Witch's Kiss

Since it was inconvenient for others to know, Swain drove the carriage himself this time.

The carriage rolled along an empty path, and Swain's voice entered Aster's ears alongside the wind:

"You'll have to figure out how to use this thing yourself. Its abilities are also listed in the mission bounty I posted. I'll only tell you about the side effects."

"It has only two side effects. First, while carrying it, you'll be in a state of blood loss. A Sequence 8 Beyonder can hold it for no more than two hours. If you exceed that limit, you might die from excessive blood loss."

"And once you begin using it, skin will extend from the cuffs of the gloves and wrap around your body. If you stop using it within three minutes, the covered areas will slowly recover, though it will take at least an hour to return to normal, and you can't wear it again during that time. If you use it for over three minutes, the areas covered by the 'skin' it creates will never recover. If you use it for over five minutes, that spreading skin will cover you and turn you into someone else. Even your consciousness and spirit body will be completely devoured and controlled by it! A friend of mine once wore it for more than five minutes. He ended up turning into a sinister, cold-blooded Demoness who loved killing. Even I couldn't recognize her."

"We tried peeling off that skin, but all we could peel away was bloody flesh..."

At that point, Swain fell silent and let out a heavy sigh.

Aster noticed something, though. If he remembered correctly, Swain should have been Sequence 8. There was no way he could carry those gloves around all the time, considering they absorbed the wielder's spirituality. Yet Swain had brought them along when they went to Vinea Town together, and the trip alone had taken over an hour...

Was this another kind of insurance? No wonder he wasn't afraid that there might be something wrong with me. If he noticed anything off about me, Swain would probably put on the gloves and kill me immediately...

Swain's driving had the violent charm of the Storm Pathway. His whip cracked constantly along the way, and before long, they arrived at the back entrance of the Evil Dragon Bar.

After Swain rudely drove him out of the carriage, Aster circled around to the front entrance and entered the Evil Dragon Bar again. This time, however, he had no intention of going to the trading market. Instead, he went to the counter and ordered a glass of Southville Beer.

Carrying his beer to a corner table, Aster reached into his inner pocket and gripped the pair of white gloves. "System, panel."

[Name]: Witch's Kiss

[Level]: 50

[Skills]:

Black Flame: Creates flames fueled by spirituality.

Frost: Creates frost.

Silk Weaving: Creates transparent threads difficult to detect with the naked eye.

Invisibility: Conceals the user's body when activated.

Cocooning: By infusing spirituality for five minutes, gain the identity and virtual personality of [Demoness of Affliction · Evelyn].

Blood Seeking: While carried, extracts and stores spirituality from the blood according to the wielder's status.

Metamorphosis: Consumes the spirituality stored by [Blood Seeking] to strip the corresponding identity and personality from the user.

Frenzy: The virtual personality will attempt to seize control of the body. If [Cocooning] lasts longer than three hours, the user's mind will be permanently affected by the virtual personality. If [Cocooning] exceeds eight hours, [Metamorphosis] can no longer undo [Cocooning]. If [Cocooning] exceeds 24 hours, the Beyonder Characteristic within the gloves will fuse with the user.

[Remark]: The product of an alchemist using a Demoness as a living sacrifice. This story tells us that if you're going to be a cheating bitch, don't pick someone stronger than yourself.

In truth, Swain's understanding of these gloves was quite superficial. Compared with him, Aster, who had once owned them and seen their panel, knew far more about Witch's Kiss. The current panel information had not come from Swain's introduction, but from another high-level Artisan Pathway player.

Those so-called side effects—the state of being covered in skin and becoming someone else—were actually its most powerful function. Its true negative effect was only [Frenzy], the possibility that the user's mind could be taken over...

The proper way to use it was to infuse spirituality for more than five minutes and cover oneself in another person's appearance, thereby resisting divination and prophecy!

With Witch's Kiss, Aster's actions in Tingen would finally be secure! It never should have appeared in Tingen during version 1.0... And indeed, as level 50 equipment, it had been unique during version 1.0—only the first player on the entire server could obtain it. It was not until version 3.0 raised the level cap and opened repeat acquisition channels for Witch's Kiss that other players could obtain these gloves.

Unless one was a Demigod, one couldn't see through its disguise... Aster put on the pure white gloves and felt the spirituality in his body being drawn away. Then he looked at the second-to-last skill, his expression growing a little strange.

The so-called "Metamorphosis" actually referred to the physiological changes animals underwent during growth. Its ability matched that definition as well: stripping away a skin and personality that did not originally belong to the user, returning them to their original state.

