Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 3 Cursed Object
Ethan dug out a popular science book titled "Understanding 100 Dark Creatures" from under a pile of thick documents on the table. It is said that the author Augustus is an experienced demon hunter. He lives in the Fourth Epoch when evil spirits are most active, and is revered as a walking encyclopedia.

Mr. Encyclopedia was unfortunately killed while searching for the 43st record of dark creatures. He was years old.

The book contains a very detailed interpretation of the small dark creatures like werewolves.

He quickly found the page about werewolves. "Werewolves are followers of the hunting goddess Cynthia, who is one of the seven middle gods."

"Half good, half evil, right?"

Ivy responded without even looking up, "But the Hunting Temple has long been in name only, and the number of dark creatures following Him is increasing."

“This is due to the way believers practice.”

Ethan has read every book in the town that involves gods. Although no one has ever actually seen what God looks like, all the evidence shows that gods are real and they are the key to unlocking the path to transcendence.

Most scholars believe that the power of gods is far beyond human imagination, and it is meaningless to talk about their positions. Therefore, the factions of gods can only be distinguished by the good and evil of their believers.

The middle god does not refer to the strength of the power, but the fact that the followers of the hunting goddess may become chivalrous demon hunters, or they may become dark creatures such as werewolves that feed on humans.

Ethan omitted the stories and research in the book and distilled it into a simple theory. "The followers of the goddess of hunting believe that humans can gain power from wild beasts and even monsters, so they summed up the trick of "imitation". By imitating the lifestyle of wild beasts, they can obtain certain abilities from them. But in this process, a debate arose among the followers - to what extent should they imitate?"

Theoretically, the more thorough the imitation, the faster one can enter the supernatural realm. This is the consensus reached by demon hunters.

But on one important question, the two schools of thought had a huge disagreement, "For example, should they eat humans like beasts and monsters?"

He has read many books on mysticism in the past two years, and almost all mystical systems have reached a subtle consensus on the issue of cannibalism.

Once you eat a human being, certain irreversible changes occur in your body and soul.

It’s just that the definition of “change” is different. Some people think it is retribution and curse, while others think it is growth and evolution.

"So, the werewolves are actually believers who ate people."

For the sake of rigor, Ethan added, "This is the original werewolf, but academic research shows that werewolves are also capable of reproduction, and they will give birth to werewolf cubs."

Ivy was thoughtful. She took off the collar and put it in front of her fair neck. Her eyes emitted a faint green halo. She did not forget to ask Ethan's opinion, "Do you think this collar looks good?"

The golden retriever on her head spoke fiercely and "danced" towards Ethan, as if trying her best to convey a message to him - Can you confiscate the broken collar in her hand?
Ethan received the signal and continued to explain, "If we only measure by strength, werewolves are indeed much stronger than demon hunters of the same level, but the disadvantage is that they will gradually lose their human thinking and be driven by instinct."

Ivy's face froze and she threw the collar aside as if she had been electrocuted.

She confirmed, "You mean, werewolves become dumber?"

"To be precise, I completely lost the ability to think."

Ethan pinpointed the weaknesses of the believers of the God of Truth. They would rather die than lose their wisdom.

The golden retriever was very satisfied with this. He nodded repeatedly and gave Ethan a thumbs up.

Ethan got the topic back on track and said, "From the perspective of mimetic science, werewolves cannot be trained. Even if you force them to wear collars and train them, they will only become huskies."

"Husky?"

"This is a creature I saw in an ancient book. It is a very destructive dog that can easily tear down a house. Therefore, it was used as a siege weapon in the Second Age."

"I have heard that dogs are wolves tamed by humans." "If you suspect that someone caught a werewolf and placed it in the mountains to train it as a monster, then that person must be very lacking in theoretical knowledge, because once a werewolf wears a collar, it deviates from mimetic studies and it can hardly grow anymore."

Ivy stole a glance at the collar, demonstrating the meaning of the phrase "a thief's heart is not dead" with her actions. "According to my guess, this collar can transform a person into a dark creature."

Ethan was shocked. If the werewolf in the mountains was transformed by a cursed creature, doesn't that mean it had no family from the beginning?

But at least... it was sent away by a warm fireball, allowing it to see its grandmother at the last moment of its life.

And now, Ivy is eager to try it out, and seems to really want to try out the effect of the collar.

Miss Ivy, a pure believer in the God of Truth, is the kind of woman who, when she sees a red button on the wall, can't help but want to press it to see what it is used for.

"This is a cursed object. It distorts the human body and damages the soul. It is estimated to be above the third level..."

A third-order cursed object?

No wonder she was so eager to try it out. This thing is not common in a border town like Ximu Town.

Ethan glanced at the collar that was disassembled and placed on the table. Such an inconspicuous thing was actually rated higher in rank than Ivy herself.

Ivy said with a sympathetic heart, "I will send a letter to the shelter. If everything goes well, the shelter team will arrive in the town in three days. Now I still need your help."

He could only recall a parchment book he had read before, titled "Encyclopedia of Cursed Objects". The author was the previous director of the Cursed Object Containment Bureau. He became the director in his early thirties and had handled hundreds of cursed objects. He was a young man with unlimited prospects.

Age: 33, died in a containment breach.

The director put forward his views on cursed objects in the book. Most curses need to be used by a certain user to exert their full threat. Therefore, the rating of curses is a comprehensive assessment based on the maker and the threat level. He judged that the "level three and above" mentioned by Ivy should refer to the level of the collar maker.

Ethan silently recalled the details in the book.

Once a third-level cursed item takes effect, it will cause great harm to the town, often resulting in dozens of casualties.

Ivy suddenly said, "Go get a pen and paper."

Ethan realized that they were going to start the work of assessing the cursed object. In order to ensure the safety of escort and containment, they had to record the characteristics of the cursed object as much as possible.

"Werewolf collar (to be determined), estimated curse level, above level three."

Ivy took the paper and pen and began to write a beginning. She then talked to Ethan about the details of the collar being sent back to the town. "The three hunters did not find anything unusual on the way to bring the collar back, and after seeing you, the desire to wear it gradually eased. From now on, every answer you say is of great importance - Ethan, when you saw the collar, were you also attracted to it?"

"Absolutely not."

Not only that, Ethan suspected that the golden hair on Ivy's head had been scolding her since the moment she got the collar. He even suspected that this tuft of golden hair itself might be some kind of curse.

Ivy nodded and continued writing furiously, "Influence is linked to the number of people traveling with you, but not obviously related to the extraordinary rank. The recommended number of escorts: more than two."

"The next step is the actual impact of the curse."

She bit the pen in her mouth, and suddenly an idea came to her, "Ethan, why don't you try putting it on?"

(End of this chapter)