CH 284

POSTED ON APRIL 1, 2022 BY JACK RUSSELL

“Light-concealing ice cubes…” Kafni tilted her head and thought for a while, “I know this item.”

Annan let out a sigh of relief.

He had just ended his conversation with the Man in the Mirror. It would be best if Kafni knew of it.

Annan adhered to one principle — you can’t always depend on just one source.

If he could avoid asking the question from the Man in the Mirror, then he would. Although the Man in the Mirror owed him a favor, this favor would soon be depleted if Annan were to constantly go to him for every question and help he needed.

If another person could have a sense of gratitude towards me, it would show that they have a conscience. So I should keep the favor there.

Annan was self-aware to avoid looking for help from the Man in the Mirror all the time. Moreover, he sought the opportunity to help the Man in the Mirror instead. With that, he could pile up more favor, turning the deed into a friendship.

After all, Annan could still go to Old Vasily, Kafni, Senior Salvatore, and Bread Daryl for help besides the Man in the Mirror.

He wouldn’t become a good-for-nothing piece of trash without the Man in the Mirror’s help.

Yet it was unexpected to Annan that the first person he met could already give him the answer.

—Kafni actually knew about this curse vessel!

“The light-concealing ice cube is a curse vessel involving the field of frost and light. It’s not considered rare.”

Kafni explained to Annan, “It doesn’t appear naturally. Any one of them you may encounter is artificially made.

“It looks like an ice cube that’s constantly glowing. It’s about the size of a grape and cooler than the usual ice cubes. If you’re further away, you would be able to feel the warmth of the light; if you touch it, you would feel the coldness of ice instead. If you immerse it in water, it will glow underwater. I know a ritual that requires placing some ‘light-concealing ice cubes’ into clean seawater and then lying directly in it.”

“What’s the use of the ritual?” Annan asked in response.

This ritual and [Chill of the Winter Sun] required the same curse vessel, and the effect may also be similar…

However, Kafni paused as she heard his question.

She then replied calmly, “This ritual gives people the ability to have night vision. The side effect is that their skin will become extra white, smooth, and cold. It would even glow slightly in the night.”

Alright, I got it.

The primary purpose of this ritual is the skin whitening effect, and the side effect is night vision.

Seeing that Annan was silent for a while, Kafni suddenly said softly and slightly aggrieved, “But I’ve not used this ritual before… My skin is naturally like this…”

Of course, I know that yours is natural. After all, your skin was even fairer when you were a child.

Annan didn’t voice his thought since that might frame him as a hooligan. After all, they were no longer nine-year-old children.

But Annan found it a little inexplicable. It doesn’t matter even if you have used it. It isn’t a crime for the ladies to put on makeup.

Putting on makeup is merely enhancing the view. You don’t lose any part of your body anyway!

Although Annan didn’t understand what Kafni was struggling about, he changed the subject tacitly, “Do you know where I can get this curse vessel? I might need it later.”

“…When do you want it then, Your Highness?” Hearing this, Kafni glanced at Annan, baffled.

She added on quickly, “I can try to make it. I haven’t made it, but I know the recipe. So it should be ready soon.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were good at making curse vessels.” Annan was a little surprised.

Kafni looked at Annan weirdly as if he had asked her, “so, you can cook?”

But Kafni soon understood as she thought about Annan’s identity.

After all, Annan had only just become a Transcended recently.

He also wasn’t trained as a Transcended before this. So it made sense that he didn’t understand the common knowledge of the Transcended circle.

Kafni then explained to the newbie Annan, “This isn’t difficult to make. It is mainly a matter of materials. Not all curse vessels needed the influence to be produced. Some curse vessels can be made with only raw materials.”

What? You use influence to make curse vessels? Annan was stunned for a moment.

He had always thought that influence was mainly used to enter the nightmare dungeon and alternatively used to activate rituals the other times.

Now, it all makes sense.

If all influences obtained by chaos spells were used to enter nightmare dungeons, Transcendeds of this world would have long kicked the bucket in the endless high difficulty nightmares.

Kafni continued her explanation, “Light-concealing ice cubes are easy to make. All you need is either ‘white liquid fire’, ‘red liquid fire,’ or ‘black liquid fire’. Then, add ‘pure water’ into the mixture. There are still a lot of materials left from the Light Chasing Beast last time. Pure water is an alteration product that can be made by any Alteration Wizard, which is a liquid that contains as little as possible of other substances other than water. Almost all the base materials of alteration reagents are simple and cheap. Your Senior Blacktower can also produce high-quality pure water…”

Annan wasn’t sure if he was delusional, but he had always felt that Kafni’s tone would become a little weird whenever she mentioned Salvatore.

Yet he still didn’t interrupt and continued listening.

“The way to make it is to first freeze a large part of the pure water with any ritual in the frost domain or spells of the Energy Falteration School. Then, use a silver or crystal tool to hollow out the middle part and pour the liquid fire amounted to one-third of the existing pure water into it. Cover it with the scraps after hollowing it, and pour the pure water in while sealing it. Its shelf life will be about two months.”

“It sounds simple.”

Annan answered subconsciously.

It feels a little like making dessert…

Double skin milk [1]?

Or is it rum centered chocolate?

“It’s indeed not difficult on principle.” Although Kafni’s voice was soft, she said it in a somewhat impolite way, “But it depends on your craft, Your Highness Annan.”

She implied her doubts on whether Annan’s hands were skillful enough.

I do have the hands of more or less 10 points in Agility.

Annan wanted to argue but suddenly felt that he might get strangled by Kafni’s shadow tentacles if he were to refute. Hence, he gave up the argument obediently.

That’s strange. Kafni seems to be in a bad mood today, and she is more talkative than before.

“Did you have a nightmare today?” Annan asked with concern, “Or did you have trouble sleeping?”

Kafni froze and then shook her head.

She poured a cup of tea for herself and Annan in silence and then picked up a cookie and munched on it quickly.

Annan refrained from digging deeper since it could be pretty impolite. Instead, he drank the hot tea and ate the dessert.

Those were their breakfast.

It was getting late, but both of them got up late today. If they ate a little more, they wouldn’t be able to have lunch.

It would be better to have some light snacks.

“It wasn’t a nightmare.” Kafni lowered her head and said faintly, “It was… a good dream.”

“…Would it be convenient to share it?” Annan asked warmly.

Kafni was silent for a moment and then nodded.

“Your Royal Highness Annan… no, Annan.” She asked Annan softly, “Do you remember… the first time we met?”

Annan’s heart wavered. He returned the question, “Do you mean five years ago?”

A rough guess appeared in his mind.

Perhaps…