When the plot-skips players into the game world

If this curse were cast on a regular person, it might significantly reduce their cognitive abilities.

But for Sherlock, it was just right—he felt his mind becoming clearer. With the mental noise gone, he could even access more resources than before.

"...You, how can you cast a spell on me right in front of me?"

Sherlock frowned deeply: "This is the first time I've seen a cursing sorcerer who lets the cursed watch the whole process..."

"No good?"

Aiwass retorted confidently, "Just tell me if it cured you."

"Indeed..."

"Teacher Ibn taught me."

Aiwass smiled, "Along with the ritual."

"Tsk."

Sherlock clicked his tongue, visibly relaxed, and the effects of alcohol began to slowly take hold: "I knew it; you fox-charmers surely have the adaptability to transcend paths..."

"Truly charming and bewitching, aren't I? Are you not convinced?"

Aiwass squinted, chuckling softly.

"There's nothing to be unconvinced about, Minister Moriarty," Sherlock stated expressionlessly.

"It seems you really are unconvinced, Mr. Secretary Hermes."

Aiwass couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Sherlock was obviously more fun when drunk—normally, he was as dull as a gourd, sarcastic but lacking elasticity. A little arguing would make him too lazy to speak.

But Aiwass actually quite enjoyed these sarcastic exchanges. After all, this was how he had interacted with his friends in his past life, and it made him feel nostalgic. It's just that this world lacked the art of speaking oddly... of course, it could also be that old-fashioned Avalon lacked it more.

"How long will this curse linger on me?"

Sherlock asked, "And how long will this particular casting last?"

"Two weeks."

Aiwass said casually, "Of course, it's not that it will be effective for two weeks... but after two weeks is the night of the new moon. That night, the power of the curse will become stronger and might harm you. So, it must be lifted before then, and then it can be reapplied after the night passes."

"...You mean to say I have to keep it on all the time?"

Sherlock's face turned rather unsightly.

"What else?"

Aiwass countered, "Then what about physical training? It's precisely because your body is so poor that you're suffering from backlash from the power of the Path."

"...Then how long do I have to train?" Sherlock asked with some hesitation.

"It should take at least three to four years."

Aiwass said with a smile, "So actually you don't need to train, because there's no time—your rate of promotion will definitely outpace any physical training."

It was a pity that he no longer had any muscles.

Otherwise, he would have lifted his shirt to show Sherlock his proudly-earned abs, then told him he at least needs to train to his level. Now, he would probably just get laughed at by Sherlock.

But Sherlock was clearly so infuriated by Aiwass's words that he downed the cup of hot apple cider in one go.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

Sherlock's eyebrows furrowed, not because of a headache this time, but because he found the situation somewhat challenging: "Could it be that I've truly taken the wrong path... "

"Indeed you have."

Aiwass nodded and explained with terms Sherlock didn't quite understand, "Or rather, this is the price for choosing a dual-class mage career and leveling them up simultaneously. Consuming the same-color doubled mana pool, that's asking for trouble... It's normal to suffer from debuffs."

The Legal Mage's mana pool is mostly air with a secondary in light, whereas the Mage's mana pool is made up of earth, fire, water, and air.

The professions on the Path of Wisdom gain a mana pool upon leveling up that is double that of other paths, distributed across the four attributes. Also, starting from the third energy level, the Mage profession has the ability to convert mana between earth, fire, water, and air attributes. By spending double the mana, it is possible to convert mana into an adjacent attribute's mana.

For example, earth can be converted to fire or water, but not to air. If converting from earth to water, and then from water to air, it would cost four times the mana.

This means if a Legal Mage takes on a Mage as a secondary profession, he would virtually have nearly three times the mana pool in the attribute of wind compared to a normal Legal Mage. In addition, he could also use the mana pool obtained as a Legal Mage to cast spells of the wind attribute or convert it to mana of other attributes.

This intensity is quite high. It's the underlying reason why a mage can be considered a universal cheat occupation.

But when these two spellcasting occupations both reach the third energy level, they will receive a "Spiritual Dissonance" DEBUFF. Its effect is "Evasion -10%, Spellcasting Success -20%, and upon waking up each day, [Mental Fragility] sets in for the entire day."

[Mental Fragility] means that when you're subjected to mental negative states like charm or sleep, you have to roll the dice twice each time and take the lower result for your saving throw. Luckily, this state can be dispelled, unlike "Spiritual Dissonance."

The treatment Aiwass gave Sherlock before was to remove this negative state.

