The Strongest Curse Master

'They're hiding something from me. Rose, find out what it is,' Ace mentally instructed Dame Wasp using his sense share skill after leaving the McSuile Trio to retrieve DD.

From their earlier conversation, Ace sensed that Janice was fully aware of the cult members camping outside the town. However, her staff and agents were pretending otherwise, acting as though it was news when Ace discovered it. As a result, he suspected that the country's curse community wasn't just using him as bait to wipe out the remaining cult members—they were lying in wait for the whale.

'Master, after last night's incident, the C.I.B. began overhauling its old servers, systems, and networks. According to their protocol manual, they should have new ones set up by now. It's not just them—other forces I piggybacked through the C.I.B.'s servers did the same. Everyone's spooked after learning about the Immortal Sects' remnants. Not to mention, they're all on high alert. It'll be hard to go in and out without being noticed,' Dame Wasp informed him. What Ace was asking might have been possible a few hours ago, but not anymore.

'They're fast,' Ace said in surprise. Still, he ordered, 'Proceed anyway, as long as they can't trace it back to us.'

'That's my specialty. Leave it to me, Master. I'll dig out whatever they're trying to hide within a few minutes—tops,' Dame Wasp replied confidently, already getting to work.

[ — Status Screen —

Ace: Emi, take the rail rifle and use its scope to locate the cult members' camp. Eliminate them all.

Emi: Hai!

Ace: Don't hesitate to use fireworks. You have half an hour.

Emi: Wakarimashita. ]

Ace then summoned the invisible Emi, who used her ninjutsu and talismans to leave the Lander estate and begin patrolling the town's outskirts, hunting for the cult members.

[ — Status Screen —

DD: Master, don't you think we should wait until we understand why the C.I.B. and the McSuiles are pretending not to know about the cult's camp outside town?

Ace: No.

Ace: Any plan that uses my family as bait is a hard no.

Ace: Now that we have the crafting materials and equipment, let's get started. We don't want to get caught with our pants around our knees, do we? ]

Entering the house, Ace headed straight to his cousin's room. As he stepped inside, his eyes landed on a wooden wall mount displaying a 57 cm-long staff crafted from mahogany wood. It was a replica of the Elven Queen's staff.

Without hesitation, Ace took the wand—he had paid a hefty price for it from his cousin—and fed it into the cursed toybox along with the cursed wooden cane. Soon, the cursed toybox provided an update via the status screen:

[ — Status Screen —

Cursed Tool: Cursed Wooden Cane

Toy: Elven Queen's Staff

Compatibility: 89%

Recommendation: The success rate of animating the toy 'Cursed Wooden Cane' with the curse core 'Elven Queen's Staff' is determined to be very high. ]

After confirming that his intuition about the Elven Queen's wand was correct, Ace moved the Elven Queen's staff to DD's toy space, instructing her to use her curse energy to influence the replica and turn it into a cursed item.

Once DD had transformed the staff into a cursed item, Ace fed it into the cursed toybox to check whether its compatibility with the curse tool had increased.

[ — Status Screen —

Curse Tool: Cursed Wooden Cane

Cursed Toy: Cursed Elven Queen's Staff

Compatibility: 99%

Recommendation: The success rate of animating the toy Cursed Elven Queen's Staff with the curse tool Cursed Wooden Cane is determined to be very high. ]

As Ace had expected, the result mirrored the outcome when he turned the Doctor Druid Doll into a cursed item before animating DD. The compatibility jumped significantly, just one percent short of perfect. This confirmed to Ace that his theories and findings so far were valid—he was on the right path.

Without further delay, he instructed the cursed toybox to actualize the cursed toy Cursed Elven Queen's Staff using the curse tool Cursed Wooden Cane.

[ — Status Screen —

> Cursed toybox is merging curse tool Cursed Wooden Cane with cursed toy Cursed Elven Queen's Staff...

> Cursed toybox is animating the toy Cursed Elven Queen's Staff as a toy summon…

> The cursed toybox has animated the toy Cursed Elven Queen's Staff.

> The toy summon Cursed Elven Queen's Staff has been added to the toy space.

