Chapter One Hundred and Forty: The Bloodline Curse

Upon hearing Andy’s words, Catherine was taken aback. Then, noticing his cheeky expression, she understood exactly what he meant. Incensed, she swiped her claws fiercely at his face from his shoulder.

However, this level of physical attack was no match for the defenses of Andy’s peak Grand Knight-level skin. Andy remained grinning as if nothing had happened, though his smile soon faded.

Following Catherine’s instructions, he took off his shirt, bared his upper body, and lay on the bed. Catherine’s soft, padded paws stepped onto his chest, causing a slight tickle. Just as a strange sensation began to stir within him, he saw Catherine’s amber vertical pupils turn pitch black.

Catherine’s spell: Shadow Eye!

In the vision of Catherine’s Shadow Eye, black mist could be seen swirling amidst Andy’s flesh and bones. The mist moved with a faint, underlying rhythm. Catherine observed closely; the blackness seemed to form the shape of a city, a miniature replica of Dallas, where she and Andy had lived for so long.

The black mist appeared to possess a sentience of its own. Sensing Catherine’s intrusion, it suddenly coalesced into a human face and lunged to devour her. Catherine calmly opened her mouth, a faint black hole shimmering within, and swallowed the mist-formed face whole.

Realizing it could not best Catherine, the remaining mist inside Andy stopped its assault and hid deep within his body, merging with his bones and blood to circulate throughout him.

Catherine deactivated her Shadow Eye and stepped off Andy. Her intuition had been correct; there was indeed something wrong with his body. She wouldn't have discovered it had she not been growing accustomed to her Silver-rank wizard powers over the past few days.

If her assessment was correct, this was a curse, and one linked to the city of Dallas, where they had once stayed.

Catherine concluded that whoever had cast this curse upon Andy must be at least a Silver-rank wizard. To her knowledge, only curses of the 4th level or higher possessed such long-lasting or even permanent effects. The curses she had cast before were short-lived; once the duration expired, the target would recover.

For now, Catherine could only grasp the general nature of the curse. The specific sorcery involved and the exact effects required further analysis. She informed Andy of the situation and asked him to provide a blood sample, which she would take to a senior student to test with borrowed equipment.

Andy was shocked to hear he had been cursed, especially since it was linked to Dallas. He racked his brain, but he couldn't recall knowing—let alone offending—any wizard above the Silver rank in that city. It made no sense for him to be targeted.

He activated his Enhanced Memory talent and combed through his recollections with precision. Finally, he settled on a suspect: the now-deceased Carol. Although Carol wasn't a wizard, his methods were诡异 and unpredictable, and he had reached the Silver rank. Perhaps, in his dying moments, he had laid a vicious curse upon Andy.

Thinking of this, Andy felt quite annoyed. After all, it was Alan and Barton who had delivered the final blow; if anyone was to be cursed, it should have been them. Why him? Had he simply "pulled aggro" by dealing too much damage at the time?

Catherine remained noncommittal toward his theories, noting that only the analysis would reveal the truth. She urged him to provide the sample, specifying that it should preferably be heart blood.

"Wait, what is this?" As Catherine was about to use a long needle near Andy’s heart to draw the sample, she noticed a stone-like object hanging around his neck, which he hadn't removed even after taking off his shirt.

Andy touched the stone and said, "Don't you remember? We snatched this from that 'Edward'—the one whose personality changed so drastically—at the top of the wizard tower in Dallas. I even tried to check its information with the Magic Mirror, but the price was too high to afford."

As soon as Andy mentioned it, Catherine remembered. But with the curse being the priority, she didn't pay it much mind, pushed the stone aside, and drew the blood sample from his heart. She then carelessly brushed the stone back into place.

Neither Andy nor Catherine noticed that as the stone touched the residual blood near Andy’s heart, it flickered with an eerie, ghostly light.

After taking the sample, Catherine rushed out to perform the analysis, leaving Andy alone in the dormitory. At that moment, he felt the stone on his chest pulse twice, but being in a foul mood, he ignored it. He had felt such sensations before, and in the past, he had even speculated, based on tropes from web novels in his previous life, that it might be a mythical creature's egg. But since it had shown no other anomalies after being in his possession for so long, he had put the matter aside. In any case, since he had tested it with the Magic Mirror, he knew it wasn't a synthetic relic. He would check it again once he had the funds.

Andy’s attention was entirely focused on the curse. He opened his palm, and flames roared to life. Gritting his teeth, he muttered, "Don't let me find out who you are!"

"Cough... cough..." Far away at the Silver Wing Fortress, the Oracle who was teaching Jella suddenly fell into a violent coughing fit.

"Mentor, are you alright?" Jella hurried to support her mentor.

"It's nothing," the Oracle said dismissively. "Just an old ailment. Years ago, in a moment of impulse, I cast a bloodline curse that extended to the descendants of a great villain. Unfortunately, the spell was too taxing, even with the aid of a formation, and I had to sacrifice twenty years of my foundational lifespan, which damaged my vitality."

The Oracle spoke lightly, but her words sent a chill through Jella. She couldn't understand what kind of villain would require such a desperate measure to eliminate. Losing twenty years of foundational lifespan wasn't as simple as subtracting twenty from a Silver-rank wizard’s five-hundred-year lifespan. The "foundation" was based on a mortal's hundred-year lifespan; a wizard’s longevity grew proportionally as they broke through realms. In other words, the Oracle’s maximum lifespan had been reduced by twenty percent. As a Silver-rank wizard, she would now live to be at most four hundred.

In the world of sorcery, even a single year of life was precious. There were many cases where those nearing the end of their lifespan had staked everything on a breakthrough, only to succeed and gain a massive surge in vitality. A single missing year could mean the difference between life and death.

Jella wondered what kind of villain could have driven her mentor to pay such a price. After spending so much time with her, Jella knew that the calmer her mentor sounded, the more she actually cared. It sounded less like a "great villain" and more like someone with whom the mentor held a deep, personal grudge.

A sense of foreboding washed over her, and she felt as if this omen was connected to her. Jella immediately wanted to activate her bloodline ability to peer into the truth, but she recalled Bill’s warning, hesitated, and ultimately abandoned the thought.