His Misfortune

[You obtained temporary color blindness.]

"Temp- Temporary color blindness?" Mike stuttered upon hearing and seeing the notification. He looked at his hands once again. It was only white and black for shading.

'Did I suffer temporary eye trauma because I fell off the stone stairs and got bounced all the way here?' Mike wondered in mind, then turned around. Strangely, the mini shrine was no longer there.

"Huh? Disappeared? I'm sure that a few seconds ago, the mini shrine was here. My offerings also disappeared... What's going on?" Mike walked over and crouched down. There was no trace of anything as if the mini shrine had never been there before.

'This girl's voice and text appeared after I asked for a blessing from the Patron Goddess. Is this unknown system a gift from her?' Mike thought for a few moments while looking at the text in the upper corner of his vision.

'Find a Miss Fortune within a month or die of your misfortune, huh... So, my occasional curse has gotten worse and will kill me?' Mike went into deep thought to digest what had just happened.

He no longer considered the girl's voice earlier as an evil spirit. Instead, he believed that the Almighty Goddess was merciful to him and allowed him to be free from the misfortune curse. 'But who do I need to find? There are so many women in this world...'

When Mike glanced over to the red text in the left corner of his vision, a girl happened to be around and walked over to him with suspicion.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?"

A soft, pleasant voice came to Mike's ears, but it was also what surprised him. He gasped and turned to the source of the voice.

"Ah, ghost!" Mike fell on his butt.

A girl in front of him was beautiful, but she was no other color than black and white. It almost looked creepy as she appeared near him all of a sudden.

The girl grasped the dagger at her waist as if ready to attack. It was just a cheap trick used to distract her attention for a surprise attack. She wouldn't eat that shit.

"How rude. Tell me, what are you doing here? This is the Ataraxia Temple's territory. How did you get here?" The girl put her pouch on the ground. She was ready to draw her dagger to attack the intruder.

Mike quickly understood his predicament. The girl in front of him was not a ghost, but he was the one who could only see black and white. Also, this female disciple was suspicious of him. Thus, he immediately stood up to reconcile the misunderstanding.

"Ahem, please forgive my rudeness, Senior Sister. Your arrival really surprised me. My name is Mike, one of the outer disciples under Master Luke's tutelage. I was going down the mountain. However, I got lost and ended up here." Mike clasped his fist to pay his respects.

"I see... If you want to go to the foot of the mountain, you just have to go that way. Don't turn or take another path. Just go straight ahead." The girl pointed to the north. Her suspicion towards this boy dropped a little as she got a clear and eloquent explanation.

"Thank you for showing me directions, Senior Sister. Before I excuse myself, may I know your noble name?" Mike assessed the female disciple in front of him.

When viewed from the shape of her robes and equipment, he was sure that this girl was not an outer disciple. It was a shame. He couldn't see her robe's color to recognize her status.

The girl raised her eyebrow slightly. It was the first time for someone to ask her name directly. Nevertheless, she was not so stingy as not to leave her name. "My name is Miyuki."

"Then, I excused myself, Miyuki-san." Mike bowed slightly in respect, then headed north.

Miyuki stared at Mike's back for a moment. When the latter was out of sight, she grabbed a small mirror from her robe.

'Do I look like a ghost to him? Hum, that's impossible, right?' Miyuki looked at every corner of her pretty face, but she didn't find anything different.

'Never mind.' Miyuki just shook her head and took her herb pouch.

Meanwhile, Mike tried to remember any female disciple named Miyuki. He never saw her in the outer circle or inner circle. He was often in the inner circle because some senior bullies came from there and forced him to do their assignment.

Yet, he didn't know any female disciple named Miyuki even though he had been in the sect for four years. Ataraxia Temple didn't have many disciples, so who was that girl?

'Or maybe, she is one of the treasured disciples in the core circle? Core disciple? Miyuki, Miyuki, Miyuki, hmm... I seem to have heard her name from the senior bullies.' Mike put his hand on his chin, thinking hard to remember.

