Lyle scanned the data on his attribute sheet. Besides the normal data changes, the two attributes that caught his attention the most were "Overall Resistance" and "Specialty".
Among them, "Overall Resistance" instantly increased from its original 0 to 150, while "Specialty" also increased from its original 20 to 60.
The significant increase in resistance values was clearly related to "Complete Curse Immunity" and "Dark Attribute Resistance".
As for "Specialty", Lyle hadn't fully understood it yet; his only guess was that it was related to high-tier professions.
Snapping back to reality, Lyle withdrew his gaze from Dorran's grave, feeling the gentle breeze blowing through the forest, his wide priest's robe sleeves swaying slightly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Under the night sky, bright lights appeared one after another.
In the blink of an eye, a total of 13 Flame Archangels were summoned by Lyle in one go. Of the 15 magic scrolls remaining in his item box, only two were left.
"Go, kill all the monsters in this forest," Lyle said faintly, waving his hand at the group of Flame Archangels.
His current "Experience Slot: 17250 / 10000" meant he was still about two thousand points away from breaking through twenty thousand experience.
"Unfortunately, the Flame Archangels have a limited duration. I wonder if they can reach 20,000 experience?" Lyle thought to himself. With his current experience, he could level up once, but it was far from enough for two levels, so he wasn't in a hurry to level up.
After the Flame Archangels charged into the forest and disappeared, Lyle didn't care about the fallen leaves and dust on the ground, found a stone, and sat down.
Next, he took out the "Orb of Death" from his item box, carefully injecting magic power into it while also taking out the magic ritual parchment given to him by Dorran.
"Interpret Magic!"
Lyle's eyes shimmered with faint magical light as he seriously studied the parchment.
The text on it was, of course, the special script of the Forest Gnome tribe. Without mastering this magic, to be honest, he wouldn't have been able to understand this parchment.
The next day, Mid-Fire Moon, August 29th.
Morning.
At the edge of the Great Marsh, Renas's bloodstains had long since dried and turned black, and her formerly soft, golden hair was now disheveled, making her look very disheveled.
Evidently, Renas had been staying here all this time.
"It's already been two days."
Renas glanced towards the depths of the Great Marsh, her eyes weary, and leaned her body against a thick tree trunk.
The edge of the marsh was not safe; monsters would occasionally appear and had to be cleared.
Ever since being sent out of the Great Marsh by the Flame Archangel, Renas had been constantly worried about Lyle, who had ventured deeper.
In the dense forest deep within the marsh, not only were there various dangerous monsters, but more importantly, there was a terrifying curse permeating the air.
"Just one more day. If he still doesn't come out—" Renas gripped the long spear in her hand, a look of determination flashing in her sky-blue pupils.
"If he still doesn't come out, then what?" Suddenly, a voice sounded from not far away.
Renas first froze, then a look of surprise appeared on her face as she looked up in the direction of the voice.
She saw that at some point, Lyle's figure had appeared at the edge of the marsh and was walking towards her.
Renas quickly stood up and hurried to meet him. When she noticed that Lyle had no injuries whatsoever, the tense expression on her face finally relaxed slightly.
Although her time with Lyle wasn't long, his ability to summon a Fourth-Tier Angel and his unique alchemy methods had left a deep impression on her.
In Renas's view, Lyle might have had his own agenda in coming here, but ultimately, he came because of the curse on her.
"Of course, I'd leave. If someone as strong as you died in there, I'd only be throwing my life away by going in," Renas said, straightening her back. Even in her current disheveled state, she still maintained a noble and elegant demeanor.
Lyle shrugged, "That's truly disheartening."
"Hmph," Renas rolled her deep blue eyes. "Your face shows no sign of sadness, Sir Tang."
"Regarding the curse, I now have some leads," Lyle said directly, without further ado.
Given Renas's personality, which allowed her to abandon everything at will, her waiting here for him for so long, in Lyle's opinion, was simply because she had placed her hope of lifting the curse on him.
Renas's pupils constricted as she looked at Lyle.
"No need to be so surprised, Miss Renas," Lyle said, stepping forward to stand before Renas. "If you don't mind, let's start now."
