested in him.

She thought that whatever he knew couldn’t amount to much.

“Using curses against each other—the method of Curse Negation.”

But the moment Krash struck at the heart of it, Darling’s smile froze.

“Specifically, using other curses to erase the World Erosion Entity’s curse, which even the curse-breakers still haven’t solved.”

Now Darling’s eyes began to widen slowly.

“Has that research made progress recently?”

Krash asked the question.

“Hmm.”

Darling slowly pushed her hair back from her face.

Darling was a natural prodigy when it came to alchemy.

At only fifteen, she’d obtained a Grade 2 Alchemist’s license—something even adults struggled to achieve.

Recently, she’d been researching Curse Negation at Danfellion’s Alchemy Workshop.

It was a thesis she’d begun preparing ambitiously to obtain her Grade 1 Alchemist license, yet no matter how much she studied, she couldn’t produce results.

Of course—it made perfect sense.

‘There were no test subjects.’

No matter how much she studied the theory, there was no test subject to verify it against.

So her research was stalled.

And it would remain stalled from here on.

She would eventually give up, wounded in her pride, move on to different research, and somehow manage to obtain her Grade 1 license anyway.

But her research would resume later.

And it would be through her meeting with Krash.

‘I do owe this one a debt.’

He was the one who had given her back what she’d been losing piece by piece, corrupted by the curses she’d been stealing so recklessly.

“I’ll help with your research.”

The moment Krash said this, Darling’s eyes turned cold as ice.

“Don’t treat Alchemy like it’s nothing.”

Had he touched a nerve in her pride as an Alchemist?

Her sharp response made it clear: an outsider who knew nothing had no right to speak carelessly of her research.

Even Darling, who usually carried herself with such lightness, showed her true colors when it came to Alchemy.

“Don’t worry. What I want to help with isn’t what you lack—it’s the test subjects you’ve been seeking.”

Doubt flickered across Darling’s eyes.

It was something entirely unexpected from Krash.

“Test subjects?”
“I can steal curses.”

For the first time, a light other than mischief kindled in Darling’s gaze.

It was the look of an Alchemist who’d just discovered a new material.

“You’re serious about that?”
“I made a contract with a god for it. Surely that’s enough to help with your research?”
“Enough? It’s overflowing at this point.”

Darling trailed off, then smiled slowly again.

“I’m guessing you want something from me. What is it? A girlfriend, maybe?”

Krash paid no mind to her clever quip, despite her tendency to flirt.

“I’ll be obtaining several curses. I want you to craft medicines that can suppress them.”

Krash knew now that he could steal Skills—that much was certain.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

Even Changgong’s generation, with all their brilliant Skills, had ultimately failed to prevent the collapse.

So Krash intended to use every shortcut available to him.

He’d already exhausted turning curses to his advantage anyway.

…….

After hearing this, Darling studied Krash in silence.

Those eyes brimming with ambition.

No thirteen-year-old should possess eyes like that.

What in the world had transformed the boy so completely?

Darling had heard plenty about Krash.

The half-wit of House Valheim.

A washout who’d never earned divine favor and showed no aptitude with any weapon.

The youngest of the family, forever measured against Charlotte—Staron’s brightest star.

‘When circumstances pile up like this, most people break.’

But some find their way up.

And this boy before her had done just that.

An arc of intrigue began to trace itself across Darling’s pupils.

‘Mmm, I like this.’

Darling’s taste in people fell into two categories.

First: the overwhelmingly gifted.

Those rare geniuses standing at an apex no one else could possibly reach.

Second: the stubborn breed.

Those with barely a spark of talent who’d resort to shortcuts, heresy, anything at all—willing to do whatever it took to claw their way to the top.

‘How could a pair of siblings both be so appealing?’

It was almost unfair.

Darling ran her tongue across her lips, her eyes gleaming with seductive interest.

“Mind if I ask you something, little one?”

Krash met her gaze without concern.

And Darling, taking his indifference as permission, posed the question she’d been holding back.

“Are you planning to attend the newly opening Rahelern Academy?”

Krash blinked once at the question, then his expression settled into certainty.

With so many skills to pilfer there, he’d have to be mad not to go.

“Perfect. That’s all I needed to hear. I’ll prepare any potions you want. Anything curse-related especially—I’m always interested.”

At the sight of Darling laughing brightly, Krash felt relief wash over him.

Fortunately, Darling was still the same person she’d always been.

