Forbidden Enchantment

In Ian's mental link, three Evil Crows chirped messages, "painting" the scenes they saw for Ian.

It was already the evening of December 12th. [Leviathan] was less than 100 nautical miles from Storm Port. If nothing unexpected happened, they would arrive by morning.

Aside from that naval battle, their journey had been relatively calm. Having stayed away from the main shipping lanes, they had only encountered a few ships, all of which they had actively avoided.

Ian severed the mental link, rubbing his throbbing head. One hundred nautical miles was almost the limit of his mental link at this stage, ten times the range of his sensory sharing.

Ian sorted through the information Beatrice had relayed. The naval flag of Storm Port had changed, replaced by the First Fleet, meaning the Second Fleet had moved south to control the sea areas further south of Paradise Island.

The First Fleet had stationed one Tier 5 ship and two Tier 6 ships at Storm Cape, far fewer than the initial garrison of the Second Fleet.

Beatrice attempted to approach the residential area of the followers of the God of Truth and Justice, but the "infiltration" failed. After being discovered, Beatrice quickly retreated.

Although Ian had been teaching Beatrice how to restrain Spirituality and hide its presence, the effect was generally poor unless Ian assisted with sensory sharing.

On the high cliff by the sea, the ruins of the former Calvinde Family castle were everywhere. Remnants of gunpowder explosions and scorch marks from flames covered the ground, along with dark red bloodstains that remained clearly visible even after a month of wind and rain.

Ian involuntarily recalled the bits and pieces of his past life there, his fists clenching unconsciously:

"I'm back!"

In the Spirituality world, above the endless void, a golden-red "sun" and several "stars" of various colors slowly revolved around a veil. Beneath the veil, a majestic Mana tide surged, causing the tall Original Tree to sway gently.

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

"Does fate really exist? What is fate?"

It sounded ironic. Ian, who didn't believe in fate, was instead favored by it. Perhaps the more one believed in fate, the more one was toyed with by it.

As Ian willed it, the "star" disappeared, and a card suddenly appeared before him.

It was a silver-white card, with strange silver-white patterns carved into its four corners. The card depicted the back of a naked woman turning her head to look back. Her body was covered in various strange patterns, and even her turned head and neck bore glowing lines.

[Card: Forbidden Enchantment]

Upon use, master the ability of Forbidden Enchantment.

Forbidden Enchantment: The Forbidden Enchantment ability is different from conventional enchantments; it is a biological enchantment that bestows abilities not belonging to the creature onto the creature itself. The material components are the souls of extraordinary beings and Spirituality. Casting requires the caster's life force.

The abilities gained after enchantment originate from the souls of the consumed extraordinary beings and Spirituality. The caster can voluntarily strip or select abilities.

Taboo 1: The greater the difference in sequence level between the "material" and the recipient, the higher the probability of failure. Failure can result in injury or death to the recipient.

Taboo 2: For the same recipient, the greater the difference in Spirituality characteristics between two consecutive enchantments using Mana, the higher the probability of failure.

Taboo 3: The recipient will be continuously eroded by the Spirituality of the "material." The greater the difference in Spirituality characteristics between the two, the more severe the erosion, ultimately leading to the loss of self.

This was a new type of card. Upon use, it would grant the mastery of an ability called Forbidden Enchantment, which encompassed a series of knowledge, experience, and spells.

"This ability is to strip part of an extraordinary person's abilities and enchant them onto another person. It sounds powerful, but the side effects are too great, making it rather useless."

After all, theoretically, no two Spirituality characteristics are exactly the same, so a human enchantment without side effects doesn't exist.

Ian stroked his stubble, lost in thought. "I always feel like it's not meant to be used this way."

At the first hint of dawn, the temporary captain of [Swordfish] roused all the crew members.

He loudly urged the hungry crew, "Hurry up and clean! We'll be entering the port soon, and it must be spotless before we dock."

The grumbling crew could only meticulously clean the bird droppings all over the ship.

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

The companion casually looked up. In the dim morning light, he noticed that the dense seabirds on the mast and the terrifying crow were gone.

His face lit up with surprise. That crow had instilled too much fear in him. He craned his neck to look at [Leviathan] ahead. The masts and ropes of that ship were also empty. He quickly lowered his head and whispered to his companion, "They're all gone. They're not on the ship ahead either..."

Soon, other sailors noticed this as well. The suppressed atmosphere on deck eased, and the sailors began to speak and discuss in hushed tones.

On the deck of [Leviathan] ahead, it was clean. Bird droppings were corrosive, and Ian certainly wouldn't let [Leviathan] be covered in them. He had already "warned" Beatrice to prohibit seabirds from defecating on [Leviathan]. Those that couldn't be controlled were driven to [Swordfish].

At this moment, on the high sea cliff several nautical miles away, above the ruined castle of Calvinde, large flocks of seabirds circled in the sky, then gradually landed on the castle's rooftops and walls. Beatrice also restrained some of its Spirituality and blended in, appearing less conspicuous.

Although it was just dawn, this scene still attracted the attention of many people in Storm Port, who marveled at it.

They had often seen flocks of birds before, but they were always of the same species gathered together. They had never seen such a scene of various seabirds coexisting peacefully.

The castle area was usually deserted. Ian's decision to temporarily house them there was carefully considered. Large numbers of birds often gathered on the sea cliffs, so it wouldn't be as conspicuous. Having them stay on the ship would have been more noticeable.

The reason Ian hadn't dispersed them was, of course, that they had a significant purpose. If conflict arose, the obstruction and attacks from large flocks of seabirds would cause considerable trouble for the fleet and the guard, allowing Ian to escape.

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

The port area of Storm Port was much smaller than that of Paradise Port, but it was planned more rationally, with many protruding pier areas built according to the coastline. At present, the port area was somewhat deserted, with only a small number of sailboats docked.

After all, shipbuilding required not only a large amount of high-quality timber and skilled workers but also a considerable amount of time. With a large number of ships being withdrawn at once, Storm Cape and Paradise Island had become visibly emptier.

The entire Storm Port was planned like a large "well" character, with two main roads running east-west and north-south, and the most important commercial district in the center. Calvinde's castle was not within the "well" area. The horizontal stroke of the "well" extended to the nearby cliff slope, where the castle was located.