Benefits and Drawbacks

After the man's neck was crushed beneath his foot, his body instantly turned into countless tiny black specks. The sea chart within Hawkins flew out, and the specks swiftly surged toward it, all of them absorbed by the chart.

Hawkins held out his hand, and the sea chart fell into his palm like a scroll.

[Eternal Sea Chart, Immature]

A stream of information entered Hawkins's consciousness.

Hawkins came to a realization. Clearly, if he wanted his wish to come true, he still needed to personally kill more creatures like that strange man until the sea chart matured.

At that moment, two bald men with leopard-like eyes gradually emerged from the seawater, each holding a blade.

"Heh heh, it's finally our brothers' turn." One of them, a man with a rather flat nose, spoke.

Hawkins said in surprise, "So you can talk."

As he spoke, he gave his right hand a light flick. The sea chart in his hand swept around both men's necks, then rolled back into a tube and returned to his hand.

The man who had spoken wanted to say something else, but all that came from his open mouth was a hoarse rasp. Before long, he and his brother both collapsed, their bodies swiftly turning into black specks and being absorbed by the sea chart.

Small fry like these were bound to have nothing worthwhile to say. Rather than listen to them spew filth from their mouths, he might as well wait for the next batch.

Next, Hawkins discovered that their numbers gradually increased. The third wave of opponents consisted of three people, the fourth wave had four, and so on.

Moreover, through certain big mouths that had perhaps been holding it in too long, Hawkins obtained the intelligence he needed.

Strictly speaking, these people were not living beings. They had died long ago, and because of their own desires, they had been imprisoned within those desires forever.

Now was their only chance to break free!

Either they killed Hawkins, seized his body, and lived a second life, or Hawkins killed them, whereupon everything they were would be absorbed by the sea chart and they would perish completely.

Naturally, these people did not want to die, so their only choice was to kill Hawkins.

During the battle, Hawkins gradually understood the true purpose of the trial. The energy his wish required was simply too great. Though the Dream Realm possessed no self-awareness, it had a balancing mechanism. Like the laws of physics in the original world, it was one type of rule.

The more power he wanted to take away, the more difficult the trial he had to undergo would become.

And his wish was simply too outrageous, no different from a daydream. Its difficulty was therefore nearly infinite. He needed to keep killing the opponents who appeared until he was killed or there was no one left to kill.

Hawkins felt neither fatigue nor hunger. That was an excellent sign; it meant that as long as he did not die, he could keep fighting forever.

In the hundredth wave, a tall, upright man emerged from the Black Sea.

Just as Hawkins was about to strike, the man hurriedly stopped him. "Wait. I don't want to fight you, and I don't think I'm your match. I'm merely curious about one thing: what exactly was the wish you made? Do you know how many people are behind me?"

"How many?" Hawkins asked.

The man looked at Hawkins and answered, "Endless. There is no end in sight. So... what exactly was the wish you made?"

"A wish that isn't very realistic, but one I would give everything to fulfill if I had the chance." Hawkins considered it briefly, then smiled happily.

He was happy, happy from the bottom of his heart.

The more difficult the trial, the happier he became, because that meant his wish truly had a chance of being fulfilled.

However, the man across from him smiled. "Unknown powerhouse, to be honest... I have no desire to fight someone as strong as you. The one I've been waiting for isn't someone like you. Fortunately... you don't have much time left."

"Not much time?"

Hawkins froze, then saw his hands and feet becoming transparent.

He immediately looked toward the man and charged forward in the next instant, but his fists and kicks passed straight through him.

The man smiled calmly. "You took too little Qi-Suppressing Stone powder, sir. Your time is up. What a pity... this was your only chance to fulfill your wish, but you missed it."

"..."

Black Knife.

Mark waited quietly. He did not believe Hawkins would fail.

After giving up on killing Hawkins, he had relaxed completely. Waiting was rather boring, so he had taken a book from Hawkins's bookshelf and read it carefully.

After an unknown number of hours, he suddenly looked up toward Hawkins just as Hawkins opened his eyes.

In that instant, he felt as though time and space had frozen. A suffocating pressure washed over him. Hawkins felt like a dragon—no, something even more terrifying than a dragon. Every cell in Mark's body trembled, and even the wolf soul behind him wailed.

Yet the feeling lasted less than a second before vanishing abruptly.

"The Dream Realm... truly is an interesting place."

Hawkins chuckled softly. The Eternal Sea Chart appeared in front of him out of thin air, with only a single speck upon it.

What abilities the Eternal Sea Chart possessed remained unknown, but it had brought him a rather burdensome curse. His life force would continue to drain away. He would age faster than ordinary people, grow hungrier, and tire more easily.

