The Strongest Curse Master

"Ah, Ma! What gives?" Ava complained, rubbing the back and front of her head after getting back on her feet. Being glared at by Matthews, she corrected, "I mean mother—no, I meant to say ma'am."

Ignoring her willful daughter, Matthews turned to Ace and, throwing a side glance at Lyra, she informed, "My husband's family ranch, 0400 sharp. If she is even a minute late, I will make her run 100 laps of the entire Martin Estate."

"She will be there on time. And send Layla to help me and my sister register as curse masters in the government database," Ace agreed and requested as he passed Ava's innate curse tool to Matthews without removing the seal on them. That was his gift to Matthews. With Ava's curse abilities locked away, ironically, Matthews could now finally begin to introduce her willful daughter to the other faces of the 'World of Curses.'

"I will have her contact you, but make sure you guys can deliver on what you claim. Get your stories straight. Lying on the govt. documents are a serious offense, i.e., if you get caught." Matthews reminded Ace, though she was a little surprised, wondering when Ace had become so approachable.

Soon, recalling the little guy had big plans like establishing a curse lineage of the Lander family, she understood Ace had realized he could not be arrogant like before and learned to trade favors like a true adult.

No matter how strong one was, they eventually had to learn to live with society or die trying to live without it. It appeared that Ace had chosen to live with society. A wish choice indeed.

Listening to EAD Matthews, Ace was astonished too. He thought she would give recruiting him into C.I.B. under her one last shot, but it seemed she had truly given up on that front. Though he was skeptical, this made things a lot easier for him, so he decided to go with it.

After Matthews left her incompetent trainee agent duo after retrieving the artificial domain disc, the Lander siblings headed to invite Dee3 to breakfast. He could just give her a call, but it was her first morning in the Lander estate, so this little effort was necessary. En route, Lyra couldn't help but ask her baby bro, "What just happened?"

"I found a teacher to teach you how to survive the 'World of Curses.' Make sure to be at the Martins' Ranch at four every morning from now on. Otherwise, be prepared to run 100 laps of the town's biggest ranch," Ace smugly informed, whose big sis, that Matthews was her new mentor on how to survive the 'World of Curses,' taking pleasure in her misfortune.

Ace could mentor his sister, but he had his own practice to focus on and couldn't spare time for his sister, especially if he planned to enter the Knight-tier by the end of this month. For other newbie curse masters, it might be a very ambitious goal, but for him, this was the bare minimum. With all his cheat-like curse abilities, if he failed to enter the Knight-tier by the end of the month, he would be ashamed of himself.

He was in such a hurry because he understood neither the time nor his enemies would wait for him. Now that he had introduced his sister to the 'World of Curses,' the sense of urgency pressing on him kept increasing with every passing second.

Besides, Matthews was a capable curse master and would make a great teacher for his sister as long as she did not try to pry into his privacy and preach about patriotism. He would keep an eye open for that. Also, Matthews was strong and connected enough to ensure the safety of her mentees. Not to forget the convince factor, the Martins Ranch was not far from theirs. He was lucky that he could find a capable mentor for his sister right next door.

Why Matthews and not Delores? Well, because Matthews offered, and also Delores already had two full-time jobs as the bodyguard to Janice and as the guard to the Lander Estate. Not to mention, Delores was taciturn and cold by nature. Only he knew the troubles and horrors he had to go through to get close to her. Therefore, he knew she wouldn't make a proper mentor for Lyra, even if she wanted to.

"Hey, I never agreed to that," Lyra complained. Just the thought that she would have to walk up at four in the morning gave her a severe headache, as that was usually when she went to sleep.

"It's non-negotiable. I am not kidding, be there on time or she will not hesitate to kidnap you and force you to complete a hundred laps of the Martins' estate and then your daily training." Ace stressed to his sister, reminding her to take this seriously and not sleep in like she did in her college. He knew his sister enough to know that she wouldn't learn until she had suffered enough.

"What about you? Why are you not taking the classes with me?" Lyra stopped arguing, deciding to try a different approach to get out of the mandatory early morning Curse classes.

"Because I am strong—" Before Ace could finish, Lyra burst into laughter, interrupting him, and added, "Bro, there is a limit to boosting. You are a Mortal-tier like me. No matter how good your curse arts are, you are no match for an average Hero-tire."

Though it hasn't even been a day since Lyra awakened as a curse master, she still has enough understanding about the curse tiers and the basic dos and don'ts of the curse society. Therefore, hearing her Mortal-tier baby bro claim he was strong felt like he was bragging.

"Lyra, this is why I stressed that you should not use the game level system to interpret the curse-tier system," Ace pointed at Lyra's nose and sternly warned, "This is the lawless real world, not a video game with a certain set of rules. Don't underestimate anyone. You see those two?"