The Effect of the Bird Beak Mask, The System's Anomaly
The Box World.
Lucien arrived at the closed house where Nagini was.
The large green snake remained hidden in the corner, its vertical pupils watching him warily.
"Let's see how the Plague Doctor Mask works."
Using consciousness to communicate with the system space, the bird-beak mask appeared out of thin air in front of Lucien.
The black leather had a dull sheen, the beak-shaped protrusions pointed slightly downwards, and two smoky-colored crystal lenses were set in the eye sockets.
Before Lucien could move, the mask automatically conformed to the contours of his face, the leather straps fastening silently at the back of his head with just the right amount of pressure, neither too tight nor too loose.
Wow, it can even change outfits automatically.
A faint luminescence emanated from the crystal lenses embedded in the eye sockets of the mask, and the world appeared different to him.
On the coiled green serpent, an additional pattern appeared—a three-dimensional image of a curse.
Fine, purplish-black threads coiled around each scale, piercing the skin like tree roots and spreading throughout the body like blood vessels.
Some of these filaments have penetrated deep into the bones, forming dense nodes at the joints; others climb upwards along the spine, eventually converging inside the skull.
Lucien turned his head slightly, and his glasses seemed to adjust accordingly.
As his gaze shifted, he noticed a small wisp of gray mist hovering over Nagini's head, occasionally emitting a faint blue glow.
Is there a more direct way to observe curses?
These things are visible to the naked eye even through the mask; if --
With a thought, magic was channeled, causing a black vortex to swirl deep within the pupils.
Through the crystal lenses of the mask, the image of the curse became even more three-dimensional.
The purplish-black filaments were no longer flat, but had depth and layers. Lucien could now clearly see the direction of each filament and how they were intertwined.
You can even see the "flow" of the curse—the curse gushing from the heart spreads outward along the blood vessels, condensing into new black threads at the base of the scales, like a slowly growing vine, its roots penetrating every inch of flesh.
Whether it's the Eye of Magic Sight or the Soul Observation Magic learned from Salazar, it's mostly aimed at probing Magic Circuit and the soul itself.
With the mask, the observation of the curse became more detailed.
When the mask and the Eye of Magic Sight are used together, the effect is greater than the sum of its parts (1+1>2).
Hmm, it seems to be more than just visual.
Lucien took a deep breath.
The mixture inside the mask emitted a complex herbal scent, while at the same time, another smell was amplified: a rusty, fishy sweetness and a sewage-like stench assaulted the nostrils, the two smells intertwining to make one almost instinctively want to hold their breath.
His intuition told him that this must be the smell of the Blood Curse.
Upon closer inspection, Lucien discovered that the odor primarily originated from Nagini's heart.
With each pump of the heart, the odor fluctuated in intensity—stronger when contracting and weaker when relaxing, like an engine exuding a cursed aura, continuously delivering pollution throughout the body.
The bird-beak masks worn by medieval Europe doctors were hollow and filled with vinegar-soaked sponges, camphor, mint, ginger, and various herbs to filter the air and prevent disease infection.
The magical bird-beak mask also offers olfactory detection capabilities.
The mask was more useful than Lucien had anticipated.
A more comprehensive and detailed observation is undoubtedly helpful for the research and treatment of curses—it allows us to see the distribution of curses, detect changes in curses, and distinguish the degree of pollution at different levels.
Real-time monitoring of these changes is crucial when initiating treatment.
This made Lucien even more excited about the overall effect of the set, so he called upon the system in his consciousness:
"System, could you please reveal the effects of the Plague Doctor Set?"
Just like when I applied for the Plague Doctor Mask loan, the system didn't respond immediately.
What's wrong with the system lately? It used to reply instantly.
Lucien waited two seconds, then tentatively asked:
"System, are you... going to break down?"
[Not broken (ʘдʘ╬)]
The familiar emoticons reassured Lucien slightly, but what followed surprised him again.
[Host, this system seems to need an update.]
Update? System upgrade?
When I first encountered the magical world, the system hadn't been updated; it had only added magic-related loan programs.
Is the need for an upgrade and update now due to exposure to enough magical content? Or has some hidden condition been triggered?
"Update now? Is there anything I need to do?" Lucien asked.
After all, it was a system that had been with him for over ten years, so Lucien still had some affection for it.
[Not sure, it should be some time. The update might put the system into a dormant state. All the host needs to do then is keep themselves alive (··.)ゞ]
All right.
The feelings that had just begun to emerge were gone.
Garlic Bird, since the system is in a bad state, I won't bother with it.
[The host is currently a wizard. Based on observations, wizards are a race prone to courting death, so please cherish your life.]
Lucien: "..."