Chapter 38: Curse Root Structure

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Curse Root Structure

A Curse, or a Spell, is not a form of writing.

Instead, it is a Character Root formed from the Shape Change of three types of ancient scripts.

This Character Root is highly stable and capable of carrying the will and Spirituality of an Awakened.

The three ancient civilization scripts used to construct a Curse exclude Divination Text, Rope Text, and Doumu’s Spiral.

Any three of the remaining twelve ancient civilization scripts can be chosen. After undergoing a Shape Change, they can be used to construct a Curse.

But at this point, the Curse is merely a Character Root. Only when an Awakened infuses their own Spirituality and will into it can the Character Root "come alive" and transform into a true Curse.

The effect of a Curse, then, depends on the will infused by its user.

Chen Qi coveted the Curse on the large black dog’s Spiral Horn. Of course, it wasn’t because he deluded himself into thinking he could decipher its specific function, but rather because he was interested in its Shape Change.

For a Curse, the perfection of the fusion and Shape Change of the three ancient scripts directly determines its carrying capacity and stability.

All of this knowledge came from the *Comprehensive Guide to Ancient Civilization Basics* and *Jomoya’s Diary*.

As for the specific method of constructing a Curse’s Character Root—how to perform the Shape Change, how to infuse Spirituality and will—Chen Qi was completely in the dark.

Even Jomoya wasn’t qualified to access this knowledge, so naturally, Chen Qi had no way of obtaining it either.

This was why Chen Qi was willing to take the risk of prying into the Spell on the large black dog’s Spiral Horn.

If he could just decipher the principles of its Shape Change, Chen Qi would acquire a method for constructing a Curse’s Character Root.

This kind of knowledge was a closely guarded secret. In the Lanyu Kingdom, at least, there was nowhere Chen Qi could learn it.

······

On the lab bench, the large black dog trembled uncontrollably.

Chen Qi impatiently knocked it out with a punch. The Spiral Horn finally stopped trembling.

On the Spiral Horn, thirty-seven lines shimmering with an eerie glow swam about, constantly shifting.

They were in constant motion, forming one different pattern after another, like a small kaleidoscope.

Chen Qi stared intently, even activating Dynamic Capture in a futile attempt to freeze-frame its every transformation.

But Chen Qi quickly discovered it was useless. To his eyes, the Curse continued to transform at a constant speed, showing no sign of slowing.

His Dynamic Capture had failed.

’Am I seeing this Curse not just with my eyes, but with my own Spirituality?’

Chen Qi pondered for a moment. It seemed this was the only answer that made logical sense.

To test this hypothesis, Chen Qi gathered the entire Hummingbird Squad and had them stare directly at the Spiral Horn.

The result: except for Leiteri, the moment the others looked directly at the Curse, their five senses went haywire, and they nearly collapsed.

According to Liya’s description, she only saw a constantly spinning vortex.

Then, their perception of the world was churned into mush.

She felt like her eyes were seeing smells, her ears were hearing colors, and her tongue was tasting music.

With her five senses in disarray, the world became unfamiliar and bizarre.

If Chen Qi hadn’t interrupted their "gazing," the minds of Liya and the others would have surely been destroyed by this maddening cognition.

As for Leiteri, his case was slightly better.

But after only a second, he started to feel unwell and collapsed weakly to the ground.

According to his description, he saw a dense mass of lines.

There were so many of them that anyone with trypophobia would have suffocated on sight. They twisted and shifted as if they were alive.

Leiteri swore he saw those bizarre lines crawling along his line of sight, trying to burrow into his brain.

After the lines burrowed into his brain, his body was overcome with nausea and confusion, causing him to collapse.

’Is it because ordinary people have too little Spirituality to look directly at the Curse?’

’Leiteri’s Spirituality is probably a bit higher than the other four, which is why he saw the dense mass of lines—closer to the truth than the others.’

’As for me, my Spirituality is so much stronger than theirs that I can see all the lines that form the Curse.’

Chen Qi felt this had to be the answer!

At the same time, another thought occurred to him: if one’s Spirituality was powerful enough, could it even overwhelm other Awakened?

In the eyes of such beings, could they see the structure of a Curse with perfect clarity?

This gave Chen Qi an idea. Since the bronze dice could suppress ancient civilization scripts, could they also suppress the Character Roots built from them?

Putting thought into action, Chen Qi immediately summoned the bronze dice and levitated them above the Spiral Horn.

It turned out his deduction was correct. The Curse’s transformations did indeed slow, crawling along at the pace of an old ox pulling a cart.

Compared to before, it was at least 100 times slower.

’What in the world is the principle behind this?’

Chen Qi had always been baffled by the bronze dice’s ability to suppress the ancient scripts.

According to his analysis, the bronze dice shouldn’t have been able to affect the physical world at all unless a Wish was made.

And yet, the ancient scripts were the exception!

After ruling out various speculations, Chen Qi came up with a few logically plausible answers.

No. 1: The reason the bronze dice can suppress, or rather interfere with, the ancient scripts is likely related to the six scripts inscribed on the dice themselves.

The scripts are branded onto the bronze dice, creating direct contact and thus eliminating the need for a medium.

No. 2: It’s possible the scripts on the bronze dice are a more High-level form of writing, allowing them to overwhelm the others.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be the bronze dice suppressing the ancient scripts, but rather those six peculiar scripts.

No. 3: Alternatively, the ancient civilizations themselves might have some connection to the bronze dice, perhaps sharing a common origin.

As for which answer was correct, Chen Qi had no idea.

Perhaps he would understand once he learned to read those scripts.

······

On the Spiral Horn, the thirty-seven lines moved slowly.

At one instant, a dozen or so lines intertwined, forming a character that Chen Qi found incredibly familiar.

’That’s the character for "Condense" from the Cloud Pattern script!’

’So, one of the three ancient scripts that make up this Curse is Cloud Pattern!’

This discovery gave Chen Qi hope. He enthusiastically began a long period of observation.

Three hours later, he identified the second ancient script: the character for "Refine" from the Flame Text.

An hour later, the large black dog woke up. Chen Qi casually knocked it unconscious again and identified the character for "Preserve" from the Mud Script.

And with that, Chen Qi had deciphered all three ancient scripts that constituted the Curse.

But this was just the beginning. What Chen Qi sought were the methods and principles governing the fusion and Shape Change of these three ancient scripts.

Chen Qi had expected things to go smoothly from there. After all, once he recognized the three characters, the very way he perceived the Curse changed.

The Curse was no longer thirty-seven shifting lines; it had become three characters, constantly colliding and combining.

However, reality promptly taught him a harsh lesson.

’Holy crap, this thing is encrypted?’

Chen Qi managed to pick out a grand total of 138 different variations from the collisions and combinations of the three characters.

In other words, Chen Qi had obtained 138 similar Character Roots, with no way of knowing which one was the original version.

In truth, if the Curse’s master had seen what Chen Qi was doing, they probably would have been scared to death.

Among peers of the same level, only 5% could even distinguish which three types of ancient scripts were used in a Curse.

Only 0.02% could identify the specific characters.

As for extracting all the possible Character Root variations? Such a feat was completely unheard of.

What Chen Qi had accomplished was nothing short of astounding.

Because once he became an Awakened, all he would have to do was infuse his Spirituality and will into them. The one with the greatest carrying capacity would reveal itself as the original Character Root.

By reverse-engineering the encryption principles, Chen Qi could potentially gain even more.

He might even have a real chance at obtaining a complete method for constructing a Character Root.

Although it would be limited to Cloud Pattern, Flame Text, and the Mud Script, and might not be the most perfect method, it at least solved the fundamental problem of having one at all.