But players who loved messing around didn't care about that. Since Witch's Kiss could alter a player character's sex and appearance, quite a few players simply called it the "pervert gloves." Even in the late-game version 6.0, Aster often saw countless players in the main city wearing Demoness Evelyn's face. Evelyn fans were absurdly productive too. Thanks to the bizarre uses of those pervert gloves, Evelyn, a character who had never actually appeared in the game's story, inspired huge amounts of pornographic material, such as I Wish I Could Stuff the Black Emperor In Too...

Shaking his head to clear away those messy memories, Aster took a sip of Southville Beer and planned to return to the inn for some rest.

One of the side effects of the Sleeping Slaughter Knife he had used in Vinea Town was drowsiness. Combined with the gloves still drawing away his spirituality, Aster was already quite exhausted. He wasn't suited to continue searching for mission clues or purchasing Beyonder materials.

Tapping his temple with his index finger, Aster dismissed the spirit bodies he had stationed around himself as sentries.

—Before becoming a Spirit Medium, one couldn't form contracts with spirits, so Grave Diggers could only command nearby spirit bodies and undead creatures.

He drained the Southville Beer in one gulp, set down the wooden cup, left the Evil Dragon Bar, and returned to the inn on Iron Cross Street.

He placed the gloves on the desk by the window, took off his coat, and collapsed onto the large bed.

After a night's rest, Aster had finally recovered and returned to the Evil Dragon Bar's trading market. This time, the guards had clearly recognized him and no longer treated him differently.

Unaffected by the Sleeping Slaughter Knife, Aster was much more energetic than yesterday. However, the cold, gloomy aura around him still made him look less than alive.

Aster's gaze swept across the stalls. He didn't try to activate Spirit Vision, not only because he feared seeing something he shouldn't and going mad, but also because he didn't want to attract attention—some Pathways were extremely sensitive to the gaze of Spirit Vision.

For example, the "Monster" in front of him.

"Killing! Killing! They're all dead!" The polite smile on Aster's face was nearly impossible to maintain, because a crazed young man was dancing about right in front of him.

"Monster" Ademisaul had been born half a Sequence 9 Monster. He had little presence in the version 1.0 storyline, serving only as supplementary lore while muttering fragmented prophecies.

But by version 4.0, he had gained an additional function as an NPC: fantasy instances.

The reason the version 1.0 boss [Mother · Megose] became such a terrifying monster was because she had become pregnant with the child of an evil god of an extremely high status. Before the child could mature, however, it and its mother had been jointly slain by the protagonist and the official Beyonders. This differed from the future Ademisaul had seen.

If players found Ademisaul again, he would describe another, even more despairing possibility—what if the god-child had been given enough time to grow and fully descended into the world? How would the players deal with that?

Within the instance imagined by Ademisaul, players would once again challenge a more dangerous boss than before: a high-difficulty fantasy instance.

But no matter what, that had been in a game, and a version 4.0 game at that. It had nothing to do with him right now... In fact, if Ademisaul hadn't soon been shoved away by Swain's men, Aster would definitely have made his boot kiss the man's ass hard.

After shaking off Ademisaul's harassment, Aster continued searching for Beyonder materials he could use, and was delighted to find potion ingredients for the Death Pathway's Sequence 5 [Gatekeeper]—but they were too expensive, and he couldn't afford them for now.

Most of Aster's wealth came from his parents' inheritance. Although the Crawley Family had lost its title, it still had some savings. But Aster had no job now, so he had to spend carefully... Besides, he hadn't brought much money with him to Tingen this time. Most of his assets remained in the form of real estate in Backlund.

After ending his aimless wandering, Aster still hadn't found Ghost Shark blood and could only turn to leave. But the moment he turned around, he bumped into someone.

"Oh, young man, remember to look before you turn around!" The elderly man frowned in displeasure. Yet this ordinary-looking old man made Aster freeze for several seconds.

His body apologized faster than his thoughts could react. "Sorry, sir." Then he swiftly stepped aside and made way for the old man.

Watching the old man's hunched back, Aster frowned.

He recognized this old man. He was the second boss of the version 1.0 instance, Flesh Garden, Niel Residence—the former Church of Evernight Nighthawk, Townsend Neil!

In order to resurrect his lover, Sallyster, this old man had been tempted by an evil god and turned his residence into a Flesh Garden overlapping the Spirit World and reality. It was also one of version 1.0's tragic storylines—Townsend Neil had been the professional mentor for the Mystery Pryer Pathway. The once kind and gentle old man had ultimately become a monster made of flesh and blood... And the final boss of that instance was the "Sallyster" he had summoned: clearly, she was already an evil spirit.