Under the influence of the red smoke, every memory Ace had tried to escape or forget suddenly sprang to life and haunted him. However, one memory overshadowed them all.
Ace remembered the night he spent scouring the internet to find the nudes of women with the same body type as his elder sister, cropping out their faces and emailing them to Mike. He recalled the attention to detail he put into them such that Mike would not realize they were random nudes from the internet.
The shame and humiliation that Ace endured for committing this act were known only to him. Despite this, the fear that one lowlife's bruised ego could endanger his family drove him to see it to completion.
He needed them to be good enough to buy him time as he sent his elder sister out of the city to safety without drawing any suspicion of his family and the 9Ks. However, a simple image search undid all his hours of tolerance.
The feeling of helplessness as his plan nearly collapsed, leaving him at the mercy of the scoundrel who was hell-bent on ruining his sister's life. These memories brewed a torrent of negative emotion in Ace's heart to the point where he felt like his heart was about to burst, releasing his grievance onto the world as divine punishment.
As Ace began to lose his sense of self to the insanity brought to him by the hallucinations, Ria's words acted as a beacon guiding him to sanity. Ace then recalled the memories that the red smoke was not showing him. The memory of how he persisted through every humiliation Mike and his lackey put him through and successfully managed to send his sister to safety.
This realization gave Ace the strength to follow Ria's guidance and compress all the negative emotions gathered in his heart to the extreme with his will. Soon, he felt the compressed negative emotions undergo a qualitative transformation beyond his understanding, making him aware of an energy only heard in stories.
With the transformation of Ace's negative emotions, the red smoke no longer affected him. His mind cleared, making it easier for him to focus his willpower on the task at hand.
"Persist, maintain that pressure for as long as you can as if your life depends on it. A lump of coal in the Earth's crust doesn't transform into a diamond overnight; it takes thousands, even millions, of years. The longer you persist, the more refined your curse core will become. You better persist as your curse core will determine your fate," Sensing the transformation in Ace's negative emotions, Ria instructed him while emphasizing the importance of curse core refining.
Ace struggled with helplessness his entire life as he and his family made daily compromises to survive the society whose existence was to protect their freedom. Thanks to his upbringing, Ace understood that one's freedom should not limit or infringe upon others' freedom. He and his family have abided by this principle their entire lives.
But what if others didn't abide by that? Wasn't society and its laws supposed to protect them from such infringement? Unfortunately, things did not function as intended. As a result, Ace and his family had to compromise their freedom every day. This helplessness has grown to the point where it has become the norm in their life.
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Ace decided to change that today by channeling his frustration over his helplessness as fuel to make the most of this opportunity to seize the strength he needed. Resolving himself, Ace continued to persist to the point where he was mentally exhausted and struggling to remain conscious.
"If you are on the verge of losing consciousness, then stop the refining process. The next step is forging your innate curse tool, which is as crucial as refining your curse core. If you pass out and miss this part, the remainder of your life will regret not forging your innate curse tool on your first try," Ria stressed the importance of forging an innate curse tool on the first try to Ace.
Heeding Ria's warning, Ace ceased refining his curse core and prepared for the next step, forging his innate curse tool. As he did, profound knowledge flooded his mind, making him fully aware of his curse core and all there was to know about forging his innate curse tool.
"Here, take this wooden clown box. It's a cursed item. Refine it as your innate curse tool," Ria passed Ace a 6-inch tall wooden cube box with a simple design, smooth edges, and a polished surface with intricate detailing. The box was adorned with colorful painted designs depicting a clown's face on its exterior. Under the lid, a miniature clown figurine, carved from wood and painted with vibrant colors with a spring mechanism, can be seen.
Ace's eyes shifted between the wooden clown box and Ria, wondering if she was being serious. From the profound knowledge he received, he understood a curse master's innate curse tool determines their strength.
"Curse items don't grow on trees. A cursed wooden clown box is all I have. Take it or leave it. With the enlightenment you received, you should know how important it is to forge the innate curse tool right after refining your curse core. It is your choice. I won't force you," Ria explained, holding out the wooden clown box.
Curse Masters should forge their innate curse tool as soon as possible since it serves as a conduit for channeling their cursed energy. Using cursed energy without a conduit was dangerous. Besides, Ace couldn't guarantee to find a cursed item, let alone one better than the cursed wooden clown box. The choice was obvious and logical.
Taking the cursed clown box from Ria, Ace moved his curse core into it and began to forge it as his innate curse tool, following the profound knowledge he had gained after refining his curse core. Merging Ace's curse core with the box, it vanished from his hands and appeared in his soul space.
Successfully forging his innate cursed tool, Ace rose to his feet. Then Ria handed Ace a red pill, "Here, swallow this. It will help relieve your mental exhaustion."
"Uh-huh," Ace took the suspicious-looking pill from Ria and swallowed it without hesitation. Because if she wanted to, she could force it down his throat. Soon, he felt a refreshing energy erase his mental fatigue.
"What is your innate curse tool called?" Ria inquired, her tone more of an order than a request.