Annan hadn’t yet seen the details in that fragment.
The images floating before his eyes began to swiftly rewind, as if time itself were flowing backwards—
He felt his consciousness suddenly "receding."
It was like standing on the street and suddenly being bumped into, taking a couple of steps back, and snapping awake in an instant.
When Annan opened his eyes again, he saw the "bloodstained knife" on the ground emitting a foul green smoke with a sizzling sound. The curse materials had been completely incinerated, and the blood-soaked heptagram was defaced with numerous shallow cuts.
The system alerts popped up belatedly, showing just three short lines:
[You have used the "Initial Influence: One Step Ahead" in the ritual]
[You have used the "Initial Influence: Endless Echo" in the ritual]
[Ritual: Fragment of the Prophet has failed due to "missing key materials"]
Annan was momentarily startled.
"Lord Vasily, it seems that the ritual has turned into something called ’Fragment of the Prophet’."
He promptly asked, "The influence from the Mirror Domain has also been consumed, is that okay?"
Vasily was also surprised.
He walked forward, crouched down to examine the ritual site, and pondered: "I see..."
Then, he explained to Annan with a smile, "You’re not at a loss. Your goal was to create a cursed object, and the combination of two influences will make it stronger.
"’Fragment of the Prophet’ is a complex ancient ritual that requires a High-Level Influence to perform. In the era before the School of Prophets even arose, ancient people would use this ritual to give children with divine qualities, meant to play the ’Prophet,’ glimpses into the future.
"This ritual even necessitates the construction of special buildings for the site, and the ritual itself must last more than three days. The materials we have prepared now wouldn’t possibly sustain the completion of this ritual.
"However, it appears that under the catalyzation of a certain component of the ’Refuge of Good Fortune’ ritual, the influences from the ’Mirror’ and ’Blade’ domains can combine into ’High-Level Influence: Fleeting Bubbles’..."
Vasily muttered, quickly jotting notes into his notebook.
He didn’t know under what specific conditions this influence was catalyzed.
After all, Mirror is the domain of the new God "Man in the Mirror", who hasn’t been active on the earth; therefore, his influences are quite scarce. This influence might even be rarer than "Fleeting Bubbles"...
But for now, best to note it down first.
Annan also asked Vasily for a piece of paper and quickly summarized the future fragments he had seen in his vision to prevent them from slipping from his memory like dreams upon waking.
After a brief silence, both of them had quickly finished noting down what they needed to remember.
"How long was I in the ritual?"
Annan casually inquired, "It felt like not even five or six seconds."
"Not that exaggerated," Vasily couldn’t help but laugh, "From the moment you lost consciousness, about three minutes went by."
...That was indeed very quick.
Too bad, he didn’t hear Miss Luck’s voice this time.
If he had heard Miss Luck’s voice, he probably would have received another influence from the "Luck" domain, like a "Residue of Miss Luck" or something...which would be a little troublesome.
But Annan was also very curious.
After all, he had only ever heard the voices of two True Gods...
If he didn’t count his grandmother’s incomprehensible Dragon language, then the Silver Baron was the only one thoroughly understood.
Based on the title alone, "Miss Luck" might be a goddess with a cheerful personality. Plus, this familiar name made Annan a bit curious...
—No wonder she keeps laughing ’ahahaha’ all the time.
As the unpleasant green smoke on the cleaver slowly dispersed, Annan stepped forward to pick up his beloved small kitchen knife.
Then, to Annan’s surprise, he discovered that its name had actually changed:
[Annan’s Boning Knife]
[Type: Weapon/Tool (Purple)]
[Description: A sharp boning knife with countless reflections, perhaps one you could never throw to the end]
[Effect: Each time this item is thrown, the wielder can choose to throw it either as a "reflection" or as the "real thing." When thrown as a "reflection," it will still deal normal damage to enemies, but the boning knife will disappear after the attack, like the Spell from the School of Prophets called "Mirror Projection." After the mirrored boning knife shatters, it will reappear in the hands of its owner. ]
[Effect: The wielder will be subjected to the Curse Bindings "Ruin Artist," "Active Throw," "Strike First."]
[Ruin Artist: If the wielder, holding "Annan’s Boning Knife," sees a portrait of a middle-aged woman, they must throw the item within three seconds, or else they themselves will be wounded by it]
[Active Throw: When this item is thrown, it will automatically seek targets within a small range as if the eponymous Decree School spell "Active Throw" had been cast on it]
[Strike First: When the wielder is already locked on by an enemy and the attack has not yet succeeded, throwing this item at the attacker will automatically lock onto the attacker and the flying speed will triple, as if the Divine Arts of the Blade Domain called "One Step Ahead" had been cast on it]
—It even got named after Annan!
"Wait a second, this strange effect..."
Annan looked at the boning knife which no longer bled, had undergone some subtle changes in design... and most importantly, its blade flickered with a hint of cold light, and he felt a distinct twinge of awkwardness.
It was definitely strong, indeed...
He could instantly throw this item when he was about to be attacked.
Under the effect of "Strike First" and "Active Throw," Annan could hit any enemy who dared to strike at him, as long as he aimed in the general vicinity.
This, this is...a counter-attack?
And a charm made using the "Endless Echo" seemed rather powerful, too.
The specialty of the mirror domain turned out to be unlimited throws!
Although only one knife could be thrown at a time, it was roughly equivalent to a boomerang blade that was guaranteed to return...
Suddenly, Annan was struck with a somewhat wicked thought: He was getting the urge to fleece the Reflection’s wool a few times.
Although he couldn’t say the functionality was of great use, it felt like it would come in handy quite often.
Observing how his boning knife that was originally almost used purely for cuteness and mainly to complement his own Curse Bindings had become a powerful purple-quality weapon, Annan almost couldn’t resist the urge to dismantle his grandmother’s mysterious knowledge into a High-Level Influence and then make it into equipment.
I wonder if, after adding my grandmother’s influence to this kitchen knife, it could slow people down after hitting them...
Annan looked down at the powerful weapon he had just acquired, his expression growing subtly complex.
For some reason, this kitchen knife always gave him the illusion that he "should maybe beef up a bit"...