The female elf brought the balance of the Golden Triangle to its most perfect state and activated the pre-arranged Magic Array above the Dark Domain, opening a Starry Gateway.
Wayne looked up, and the brilliant Milky Way sparkled, so beautiful that one couldn’t help but want to peer into its depths.
The Book of Greed peeking.JPG
Wayne merged with The Book of Greed, as his pale hands rested on Philomena’s shoulders, and four tentacles extended from behind, wrapping around Philomena’s body.
Opening this eye, Wayne saw a different Golden Triangle.
Philomena majored in the beliefs of moonlight, supplemented by nature and sun, which wasn’t unusual, as all the elves of the Life Alliance did this.
The higher the realm, the stronger the strength, the more the three faiths tended toward balance, somewhat like the three goddesses sharing believers among themselves.
The pale moonlight, the twilight of the setting sun, the imbalance of nature...
An inherent flaw existed, thought was contaminated, and under this influence, the Essence of Life was marred and dimmed.
Because of Philomena’s unconditional trust, Wayne was able to see all of her, the tri-colored magic power that was neither pure nor chaste. Under the distorted structure of the big framework, a strange balance was achieved.
Like dominoes, each step made Wayne’s heart skip a beat. If this was a Golden Mage, he would rather be silver.
"No, I am not like them."
Wayne muttered, the tentacles tightly coiled around the female elf, and white pulp spread and enveloped her until it nearly covered her in a white cocoon.
Philomena hummed lightly, a low murmur reached her ears, her thoughts were contaminated by Wayne, and she became somewhat delirious.
Soon, another source of contamination descended.
Moon Phase Cards rotated, pulling down the macro from within the Gate of Truth. As a series of complex lights ignited, imperceptible blankness was transformed into a colorful burst of energy.
Energy transformed into matter, and matter reverted to energy again...
In the frustrated gaze of The Book of Greed, this process repeated several times until finally, silver-white energy particles turned into blankness and infused into the microscopic Philomena through the Magic Array.
She was outmaneuvered!
Wayne blinked innocently, seemingly understanding something. Two more tentacles unfurled from his back, sweeping all the scattered energy into his body.
Philomena maintained balance, tired beyond measure and gained nothing, while The Book of Greed indulged in its victory.
But there was more indulgence to come!
The two tentacles, finding the Moon Phase Cards too slow, reached to plunge into the Gate of Truth.
Wayne disagreed, suppressing his own desires, and infused his moonlight beliefs into his thoughts, injecting them bit by bit into Philomena’s body.
After filling her, he took back the moonlight.
The shared knowledge didn’t diminish but grew again with the addition of Philomena’s learning.
During this process, Wayne saw another function of The Book of Greed.
It had an invisible mouth with a built-in filter, retaining the essence and discarding the dregs, leaving the pale moonlight sparkling and clear.
To put it simply, frosted became matte, and matte became bright.
Philomena, like a maiden forcefully depleted by a lecher, had her Golden Triangle disturbed inside her, her complexion pale. Her thoughts were chaotic due to the whispering in her ears, and as it affected her Essence of Life, her outward physique underwent changes.
She began to understand everything and started to take on Wayne’s appearance.
Just as the transformation was about to turn the gorgeous Elf beauty into a Tentacle Monster, Wayne returned the pilfered beliefs to her, while his thoughts cautioned her to remember her human-like appearance.
This process was strange; Wayne had always thought that knowledge was a finite and fixed thing – if he gained it, others couldn’t.
But seeing the same amount of Faith Magic still intact within the little eyeball, no doubt overturned his previous speculations.
"Still not right, the knowledge from the Magic Tools was definitely taken by me..."
"Or perhaps, the nature of people is different from tools, and they can’t be generalized?"
"That’s not right either, the knowledge from Shadowmare was in equal measure; I gained it but didn’t take it away..."
Wayne didn’t quite understand, this situation exceeded his range of knowledge. He then filtered nature and sun separately, his thoughts diverging, rewriting the Golden Triangle within Philomena to completely turn her into his image.
"This process, I seem to have seen it somewhere before..."
Wayne thought of Dragonheart Island, where the Blood Tyrant forcibly took the beliefs of the Ancient God, turning the islanders into Crocodile Men.
This moment felt just like that moment—if he hadn’t insisted that Philomena stays an elf, she would have already turned into a white, faceless Tentacle Monster.
"Higher levels of life can change the Essence of Life of those beneath them..."
Wayne held the elf beauty tighter, admitting his own level of life was extremely high, having copied, no, borrowed a part of the appearance of an Ancient God. Yet Philomena wasn’t his follower, so why had she begun to change into his image?
Because she was with child, because her defenses were down?
Pass the former, the second possibility is quite likely.
Wayne guessed the reasons, growing more curious and impulsive as he did so. If it truly were so, he could start his own sect and become a deity on his own.
Becoming a deity was too far-fetched; he’d rather become a Golden Mage first!
Philomena was just one example; he couldn’t generalize from a single case, pondering to try with others given the chance.
Mona was the most obedient. She would certainly not refuse to change into her master’s shape.
Considering his appearance severely clashed with mainstream aesthetic, and mainly his own aesthetic, Wayne decided to take it step by step.
"Hold on, my appearance is quite similar to the initial angels; if I use thought contamination on Mona, could I create an Artificial Angel?"