Even Aiwass couldn't remove "Spiritual Dissonance."

However, Aiwass could cast a Stupidity Curse on him to temporarily prevent the effects from triggering.

[Curse: Ignorant Fog] could reduce Sherlock's intelligence by one-third and invalidate all "Transcendence" skills.

Transcendence is a category of skills in the Path of Wisdom, similar to a curse. Simply put, it overclocks the brain and is an extremely dangerous skill. If used for too long, it could potentially burn out the brain.

Or, in gamer terms, it's a burst skill exclusively for the mage occupation. Mages can only use multi-elemental composite spells when at least one Transcendence ability is active. While in a Transcendence state, one would either start losing health, mana, stacking vulnerability, or reducing movement speed... essentially, becoming more fragile.

The reason "Spiritual Dissonance" cannot be removed or dispelled by a Priest is that, essentially, it is a Transcendence skill that is impossible to remove by oneself and serves no practical purpose. Its largest significance is that it has no use at all.

"If you switch to someone else... even Bishop Mathers, he definitely couldn't cure you."

Aiwass declared with certainty and full confidence, "So you won't be at a loss for thanking me. I'm the only one in Avalon who knows how to cure this condition."

This was true.

Because this symptom is also considered incurable in Narcissus Duchy. Only in the Parthian Ancient Country do they know how to use curses to suppress this disease—they even have specialized techniques for using curses to amplify or heal. Many players even go out of their way to learn their techniques.

For example, there is a curse called "Reckless Axe," which makes the person carrying this axe turn into an idiot, reducing their intelligence to increase strength and size in equal proportion.

If maintained long enough, it can completely drain intelligence—to even lower than a dog's. With intelligence exhausted, one couldn't even use martial techniques, let alone fight with a cool head.

But through the "Iron Will" ritual, one can mechanize their logical thinking and lock the lower limit of their intelligence. In doing so, one becomes a calm and absolutely rational ax-wielding guard with double the strength and size of their peers at the same occupation and level.

A spellcasting occupation utilizing a four-elemental mana pool, taking on a third energy level mage as a side job, along with the "Curse of Ignorant Fog"—this is a textbook Parthian Ancient Country inheritance.

Aiwass reminded, "Ignorant Fog will reduce the power of your spells, probably by less than a third. But the upside is that the backlash you receive from a failed spell will also drop by a third.

"If you need to fight at high intensity but aren't seeking spellcasting stability, you could try lifting the curse. I'll prepare a simple suggestion for you to remove the curse later. If you lift the curse, your spellcasting stability will deteriorate, but the power will greatly increase—

"And most crucially, you won't need to activate 'Transcendence' skills to use composite spells anymore. Because in this state, you can use composite spells at any time."

Aiwass added.

Sherlock was somewhat astonished, "How do you know about Transcendence skills and composite spells?"

Even regular mages didn't know about them!
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He only knew about this after reading extensively... Aiwass knew so much, had such a diverse pool of knowledge, and yet had the spare time to look into the arcane books of the Path of Wisdom?

Aiwass said meaningfully, "I know everything.

"I even know that the reason you didn't come down when you were advancing before was that you fell ill."

"Fell ill? What illness could I possibly have? Did I catch rabies from you, a sly fox?"

Sherlock scoffed dismissively.

But Aiwass's next words made him tense up, "Of course, it's the disease of a pretentious poet.

"You're afraid to continue on the Path of Wisdom. On one hand, it's because Avalon has no legacy, and on the other hand, it's because of me and Isabel.

"You never expected Isabel to be such a genius, capable of accumulating from second to third energy level in less than a month. You also didn't expect me to be stronger than you... so you think your talent on the Path of Wisdom is insufficient to carry you forward, and you want to turn back to the path you dislike but are more adept at."

Hearing what Aiwass said, Sherlock's gaze gradually became clearer.

—His drunken haze had lifted.

"...What do you think?"

Rarely, Sherlock showed confusion in front of Aiwass, "Which path should I take? The right one or the one of dreams? The longer, smoother sand path or the small trail in the forest?"

"Is that even a question?"

Aiwass smiled confidently, "Of course, the path I chose for you—that's an entirely new path, yet the one best suited for you. The occupation is called 'Worshipper of Mithra.'

"Oh, by the way. You probably don't know what happened to Miss Meg, right? Let me start from the beginning and tell you all about it."

With that, Aiwass told Sherlock everything about how Meg transformed into Ligeia from beginning to end.