There was no doubt that the so-called “curse” was just nonsense.
For Seti, Nefertari was uniquely special.
Although Nefertari had the talent to become a transcender, she did not choose this path. She believed that if she sought the right to “refuse”, she could easily obtain it through her relationship as a student of the Bone Healer and the mystical knowledge and wisdom imparted to her by the Bone Healer’s teachings.
In other words, when she “graduated”, the wish had already fallen into her hands.
The same went for her seniors.
According to the original contract, Seti was responsible for educating them. After they thought they would have been able to achieve their wishes, they would leave the Bone Farm. Then, they would return to the teacher and tell the story of what happened after they left the teacher and fulfilled their wishes.
Seti crafted this ritual.
Although the “power of desire” was the purest strength for the Idol Wizards, it was also the most ethereal power. However, the power could be preserved forever if the wish was fruitful.
It could be understood that every desire to bear fruit was a permanent mad believer.
At the very beginning, Seti’s goal for this ritual was to help him channel the source of his power from external to internal. By generating a multitude of wishes, he sought to gain a pure, stable, and endless source of power for himself.
In this way, he could complete the crucial step:
—Four rotating wheels.
In other words, the perpetual mechanism.
The candidate must possess their perpetual machine for infinite energy to ascend into a deity. Besides the Book of Truth, Seti only had this final step left to complete; everything else had already been accomplished.
This was his original “wish”.
But he always wanted to impart more knowledge when he started teaching his students. Initially, he hoped these students could realize their original, innocent wishes and make them come true. However, it gradually turned into a hope that they could excel and stand out from the rest.
This was not a bad thing. But it was not a good thing either.
Because this meant that Seti’s wish at the time had also silently changed.
It was the same as his students.
The only disciple, who did not follow what he taught, was the only one who achieved the original goal.
Nefertari proved that Seti was wrong.
Perhaps the rumors were true. Seti was a monster who devoured wishes in exchange for talents, even though he did not devour their innocent and powerful desires himself.
However, he taught the students to compromise and widen their horizons. It let them know that there was a higher place in the world, letting them know that their wishes in the past were immature and imperfect.
It was not so much that they suffered a “curse”.
It was more accurate to say that life had already altered their wishes without them realizing it.
If the marquis was someone who never wanted to back down, why did he choose to go into politics? Didn’t he understand what this meant? The answer was straightforward. In the process of “increasing courage”, desire and power had polluted his goal.
He wanted to rely on his acquired abilities to seize power, not protect others. At this time, his wish had quietly changed.
If the legendary mercenary really loved his wife more than others, why didn’t he retire and choose a more stable life after marrying his wife? Because besides his wife, he also fell in love with other people… those who wanted his help.
It was not necessarily a bad thing. It only indicated that he had a selfless personality, to begin with. However, his initial wish had indeed changed.
If the future national teacher wanted to settle down and focus on research, could the king still force him to hold a government position? Putting aside everything else, would it be difficult for him to take up a trivial position as a palace consultant and pursue his studies and knowledge in peace?
Obviously, his goal had also quietly changed.
He did not really want to acquire so much knowledge but hoped that “he could become a scholar in the eyes of others.”
Why is it so?
Are they not strong enough?
Is their original goal challenging to achieve?
After learning the ending of these stories, the Young Nefertari fell into thinking.
Nefertari believed this was because those people regard the “means” as “ends”.
It becomes an infinite false loop if you forget your original purpose and regard the tool as the real purpose.
It was not that those people were greedy. Instead, it was just that they were too forgetful.
It was not that they forgot their initial dreams… but they forgot the person they were who dreamed so. Instead, they viewed their past, immature selves as something that needed to be corrected.
Even Seti himself did not notice it at all!
For ordinary people, this was growth.
However, for the Idol Wizards, this might indeed be a curse.
It was a curse called the Ouroboros [1].
“A person who devours himself to grow can never reach the end.” Nefertari sighed silently.
If it continued like this, then Seti would go astray. His desire had never been satisfied. This lacking would leave a mark.
The so-called “Idol” for Idol Wizardry referred to puppets and statues. In other words, the fakes were “thought to be deities by ordinary people” and were “praised, worshiped, and enshrined by people”.
What would happen when a statue enshrined as a deity suddenly began to doubt whether it was a deity?
The statue would crack and collapse.
If an Idol Wizard had doubts about themselves, the more robust the power they possessed, the worse their fall would be.
It stood to reason that Seti should have realized his mistake after Nefertari’s graduation.
No one knew how he would correct the “wrong wishes” he had accumulated over the years.
Thinking of this, Nefertari looked at Ah Dian without any trace.
She had noticed it.
Whether it was the restless, silly-looking silver-haired girl…or this quiet, shy, but also a bit clumsy, black-haired girl, they were all people with blazing and pure desires.
According to what Ghirlandaio told her, the three Secret Eye apprentices here were all wizard apprentices. Their inclinations were “Idol”, “Shaping”, and “Soul Snatch” respectively.
They were all potent talents, precisely the type that Seti would teach. Besides the Energy Falteration School and Destruction school, “Bone Healer” Seti could be the instructor of the other magic schools.
In other words…
As long as Nefertari gave it a nod, they would directly become Master Seti’s students.
Especially that young girl from the Idol School.
Nefertari glanced at Ah Dian again.
Wizard apprentices who could adapt to Idol Magic were rare, second only to the affinity of the Prophet School.
To become an Idol Wizard, one must have a strong self-confidence that “one was destined to be extraordinary”, and at the same time, must possess outstanding talents and have a strong sense of compassion for ordinary things. At the same time, their mortal talents must be relatively low.
That was to say, people who “had talent and self-confidence” but would never use it.
Examples include cooking, cleaning, exercising, childcare, and other practical skills you “should learn as a human being”. The “mortal characteristics” above would pollute the “native divinity” in them.
If you want to learn, it must be “impractical”.
Since she could learn Idol Spells, she had the corresponding affinity.
If she could meet Teacher Seti, she would become his direct disciple.
But for now, let’s take some time to observe her first…
The primary goal was to see if she wanted to be a transcender and whether she was evil.
People with compassion for all things and those with an evil nature did not always conflict with each other.
On the other hand, every Idol Wizard with malicious intentions would lead to massive disasters.
For example, the man called “Professor Wolf”.
One-third of the reason Nefertari came here with Ghirlandaio was this girl named Ah Dian.
The remaining two-thirds of the reason was related to Professor Wolf.
According to information received by other “Secret Eye” members, “Professor Wolf”, Frederick Melvin, once came to Cinder Barren.
He murdered his only close friend here as a devout ritual and entrusted his faith to Tragedy Writer. This was also the beginning of all betrayal.
In other words…
If Frederick had not dispelled his friend’s nightmare, then there was a probability of finding the nightmare belonging to that person here!
And this friend also happened to be Nefertari’s senior.
Through the faint sense of connection between the two Idol Wizards, a “fate” had emerged between people.
Yes.
It was the legendary mercenary who “died on a mission” in the previous story.