The two quickly headed into the castle and into the core room, which resided within the middle of the island core. Here, the floors and walls were made entirely of metal, and the ambient mana was the densest in this location - it was without question the most secure spot of the island.

“Please take a seat.” Simon said, gesturing to a chair which had been recently placed within the room.

Sigurd simply nodded and sat down, before closing his eyes, saying, “You can start at any time.”

“Right.” Simon nodded. “Please brace yourself, I will be beginning shortly.”

He then took out the well adorned red box that Sigurd had given him and gingerly opened it.

Woosh!

Upon removing the lid from the box, a boundless herby scent filled with vitality emerged from within. Inside the box, Simon could now see a snow white root the size of a finger.

As he removed the herb from the box, he held his breath. He could tell that it was a genuine Root of Affinity, after all.

After just a moment of hesitation, Simon threw the root into his mouth and chewed it slowly, before swallowing. Its taste was rather ordinary, and it was as if he were just chewing some regular old herb.

But suddenly, an explosion seemed to occur when the root passed his heart on its way down.

Boom!

All of a sudden, the energy contained within the root burst out all at once, seemingly trying to escape.

However, Simon was not caught unprepared and immediately surrounded the root with his mana, before separating the energy into smaller pockets meticulously.

Following which, he slowly yet surely absorbed these pockets of energy, one by one.

The energy actually battered his body, attempting to escape, but Simon’s control of his mana was simply too adept. Wherever they would attempt to escape, his mana would move to form an impenetrable wall. And when not a minute had passed, the process was over...

Burp!

After consuming the root, Simon grinned. Sure enough, he could feel that the affinity with mana within his body had risen; now, he could control mana within his body with relative ease.

If before, manipulating the mana within his body was like playing a game using a controller, manipulating mana now was like playing with a mouse and keyboard!

‘Haha, I am yet another step closer to my previous self’ he thought, satisfied.

Afterwards, his expression became solemn as he took out the bottle containing the liquified mana.

Now, it was finally time to rid Sigurd of his curse.

He first stepped up to Sigurd and had him remove his shirt. This was to allow him to better his control of the mana within the man’s body.

Then, Simon placed a palm behind his back and closed his eyes, intently scanning the man’s body.

He nodded ‘Sure enough, I can’t actually feel the curse without mana.’

Unlike corrupted essence, this curse was cunning by nature; it was too well hidden to be easily found. But this was well within his expectations.

And so, he removed the cap from the bottle with his other hand and hurriedly placed his palm on where the cap once was.

Woosh!

Simon’s entire body suddenly started glowing, and his aura skyrocketed, his pupils becoming a shade of blue. Meanwhile, mana originating from the bottle of mana began ceaselessly flowing into Simon’s body, and then Sigurd’s.

“Ugh” Sigurd groaned and his expression quickly paled... This was because of the extreme discomfort that he was facing!

Foreign mana intruding upon one’s body was truly uncomfortable, not only due to instinct, but also due to the fact that a single misstep on Simon’s part could cause his demise. If he weren’t a capable mage with a powerful body, he would have found it impossible to bear. But he merely grit his teeth and held on.

Meanwhile, within Sigurd’s body…

Tendrils of Simon’s mana ceaselessly swarmed about, scanning through every nook and cranny of the man’s body. Right now, the man was practically completely exposed... and yet, Simon couldn’t find the curse.

‘Hmph.’ Simon frowned and began drawing even more energy from the liquid mana.

Now, the amount of mana flowing through Simon’s body every second was equivalent to the amount from several minutes of gathering ambient mana... If he were attempting to absorb this mana, there was no question that he would burst in an instant.

Thankfully, he was merely mediating the transition of this mana using his body as a vessel, and taking control of it while doing so. With the additional benefits of the Root of Affinity, doing so with this amount of mana was manageable, even though it put a heavy strain on his mind.

Now, Sigurd’s body was practically overflowing with Simon’s mana.

Seeing this, he nodded and all of a sudden, his eyes flickered, and an earth-shattering change abruptly occurred in the old man’s body.

Woosh!

In an instant, all of Simon’s mana within the man’s body turned into energy reminiscent of the depths of a jungle - full of life, and vitality.

Suddenly, Sigurd’s eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious. But at the same time, a certain baleful aura within his body momentarily flared up. It was so faint and swift that it could have very well been imaginary. But he knew better.

‘Found it!’

Simon’s gaze immediately sharpened, and all of the nature attributed energy that he had just formed suddenly transformed into a frosty cold energy, freezing the old man solid on the spot. At the same time, he concentrated all of the mana within Sigurd’s body to his shoulder - the site of the curse.

The curse which had its aura forcefully revealed suddenly found itself surrounded by cold attributed mana, which barred its path of escape. And as the curse desperately tried breaking out of the clutches of Simon’s mana, it only found itself increasingly immobilized due to the cold attributed mana piling up on it.

At this rate, it would never escape!

Boom!

