Millennium Witch.

Chapter 142-141- The Curse of the Demon God
Having crossed the abyss and arrived at the Land of the End, he was rescued by the legendary goddess, the Silver Witch, and even gained the opportunity to become her apprentice. For Lant, a country boy who had just lost his family, the past two days had been like a dream.

On the first night, he didn't even dare to sleep, fearing that everything before him was a dream, and that every time he closed his eyes and opened them, he would see the burning village again, and the corpses of his parents and sister lying in front of him again.

But what he didn't expect was that this happiness only lasted for the first few days, after which his life plummeted into a deep trough.

The reason is simple: someone dislikes him and hates him. That person is Abella, the witch's servant.

When they first met, he didn't realize this. He just thought that Miss Goddess was aloof and liked to keep a sour face and not talk much. But the next morning, when he ate a sandwich from the cooler and was humiliated by her with the words "Can't you take care of yourself if you have hands and feet?", he could clearly feel that she really seemed to hate him.

This doesn't really make sense, because yesterday, the witch allowed him to eat the food in the refrigerator. Besides, he's just an ordinary person who needs three meals a day, and he's not at the point where he can abstain from food.

But since the maidservant had spoken so directly and in such a harsh tone, Lant, a child with self-respect, immediately put the rest of the food back, left the manor, and went outside to find food.

The foraging process went quite smoothly. The aberrations in the central area had all been cleared out by the skeleton soldiers. He found a nest of wild eggs in a hidden corner formed by the collapse of an overpass and had a hearty meal.

But after he finished eating, when he returned, he was attacked by the maidservant again. The reason was that he had gotten himself all dusty while hunting outside, and when he changed into slippers, he was criticized for being dirty just by walking into the house.

Lant sincerely apologized and quickly borrowed the bathroom. However, he didn't know how to use the bathing facilities and, in the dead of winter, took a bath in ice water, nearly freezing to death in the bathroom.

When he changed into his bathrobe and came out trembling, he fell to the ground due to muscle spasms. This made the maid even angrier. She showed no pity and told him to get up and wipe the water off the ground and not to hang his clothes out to dry in the manor, lest they get in the way.

Lant endured the pain and got up to wipe the floor. After he finished, the maidservant had already left. He stood there, feeling a burning sensation in the corner of his eye. He immediately raised his head to stop the tears from falling, then silently returned to his room, hung his clothes to dry in the bedroom, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

This went on for many days.

Since it was a probationary period and he hadn't become a formal student yet, the witch basically didn't teach him anything. She only gave him a notebook, and the rest was left to his own devices. He had to solve everything himself or ask Abella for help.

But the servant girl disliked him in almost every way. Not only did she forbid him from eating the food from home, but she was also extremely impatient when he asked her questions. It was as if even breathing was wrong in front of her.

Lant knew why; young people who have lost their families are often precocious. He quickly understood that the servant girl's aversion to him stemmed entirely from his own actions.

Because he is too ordinary.

The demon race once had a glorious history and legends, but now the demon race is just an ordinary branch of the human race. Their talent in magic is even inferior to that of the human race. And Lant is just an ordinary village boy with an unremarkable appearance. His magical talent is only average in the village. What makes him worthy of becoming a student of the gods?
If he were the son of the Flame Dragon King named Dugrabi, he wouldn't be treated this way. If he were a genius like His Majesty the Supreme Demon King, then perhaps the Divine Servant would have been finished before even being treated coldly.

But he was nothing special; he was just an ordinary, ubiquitous rural boy with a life full of hardships.

Such an ordinary identity is itself enough to be considered an original sin.

Realizing this, Lant became even more silent. His dissatisfaction with the Divine Servant vanished, replaced by an even stronger obsession with becoming stronger. This was not only for revenge, but also to prove to the Divine Servant that the Witch's judgment was correct, that he was worth investing in and nurturing, and that he could live up to everything the Witch had taught him.

In the days that followed, apart from going out to get food, Lant spent almost all his time in his bedroom, staying indoors all day. His only entertainment, besides meditation and studying, was to stare at the scenery outside the window for a while and think about his deceased relatives.

He was like a madman, even reciting basic rune knowledge in his dreams, and turning all the sarcasm and indifference from the Divine Servant into motivation to spur himself on.

Driven by such madness, he managed to learn the basics of runic literature in just over seven months. Even Rosalind, who was initially obsessed with runes, took a year to learn the same amount of material. Not to mention Dugrabi and Abella, who each took more than five years, it was completely inefficient.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Lant's talent surpasses theirs, but rather that this is similar to memorizing vocabulary; hard work is more important than talent.

Rosalind was able to complete the course in a year, partly due to her incredible effort and partly due to her immense passion. Lant, however, lacked that passion; his mastery in seven months wasn't just effort, it was sheer relentless hard work.

