"There's no issue; it's likely an external curse," Gold said after a brief examination, shaking his head. "Don't worry too much. External curses are incredibly complex to cast, and the conditions for success are extremely stringent. Even masters in this field would need to pay a heavy price to secretly harm someone with such a curse."
"But it is still possible, isn't it?" Adam flipped open the book he had brought from the Reflection Tower.
Anthony and Alva must have both trained as sorcerers, their meditation techniques and practices likely similar. However, Anthony eventually specialized in creation magic, while Alva chose to delve into curses.
As Adam read on, he gained a deeper understanding of curse magic.
Curses generally fell into two categories: internal and external.
Internal curses involved using the trinity as a medium, implanting them into the target's body through various means, where they would lie dormant, parasitic within the host, continually affecting the target's mental state and bodily functions.
External curses were far more complicated.
They required specific methods to locate the target's existence, and then channel special natural forces from the environment to create an external curse.
The triggering conditions for external curses varied. Some were constantly active, while others only activated when the target touched something or performed a specific action.
The challenge with external curses lay in their localization, which was much more difficult than embedding them within a person's body.
Typically, the most common method of localization involved using the target's biological materials—such as hair, skin, or blood.
Of course, there were also more specialized techniques, such as using a true name, which represented the highest achievement of an external curse.
A true name wasn't as complex as one might imagine, but it was far from simple.
It wasn't a unique or special name; rather, it was the recognition the world had of you. The marks you left on this world, the way others perceived you—these carried your personal information and existed in a way that could coalesce on another level.
This recognition was your label in the world, the way the world knew you.
A true name curse capitalized on this: by touching your label in the world, as long as you still existed in this realm, the curse could not be avoided.
Beyond curses, true names also contained immense power. It was said that a knight's achievements were a manifestation of part of this power.
The book on basic curse magic didn't contain many specific spells, only simple techniques that barely even qualified as true magic. For instance, there was a method involving a certain type of bean that, when consumed, would cause the target to experience severe diarrhea.
Poisoning, in a certain sense, overlapped with the concept of curses.
However, the entire book wasn't merely concerned with curse techniques that resembled poisoning. It did contain more substantial material, such as using mental energy to create a specific frequency structure and introducing it into the target's body. This could infiltrate their mind and cause them to experience total insomnia.
The key wasn't so much the insomnia caused by the curse, but rather the method of delivering mental energy into the target's body.
"Is the idea to hide mental energy in the eyes and then use eye contact to secretly deliver it into the target's mind?" Adam tried it and found that it wasn't particularly difficult.
Eyes were often called the windows to the soul, and in the realm of sorcery, they were considered outlets for mental energy. When emotions surged, people unconsciously emitted mental energy.
Since mental energy naturally leaked from the eyes, hiding a curse within it made it harder for the target to detect.
"Especially since I can use my own extraordinary charisma as a cover." By using eye contact to transmit the curse, it would naturally attract the target's attention. But if Adam possessed an innate charm, the target might not even realize a curse had been cast.
"Gold?" Adam called suddenly, causing Gold, who was about to leave, to turn around.
Gold saw Adam sitting at the desk, one hand propped on the surface, the other holding the book, his face half-lit by the candlelight. In that moment, Gold felt as if he was staring at his younger self.
The candlelight shimmered in Adam's eyes, as if stars were twinkling within them.
"No, wait!" Gold, after a moment of being lost in the scene, suddenly shook his head. Adam sensed that the insomnia curse he had previously placed had now broken apart.
"You tested a curse on me?" Gold grimaced, scratching his cheek. He wanted to be angry but was distracted by Adam's captivating presence. Such a charming person—surely, even if a curse were cast on him, it could be forgiven, right?
Gold's face twisted with emotion. He suddenly sprang up and pulled some breadcrumbs from his pocket, calling over the little bird that liked to perch on Adam's head.
"Come on, little fatty, eat more! Get even fatter!"
"Hahaha!" Adam couldn't help but laugh at Gold's childish antics. He then composed himself and asked, "So, how did the curse work?"
"Very well. At least at the beginning, I didn't sense any curse was placed on me. But the curse was too simple, with insufficient concealment. Even though I'm not particularly skilled in mental energy, I noticed it quickly."
"So the method of casting was fine." Adam nodded in satisfaction. Gold was an expert; although not skilled in this particular area, if he had fallen victim to the curse, it meant Adam's casting method could work on most people, as long as they weren't experts like Anthony or Alva.
Meanwhile, as Adam was learning about curses, in the Southern District's church, the head monk let out a quiet sigh.
Hunched over, he retrieved a box from a nearby cabinet, inside which lay a graduation medal from the Divine Academy.
"Can you not let go of the past, Poldo?" Shaya placed the medal back into the box.
The Sacred Sound Church followed the divine will, generally striving for truth, goodness, and beauty. Yet the things recorded in divine scripture weren't always beautiful, and not all monks were virtuous.
What the scripture commanded, they followed; what it did not mention, was taken as permission. This reasoning was widespread among monks.
As a result, even within such a large church, there were many unscrupulous individuals.
Shaya was an orphan. Back then, the church's divine academy had yet to reform, and orphans like him could easily enter. However, because he was still young, the academy was merely an attachment to the true divine academy.
Poldo was a member of Shaya's batch.
Together, they had witnessed the darkness of the world, enduring extremely difficult childhoods. However, after Shaya entered the academy, he met Alva and Anthony, and later rose to fame as one of the Three Greats of the Sacred Sound. In contrast, Poldo faded into obscurity.
Both were spending their lives healing their pasts, but Shaya had succeeded and fully embraced the light, dedicating himself to the redemption of others. Poldo, however, had not.
Recently, Poldo had visited Shaya, bringing dried fruits, and then went to Xitu.
But now, Shaya was hearing news of Poldo's defection, and that he was heading towards him.
"So your visit last time had a purpose?" The church's intelligence had already moved ahead. There was suspicion that a mysterious organization existed in the border regions of Roya, and Poldo might have been involved with them long before.
Poldo had obtained something from the ancient sea demons during the recent unrest, and immediately defected. This reeked of conspiracy.
"Using the pretense of visiting me, making contact with a mysterious organization in Roya, and now heading this way... Poldo, have you truly fallen into the abyss of darkness?"
Shaya frowned; it seemed that Roya was in a particularly tumultuous time.
"After dealing with the sea demon unrest, will that person come to Roya as quickly as possible?" Shaya's frown deepened. This sounded like good news, but could the timing of the news about Poldo's defection have been reversed?
"Was he originally planning to come to Roya for something?" Shaya glanced at the file. "Should we keep an eye out for a white-furred werewolf?"
"Didn't Fura and Raven encounter a white werewolf before? Is there a connection?"