"The Pharaoh’s Curse?" Seeing the words written on the Logbook, Dorothy is momentarily stunned, then immediately realizes that something is amiss. She quickly writes back. "Can you explain in more detail? What exactly is going on?" After writing this, Dorothy watches as the words on the page slowly sink down. Soon, Nephthys’s response appears. "I don’t know the specifics right now... I’m currently riding home in a carriage with my family’s butler. It’s not convenient to write too much at the moment." Seeing Nephthys’s reply, Dorothy pauses, then quickly responds. "Then don’t write anything for now. I’ll take the initiative to check your situation. Don’t resist." After finishing her message, Dorothy closes the Literary Sea Logbook on the table, closes her eyes, and begins to use the information channel to connect to Nephthys’s senses. … The moon rises high, and the night deepens. Thick darkness envelops the vast capital city. Most households have already extinguished their lights, leaving only the street lamps lining the roads to illuminate the night. A chilly autumn wind blows through the streets, where only a few shivering homeless people huddle in the cold. In a large, well-lit mansion in East Tivian, servants bustle about inside and out. On the third floor, in a spacious bedroom, a large bed is set up. Lying on the bed is a middle-aged man. The man has slightly dark skin, a mustache, and a grim expression. He is dressed in pajamas, lying in bed, covered by a blanket, completely unconscious. On the left side of the bed stand two anxious servants, while on the right side are an even more anxious Nephthys and an elderly butler with gray hair and dark skin, dressed in a formal suit. "Dad, wake up, Dad... Can you hear me? It’s me, Neph. I’m here, Dad..." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢 Standing by the bed, Nephthys holds the man’s hand, her voice filled with worry. However, the man on the bed shows no response to her calls, remaining unconscious with his eyes tightly shut. "It’s no use, Miss. The master is completely unconscious now. He can’t hear anything," the elderly butler, Nust, says solemnly. Hearing this, Nephthys immediately turns to him. "Nust Grandpa, what exactly happened to my dad? He just wrote to me not long ago. How could he suddenly..." Hearing Nephthys’s words, Nust sighs softly and murmurs. "Ah... This might be fate. A fate we can’t escape..." After sighing, Nust glances around and then speaks to the servants. "It’s getting late. All of you, go and rest." "Yes." Following Nust’s instructions, the servants in the room leave. Nust then turns to Nephthys. "Miss, let’s go to the study to discuss the details." Nephthys nods and follows Nust out of the bedroom. After climbing another floor, they arrive at a study. Inside the study, Nust checks to make sure no one is outside, then closes the door and turns to Nephthys. "Miss, due to the old master’s instructions, I’ve kept many important things hidden from you and your father. The old master’s original intention was to keep you both safe and away from danger, allowing you to live normal lives. But fate has other plans, and now we can no longer keep this hidden..." Nust speaks with a heavy tone. Hearing his words, Nephthys feels a sense of foreboding. "Nust Grandpa, what exactly did my grandfather ask you to hide? Does it have something to do with my father’s current condition? And what about the curse you mentioned in the carriage earlier..." Hearing Nephthys’s questions, Nust remains silent for a moment. He then looks toward a painting on the wall. The painting depicts two young men dressed in exploration gear, carrying various tools. One has dark skin, the other light, and both are smiling at the camera. Behind them stands a towering, ancient, and crumbling pyramid. "Miss, your grandfather must have told you before that he spent his youth exploring North Ufiga, where he made his fortune by looting ancient tombs and ruins. That’s how the Boyle family’s current wealth was built." Nust speaks to Nephthys, who nods in response. "Yes, when I was little, Grandpa often told me stories about his adventures. I grew up listening to his tales. I still remember the dangerous traps and snakes in those tombs, as well as the bandits in the desert. Even now, it all sounds so dangerous..." Nephthys recalls fondly, but Nust continues, his gaze fixed on the old photograph. "Traps... snakes... bandits... Those were indeed dangerous, but they weren’t the most dangerous things, Miss. Your grandfather never told you about the true horrors buried beneath the sands of North Ufiga... the dangers of ancient, mystical forces... far more terrifying than any mundane threat." "Ancient... mystical forces..." "Yes, this might be hard to grasp at first, but remember, the world we see is far more complex than it appears. In those ancient tombs and ruins, your grandfather and I encountered things that defy explanation... things that exist only in legends.” "Undead... dark magic... monstrous beasts... curses... These are the mystical threats that can be found beneath the sands of North Ufiga. Even the most experienced explorers and tomb raiders are powerless against these dangers... And among these threats, the one we feared most was the curse." "The curse... Is my father’s condition related to a curse?" Nephthys guesses, and Nust nods in confirmation. "Yes, the curse... When exploring ancient tombs and ruins, people often unknowingly trigger ancient curses left behind. These curses are warnings from the dead to the living, the harshest punishment for those who greedily seek treasure.” "In those ruins and tombs, we tomb raiders often don’t know what we’ve done to incur a curse. It could be touching something we shouldn’t have, entering a forbidden area, saying the wrong words, or doing the wrong thing... These actions can all attract unknown curses.” "The terrifying thing about curses is that they don’t take effect immediately. Instead, they lie dormant until the cursed person returns home, then suddenly strike, tormenting the victim, causing mutation or death. Even the most experienced tomb raiders can unknowingly contract a curse, only to suffer its effects later, leading to death or transformation into a monster." Nust speaks with a grave expression. Hearing his words, Nephthys swallows hard and then asks. "But... if that’s the case, then only my grandfather should have been