slowly the formation started to became brighter and brighter till all the light condensed in a sphere of black viscose light, the size of a tennis ball that was floating right above Daniel, before entering his body and positioning in his dantian
from there it started to form a flow of black energy, that went into every corner of his body like some kind of black spider web
when the curse was almost complete, a terrifying energy started to eco from inside the newborn Daniel, like a beast unwilling to be caged, but it was already too late, with one last push the black spider web finished forming, silencing the boiling energy before turning invisible like it was never there
having finally finished, both Vincent and Obelix fell to the ground exhausted, this was a tenth-stage curse and even with the help of a formation vincent was only at the peak of the eighth stage while Obelix was at the start of the ninth stage
so, of course, Andrea did 95% of the job, without her it would have been impossible to even start something like this, just providing a tiny portion of the energy had left them gasping for air, a proof of how big the abyss was between different stages
in the meantime, Andrea was holding the little Daniel as if nothing happened, and while the others were too distracted trying to regain the demeanor of a veteran cultivator, she formed a small sun in her hand and sent it to Daniel while whispering to him "this is the great sun soul-nurturing sutra seed keep it well and good luck"
the small sun started to silently orbit around Daniel's soul spark and kept revolving, waiting for something to wake it up
later at a normal volume of voice, Andrea said "I passed him a partial inheritance so that he can cultivate until his soul reaches the blue level, that way he can at least unlock his innate ability and there shouldn't be any problems, he will then calmly decide if he wants the rest of it, in the meantime every year on his birthday well make him age one year with the help of the formation so that the curse has the time to get used to his innate energy growth"
she didn't want to be deceitful, but this soul cultivation method was special so it couldn't be divided, sadly Vincent and Obelix simply weren't strong enough to guard this secret
if certain people found out that Daniel had the whole thing, they would hunt him down, and bring chaos to the sun federation in the process, but if they didn't know it was fine, no one who had a chance of succeeding would risk it for only the blue soul level
Vincent who had regained his composure said "I know between us it's not needed, but I want to thank the both of you for your effort"
Obelix responded "it's not the first time this happened don't worry about it"
and Andrea added "it's our duty to help the little ones born with the affliction, too bad we can't do anything to prevent it, anyways the disguise is in place everyone will think that it's just a seal"
afterward, the 3 of them chatted for a little while, until Daniel started crying because he was hungry, so Vincent invited them to visit later and left for the Specter castle
on Verulus there were many big cities, but one, in particular, stood out for its dimensions and fabulous architecture, the capital rainbow's city, also called the city of a thousand colors, because of the buildings and houses so perfect and colorful, that they seem to be carved out of precious gemstones, with different colored metal frames, and different colored glass windows creating a rainbow of strange but harmonious colors
in the middle of this city, a majestic skyscraper at least a thousand meters high was made entirely out of what seemed to be black jade and gold, with orange stained windows, this building was the center of government of the sun federation, with a lot of different shaped humanoids and not, leaving and entering at all times of the day
and to the eastern side of the capital, a high mountain stood majestically, surrounded by an ancient forest full of life, with many big and small birds flying around, and different animals wandering in it, a little purple bunny with horns, a blue deer with snake scales, even a blonde bear with a lion mane, making the scenery look like something out of a fairytale
and at the peak of this mountain, a big circle made of rough purple stone, stood vertically with half a dozen stone steps leading into it and white shiny symbols carved around it, inside it a purple vortex leading to the dimension where the specter family lives, on this mountain that also belonged to the specter family
and at this moment Vincent appeared in front of this gate with the little Daniel in his arms, and after a few steps he walked inside the purple vortex, appearing on the other side, descending a few steps, and then walking on a road made of little white and purple pebbles, surrounded by giant trees on both sides
ruining the beauty of this scenery, where the trees, each one of a different variety, some with strange colors too, this punch in the eyes was phoebe's hobby, who collected trees from everywhere and used strange methods and formations to grow them all together, even when the environment needed was completely different creating this ugly patchwork forest.
