Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 126 - 121: Distorted Talent

Lyle’s face was still being overtaken by the spreading black mud, as if it intended to swallow him whole.

"Hold on, Lyle!" The scholar’s silver chains began to dance, engaging in a tug-of-war with the black mud that was enveloping Lyle. The scholar, manipulating the magic power as if wielding a precise scalpel, began to excise the contaminating black mud from Lyle.

But that strange substance was relentless, and Lyle’s features were oozing like a spring.

A temporary solution, not addressing the root cause.

"His soul is undergoing corruption, he needs to be soothed."

"But my power isn’t enough." Medusa’s form emerged from behind Lyle’s neck, sprawling over his features.

"I will lend you my magic power, Medusa. You remember the structure of the human soul, don’t you?"

"I remember, it’s only slightly different from that of ghosts."

The scholar relaxed the input of magic power, and the black mud once again claimed its territory.

The chains connected to Lyle’s legs were withdrawn, and beneath the black clothing, his legs began to transform as if caramelized by heat.

Lyle was gradually departing from humanity, as his skin, from bottom to top, began to peel and turn into a rubber-like tissue.

It was like small tides forming on the skin, surging towards the center of Lyle’s forehead.

Just as Lyle’s skin completed its transformation, with the minor undulations about to merge at his forehead—

"Now, Medusa!" The silver chains entwined with Medusa’s slender waist, their dance akin to that of writhing serpents. The profound blue magic power enveloped her body.

Within the blue magic power, two beams of light shot forth. Medusa let out a piercing shriek, like that of a crazed lady.

"This soul is mine!"

The places touched by the beams of light saw the black mud stripped away like cracked eggshells, revealing the human flesh beneath.

A light chuckle.

The black mud crumbled into fragments and dissipated in the air.

Lyle returned to his original form, as if he had just awoken from a deep sleep.

"We succeeded."

"We have only succeeded in part," said the scholar, turning his head to look at the Array where the once Talent Sphere had laid, now darker than the deepest abyss.

"I do hope that bestowing power is stronger than the corruption."

......

Lyle felt exhausted throughout his body, as if he had just participated in Sheriff Ralph’s deputy training.

Upon awakening, he found himself floating in mid-air, the only thing connecting him being the chains of Scholar Sir, who stood not far off, gazing at him, holding his bird-beak mask in hand.

It seemed to jog something in his memory.

Lyle gave a slight shake.

"I’m very sorry, teacher. It seems I dozed off," Lyle reached out for the bird-beak mask. "Did the mask accidentally fall off?"

Scholar Sir seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Be mindful of disguises in the future, Plague Doctor."

"Yes, teacher."

"Plague Doctor, what do you think of Andrey"

Not understanding why the scholar would ask such a question, Lyle still shared his thoughts.

"Although Andrey’s family can be a bit obtuse in some areas, the academy’s style is disturbingly eerie and possibly life-threatening at any time, this is undoubtedly the best platform I could find to observe the world. With my friends and my respected teacher, Andrey is where I belong."

"Plague Doctor, if one day Andrey has to stand against the world, to become an adversary of a world, what will you do?"

"Then I will stand against the world," Lyle tilted his head. "Is Mr. Raymond already causing trouble for other forces?"

Scholar Sir seemed to have made a decision.

"Plague Doctor, where is your ring, the Ring of Andrey?"

Lyle held out his finger with the ring on it.

Scholar Sir’s fingertips touched the blue mask on his face, and with the slide between his fingers, a strand of green energy thread was peeled off.

"By the name of Morocoy, I share my wisdom with this child."

The thread wound around Lyle’s ring, eventually forming a green pattern.

"If you run into trouble you can’t resolve, Plague Doctor, perhaps my knowledge can give you a hand."

Similar to Miss Ailean’s pager, he too now possessed the ability to call for strong reinforcements.

"Thank you, teacher, but shouldn’t we start the naming ritual now?"

The scholar was silent for a moment.

"It’s already finished, Plague Doctor, while you were asleep."

???

Harboring profound doubts, Lyle looked towards the Array, where a black mud ball was suspended in mid-air.

The ritual was over? In his own dream? Had he lost the chance to imagine, or had it taken the form of his subconscious?

With a mix of trepidation and anticipation, Lyle stepped forward.

"Shuishui?"

After calling out softly, the sphere responded.

A black tentacle slowly reached towards Lyle.

Lyle extended his own arm as well, just as Shuishui had once enjoyed climbing on his shoulder.

The two drew closer, only to be stopped.

Medusa stood between them.

"Medusa?"

Medusa did not respond. She climbed along that tentacle towards Shuishui, drawing near gradually.

Perhaps thinking Medusa wanted to play, Shuishui extended many more tentacles, guiding Medusa to swim across its body.

After some frolicking, Medusa slid back into Lyle’s sleeve and gave a shake of her head to the scholar in the end.

The black tentacle finally touched Lyle’s arm.

Just when Lyle thought Shuishui would climb up as it used to,

the sphere transformed.

From the center, a crack appeared; the outermost layer of skin slid open to reveal an interior rubber-like crystal with a black core. In the center of the black crystal, a ring resembling a yellow flame shone directly at Lyle.

Lyle didn’t react at first, until those two pieces of skin closed and opened again.

A sense of panic emerged.

It was a giant black eyeball.

A black eyeball covered in tentacles.

This was the current form of his Talent.

Watching as tentacles crept towards him and the giant eyeball stared intently at him, Lyle looked at the scholar, "Teacher, could something have gone wrong?"

The scholar removed his chain, "Face reality, Lyle, this is the creation of your subconscious."

My subconscious is such a creature, an eye surrounded by tentacles with a strong sense of the bizarre and the grotesque?

It seems, there isn’t any problem.

In his past life, he was obsessed with a strange Monster Compendium filled with grotesque creatures; perhaps he really did enjoy this kind of bizarre style, or maybe it was because he had spent too much time with Andrey that his thought patterns had strayed from those of ordinary people.

In that case, isn’t this big eyeball kind of cute?

But the name Shuishui no longer suited it.

"How about calling you Rourou from now on?" The current touch felt like a giant blob of flesh. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Rourou gave no reply; her tentacles were acclimating to Lyle, figuring out how to hang on to him like a koala.

The great eye remained fixated on Lyle’s side profile.

The persistent gaze made Lyle feel uneasy.

"Rourou, could you stop looking at me with your big eye?"

It seemed Rourou understood.

The giant eye closed, and even the crack healed over.

Subsequently, like strawberry spots, countless small eyes opened on the sphere’s surface, with nearly a hundred little eyes staring at Lyle, enough to trigger trypophobia.

Directly, sideways, from above, from below.

Lyle experienced the fear of being the center of attention.