Suddenly, the curse no longer tried to flee. Instead, its aura skyrocketed as it released pulses of dark energy towards Simon’s mana. It was finally fighting back!

‘Hmph. Does it think that it can resist my grasp?’ Simon inwardly snorted. Half of the operation was already complete; he had forced the curse into a direct confrontation. Now, all that was left to be done was the channeling of the liquid mana into the curse until its energy was depleted.

At this rate, he was finally confident in his chances of success.

Soon enough, a fierce fight between Simon’s seemingly endless waves of mana and the curse broke out, Sigurd’s body becoming the battlefield...

If it weren’t for the fact that Simon had to limit the amount of mana that he could send at once as to not irreparably damage Sigurd’s body, the fight would have been much more decisive. But alas, exhausting a curse casted with a Supreme Mage’s final breath would not be that easy.

Time passed as the curse resisted, and Simon’s expression gradually paled as perspiration continued to line his forehead.

One minute, two minutes, ten minutes…

When the liquid mana within the bottle was starting to run dry, he was beginning to reach his limit. But right around this time, the curse had finally been suppressed, and Simon immediately sealed the turbid curse within the glass jar that once held the liquid mana.

“Whew,” Simon heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground, utterly drained after the task. Thankfully, after absorbing some of the mana that remained after the battle, he recovered somewhat.

‘That was too difficult! But who would have thought that this old man was actually a Supreme Mage, and that his opponent back then was a Supreme Mage as well…’ he thought with a weary expression as he stood up.

As he had previously sent his own mana into Sigurd’s body, he could naturally tell the level of his magical accumulations and the curse. Indeed, Sigurd had 5 star cores within his heart, and the curse had the strength of one casted by a Supreme Mage!

Meanwhile, the old man’s body which was currently slumped on the chair was extremely bloodied and battered, with parts of his hair being burnt or frozen off, and his clothes tattered to the point of barely covering. But that was to be expected following the treatment.

After resting for a moment, Simon immediately began the process of repairing the damage in Sigurd’s body.

-----

The next day, next to the verdant fields of crops on Simon’s island…

A short old man and a young, average looking fellow were discussing various matters.

“Island Owner Simon, I really do have to say, even if you roughed up this old man’s body a good deal your cure was indeed incredibly effective! I feel as if I were ten years younger!” Sigurd exclaimed with a hearty laugh, after sipping from a cup of wine.

After the old man woke up, he was so excited that he had given Simon an extra 15,000 gold worth of resources on top of the original 15,000 which he owed, saying, “You saved my life. How could I be ungrateful? Gold can’t buy time, but allow me to give you gold anyway!”

As for what he gave which was worth 30,000 golds... it was a singular wand. But this wand was most certainly worth every coin of the 30,000 golds that he was owed!

After all, wands acted as catalysts which allowed mages to cast stronger and more complex spells with the same amount of mana. Simon had been looking for wands for a while, but all of the wands that were strong enough to have a profound effect on his strength were simply too rare and expensive.

Naturally, this form of payment did not dissatisfy Simon in the slightest. With this particular wand, his overall combat power must have increased by nearly 20%, after all.

“Of course.” Simon replied with a calm nod as he gazed out towards his fields of crops. And as he gazed outwards, the edges of his mouth suddenly curled upwards as he recalled a past memory.

“Laws control a lesser person; right conduct controls a greater one. Why bother uttering falsehood when one could achieve the same result whilst remaining impartial?” he suddenly uttered lightly.

Hearing this, Sigurd was taken aback for a moment, before chuckling. “Well said Island Owner Simon! I feel as if such words grasp at the true nature of morality. Your depth of knowledge is truly admirable.”

He then sent Simon a complicated sidelong glance. “But I have to say, your temperament and skills really remind me of an older figure who had seen their fair share of the vicissitudes of life.”

He fell silent for a moment, before hesitantly asking, “If you mind me asking, who really... are you?”

At this, Simon laughed bitterly, saying quite honestly, “Actually, I am a reincarnated person from a world of magic far more advanced than this world. In that world, I have lived 40 years, then I found myself here! That is why I seem like I am not my age, and why my methods are so mysterious.”

Sigurd suddenly burst out into laughter. “Hahaha! You sure tell funny jokes, Island Owner Simon. But don’t worry, I understand. Everyone has their secrets.”

Afterwards, Sigurd only shook his head ‘understandingly’, and wouldn’t take Simon’s reassurance that he had spoken the truth to heart.

Witnessing this scene, Simon could only helplessly shake his head in turn.

He had spoken the truth, but... the truth was so ridiculous that any person who had a brain would never believe him. As a result, such a situation was only to be expected.

-----

A few hours later…

After giving Simon a talisman which could be used to communicate with him, Sigurd promptly departed from the island after thanking him sincerely.

As he watched the airship departing, steadily disappearing into the boundless sky, Simon chuckled lightly to himself. ‘Sure enough, the ripest fruit falls by itself.’

His gaze then turned to the resplendent wand in front of him.