and at the end of the road stood a castle built in the same architectural style as the capital city, made of what seemed to be dark purple jade, and silver
the moment Vincent was halfway through the pebble path, Phoebe and Joseph appeared at the castle gate to meet him, and Joseph asked "father, how is Daniel"
Vincent put on a smile and responded "he's ok for now but he's hungry" and after gently passing Daniel to phoebe he continued "we should go inside and I'll explain the situation slowly after he eats"
while walking inside Vincent didn't talk, because he had to get his story straight, this was his family and he wanted to tell them the truth but he simply couldn't tell all of it, not because he didn't trust them, but because he, Andrea and Obelix together with the other leaders of the Sun federation decided that the fewer people knew the better
after all, it was already hard for cultivators to have children, and the number of births where decreasing, so revealing something like this was akin to creating panic, if it was really just a seal this would be nothing serious, and people could accept that nature sometimes was flawed and was happy to have a solution even if not a perfect one
but a curse was a whole different matter, it could have unpredictable side effects both on the body and the mind, and some powerful ones even on the soul, cultivators feared curses above anything else, especially since the appearance of the empress of the hive
these spider-like creatures appeared out of nowhere, feeding off of entire civilizations and giving birth to armies, but then one evolved, raising to the tenth stage, this horrendous creature turned into a beautiful woman, who started to want more than just eat and multiplicate, and the most terrifying weapon in her arsenal were the curses that she used to weaken and then kill or control countless experts
even after her mysterious disappearance, her kin was still attacking, making sure that no one would forget her
thanks to the Empress of the hive, cultivators learned to fear curses like ordinary people fear diseases, a cursed person for them was not different from a contagious one to stay as far away as possible
and making things even worse for them was Sophia, who was not only Vincent's wife and Joseph's mother but also Phoebe's teacher and the person who brought the couple together, she was lost in action after being ambushed by the empress a long time ago, her destiny unknown
of course, the curse they use to save the children wasn't like the malicious curses the Empress wields, but for the people, curses were curses it didn't matter what their origin or purpose was
wanting to spare his family the grief and rage that would resurface with those memories, Vincent walked past the entrance, passed by the library, and went into his office to prepare, while the couple brought Daniel to the room that was already set for him full of plushies and toys, with a big baby cot in the middle, and a rocking chair to the left
when they entered, the first thing they did was obviously check on Daniel with their spiritual sense, and just as planned all they saw was a perfect and intricate seal, what they didn't expect was the signature energy of a tenth stage, and as they looked at each other with a shocked expression, both of them started to have a lot of question to ask and grew suspicious
after Daniel was full they activated the baby cot, which started glowing and playing a soft lullaby, Daniel inside it fell asleep soon after, and as they walked out in the direction of the office, the gentle smiles on their faces disappeared, in exchange for a serious frown
entering Vincent's office, he gestured for them to sit with nonchalance, even if inside he was a mess of nerves, soon the couple sit down staring at him waiting for answers, but an elected politician should not be underestimated
in fact, Vincent was the elected president of the sun federation with 21 years still left before a new election in his 100-year mandate, so he started to tell the story he prepared in a calm tone ready to tell most of the truth while hiding the gory details "as you both know the children of high-level cultivators sometimes are born with excessive energy in their bodies, because of the energy we cultivators naturally emanate, and in this cases, the simple solution, is to extract this excess energy and everything is solved"
he then solemnly continued "but in rarer cases, this excessive energy brings forth a mutation or maybe better an evolutionary leap, and the removal of the energy becomes impossible because it is a part of him, so the body can't do without it like it can't do without blood
the real problem is that the body in most cases it's too weak to survive this excessive energy, and for us humans it's weaker than many others in exchange for our astonishing adaptability, even with the use of natural treasures and formations, those that have a chance to survive are the one with the smallest mutations, and the mortality rate is still more than 80%, that's why we prohibited to even attempt this in the Sun federation and choose the much safer seal"
before he could continue Joseph butted in "sorry to interrupt you father, but the history lesson is not needed, we want to know what Daniel's specific situation is, and why a tenth stage seal was necessary"
Vincent's throat went dry for a moment, but his poker face was perfect, normally people wouldn't recognize a tenth-stage energy signature, but the couple spent some time with Andrea so it was easy for them
Vincent maintained his calm outside and told them "Daniel is a special case, but sadly not in a good way" looking straight into their eyes he continued "he has more energy than the strongest ever recorded so the seal needed to be the strongest too"
before they could interrupt him he continued "but there's a silver lining, apparently he has a talent for soul cultivation, and the protector gave him the great sun soul-nurturing sutra till the blue level and even offered to give him the rest in the future if he wanted to continue down that road"
while digesting the information received the room was quiet until Phoebe said "your hiding something"
and Joseph added "a cultivation method of that level isn't something that can be simply given even at the level of the protector, countless experts would go crazy to try put their hands on it, we should try to keep this fact quiet, but since he has it only to the blue level it should be fine"
Vincent who hadn't even considered someone attempting to kidnap his grandson to get the cultivation method, suddenly changed face, for a second a thick bloodlust forged in many wars almost froze the entire dimension, but before anyone could notice disappeared leaving only the couple as witnesses "I hadn't thought about that, but nobody it's stupid enough to attempt that for a blue level soul sutra even if it's the matchless quality one"
matchless is the highest quality anything can reach, but since it's matchless there can only be one of each, so the great sun soul-nurturing sutra is the best soul cultivation method that exists in the universe, and the only matchless quality thing in the entire sun federation