Super Righteous Player
Chapter 242 - 240 Attention from the Pale Princess_1

Chapter 242: Chapter 240 Attention from the Pale Princess_1

[Nightmare Purified]

[Purified the nightmare in a specified identity, evaluation increased]

[Perfectly constructed cycle, evaluation significantly increased]

[Gained the approval of the Pale Princess, evaluation significantly increased]

[Comprehensive evaluation——A]

[Gained 150 public experience points, Perception +1]

[Reward for clearing the instance: Profession (Wizard) increased by 3 levels]

[Hidden element decrypted: 75%]

[Eligible to claim second stage reward (obtained at 66% completion)]

"...Claim."

Annan took a deep breath, pulled himself up a bit so he could lie more comfortably on the pillow.

Exactly three-quarters of the decryption rate, huh...

This did not come as a surprise to Annan.

After all, Annan had only seen through the mechanism of this instance, but he hadn’t cut off this cycle - that would definitely be left for Benjamin to do personally. Moreover, he would need to prepare in advance the items or abilities to intercept and store souls in order to catch Evelyn’s soul the moment it escaped the infinite loop.

Considering that Annan was still able to receive the second phase of the instance rewards... Benjamin’s depth of decryption in this nightmare probably wasn’t as high as Annan had imagined.

This was even the case when Benjamin in the nightmare was facing his "past self."

So it seemed that Benjamin hadn’t completely figured out the situation... yet he had already made up his mind to rescue Evelyn?

"The old man really is a romantic..."

Annan muttered.

[Received instance decryption reward: Cursed item "White Guillotine"]

[White Guillotine]

[Type: Weapon/Tool/Miscellaneous (Deep Purple)]

[Description: A guillotine that has beheaded countless heads and remains as white as jade. The user recognized by the Pale Princess does not need a handle to hold it.]

[Effect: The holder will be subjected to Curse Binding "God’s Decree: Beheader" and "Divine Slice".]

[God’s Decree: Beheader: Within twenty-four hours after it draws blood, at least one head must be beheaded, otherwise, it will behead the holder’s own head; if it causes a "beheading" injury, the beheaded person’s soul will be sent to the Pale Princess, resulting in immediate death of their body]

[Divine Slice: When it deals "slice" damage to a living enemy, it can ignore the enemy’s natural armor, dealing full damage; when it deals "slice" damage to specters, spiritual beings, it can convert that damage into full Divine Arts damage]

"...What a strange thing."

Looking at the guillotine that was gradually taking form in the void, lying steadily on his blanket, Annan fell silent.

To ordinary human enemies...

Beheading meant "immediate death," making the instant death ability not very useful; and without armor protecting the neck, Annan could slice it in two with a kitchen knife, making the armor-piercing ability not too significant.

But it was a deep purple weapon.

Ignoring its usage conditions and talking about the data alone, it was indeed a very powerful weapon.

It could ignore natural armors like scales, muscles, and bones, attack spiritual bodies without needing the Hand of Silver, and kill troublesome enemies with the ability to regenerate indefinitely in one blow.

This was undoubtedly a weapon that greatly specialized in the ability to "combat undead monsters."

As long as the enemy had a neck.

This was genuinely an Undead Slayer.

Gourmet Goose: ?

...From another perspective, its overly harsh use conditions made its cost not so severe.

Once unsheathed (figuratively speaking, as it has no sheath), it must perform at least one successful beheading within twenty-four hours. That meant that if Annan planned to use this weapon, it implied he had to kill at least one person before he could start showing mercy.

...Best to seal it for now.

Wait until I meet an enemy who is difficult to kill before unsealing it...

Annan pictured himself holding a bloody kitchen knife in one hand and a great guillotine resembling a giant kitchen knife in the other, or whirling a hammer with one hand and spinning a greatsword with the other...

He shuddered.

It just didn’t seem quite right.

This wasn’t what a wizard was supposed to look like!

He even thought it would be cooler to hold a kitchen knife in one hand and swing a hammer with the other.

Anan tentatively gripped it, confirming it triggered his "Cross-Weapon Mastery" ability, and smiled with satisfaction.

