"The Pharaoh's Curse?"
Seeing the words written on the book-sea navigation record, Dorothy was slightly startled, then immediately realized something was wrong, and immediately wrote on the book.
"Could you be clearer, what exactly is going on?"
Dorothy finished writing, then watched the words on the page gradually sink, and shortly after, Naifnis's words reappeared.
"I'm not too clear on the specific situation right now... I'm currently taking a carriage home with my family's butler, so it's not convenient to write too much."
Seeing Naifnis's reply, Dorothy paused, and immediately wrote a response.
"Then don't write anything for now, I will actively check your situation, just don't resist."
Dorothy finished writing, then closed the "wen hai hang zhi" on the table, closed her eyes, and began to use the information channel to link to Naifnis's senses of sight and hearing.
...
The moon climbed higher, the night deepened, and the thick darkness enveloped the vast royal capital. The lights in most households and houses had been extinguished, with only the streetlights lining both sides of the road still shining. A chilling, bleak autumn wind blew through the streets, and only shivering vagrants huddled by the roadside.
Somewhere in East Tivian, the lights were currently brightly lit inside a sizable detached villa. Servants were busy inside and out. On the third floor of the house, within a spacious bedroom, a large bed was placed, and lying on the bed was a middle-aged man.
This man had slightly dark skin, a mustache, and a grim expression. He lay in bed wearing pajamas, covered by a quilt, looking completely unconscious. To the left of his bed were two anxious-faced servants, and to the right were the even more anxious Naifnis, and an old man in a butler's uniform with white hair and dark skin.
"Dad, wake up Dad, can you hear my voice? I'm Neff, I'm here Dad..."
Standing by the bed, Naifnis held the man's hand and spoke with a worried expression. However, the man lying on the bed showed no reaction to such calls, his eyes still tightly closed, remaining silent.
"It's no use, Miss, the master is completely unconscious now, he can't hear anything." Standing aside, the old butler said in a serious tone. After hearing the old butler's words, Naifnis immediately stood up and said to him.
"Grandpa Nust, what exactly happened to my dad? He just wrote to me not long ago, how could he suddenly..."
Listening to Naifnis's words, the old butler named Nust couldn't help but let out a light sigh, then murmured.
"Alas... perhaps, this is fate, an inescapable fate..."
Sighing, Nust glanced around, then said to the servants.
"It's getting late, you should all go back and rest."
"Yes."
Following Nust's words, the few servants who remained on the scene withdrew, and then Nust looked at Naifnis beside him.
"For the specific situation, Miss, please come with me to the study to talk."
Hearing Nust's words, Naifnis nodded, then followed him all the way out of the bedroom. After going up another floor in the house, they arrived together in a study.
In this study, after confirming that there was no one outside, Nust closed the study door behind him, then looked at Naifnis and spoke.
"Miss, because of the old master's instructions, I have always hidden many things that are very important to you. The old master's original idea was to keep you and the master away from danger and safe, but fate is like this, and this matter can no longer be hidden..."
Nust said so. Listening to his words, Naifnis was startled and had some premonition in her heart.
"Grandpa Nust, what exactly did my grandpa ask you to hide? Is this related to my father's current situation? Is this related to the curse you mentioned in the carriage earlier..."
Listening to Naifnis's words, Nust was silent for a moment. He turned his eyes to the wall of the study, where a portrait was hanging. The portrait showed two young people carrying a pile of tools and wearing exploration clothes. One had dark skin, the other fair, and they were both smiling at the camera together. Behind them was a tall, huge, but dilapidated pyramid.
"Miss, the old master must have told you before, when he was young, he ventured in North Africa and made his fortune there by excavating ancient tombs and ruins, establishing the Boyle family's current industry."
Nust said to Naifnis, and Naifnis also nodded in response to Nust's words.
"Yes, when I was little, Grandpa often told me stories of his adventures when he was young. I grew up listening to the stories he told. I still remember what he said about the dangerous mechanisms and venomous snakes in those ancient tombs, and the bandits in the desert. Thinking about it now still feels very dangerous..."
