"Hmmm?" Vicente turned his attention to the cocoon where Torne was recovering from the sacrifice, curious as to what he meant by the previous words.
"This is the Cataclysm Moon Pendant! Master, you have the Cataclysm Moon Pendant! Quickly, store it in a spatial ring!" Torne said in an agitated yet excited tone.
"Cataclysm Moon Pendant? What are you talking about?" Vicente moved one of his hands to the crescent-moon-shaped necklace Julian had given him more than four years ago.
"That necklace in the master's hands is the Cataclysm Moon Pendant, a cursed item of the Cataclysm Order! Hurry, take it off, master. This item can bring tragedy even to Sovereigns!"
Hearing Torne's agitated tone, Vicente immediately put away the pendant he had been wearing every day for the past four years, becoming a few degrees more serious as he considered the curse word Torne had uttered.
"Old Torne, what are you talking about? A teacher of mine gave me this necklace a few years ago. How could it be such a powerful item that it could even affect Sovereigns?" He asked.
"Sigh... Master, either that teacher was an ignorant fool, or he wanted to harm you. The Cataclysmic Moon Pendant was the most important cursed treasure of the Cataclysmic Order, the faith of The Vile Altar." The ghost explained.
"The founder of our faith created it 50,000 years ago during the first great crisis we faced. It allowed us to survive more than eight wars with the magicians of the Light Path.
Unfortunately, just over 2,000 years ago, the former leader of our faith disappeared along with the Cataclysmic Moon Pendant. We have never been the same since, which may have contributed to our defeat in the last war."
Hearing this, Vicente narrowed his eyes, not understanding. "If this item is cursed, how could losing it have weakened you? If it's something that strengthened you, why did you ask me to keep it?"
Torne's words seemed to contradict each other, making it difficult for Vicente to understand what this old ghost had in mind.
Torne took a few steps back from his words and explained. "Master, a cursed item is not necessarily an item without value. If used properly, it can be the best thing for a magician like you. But it shouldn't be used all the time, because it can bring you endless trouble.
The Cataclysmic Moon Pendant is a cursed item that increases the cultivation speed of dark elements, but not only that, it can also mutate the magical forms of those around it!
It can be used to "cultivate" powers based on dark elements, but it can also increase the quality of those people's talents.
There are other effects, but these are the main ones, enough for the master to understand how valuable this item was to us."
Vicente nodded as he stared in shock at his spatial ring where the item now lay.
"However, changing talents and magical forms is not a simple matter, master. It's a taboo. Therefore, there is a lot of negative karma in the Cataclysmic Moon Pendant. So whoever uses it, even though they can benefit greatly from its power, will also attract a lot of trouble.
If you use it wrongly, you could become powerful but be surrounded by enemies more powerful than you, and eventually die prematurely!"
Hearing these words, Vicente swallowed his saliva, seeing the situation he was currently in.
'I was almost killed by a Sovereign earlier... On the other hand, I'm only an Acolyte, but there are several Mages who want my head.' Vicente clenched his fists at the thought.
But just as he felt he had been foolish to keep the item with him for so long, he remembered the day Lauren had awakened her powers.
'It can't be...'
"How long would one have to be in contact with it for it to take effect?"
"That depends. In normal situations, spending 6 months next to it would be enough for the talent and magical form to mutate. But special conditions could speed it up."
Vicente clenched his fists. 'Lauren's magical form is a scythe... Could it be because of me?' He broke into a cold sweat, imagining that his sister had been taken because she had been with him for so long.
But feeling guilty, he remembered how his mother had died.
"A few days after I received that necklace, my mother died in front of me. That could be..."
Understanding what his master meant, Torne replied. "It is unlikely. As much as the Cataclysmic Moon Pendant has negative karma, it doesn't usually attract misfortune without producing results first.
But I can't say with 100% certainty. The power of this cursed item can only be fully understood by magicians of the 5th stage or higher.
Besides, the magical world is naturally chaotic and dangerous, master. Your family's tragedy may have had something to do with this cursed item, but it could also have been something random. Cases like your family's are not uncommon."
Thinking about it, Vicente made a serious face. "The teacher who gave it to me had mediocre talent, and as far as I know, his life was ordinary. Why wasn't he affected by it?"
"That is not strange. As powerful as the Cataclysmic Moon Pendant is, it can't violate the magical rules of our world.
A magical talent and form can only be mutated before the Awakening. If this person found your cursed item after his Awakening, he could only benefit from it if he already had some affinity with dark elements.
Otherwise, the item would have no positive or negative effect."
"I see..." Vicente clenched his fists, imagining this was why his and Lauren's powers were completely different from those of their parents.
'Julian probably didn't know about this... Forget it. I'm not going to take action against him.' He sighed, not blaming Julian for the tragedies in his life.
'But if all this is true, Nina will probably end up like Lauren and me.' He clenched his fists, imagining his younger sister would be even more affected by her Awakening than Lauren had been.
Since she was the one who spent the most time near the Cataclysm Moon Pendant before the Awakening, she would undoubtedly have dark powers if she managed to awaken her magical powers!
Vicente then looked at the cocoon in his mind space and asked. "Old Torne, how did you Cataclysm Order people use this item? By the way, can you tell me a bit about your history within The Vile Altar? Was this outpost built in this area because of the necklace on my spatial ring?"
"My master is truly perceptive," Torne said. "Yes, this altar was built here when some members of our faith realized the necklace had been lost in this area of the Seidel Kingdom. Unfortunately, at that time..."
As he was about to speak, a noise suddenly came from a few dozen meters above the chamber, attracting the attention of not only Torne but Vicente as well.
"Are they here? The black-haired man pushed Torne aside as he became more serious.
