Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer
Vol. 4 - Ch. 142 - The thing she lost

It was the tale from 23---no, 24 years ago, when Mai Kujika was just a 16 year old highschool student in the first dungeon era.

Living in the rural area of Mie prefecture and a huge fan of Akafuku just like any other resident of prefecture, she was just an ordinary high-school girl commonplace anywhere, with nothing noteworthy to talk about. If anything, the heights of her grade was better from the bottom of the rung in the prefecture ranking, and her experience in sport encompasses as much as hopscotch only. She was the very definition of mediocrity.

As of then, She had yet to transition from make-up to gal phase.

However, as it turned out she was one of the world's chosen. Kujira awakened her ability the day dungeons made their presence known in the earth. its original name was---<Analyst>. It allowed her to dissect and analyse everything she saw, touched, or heard. That said, it wasn't the sort of ability that instantly drilled the detailed explanation in her brain. A better way to explain would be that she would receive an exceptional increase in her IQ at the activation of ability which would deepen her understanding of things related to the dungeon.

While it didn't provide her offensive capabilities, Kujira's unique ability had the element of being able to elucidate unknown things. There were quite a bit of 'Appraisers'---explorers specialised in appraisal---in the association as of now, but her ability was a rare commodity during that time.

Kujira's ability was soon recognised by Japan's government, and she was selected to accompany others into the dungeon beyond the gate. Little did she know that the wheels of destiny had already been set in motion, destined to bring about a significant disruption in her life.

She started participating in the dungeon exploration one after another. Exploration of dungeons at that time was called 'Anomaly Investigation'.

And in one of these explorations, Kujira, along with similar ability holders like the members of self-defence force and researchers, made Hokkaido's Ishikari Dungeon their next target. At that juncture of time, they had yet to know that it was the highest grade dungeon of japan---a second grade dungeon. Blissfully unaware of the twist, they embarked on the exploration.

They soon faced the wipe-out. The dungeon, beyond their own strength, turned into the abyss of no salvation for them as they fell prey to the formidable monsters, and got devoured by them.

The adversity called forth the calling among a few one. Clearing the calling quest, they get hold of new power. The woman called Mai Kujira was one of them, awakening the first-grade calling <Black Curse Magician>. Unfortunately, the new found power didn't turn out to be the miraculous salvation that had sought in the abyss, and gradually, their numbers were culled down.

Amidst the hell, Mai Kujira unknowingly ended up using 'compensation' ability.

At one point, Kujira and nine others lost their way into the monster house and got surrounded by a monster horde. They had caught themselves into a dead end with no way out. Brimming with regret to no end, Kujira took her determination to oppose the fate. If she was going to die, it would absolutely not by their hand and bite her tongue to suicide. This action of hers invoked the 'Compensation'.

The aftermath of Kujira's compensation was tremendous. The horde of monsters surrounding them suddenly let out anguish howls and collapsed on the ground, while a mystical dark cloud-like existence started devouring them. With a dark curse pulsating inside their stomach, the monster never got a single moment out of the hell as their anguished-filled howls continued to echo in the surrounding till their demise.

The aftermath continued for 24 hours.

The survivors somehow managed to make their way to the surface. What should have been a team of over 100 individuals was reduced to no more than 10. ---Several years passed by since then, and gradually Kujira realised she wasn't getting old at all.

What she had compensated for was her 'future'. By cursing her future self, she gained an unrivalled power for the next 24 hours. Any or every monster that entered into her field of vision met an inescapable end of being devoured by the curse. Nevertheless, she defied her fate.

There was no end to tactless people who showed their envy for immortality. A senior of her extolled it as the evolution of people, while others called 'being able to live an entire life as a highschool girl' a gift from god.

'It's great to have a blackhole for a brain,' Kujira was envious of their ignorance. She did consider her life till then the bestest gift. However, the question was how long would those 'fun life' last?

You never know when 'fun' turns into 'boredom.'

Ever since then, she decided to strive for the path of researcher---something she had always expected to never cross paths with her.

When she felt her life taking a lacklustre turn, she felt if she couldn't die, the life ahead would surely be a bitter one. That's why she had been searching for ways to kill herself since then.

All that she wanted was death when she felt she had enough of life. She didn't know when it would be possible. All that was there was the detestable immortality of her which would not let her die.

Mai Kujira confided the tumultuous journey of her life to Tenji.

T/N - Hello everyone. I apologised for missing the last two updates as I had injured my right hand. But we’re back now and will continue to update as well.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.