MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

After Aleksandra left the room to find some clothes for him, Adam stood up from the bed and approached a rather large mirror, that was fitted near a dressing table in the large room, in order to inspect his current state.

'No wounds. Not even a scar.'

As always, his body was currently in a flawless state, courtesy of dying and then resurrecting in his peak form. But it still didn't change the fact that he should be in pretty bad shape right now after having used his powers like that.

'What happened, Genesis?'

[They gave you a special potion. It was a low-grade potion, but for someone with a mortal body like yours, healing simple wounds like the ones you received as backlash wasn't that much complicated.]

'Potion?'

He mused, a bit taken aback, but still nodded in understanding. Since there were witches and the like already, then the existence of special potions was nothing out of ordinary.

[Alchemy is a deep and profound road with limitless prospects.]

Adam shrugged and walked back to the bed and quietly sat on the comfy mattress…

'Today was pretty close.'

He had been lucky. Extremely lucky. He could have died multiple times today but he was glad that he only died once.

While death by itself wasn't something scary, he didn't want to think about what would happen if his secret was discovered. He could imagine that his immortality would interest many people and would lead him to a life of being a lab rat for eternity.

'Well, what should I tell Natasha now?'

He was seriously having a headache just thinking about this subject.

'Say, are there any skills that can help me when masking the truth?'

[Researching…]

The pages of the book, which had materialized with the intrusion of Aleksandra in the room, turned as a bunch of skills started being engraved on its pristine white surface…

[Telephaty: Rank – EX]

[Common Sense Alteration: Rank – S]

[Mind Manipulation: Rank – S]

[Snake Tongue: Rank – A]

A few more skills appeared, but Adam just sighed after having witnessed the skills at the top.

"You are doing this to piss me off, aren't you?"

A and S rank skills cost so much that it wasn't even funny as he could only gawk at the cost and do nothing else about it. His measly 360 Karma wouldn't be enough even if they were increased by an order of ten or perhaps even by a hundred.

As for Telepathy….

'Telepathy is the EX-ranked skill of The Crown Chakra, right?'

[Indeed. Telepathy represents the most powerful skill available for The Crown. It's the skill that can encompass all other mind-type skills and adjust them for you to use as you acquire them.]

Adam groaned as he tried to imagine the implications of such a broken skill. Simply being able to read the thoughts of everyone would be so useful in itself not to mention the other broken abilities this skill could branch off to.

The Eyes of Empathy was partially under the Telepathy skill and the skill had been of great use to him.

'What are the prerequisites and who will I have to possess in order to acquire the skill?'

Adam was honestly quite scared about the second part of the requisite. Telepathy encompassed the mind realm. He might really lose himself and his identity for real this time if he was met with someone with low compatibility like Buddha.

[Telepathy: Rank – EX

Skill Prerequisite: [Eyes of Empathy: Rank – C] || [Snake Tongue: Rank – A] || [Mind Reading: Rank – S]

Karma Necessary: 100]

[The person Possessed is randomly selected in the Database of Akasha.]

'Random?'

He sighed. He honestly hoped that the next time this happened he would find someone with extremely high compatibility.

This would lower the risk of him losing himself while they were acquiring the skill.

'I should be able to buy snake tongue at least, right?'

The snake tongue was a A rank skill but since he had the Crown and The Third Eye unlocked, it should receive some kind of discount.

Even if he couldn't buy it now, he wanted to save for it.

For one, obtaining Telepathy in the future would be great and two, the Snake tongue would be very useful to hide his identity.

[You also need to fulfill the prerequisite of that skill. This rule applies to all high-ranked skills.]

[Name: Snake Tongue

Description: Your words have a great persuasive effect. Twisting lies and truths is as easy as breathing for you. Your words may now bend some measures of cognition and expedite themselves to be more believable and logical to your target. The following effects are now applied…

Effect 1: ???

Effect 2: ???

Effects 3: ???]

[Warning: Eyes of the Truth proficiency is too low for you to acquire and meld this skill]

[Prerequisite(s):

Buy Silver Tongue and bring it to a high level of Proficiency

Obtain enough knowledge in the field of Psychology and Psychoanalysis]

Adam frowned after reading through the information displayed before him. It was the first time he had seen a message that warned him of the proficiencies in his skill. This made him realize once again that simply obtaining a bunch of skills would be useless if he could not use them to their full potential.

'After this, I will not buy any skills for some time and work on the proficiency of my skillset.'

He wished to make the skills completely his. Not only to fulfill the prerequisite but also to have greater control over them so that he could unleash their full potential.

Furthermore, the book had given him a hint already. It seemed that he needed to develop his knowledge – learning about new fields and acquiring understanding in them – when it came to at least A-rank skills and above.