If an ordinary person could live to be a hundred, then he could only live to be thirty.

However, this curse was not much of a problem for him. He could completely extend his life by adjusting his genetic structure, or even directly transform into a silicon-based life-form and thereby achieve longevity.

It was longevity rather than immortality because the universe itself had a limited lifespan. It would ultimately enter heat death, not because his own life would reach its end.

Therefore, this curse was merely a minor burden to him, not a major problem.

"I suppose it counts as a success..."

Hawkins nodded in acknowledgment. He truly had gained Curse Power.

The sensation was marvelous, as though he possessed a second body. That power could flow according to his will.

Curse Power did not actually exist within the body. It was more like it "overlapped" with the body. It was only because "consciousness," or "the soul," existed within the body that Curse Power followed it like a shadow, fitting perfectly with the body.

If he had to explain it, it was like how the Dream Realm and the real world actually overlapped. In the past, he could only exist in the real world, but now, through his "newborn" body, he could vaguely sense the existence of the Dream Realm.

He looked at Mark and smiled. "Now that I've become a Curse Caster, tell me about the ranks of Curse Casters."

"Yes, Captain." Mark hurriedly nodded.

The ranks of Curse Casters were very clear. Once one could control Curse Power, one was a First-Rank Curse Master.

A First-Rank Curse Master possessed one Natal Relic. This Natal Relic was extremely important. If a Curse Caster was killed, then this relic would rise by one grade.

For example, if a Curse Caster's Natal Relic was a Fine-grade Relic, then if that Curse Caster was killed, the Fine-grade Relic they possessed would automatically advance to Hazard-grade. Both its danger level and power would greatly increase.

Thus, aside from Curse Casters who existed in the form of Lineages, Curse Casters generally did not interact with other Curse Casters, mainly because they feared being killed for their treasures.

As for a Second-Rank Curse Master, their Curse Power would double. A Third-Rank Curse Master would gain a second Natal Relic, while a Fourth-Rank Curse Master would have their Curse Power increase tenfold.

As for the advancement requirements for Curse Casters above the fifth rank, they were too far removed. Mark had not had time to learn about them before leaving the Lineage, so he did not know either.

After hearing Mark's explanation, Hawkins guessed, "The second Natal Relic, if I'm not mistaken, can probably be claimed voluntarily, right?"

Hawkins chuckled. "If one couldn't choose for oneself, there would be no need to take such enormous risks to kill other Curse Casters. Since Curse Casters hunt one another, it isn't difficult to infer."

"Captain, about how much Curse Power do you have now?" Mark had recovered slightly from his fear and could not help asking.

Hawkins frowned. "Curse Power can actually be measured?"

"Of course. The calculation is quite simple. Captain, you can try mobilizing the Curse Power in your body and extend it outward as far as possible. Extending it one meter counts as one point of Curse Power, and so on. My Curse Power can extend one hundred meters, so I have 100 points of Curse Power," Mark hurriedly explained.

After hearing this, Hawkins raised his hand and tried extending the Curse Power within his body upward.

In an instant, a red line visible only to him and Mark shot rapidly upward. Mark's eyes widened. He hurriedly stood and ran outside the cabin, raising his head to stare at the red line piercing straight into the sky.

"How is this possible? He clearly... he only just became a Curse Caster..."

Mark stood with his mouth agape, staring in shock at the red line in the sky whose end could not be seen.

Within the Lineage, he had already been considered a minor genius. When he had first become a Curse Caster, he possessed sixty points of Curse Power, meaning he could release the Curse Power in his body for sixty meters.

But before Hawkins, that was nothing more than a joke.

One thousand meters? Ten thousand meters?

Mark could no longer calculate how enormous Hawkins's Curse Power truly was. In a clash of Curse Power between Curse Casters, Hawkins would likely fear no one.

Now, Mark had completely lost any confidence in becoming Hawkins's enemy. If he truly became Hawkins's enemy, he would rather kill himself.

Hawkins withdrew his Curse Power. Curse Power was an extension of his consciousness, so even without leaving the cabin, he could clearly calculate how far it had extended.

Three hundred and thirty thousand meters—three hundred and thirty thousand points of Curse Power.

From Mark's words, he could determine that his Curse Power was hundreds of thousands of times that of an ordinary Curse Caster. But such immense Curse Power also brought a problem: advancement would be difficult.

The advancement requirement for a Second-Rank Curse Master was to double one's Curse Power.

In other words, his Curse Power needed to reach at least six hundred and sixty thousand before he could advance.

The time required would likely be exceedingly long.