midnight.
Reilo lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
The appearance of the Death Sandglass, Sizeren, made Reilo truly realize that even hiding within the academy was not truly safe!
"Only with sufficient strength can one achieve true safety! Otherwise, even if I hide in the academy, I am in the open while my enemies are in the shadows, waiting for their chance to strike, which is even more dangerous."
Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the floor of the room.
Reilo rolled over.
"Moreover, my <Starry Sky Academic> have reached a bottleneck, and I must travel to enter a new stage of learning. Moon Crystal Stone, obsidian, Star Crystal, and... the ruins of the ancient Lan."
Even if Reilo had the money, he couldn't find a way to buy Magic Material of the high caliber of Moon Crystal Stone, Obsidian, and Star Crystal.
This level of Magic Material is only occasionally seen at high-level auctions; ordinary Magic Material trading shops would never sell it.
Thinking of this, Reilo took out Prince Chen's letter of recommendation again and read it once more by the moonlight.
" The Ximoer Duchy, the Guyue Family, a family of free scholars exploring the ruins of the ancient Lan, with the ultimate goal of establishing the Ximoer Duchy's Academy of Natural Sciences, and opening the Eye of the World for exploration every year on the fifteenth of May..."
Just then!
Reilo suddenly felt a chill creep into the room, accompanied by an inexplicable unease.
He frowned slightly.
He thought the window was open and some wind had gotten in, but when Reilo turned around, he saw that the window was closed properly.
Creak.
A sudden, eerie sound came from under the bed.
Reilo felt goosebumps instantly spread all over his body. This eerie feeling was as if a pair of eyes were silently watching him in the darkness.
"Mouse?"
Reilo immediately dismissed this conjecture.
Not to mention Jiahei, with the academy's swarms of owl guardians, there's no room for rats to survive.
At the Grand Natural Sciences Academy, Whitey only truly enter a hellish survival mode after escaping the laboratory.
Creak, creak, creak.
In the silent room, the eerie sounds became more frequent and clearer.
Driven by intense curiosity, and with fear being the source of a scholar's desire for knowledge, Reilo rolled out of bed and looked down into the darkness beneath.
"This is?"
On the wooden floor beneath the bed, a tiny, black wooden figure slowly emerged, its red eyes suddenly turning to look at Reilo.
After noticing Reilo staring at him, the little wooden figure slowly opened its mouth, revealing its sharp teeth.
Although its appearance was extremely terrifying, because the little wooden figure was only a dozen centimeters tall, Reilo not only didn't find it scary, but was also a little curious.
What is this?
Specimens that escaped from the supervisor's lab?
Just as Reilo was about to reach out and grab the little thing, the wooden figure surprisingly darted to the edge of the bed, casually drew a circle on the wooden floor to create a dark hole, and disappeared inside.
When it reappeared, it was already in front of the dressing table in the other corner of the room.
"Um?"
Hmph!
A strange, aged laugh made Reilo's body stiffen.
"Who are you?"
"Little one, I've been here for over a month collecting the mediums for your curse, and I've finally gathered 99 of them. You can be proud of that, and die in peace."
As he spoke, the little wooden figure actually crawled into the mirror.
Meanwhile, in the mirror, Reilo was transforming into a rotten wood carving at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Reilo felt a chill run down his spine, realizing then that something terrifying was about to happen.
The mediums used to ward off curses are incredibly diverse and bizarre.
The curse can be caused by the victim's clothing, hair, blood, or even items belonging to blood relatives. It can even be the soil the victim has walked on, words they have written, or leftover food they have eaten. This is simply unavoidable.
Without hesitation, Reilo turned and fled out of the house.
"Tutor!"
Reilo shouted.
However, as he ran down the stairwell, Reilo gradually lost sensation, starting with his hands and feet, and fell to the ground with a thud. When he looked up, he saw that his hands were gradually turning into dry, rotten wood carvings, which were spreading throughout his body.
My heart is cold.
Reilo could clearly sense a similar terrifying power emanating from the half-human, half-pig, spreading within his own body.
Although it lacks the sublime silver power within the half-human, half-pig body, its quantity is far more astonishing. Through unknown means that it cannot comprehend, it transforms the cellular magnetic field of its body into the physical properties of rotten wood, thereby causing its life form to collapse.
"Ah..."
Breathing became increasingly difficult, and even the skin on his face showed signs of decay.
Just as Lei Lu felt he was on the verge of death and was about to use up his last Moon's Mark, he suddenly remembered something and let out a low roar.
"Demonic transformation!"
Suddenly, astonishing black smoke billowed from Reilo's body.
A dozen or so translucent vengeful spirits, their faces contorted and their shrieks echoing, merged into Reilo's body and formed a layer of skeletons on his skin, attempting to replace the decaying wood. The two were locked in a stalemate.
Cursing one's true form is itself a curse!
