Super Righteous Player
Chapter 626 - 167: Contact with the Taboo Nobles of The North Lands_1

Chapter 626: Chapter 167: Contact with the Taboo Nobles of The North Lands_1

"It seems that news from the Winter Principality doesn’t travel very quickly."

Annan couldn’t help but laugh, "With a little investigation, they should have known that I’ve acquired a silver necklace."

Such a design isn’t attractive.

It can only serve as a vessel.

These assassins must have thought that I was still a Ritualist."

They specifically chose the Fourth Drought Collection Gallery for the assassination because this place is Vasily’s territory."

Although Annan’s mastery of mysticism isn’t deep now,

he also knew... using ritualistic power on another Ritualist’s ritual ground is almost impossible."

It’s like a program with no comments, written in an obscure way that only the person involved can understand.

If you try to insert a piece of code you’ve written directly... it will inevitably result in endless errors.

The more distinctive the personal style and the more powerful the Ritualist, the more this is so."

Their ritual grounds will reject all other Ritualists’ rituals.

Take for example, "Black Cat’s Footsteps" that Annan saw.

In common rituals, "Black Cat’s Footsteps" usually signifies "silent steps" and "the life of the hunted is already dead."

But because Vasily "played a fusion card" with a female cat, she’s practically shouting ’big brother’... this directly caused the meaning of "Black Cat’s Footsteps" in her ritual ground to become "Vasily stands upon this ground."

Vasily can thus teleport to any location marked by "Black Cat’s Footsteps" within the gallery; she can also inflict damage on her enemies from afar, as if she was standing right there."

There are many more situations of this type.

In certain specific environments, the intrinsic meaning of something naturally changes... A typical example is the wedding and the funeral.

To facilitate the owner of the ritual ground, the definition of "ritual pointer" will be modified. For example, rituals that require special external conditions, like starlight in a particular position, or a specific date or state, can be substituted with something else within the ritual ground, to bypass these inconvenient requirements."

And these substitutes themselves cannot be used in other rituals. Any universal ritual involving this pointer is bound to fail... and the consequences of a ritual failure are either death or severe injury.

"But... aren’t they afraid of you?"

Annan was somewhat puzzled.

Although he couldn’t use rituals here, Vasily herself was right here, wasn’t she?

Had they sent a silver-tier assassin to deliver their own head?

Or did they believe that sealing Annan’s ritualistic abilities was more important than sealing Vasily’s?"

"You don’t understand, they planned to kill me too."

Vasily scoffed.

If outsiders are not fully aware of all the elements within the ritual ground, they cannot use rituals there; similarly, the best way to kill a Ritualist is to tamper with their ritual ground."

"As soon as I entered today, I noticed that although the collections themselves weren’t moved, the positions of several vases had been discreetly shifted. One of my ritual pointers is ’the eye of a sailor with thirty-three years of seafaring experience,’ and it’s been replaced with a similarly colored human eye; I’m also missing a bottle of ’Black Cat’s Footsteps,’ the preserved footsteps have been secretly released... so I lost my own footstep sounds.

"Their goal, obviously, was to have me fail in my rituals while fighting against them. Afterwards, an explosion caused by the disruption of the wizards’ gathering could be blamed on a ritual failure of mine."

Vasily scoffed, "But they believe... that this level of trap could kill me?"

"A bunch of fools. I have walked further on the path of rituals than all of them combined. The moment I entered, I already sensed that the inner chamber’s arrangement had been tampered with..."

"The ’Eye of the Fool’ had opened before I walked in, but it only opens its eyes when someone approaches it; the ’Black Cat’s Mist’ fluctuated too frequently, which means that the curse-materials within the room with ’Cat’ elements had lost their balance... And I had already arranged them to be completely balanced. All things considered, there were too many oversights left behind."

The female cat sneered, "Only the brutes of the Northern Union could be so foolish.

"Their territory is already being invaded by the Mist, and every year it recedes inward by more than ten meters.

"In other countries, this might not mean much."

Vasily glanced at the three unconscious assassins and coldly explained, "But our cities in Winter are protected by small magical barriers that control temperature. The city closest to the edge of the grand barrier, ’Watch Fortress,’ has already begun migrating inland on a large scale... because when the grand barrier closes in on the protective small barrier of a city, the small barrier that only provides warmth is immediately shattered by the grand barrier that can block curses.

"Winter gales pour in—meaning the complete extinction of a city. Other cities will face pressure from the migrants from The North Lands.

"According to current data projections, the earliest city protected by a small barrier in The North Lands’ six provinces will make contact with the grand barrier in May next year, and the latest one within five years. In Flannel Province, where Watch Fortress is located, a second city will come into contact with the grand barrier in the third year.

"This means that within five years, seven cities in The North Lands’ six provinces will vanish. This will directly lead to an increase in the number of refugees, a decrease in stability, a significant drop in tax revenue, and power. And seven cities’ nobles and officials will lose their positions..."

"...I understand."

Annan nodded and quietly interrupted Vasily’s narration.

He was now fully aware of why these people were connecting, so frantic and hasty in their grab for power, even to the point of being somewhat disarrayed.

Although the chaos from losing seven cities would only fully erupt in five years.

But the nobility of those seven cities were not fools—if they indeed were, the scholars they supported certainly weren’t.

They would naturally explain to their masters that their carefree days in their territory could last no more than five more years.

Once the grand barrier advanced, they would immediately lose their power, population, land... and everything.

The inland nobles would only feel schadenfreude or become annoyed by the chaos the migrants brought over. They wouldn’t possibly share a portion of their lands and authority.

Unless...

They could obtain more.

For example, an entire duchy.

"Yet internally, they are still fragmented. Although all six provinces of The North Lands are in the northern part of Frost Speech Province, some are more to the south, others further north... The more southerly it is, the stronger the survival in the constant shrinking of the grand barrier."

The cat woman spoke leisurely, "After all, no one knows how long this contraction will last. So those great nobles whose core lands are further south, as well as the smaller nobles whose territories are a bit safer, are not very panicked... even somewhat delighted. But those six or seven city-states furthest to the north are already anxious to the point of hopping around."

She swished her tail, resting it on the table—Annan then realized that Vasily actually had a very long tail.

Vasily said with significant implications, "In order to preserve their power, these befuddled foolish nobles are willing to try any taboo.

"Assassinating the heir to the Grand Duke is one such method, communicating with the Winter Reverser and the Icebreaker Army is another, and stealing military Frost Beasts for independent research is also one...

"And daring to try the power of demons. That too falls within reason."

"The power of demons?"

Annan frowned, "You mean the path of corruption?"

"That’s part of it."

Vasily briefly responded, "I’m speaking of curse energy."

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