"Can I see it?" asked Jacob while glancing at the little elf girl.
The wood elf hesitated for a moment before he gently said to his daughter, "Elia, show Uncle your neck; he might be able to help you."
"Mhh." Elia obediently nodded before she handed the binoculars to her father and unwrapped the scarf around her neck.
Jacob didn't plan to help the little girl; he just wanted to see why his hex core subtly reacted to her. Furthermore, he hadn't examined anyone with a curse before, especially a curse that someone was born with. He didn't even know if this was possible.
Nonetheless, he was quite interested in this connate curse that Elia was afflicted with. Furthermore, Jacob knew Elia's father was lying when he said they only came to this place because Elia wanted to see the mountain gates. But he decided not to call him out on this and wanted to observe further before making his move. After all, despite the wood elf lying about the part approaching him, his other words were true.
Jacob's eyes narrowed when Elia dropped the scarf, and a web of dark lines spread around her neck revealed. It was quite hideous to look at, and Jacob could 'see' dense dark particles rising around that web of dark lines.
On the other hand, the wood elf held his breath when he saw the dark elf looking so intensely at Elia's curse, and hope shimmered in his agitated eyes. Truth be told, he only found Jacob because of Elia!
He didn't know why, but when they were heading towards the mountain gates, Elia suddenly told him that she was sensing something familiar in Jacob's direction, which greatly shocked him since she had never said something like that.
Nonetheless, he decided to trust his innocent daughter and followed her direction. It was then that he found the dark elf sitting on this tree, and Elia told him that she got that familiar feeling from the Dark Elf.
But he was still on guard and decided to approach the Dark Elf under the pretext that Elia wanted to see the mountain gates. He even taught Elia to act with him. First, he was still somewhat suspicious, and he could feel the Dark Elf had this unapproachable air around him; he clearly didn't want to be disturbed.
Nonetheless, for his daughter, he would do anything, so he tried probing the dark elf to see if he could get something out of him, but when Jacob said that he could sense Elia's curse, his heart skipped a beat, and he finally understood why Elia reacted that way.
Now, he was really hoping that this Dark Elf could help him cure his daughter since he didn't have much hope with the Faery Humans as well, and he didn't know what he would do if even the holy magic failed to cure Elia's curse. At the very least, he was hoping the Dark Elf would point him in some direction.
While Elia and the wood elf were silently waiting for Jacob's evaluation, Jacob mused, 'If I want to examine this curse more thoroughly, then I must use my hex mana, but with the Gluttony Mask on, I can't use my true magic without removing this disguise…'
After he entered the conflict plains, the first thing he did was familiarize himself with the Gluttony Mask and experiment with its true function. After many trials, Jacob was finally able to thoroughly understand the Gluttony Mask's two functions: the Gluttony Shapeshift and Gluttony Genesis. He found that when he fed the Gluttony Mask the corpse of a peak epic rank, it instantly evolved into advanced epic rank with gluttony genesis.
However, he soon found that Gluttony Genesis wasn't just there to help the mask evolve. When he used the Gluttony Shapeshift to change into the epic rank barbarian he fed to the mask, not only did his entire body completely morph into that barbarian, but even his rank and magic were masked.
First, whenever he used his mana, it morphed into the same element as the barbarian without any flaw. The barbarian had an earth magic core, and when Jacob used his water, fire, or hex mana, it instantly converted into earth mana perfectly!
This was simply too shocking, so Jacob continued his tests further. Then, he discovered something even more shocking when he tried to use his star watch in that barbarian's disguise.
He found that his star watch didn't work and got disconnected because it couldn't detect 'Faceless Ancient's' life signature. But when he tried to use the dead barbarian's Star Watch, it instantly connected, and he was able to access the barbarian's Star account and everything!
This discovery shocked Jacob and made him ecstatic because it meant that this mask's disguise was perfect, and even the bloodline test was tricked.
This made him realize just how powerful and dangerous this mask was. It could perfectly mask everything without leaving behind anything, and no one would be able to tell the difference between the real and the fake except for their memories.
Then Jacob tried the same thing with a unique rank goblin with a mystic signature, and just like before, everything was perfectly morphed even that goblin's mystic signature!
However, the only thing Jacob found bothersome and disadvantageous was that as long as he was using the Gluttony Shapeshift, he couldn't use his real magic, strength, or anything his real body had. Meaning, as long as he was in disguise as this peak unique rank dark elf, he couldn't use his fire, water, or hex mana, nor could he use his physical strength to its peak or fluid acceleration.
The only ability he found that he could have with his mask was his Eyes of Judge and Soul Force!
Jacob mused that this might be related to the Eyes of Judge being a soul-type innate ability, or the mask might simply be too weak to stop the Eyes of Judge. Another possibility is that this treasure only morphs physical bodies, not souls. He had to wait to get the answer to that question. Last but not least, Jacob found that while using Gluttony Shapeshift, he was vulnerable to all attacks that his actual body normally wasn't, which was very dangerous in various situations.
Simply put, if he was disguised as a rare rank being, someone in epic rank could easily kill him. So, in any dangerous situation, he needed to cancel his disguise and reveal himself Most importantly, Jacob discovered that his mask actually used his blood vitality as a source of power to keep the Gluttony Shapeshift constantly operating. Then he finally got a vague idea why the Witch Queen left behind this mask: if someone normal used it, they would simply end up dead by feeding it their own blood vitality.
Only someone like Jacob, who had a Universal Godly Scripture, can afford to keep this ghastly mask and use it to its full potential without ending up getting killed by it!