But he could only fight desperately.

For a country boy as ordinary and lowly as a weed, fighting desperately is the only way he can change his fate.

……

One summer afternoon, Yvette was sitting in her study, exploring the uncharted territory of potions, when she saw Lant knock on the door and come in, looking tired but full of energy, to report on his progress.

"You've already finished studying that notebook?" Yvette asked in surprise.

“Yes, Lady Witch,” Lant said respectfully.

After a quick check, Yvette fell silent.

In fact, she wasn't completely unaware of Lant's humiliating and subservient life here. But since Lant didn't contact her, she pretended not to know.

Because if you were to question Abella, she would have something to say—she worked diligently as a maid here, her status second only to the master, and then some random wild child came along, calling her "auntie" upon meeting her, and even without any special talent or status, wanted to become the master's student, ranking higher than her. How could she tolerate that? Especially the food in the cooler, which were snacks she had specially made for the master, and the wild child had eaten several of them; it nearly drove her crazy.

So Yvette thought that would be part of the evaluation. First, she could see the boy's personality and way of handling things. Second, as an avenger, if he had the opportunity to go back, he would have to go through all kinds of dangers. Enduring humiliation and hardship was an inevitable path. If he couldn't bear it and collapsed, then he wasn't meant to be.

However, to her surprise, Lant neither argued with Abella nor tattled on her. Instead, he accepted everything and turned all the ridicule into motivation, learning the basics at an incredible speed. Such a strong mind is truly rare.

Without saying anything more, Yvette gave him a notebook containing some spells and requirements, mainly for practicing the mastery and control of spells.

This is the final hurdle: the talent test.

Judging from his meditation techniques, Lant's cultivation speed is not fast, and his talent is average. However, there is another aspect that also relies on talent: mental strength. If he performs well in this area, he still has a good chance of passing the assessment.

……

In the blink of an eye, spring has passed and autumn has come; a year has gone by.

Completely baffled by her research into necromancy, Yvette turned to studying potion-making, intending to enhance her practical application in the field of runic medicine.

Abella spent her days idly, and when she was bored, she would torture Lant. However, because Lant had learned the basic runes in just seven months, which was an astonishing achievement, her attitude softened slightly, and she was now willing to guide Lant on the essentials of spell practice.

Of course, it wouldn't be accurate to say that she actually liked the guy. She simply felt that the chances of him passing the probationary period had increased significantly, so she cautiously adjusted her attitude slightly.

Unfortunately, Lant's magical talent was surprisingly mediocre. Not to mention his slow meditation efficiency, his ability to manipulate spells was extremely poor, a situation that was difficult to improve no matter how hard he tried.

So, that afternoon, after noticing this, when Lant finished practicing outdoors and returned to his bedroom, Yvette stopped him and asked, "Is your talent really only average in your village?"

“Yes,” Lant said respectfully.

"Is it your problem, or is the magical talent of the demon race really that poor?"

"I'm sorry, Witch..." Lant lowered his head in shame.

"No, what I really want to ask is, with such poor talent, how did the Demon Race survive in the Demon Abyss Continent?" Yvette asked.

She had felt something was off before, because in Rosalyn and Dugrabi's descriptions, the Western Continent was a very terrible place, and all the races living there were much more powerful than their counterparts on the Eastern Continent.

The most typical example is the goblin. In the Eastern Continent, the goblins are a weak, green-skinned intelligent race that even goes to the human world to work. However, the demonized goblins in the Western Continent are powerful and vicious. During the war between humans and demons, they were the nightmare of many soldiers.

But the demon race is very strange. Apart from their appearance, they are similar to humans in every other way, and their talents are even inferior to those of humans, which is obviously illogical.

“My clan… my clan has always been cared for by the previous Demon King. Even earlier, I heard my grandfather say that my clan actually has very strong innate abilities. We were once the most powerful clan in the Western Continent, and the strongest among all branches of the human race. Even the demons of the abyss were afraid of us…” Lant said hesitantly.

"Then why did it turn out like this?" Yvette asked.

"Grandpa said it's because our ancestors angered the demon god and were cursed, which is why they turned into what they are now..."

“A curse?” Yvette raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Hmm... but I don't know if it's true or not," Lant said hesitantly.

Yvette hesitated for a moment, then said, "I'll draw some blood from you to study it."

“Yes, Lady Witch.” Lant bowed respectfully.

Ivy nodded and immediately went upstairs to fetch medical equipment to prepare for a blood draw. From Lant's description, the curse from the demon god seemed to have directly affected the genes. Coincidentally, the Origin Civilization also had the concept of curse magic, but it was too rare and basically existed only as a concept without any actual content.

By studying Lant's demon blood, she might be able to glean some clues about the so-called demon curse.

(End of this chapter)