Super Righteous Player
Chapter 393 - 390 "Several Nicholases"_1

Chapter 393: Chapter 390 "Several Nicholases"_1

"Master Nicholas, have you... made up your mind?"

Bernadino’s Spiritual Body still sat in the wheelchair, slightly tilting his head and revealing a warm and kind smile to Nicholas.

Nicholas II frowned slightly, but he did not say much.

Still, he felt a touch of regret in his heart... At the time he had encountered Bernadino’s remaining Spiritual Body, he hadn’t been able to kill him directly.

Now it was already too late.

By now, the limbs and head of Bernadino’s Spiritual Body had all been restored—his Spiritual Body had fully recovered.

After the full restoration of Bernadino’s Spiritual Body, he could even exert pressure on Nicholas II.

This surprised Nicholas II greatly.

Most Gold-Rank Transcendents are merely advanced to Gold; Nicholas, however, is Gold-Rank because without the Book of Truth, he could only stop here.

In Nicholas’s memory... within the civilization west of the desert, there were fewer than five Transcendents who could contend with him.

The strongest among them was the Mirror Man, who had already successfully ascended to divinity.

The Tower Master of the Frigid Wight Tower, the master of ’Eye of Lag,’ Michelangelo, is universally recognized as the strongest Wizard.

He could create artificial life forms (his statues), could traverse time at will—seeing years into the future in a single glance, and even entering the past to change the world.

Just the charmed objects imbued with his power could to some extent reverse time. He himself could even enter the "past" to attack enemies who were unaware at the time and thus completely unguarded, securing an unbeatable position.

One could say that the ’Eye of Lag’ represents the pinnacle of Wizardly power.

Only by dragging into an extended battle did a fully-powered Nicholas have confidence in defeating him—in that memory, Nicholas was in possession of the Philosopher’s Stone.

The reason for the short lifespan of Gold-Rank is that they must burn their own souls to use Elemental Power; and the more they use this Elemental Power, the deeper its awakening becomes.

But obviously, one cannot survive after burning their soul away.

Therefore, they need to replenish their souls from nightmares, rituals, or various rare charmed objects, or to increase the depth of elemental awakening.

Possessing the Philosopher’s Stone, one cannot replenish the soul they have already consumed, but they can use it as a substitute for burning. And the efficiency of this burning is incredibly high—

With a Philosopher’s Stone made by a Bronze-Rank Wizard, one could replace about one-tenth of a Gold-Rank Wizard’s soul for consumption; for a Silver-Rank Wizard, it’s about 50%. A short battle lasting around three to five minutes typically uses only about 2%-3% of a soul.

This implies not just a simple increase in the resource bar.

—This means that all levels of elemental awakening can be easily raised to 100% depth.

Indeed, the four elements Nicholas had awakened had all been elevated to 100% by him. For your average Gold-Rank Transcendent, this is a crushing advantage.

Yet, when he faced Michelangelo, he still stood no chance.

This was the measure of Michelangelo’s strength.

He was an elderly man who could toy with time and souls.

He was even more powerful than both the Skeleton Duke and the Rotting Husband.

Among the only three beings who had achieved divinity without relying on the Book of Truth, the Skeleton Duke and the Rotting Husband were, in fact, not complete—the Skeleton Duke was somewhat divine, just missing half the truth, while the Rotting Husband could only be considered half a god.

The Mirror Man, Michelangelo, however, was the first true divinity who had ascended to godhood without relying on the Book of Truth.

Not only was his ritual complete and perfect, but it was also sealed in the distant past—to disrupt his ritual, one had to travel back in time.

Yet, the power to travel to the past rested in the hands of the Mirror Man himself.

The difference between using the Book of Truth and rituals is that the Book of Truth exists within the body, fused with the soul; meanwhile, a Ritual Plate is not only external but also anchored in a specific location.

If a ritual is violently destroyed, the False God who ascended in this manner falls.

For example, the Ritual Plate for the Skeleton Duke is the bones buried within the Dirge Principality—just by digging out these bones and reburying them, the Skeleton Duke would lose his power and fall directly.

From this perspective, the Rotting Husband is somewhat stronger than the Skeleton Duke.

Because his Ritual Plate is not yet complete... His power falls far short of normal divinities, and even a newly inherited saint with the holy relics can directly confront him.

...Therefore, targeting him is a very difficult task.

Once the man in the mirror accumulates the newly acquired truths over time, he will probably be able to leap directly to a position even higher than that of the Skeleton Duke and the Rot Father.

——But Bernadino is different.

In the memories inherited by Nicholas II, there is no trace of this man. He had not even heard of him.

Originally, Nicholas II thought that this was because Bernadino was not very powerful and acted discreetly, which is why Nicholas had no awareness of him...

But now, after Bernadino’s Spiritual Body was fully restored, Nicholas II felt an unmistakably immense pressure coming from him.

——This was not at all the same level of strength as when his soul was incomplete.

The previous state was probably one of accumulating power, or perhaps even a self-imposed seal.

...This was definitely a level of pressure that could pose a life-threatening danger to Nicholas.

This made Nicholas II somewhat doubt whether there was a problem with his memory.

——Nicholas had traveled the world for over a hundred years.

How could he have never heard of such a powerful Gold-tier Transcendent?

Or is it possible... that Nicholas deliberately erased all memories related to Bernadino?

Was it because "father"... did not want me to have any association with Bernadino?

"If you agree, I will tell you... about the secrets of your father and your origins."

Bernadino wore a mysterious, gentle smile on his face.

He spoke slowly: "It’s content you absolutely do not know and cannot recall.

"I can swear. If you are unaware of this matter, you will regret it someday."

"...So if I know this, I won’t have any regrets?"

Nicholas II retorted.

The old man only smiled without speaking.

The elegant young man with white hair stared at the old man’s Spiritual Body, quietly and silently contemplating.

Perhaps, this was a trap.

Perhaps it was something Nicholas did not want me to know about this person.

...But perhaps, for that very reason.

I also want——

"...I agree."

Nicholas II responded as such: "But one of the ingredients for the Hermes Faction’s Philosopher’s Stone is the fresh bone marrow of a Wizard. It’s not something that’s easily obtained."

Knowing that this might bring great trouble, aware that it could be noticed by the Stone Father... even fearing that the Stone Father had released his own soul into the world just to set a trap for law enforcement.

But he had a very clear intuition in his heart——

If I do not agree here, I will definitely regret it.

"That’s not a problem."

Bernadino said slowly: "By the way, before you tell me the formula, let me give you a deposit as a sign of goodwill. You can also consider it a gift.

"——[How many Nicholases are there actually]."

The old man’s mouth curved into a slight smile: "You better think carefully about this matter.

"Think hard, Nicholas."