What Kind of Cheat Is This? Refund Me!!!

Barbarus's dim, fleeting daylight slowly arrived. Exhausted people silently woke from the nightmares of the night.

Sounds of activity gradually rose within the settlement.

But none of that had anything to do with Hades for now.

Inside Hades's earthen hut, he sat cross-legged on his bed with his eyes closed, utterly still. Even his breathing was nearly inaudible, as though he were dead.

After abruptly experiencing the Warp just now, Hades gradually became aware of his "power."

He had become "whole."

Just as a Psyker could sense their Psychic Power and soul, Hades could now sense his own "Blank power."

Psykers could sense Psychic Power. They could feel it surrounding them, and after training, they could wield and control it.

And Hades, a Blank, could likewise feel a power that belonged solely to him.

He could clearly "see" rings of black light radiating outward from himself in a sphere. The farther they extended, the paler the black became, gradually fading until the normal world came back into view.

The closer they came to him, the more the world approached black and white, distorted and unreal. Near Hades's body, it directly became a layer of pure black void.

He tried sensing himself and found that he, too, existed as a hollow void.

Was this what it meant to be a Blank?

Hades continued holding his breath and focusing. As his perception expanded and his concentration deepened, the black rays emanating from him began to fade, but at the same time, their reach gradually extended.

He also tried changing the shape of that black substance, but found he could not recreate the state he had entered during the battle. His black field remained obediently spherical.

As the black field extended, Hades could even "see" faint white lights some distance away.

But this was already the farthest limit the black rays could reach. Any farther, and Hades could no longer perceive anything.

When the black rays barely touched a white light, they automatically began eroding it bit by bit. Because Hades had diluted the black rays to their limit and the target was slightly far away, the erosion was almost negligible.

But Hades could clearly sense that he was "devouring" that white light.

At first, he sensed the white light with some confusion—

—Wait, that white light was in that position. Was it his neighbor, Lazar?

So he was eroding a human soul?!!

Hades instantly pulled back his "black field." He desperately compressed its range, but in the end, he miserably discovered that he could only control it within a spherical radius of five meters. If he tried to shrink it any further, he simply could not—the blackness had almost formed a tangible void.

Hades abruptly opened his eyes, cold sweat pouring down his face. He seemed to understand why people instinctively disliked him, avoided him, and even hurt him.

This was merely humanity's instinctive self-preservation when their souls were harmed, because Hades had unconsciously been eroding their souls all along?!

Wait, then what about Herrela, who had always been so close to him???

Hades suddenly did not dare think any further.

Stay rational. Stay rational.

Hades began carefully recalling his usual state from his memories, then realized that his power had previously been far too weak, nowhere near the scale it had reached after fighting the Alien Lord Lazar.

In other words, he might have caused soul damage to others before, but the harm had not been as severe as what he could cause now.

Hades silently let out a breath of relief.

Yet a feeling of frustration still lingered in his heart. Those who treated him well and were closest to him would suffer the greatest extent of his unconscious harm.

Was this what it meant to be a Blank?

According to the setting, ordinary soldiers fighting alongside Blanks would suffer anything from a loss of fighting spirit to convulsions and unconsciousness. If they remained within a Blank's ability range for too long, they could even lose their minds.

Even if his constitution had been weak before, and he had unconsciously expanded it to the limits of his perception, they had often acted together. Small harms accumulated over time, and it was entirely possible that they had built into something serious.

Damn it.

Was this supposed to be the cheat ability every transmigrator got? Why had it become a double-edged sword for him?

Hades futilely tried shrinking his black field again, but clearly, though the black field trembled, its range did not visibly change.

Perhaps he needed to practice more often?

Just as Hades was immersed in thought, a sudden knock knock sounded at the door.

"Hades, it's me~ Why haven't you gone to work in the fields yet? Are your injuries still not healed?"

"I cooked some porridge for you. Open the door already."

