The eerie forest was sometimes as silent as a forgotten graveyard, and at other times filled with faint, rustling noises.
It sounded like small animals stepping over rotten leaves, or something crawling through the shadows.
Anya hugged her arms and kept rubbing them, goosebumps already rising on her exposed forearms.
Fernandez was currently in the height of summer, yet this eerie forest felt like late autumn on the verge of winter.
Only after squeezing herself between He Xi and Lidona did she slowly let out a breath.
The warmth from both sides finally dispelled some of the chill and gave her a little more sense of security.
"Scary, scary... This is even scarier than being caught by a two-headed monster. It feels like some weird thing is about to jump out at any moment."
Lidona gripped her staff tightly with both hands and cautiously cast [Detect Magic].
"Still the same..."
Lidona muttered under her breath.
This was not the first time she had used the spell to examine the curse here.
Partly, it was to confirm it once more, and partly because she worried the other two did not understand the principles involved.
"At its core, a curse is a manifestation of some distorted magical power parasitizing the target's soul."
"Through [Detect Magic], one can usually trace the source of a curse according to the magical characteristics it displays..."
"But the academy library has never documented magical characteristics like this, as if a layer of bloody water were covering the body..."
"There must be nothing wrong with this method of judgment. I just haven't figured out what kind of curse it belongs to yet."
He Xi did not doubt this.
He had known this method even earlier than Lidona.
Before she woke up, He Xi had already used [Detect Magic]