Super Righteous Player
Chapter 588 - 129 Purifier Detection Device_1

Chapter 588: Chapter 129 Purifier Detection Device_1

The notebook in Thirteen Fragrance’s hands was filled with various pieces of intelligence that now spanned three pages.

Although Thirteen Fragrance was reluctant to admit it at heart,

the items Husky brought back had indeed provided a wealth of information and intelligence.

——And they were indeed very important.

"All these foods and beverages are hot, and almost all of them are intact. Combined with the unusually small number of utensils, it can be roughly deduced that... when these people disappeared, the objects they were in contact with also vanished."

Thirteen Fragrance let out a sigh, set down the pen, turned to the beginning section of the notebook, and narrated, "Apart from the seating, there was only one thing that didn’t disappear with its owners. That was the gold jewelry."

Husky’s short-term memory was rather reliable.

He remembered clearly——several gold rings were not picked up from a cabinet or drawer, but from the ground.

To be precise, they were beside the seats.

If it were just one or two, it could be said to be a coincidence. That they just happened to fall beside the chairs.

But with three gold rings falling next to the chairs in different rooms, a ring, and a gold necklace falling on beds in different rooms——that seemed a bit off. After all, it was gold jewelry; how could someone casually throw it away?

As long as one noticed this detail, one could easily deduce the truth. After these people disappeared, only the gold jewelry had fallen directly where they vanished.

"The room we are in is room 203. The number of guests in rooms 201 to 208 are one, four, Justus, three, three, two, four, one, respectively.

"If we count ’Frederick’ as a guest of room 203, then with rooms 204 and 205 as the central line, the number of guests on either side is perfectly symmetrical."

The "base room" is shaped like a double-layered cake. After cutting out a small circle in the middle, everyone’s room is fan-shaped. And rooms 204 and 205 are the two closest to the entrance.

If the entire base room were to be split in a perfectly symmetrical manner, counting Frederick, it would indeed be symmetrical from left to right.

"If it’s some sort of mysterious ritual similar to those at Ogawa Apartment... then the arrangement in room 206 should be related to room 203."

Thirteen Fragrance looked at the notes, examining them carefully.

He quickly confirmed something.

"...And in fact, only rooms 206 and 203 were completely devoid of any gold vessels or jewelry."

"Gold, huh..."

Annan murmured softly.

He opened his eyes, lost in thought.

After a long pause, he sighed.

"I understand now."

At least he had completely grasped the method Pope Tricino used to set up this nightmare.

Delicious Wind Goose shifted his gaze from the forum in front of him to Annan, who had previously been engrossed in meditation next to him, "watching Thirteen Fragrance and the others with an ’invisible gaze’."

"Gold... Does it refer to Mr. Radiance’s domain?"

As an apprentice Ritualist who had learned some basics, Delicious Wind Goose humbly inquired from Annan.

But Annan shook his head.

"Indeed, the metal ’gold’ symbolizes the sun and signifies ’stigmatization’. Just as silver symbolizes the moon and ’congealing’.

"However, when gold exists as jewelry, it has another meaning."

Annan explained.

"The transmutation Wizards of the Marshland Black Tower believe that they are not transforming one substance into another out of nothing. Rather, a ’newer and stronger’ substance transmutes the old subject into a purer subject, which is also why the power of a transmutation spell gets stronger once it is activated...

"It’s not a snowball effect; otherwise, weaker transmutation Wizards should have disproportionately greater and less controllable powers. It is the iterative transmutation process that purifies the subject... The closer to the endpoint, the greater the resistance. Such resistance is not based on the spell, but on the spirit—meaning the resistance in finding the correct path is higher than that of the wrong one.

"The spirit will tend toward the direction of lower pressure, just as fluid flows toward the side with lower pressure. Ultimately, the transmutation entering the wrong path will ’return to its origin’. That is, a [Cycle] occurs."

Put another way, the transmutation spell keeps cycling, and its power constantly increases... because it’s actually going in the wrong direction.

That is, a sudden plunge occurs in the conversion of higher-level spiritual materials.

