Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele sat on the floor of the spell room. Weeks of meditation had reduced him to skin and bones.
There was a silver glint on his pale skin and his lips were gray, but his eyes were still as bright as the daylight.
He glanced around the room.
The white runes on the black stone floor were covered with a thin layer of dust.
The thick stone walls prevented Angele’s energy waves from leaking outside and, at the same time, the runes stabilized the energy flow inside the room.
That took me a while…
Angele sighed in relief.
Zero’s mechanical voice echoed in his ears.
‘Body scan completed. Unknown changes detected. Analysis available.’
‘Show me.’
Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes and they brightened up the dark room.
‘Analysis completed. New ability acquired: Bewitching.’
‘Bewitching? What’s that?’ Angele was surprised. He had never seen anyone acquire an ability like that after reaching the next stage.
According to the books, most wizards had their attributes increased after reaching the Liquid stage.
‘Bewitching. Your words, behaviors, and energy waves will affect others around you. They’re now more likely to agree with the points you make.
‘Ah, so it’s like a hypnotic spell.’ Angele raised his arms.
Suddenly, countless black flowery patterns climbed up the back of his hands, which looked like black vines twisting around his body.
Some of them had the shape of a vortex and some looked like straight strings. Angele felt uncomfortable by just staring at those patterns.
The black patterns stayed away from his face, but they spread to all his other body parts.
Angele stared at the back of his right hand. There was a glowing snake-shaped black pattern.
‘No energy waves and it doesn’t require mentality to activate. So, it’s just a byproduct of becoming a Liquid stage wizard?’ Angele wondered.
Angele tried to control the black patterns using his mind.
Quickly, the black patterns vanished into his skin and everything returned to normal.
‘Zero, show me the information on Bewitching. There’s something I need to know.’
‘Transferring information.’
Rows of data about the Bewitching ability were transferred into Angele’s brain.
The data was acquired from the memory of the great harpy’s ancient bloodline.
The legend said that the great harpies were expelled by the elders because of their ability called the Bewitching, causing them to find another place to live.
When they had the intention to kill, these black patterns would appear on their body and the living beings that saw the patterns would be seduced. The patterns were invisible to others most of the time, but whoever saw them would be trapped in the illusions. People with strong resistance to the illusion would find the harpies charming, but they could turn the ones with weak resistances into their slaves.
This was their most terrifying ability besides the ability to enter the Nightmare Realm.
Although Angele only inherited a small amount of the ancient blood, this talent ability still awakened after he advanced to the next stage.
‘The great harpy was eliminated thousands of years ago. Most records only talked about the ancient harpies. Also, there are many wizards with strange tattoos on their body. No one will ever find out about my secret.’ Angele was not so concerned about the possible consequences.
Most of the time, the tattoo would stay invisible and only people with special abilities could see them.
When Angele had the intention to kill his enemy, the tattoo would appear on his skin, and his opponents would be impacted by the special ability.
‘I think Bewitching can do more than that. Zero, can you do the scan one more time?’ The memory from the bloodline was incomplete, but Angele wanted to know what exactly the ability could offer more.
Rows of data were flashing in front of his eyes and Zero finally reported back after several minutes.
‘Bewitching. Scan result: The ability can create illusions and distract opponents during combat. Also, it can make the living beings around you trust you.’
‘Weak point: people with special ability will be able to see the invisible patterns and will try to stay away from you due to fear.’
‘Huh? That’s a weak point? Well, at least I can understand why the ancient wizards spent so much time eliminating the whole race.’ Angele slowly stood up.
His legs numbed and he almost fell to the floor. Angele had seated there for too long that his blood flow was interrupted.
He raised his arms, which presently looked like two slim wooden sticks.
Angele stood in the spell room and rested for a while before he could walk again. He opened the door slowly and stepped into the main hall.
The place was empty and silent. The stone walls were covered in gray dust, and it seemed like nothing happened during the past month.
Angele sealed the door when he entered the basement. If anyone wanted to open the door from outside, he would have to attack it with high damage spells or powerful physical skills.
He slowly walked into the material room and opened the door.
Angele had stored water, fruits, and nuts in several barrels for emergency situations.
He opened one of the brown barrels, reached out for a dark dried fruit and ate it.
The dried fruit was made from black bananas. It was soft and sweet, and Angele also tasted the fragrance of wine.
The fruit could provide him with calories and minerals quickly.
Angele finished half of the barrel before putting it down. He then started sipping from another barrel with some wine inside.
There were also meat jerkies and white bread.
He finished eating after about half an hour.
Angele had already recovered about half of his lost mentality after resting for a while and the liquefied mentality drop remained stable.
He was still weak so he decided to stay in the basement for a bit longer.
After about half a month, Angele was fully recovered. He was still thinner than before, but it was hard to notice under the long white robe.
PA
He sealed the barrels one by one and lined them up.
He walked out of the door after the room was cleaned.
Angele walked upstairs and pressed his right hand against the door.
CHI
The silver metal left the gaps and returned into his body.
Creak
He opened the door.
It was dark outside. He could hear the insects making noises outside the house.
Angele closed the door carefully and stepped forward, then he saw a plate full of food on a small desk in the front.
The moonlight illuminated on the silver plate. There a small bowl of fish soup with some minced meat inside and it was garnished with vibrant green scallions.
Angele could still smell the fragrance of the fish soup in the air.
‘It’s probably Nancy…’ Angele guessed. Although he asked Nancy not to get close to the house, she still decided to prepare food for him every day in case Angele was hungry after finishing his task.
The living room was deadly silent. Clear moonlight cast a reflection on the floor. The window was open and the curtain was being pushed back by the chilling wind.
The air in the room was refreshing.
There was a glowing crystal orb on the gray control panel in the center of the room. The orb was covered by a piece of black cloth but the bright white light still leaked through the gap.
Beside the door, there was a large French window with a thin white curtain on both sides.
On the opposite side of the window, there were the sofas and tables.
The walls of the room were decorated with the paintings left by the previous owner. Most of them were about landscapes, from plains to deserts, and it seemed like they were drawn by the same person. The edges of the frames were covered in luxurious silver patterns.
Hanging from the center of the ceiling was a flower-shaped crystal chandelier with a diamond-shaped ruby in the middle. The ruby was surrounded by six long glowing crystals inserted into the six petals.
There was no light coming from the chandelier as the glowing crystals had used up all their energy.
In the corner beside the window, there was an inconspicuous dark gray potted plant.
It was the first time Angele observed his living room so carefully. He walked to the plant and saw a wooden sign on the pot. The sign was about the size of an egg, the words on it were written in Anmag and it said: Ash Wood.
The plant looked like a dead tiny tree, nothing special.
Angele opened the door and stepped out of the room.
The garden was surrounded by fences. It felt like walking on a thick blanket with the grasses on the ground.
He walked around the garden, turned by the end, and reached the back of the house.
Between the trees outside the black fences, there was a gray stone house sat quietly in the darkness. The brown wooden door was closed tight and Angele could hear someone breathing from inside.
Angele stared at the stone house and sighed with mixed feelings. It was Nancy’s place, wherein Angele had asked the dwarfs to build the house with a special high-quality stone.