“Oh, speaking of which—could I ask one more favor? It’s related to potion-making.”

In that moment, Krash decided to make the request he’d forgotten about.

“You said you’d handle the medicine preparation earlier — so what is it?”
“The Colorblind Disease. You know about it.”

It was certainly an incurable illness where the skin gradually turned a deep, sickly blue and the body withered away.

It was a rare affliction, but since Darling knew of it too, she tilted her head, and Krash continued.

“Make me a cure for it.”

Hearing the blunt request for a cure, Darling’s expression went momentarily blank.

“…Do you understand that’s an incurable disease?”
“I know.”
“Don’t you see why it’s called incurable?”

Of course — it was incurable precisely because it couldn’t be cured.

“But you can do it.”

If Darling applied herself to serious research, it wouldn’t be difficult at all.

Later, the number of supposedly incurable diseases this woman had actually cured would number in the hundreds.

The Colorblind Disease was certainly among them.

When Aliod swallowed the poisoned soup and took his own life, Krash had remembered clearly both his reason for choosing death and his daughter’s illness.

When Krash later heard that Darling had created a cure for the Colorblind Disease, he’d felt a peculiar sting of regret.

“That’s quite the blow to one’s pride, you know.”

He wasn’t sure when she’d seen him to trust him so completely, but the feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

That said, Darling rose lightly from the bed.

“Is that all, then?”
“Yes. Send word to Cheong Song Hall in House Valheim as soon as the cure is ready.”
“Are you coming in person? That’s quite the ordeal. I should at least clean my room.”
“Are you really going to say that to a thirteen-year-old?”
“A thirteen-year-old wouldn’t understand what you mean anyway. Cleaning is a hassle, so I’ll just come to you instead.”

She was an odd woman, no question.

Just as Krash was turning to leave now that their business was concluded, Darling stepped beside him and jabbed him in the ribs.

“My boyfriend slot is open, you know. Let me know whenever you’re interested.”

Krash furrowed his brows as if he hadn’t heard what he’d clearly just heard.

“Don’t you like our sister?”
“I like Charlotte tremendously. But that doesn’t mean I can’t like other people too, does it?”

That didn’t make a shred of sense.

“…Wait, before that — isn’t it women you’re attracted to?”

Knowing her sexual orientation, Krash said as much, and Darling blinked before a slow, wide smile began spreading across her face.

“I like men too.”
“What?”
“I mean, I like both women and men. Gender doesn’t matter to me.”

Darling, gazing at Krash, dragged her tongue slowly across her lips.

At the sight of those eyes—like a predator spotting prey—Krash kicked the door open and bolted.

“Don’t you dare run! My future boyfriend!”
“You’re insane.”

Having discovered this unwelcome new side of Darling, Krash scrambled back into the ballroom in a panic.

Fortunately, it seemed Darling had been at least partly joking, for she didn’t pursue him with full force.

‘She definitely asked about Rahelern Academy.’

Something felt off.

Normally Darling wouldn’t have come to Rahelern Academy just because Charlotte had, but for some reason, it seemed likely she’d enroll this time.

‘Whatever.’

At least he’d accomplished the whole point of the gathering.

He’d decided not to worry about it any further and was making his way back to his seat, running a hand through his hair, when—

Bianca came into view.

Her wrist was caught in someone’s grip, and the moment Krash saw it, his eyes narrowed.

In the next instant, he’d kicked off the floor and reached Bianca’s side in a flash.

“Krash?”

The moment Bianca called his name with wide eyes, Krash kicked the man away without hesitation.

“Ugh?!”

The man tumbled with a cry of pain, and Krash caught Bianca, who’d been pulled along by his grip, smoothly in his arms.

Then he examined her wrist.

A faint redness showed where someone had wrenched it forcefully.

“Krash.”

When Bianca called him again, Krash turned to face her and sighed.

“Let’s go get some medicine.”

It might bruise otherwise.

“I’m fine. Besides—”

Bianca looked ahead.

Following her gaze, Krash turned to see a young man struggling to his feet, staggering unsteadily.

He glared at Krash with seething eyes and furrowed his brow.

“You dare kick me?!”
“And you’re trying to drag away someone else’s fiancée by force. What were you thinking?”
“What—by force? That’s—”

Judging by his apparent age—mid-teens at most—Krash gave the boy a slow, appraising look from head to foot before his expression hardened into open contempt.

Bianca said something beside him, but Krash only gazed at the man before him as though he were garbage.

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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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