Lord of Enigma

Chapter 35: The Mark of Misfortune

Tang Qi's special ability, what he temporarily named "Omniscience", allowed him to completely understand the nature of any supernatural existence, whether living or inanimate. It also allowed him to read the information fragments attached to it.

This naturally applied to the parchment contract in front of him as well.

If not for that, he wouldn't have chosen to sign it.

The trick to being able to successfully deceive others every single time lay in the imbalance of available information. This was the case this time too.

[Mysterious Object: Parchment Scroll of Fate]

[Status: Not in effect yet]

[Information Fragment 1: This is a unique parchment scroll. A contract of binding restrictions that are almost of the highest grade is recorded inside. The contracting parties respectively represent the power of misfortune and the power of the furnace. May they abide by the terms of the contract under the watch of fate. Otherwise, both parties shall suffer unimaginable penalties.]

[Information Fragment 2: To let the contract go into effect, the auras of both parties' souls are to be captured. Once the lines of the souls meet and jointly form the symbol of fate, the contract will take effect.]

[Information Fragment 3: Before the contract goes into effect, both parties hold the right to revise the content.]

This was what Tang Qi saw.

The witch sub-personality was also aware of the information in those few information fragments. But what she didn't know was that there was an issue with the aura of Tang Qi's soul.

The contract prioritized capturing the soul which best matched the contracting party's body in other words, the soul of the original Tang Qi. However, that wouldn't be of any use here. It was impossible for souls whose essence was empty, even if they still had an aura, to enter into a contract.

On the parchment scroll, the two gray lines finally met. But the strange thing was that they didn't come together to form the "fate" symbol. The gray line representing Tang Qi was dispersing rapidly, as if the fuse of a bomb that had been lit yet was snuffed out at the last bit.

Which resulted in the gray line representing the Witch of Misfortune retreating too.

"What's the meaning of"

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"Boom~"

Magic power of misfortune faded away rapidly in Sally's eyes. She was originally about to go back to normal, but in this instant, her eyes underwent another change. The grayish-black ink was about to pervade her eyes again, and a terrifying surge of magic power was on the brink of erupting.

She realized that she had been deceived. The power of misfortune rampaged violently and ominously. The fitting room that had just resumed normalcy seemed as though it was about to be completely destroyed.

The witch sub-personality wanted to rip Tang Qi into pieces. She would never give him another chance to save the situation.

Unfortunately, the amount of time needed for a poisonous snake that had already retreated into its vessel to spring out once more was just a tad longer than before, especially at this moment when the seal was about to be restored.

Before the witch sub-personality could succeed in breaking free, Tang Qi had already reached out an arm and grabbed the black-framed spectacles from Mrs. Hudson's hands. At the same time as he placed them on Sally's nose with one hand, the last vestiges of his power of the furnace burst into golden flames and enveloped the palm of his other hand.

Right under the gaze of the witch sub-personality, Tang Qi placed his palm abruptly on the parchment scroll.

At the blank space at the bottom, two gray lines started moving again with Tang Qi's true soul aura.

New information fragments flashed in the depths of Tang Qi's eyes.

Soul aura invalid!

Recapturing in progress!

Recapture successful!

Drawing of fate in progress!

Contract is about to go into effect!

As these information fragments flowed past him, Tang Qi's palm, as though a "golden eraser", slammed against the area that listed his contractual obligations and rubbed against it with great force. The moment the words formed from the magic power of misfortune came into contact with the power of the furnace, that scene from the past appeared once more.

In an instant, the lines of tiny text vanished without a trace.

Only those two brief lines of tiny text remained on the parchment scroll.

At the bottom, the two gray lines suddenly formed a symbol which Tang Qi couldn't see distinctly at all.

The parchment scroll burst into flames at once. With a loud whoosh, they transformed into a couple of gray light rays, one entering Tang Qi's palm and the other going inside Sally's body.

"No~"

"Boom~"

A piercing wail left Sally. Just as an extremely terrifying and unprecedented burst of magic power was about to erupt, a fair finger pushed the exaggerated pair of black-framed spectacles up and completely covered those eyes that were about to be dyed black.