> Toymancer can now summon Cursed Elven Queen's Staff. ]

[ — Status Screen —

Name: Cursed Elven Queen's Staff

Race: Curse Tool

Class: Toy Summon

Title: Elven Queen

Durability: (100/100)

Enchantment: 1-Star

Individuality: (100/100)

Curse Energy Consumption: 5 units per hour

Skills: Toy Actualization, Cursed Elven Codex, Ruler of Elves, Wood Walking, Wood Palace, Wood Manipulation, Mother of Harvest, Friend of Spirits

Note:

i) The class Toy Summon will gain new skills as the Toymancer's stats increase.

ii) The title Elven Queen grants the Toy Summon access to all the original item's abilities. ]

[Skill Name: Toy Actualization

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: Transforms the concept and idea behind the toy into reality.

Additional Effect:

Toy Physiology: Grants the ability to use the toy's inherent powers.]

[Skill Name: Cursed Elven Codex

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: Allows the user to cast all elven spells stored within the Elven Queen's Staff using cursed energy.

Additional Effect:

Multi-Cast: Enables simultaneous casting of multiple spells based on the user's stats.]

[Skill Name: Ruler of Elves

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: All elves will recognize and submit to the user as their ruler.

Additional Effect:

Elven Royal Guards: Once every full moon, the user can summon the brave spirits of the fallen Elven Royal Guards to protect their ruler one last time.]

[Skill Name: Wood Walking

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: Allows the user to move through forests as if walking through air.

Additional Effect:

Wood Fusion: Grants the ability to fuse with wood or wooden objects for defense or camouflage.

Notes:

i) While using this curse tool, the user gains the subclass Wood Walker and access to related abilities.]

[Skill Name: Wood Palace

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: Allows the user to open a stationary and untraceable space within any wood containing the Elven Queen's palace. The Cursed Wooden Cane acts as the key to the Wood Room. The wood's structure and surroundings serve as the ventilation system for the space.

Notes:

i) Attempting to summon the Wood Palace in a different location will result in the disposal of items stored in the previous rooted location.]

[Skill Name: Wood Manipulation

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: Grants the user versatile and potent control over wood and woody plant life. This includes trees, shrubs, vines, and even processed wood. The user can manipulate wood at both a biological and molecular level, enabling subtle adjustments or dramatic transformations.

Additional Effect:

Plant Sacrifice: The user can absorb the vitality of plant life to heal or regenerate their own body.]

[Skill Name: Mother of Harvest

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: Blesses the user with the ability to induce bountiful harvests, allowing plants to produce fruit at several times their normal rate.

Additional Effect:

Max Mating: Increases the likelihood of successful pregnancy with healthy offspring—whether in livestock or the user themselves—under the blessing of the Mother of Harvest.]

[Skill Name: Friend of Spirits

Skill Class: Innate Curse Art

Skill Effect: The user's affinity with curse spirits increases significantly. Curse spirits will no longer fear the user unless the user shows hostility toward them.

Additional Effect:

Spirit Imprint: The user can form a bond with a curse spirit, provided both parties mutually agree.]

"Shame it didn't undergo advanced enhancement," Ace muttered in disappointment, noting that his fifth toy summon had not evolved despite the high compatibility between the curse tool and the toy.

However, his spirits lifted upon seeing that it retained the Elven Codex as the Cursed Elven Codex, allowing its user to cast Elven spells using curse energy instead of mana or spirit power.

Gaining access to the full spell repertoire of the Elven race was a tremendous reward. This made the Cursed Elven Queen's Staff his strongest tool-type toy summon to date. With it, DD's capabilities would reach unprecedented heights.

Moreover, it solved his most pressing issue—finding a suitable place to establish his lab. After all, what better location than the Wood Palace?

Taking the Cursed Elven Queen's Staff, Ace headed to the backyard of the house, which was essentially an open field with a few trees before the tangerine orchards began. He intended to select one of the trees to serve as the entrance to the Wood Palace, but after surveying them, he shook his head in disappointment. They were too exposed, especially with C.I.B. agents and McSuile security staff monitoring the estate around the clock.

Instead, he returned to his room, deciding to open the Wood Palace within the cactus pot by his window. It was discreet, easily accessible, and—most importantly—small enough to be moved without disturbing the Wood Palace inside it.