cursed, right? My father has always been in Pritt and has never been to North Ufiga. How could he have been cursed?" "Miss, if you think a curse only affects the initial victim, you’re mistaken. Some powerful curses don’t just target the person who first incurs them—they can also spread through bloodlines, affecting the victim’s family.” "That’s what’s happening to your father now. A powerful curse your grandfather incurred in North Ufiga has resurfaced. Even though your grandfather is no longer with us, the curse has continued through the bloodline, affecting your father. If this curse is allowed to progress, not only will your father’s life be in danger, but you, Miss, will also be affected! The entire Boyle family could be wiped out!” "Because the ancient civilizations buried beneath the sands of North Ufiga referred to their rulers as Pharaoh, we tomb raiders often call these curses the Pharaoh’s Curse." Nust turns to Nephthys and continues. Hearing his words, Nephthys is momentarily stunned. She hadn’t expected the curse to be so powerful, capable of spreading through bloodlines and affecting not only her father but potentially herself as well. "Nust Grandpa... Is this curse really that powerful? But why... why didn’t it show any signs before? Why has it suddenly become active now?" Nephthys asks, puzzled. If what Nust says is true, then her family should have been affected by the curse long ago, not just now. Or, to take it a step further, if her grandfather had been cursed when he returned to Pritt, he should have died from the curse before even starting a family. In that case, Nephthys and her father wouldn’t even exist. So the fact that the curse has suddenly become active now, after her grandfather’s death, seems strange. Hearing Nephthys’s question, Nust pauses, then looks at her and continues. "That’s exactly what I was about to tell you, Miss. Your grandfather spent over twenty years exploring North Ufiga. He wasn’t without some skills. In fact, he was a Beyonder himself, capable of using some mystical abilities.” "Of course, Miss, don’t misunderstand—your grandfather’s abilities weren’t strong enough to deal with the curse that has plagued the Boyle family. The reason he and the family enjoyed decades of peace was because of a certain mystical item he obtained." "A mystical item?" Hearing this, Nephthys is momentarily stunned. She suddenly remembers the necklace her grandfather gave her when she was a child. According to Dorothy, it was a mystical item that could resist cognitive poison. Nephthys had relied on that necklace to avoid being corrupted by Thorn Velvet’s attempts to pollute the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge. Now, however, that necklace has lost its spirituality and is broken. "Yes, in this world, it’s not just people who possess mystical abilities. Some items also have extraordinary powers, and such items aren’t too rare beneath the sands of North Ufiga…” "Your grandfather happened to possess an item that could resist curses. In fact, the origin of this item is related to your grandmother, but we won’t go into that now. The important thing is that your grandfather used this item to protect himself and the entire Boyle family from the curse. The item’s effects continued even after your grandfather’s death, but due to an unexpected event, its power has weakened, allowing the curse to take effect and affect your father." Nust explains to Nephthys. Hearing this, Nephthys immediately thinks of her necklace, wondering if the item protecting her family has also run out of spirituality. "An unexpected event? What could have caused the item protecting our family to fail?" Nephthys asks directly, and Nust ponders for a moment before responding. "Well... How should I put this? Miss, you need to understand that in the mysticism world, any mystical effect comes at a cost. This cost is known as spirituality. The curse works this way, and so does the item that resists it. In other words, for the item your grandfather left behind to continue functioning, it needs a constant supply of spirituality..." "So... the mystical item’s power weakened because it ran out of spirituality? Has the spirituality stored in the item been depleted after decades of use?" Nephthys asks directly. Hearing her words, Nust is momentarily surprised by how quickly she has grasped these concepts and even used the correct terminology. He decides to skip further explanations and responds. "Yes, it’s indeed due to a lack of spirituality, but it’s not because the stored spirituality has been completely depleted. The item couldn’t hold enough spirituality to last for decades.” "In fact, we’ve always been using the item while continuously replenishing its spirituality, allowing it to function continuously. As long as the supply of spirituality isn’t interrupted, the item’s effects will remain active... But now, the problem is that we can no longer provide the item with new spirituality." "Can’t provide it... What happened?" Nephthys asks curiously, and Nust hesitates before continuing. "Miss, you may not know this, but spirituality comes in different types. The item your grandfather left behind to resist the curse can’t be powered by just any kind of spirituality. It requires... a special type of spirituality.” "This type of spirituality is extremely rare and valuable, making it difficult to obtain. Fortunately, there exists a hidden society of Beyonders, and where there’s society, there’s trade. In Tivian, there’s the largest mystical market in all of Pritt. We’ve always been able to purchase this rare spirituality at a high price. In the past, we relied on this market to obtain the spirituality we needed, spending a significant amount of money each year.” "Recently, for some reason, the power of the curse has suddenly increased. The spirituality we had stored began to deplete rapidly, and our reserves at home started to run low. So, I went to the mystical market in Tivian to purchase more of this rare spirituality to replenish our supply…” "But, for some reason, the price of this rare spirituality suddenly skyrocketed! In a short period of time, it increased several times over! It reached a point where even if we used all the cash we had at home, we still couldn’t afford it!” "It’s crazy!" Nust throws up his hands as he speaks, recalling the shock he felt when he heard the exorbitant price at the Golden Covenant Bank.