Cursed Immortality

'50,000 ZC?' Jacob showed a fleeting frown before he tapped on the 'Install button' while thinking coldly, 'It's better worth the cost.'

Although he had earned quite a lot in these past two years, and Ellie's last payment was also quite generous, his total wealth was still below 300k ZC. So, spending 50k ZC out of the blue was quite a pinch for him.

Nevertheless, Jacob knew the path toward magic would not be going to be easy or free, and there was no room for acting stingy with numerical wealth. As long as wealth was spent on his purpose and clearing his way ahead, he won't hesitate to pay any price, even if he had to sell everything.

The next moment, the payment was deducted from his Bank Account, and an application started to install on his Star Watch.

After ten seconds, a rainbow color icon appeared on his star watch interface with the name 'EAC,' and he opened it with very high expectations.

"Welcome to Element Aptitude Scale Application!

"Description: Now you can check your element affinity right on your Star Watch without any need to go through cumbersome, expensive rituals.

"[NOTE: Please note that a star watch of a particular grade can only measure a particular rarity of elements.]

[You are logging in from an Advance Type-1 Star Watch, which can only measure Primary (Basic) and Rare Elements. If your Element Aptitude Scale result is 'Unknown,' then it means you have Element Belong in Scare or high element category. Thereby you need a type-2 or higher-grade Star Watch.]

"[Do you want to proceed with the Element Aptitude Scale Test from this device?]

"Yes/NO"

Jacob narrowed his eyes, 'So there is still a variable of element rarity, huh? Well, I shouldn't be worried about it since I'm supposed to be a Blanker, which means I should have an affinity with multiple elements, and I just need to increase the highest one to 100%. So even if I have scarce elements like lightning, light, dark, and so on… it won't matter much...'

With those thoughts in his mind, Jacob pressed 'Yes,' and the interface changed as a scanner scream appeared before words started to flash past his star watch screen.

"Establishing a connection with Star ID…

"Star ID detected!"

"Type-1 ID Detected: Faceless Ancient [NOTE: This Scan will be Free of Charge and all the recommendations can be bought at 90% discount.]"

"[Scanning has been commenced!]"

Jacob suddenly felt his wrist heating up before a very light current suddenly started to pass through his skin. This scanning was even more intense than the Life Force Scale.

'Just what kind of technology has been used to create these watches? The moment I tried to open one of them, they will instantly self-destruct like a small bomb. While in the type-1 Star Watches case, I can't even find a way to open them as if they are made with fabric…'

Jacob couldn't help but think about some of his crazy experiences when he tried to peek into a Type-0 star watch and ended up blowing it. He was naturally curious about these watches and wanted to see just what kind of technology was used, but he was met with a terrible failure.

The moment he tries even to separate the rubber band-like material of type-0 Star Watches, they would instantly explode.

But the most astonishing thing Jacob discovered was they would only explode if he tried to deliberately separate them, not if they got stabbed by some sharp object or cut accidentally.

Not only that, if a star watch were stabbed or cut, it would get fully destroyed, meaning the internal structure would somehow automatically obliterate itself, turning into fine black powder but not with a blast that occurred if someone tried to open it deliberately.

The former was clearly done to protect the technology from someone like Jacob's ideas, while the latter was done not to harm the wearer who accidentally broke it.

Nevertheless, Jacob was completely awed by the mind of whoever invented this thing and would very much like to learn from this person if he ever got the chance.

Anyhow, from that point on, he completely dropped the idea of dismantling a Star Watch. At least his current knowledge, skills, or equipment available for him were not capable enough to do it.

As for if this thing could still be spied upon, Jacob knew it was completely possible, but he also knew he wasn't at that level yet where he could draw the attention of someone like the creator of the Star Watch.

Since he was very sure the Star Watch security couldn't be breached by anyone, not even those highly intelligent AIs seemed to be capable of it.

At this moment, the result was finally out.

"Element Aptitude Scale scan has been fully completed!

"Element Affinity Detected: 1

"Affinitive Element: Water

"Affinity Rate: 3%

"Recommendation to increase Water Affinity best for the Teas Taker (Faceless Ancient: 2

"Recommendation: 1

"Rated: Average (Below 20% chance of succession)

"Price: 10 ZC (After 90% Discount Deduction)

"Recommendation: 2

"Rated: Good (Below 40% chance of succession)

"Price: 100 ZC (After 90% Discount Deduction)"

Jacob frowned, looking at the result, 'Only one element of affinity? According to my research, a Blanker has multiple element affinities at less than 100% rate and can even add more as long as it doesn't have 100% affinity. That's the sole reason this kind of individual is called Blanker.

'So, I'm also supposed to have more than one element affinities since I'm a Blanker. Or is this work another way around? Is this thing even working right?

'Not only is it showing only one element, but it's giving me a pitiful rating of 3 percent. But this application was recommended on the manual I bought from the champion shop, so I don't think it's a fake or scam. Then why is my result like this? Am I even blanker or not…'

Confused, Jacob had various questions about this result but pity no one was available to answer them, not even Immortika. Furthermore, his talent in magic seemed quite poor with that kind of single affinity.

One could even say he didn't have talent at all.

Frowning, Jacob decided to give it another try, but this time he changed his star watch with another Advance Type-1 star watch. He now had many of those lying around in his storage after he killed so many people over a week ago.

Furthermore, he was going to ask Hallberg to sell them for him since they took up quite a lot of space, and his purpose in collecting them was to sell them in the first place since they were in high demand on the market, especially the high-level star watches.

Jacob easily logged in on a new Star watch without needing to log off from his original one. No one can log into his Star ID without his special life signal.

