By the time Chromie returned to his temporary base, it was already completely dark.
His gaze was instantly drawn by something on the table: a box made of an unknown material, which was accompanied by a yellow-stained book underneath.
The book explained very clearly what the box on top of it contained.
After killing the three Soundless cultists, Negary had also extracted their remnant souls.
The thing inside this box was the remnant soul of one of the Soundless cultists, and if Chromie was determined enough, he would be able to use this Spirit Vision ability to collect the information he wanted from the soul.
Naturally, Negary understood Chromie's Spirit Vision ability even better than Chromie did, so the book also stated very clearly that if Chromie used his Spirit Vision to observe the remnant soul, he might be afflicted with some undesirable side effects. Perhaps his mind itself might collapse, or his perception might simply become warped, the degree of the side effect would depend on how firm his mind was.
And the choice laid with none other than Chromie himself.
Could he, for the sake of revenge, choose to gamble everything he had? Or would he back down right here, give up on his revenge, and settle down with Olga in another town?
"Perhaps later on, I will regret and curse my current self's foolish decision, but right at this moment, my only desire is to exact my revenge, and nothing but my revenge" Chromie smiled bitterly, then picked up the box.
Slowly opening the box, Chromie could feel something invisible slowly beginning to dissipate, so he lowered his head and lightly sniffed, thus activating the Spirit Vision ability he had gained from sacrificing his sense of smell.
He then saw this Soundless cultist's entire life. First, he was a mundane and unassuming peasant, who became anxious after discovering his blood of evil had awakened. He was then found by the Soundless cult, subjected to their painful modification ritual, witnessed the greatness of all things living, then pledged his allegiance to them.
Chromie had essentially witnessed the entire process of another person's personality and perception being warped. As the saying went: those who stared into the abyss would eventually be devoured by the abyss; the hero who slayed the dragon would eventually become the new evil dragon.
This rush of new knowledge had clearly affected Chromie's thought process and mind, he was now prostrated to the ground, cold sweat soaked through every inch of his skin while both of his eyes were bloodshot.
All sorts of chaotic thoughts flooded Chromie's mind, but then gradually calmed back down. In the end, he was only an observer, although he was a bit immersed in it due to his Spirit Vision, it was still within Chromie's limit of endurance.
"There is a price for everything, and this was the price I had to pay. However, this is similar to the sacrificial magic, and as long as I have chosen to pay, I would surely gain something in return" a bright smile appeared on Chromie's face. From this cultist's memory, he had obtained knowledge of several of the Soundless cult's hideouts, and even a bit of understanding towards the 'man' he saw before.
Negary, founder of the Impure Hermit Order?
Thinking of him, Chromie still felt chills running throughout his body, he had used his Spirit Vision ability many times, but that was the first time someone he was observing had suddenly come alive.
Such capabilities truly could rouse fear in one's heart.
"The Hermit Order... is most likely the organization I bought information from before" Chromie shook his head. Regardless of how powerful and great the Hermit Order was, it was unrelated to the current him, as the only thing he sought was revenge.
Chromie didn't notice that although his rationality didn't collapse from observing the Soundless cultist's soul, he could not escape from being influenced. His originally stubborn personality had gotten even worse, and some of his bottom lines had been dragged further down.
…
Negary chuckled as he flipped through a grimoire, the cover of this book contained a few twisted human faces, an almost visible ominous presence could be felt slowly permeating from the book.
This grimoire was rumored to be created by the believers of a certain Evil God by using human skin, named 'Lester's Demonic Path', which contained the power to poison the human mind.
Furthermore, other than recording many spells that could allow one to unleash their darkest desires, the grimoire itself was also a magical tool, essentially a miniature ritual altar. By holding this book, not only could one greatly save the necessary preparation time, spell casting materials, and offering; but there was also a unique power within the book that could increase the power of the spells.
However, each time one used this grimoire, the power inside it would naturally circulate through the user's body. At a glance, it might seem like the one who obtained the grimoire would grow dramatically stronger, but their sense of self would also be devoured by the grimoire.
Every wielder of this grimoire up to now had been slowly poisoned by it, they gradually abused the spells inside the book as well as the book itself, then became figuratively and literally consumed by it. These faces on the cover of the book were none other than the previous holders of this grimoire.
After Negary obtained this book, it had constantly been transmitting poisonous thoughts into his mind, but this level of poisoning wasn't particularly potent, nor was it that clever.
Anyone with a firm mind could easily recognize this poisoning influence. After that, a thought like 'so the legendary cursed grimoire 'Lester's Demonic Path' is only this' would then manifest in their minds. The human mind, more or less, recognized certain strange things as fact, that was:
[Something that others cannot do, doesn't necessarily mean that I can't do either]
[I am special]
[My willpower is stronger than others]
Those who truly understood their own limits were few and far between. Once the previous holders of the grimoire recognized how they could get rid of the poisoning influence, thus claiming to themselves that they had grasped the book, they would only have fallen prey completely to it. Anyone who had ever looked down on this book had become a twisted face to decorate its cover.
After reading through the magical rituals and spells contained within, Negary couldn't help but admit, although the majority of the spells here were supportive in nature, the book had certainly managed to achieve the pinnacle of rousing human desires.
The most common type of magic depicted here were charm-type spells. By using these, one would be able to hypnotize and hold perfect control over another person, thus allowing one to do whatever they pleased to him or her. There were also body modification techniques and other kinds of magic that encouraged the user to unleash their desires.
Anyone would find magic to be extremely convenient after using any of these spells. In essence, this was no different from whaling in a mobile gacha game to obtain sweeping victories, would a person who had gotten used to sweeping victories still be willing to grind their way up bit by bit?
The user would become more and more accustomed to using magic to resolve their issues, eventually becoming a prisoner to the grimoire, losing themselves and being consumed by the grimoire, thus feeding and strengthening it.
〖 Very interesting indeed 〗Negary casually put the book aside and stood up: 〖 How's the information gathering efforts? 〗
"A report, Lord Negary; the specific location has been pinpointed" as his shadow writhed, a man clad in darkness walked out and spread a map in front of Negary.
〖 Then let's begin. I'd like to see the extent of the Sun Shadow church's strength 〗glancing down at the map, Negary warmed his body up a bit: 〖 Before that, I have someone I need to pay a visit to 〗
After giving out his orders, Negary left. As he pushed the door open, the eerie moon hanging in the sky continued to emanate its ominous light, causing everything to appear uncanny.