This didn't really surprise him since the only way to obtain the [Eyes of Truth] was through enlightenment. Even the Book couldn't make him cheat this requirement, so he was forced to live through Buddha's enlightenment as a result.

What if he decided to learn more now?

What if?

'Bring me the description of The World…'

[Name: The World

Description: Create a zone of absolute control where the user can manipulate all forces in existence.

Rank: Tentatively judged to be at the S rank. Possible reevaluation to EX-rank depending on further observation and usage of the skill and signs of evolution.]

Adam covered his face and chuckled under his breath.

Had he been going at it the wrong way from the start?

Did he unconsciously limit the power of his skill?

He had been so amazed by the power of Telekinesis his power offered to him that he had forgotten this.

The power to manipulate 'all forces' inside his domain… What did this entail? All of the laws of physics? Gravity? Electromagnetism? Sounds? Thermodynamique? Light? Perhaps even Time and Space.

There was so much possibility that he became dizzy just by listing them in his mind.

'This… This is worth giving a try.'

It seemed like he would have to review his plans and re-awaken the nerd in him to further on this path. The next time he visited the Library he would focus on books about those theories and he could even start now.

After all, the Internet was the greatest library of mankind that one could possibly access on earth. While not all knowledge could be trusted. Surely not everything humanity found until now was false, right?

Even in the worst-case scenario, where he found out that he was wrong, there was no such thing as having too much knowledge. It could always be good for something else.

'Okay. I have decided. Let's buy Silver Tongue for now.'

[Name: Silver Tongue

Description: Lies and Deceit are your bread and butter. Your lies are slightly more believable as long as they follow a certain logic and rationality with them. Furthermore, any lies you say cannot be detected by machines or any lie-detecting skills.

Rank: C

Price: 1000 → 200]

[The skill is partially under the Throat Chakra as well as the Crown Chakra, as you have not unlocked one of the required Chakra, the skill is only partially discounted. Will you acquire it?]

[Y/N]

'Yes.'

[Total Karma: 360 → 160]

Adam felt a weird sensation at the tip of his tongue. But the odd sensation faded quietly and as suddenly as it had appeared and he was left wondering what to do with this new skill.

'Is it more of a passive skill?'

He would find out about this later.

'I will need a few good skills that can enhance my memory later. Find me a few good D or C class ones that I can learn and assimilate.'

Having multiple minds and a perfect memory would make studying a breeze for him.

Finally, Adam could focus on the last thing that had been bothering him since the moment he witnessed it.

When he died once again not long ago, a message had flashed but he had not been able to read it.

[The Curse of Cain is reacting to your excessive number of deaths…]

[A change is ensuing…]

He looked at those ominous words, but nothing seemed to be changing within him which only left him confused.

'What does this mean, Genesis?'

[I do not know. After your most recent death, your curse began to show some obvious changes but then the changes abruptly stopped and reverted back to normal.]

Adam felt quite uncomfortable about this fact…

'Excessive number of deaths?'

He studied this part keenly and mused. The more he died, the more the curse would change.

But what kind of change would this be? Good or bad?

In the first place, his immortality was the result of the curse of Cain. So perhaps his number of death was limited?

[Impossible. This is the true and authentic Curse of Cain. Death is impossible for you.]

It was rare for Genesis to be so sure and precise about something. But this reassured but at the same time saddened Adam.

Being immortal was certainly helpful. But what about in the future?

He sighed and shook his head to shake off those thoughts,

"Well, I guess I just have to avoid dying too much."

It couldn't be that hard, right? Most people only had one life and they did pretty well with it.

*Knock* *Knock*

The door was opened once again as Aleksandra entered the room with his clothes in hand. Though this time she was walking with two other maids behind her.

"I have your clothes and Milady asked me to tell you that she is waiting for you in the dining room."

Adam looked at the clothes in her hand, the two maids with serene faces, and the ancient head maid with a mischievous glint twinkling in her eyes and couldn't help but sigh in his mind.

"I guess saying that I can wear it myself won't make you go away and give me privacy now, will it?"

The smile on her face stretched even further as her eyes seemed to shine like stars in the night sky, "My my… We only met a few minutes ago but you already understand me so much. Fufu~"

'Well, I guess I can live the life of a prince for once this way.'

He always wondered what it would be like to be a prince or royalty and be pampered by loyal and beautiful maids.

This was a good occasion to enjoy that feeling for the first and perhaps the last time in his life. He didn't really know if there would be another occasion like this, after all.

(AN: Welp. Adam will take the road of the nerd. Time to get a Ph.D. in physics or whatever. This chapter might not be the most interesting. But I believe it gives great information. Later on, the number of skills Adam will obtain will slow down until he opens The Throat Chakra. Ngl once that happens Adam will become quite busted. So I will have to move carefully.)