CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 47 THE GOD-GIVEN PIGMENT_1

After Amos left Elle’s room, Annan quickly got dressed.

But he didn’t immediately go out.

Instead, he turned around to lock the door and then took out the book from under the pillow—"The Curse and Seal of the Soul"—and started reading it calmly.

Undoubtedly, this was actually the best opportunity.

Amos was a very smart and gentle person.

He would certainly feel apologetic and embarrassed about the offense he had just committed. Although this would not make him comply with Annan’s words to do something, at least he would not barge into Elle’s room again.

So at this time, even if he thought Elle was staying in the room for too long, he would not barge in again.

Because he would think that this was Elle’s punishment for him—in his understanding, Elle must be angry. Leaving him alone outside for more than ten minutes was a kind of petty punishment and also time for Elle to cool down.

Therefore, Amos wouldn’t wander off. Instead, he would quietly stay in the kitchen, waiting for Annan to leave.

Otherwise, once Annan went out and didn’t see him, he might get angry... Based on Annan’s one-sided understanding of Elle, she should indeed have such a reaction.

And because Elle had exposed something in front of him, Amos was forcibly reminded by Annan that "the daughter has grown up" and needed some private space. With a sense of ethical guilt, Amos wouldn’t search Elle’s room anymore.

Thus, the bloody cleaver hidden in the cupboard and the book "The Curse and Seal of the Soul" would not be easily found.

Of course... the premise was that Annan couldn’t really stay too long.

Fortunately, this book was the best one to investigate.

Because there was a bookmark inside, stuck at the most crucial page. So without wasting much time, Annan was able to directly see the core content.

"...The seal that uses the painting as a medium also requires the rituals of communicating with the Bone Consort, the Burying Hag, and the Mirror Dragon. Among them, the Bone Consort’s ritual is more recommended because the Bone Consort asks for almost no price during the first ritual..."

Upon reading this somewhat familiar sentence, Annan’s heart stirred slightly.

Could it be...

He held the page with his right hand and flipped to the title page with his left.

"...Grianznuha Rinfrost."

Annan slowly read out this name that had become somewhat familiar.

Should I say it’s as expected?

How is it you again?

Was Amos’s wife your fan?

Or was this author with Winter’s blood also a bestselling... bestseller of banned books?

And, do you have a grudge against the Bone Consort? Or did you eat the Bone Consort’s meal? Why does every book teach your readers how to shear the Bone Consort’s wool...

Annan curled the corner of his mouth and flipped the book back.

"...If the performer of the ritual is a painter, the Bone Consort will ask whether the person wants ’pigment,’ ’brush,’ or ’paper.’ At this time, the best choice is ’paper.’

"Because if the ritual performer chooses pigment, then the Bone Consort will grant a special type of pigment that can silently strip a part of the soul from the subject when painting their portrait, storing it within the portrait.

"The advantage is that the subject will not notice anything, and this part of the soul can be trained as a guardian spirit or used to curse enemies. The guardian spirit can freely move among all the paintings created with this pigment by the artist; but the downside is, these spirits cannot escape from the portrait. Also, the amount of pigment obtained in one ritual is limited and cannot form an effective ability.

"Moreover, paintings created with this pigment make the portraits extraordinarily real. Far beyond the normal level of the painter, it’s easy to expose. Therefore, this is not recommended for use.

"Apart from pigment, which should not be chosen, the remaining two options are fairly common. The following describes the differences between the two choices and how to seal the soul and cast curses in detail..."

The rest of it was turned over.

Annan carefully read the remaining part before closing the book.

As expected... the two choices that followed were to lure someone into signing their own name with the "pen" and to write contracts or agreements with paper. Neither had anything to do with painting.

At that moment, a prompt flashed before Annan’s eyes:

[Discover the Secret of Amos Morrison], he had successfully completed this side quest.

"Just as I thought..."

Annan murmured to himself.

Everything was clear now.

"Our Mr. Amos must be a famous genius painter. He had an extraordinary obsession and talent for painting and beauty.

"But due to some obsession—perhaps feeling the limits of his own talent or some other reason, he was in great agony. He accidentally found a way to sign a contract with the Skeleton Lord by browsing through the books left by his deceased wife.

"He didn’t need the Skeleton Lord’s power to curse others. Instead, he wanted to use that ’magical pigment’ to enhance his paintings. To paint things he couldn’t achieve with ordinary pigments and his own abilities..."

That is, the human soul.

With this, everything made sense.

After Mr. Amos tried to use this pigment to paint portraits, he could no longer escape the magic power of this pigment, unable to accept his previous mediocrity...

The reason he couldn’t accept his paintings of "gardens" might be that he couldn’t extract the soul of a garden with this pigment; he dared not use this pigment to paint a portrait of his daughter Elle, fearing that it might affect Elle’s health.

—Yet he dared to use this pigment for others.

Therefore, Annan had not a shred of pity in his heart for this poor painter targeted by the Skeleton Lord.

It was all self-inflicted.

In Annan’s view, his original paintings were already quite excellent. And he was only in his thirties... Many painters only became famous in their old age.

But he couldn’t wait.

Perhaps this was the first bottleneck period in his life. Due to his extraordinary talent, his previous life had been smooth sailing, never encountering setbacks... Even before he obtained the pigment, he had been invited to paint a portrait of the Viscountess—twice even.

Considering Amos’s age, this was enough to prove his talent.

Although there were still many unsolved mysteries...

Such as why Amos did this, why he consumed Elle’s eyeball, why Elle was sealed in the painting; where the more than a hundred paintings in that long gallery came from; whether the Viscountess was the wife of the current old Viscount of Roth Fort... and why the entire Frostwater Harbor was cursed.

But those secrets must be hidden in higher-level dungeons.

He had only entered the third floor this time, so it was normal not to have all the information.

After all, Annan could enter the dungeon anytime later... and maybe even coax players to help him decipher it.

Annan was sure that the players would like this.

At least during the gallery stage, that thrill... was just like a person with a dull palate tasting the spicy and scalding Sichuan hotpot for the first time.

Oh right, he could set up a live-streaming channel for them. Annan had seen this feature in the backend before.

Although for safety reasons, it couldn’t be made public for the time being, it could still be posted on the forum for other players to come and watch their dungeon strategy. It would be a good test to see if the live-streaming viewers—and Annan, who was watching—could retain the memories that players lost when they failed...

Now, it was about time to end this dungeon.

Annan looked at the lonely [Survive] and revealed a gentle and kind smile.

—Then, he took the kitchen knife out of the dressing table.