Annan couldn’t help but complain, “It’s tough for me to imagine that Thoreau Nick will like his new identity so much.”
“It’s hard for me to imagine that too.”Nefertari shrugged.
She sat on the table facing Annan, flipped through one of the newspapers, and sighed in a low voice, “I once dreamed that it would be great if I were Celecia, but I have never thought that Celecia is just a person who does not exist.”
“That’s the work of the curse from the Substitute School.”
Annan pointed at himself and smiled, “Is it the same with ‘Ghirlandaio’?”
“It’s not quite the same…” Nefertari’s expression was a bit complicated.
How to put it?
Probably because the original person beneath the “Ghirlandaio” avatar was cuter. On the other hand, Celecia’s original form was not as attractive. There was a strong sense of incongruity.
“However, the technology for making the ‘substitute’ should come from the Melvin Family.”
Nefertari explained, “My teacher is proficient in the law of contagion. The spell of interfering with others by using ‘items connected to the target’.”
“This shows that after the teacher obtained Frederick’s body, he probably also obtained the knowledge and skills Frederick possessed.”
“Have you studied the curse and spells of the Substitute School?”
Annan asked Nefertari with great interest, “I don’t know much about this.”
There were three types of Substitution Curses related to him. [The Last Work “David”] was a prime example.
Its essence was a Taboo Type curse to prevent Annan from using, disclosing, or spreading “Taboo Ritual: Overlapping Death and Life” in any way. As a reward given by the Man in the Mirror, Annan could use the power of this curse to transform into “Ghirlandaio David Buonaro”.
This was a body that was made in advance. The avatar was driven by curse energy.
Dove exchanged bodies with Chocolate, which was essentially affected by this type of curse. Annan’s curse vessel, “Elven Skin Glove”, operated similarly. If the user wore Elven Skin Glove for too long, the user’s skin would be damaged, with the Elven skin replacing it. Immediately afterward, the skin belonging to the “elf” would spread upward from the arm until the elf replaced the user.
Of course, it was not the user transforming into an elf.
Instead, it signified an ancient elf gaining another kind of rebirth in this manner. Of course, the manipulator would still be the one wearing the glove. However, his body would be replaced by a layer of skin that could not be removed.
In the same way, “Celecia” was the same.
Professor Wolf must have used unique material to forge this body in the first step. Of course, Celecia was not made out of marble like Ghirlandaio since it was a girl.
As for how delicate the body was, what material it was made of, whether there was a “reference prototype”, how strong it was, what profession it was… These were things that only Professor Wolf and Celecia knew.
If Annan thought that “Ghirlandaio” was more helpful than his original body, he could also learn the spells of the Idol and Prophet schools. In this way, as long as he was in the “Ghirlandaio” form, he could cast these spells smoothly.
Annan didn’t do this because he only used “Ghirlandaio” as an avatar.
After all, there was no way to promote the rank of “Ghirlandaio”. Even though the avatar was handy when Annan was Bronze Rank, the avatar would gradually become less potent as Annan grew further.
Annan was also wondering how did “Celecia” achieve Gold Rank.
Maybe she was initially in Gold Rank? Or perhaps the treasure ship “Silver” could be forced to advance in ranking… or maybe it was Professor Wolf’s unique ability.
For example, when Annan advanced to Gold Rank, “Ghirlandaio” would remain unable to use the power of elements.
This change of identity was thorough. Only “knowledge” and “skills” could be used universally.
Even Annan’s way of walking and speaking would be altered. The ever-present cheerful smile on “Ghirlandaio’s” face served as proof.
“I’m certain that ‘Celecia’ should be a real person.”
Nefertari said slowly, “If Thoreau Nick advances to Gold Rank, it won’t affect Celecia, so it must be that ‘Celecia’ has advanced to Gold Rank already. If you want the substitute to be able to advance, you must turn a living human into a substitute.”
The curse of Substitute School roughly worked like this.
The exceptions were “humans” like Ghirlandaio and Celecia and cats like Chocolate.
Golems made of pure stones or inanimate forms, such as scarecrows and tin men, would operate just fine as well.
“The curse of the Substitute School is essentially the spell following the Law of Similarity.” Nefertari explained, “For example, if you make a human figure out of mud, ash, or cloth, use decorations to make him ‘resemble’ someone, hurting him with a ritual knife will render the target the same pain.”
“Alternatively, there’s the approaching of creating a terrifying figure using wax, gemstones, or obsidian. Placing it in the target’s bedroom can cause the target to be killed by this horrifying figure in their dreams. It can also invade the target’s nightmares, artificially increasing the difficulty of the nightmare.”
“These are similar spells relying on the Law of Similarity that the Melvin Family is good at.”
Something similar to it had some kind of connection.
By deepening this connection, it was possible to make a “less similar” object into a close “avatar” linked to a particular person. This could then replace or substitute the person’s existence.
“The Substitute Spell can be traced back to before the Second Age. The spell can transform someone into a frog, snake, or apple when used individually. This magic is typically employed as an offensive spell to prevent the opponent from resurrecting. In the Second Age, where resurrection magics are widespread, it has become a conventional countermeasure spell.”
Nefertari said slowly, “The oldest application of the Substitution Curse – that is, ‘favorable transformation’ can be traced back to the Third Age.”
“At that time, the elves had a mysterious magical energy that made their civilization prosper. Even the dragon hoped that he could become an elf to enjoy it, so he developed this spell. First, the spell created complex substitute magic in advance. Then, the dragon upgraded the magic to trigger instantly. This had greatly reduced the difficulty of spell casting for each time the dragon transformed.”
“Later, the spell became known to others. Some Yasserans wanted to use this spell to become Osserians. As a result, elves and centaurs were attacked. After that, this spell even spread to Osserians. Some elves also wanted to become an elf with a higher status and replace the other party’s life. Later, this spell was banned by legislation.”
“Long after the extinction of the elves, during the Wizard War period, the Melvin Family restored this spell through the relics of the elves. Although they did not keep the magic strictly secret, using this spell required the user to have a profound knowledge of the ‘Law of Similarity’… The new deity, ‘the Man in the Mirror’, who was also proficient in the Law of Similarity, had ascended. Hence, no one could use this spell except the Melvin Family.”
“I see.” Annan had a clearer understanding now.
That “Elven Skin Glove” was not an elf who wanted to be resurrected through this method… However, a certain Yaselan or elf wanted to use this curse vessel to replace Annan!
Later, for some unknown reason, the person, who made this curse vessel, didn’t have the time to use it.
So it was handed down.
As for the ability to cast two spells concurrently, there was a side effect.
No wonder the elven relic could swap Chocolate’s and Dove’s bodies. The relic was originally a popular spell in the Elven Age!
According to Annan’s knowledge of Elven Ruins…
To gain knowledge from Elven Ruins, one must have a certain purity of elven blood or profession.
In other words, the Melvin Family seemed to have a strong connection with elves.
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