Naifnis said, reminiscing, while Nust, after listening, continued to look at the old photo and spoke.
"Mechanisms... venomous snakes... bandits... these are indeed very dangerous, but they are not the most dangerous, Miss. The old master wouldn't tell you what the true fear buried beneath the yellow sand for thousands of years is... danger from ancient Extraordinary... countless times greater than these mundane dangers."
"From ancient times, Extraordinary..."
"Yes, this might be beyond your understanding for a moment, but please remember, the world we see is far from as simple as it seems. In those ancient tombs and ruins, the old master and I could more easily come into contact with the terrifying things hidden beneath the surface of this world... things that only exist in legends.
"Undead... evil spells... demonic beasts... curses... these are all Extraordinary threats that can be found beneath the yellow sand of North Africa. When facing these threats, even the most experienced explorers and tomb raiders will seem powerless... And among these threats, the one we fear the most is the curse."
"A curse... Did Dad become like this because of a curse?" Naifnis said, guessing, and Nust nodded directly after hearing this.
"Yes, a curse... When exploring ancient tombs and ruins, people often trigger ancient curses left within without knowing when. These curses are warnings from the dead to the living for their intrusion, and the harshest punishment for us greedy ones.
"In ruins and tombs, we treasure hunters often don't know why we incur curses, whether it's touching something we shouldn't, entering a place we shouldn't, saying something we shouldn't, or doing something we shouldn't... these often attract unknown curses.
"The terrifying thing about these curses is that they don't take effect immediately, but suddenly strike after people return, tormenting the cursed person, causing them to mutate or die. Even the most experienced treasure hunters will unknowingly contract a curse at some point, and then suffer the torment of the curse after returning, ultimately dying or turning into a monster."
Nust said with a serious expression. Listening to Nust's words, Naifnis swallowed, then thought for a moment before continuing to speak.
"But, but if that's the case, only my grandpa should have contracted the curse. Dad has clearly always been in Prit and has never been to North Africa. How could he possibly contract a curse?"
"Miss, if you think a curse can only target a single person, then you are mistaken. Some powerful curses don't just target the initial cursed person, but will follow the bloodline, affecting the cursed person's family and relatives.
"The situation the master is facing now is exactly like this. A powerful curse the old master received in North Africa in the past is now taking effect again. Although the old master is no longer here, this curse has still continued along the bloodline, affecting the master. If the curse is allowed to develop further, not only will the master's life be in danger, but you, Miss, will also be affected! The entire Boyle family will be wiped out!
"Because the civilization buried beneath the yellow sand of North Africa once called its rulers Pharaohs, we treasure hunters usually refer to these curses as the Pharaoh's Curse."
Turning his head, Nust continued to speak to Naifnis. Listening to the old butler's words, Naifnis was momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected this curse to be so powerful, capable of affecting the bloodline, not only impacting her father but possibly even her.
"Grandpa Nust... is this curse that powerful? But why, why didn't such a powerful curse show any activity before, and suddenly become effective again at this time?"
Naifnis asked Nust this way again. According to what the other party just said, their family should have been affected by the curse long ago and wouldn't have had to wait until now.
Or to be more extreme, if Naifnis's grandpa had already been cursed when he returned to Prit, then he would most likely have died from the curse before starting a family, in which case Naifnis and her father wouldn't even exist.
Therefore, it seems a bit strange that this curse didn't strike sooner or later, but suddenly became effective when Naifnis's grandpa had already died.
Listening to Naifnis's words, Nust paused, then looked at Naifnis and continued to speak.
"This question is also what I'm going to tell you next, Miss. The old master spent nearly twenty years in North Africa and went into many ancient tombs. It would be impossible for him not to have some ability. In fact, the master himself is also an Extraordinary who can use some Extraordinary abilities.
