“As expected, even the mana released from the mana core is being suppressed…”
Helos stared at the magic array in her chest cavity as it dimmed, exhaling softly. Instantly, it felt as though a heavy stone had pressed down upon her heart.
She wasn’t too concerned about the issue of insufficient energy supply.
After all, as long as she replaced it with a higher-quality mana core, or used multiple mana cores at once, there would always be some way to solve it.
But what truly gave her a headache—was that the mana itself would be suppressed by her own [Silent Oath].
With this, even if there was an abundance of mana, the golem would still be nothing but an empty shell, completely incapable of moving.
The girl slowly lowered her head, bracing her hands on the table, her gaze gradually growing unfocused.
At the end of the day, just what was the principle behind this curse?
Why could it indiscriminately interfere with the flow of all mana?
Helos pursed her lips, a hint of unwillingness flashing through her heart.
If even a golem couldn’t escape the curse, then wasn’t all her painstaking effort utterly meaningless?
But then, she suddenly remembered another detail.
There was still one thing she had never figured out—
Why was Julius completely immune to her curse?
By all logic, even if he was a Holy Knight, there was no way he should be able to ignore the suppression of [Silent Oath].
Yet from the very beginning until now, that guy had never once been affected.
At that thought, the girl subconsciously bit her fingertip, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.
Hmm… This really is a question worth pondering.
Not only the current golem experiment—she also recalled that previous Great Adventure in the library.
She’d gone there herself before, and no matter how far the curse’s power had spread, the seal set by her father had shown not the slightest sign of lifting.
But when Julius followed her that one time, the seal had suddenly been undone without warning, as if something had triggered it.
Even now, just thinking back on that scene made her scalp tingle.
Why?
If her [Silent Oath] truly suppressed all mana absolutely, then the seal should have remained perfectly intact.
But if it wasn’t the effect of the curse, then how could she explain the fact that the seal suddenly unraveled after Julius arrived?
“That brat isn’t hiding something from me, is he?”
The more Helos thought about it, the more wrong it felt, like a tiny paw scratching restlessly at her heart.
She suddenly jumped up from her chair, her skirt hem swaying with the motion.
“No, this won’t do—I need to study Julius’s body structure first!”
Muttering under her breath, the girl hurried to the door.
The workshop door was yanked open with a bang, and a gentle breeze swept in.
Helos paid no attention to any of that, striding purposefully over the threshold, her eyes shining as if she’d finally seized upon a vital clue.
“This will be a huge help to my future research…!”
“You can’t do this, Helos!”
Julius was seated in a chair in the workshop, gripping the armrests for dear life, his voice full of strong protest, “I’ve worked hard for this family, shed my blood! You can’t treat me like this!”
“Oh, quit yelling, it’s not like I’m going to beat you up.”
Helos waved her hand, looking completely innocent.
“Why do I feel like I’m a dog, just getting ordered around by you?”
Julius’s face was full of grievance.
“Didn’t you go ‘woof’ yourself before?”
The girl raised an eyebrow, looking perfectly justified.
“That’s not the same thing!”
The veins on Julius’s forehead bulged, and he almost leapt out of the chair.
“All right, all right, I’ll make it up to you later.”
Helos lightly patted Julius’s shoulder, then casually grabbed a clean carving knife from the tool rack at her side, her tone nonchalant:
“Will you do it yourself, or should I help you?”
“…I’ll do it myself.”
Julius rolled his eyes dramatically but still helplessly took the carving knife, grumbling under his breath, “Next time, don’t come dragging me off in the middle of my most important training.”
After saying that, he took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and then made a shallow cut on his palm.
Fresh blood welled up immediately, flowing down his palm in a gentle stream.
Helos’s eyes lit up. She hurriedly fetched a bottle she’d already prepared and carefully caught those few drops of crimson.
“Mm, that should be about enough.”
She nodded in satisfaction, stoppered the bottle, then pulled a bottle of healing potion from behind her back and handed it to him.
Without a word, Julius threw his head back and drank it. A warm light glimmered over his palm, and the small wound quickly healed as good as new.
“So,” He raised his hand, squinting at her, “What exactly do you need my blood for?”
“For research, of course.”
Helos answered matter-of-factly, at the same time gesturing toward the incomplete golem behind her, “I need to figure out why you can resist my curse. Otherwise, this golem will never move.”
“Now that you mention it, I’m a bit curious too.”
Julius perked up at once, his eyes shining with gossip, “So, how are you going to research it?”
“That’s a secret.”
Helos pressed her index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture, “It’s not something I can figure out right away. You’d better get back to training.”
“If I get any results, I’ll let you know right away.”
“Why are you being so mysterious…”
Julius curled his lips, his face written all over with dissatisfaction, but finally just waved his hand, “Fine. I’m trying to learn holy light magic lately anyway, so I’ll go practice.”
He stood up, and when he reached the workshop door, he suddenly turned his head, a trace of wariness and suspicion flashing in his eyes:
“You’re sure you don’t have any other business? Don’t just drag me off for no reason again later!”
“That’s all, that’s all, get going!”
Only when Julius’s figure had completely disappeared outside the door did the girl finally breathe a long sigh of relief.
She carefully set the blood-filled glass bottle onto the workbench, running her fingers lightly over its surface.
“Whew—finally gone.”
Even before she finished speaking, her eyes were already shining with excitement.
“All right—let’s see just what secret you’re hiding, Julius-kun~”
Helos licked her lips, almost unable to wait as she activated the Analysis Spell.
The girl leaned close to the bottle’s mouth, eyes fixed intently on the crimson blood, her gaze as fiery as a starving wolf staring at its prey.
As the spell activated, a faint halo of light slowly spread from the bottom of the bottle, as if dissecting the blood layer by layer.
The scarlet liquid trembled gently in the glow, as if being peeled apart by invisible forces.
Helos’s vision was soon filled with streams of data and text.
But just as the halo was about to finish its final analysis, the spell seemed to encounter some interference.
Suddenly, it flickered violently; the runes twisted and blurred, and finally, a line of abrupt, oversized text appeared before her eyes:
[…. Unable to explain the result.]
“Huh?”
The girl froze in place, staring blankly at those few lines of text.
What did “Unable to explain the result” mean?
Couldn’t someone come and translate this for her?!
Huh.