Chapter 218
Inheritance of the Wolf Transformation Curse
Eivass waved his hand in front of Lily, interrupting her gaze.
Only then did Lily suddenly jolt awake, “Huh…? What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” Mycroft said solicitously from the side. “You were just spacing out for a moment. Miss Lily must be too busy with her usual work and lacking some rest time.”
The implication was that he hadn’t seen anything.
Eivass also took the opportunity given by Mycroft. “Indeed, I’m not going out tomorrow or the day after. How about I give you two days off to rest?”
Eivass had a newfound certainty about one fact: Lily had an affinity for the Path of Love.
This book wasn’t even a grimoire, yet Lily was captivated by its cover. This indicated that Lily’s affinity for the Path of Love was quite strong.
Strange, when did this change happen? When Eivass had previously let her choose a grimoire freely, she had chosen the Spider Silk Grimoire. This at least meant that her strongest affinity at that time was for the Path Adaptation.
A possible answer bloomed in Eivass’s mind.
It must have been since the day Minister Dross died. Since then, Lily’s aura had noticeably changed. The most apparent change was the disappearance of her formerly soft demeanor, where she’d rather be wronged than argue with others. As her inferiority complex gradually transformed into confidence, Lily had clearly become more composed and calm.
Previously, when encountering trouble or making decisions, she would instinctively seek Eivass’s help. This was because she dared not make decisions, always worried about causing problems, and thus always deferred the choice to Eivass. However, in recent days, the frequency of her seeking Eivass for advice had significantly decreased. Eivass had initially thought she was simply maturing and gaining confidence, having completed her revenge and cleansed herself of her pain and confusion. But now, it seemed she had begun to deviate onto a new path since that time.
However, in public, she still maintained her previous unassuming facade. This indicated that her affinity for the Path Adaptation hadn’t been compromised. It was simply that she had acquired a new path, and for now, he would let her be. Lily wasn’t like Eivass, capable of leveling up by consuming experience. If she was to keep up with “Alistair’s” Advancement Ritual, she couldn’t spread her energy too thin by dabbling in multiple things. Take Sherlock, for example. While he was leveling up his Profession on the Path of Wisdom, his rank on the Path of Authority had naturally stagnated.
Despite this, some daily routines could still slowly accumulate a little experience. For instance, the “Prayer” on the Path of Devotion, which had to be performed on time every day. Or the “Demon Contract” on the Transcendent Path—as long as the contracted demon was of a higher level than oneself, it would also slowly increase. These constraints were inherent to the paths themselves. Priests couldn’t forgo prayer, and Demon Scholars would face retribution from their own demons if they slacked off and didn’t grow stronger.
If Lily primarily focused on the Path Adaptation and dabbled in the Path of Love, there shouldn’t be any major issues. It would essentially involve completing some “daily quests” for the Path of Love. Leaving it as is, leveling up once or twice shouldn’t be a problem.
Eivass picked up “The Three Goddesses’ Poisoned Apple” and flipped through it on the spot.
Although it was filled with detailed illustrations that would make one blush, if Eivass wasn’t mistaken, this book should be a Job Change book for “Witches.”
“Witch” was one of the most common professions on the Path of Love, drawing power from Hengwo, the Moon Goddess with her three aspects of “Maiden,” “Woman,” and “Crone.” The founder of the profession was Hengwo’s apostle, Medea, whose name was also hidden within this book.
As long as one mastered the three Mystical Arts of “Potion Making,” “Sorcery,” and “Shapeshifting,” one could transfer to the Witch profession. This book even contained the extremely rare inheritance of “Wolf Transformation Curse.”
It specifically mentioned that the Wolf Transformation Curse was the most terrifying ability of a Witch, even more frightening than those potions with outlandish effects. To learn the Wolf Transformation Curse, one needed to master Sorcery and Shapeshifting. In player terms, the levels of these two Mystical Arts had to be at least Level 10, meaning at least Tier Three.
After learning the Wolf Transformation Curse, one could use human flesh as a medium to inflict the curse of forced Path of Love adaptation upon someone who had consumed cursed human flesh. Unlike ordinary shapeshifting, the Wolf Transformation Curse was difficult to break or resist through willpower. Once one consumed that bite of human flesh, even someone of similar strength would be cursed. Under the curse of the Wolf Transformation Curse, the afflicted would be directly transformed into a wolf. If, after wandering as a wolf for nine years, they had not consumed human flesh, they could regain human form, as if they had lived as humans for nine years, and become powerful “Werewolves.” They would transform into beasts during every full moon, but could also voluntarily transform into a powerful half-human, half-wolf monster at will during normal times.
