Published at 29th of August 2026 8:31 am

Chapter 1971: Words of Power

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Valerian ran in circles, trying to catch a butterfly.

It would have been a cute scene were it not for the dozens of monster corpses sprawled in the vicinity.

No. It was a cute scene nevertheless.

The group had come out of their hideout to secure food for the foreseeable future, but they were immediately besieged by monsters. Despite it being daytime, there were abundant monsters in this part of the woods.

With the death of so many monsters, the place had grown quiet. Eerily so. At least, for the next few days, other monsters won’t dare come anywhere near this place.

And according to Luca, there wasn’t any Rank 2 monster nearby. So they were safe for now.

The plan was to rest for two weeks before beginning their journey beyond the mountains. Adam needed that time to recuperate. The others understood the need to.

If they wanted to scout the dangerous regions beyond the mountain, then not just Adam, but everyone needed to be at their best.

While Luca skinned the monster corpses and collected edible meat in the distance, Adam and Genevieve stood at a clearing, watching Valerian play.

Adam had a gentle smile on his face as he watched his little brother try to catch a butterfly. It was nice to see the little fellow happy in this depressing place.

"He’s adorable," Genevieve said, glancing at the cat running around.

Adam turned to her and smiled. Then he looked at the three wolves sitting obediently behind her. His eyes flashed with a peculiar light, and he said, "The greater your spiritual energy, the greater your control over the enthralled."

Genevieve turned to him with an intrigued look on her face. "Indeed," she said. "The quantity and quality of spiritual energy also dictate the number of creatures I can enchant."

"What’s your limit as of now?" Adam asked. "Just these three?"

"Yes." Genevieve smiled wryly. "It’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to do so. So for now, just these three."

"There’s no shame in that," Adam said gently. "It would be weird if you had already started enthralling cats and dogs back in the city. Or more sentient beings for that matter."

Genevieve noticed something peculiar about Adam when he said those last words.

"Have you tried?" she asked curiously. "Casting [Enthrall] on human beings, I mean."

"Of course, not!" Adam lied without hesitation. "I’ll have you know, young lady, I am an upright gentleman! A model citizen of society!"

"Sure, Adam." Genevieve resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Though she did not suspect Adam of having enthralled a human.

But he had.

[Enthrall] was merely an inferior version of [Soul Puppetry].

Enchantment magic sought to influence a target and, in more extreme cases, outright dominate them against their will.

[Soul Puppetry] accomplished the same thing, but it was far more sophisticated.

There were two ways this insidious magic of the Devil of Secrets worked. One of them involved completely replacing the target’s spirit body with the soul parasite and turning the victim into a puppet under the caster’s control.

And from Adam’s recent observation, [Soul Puppetry] transcended even life and death. Even now, he could still sense a faint connection to Amon somewhere out there in the depths of the vast universe.

Thinking about this insidious arcane art, Adam’s lips curled upward.

Unless absolutely forced into a corner, he doubted he would ever use [Soul Puppetry] again. He clearly remembered what happened to him the last time he did so.

It wouldn’t have been a problem if all he had to deal with was a heavily injured soul. The Lotus could miraculously heal it with enough time, so that wasn’t the issue.

The main problem was the ravings of the Faceless Mask.

Currently, the Lotus proactively suppressed the ravings. But if it was forced to divert its attention to treating his soul instead, the mad whispers would thunder inside Adam’s mind once again.

A balance had been established between the Eternal Soul Lotus and the Faceless Mask, with the former having the upper hand.

An injury to the soul would mean disrupting that balance, and there was no way Adam would have that. He could endure a vicious, soul-splitting injury, but what he could not endure was going mad again.

"Adam?" Genevieve called out to him, noticing that he was lost in thought.

"Yes?" Adam turned to her, his eyes focusing.

"What’re you thinking about?"

Adam smiled. "Nothing."

He quickly changed the subject before Genevieve asked something else.

"These wolves are easy to control," he said. "But the more intelligent beasts will be difficult. There are many beasts out there whose intelligence is on par with humans. Some are even more intelligent."

Adam paused for a moment before continuing, "What I’m saying is... is this the path you wish to take? That of a beastmaster?"

"I... I’m not sure yet." Genevieve shook her head. "This path is fascinating. But I don’t want to restrict myself to this path. To be honest, I find myself drawn to the words of power more."

Controlling an army of beasts and bending them to one’s will was one branch of enchantment magic. The other focused not on beasts, but on the power of words. It was a far more subtle and insidious path.

Rather than directly controlling the body, practitioners manipulated the thoughts, emotions, and desires of those around them. A carefully chosen word could inspire trust, sow doubt, kindle rage, or extinguish a person’s will to resist.

With enough mastery, an Enchantress could influence entire groups without any of them realizing they had been manipulated.

They could make an enemy believe an ally was their true foe, convince a hesitant man to act without fear, or quietly guide the decisions of those in positions of power.

The strongest practitioners of enchantment magic didn’t even need to stand at the forefront of the battlefield.

They could remain in the shadows, pulling invisible strings while others carried out their will.

In that sense, this branch of enchantment magic was less about controlling people directly and more about controlling the choices they made.

Unbeknownst to Genevieve, this was what the mysterious women of the Domina Occulta specialized in.

It was the reason they were so feared across the universe.

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