Everything went back to a peaceful state.

"Just like putting the lid back on Pandora's box. This feels pretty good." Tang Qi thought to himself as he withdrew his palm and gazed at the contract symbol that was gradually fading.

The moment the spectacles went back onto Sally's nose, that foreboding aura brimming with intense malice disappeared without a trace. Those bewitching and mysterious eyes of Sally's also went back to their alert and shy nature from before, as fawn-like as ever.

Mrs. Hudson also returned to normal, chastising Tang Qi rather unhappily for taking back the spectacles.

She thought that this unromantic little boy had no sense of fashion at all. Either that, or he was just being petty and didn't want everyone to see how beautiful his little girlfriend was. Perhaps he wanted to hide her away and allow only himself to appreciate her beauty.

The second reason caused Sally to blush in embarrassment. She had no choice but to explain to Mrs. Hudson on behalf of Tang Qi, "Mrs. Hudson, these spectacles were left behind by my late father. His dying wish was for me to wear these spectacles until I come of age. When that happens, a distant aunt will come over and hold a coming-of-age ceremony for me. I'll be able to remove the spectacles then."

Her explanation was a little lengthy, which made Mrs. Hudson smile rather teasingly.

The old lady was naturally able to tell that the little Miss was also explaining to her "beloved" that once the coming-of-age ceremony was over, she would be able to present herself at her most beautiful to him.

Tang Qi, who was extremely sensitive to human emotions, naturally also understood everything. Towards Mrs. Hudson's misunderstanding, he didn't feel the desire to clear the air. As for the young girl, he merely classified her feelings as gratitude and shyness towards her only close friend.

Right now, all his attention was on that "distant aunt".

Obviously, the part about her father's dying wish was real.

However, that so-called distant aunt must definitely be the leader of the gypsy witches who had helped to seal Sally's magic power of misfortune back then.

"No one would help someone for no reason unless she has something to gain from it.

"If she helps the baby Sally to seal the magic power, perhaps she can gain a witch with fearsome magic power after she comes of age?

"This is a pretty good investment. Moreover, the other party has no right to reject it.

"Unfortunately, something unforeseen has happened to this investment."

Tang Qi remarked inwardly. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder whether he had made a profit or a loss this time.

Originally, he only wanted to make use of Sally's "unluckiness" to increase the chances of him encountering monstrosities, thereby producing more fuel and allowing his strength to increase rapidly, just like what the witch sub-personality said.

Just that he didn't expect that he would encounter the magic power of misfortune's vessel in the Origin Blue Star.

This experience was probably akin to intending only to go for a small fish but ending up catching an unprecedentedly huge whale instead.

Fortunately, misfortune favored the other party, while Tang Qi made a comeback with the help of his special ability.

"And now, it's time to reap the rewards."

When Tang Qi murmured that inwardly, what appeared in his slightly lowered eyes was the astonishing changes that suddenly took place between Sally and him.

Wisps of viscous grayish-black magic power flowed out with great difficulty from Sally's body, as though their source couldn't bear to part with them yet had no choice but to hand them over because of a certain power that couldn't be resisted. Bit by bit, the wisps climbed onto Tang Qi.

At last, all of them converged at the back of Tang Qi's left hand, gradually forming a special symbol a pair of grayish-black curved antlers against a blood-red background.

He activated his ability, prompting the interface to show up.

[Mysterious Object: The Mark of Misfortune]

[Status: Complete]

[Information Fragment 1: This is the mark of the Witch of Misfortune, a goddess from a foreign world. He who possesses this mark is favored by the witch. All supernatural beings aligned with the witch will unconditionally form a basic sense of fondness towards the owner of the mark.]

[Information Fragment 2: Activating it would attract supernatural beings belonging to the camp of the inauspicious, negative, or evil within a certain distance.]

[Information Fragment 3: It may cause the owner of the mark to encounter some unlucky events. Of course, it is also possible to obtain more good fortune. After all, nobody can accurately determine the power of fate.]

"Gaining benefits without needing to pay for it feels real good," Tang Qi remarked joyfully as he gazed at the mark on the back of his hand, the corners of his lips quirking upwards.