Having said that, Annan glanced at Thirteen Fragrance.

——While he was explaining, Delicious Wind Goose was rapidly scrolling, relaying what Annan said as a volley of comments to Thirteen Fragrance as a reference.

But letting him know was no big deal.

"This purification process, since it has branches and can cycle, naturally also has the most ultimate endpoint—the most pressurized end. That is what’s called the ’Philosopher’s Stone’, [unchangeable and cannot be changed by anything]."

That is, "the perfect essence of all elements." A treasure that can transform some imperfect things into their perfect form.

This was the knowledge from the Heath Tower of Black that Annan had obtained from Salvatore.

It was once a top secret known only to the Tower’s Child. But after the inheritance of the Black Tower was interrupted by the Spiritbearers, Salvatore became even more hopeful that it could have the chance to be spread, lest this knowledge be lost to the world if he died accidentally one day.

According to Salvatore, the perfect Philosopher’s Stone is in fact impossible to create artificially.

Unless one perfectly blends all things—because the Philosopher’s Stone was "created" in the same way as the world.

To obtain the True Philosopher’s Stone, one must allow animals to enter plants, let plants enter rocks, let rocks enter the atmosphere, let the atmosphere enter the flowing water, and let the flowing water once again enter animals. They will lose their original definitions and become a mixture that includes the whole world in an unclassifiable way.

From this point of view, the Philosopher’s Stone of the Hermes School could never reach the "ultimate."

Because the Philosopher’s Stone of the Hermes School was made from materials symbolizing all things in the world, creating a "something that cannot be classified." It could be said to be a "sample" of the Philosopher’s Stone... or rather, a "model."

"When the ’golden jewelry’ is placed within the ’circle’ representing the cycle, what it replaces is no longer the ’sun’ or ’purification’, but signifies the ’Philosopher’s Stone.’"

Annan slowly said, "The places you were in were obviously meticulously arranged.

"With the ’circle’ representing the cycle, with ’symmetry’ representing the mirror image, with ’golden jewelry’ representing the Philosopher’s Stone—creating this symmetrical, cyclical... gap between dreams.

"And as the mechanism to start this ritual, a ’key’ is needed. That is, the final step to create symmetry..."

"...I understand."

Thirteen’s pupils shrank.

Upon realizing this, he finally reacted: "Because Room 203 is Justus’s room, and he’s usually alone. And the real Frederick would never consider this place as his own room... So in the actual history, this mechanism was never triggered.

"Only when we, as the cleansers of nightmares, entered this nightmare from the future... Because we replaced ’Frederick’ without having Frederick’s memories, the mechanism would be immediately triggered the moment we entered the instance.

"That’s why the food was still hot, fresh! Because they had just disappeared... or rather, we had just entered the dream."

Frederick’s dream and the nightmare they had just entered were completely overlapping at the start!

The moment the player playing "Frederick" entered the instance, the mechanism was triggered, shifting the dream "Frederick" had into the "gap between dreams."

—In other words, this was actually a mechanism ritual specifically designed to detect "whether cleansers have entered this nightmare"!

As long as this history became a nightmare and cleansers entered, they would be thrown directly into the designed layered dream. Trapping them... preventing them from entering the real history.

Frederick himself, likely never dreamed of this place at all!

...Had Tricino even predicted that this place might become a nightmare and be cleansed and spied upon in the future?

A chill ran down Thirteen’s spine.

But Annan’s eyes shone with excitement.

Pure ritual—could actually achieve this extent?

Even a piece of consciousness returning from the future could be detected and sealed away. Not allowing them access to the true history...

"...So, is there a fourth layer?"

"There really is a fourth layer."

Annan and Thirteen said nearly in unison.

That is the superficial world where Justus "dies," and "Frederick" becomes Professor Wolf...

—The actual historical node.

The next moment, a new main quest appeared in front of Thirteen and Husky:

[Main Quest: Return to the True History]

[Break out of the third layer of the dream]

[Break out of the second layer of the dream]

[Break out of the first layer of the dream]