Chapter 102: The Root of All Evil

After listening to the guild master's tragic and beautiful "love" story, Anna couldn't help but be deeply moved by Selina's father's actions and courage.
However, Chu Yun was thinking about something else entirely.

"Guild Master, if Cassido has been affected by the cursed gold coins, the Life Goddess can't currently bestow divine arts upon the priests of Blackstone City. Detecting it might prove rather difficult."

"We can only notify the city lord to have Cassido's family isolated for now. I'll inform the Life Goddess Church headquarters and see if they can send priests who possess divine arts."

The Cassido family members could be confirmed unaffected after a few days of isolation, but the gold coins and gold-crafted items in their household would likely need to be quarantined for a long time. After all, at this stage, only a very small number of priests at headquarters have received the Goddess's grace and possess divine arts. Persuading them to come here for the sake of a few gold coins would be difficult—it might be better to simply destroy them all.

But the matter wasn't absolute. Cassido could also have been cursed through indirect contact with someone carrying cursed gold coins. If that were the case, things would be much more troublesome, and it would take far longer to locate the source of the misfortune.

During this period, everyone Cassido had come into contact with would be under close observation.

After discussing a few more matters, Chu Yun and Anna left the guild master's office and returned to the courier station.

On the way back, Anna asked in confusion, "Chu Yun, even though the cursed gold coins are a matter from several hundred years ago, they still have a detrimental impact on humans at this stage. But why haven't I ever come across them in books?"

"Some things are better kept from too many people. The guild master also said just now that the effects of cursed gold coins have two sides. For some people, cursed gold coins might actually be treasures they can use to enhance their strength."

"And even if they can't enhance their own strength, they can still use cursed gold coins to harm those they hold grudges against."

Anna couldn't help but shiver. This method of framing someone was indeed hard to guard against, especially now that the Life Goddess's divine arts detection was no longer available.

"By the way, the guild master mentioned earlier that these things could cause some lustful demi-humans and monsters to evolve?" At this thought, Chu Yun's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He had witnessed a demi-human's evolution with his own eyes not long ago. Could it be...

Could it be that he himself was the one carrying the cursed gold coins?

The more Chu Yun thought about it, the more possible it seemed. Sia had been following him during that period, desperately wanting to grow stronger so she wouldn't be captured by humans while lacking legal identity.

Cursed gold coins would preferentially target those with intense desires to curse. And Cassido had also been in contact with him at the coffee shop. It was possible that the curse took effect at that moment when his intense desires were sensed.

Chu Yun currently had 125 platinum coins and 2,021 gold coins obtained through various channels. But if he traced it back to Sia, the only ones that could truly be cursed gold coins were the twenty coins given to him by May, the blacksmith shop owner's wife.

He had spent some of those twenty gold coins, leaving eleven remaining in the small coin pouch the shop owner's wife had included, tossed somewhere in his spatial belt without being organized.

At the thought, Chu Yun grew anxious. He hurriedly urged Paemon to hasten back to the mage courier station. Upon returning, he rushed into his room.

Anna found it a bit strange, but she was too busy today to dwell on it. Besides charging the magical devices, she also had to pack her luggage. As a mentor at the mage academy, she would henceforth give up her part-time work here and instead take up a new part-time role charging new magical devices in the faculty residence.

"Strange, one of my undergarments is missing. I clearly left it on the bed back then?" Anna was puzzled as she packed her things.

The item she had lost was precisely the apparatus Chu Yun had tasked the hound with finding for him. Chu Yun hadn't yet returned it to her, nor did he intend to. Such a thing was better destroyed.

Back in his room, Chu Yun hastily took out his eleven gold coins. According to the guild master, cursed gold coins entered a dormant period after cursing each person before they could curse again, so he was still safe for now.

He carefully examined the coins. Most were relatively recent in age, as old, worn, or damaged coins were typically recalled and recast every few decades. Moreover, to make them easy for the less educated populace to recognize, their designs generally didn't change much.

Old and new currency could both circulate in the market, and as long as the damage wasn't too obvious, people generally didn't make a fuss. Of course, some people specialized in exploiting the weight differences to earn a tidy sum.

Among Chu Yun's coins, one was rather special. It had been forged two hundred years ago, yet its surface showed no obvious signs of wear or damage.

This could be a coin that had long sat in a treasury, but since it came from the blacksmith shop, it was also quite possible that it was a cursed gold coin from two hundred years ago hidden away to avoid being confiscated and recast.

"Right, let's try the Gamer's expertise." Chu Yun had previously only used this ability on living creatures or weapons and equipment, never on ordinary items.

Chu Yun activated his ability, and in the Mirror World, streams of information appeared before his eyes.

Normally, the Gamer's expertise merely analyzed and organized information based on what Chu Yun already knew, but after the Mirror Realm Sovereign ability was elevated to the second tier with his level, its effects had been enhanced.

In the Mirror World, even without killing a target to absorb their light cluster, he could see partial information about them. For equipment and items, a single glance was enough to obtain simple information.

[Aernor Kingdom Gold Coin: Forged 32 years ago, remaining weight 97.65%...]
[Aernor Kingdom Gold Coin: Forged 45 years ago, remaining weight 96.87%...]
...
[Cursed Gold Coin: Forged 235 years ago, a gold coin imbued with mysterious power. Stored energy 67.8%. Once stored energy exceeds 80%, it will affect surrounding living beings.]

There it was—that coin really was problematic!

Sia's evolution and Cassido's transformation were both results of this coin's mysterious power.

"It only starts affecting things once stored energy reaches 80%, so it's still safe for now. It would be a shame to throw it away, but what should I do once it's fully charged?" Chu Yun felt a headache coming on.

"Wait, what if I try using it as a sacrifice?" A sudden idea struck him.

Abyssal Summoning was a wonderful means of acquiring materials from abyssal monsters. This cursed gold coin carried too much hidden danger to keep around—it was better to dispose of it quickly.

Simply throwing it away would be too wasteful; using it as a sacrifice might be a good option.

"Abyssal Summoning is, after all, an evil art, and it requires sacrificing souls. It'd be safer to test it outside the city."

Chu Yun wasn't short on souls. The magic tome had collected quite a few monster souls, but considering their low quality, he planned to first hunt some wild monsters to replenish the tome's soul reserves.

"The stored energy is a bit much; I'd better use it up as soon as possible." Chu Yun made his decision with some excitement.

He was someone who loved novelty, and he was full of interest in all kinds of magic.