Chapter 357: Facing the God of Magic

Ansu saw that everyone had arrived, and his gaze fell directly on Professor Duncan.

He stepped forward a couple of steps and said, “Professor, let me take a look at your arm.”

“Huh?” Although Professor Duncan was completely bewildered, he still quickly rolled up his sleeve.

Ansu stared at Professor Duncan's wrist. The eye-like mark had not yet surfaced on the skin, but the inside of his wrist was already slightly red and swollen.

“I thought it was just a bite from one of those spotted northern mosquitoes. It was itching like crazy, so I scratched it swollen,” Duncan said, scratching the back of his head.

Ansu observed it for a moment, then asked, “Does it sting? Do you feel unwell anywhere else in your body?”

“No, I feel perfectly fine. I've got plenty of energy every day,” Professor Duncan shook his head. “But there is indeed a stinging sensation in my arm. It feels like a needle prick every now and then.”

Ansu's heart sank slightly.

Just as he thought. It was exactly the same as the initial symptoms in the simulation.

“Is it really a curse?” Duncan was completely flabbergasted now. “Who has nothing better to do than curse me to death? I spend every day cooped up in the lab. I haven't offended any big shots!”

The one who offended the most people was definitely Celia, followed by Ansu, the mastermind. How did someone like him, who stayed behind the scenes doing academic research all day, get dragged into this?

“I came here today precisely to discuss this with you all.” Ansu looked up, scanning everyone present, before finally letting his gaze rest on Celia. “I have a theory, but for now, it's just a deduction.”

“Go ahead,” Celia immediately nodded.

“An entity capable of quietly placing this mark on the three of us must possess immense power, and perhaps even an incredibly high status,” Ansu said, looking at Celia. “Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to bypass your senses.”

Everyone in the room nodded slightly. Celia's strength was undeniable; to cast a curse without her realizing it was certainly not something an ordinary transcendent could achieve.

Vera stroked her chin, deep in thought. “Could it be those old monsters from the City of a Thousand Stars? Brother, you said they're all at the Saint Tier... And that academy has been passed down for thousands of years, spanning two eras. Their research on curse magic must be so profound that we can't comprehend it, which is why we can't break this mark?”

Celia sighed softly. “Indeed. I tried to analyze this eye-like mark, but I came up with nothing.

“Its origin is unknown, its trigger conditions are a mystery, and we can't even be sure of the final consequences. In fact... it's hard to say if it even qualifies as a curse in the traditional sense.”

She looked at Ansu, her eyes filled with a trace of confusion as to why he was so certain it was a fatal curse.

Ansu thought to himself. In the beginning, he had only been guessing, but at the end of the simulation, he had managed to coax the truth out of Barcas, confirming that this thing was indeed a curse—and a fatal one at that.

“In my premonitions, this is indeed a curse, and we can proceed under that assumption.” Ansu stared solemnly at Celia. “First of all, the power and status of the entity that cast the curse are extremely high, at least above yours.

“Secondly.” He looked back at Professor Duncan. “The fact that the three of us were targeted simultaneously suggests that a certain event we all participated in interfered with some power, or crossed the line of a higher being.”

Ansu paused, his next words falling like a stone into a quiet pool of water.

“I suspect... it is the God of Magic.”

The laboratory instantly fell dead silent.

“Or rather, the God of Clamor and Filth.”

Celia was the first to react, her brow furrowing. “Now that you mention it... I remember when we first met those two mages from the City of a Thousand Stars. That bald one said that spreading safe magic was digging up the roots of magic, and that it was a blasphemy against the God of Magic.”

Ansu nodded.

The eccentric remarks of that bald mage back then had left a deep impression on him. Not only had he ordered Ansu to stop, but he had also demanded their entire team merge with the academy, threatening to wipe out the cult otherwise, not even showing any respect to Celia.

Looking back now, that arrogance was not just the pride of a magic academy, but rather the confidence of some "spokesperson of a god."

The cult's worship of the God of Magic had originally been passed down from the magic academy. If the cult had been extreme in the past, the academy was only bound to be more fanatical and radical.

This was why the City of a Thousand Stars despised the paper 《The Solution to Magic Pollution》 and was even more opposed to the Ring of Pure Protection.

“Then that makes perfect sense!” Professor Duncan slapped his forehead. “The only project the three of us worked on together is this major research here in Norvigel.

