Chapter 111 - 86: Mo Ning, You Know So Much
The Eye of Truth performed a pixel-level reconstruction based on the pattern’s edge characteristics, residual markings, and its proportions relative to the surrounding skin.
It ultimately succeeded in restoring some fragmented information—including six complete symbols and dozens of jumbled lines.
The symbols were twisted and bizarre, their strokes holding a deliberate, unnatural quality.
Mo Ning immediately came to a conclusion: ’This is a deliberately damaged pattern.’
To damage the pattern and then disguise it as something resembling a birthmark... he sensed a malicious intent behind it.
He then recalled observing Kanda in the underwater cafeteria for the first time, how the man had shown signs of "nervousness" and "fear."
Mo Ning was finally certain—’There’s definitely something wrong with Kanda.’
His gaze slid impassively from Kanda’s back as he quietly issued a command:
’Compare it with the patterns in the database.’
One of the symbols felt familiar, as if he had seen it in a book somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place it.
But it didn’t matter.
The Eye of Truth would leave nothing hidden in the shadows.
Barely a second passed before the ability presented its findings.
A Light Curtain materialized out of thin air, floating before Mo Ning’s eyes. Displayed upon it was a pattern resembling an emblem.
Analysis complete. The pattern reconstructed from the target’s body shares a 6.87% similarity with this Holy Emblem. Probability of a positive match: 99.64%.
’The pattern was so severely damaged, yet it still found a nearly seven percent match.’
’This was no coincidence.’
Mo Ning struggled to suppress his emotions, his expression remaining as calm as still water.
’He recognized this pattern!’
The pattern on the Light Curtain had an outer ring of fine, sawtooth-like decorations, resembling a beast’s sharp teeth or an ancient thorn totem.
Within its inner circle, three twisted symbols—or perhaps some kind of script—were faintly visible, so distorted they were nearly illegible. The strokes intertwined and pierced one another with an unsettling, bizarre rhythm.
During the half-year he’d spent holed up in the Royal Library of the Holy Spear Kingdom, he had read countless books. Among them were several dedicated to evil organizations so feared their very names inspired terror.
The various Kingdoms collectively called them—the Forbidden Sects.
Within the Wizard Academy system, however, they went by another name—Dark Wizard Organizations.
These organizations usually took the form of sects, secretly recruiting followers throughout the various Kingdoms.
They hid in the shadows, gnawing at the foundations of the Kingdoms like termites, trading blood and pain for power, and weaving faith from fear and despair.
The Academies strictly forbade using innocent commoners as experimental subjects for Witchcraft, large-scale blood sacrifices, and any "research" that came at the cost of others’ suffering.
And these were the very activities Dark Wizards reveled in.
The sins committed by these figures, who consorted with shadow and darkness, were nothing short of horrifying to the average person.
The images that the Third Level Apprentice, Stone Soul, had once shown in the Lecture Hall didn’t even scratch the surface.
Mo Ning had read countless grisly accounts in the Royal Library.
For example, a Dark Wizard Organization called the Demon Wolf Sect abducted young children and transformed them into bloodthirsty werewolves.
The children were force-fed potions laced with the blood of wolf-like Magic Creatures. In excruciating agony, their bones were torn apart, their muscles reshaped, and their sanity shattered.
The transformation process was exceptionally cruel, with a survival rate of less than one in twenty for the children who underwent it.
As another example, a Forbidden Sect called the Mother of Life enjoyed capturing adult men and women brimming with Life Energy to perform a blood sacrifice ritual known as the "Advent of the Mother of Life."
During the ritual, the victims would be cut open, chest and abdomen, while still alive, and have their still-beating hearts torn out.
Those hearts were then placed on an altar, an offering to an entity whose very name could not be spoken.
As the guardians of order, the various Wizard Academies naturally could not tolerate such atrocities.
Thus, the Academies had never ceased their crusade against the Dark Wizards; the two sides were mortal enemies.
And now, the circular pattern deciphered by the Eye of Truth was the very Holy Emblem of a Forbidden Sect that Mo Ning had seen in one of those books.
The key point was this—it was a Holy Emblem.
Every Forbidden Sect had its own Holy Emblem, which served as a token for believers to identify one another and as a credential for approaching the sect’s inner circle.
Mo Ning’s earlier suspicion that Kanda might be connected to Dark Wizards had been just that—a baseless, intuitive guess.
Now, the Holy Emblem had turned that guess into fact.
A thought flashed through his mind: ’Kanda must be a follower of a Forbidden Sect. What is this sect plotting by sending him to infiltrate the Academy?’
’There’s too little information. I can’t figure it out yet.’
Soon, Mo Ning emerged from the Secluded Path.
He subtly slowed his pace, putting some distance between himself and Kanda.
Anya and Reina slowed down as well.
The three regrouped, falling to the back of the crowd with a silent understanding.
The Noble Lady’s gaze drifted over, a questioning look in her eyes, which were as clear as a lake.
Mo Ning gave a slight nod.
Anya understood at once.
It was as if a natural rapport existed between the two; they had completed an efficient exchange of information in mere seconds.
Reina keenly perceived this small detail.
The Dazed Girl lightly bit her lip, her expression turning a little downcast.
Mo Ning’s gaze grew distant.
His mind was already wrestling with another question: ’How can I "squeeze" the most value out of Kanda?’
’Report him?’