'Motherfucker, you have to be kidding me. Another cryptic modifier? These assholes are getting a kick outta this, aren't they?'
Once the penalty had ceased along with his newfound indignation, Atlas sat down to retrace his steps to see if he had made any mistakes, and to recount his assumptions to make sure he didn't assume any random shit.
He replaced the original apple that was in the fridge with the Apple of Discord, since whoever ate it would die in sub-10 hours anyways. He assumed this because he himself only had 10HP, so he couldn't imagine any of the more fortunate System-free citizenry having the equivalent of 11HP or more.
'Maybe like Arnold Starch-whatever. He's pretty buff, I guess.'
He had put the original apple in his inventory, so he pulled it out. Feeling that the apple was still frigid to the touch, he confirmed that time passed slowly or not at all within his inventory.
'I should probably check if I can put living things in this soon.'
As soon as he thought this, his head was filled with images of people being squashed and pushed into an extra-dimensional handbag.
'Maybe... maybe not soon.'
He had also contaminated Mrs. Rudolph's water with the stem of the Apple of Discord, since most conventional poisons took effect even if less than the given dosage was administered. He had timed his entrance perfectly, so that his DP would be restored at the stroke of midnight, as it refilled to 100% at midnight regardless of when it was last used- something that contrasted with skill cooldowns that only end after 24 hours after their initial usage. He had confirmed this when he had noticed that his DP regenerates slowly over time, but refills all at once once midnight strikes.
'Is this a bug or is this how it's supposed to be?'
Thinking about how he was lucky that Petty Pickpocketing didn't have a cooldown, he reopened his System window with the penalty negation message.
[ The Fair Lady of Valor has negated the penalty with their Authority. ]
"Thanks for that. I didn't exactly want to have my eardrums ruptured again.", he spoke absentmindedly into the empty air.
[ Main Quest: Petty Revenger COMPLETED ]
[ Quest Contents: The One Who Punished Hubris desires for you to enact revenge upon those who have wronged you. Visit the home of Mrs. Rudolph and take her life as retribution. ]
[ Bonus Conditions: ???? will be given if the target's life is taken in a way that satisfies The One Who Punished Hubris. Bonus Conditions COMPLETED. ]
'The fuck? How is she dead already? I literally left her house less than an hour ago? She shouldn't die from the apple for at least 9 more hours?'
"Ayo nah nah nah, you Hubris dude, tell me how I cleared the quest or I'm done with this video game shit."
As soon as he said this, as if they were waiting for his exclamation, another System message popped up.
[ The One Who Punishes Hubris says that if a divine item has it's ownership transferred, the one who it was originally given to will bear the entirety of the penalty. But since the original owner had theirs negated, the new owner will have the penalty administered. ]
Taking in this information a bit too quickly, Atlas now understood that, if he looked at the quest contents carefully, he did not in fact clear it, since he was not the one to 'take the life of the target', but rather the Fair Lady of Valor was.
Keeping his silence in hopes that he would still get his rewards, time seemed to slow as he anticipated the rewards page that never seemed to arrive. At long last, it did in fact pop up.
[ Rewards will now be distributed. ]
[ Accept Rewards (Yes)/(No) ]
[ (Yes) ]
[ Item Acquired: Black Skill Ticket ]
[ The One Who Punished Hubris looks upon you favorably. ]
'I guess that's what the 'favor' reward means. I thought it meant the guy would actually do me a favor, but that's on me for not passing college English.'
[ Would you like to use the Black Skill Ticket? ]
'Hm, well since I need to be below a certain Rank to use it, not above it, I should use it before I accidentally rank up.'
"Yes", he said into the empty air once again, curious as to why the System sometimes made him say his answer and other times, made him click a button on the message that popped up.
[ List of Skills to be acquired: ]
[ Judgement of Apocalypse, Malicious Raiment, Stat Creation ]
[ Due to the Bonus Condition, an additional skill can be selected with a single use of the item. ]
'Ah, now THIS, this is worth the ruptured ear drums.'