Renas had acquired the "Cursed Knight" profession by killing Forest Gnomes and being afflicted by the curse's power.
In this situation, Lyle had previously only thought Renas was lucky, but after the incident with the Forest Gnomes, he increasingly realized that this was not just good luck!
The monsters in the valley depths had all rotted due to the curse's influence, and even the Forest Gnome tribe was completely destroyed.
During this process, not a single Forest Gnome acquired the "Cursed Knight" profession.
"What materials do you need to prepare?" Renas's voice trembled slightly.
"Nothing at all. Just drink this," Lyle shook his head, pulling out a bottle of turbid alchemical potion, mixed with herbal residues, from his sleeve.
It looked as if it had been made casually.
Renas looked at Lyle, then at the alchemical potion. "Okay."
With that, Renas took the bottle of alchemical potion, gulped it all down, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "What next?"
"Wait," Lyle uttered a single word faintly.
Renas was about to speak again when a sudden, intense wave of drowsiness swept over her. Immediately after, she felt her body become numb, and she uncontrollably began to fall to the ground.
The next moment, Renas swayed, fell to the ground, and fainted.
"The effect of the potion mixed with hangman spider venom sac and sleepgrass seems pretty good," Lyle said, seeing Renas poisoned, and nodded slightly, seemingly satisfied with the potion he had temporarily made.
His time communicating with Enfilerea hadn't been wasted; Lyle still recognized some simple herbs.
Lyle squatted down, turned the unconscious Renas over, and at the same time, lifted her rotting right cheek, which was covered by her golden bangs. He then raised a finger and touched her forehead.
Of course, he had no ill intentions.
Passive: Mana Infusion!
Under Lyle's deliberate control, a faint curse power flowed from his fingertip into Renas's body.
When he was in the Imperial Capital, he often experimented on that ogre, so he was not unfamiliar with the technique of infusing energy into a human body.
The next moment, the rotting right cheek was stimulated and began to writhe rapidly. Since Renas was in a coma, she made no sound.
Lyle continued to inject steadily.
As the curse power gradually increased, the curse power within Renas's body was also activated and began to devour the curse power injected by Lyle.
"Indeed, it works." Lyle's eyes flashed.
In the outer forest of the Great Marsh, he had noticed that after Renas killed monsters, the effects of the curse power on her clearly worsened.
Since his "Cursed Knight" profession could level up by devouring external curse power, the reverse should also be true.
Lyle controlled the injected curse power to guide the chaotic and disordered curse power within Renas's body.
The originally writhing rotten cheek gradually stopped moving, and even the signs of decay began to recede.
After about a few minutes, Renas's rotting right cheek had completely disappeared, returning to a fair complexion, just like her left cheek.
"It succeeded."
"Talent is truly indescribable," Lyle said, withdrawing his finger from Renas's forehead, sighing.
Whether it was only half her face rotting, or the fact that the curse power within Renas's body did not spiral out of control during his injection of curse power, all these situations indicated that Renas was naturally suited for the "Cursed Knight" profession.
Before this, Renas only possessed the "Cursed Knight" profession. Now, with Lyle's help, in gaming terms, Renas's "Cursed Knight" level had stabilized at level 1.
Half an hour later, Renas opened her eyes blankly, holding her forehead with a slight headache.
What exactly did she drink just now?
Renas propped herself up with her arm and sat up, immediately noticing Lyle standing not far away, toying with a black stone in his hand.
"You—" Renas opened her mouth and instinctively touched her right cheek with her palm.
When her touch met a perfectly smooth cheek, Renas froze, quickly pulled out a mirror from her bosom, and looked at her right cheek.
After a long while, Renas looked up, her eyes red, and said, "Thank you."
"Congratulations on your recovery, Miss Renas," Lyle said.
Renas stiffly stood up, reflexively wanting to pull her golden hair down to cover her right cheek, but quickly realized that she no longer needed to cover it.
Her hand movements paused. The motion of pulling her golden hair changed; she tucked it back, casually sweeping it behind her ear.
"Sir Tang, does your adventurer team still need members?" Renas's delicate, fair face was exposed to the air, her golden hair shimmering slightly in the sunlight.