"Of course, Miss, don't misunderstand how strong the old master's Extraordinary abilities were. With his abilities, he wasn't enough to deal with the curse that afflicted the Boyle family. The reason he and the entire Boyle family could enjoy decades of peace was mainly because of an Extraordinary item he obtained."
"Extraordinary item?"
Hearing Nust's words, Naifnis was slightly startled. She suddenly remembered a necklace her grandpa gave her when she was little. According to Dorothy, it was actually an Extraordinary item that could resist Spirit Sight. Naifnis relied on this necklace to successfully avoid being corroded by Spirit Sight when Ci Rong attempted to use Spirit Sight to pollute the entire Secret Knowledge Society, but now that necklace has run out of Spirituality and is broken.
"Yes, in this world, it's not just people; some items also possess strange Extraordinary abilities, and these items are not too uncommon beneath the yellow sand of North Africa...
"And the old master happened to have an Extraordinary item that could resist curses. Speaking of which, the origin of this item is related to your grandmother, Miss, but I won't go into detail now. In short, Miss, what you need to know is that the old master has always relied on that Extraordinary item to protect himself and the entire Boyle family from the harm of the curse. The effect of this item continued to work after the old master passed away, but now due to some unexpected circumstances, its effect has weakened, so the curse has taken effect, thus affecting the master."
Nust said to Naifnis. Listening to Nust's words, Naifnis immediately thought of her previous necklace, wondering if that Extraordinary item that resisted curses also lacked Spirituality?
"Unexpected circumstances? What kind of unexpected circumstances could cause the item protecting our family to have a problem?"
Naifnis asked directly, while Nust thought for a moment and said thoughtfully.
"Hmm... how should I put this? Miss, you need to understand that in the Extraordinary world, any Extraordinary power requires a price to produce an effect. This price is called Spirituality. The effect of a curse is like this, and the effect of resisting a curse is also like this. This means that for the item left by the old master to continue working, it must continuously pay a price..."
"So... is that Extraordinary item indeed less effective because it lacks Spirituality? Has the Spirituality stored in the item, consumed over decades, finally run out?"
After hearing Nust's words, Naifnis spoke directly. After hearing Naifnis's words, Nust was startled, somewhat surprised at how quickly Naifnis had accepted this series of concepts and used them accurately in her language. He was about to explain further but gave up and responded.
"Yes, it is indeed due to insufficient Spirituality, but it's not because the accumulated Spirituality over time has run out. That item cannot hold enough Spirituality to run for decades in one go.
"In fact, we have always let that item consume Spirituality while continuously replenishing it, allowing it to keep running. As long as the supply of Spirituality is constant, the effect of this item will always be active... But the problem now is that we cannot provide new Spirituality to that item for the time being."
"Cannot provide... What happened?"
Naifnis asked curiously, and Nust paused slightly before continuing to speak.
"Miss, you may not know this, but there are also differences in the types of Extraordinary Spirituality. The item the old master left behind to resist curses cannot be driven by all types of Spirituality. What it needs... is a special kind of Spirituality.
"This type of Spirituality is extraordinarily precious due to its scarcity and is very difficult to obtain. Fortunately, there is a hidden society composed of Extraordinary people in this world, and with a society, there can be transactions. In Tivian, there is the largest Extraordinary trading market in all of Prit. We can usually buy this precious type of Spirituality in this market at a high price. In the past, we have always relied on this market to obtain Spirituality, and we spend a large sum of money on it every year.
"Recently, the power of the curse has suddenly increased for some reason, and the Spirituality we originally stored began to be quickly consumed. The family's Spirituality storage suddenly became somewhat scarce, so I went to the Extraordinary market in Tivian to purchase that precious Spirituality for replenishment...
"But, but I don't know why, the price of that precious Spirituality suddenly skyrocketed, increasing several times over in a short period! It rose to the point where even all the cash in the house couldn't buy it!
"It's simply insane!"
Spreading his hands, Nust spoke, recalling in his mind his astonished expression when he heard the terrifying price when he inquired at the Golden Contract Bank.