Werewolves inherently possessed a Path of Love profession level of Tier Three or above. This meant that even an Ordinary Person, after undergoing the trial of the Wolf Transformation Curse, could become an Extraordinary of Tier Three. Even children born to Werewolves and Werewolves would be normal humans, not wolves. All “Werewolves” in this world were transformed by Witches, one by one.
However, whether it was the cursed individual during the transformation period or the Werewolf under the full moon, if they consumed a bite of human flesh while in wolf form, they would have to maintain their wolf form for another nine years from that point on. If they died of old age or were killed in wolf form, their human form would also die. Once afflicted by the Wolf Transformation Curse, to remove it, another equally powerful Witch would be needed to concoct the antidote. This book specifically stated that all curses and potions concocted by Witches had antidotes, as this was a fundamental principle of the Path of Love. However, the Witch who concocted the antidote must be at least as strong as, or even stronger than, the Witch who cast the curse or administered the poison.
Hmm. Come to think of it, having Lily become a Witch doesn’t seem too bad?
After roughly flipping through half the book, Eivass’s thoughts had shifted slightly. At least it wouldn’t be a problem for Lily to advance once or twice.
Thinking about it carefully, Witches were indeed quite troublesome. Besides concocting love potions, they could also create potions that paralyzed or petrified people, turn people into lambs or toads or wolves… and even transfer their injuries and poisons to others. In the game, dying once would wash away negative statuses. But in reality, it wasn’t that simple. To counter a Witch’s mana, it was best to have the help of another Witch. If Lily were to transfer into a Witch, then if he accidentally got cursed, poisoned, or maliciously transformed, he could have Lily help concoct the antidote.
But speaking of which… it seemed he and Lily did know a Werewolf. It was Mr. “Dark Clouds,” whom they met during the Advancement Ritual. He was the Werewolf of the Iris Flower. Regardless of their previous profession, upon becoming a Werewolf, they would gain an affinity for the Path of Love. Their corpses after death could then be transformed into companions by the Children of the Moon.
Although Children of the Moon possessed all the memories of their former lives, they were clearly not a resurrection of the living. This was because it required a full eighty-day ritual to transform into a Child of the Moon. Ordinary people’s souls were allocated by the Nine Pillar Gods or returned to the world’s origin within a week of death. Children of the Moon would certainly want to increase their numbers, but other Extraordinarys on the Path of Love found this behavior quite repulsive. Unless one was a fervent worshiper of the Child of the Moon, no one would want their corpse desecrated and their social relationships, memories, and experiences stolen by a blood-sucking beast.
Mr. Dark Clouds becoming a Werewolf implied that he had offended a powerful Witch. Having offended a Witch and then the Child of the Moon. Eagle Eye probably didn’t have a good relationship with him either. That Mr. Dark Clouds, who knew many secrets, was truly a unique individual… But this was a good thing for Eivass. Perhaps he could obtain clues from him on how Lily could further strengthen herself, both in Adaptation and Love. He had mentioned coming to Avalon not long ago; Eivass wondered when he would arrive.
Eivass thought this and closed the book, which he had only quickly skimmed. At the same time, a prompt appeared before his eyes:
[You have gained inspiration for “Potion Making” from “The Three Goddesses’ Poisoned Apple.” Would you like to pay 21 Public Experience to master this Mystical Art?]
[You have gained inspiration for “Sorcery” from “The Three Goddesses’ Poisoned Apple.” Would you like to pay 44 Public Experience to master this Mystical Art?]
No. No.
Eivass clicked “Reject” without hesitation. He didn’t want to become a “Witch.” Putting aside the fact that a third path would slow down experience acquisition efficiency, he only needed one Witch around him. Moreover, a Witch couldn’t remove curses inflicted upon oneself. Besides, he was a man. Who knew what strange profession he would end up with after learning the Witch’s Mystical Arts.
“This is for you.” Eivass said with a smile, handing the book to Lily. “All of this, it’s all yours. Including this potion, and this glove… I’ll take this letter, though. Perhaps Master Janis would be interested in it.”
Without regard for Mycroft’s presence, he said meaningfully, “However, Lily… remember not to let it interfere with your main task.”
“I understand.” The moment Lily took the book, she felt as if a string deep within her heart vibrated slightly. Even without reading it, Lily had an inexplicable sense of resonance—she was sure she could learn all the knowledge in this book. It seemed to be more than just an ordinary Occult Classic. It was alive.
Chapter Two will be around 2 AM~