“If safe magic is truly popularized on a large scale, isolating magic pollution at its source, it would also mean isolating the pollution from the one at the origin of magic! This is directly cutting off His foundation!”

“Exactly,” Ansu's tone turned solemn. “The God of Clamor and Filth exists because of this. Once the ‘Ring of Pure Protection’ is widely popularized, His influence over mortal casters will plummet off a cliff. His underlying logic of corrupting mana to spawn chaos and madness will completely collapse.”

“This God of Magic doesn't sound like a god of magic at all...” Vera whispered.

“He was never a real god to begin with,” Ansu explained to her. “He is an artificial false god created during the Second Era for the sake of war. He has been mad since His inception—an evil god filled with chaos and clamor, having absorbed far too much negative consciousness.”

He paused, continuing to organize his thoughts:

“Gods possess their own core authority, such as the God of Holy Light's Holy Light or the God of Nature's Nature. But this one...

“His authority, rather than governing magic, is more about spreading Corruption.”

He tainted the originally pure mana with extreme negative wills. The more casters used it, the easier it was for them to lose control and go mad, which was the very root of magic pollution.

This was why, in 《Hoffman's Alchemy Notes》, Master Hoffman contemptuously referred to Him as the 'God of Clamor and Filth.'

“The connection between the City of a Thousand Stars and the God of Clamor and Filth runs very deep. The academy's higher-ups might no longer even be human, but rather entities resonating with the evil god's will... becoming akin to His vassals, the 'God-Awakened' of the evil god's faction. This is also why their average combat strength is so high...

“The God of Clamor and Filth has long since fallen into a slumber; otherwise, the moment the Ring of Pure Protection was created, we would already be dead.

“It is highly likely... that the City of a Thousand Stars is trying to awaken Him and has pointed Him toward their targets. That is why the three of us were precisely anchored and branded with this curse mark.”

The atmosphere in the laboratory gradually grew heavy.

The faint blue light from the instruments reflected on everyone's faces, the gravity in their expressions plain to see.

A curse from the 'God of Magic' was not something anyone could take lightly.

Ansu, however, chuckled, actively breaking the heavy silence. “Don't all look so gloomy! We've made it through so many hardships. He's just a sleeping false god. Given enough time, we will definitely find a way to break through!”

Celia watched him quietly. He smiled with calm assurance, but she could tell that Ansu was harboring anxiety and unease deep down.

So, she curled her lips into a smile as well, quietly hiding her own worries in the depths of her eyes.

She and Ansu were the ones who absolutely could not show any nervousness. Everyone needed a pillar of support.

Ansu turned to look at Duncan and Valger, instructing them solemnly:

“Whether we can survive this ordeal depends largely on everyone in the laboratory. I need you all to analyze this curse from the God of Magic so we can find a solution.”

Valger's expression was solemn. “We will!”

Duncan shook his head with a bitter smile. “I never expected to run into something like this. To think I'd be targeted by an entity of that caliber... Don't worry, even if I have to go without food and sleep, I will figure this thing out. After all, my own life is on the line!”

Ansu then looked at Altina beside him, placing the crescent amulet on the workbench. “Also, I suggest we set up a new research group specifically to analyze this.”

He briefly explained how the amulet could resist the erosion of the mana plague, as well as Altina's experiences over the past two hundred years.

Duncan looked Altina up and down, his tone filled with admiration. “Honestly, I used to hear people say that elves were delicate and selfish, incapable of accomplishing great things. I never expected to see such an extraordinary girl like you. I truly admire you. You are an anomaly among elves, and a hero!”

Altina twitched her lips, feeling a bit amused yet helpless.

She looked down at the short, stocky Professor Duncan, barely managing to suppress the "dwarf joke" that had risen to the tip of her tongue, deciding to save him some face.

Seeing the bewildered look on Valger's face nearby, Ansu explained in a low voice.

“Elves and dwarves used to be blood rivals, looking down on each other.”

Valger suddenly understood. “Ah, so that's how it is...”

Afterward, without wasting any more time on small talk, Professor Duncan immediately halted all non-urgent projects, throwing the entire staff into the research of the curse and the amulet.

The entire underground laboratory soon became a bustling hive of activity.

Ansu felt a bit dazed watching this scene. It had been the exact same sight when they were first developing safe magic. Later, through countless simulation deductions and trial-and-error, he had helped Celia refine the optimal formula structure.

This time, he planned to do the same.

And then, face the 'God of Magic' head-on.

...