The Strongest Curse Master
Chapter 379: Innate Curse Tool: Vyasa's Womb

Chapter 379: Innate Curse Tool: Vyasa’s Womb

“Vyasa’s Womb?” Ace repeated, confused.

“Yes. My innate curse tool’s ability is based on a similar concept to Sage Vyasa’s boon to Queen Gandhari — hence the name. I won’t bore you with all the details, but here’s the gist: Vyasa helped Gandhari give birth to 100 sons and one daughter by cutting a lifeless lump of flesh that emerged from her womb into 101 pieces, then placing them in jars filled with clarified butter — ghee — for two years.

Similarly, my curse tool can give birth to the spirit of a curse core or curse tool placed inside it, turning them into either a curse spirit or a curse tool spirit. Of course, it takes a lot of curse energy and time on my part. It’s just like pregnancy minus the fattening and pain. But I can reduce the time needed for birth by feeding more curse energy into Vyasa’s Womb. Unfortunately, it can only give birth to one spirit at a time… but I have a feeling that’ll change as I grow stronger and more skilled in using it.”

Ace’s eyes widened as Lyra grabbed him by the shoulders, her gaze locked onto his. “Ace, your big sister hit the jackpot. From now on, we’ll never have to worry about money again!”

Unlike Lyra, Ace wasn’t thrilled. In fact, he wanted to slam his forehead into the nearest wall.

She wasn’t wrong — with her curse ability, the Landers would never have to worry about wealth or resources again. Curse spirits and Curse tool spirits of all tiers are worth almost 20 times their counterparts. But the real question was, would the Lander family be able to enjoy the fortune earned from trading the curse spirits and tool spirits Lyra created?

That… was another story entirely.

Just like Ace, his older sister had forged an innate curse tool with a miraculous curse ability — one she wasn’t strong enough to use openly. If she did, she might suffer a fate even worse than Dee3’s tragic past. After all, who wouldn’t want to monopolize a known source of infinite curse spirits and curse tool spirits? If not for his own miraculous curse abilities, even Ace might’ve been tempted.

“Tell me about the loyalty of the curse spirits and curse tool spirits born from your innate curse tool,” Ace asked, choosing not to share in Lyra’s excitement.

“I… I don’t know,” Lyra admitted. “They should be loyal to me, right? I mean, since my innate curse tool gave birth to them, I should be considered their mother.”

“They’re curse spirits and curse tool spirits, Lyra. They don’t understand the concept of family. All they know is hunger for curse energy — and fear of death,” Ace replied, speaking from experience. Compared to the cannibalistic Curselings, curse spirits and curse tool spirits were relatively neutral. But at the end of the day, they were still cursed entities. Expecting them to understand and abide by human concepts was, in his opinion was naive.

“Oh, what do you know? You talk like you’ve done a Ph.D. in Curseology,” Lyra shot back, rolling her eyes. “We won’t know unless we try. Now give me a curse core or a curse tool so I can test it out.”

She extended her hand toward him expectantly.

Passing a mortal-tier Rust Worm core to Lyra, Ace watched as she summoned a glossy black diamond Goli bottle, within its codd-neck sat her radiant curse core acting as the bottle’s stopper.

But just before she could feed the core to Vyasa’s Womb, Lyra paused. Lifting her head, she looked at Ace and gravely asked, “You’re strong, right? You weren’t just bragging to impress me?”

Though Lyra believed in the universality of maternal love, she wasn’t willing to gamble with either her life or her brother’s. She needed to be sure he was strong enough to stop the curse spirit her innate curse tool might produce, just in case things went south.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Ace replied with a resolute nod and steady eyes. Reassured, Lyra confidently fed the curse core to Vyasa’s Womb.

However, her expression quickly darkened. “Ace,” she confessed, “it’s going to take two years to give birth to the curse spirit. And during that time, I can only use one-third of my total curse energy — the rest will be tied up nourishing the unborn spirit. Also, once the birth process starts, it can’t be paused or interrupted. If I force it, we lose the curse core or curse tool involved in the process.”

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Little bro, I didn’t hit the jackpot… I pulled a dud.”

Ace raised his eyebrows in astonishment. As miraculous as Vyasa’s Womb was, it wasn’t nearly as convenient or user-friendly as his own Cursed Toybox. It came with heavy conditions and limitations, making it powerful, yes, but also risky and impractical.

Seeing his sister’s devastated expression, Ace couldn’t help but suggest, “You said feeding it more curse energy can shorten the birth time, right? Try using the curse energy from these curse cores.”

He handed her a couple of Knight-tier Changeling’s curse cores. Just as he was about to explain how to use them, Vyasa’s Womb greedily absorbed the cores the moment they touched Lyra’s hands, surprising them both.

Before Ace could complain, Lyra burst out excitedly, “Ace, hurry! Give me ten more — each one shortens the birth time by two months!”

“Sure,” Ace replied, quickly passing over more cores. One after another, they were devoured by Vyasa’s Womb. Soon, a red glow began to pulse within the black diamond bottle — like red lightning was trapped inside. The brilliant light overwhelmed the radiance of Lyra’s curse core, which served as the bottle’s stopper.

Seeing this, Lyra exclaimed, “It’s done!”

“Let it out. Let’s see if it’s loyal to you — it’s so-called mother,” Ace said dryly, his voice thick with sarcasm. He still doubted any curse spirit would care for a maternal bond when hungry.

Lyra shot him a glare, then slowly slid her thumb into the bottle’s mouth, preparing to release the curse spirit and prove her baby bro wrong. After silently confirming with Ace that he was ready to intervene if needed, she narrowed her eyes and firmly pushed her thumb in, popping the bottle open.

A flash of red light erupted from the bottle, escaping into the room — and then, in a blink, the energy formed into a worm-like creature… before instantly turning invisible, using its racial ability.

Neither Lyra nor Ace could see the Rust Worm Spirit. Lyra began to panic, while Ace, knowing that DD and his other toy summons were in the room, remained completely unfazed. They patiently waited for the Rust Worm Spirit’s reaction as Lyra attempted to make contact.

“Ace, can you sense it?” Lyra asked, her voice trembling as she slowly stepped closer to her baby bro. The grotesque form of the Rust Worm spirit still haunted her, but she mustered her courage and bravely tried to connect with it. Forget getting a response from it, she couldn’t even sense it. So, she turned to her brother for help.

“Yes,” Ace replied with a nod, his eyes on the black bottle still in Lyra’s hand.

“Where is it?” she asked, now standing right beside him.

“On your innate curse tool—trying to fuse with it and devour it to satisfy its hunger,” Ace said, relaying what DD had just told him.

“Aah!” Lyra shrieked, throwing her innate curse tool away in a panic and twirling before Ace, asking, “Tell me it’s not on me!”

“Relax. It only goes after cursed items and tools,” Ace assured her calmly. Then, with a curious expression, he added, “Interesting—”

DD just informed him that the Rust Worm Spirit had failed to fuse with Vyasa’s Womb despite its repeated attempts. Ace speculated whether this was because Rust Womb Spirit attempting to consume it would be considered cannibalism, since Vyasa’s Womb had given birth to it.