Super Righteous Player
Chapter 216 - 214 Minimalist Cycle_1

Chapter 216: Chapter 214 Minimalist Cycle_1

Cracks on Annan’s body shimmered with dazzling, splendid brilliance.

They were like countless eyes.

But upon closer inspection, it could be seen that within those cracks there was no flesh, only boundless void and endless darkness.

However, within this infinite darkness, myriad points of light twinkled like fireflies, piercing through with their luminescence.

The sky turned overcast at an extremely fast pace, obscuring the morning sunlight.

Under the gloomy sky, Annan gradually floated into the air.

Pieces of light burst from his cracked body... as Annan moved, these specks of light too swayed with a slight delay, as if inertia was at play, causing a strong sense of dizziness to the onlooker.

That was a supremely magnificent and sublime holy posture.

But the players were discussing it from a different angle:

"—These wings are really in the way..."

"—It’s fine, only half of the butt is covered, I think it’s totally okay!"

"—He’s even barefooted! It would be better if he had long hair..."

"—There are muscles on Annan’s back???"

"—Wait, does this count as gold?"

"—Hey, do boys count too?"

"—Of course, they do!"

"—To be honest, these lights are making me a bit dizzy..."

"—The position of those wings is like those of a succubus..."

"—Annan with his body cracked open and glowing looks like a final boss that’s about to kick the bucket any second..."

"—Annan: I’ve cracked.jpg"

"—Annan: I can’t close up.jpg"

"—Isn’t this a Seraphim? I remember Seraphim have multiple eyes, and Cherubim have multiple wings."

"—But I also remember reading that a hundred eyes is a characteristic of Thrones..."

"—Seraphim don’t have physical forms, their supposed appearance when manifested as four wings and four faces, Annan is still three faces short. As for Thrones, their image before the fifth century was that of a wheel ablaze, adorned with countless eyes, representative of ’the carrier of Divine Power’."

"—So are you saying that the current image of angels is anthropomorphized by the painters of those years? Like modern ships, guns, food, and Pokémon?"

"—Shut up, it’s not the same!"

"—Wait, something strange has been mixed in..."

"—Don’t bring up cross-world lore discussions; the Mist World doesn’t have angels, right?"

"—As far as we know, it seems not..."

"—Wait a minute, has this thread gone off topic? Wasn’t this supposed to be about praising Annan?"

After this post appeared, everyone suddenly paused.

Then, the atmosphere became harmonious once more.

"—Then I can."

"—Then I can +1"

"—Now that you say it, I kind of want to see what Annan looks like when he changes back..."

"—Then I +1."

"—Then I +1+1."

...

To focus his attention on confronting the Corrupt Wizard, Annan did not check the forum.

Otherwise, he might have chuckled benevolently and handed out week-long chat bans to a few of those who were particularly jumpy.

Right now, Annan maintained deliberate calmness and indifference.

From the wings that shrouded his body, he pulled out elven skin gloves with many tiny tentacles that hadn’t fully retracted and put them on his hands.

The hammer and kitchen knife had already been blown away by the earlier blast, but the gloves were light enough to be caught by his wings.

The Corrupt Wizard merely watched Annan’s actions from a distance, asking in a gentle and soft voice, "Are you ready?"

Facing Annan, who was stalling for time, He did not seem impatient.

"—Yes."

Annan looked at the Corrupt Wizard and chanted expressionlessly.

His voice echoed repeatedly through the air in an instant.

His ice-blue eyes had already solidified completely into gemstones.

A hint of silver-white, vertical pupils flickered within.

Thunder roared immediately following Annan’s voice.

The next moment—buckets of ice rain crashed down without warning!

Before even reaching the ground, the ice rain was dyed and frozen by white frost.

In the blink of an eye, it turned into countless ice flowers twisted and grew upwards like crystal thorns.

This was the "Ice Rain" that could slow down thought processes.

—This was Annan’s Soul Reaping spell, Thoughts as Rain!

Originally just meant to transmit the Spell of Disabling, the ice rain now instantly created a new battlefield as Annan’s powers surged.

Yet facing the streets that froze over in the blink of an eye, the Rotten did not panic at all, and he did not even move.

He simply stood there, maintaining a mild smile on his face, lightly raising his right hand as if in prayer.

As the Rotten made this strange gesture.

The ice from in front of Him to in front of Annan suddenly shattered at the same time!

Annan felt himself being torn by a bizarre invisible force, nearly ripping him in two, a strong sense of threat suddenly welling up at the bottom of his heart.

...What is this?

With a thought, he floated up.

Without his feet, he moved aside like a shadow dragging a trail of light at high speed.

And as Annan moved—the ice on the ground where he passed also bursted with a loud bang.

Annan slightly raised his right hand.

A Wheel of Frost formed in his hand without any chant.

Its hollow patterns were more luxurious and intricate than when Annan chanted it himself. Its details were so vivid one could even see traces of wear. It looked less like a wheel of illusory light formed by energy and more like some lost artifact had been summoned back into the present...

Annan did not throw the wheel of light.

Instead, he swung it horizontally, slicing through the air behind him as if wielding a blade!

With the sound of something brittle shattering, Annan smashed some invisible, brittle object.

The Rotten had indeed transformed the ice into something invisible—

But before Annan could take a breath of relief.

The transparent crystal shards suddenly appeared before him and hung stationary in the air.

In the blink of an eye, they sparkled with dazzling brightness.

From these crystal shards emerged blade after blade of light.

A few, a dozen, dozens—

The swiftly multiplying swords of light were encased in a layer of ice the next second.

After targeting Annan, they whirred with a low hum and raced toward him as streaks of light!

Annan rapidly retreated, waving the wheel of light in his hand and smashing the ice swords incessantly. But the shattered ice swords turned into more embryos of light swords—repeating endlessly, proliferating without end.

Salvatore’s pupils contracted slightly.

This is...a minimalist cycle!

In transformation spells, the more complex the elements of a cycle, the greater the ultimate power and the harder it is to control... and vice versa.

But there is an exception.

That is when using two spells to form a cycle—the power can be maximized.

This is known as a minimalist cycle.

It is also known as an absolutely uncontrollable cycle.

Because the "raw material" for the transformation is the "product." Thus, it can infinitely cycle without any intermediary substance, based solely on itself and a single catalyst—

Initially, the Rotten transformed ice into the Gold-rank transformation product "Invisible Columns"—a semi-activated spatial rift used to sever huge objects or send small targets into designated spaces.

What followed were the "Blades of Light." Blades made of fighting-conscious light could autonomously attack enemies or defend objectives, a common guardian mechanism in many tombs.

This cycle is not unbreakable. It could be dissolved by melting it back into ice when it transforms again, or by filling the Invisible Columns with a massive amount of material, stopping the transformation.

But the Rotten had plated the Blades of Light with another layer of ice, initiating a minimalist cycle to achieve the endless replication of the Blades of Light.

To cut the light, one must cut the ice; but the cut ice then becomes new light. To melt the ice with fire, the nourished light can divide a part to become new ice, thus perpetuating the infinite cycle...

Salvatore stared blankly as the light and ice constantly changed under the will of the Rotten.

...Is this the strength a Gold-rank transformation wizard is supposed to have?

What the Rotten was employing was just the power of the Gold-rank.

This was not the authority of a divine being.

But rather the true combat alchemy that could be used by a very skilled transformation wizard—or rather, a "Sage"!