Chapter Seventy-Seven: Extraordinary Divine Art

The Mage Guild, along with members of the Blackstone Knights, rushed to the scene at once.

Hardy’s shield lasted only a moment before the flames engulfed him. In agony and unwillingness, he collapsed into a charred corpse. Were it not for Chu Yun’s concern about damaging the divine shard and the spellbook, Hardy would not have even a trace of ashes left.

The divine shard was peculiar—without a mirror-image counterpart in the Mirror World, Chu Yun had no choice but to wait until the fire elemental lord restrained the flames before returning to the real world to retrieve the shard from Hardy’s ruined spatial gear.

Most of the contents within the spatial gear had already been destroyed. The only exception was Hardy’s spellbook, which survived on the verge of disintegration thanks to the double protection of Hardy’s barrier and the book’s own shield.

Chu Yun picked up the spellbook and, using the infernal tongue, communicated with it as outlined in the text.

“My name is Chu Yun. Drink my blood, devote yourself to me!”

His blood flowed freely onto the barely open eyes on the book’s cover. The spellbook, barely clinging to life, had no choice but to greedily absorb the blood and ultimately submit to Chu Yun, accepting the contract to become his weapon.

For a spellbook with an endless lifespan, following a human master who could live only a century at most seemed a small price for eventual freedom. Yet it did not know that Chu Yun’s intent was only to seize its power.

An item forbidden to be stored in spatial gear or brought into the Mirror World was not something Chu Yun intended to carry around forever.

“See that clock tower in the distance? Beneath it is a silly-looking earth drake. Soon, you’ll fly straight into the bag on its back.”

With that, Chu Yun hurled the spellbook outward.

Having absorbed Chu Yun’s blood, the spellbook regained a sliver of power; now that the contract was complete, it could act with a degree of autonomy. Everyone’s attention was on the pillar of fire at the front of the viscount’s estate, so under cover of darkness, the spellbook fluttered toward the clock tower.

Chu Yun’s escape was simpler. He dispersed the fire elemental lord and returned to the Mirror World.

This time, perhaps due to the overwhelming damage, Hardy’s very soul had been obliterated within the Mirror World, yielding only a scant amount of experience. Chu Yun cared little for this; his attention was fixed on the box containing the divine shard.

Once in the Mirror World, the shard began to turn translucent. With prior experience, Chu Yun hurried to absorb it.

This shard could keep a third-tier powerhouse like Karl in eternal sleep, containing even more energy than the previous one.

[Congratulations, you have obtained Divine Shard x8.]

[The Divine Shard has been converted to the corresponding mirror-world divine fragments. Collect more to synthesize a complete divinity.]

[Mirror Divinity Shard: 5/10. Mirror World duration cost reduced by 50%.]

Different shards varied in compatibility with Chu Yun’s mirror divinity; the rest was converted into other forms of power.

[Congratulations, your Charm attribute has increased by 5 points (now 24).]

[Note: Your irresistible charm will drive even more women mad with desire.]

Most of Chu Yun’s base attributes were already high; the effects of charm he had felt indirectly before. The lower a woman’s inherent charm, the less resistance she had to Chu Yun. This influence extended to men and monsters as well—though manifesting differently. Women became entranced; men desired his friendship; monsters became easier to tame.

Chu Yun had no precise concept of charm or charisma, but an increase could only be a good thing.

Additionally, Chu Yun learned a new spell from the divine shard—this time, not a regular spell, but a divine art!

[Congratulations, you have mastered the fourth-tier divine spell “Curse of Slumber.”]

[Curse of Slumber (Divine Spell)]

Tier: Fourth-tier Curse

Cast Time: 40 seconds

Range: 5 meters

Components: Incantation, gesture

Duration: X days (X = difference in mental strength)

Effect: 1. Designate a target, causing their soul to fall into a slumber. While asleep, the subject ignores any bodily harm; only a successful soul attack can rouse them before the duration ends. 2. Without divine power, the effect is only one-tenth as strong.

Note: If the target’s mental strength exceeds the caster’s, the spell backfires.

The effect of the Curse of Slumber was terrifying; given enough time to cast, it could instantly neutralize any enemy with weaker mental strength—a true bane to warriors!

“A curse? Could this divine shard have come from a deity of the Cult of Curses?”

The primary difference between divine spells and regular spells was divine power. Chu Yun could cast spells with only mental strength by constructing the spell model. But divine spells required both mental strength and divine power to fully unlock their true effects.

Fortunately, divine spells were essentially spells at their core. Even without divine power, Chu Yun could use them, albeit at reduced potency. In battle, putting an enemy to sleep for ten days or one day made little practical difference.

In most churches, the divine spells used by priests were also spells, though crafted by the gods they worshipped. Believers did not need to master these spells; they merely provided faith power to their deity, who would, when needed, channel a portion of divine power to cast the spell for them.

Of course, there was much inefficiency in this process—one might provide faith worth 100 points of divine power, yet receive only 10 points’ worth in return.

The unique casting method of divine spells made it difficult for mages to study or replicate their spell models, ensuring secrecy.

But for Chu Yun, now that he possessed the spell model for the Curse of Slumber, he could teach it as a regular spell if he wished. Some existing spells had, in fact, been derived from cracked divine spells.

Perhaps the gods had some agreement with the Goddess of Magic, for these cracked divine spells were banned from spell slots by the “administrator” goddess and could only be cast in traditional ways.

Even though the Goddess of Magic was now missing, the rules of the magic web remained unchanged, and likely would for a long time—unless a new Goddess of Magic took her place.

As a result, aside from the Truth Society, few would trouble themselves to research divine spells.

While Chu Yun pondered this, the flames lingering in Viscount Karl’s estate were finally doused by water mages.

Lysa and Karl were both alive, though Karl’s slumber showed no sign of ending.

Before the Association’s experts arrived, Chu Yun left the viscount’s estate. The spellbook had already hidden itself in Paimon’s pack.

Now Chu Yun had to decide what to do with this spellbook.

The Mage’s Hostel was out of the question, and the soon-to-open Academy apartments were also unsuitable; both places had evil-detection spells in place and the spellbook, hailing from the Abyss, would be discovered immediately.

“Might as well hide it in the slaughterhouse—after all, I go there to grind levels regularly.”

Currently, Chu Yun’s main grinding spots were Blackstone City Prison and the slaughterhouse. He chose the slaughterhouse because it was easy to gain experience there; many monsters died every day. The spellbook could absorb a few monster souls and might be useful in the future.