However, this curse was created by a Witcher to activate a distorted, vicious cycle of power for the development of weapons of war, rather than a fatal curse.
These two curses at this moment.
One side wanted to turn Reilo into a piece of rotten wood and kill him, while the other wanted to transform Reilo into a deformed, vicious cycle of battle formation weapons, resulting in a stalemate.
"Meow, what happened?"
Jiahei arrived first and, seeing Reilo's strange state, asked in surprise.
Knock knock knock knock.
Gubo and Lianyi, both dressed in pajamas, ran downstairs one after the other. When Gubo saw Reilo's current state, he let out a deep roar, and astonishing black smoke appeared in his hand, forming a protective shield that isolated Reilo from the outside world.
"It's a curse! The caster should be nearby. Search for the source of the curse immediately!"
Jiahei and Lianyi immediately ran outside.
Before long, a dense chorus of cooing sounds filled the sky, and over a hundred owl academy guardians flew away in flocks.
Inside a secret cabin in the upscale accommodation area.
The old man, as withered as a dead tree, had a furrowed brow and a puzzled expression.
"A strange feeling. It seems the target is simultaneously suffering from another curse, causing some kind of interference with my curse magic?"
Casting curses is far more complex than ordinary people imagine.
First, you must collect the medium; this is the foundation for casting a curse.
Secondly, it requires being at a certain distance from the surgeon and sacrificing some high-grade Magic Material as a price.
At least for scholars, this is a combination and variation of the study of the soul and the study of Natural Law; for the Goddess of Wisdom, it seems to be a kind of theological category, developing to another extreme.
cluck cluck cluck...
Groups of owl academy guardians began searching room by room.
The old man sighed.
He could feel his curse, which, after being countered by another curse, was then interfered with and shielded by a powerful energy field.
This mission was essentially a failure.
As for allowing him to stay for another month to slowly gather information about the target's medium, that's simply impossible.
For the sake of a mere introductory student, he had to stay for a whole month, which was already the limit of his patience. As far as he knew, even the Prince Di who hired him had more than just his own plans. It was just that his methods were not discreet enough, and killing the target would likely come at a price, which was why he had not yet taken action.
"Never mind."
The old man shook his head, and his body visibly turned into rotten wood, transforming into another human-shaped sculpture.
This is actually a remotely controlled sculpture.
Clearly, the old man's caution prevented him from personally entering the Grand Natural Sciences Academy.
"Cough cough cough, mentor, I've been cursed by some unknown curse."
Reilo was panting heavily.
Just a moment ago, the power of the curse almost engulfed him, and he was about to use up his last Moon's Mark. Fortunately, at the critical moment, he discovered the curse's true form's resistance to the curse.
As the power of the rotten wood curse gradually faded, Reilo was finally able to catch his breath. He replaced the rotten wood with his cursed true form, gradually transforming into a two-meter-tall demonized form covered with hideous Bone Spur.
Each Bone Spur spike had barbs at its tip, from which black smoke billowed.
Eerie and evil.
Gubo's face was extremely grim. Not only was the Grand Natural Sciences Academy unsafe, but even his own laboratory was not safe.
"I'll apply to the academy to let you hide in the Grand Royal Academy of Science for a while."
Reilo took a deep breath, but slowly shook his head.
He slowly released himself from his cursed true form.
"Never mind, mentor."
Seeing Gubo's surprised expression, Reilo said, "Hiding like this isn't a solution, and my academic progress has reached its limit recently. I need to go out and travel."
After thinking for a moment, Reilo added, "It might take a little longer."
"A little longer? Have you found a suitable place to travel? If you're discovered by the people of Xilan Country while you're traveling, you'll be in even greater danger!"
Gubo said with concern.
Reilo looked thoughtful.
"There's one place I absolutely must visit: the Guyue Family of the Ximoer Duchy. They're said to be a family of free scholars specializing in exploring the ruins of the ancient Lan. As for what to do next, I haven't decided yet, but I'll try to stay as far away from the Xilan Duchy as possible. I plan to finish up my last few things tomorrow and leave the academy as soon as possible."
Reilo realized the danger.
The Prince of Xilan are almost at their wits' end and are about to act regardless of the cost.
" The Guyue Family's annual Demon Eye Extravaganza on the fifteenth of May?"
Gubo actually knew about the family of free scholars in the Ximoer Duchy, which surprised Reilo Luo.
"Hmph, what's so strange about that? Do you think this family is just an ordinary family of free scholars? You can't even imagine its power; the Academy of Sciences has a deep cooperative relationship with it!"
Seemingly lost in a memory, Gubo slowly said after a while, "The Demon Eye Grand Event is indeed worth participating in; you might even gain some unexpected benefits. However, the price for entering the Eye of the World is not small..."
"After all, Prince Chen has taken good care of it for me."
When Reilo mentioned Prince Chen again, Gubo frowned slightly but didn't say anything more.