Herrela's voice suddenly rang out from beyond the door. Hades immediately sensed a tiny white light, and in alarm, he sprang to his feet and ran to the corner farthest from the door.

The area by the door immediately fell outside his range.

Fuck... what was he supposed to do?

Cold sweat beaded across Hades's forehead. He pretended to clear his throat.

"Um... Herrela, just leave the bowl outside. I'm not feeling well, and I don't really want to get up. Sorry for making you bring me porridge."

Herrela's worried voice sounded again.

"Are you really okay, Hades? Why don't you open the door and let me take another look?"

"I'm fine, really. I'm just too tired. I was sleeping the whole time, and I don't feel like getting out of bed to open the door."

"Alright." Seeing Hades insist, Herrela remained worried but did not think much of it. She only assumed he really was exhausted.

"I left the porridge on your windowsill. Remember to drink it while it's hot."

"Okay, okay, okay."

"Then I'm leaving. Get some proper rest."

"Bye, bye-bye-bye-bye."

Only after Herrela's footsteps gradually faded away did Hades cautiously open the door. The bowl of steaming white porridge sat plainly on the windowsill, filled with far more white rice than a breakfast portion.

Hades recalled the cluster of white light that had been Herrela's. It had clearly been much dimmer than the one belonging to his neighbor Lazar.

Hades's heart spasmed.

Fuck, what kind of goddamn situation was this?

Should he stop interacting with people?

Filled with fury and self-destructive resignation, Hades once more violently tried to compress his field. Veins bulged on his forehead and sweat soaked him through—but in the end, the field did not budge at all.

Fuck!

Hades collapsed back into the hut, helplessly clutching his head.

There was only one path left: leave this human settlement.

Actually, if he completely ignored contact with other people... his "Blank" ability was incredibly useful.

Every living creature on Barbarus currently had a soul. Hades knew he definitely could not devour them instantly, but as long as he compressed the blackness to a certain degree, he should be able to suppress them to some extent.

And powerful Blanks could even make beings with souls instinctively "erase" their existence from their minds, achieving one hundred percent "invisibility camouflage."

Hades calculated inwardly. If he insisted on staying in this settlement and did not want to hurt anyone, he would no longer be able to carry out combat missions—the Death Guard needed at least two people to fight as a squad. He could only take on work far from crowds and completely unrelated to combat.

For example, extensive farming.

Uh. Hades did not want to stay here hoeing fields forever, barely surviving until the Emperor arrived.

Although he had always claimed to be the number-one slacker, and although his previous combat missions had only involved cutting down cannon fodder, if Hades were truly told to live like this... sorry, he really could not do it.

What was more, he now possessed the ability of a "Blank."

People with this ability were inherently unsuited to living in normal human society. They were destined to become warriors.

Perhaps he should take a gamble?

Through the Death Guard's training and battles, Hades had long since ceased to be that skinny boy who could only flee in panic before the Pale Laugher.

Now, with a scythe in hand, he could even reap the lives of a group of Pale Laughers.

He absolutely could not passively wait for disaster to descend upon him. Before that happened, he had to seize every second to grow stronger.

He absolutely could not wait passively!!!

Hades looked around his little hut. There was only one bed and one table inside; neatly stacked notes rested on the tabletop, farming tools hung quietly on the wall, and the rope he usually twisted lay coiled beside the door. These simple, monotonous things were everything his life had been for the past few years.

Hades rose to his feet, his mind made up.

Wahhh, the setting I wrote still wasn't complete enough, so I'll patch it here.

The protagonist is "similar to a Blank," so please treat this as a cheat ability like a "system" (;Д｀)

Later, the protagonist will have two cheat abilities. I'm very sorry, but this author's impoverished brain really cannot figure out how to fight in the Warhammer world without cheat abilities.

Otherwise, it would be way too grimdark. Though later, the protagonist will get screwed over by his "cheat abilities." Probably. As long as I don't change the outline.

Fuck, I think I can sign a contract now. Let me look into how to do that. Fuck, first step toward becoming a flop!