Forbidden Enchantment

Through the mental link, the three Evil Crows chattered away, sending Ian information and "painting" a picture of the scenes they saw.

It was already the evening of December 12. The [Leviathan] was less than a hundred nautical miles in a straight line from Storm Port. If nothing unexpected happened, they would arrive there early the next morning.

Aside from that sea battle, their voyage had been fairly peaceful. Since they had stayed far from the main shipping lanes, they had encountered only a handful of ships, all of which they had deliberately avoided.

Ian cut off the mental link and rubbed his aching head. A hundred nautical miles was almost the limit of the mental link's current range—ten times the distance at which he could share senses.

Ian sorted through the information Beatrice had sent. The naval flag at Storm Port had changed to that of the First Fleet, which meant the Second Fleet had moved south to extend its control over the waters farther south of Paradise Island.

The First Fleet had stationed one Fifth-Rank Warship and two Sixth-rate Ships at Storm Cape, far fewer than the warships the Second Fleet had originally stationed there.

Beatrice had tried to approach the residential area for the followers of the God of Truth and Justice, but her attempt to "sneak in" had failed. Once discovered, she had hurried away.

Though Ian had been teaching Beatrice how to rein in her spirituality and conceal herself, she was only moderately successful unless he helped control her through shared senses.

On a sheer cliff by the sea, the former castle of the Calvinde Family lay in ruins. The wreckage of gunpowder explosions and the marks of flames were everywhere, and dark-red bloodstains still dotted the ground. Even after a month of wind and rain, they remained clearly visible.

Ian couldn't help recalling all the little moments from the time he had lived here. His fist clenched unconsciously.

"I'm back!"

In the Spiritual World, above the boundless void, a golden-red "sun" and several multicolored "stars" revolved slowly around the Veil of Fate. Beneath the veil, mighty tides of Mana surged, making the towering Original Tree sway gently.

Ian stared blankly at the Veil of Fate. The gift of fate had arrived as expected: a new "star" was shining brightly.

"Does fate really exist? What exactly is fate?"

It sounded ironic: Ian didn't believe in fate, yet fate had favored him. Perhaps the more one believed in fate, the more one was toyed with by it.

At Ian's thought, the "star" vanished, and a card appeared before him in an instant.

It was a silver-white card, its four corners decorated with strange silver-white patterns. It depicted the bare back of a woman turning her head to look behind her. Strange patterns covered her body, and glowing lines traced even her turned head and neck.

[Card: Forbidden Enchantment]

After using it, gain the ability of Forbidden Enchantment.

Forbidden Enchantment: Unlike conventional enchantment, Forbidden Enchantment is a biological enchantment technique that grants a living being abilities it does not naturally possess. Its materials are the souls and spirituality of Extraordinary creatures, and casting it consumes the caster's life force.

The abilities gained through enchantment come from the soul and spirituality of the consumed creature. The caster can choose which abilities to take or remove them at will.

Taboo One: The greater the difference in sequence level between the "material" and the recipient, the higher the chance of failure. Failure will injure or kill the recipient.

Taboo Two: The greater the difference between the spiritual characteristics of the recipient's previous and current enchantments, the higher the chance of failure.

Taboo Three: The recipient will suffer continual spiritual erosion from the "material." The greater the difference between their spiritual characteristics, the more severe the erosion, until the recipient eventually loses themself.

This was a new type of card. Using it would grant the ability known as Forbidden Enchantment, which encompassed a body of knowledge, experience, and spells.

"This ability lets you strip some of an Extraordinary person's abilities and enchant someone else with them. It sounds powerful, but the side effects are too severe. It's pretty useless."

After all, in theory, no two people had exactly the same spirituality, which meant there was no such thing as Body Enchantment without side effects.

Ian stroked the stubble on his chin, deep in thought. "I have a feeling this isn't what it's meant to be used for."

At daybreak, the Swordfish's acting captain woke all the sailors.

He shouted at the hungry crew, "Hurry up and clean! We'll be in port soon, and the ship has to be spotless before we dock."

The disgruntled sailors had no choice but to carefully scrub the bird droppings from every corner of the ship.

"Hey, the birds are all gone today..." one sailor whispered to his companion.

His companion also pretended to look up casually. In the faint morning light, he saw that the seabirds usually packed tightly along the masts—and that terrifying crow—had all disappeared.

He looked delighted. That crow had intimidated him badly. He craned his neck to look toward the [Leviathan] ahead. Its masts and rigging were empty too. He quickly lowered his head and whispered to his companion, "They're all gone. There aren't any on the ship ahead either..."

Soon, other sailors noticed as well. The tense atmosphere on deck eased somewhat, and the sailors began whispering and murmuring among themselves.

Meanwhile, the deck of the [Leviathan] ahead was spotless. Bird droppings were corrosive, and Ian naturally didn't want the [Leviathan] covered in them. He had already "warned" Beatrice not to let seabirds relieve themselves on the [Leviathan]. Any birds that couldn't hold it in were sent to the [Swordfish].

At that moment, several nautical miles away, a flock of seabirds circled over the ruined Calvinde castle atop the seaside cliff. Soon, they began settling across the rooftops and walls, one after another. Beatrice had also subdued her spirituality and blended in with them, so she didn't stand out.

Though the sun had only just risen, the sight still caught the attention of many people in Storm Port, who watched in amazement.

They often saw flocks of birds, but the birds were always of the same species. They had never seen so many different kinds of seabirds gathering together in harmony.

Few people usually went near the castle grounds. Ian had carefully considered the spot before temporarily settling them there: large numbers of birds often gathered on the sea cliffs, so the flock wouldn't stand out all that much. Leaving them aboard the ship would have drawn far more attention.

Ian hadn't driven them away because they still had an important role to play. If a conflict broke out, a large flock of seabirds could obstruct and attack the fleet and the guards, causing them considerable trouble and making it easier for Ian to escape.

Ian stood quietly on the Quarterdeck platform, gazing at the familiar yet strange port city ahead.

The port district of Storm Port was nowhere near as large as Paradise Port, but it was more sensibly laid out, with many projecting piers built to follow the shape of the shore. The harbor seemed rather quiet at the moment, with only a few sailboats moored there.

After all, building ships required not only a great deal of high-quality timber and skilled workers, but also a considerable amount of time. With so many ships requisitioned at once, Storm Cape and Paradise Island had visibly quieted down.

Storm Port's layout resembled a large grid, with two main roads running east to west and two running north to south. The most important commercial district lay in the center. The Calvinde castle stood outside the grid, on a cliff slope reached by one of the grid's outer horizontal roads.