Speaking of which, his original star watch from the champion shop was of higher quality than the one he was now wearing. But he still wanted to confirm if this result was accurate or if there was a problem with his star watch.

When he conducted the same scan on the new star watch, the result appeared identical, and he changed it into his original star watch with a gloomy expression.

'I should check those suggestions now. Since I have an affinity with water, it doesn't matter if I have an affinity with another element or not. I just needed to increase it to 100% and then learn water-type magic…'

Jacob quickly let go of his confusion about the blanker thing since it clearly didn't matter much if he didn't care about having some rare element. Although it might be possible to form another affinity, he had no method for it.

So, he was happy with what he had right now, which were the two suggestions that could help him increase his affinity with water, and he bought both of them without hesitation!

After buying the two recommendations from the Element Aptitude Scale, Jacob opened one of them without hesitation.

"Recommendation (Average): Affinities of an element are graded in Faint (Lower than 10%), Low (Lower than 20%), Half (Lower than 50%), Incomplete (Lower than 80%), Complete (100%).

"Your Water Affinity is Faint (3%). The most common, effective, and safe way to increase the affinity of a basic element like Water, from Faint grade to Low grade, is by absorbing the Element Particles.

"Element Particles are the primitive state of any basic element, and only with a unique combination of these elementary particles can a basic element come into existence.

"Water element is made with two unique element particles known as Oxygen and Hydrogen. To increase the water affinity from faint grade to low grade, it is recommended to absorb Oxygen into the Magic Orbits until it crosses the 10% threshold.

"Then it is recommended to start the abortion of Hydrogen into the magic orbits until the half grade. At last, once the magic orbits will mold with oxygen and hydrogen together, they will be ready to absorb the Water element force directly from the treasure rich with water element energy.

"Method to absorb the element particles is very simple, just expose your body to element dense with the specific element particles, and once the body fully gets used to the element particles, they will automatically start to enter the magic orbits.

"Disclaimer: This method is very slow, and there is even a slight possibility that it will not work entirely. There is also over fifty percent possibility that you might suffer from extreme pain because of directly exposing your entire body to the element particles. Once the element particles start breaching the magic orbits, the initial pain will be tripled.

"Recommendation (Good): Make a magic element serum of basic elements and directly inject it into the bone marrow. This method is fast and highly effective despite being extremely painful.

"A Magic Element Serum is a special serum made with a special recipe that only a Potion Alchemy Elder Grandmaster can create.

"Recommended Dosage: 1000ml of Water Element Magic Serum."

Forget about the second recommendation, Jacob's eyes were affixed on the first one, and he was reading the entire thing again and again. In contrast, his eyes shimmered in astonishment and disbelief.

Because right now, only one thing was circulating around Jacob's head, 'Isn't this abortion of the oxygen the same effect I experienced whenever I practiced the Art of Nature?!'

Jacob felt his mind blown away as realization dawned upon him, 'Don't tell me the water affinity I have is also because of the Art of Nature?'

Jacob felt a huge veil had been lifted from his head, and also, he suddenly felt like he was a fool. Because he had been neglecting the Art of Nature for a long time as he thought he no longer needed it after awakening the fluid acceleration.

But Jacob also wasn't to blame for this because who could think that some life-prolonged exercise from a magicless world could grant the affinity to perform magic?

Not only that, but this Art of Nature has five different levels or exercises, and Jacob hasn't even managed to complete the first one, Water Meditation.

But now, Jacob felt like he was searching for gold outside while he had a treasure chest filled with diamonds right in his home.

Suddenly, Jacob couldn't help but ground his teeth, 'That goddamn book probably knew about the secret of the Art of Nature, and it even dropped a subtle hint about when I inquired about Blanker. If it had told me straight, I wouldn't have wasted so much time in a goose chase and might've already awakened magic…'

The more Jacob thought about it, the more frustrated he became with Immortika's habit of hiding things and playing riddles without caring about the consequences or severity of the situation.

Jacob knew better than anyone just how much he wanted to use magic, yet he was helpless in this matter for a long time. He might not even felt all this anger if he hadn't discovered the Art of Nature's hidden effect.

But now that he did, he was naturally furious about wasting so much time and money to find out about it when he could've learned it without doing all this if Immortika had told him or dropped a more solid hint, at least.

Now, after walking in circles, here he was back to square one, and he could literally hear Immortika's wanton laughter filled with amusement after finally watching him figure it out.

Jacob didn't know what was making him more flustered, the fact about Immortika not telling him or him being stupid enough not to fully dig deep enough into the Art of Nature's true capability.

He started the Water Meditation because his body size would increase after he ate so much, but after he got the fluid acceleration, the problem was solved. He also didn't get much chance or time to pay attention to the Art of Nature, which had no further use for him anymore.

In the end, he could only blame himself for being an idiot who completely discarded a method that wasn't even fully explored just because he got another convenient and powerful one.

After lamenting at his own idiocy, he finally calmed down and regained his calmness, but the coldness in his eyes couldn't be colder as he closed the star watch entirely.

'In the end, it's my fault, and I should still consider it an achievement to find out about it before it's too late. The only thing worth learning from all this is, 'I can't discard things that I still have yet to understand fully and that Cursed Book's riddles can't be overlooked even for a second…'

Afterward, Jacob made up his mind, and he was no longer in the mood to do anything anymore. No, after knowing he might be able to use magic or discover something new as long as he completes the Water Meditation.

With his current strength, Jacob knew he should be able to do it quickly, and all he had to do now was to find a place with a huge water reserve, and he just knew where to find one!