Worth keeping for use.

Annan pondered for a moment, then crawled out from under the blanket and casually threw on a coat.

After that, he went to find a roll of bandages to wrap up this "White Guillotine."

Its blade wasn’t too sharp. It could almost be considered blunt.

But the curse binding itself was enough to easily behead anyone...

Annan suddenly grew curious.

If he wrapped it up with bandages... would its curse binding still take effect?

If it did.

Would it still work if he sheathed it in a sword scabbard?

To behead someone directly with a sheathed sword...

"...If that’s possible, it would be quite interesting."

Annan sighed with some regret.

It’s a pity that his style seemed to be getting stranger by the day.

However, since he had personally experienced the information about the Half-Living Maiden...

Annan slightly adjusted Xitan Pulan’s respawn point after a moment of thought.

Then, he began writing her a custom tutorial quest.

As a Half-Living Maiden, she had to play the role well.

Just seeing "Received the recognition of the Pale Princess" as an item in the mission score made Annan somewhat anxious.

Annan knew that this dungeon belonged to the Pale Princess.

Benjamin using "Repel Life," a twisted spell, as the core reward of the nightmare... suggested he must have reached some agreement with the Pale Princess.

You see, the side effect of this spell - was to directly plunge one into a nightmare under the control of the Pale Sect.

This kind of twisted spell was not a Divine Art used by the clergy... but a spell that utilized divine power while not being a believer.

The price they paid was to be branded with the traces of the divine power - also known as "influence."

When the influence faded, their souls would be sent directly, crossing regional boundaries and entering specific types of nightmares without a key.

But the nightmares entered this way were certain to have been discovered - but not necessarily cleared - by believers of that deity.

Not all gods could have as many clergymen as the True Gods did. Plus, the clergy did not have to do anything, as they wouldn’t starve as long as they purified nightmares.

For the False Gods, their followers only needed to "discover" nightmares.

That is, the so-called "itinerant priests."

They appeared to be preaching on the outside, but in actuality, they were searching for nightmares. As long as they found nightmares that were close or matched their god’s domain, they could use divine power to anchor them.

- In other words, these were like those dungeons they couldn’t beat or didn’t have time for, uploaded for the Transcendents working to pay off debts to tackle.

The anchored dungeons, if completely purified, would yield divine sigils of the corresponding False God. Typically, those Transcendents would consume these sigils to cleanse their erosion or buy new twisted spells.

This was how those Transcendents on the distorted path improved themselves.

That’s what they call the PVE players who only grind dungeons instead of following the main storyline.

They improved their powers much faster than Transcendents of the same level.

After all, ordinary Transcendents, even if they found a nightmare, would take a long time to explore and learn the pattern. The benefit was that they could delve deep into the secrets hidden within these nightmares... While those who borrowed the power of the False Gods and gained one-off, fast power-ups from nightmares through influence knew at first glance what ballpark the nightmare was in.

Although they could only play once, the probability of clearing it on the first try was higher - the cost was that if they failed, their erosion would skyrocket.

Evelyn’s nightmare clearly fell under the domain of the Pale Princess. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been assigned to Annan.

But it wasn’t discovered and "uploaded."

Right from the start, it was kept with the Pale Princess.

It seemed that because Annan knew Benjamin, the Pale Princess had decided to assign this dungeon to him.

Just the first time, and Annan had already drawn the attention of the Pale Princess.

If he received the influence of the "Throat of Death" a few more times, entered different dungeons of the Pale Princess, or even completely purified a dungeon and received the divine sigil of the Pale Princess...

Annan felt that maybe one day the Pale Princess would come at him with scissors, aiming to steal his head.

Just like a naughty child who’d run off after snipping the fruit from a tree by the roadside.

After all, Annan couldn’t turn into a Half-Living Maiden... Wouldn’t he just have to run away with his head in his hands?

"...Huh, has Eleven also pulled in a newcomer?"

Annan suddenly felt that a new player had logged into this world.

He opened his eyes wide with curiosity and accessed the backend.

Forget it, I’m not sleeping