'O, I remember! Is she the prettiest girl in the sect that rotten seniors have talked about? If I'm not mistaken, her full name is Miyazaki Miyuki. Ah, sigh... I got the opportunity to meet her in person, but I couldn't appreciate her beauty.' Mike could only sigh because it was difficult to enjoy the beauty of the world without color.

<| FP : 10/1000 |>

Mike glanced at the eye-catching red text in the left corner of his vision. 'Wow, this is so red even though I have temporary color blindness? FP stands for Fortune Point? It's so low. How can I raise this to avoid misfortune?'

[You can earn Fortune Points by collecting good karma. Fortune Points will decrease if it's the other way around.]

The girl's melodious voice sounded in Mike's mind, and a text in a black box popped out in front of him.

Mike just fell into contemplation and stopped in his tracks. After five seconds, the notification disappeared by itself. He stared deeply into the right corner of his vision.

<| Find a Miss Fortune |>

When Mike was trying to find a solution, the quest expanded and displayed more details. 'Oh Goodness... Is there no clue about Miss Fortune in question?'

He hoped there would be a response from the system like before. But he didn't get anything even after waiting for a few minutes.

'Wait, I met Miyazaki Miyuki-san earlier, but this quest doesn't count her as one? She possessed beauty, wealth, strength, talent, and all things related to fortunes. However, she's not a Miss Fortune?' Mike pondered about the conditions for avoiding his death.

The word 'Miss' could be interpreted for a few things, but it was prone to honorific.

'I need to think about this later. Let's get out of this mountain first.' Mike shook his head and continued on his way again.

It took about half a day for Mike to leave the forest and reach the foot of the mountain. Without waiting for anything else, he headed to a small ancient village.

Mike went there not to stop by or ask directions but to visit the cemetery in the village. He bought some incense and immediately went to his destination.

It was late afternoon, but Mike felt it was getting dark. He put various beautiful flowers that he picked when he descended the mountain to two adjacent tombs.

'Father, mother... Your child has come for a pilgrimage. May peace be poured out on you in the afterlife. May God bless those who precede us, and those who come later with the assurance of heaven upon us--'

Mike put his hands together, delivering his greetings and prayers to his parents.

After that, he doused the two tombs with water and burned some incense in the two tombs for fragrance.

Mike pondered for a moment, recalling the moment with his family that had become vague as time passed. It was already five years since his parents died in this foreign country.

He and his parents were just ordinary tourists who came to visit the land of the rising sun. It was their first tour in the country, but it was also their last. His father was an admirer of Japanese culture, and they went to that country when Mike was 11 years old.

Unfortunately, tragedy came to his parents. He didn't know what happened in his parents' room that night, but his parents had already been declared dead when morning came. The policemen were all around the inn, but he could only cry his heart out above his parent's dead bodies, regardless of the blood around the chaotic room.

After the tragedy, Mike was admitted to a small hospital due to mental trauma. Still, it only took him a month before he was kicked out to the street, empty-handed and all alone.

All the inheritance and money belonging to his parents had gone somewhere. He didn't understand the complicated things, but he understood that the insurance money and all his parents' money had been embezzled by someone in that small hospital.

After eleven months of suffering from living on the streets, Mike struggled to survive until the day Ataraxia Temple, one of the hidden prominent sects in Japan, opened up disciple recruitment.

Based on the rumors, Mike struggled desperately to go to the top of the sacred mountain for it. In the end, he was accepted as a disciple because of luck.

Unfortunately, his four years as a disciple were no better than before. After he reached the limit at the peak stage Elementary Spirit Realm, his master no longer paid attention to him. He needed to struggle to feed himself and was forced as everyone's lackey.

To make things worse, he got a curse that got more and more worrisome as time went on until the threat of death came from that misfortune's curse.

Mike wiped the tears that fell down to his cheeks. Then, closed his eyes and stood up. He walked away to struggle a little more. He refused to submit, not before trying. If he failed, at least, he would only suffer for one more month before catching up with his parents in the afterlife.

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