Super Righteous Player
Chapter 543 - 84 The Calm Before the Storm_1

Chapter 543: Chapter 84 The Calm Before the Storm_1

Having set a date with Naifertali, Annan left the Greywood Forest alone.

Of course, Annan could not just drop everything and rush to the Bone-nurturing Ground with Naifertali without saying a word.

That would seem too eager.

It might actually give a bad impression.

One might even start to wonder, "Am I being set up?"

Even if that was not the case, such thoughts depend solely on the person having them. Once the seed of suspicion is planted, it will continue to grow silently, whether or not it’s spoken aloud or shared with others.

... And in fact, Annan couldn’t go even if he wanted to.

Because he hadn’t reached the Gold tier yet.

Both his real body and the silver-tier stand-in, "Giralda," were silver. Although Naifertali couldn’t determine his exact rank, the Bone Healer, Seti, surely could.

But that was okay.

After all, Annan had the blessings of the Book of the Celestial Chariot, making nightmare purification a simple task.

Once all the players arrived in the Underground City, Annan could even send the players to scout ahead. He could find easy nightmares to battle, fight them once or twice, and quickly level up.

Luckily, Naifertali’s older brother, the "Saint of Thieves," Alfonso, was quite resilient.

—He could struggle on for a little longer.

It was mid-February now.

Naifertali had told Annan to come to her in mid-June.

They were planning to reach the Bone-nurturing Ground by the end of June, and the tests would take place three to four days before July 1st.

By that time, the Winter Reverser, Vladimir, would also arrive.

On July 1st, the saint’s day of the Lady of Good Fortune—literally "Great Luck Day"—they would conduct the ritual to replace Alfonso’s vertebrae in stages and transplant the power of the holy relics.

From July 1st to July 7th, a lengthy seven-day surgery.

Splitting the surgery over seven days obviously makes it much more difficult and dangerous than completing it swiftly.

—This was to incorporate the number "seven."

Just as "three" is a mystical number, which can strengthen ritual effects by increasing the occurrence of "three" in the ritual; "seven" is a lucky number.

In rituals where results are uncertain, stacking up the number "seven" within the ceremony can effectively increase the success rate.

For example, having seven Ritualists, seventy-seven participants, using a heptagram as the main ritual array, employing seventy-seven kinds of ritual materials, seven minor rituals, seven cursed materials, and so on.

The skill of a Ritualist is often gauged by how many "powerful numbers" they can incorporate into a standard ritual, as well as how they can add in the required enchanted objects without affecting other objects’ effectiveness, or disrupting the numerical scheme they’ve planned.

Therefore, rituals optimized by skilled Ritualists often end up having some strange, intricate details that ultimately define the effects of the ceremony.

According to Seti’s calculations, only by extending the inheritance period to this extent... could Alfonso have a chance of survival, relying on the residual power of the holy relics.

And it was only a chance.

Even with Seti’s help, hardly anesthetizing and extracting the vertebral bones piece by piece poses a trial for both him and the "heir."

If Alfonso couldn’t endure and died, it would actually simplify things for Annan. Because then they would not need to drag it out over seven days, and could finish it swiftly.

But if Annan couldn’t hold out, then Alfonso would perish as well... Without a gradual place to discharge the power, like a "pool," Alfonso would simply explode.

It’s like the difference between slowly letting the air out of a balloon from the opening, or just puncturing the balloon directly.

Thus, the selection of the suitable candidate must be extremely strict.

Alfonso had no second chance.

It had to be that before the ritual began, the eligible candidates would each be tested in turn.

Although Annan could have simply given his blood or hair to Naifertali, allowing her to take them for remote testing... it was too risky.

In this world, just knowing the real name of another person is enough to attempt a curse killing.

Like with Dragon Blood—handing over one’s own fresh blood in a ritual has its special significance. It’s akin to obtaining the key to a backdoor, and even a namesake stand-in might not offer adequate protection.

Although Annan’s clothes could shield against a significant portion of malevolent spells.

But he certainly didn’t want to test the level of the other party’s ritual skill with his life...

Everyone heard that, right? He asked me to hit him.gif

And let’s not even talk about anything else.

Just the exposure of his true identity could disturb Annan’s plans—the use of rituals to directly locate a true name was far more convenient than DNA testing.

Even Annan knew how to perform such simple rituals.

"...Four months, huh."

Annan muttered to himself.

It was enough time.

It had taken him about four months to advance from a mere mortal to the silver rank after he had arrived in this world.

Another four months should suffice to reach the gold rank with no trouble.

The teleportation point at Delicious Wind Goose had been successfully established not long ago.

At the Sporogenesis Mill, the operation would be over within another week at most.

Afterwards, Annan was going to assign a task to the players... to disperse from the Underground City to various towns and start opening teleportation points.

By that time, it would be feasible to recruit new players.

March 1.

That was when the new round of testing would begin.

To ensure that newcomers had tasks upon their arrival—the best method was to have the veteran players guide them. Setting up a mentorship system with teams of 4+N mercenaries, they would accompany the new recruits to cleanse nightmares and engage in wits and courage against the Diggers and Sages of the Underground City.

As for the major storyline for new players...

Although in truth, Annan had pursued Nicholas II.

But according to what the Paper Princess had said, the more he insisted, the less he would obtain. Thus, it would be better to set the initial boss as "Winter Reverser Vladimir."

After all, Annan had to confront him in four months’ time anyway.

Solomonik was still missing, and although Professor Wolf was theoretically within the boundaries of Winter, as a Wizard of the Idol School, he was too good at hiding. So much so that even Maria, the Lady of the Storm, couldn’t hear him speak.

No need to think further.

He was definitely plotting some conspiracy.

But knowing such a thing was meaningless.

As a follower of the Playwright, the beneficiary of his conspiracy wasn’t necessarily himself. As long as the plot was "spectacular" enough, his goal was achieved.

It could be described as pure chaotic evil.

He just wanted to cause trouble, but whose side he would take or what he would do was completely unknown. It was even impossible to guess.

Annan had also inquired Dmitry. There were indeed no leads on the Winter side, so for now, he could only act cautiously and wait passively—in a more elegant manner of speaking.

Put another way, he was simply waiting to be ganked.

Just waiting idly was not going to cut it.

And compared to Professor Wolf Frederick, whose intentions and positions were unknown, Winter Reverser Vladimir was a much more significant and direct enemy.

This was true both for the current Annan and for the Duchy of Winter.

The old grandmother was about to awaken, which meant that great turmoil was on the horizon.

Though all seemed quiet for now... it could also be the brief calm before a storm.

"...Let’s just focus on leveling up for a while."

Annan slowly closed his eyes.

He wasn’t too keen on returning to Winter for the time being.

After summoning the players on March 1st, he would conduct a secret examination. With a large number of players coming in all at once, even if the Book of the Celestial Chariot was selective, it was inevitable that some might be out of control.

At that time, Annan would first disperse all the unstable players.

Then, in mid-March, he would return to the Duchy of Winter...to have the Hands of Winter create a set of legal, verifiable fake identities for these players.

As for the two weeks before March...

He might as well stay nearby and casually clear a few nightmares of difficult levels to level up.

—Soon, these tranquil two weeks passed just like that.

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