Dragon's Prophecy.
The background itself was still written with planet Earth. Rather than a modern world with advanced tools, this novel had a world that was in the medieval age.
Dragon's Prophecy itself was a fairly successful novel and had many fans. Geoffrey himself was actually one of the fans of that novel.
Unlike a world full of magic and aura swords, where any human could learn them as long as they worked hard, this world introduced something more cruel and unfair.
It was called Bloodline.
Bloodline was not a magic or technique that could be learned, nor was it a blessing that could be requested or given. It was more like an inheritance that had been planted deep in their blood, something that had been determined before someone could choose what they wanted.
Some humans were born with Bloodlines capable of burning the world and reversing the laws of nature. While the rest were a group of unfortunate humans because they were born without superior blood.
That was why Bloodline became the center of all conflict in the world of Dragon's Prophecy.
Kingdoms were built to protect it.
Religions worshiped it as the will of heaven.
And many noble families survived only because of the blood that flowed in their bodies.
However, there was one fact that was rarely discussed openly.
Not all Bloodlines were blessings.
Bloodline was basically divided into several major types.
There were stable Bloodlines, inherited consistently from generation to generation. This type was most valued, because its power could be predicted and controlled.
There were also mutative Bloodlines, appearing randomly and often giving birth to extraordinary individuals or even monsters that didn't last long.
And lastly…
Bloodlines that were considered defective.
Although not officially recorded, their defectiveness truly could not be ignored. Not because the Bloodline itself was weak, but because every Bloodline would definitely have a price to pay.
And Bloodlines that were considered defective were Bloodlines that were most unstable and difficult to control.
Geoffrey was part of that group.
His Bloodline was capable of absorbing all types of Bane. He absorbed Curses, metaphysical poison, and rotten energy. Everything that should damage, destroy, and kill, could be drawn into his body and forced to submit.
On paper, that sounded like an absurd power. However, this world never gave power without asking for payment.
Every Bane that Geoffrey absorbed did not disappear. In fact, they would give side effects according to their description.
If the curse was temporary, Geoffrey could still recover. However, if the curse was permanent… then it was very unfortunate that Geoffrey had to carry that burden for life.
...
While sighing, Geoffrey closed the book he was reading. Because there wasn't much he could do with his current condition, he spent his time reading books.
That activity was actually quite interesting because it brought Geoffrey to pleasant calm and silence. Unfortunately, he couldn't enjoy it when his life was on the line.
He spent his time reading books about Bloodline, making classifications about his own bloodline and finally could only sigh long when learning that he was actually a type of Bloodline holder with such a strong defect.
His rotting hand felt so painful and heavy. However, Geoffrey endured it and focused on the sun that was about to set. Night would soon arrive and he had truly spent his time fully in the Empire's library.
During that time, Geoffrey truly learned many things so that his brain felt like it would short-circuit.
The conclusion he got was also so simple.
'There's no chance.'
He read many books, even boldly asked the Emperor to recommend him some books that were truly worthy.
Unfortunately, he didn't find anything that could truly save him. If it was that easy, Virelle would definitely have been saved already.
Besides that, this world was also truly not like the fantasy world often written by writers in general. Where there were always many extraordinary legends and myths like pools capable of curing any disease, or maybe dragon tears that could make someone very strong or something like that.
This world was so poor in mystical things!
In the end, Geoffrey could only entrust everything to Nevier. Because his curse wouldn't be able to spread without his will, Geoffrey had truly become a very useful sample for Nevier's research.
And all of that had been going on for four days. That also meant he had been staying for a week at the Empire.
Packing all the books he had read, Geoffrey put them back on the bookshelf, then without looking anywhere, he left the incredibly large Empire library.
"Maybe I should see Nevier."
Seeing Nevier had become a daily routine for Geoffrey. After all, his life's continuation depended on Nevier's research so Geoffrey would always come worriedly to see the progress of his research.
Geoffrey immediately reached the room where Nevier worked. He knocked on the door twice, then opened it.
"Nevier, I'm coming in." He said casually.
Upon entering, Geoffrey couldn't stand still frozen in place. He stared at that room for a moment, he could see all the chaos that occurred.
There were so many sheets of paper scattered everywhere, including books and various objects that Geoffrey didn't know.
At the same time, Nevier with black eye bags almost resembling a panda seemed to be in a very bad condition.
The unfortunate man sighed at his desk, staring toward the paper with an empty feeling.
"....Wow... Young master Geoffrey, You're here."
"....Your voice is scary."
"I don't understand what You mean."
"....."
While sighing, Geoffrey stepped forward. Carefully, he made sure not to step on anything that was possibly an important object.
He approached and stared toward the paper that made Nevier contemplate. It was clearly his research, only he was in a dead-end condition.
"No progress?" Geoffrey asked.
Nevier could only sigh so long, as if his soul would come out of his mouth right then.
"How should I say it?" He said tiredly. "Cascading Decay isn't just an ordinary curse, but also a parasite. I mean, how is this possible? This curse truly acts like a living creature. Everything really matches the description you explained about the entity in outer space."
"... So what makes you confused about that?"
Nevier smiled and shook his head while raising both palms.
"Because this parasite keeps reproducing endlessly, we won't be able to cure it without killing it directly, and to kill it, that means killing the host too."
So in short, there was no way to cure it. Really going exactly as written in the novel.
'Even a sample is also useless.'
Geoffrey rubbed his face roughly.
If it had come to this, what should he do?
Because nothing crossed his mind, Geoffrey ultimately changed the topic.
"Then, what about my Bloodline? Any progress?"
Hearing that, Nevier immediately looked at Geoffrey and smiled.
"Actually I've made some conclusions."
The last few days, besides reading books, Geoffrey also trained his bloodline by absorbing several curses. It's just that, strangely every curse he absorbed would definitely disappear just like that.
That was a strange case.
"The conclusion I made is, that might be the doing of Cascading Decay eating any curse you absorb."
"Ah, that makes sense. How did you find that conclusion?"
"Not too difficult. Isn't it that every time you finish absorbing a new curse, then Cascading Decay will definitely react and give extraordinary pain. After that, the spread of rot becomes wider. That means Cascading Decay grows stronger."
Geoffrey's face paled hearing that, he smiled amusedly staring at Nevier.
"So we were actually just feeding it before?"
Nevier nodded and smiled with terrifying emptiness, "Exactly right!" He said enthusiastically.
While Geoffrey's body slumped weakly. He sighed then stared at the rot that had reached his shoulder. Of course that had been bandaged so as not to cause unnecessary chaos.
But at that moment an idea crossed his mind.
"Nevier. That means, this curse preys on curses weaker than it to grow right?"
"Hm? Exactly right."
Geoffrey suddenly smiled. His smile seemed filled with cold sweat, how could it not?
He was thinking of something crazy.
"What if it's confronted with poison strong enough to fight it? Wouldn't Cascading Decay be suppressed?"
Nevier flinched, his face completely froze. He stared at Geoffrey like staring at a crazy person, at first he felt that idea made sense but then he immediately sighed.
"That's impossible. What curse is stronger than this damn curse?"
However, Geoffrey seemed to have no intention of backing down.
"Our goal is just to suppress it, if one curse isn't enough, we can use several curses at once. Don't you know? If several curses of different types are combined properly, we might be able to create a type of curse capable of eliminating Cascading Decay. The difference is, the curse we create also has its own cure."
That meant.
Destroy Cascading Decay with an equally strong curse. It's just that the curse made by their own hands would be accompanied by its own cure.
Nevier's pupils sparkled like a crazy person at that moment.
***