Super Righteous Player
Chapter 668 - 209 The King of the Fallen_1

Chapter 668: Chapter 209 The King of the Fallen_1

After ending the one-way video call, Annan furrowed his brows and hunched over in his chair, deep in thought.

No matter how he thought about it, something seemed amiss.

—If their goal was simply to obtain a very large number of Gold-rank Transcendents, then they wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble.

It’s highly likely that they’ve already started tapping into the Curse Cellar.

Which means they’ve already acquired cursed energy.

They just need to mass-produce and then kill some Bronze-rank Transcendents to obtain the "base" for creating nightmares.

Directly using cursed energy to multiply the rewards from clearing a challenge by dozens or hundreds of times, they’d max out Bronze in one run, smoothly advance to silver in the second, max out at silver the next time, and then prepare to advance to gold—

Simply by providing the power of curses. Cursed energy could definitely accomplish such a feat with ease... This at least could ensure a large number of loyal subordinates reach the peak of silver without any risk.

And there wouldn’t be any danger.

Isn’t that attractive?

Yet, it seemed as if the initial aim of the Northern Brotherhood was to acquire something that "transcends pure gold," a purified object...

Does that make sense?

Their fundamental purpose should be "to prevent their comfortable lives from being destroyed by the progressively contracting grand barrier." Assassinating Annan, contacting the Icebreaker Army, raising private soldiers, and even constructing the Curse Cellar, extracting cursed energy, communicating with the fallen—these were merely "means" and not the "goal."

Those foolish nobles, eager to preserve and consolidate their power, were indeed not smart, and would certainly try any taboo—it was a desperate move, or they’d be dead soon anyway.

Therefore, judging them based on the taboos and intelligence of ordinary people seemed unreasonable.

But this plot was excessively, exceedingly, immensely large and not a quick success.

It was neither safe nor controllable, nor was it effortless and swift.

How could those cowardly and short-sighted fools, who had muddled their minds, choose such a path as their first option?

"Eliminate all the impossibilities, and what remains must be the truth..."

Annan murmured to himself.

So, there was only one conclusion left.

—There was at least one traitor among the power layer of the Northern Brotherhood. He had to have absolute speaking power that could overpower other noble aides.

No, calling it a betrayal might not be accurate... because he didn’t care at all what would happen to the Winter Principality. So, he wasn’t on Annan’s side either.

Remember, even if those nobles were fools, the "domestic brains" giving them advice were definitely smart people.

Just relying on the few words obtained from Saltpeter Ranch, Longjing Tea could immediately sense that something was off... Those aides definitely could also see that there was something wrong with this plan.

Yet it was still being implemented steadily.

That implied that the person who proposed the plan possibly held a rank much higher than the others. This could be why the others, though aware of the issue, wouldn’t openly oppose it.

Even just offering the line of providing demon blood from Saltpeter Ranch was enough to get a rough idea of the plan. This indicated that the plan had reached a completion degree of "it wouldn’t matter even if it were disclosed to partners."

—This made even less sense.

Then, Annan’s side wouldn’t have been attacked by just two or three lowly fallen.

If they had already obtained the "fulfillment of gold," it wouldn’t be as simple as dispatching a few silver-rank-level fallen to assassinate Annan—it would certainly be a 25-person team composed of Gold-rank Transcendents that would directly steamroll over Frost Speech Province...

The difference in power between Gold-rank Transcendents and Gold-rank fallen was not even on the same level.

Kafney once told Annan that the essence of a Transcendent’s power was to transform the soul with curses, while the essence of a fallen’s power was to transform the body with curses.

Let’s not even discuss the destruction caused by the unstable nature of the fallen’s minds.

The true defect of the path of the fallen was that they still possess the "gaseous soul" of a Bronze-rank Transcendent.

A characteristic of the fallen was that their souls were "like black smoke," whereas the souls of Gold-rank Transcendents "shone like diamonds, bright as rainbows." This means that the demonized fallen could hardly gain much Elemental Power.

They are even less likely to ascend to godhood—because during the ascension ritual, only the soul can ride the heavenly chariot into the world of light.

—All of this is due to their souls not being of sufficient quality.

And what Annan knew was even more than what Kafney told him.

For instance... Annan had learned that "Elemental Power" was not an original essence power of this world. It had filled this world only after the forefather lit the Philosopher’s Stone.

And the Philosopher’s Stone is the "Blood of the World" in The Void World, its status equal to that of solidified cursed energy.

—In other words, The True Philosopher’s Stone was most likely stolen from The Void World by the forefather.

Before that, the only thing left for souls that reached the "Stigmatization" rank was "nobility."

If no one could use Elemental Power, then the path to sublimation would always be inferior to the contemporaneous path of corruption before the sublimation ritual was completed.

This made Annan think of the conflict between immortals and demons...

Because the path of corruption is a "beastly way" that transforms the body with curses—in a world rife with curses, this might just be the correct path.

Only if the path of corruption was more effective and powerful than the path of transcendency, would it have value to be passed down.

Otherwise, it would have been eliminated already in the several thousand or even tens of thousands of years of civilization history.

"On the Mysteries of Fate and the Dice’s Halves" mentioned, "To ascend is to leap, to descend is to tread step by step." This is an implicit way of mentioning the difference between "the path of sublimation" and "the path of corruption."

—That’s why the sublimation ritual is called "sublimation ceremony."

Because this is inherently a unique aspect exclusive to the path of sublimation.

It’s precisely because those who know about the sublimation ceremony find it too easy to associate it with the path of sublimation. That’s why high-ranking transcendents changed the ancient name "the path of sublimation" to "the path of transcendency," with the aim of keeping this secret.

No matter how Sui the Father obtained the Philosopher’s Stone, this world is now full of Elemental Power. Only the path to sublimation could fully utilize this strength... This is an epic enhancement to the "Stigmatization" rank of the path of sublimation.

Annan immediately realized—the True Gods were hoping to increase the number of "divine beings" through this kind of "version enhancement."

He was all too familiar with such tactics... Altering player behavior tendencies through "enhancing" and "weakening" is the basic skill of a numerical planner.

After all, divine beings can only be born through "the path of sublimation." And once at the Stigmatization rank, one can only wait for the birth of the Book of Truth... Before reaching the Truth Rank, those on the path of sublimation must continually face setbacks, and the birth of the Book of Truth is without pattern.

Is this reasonable?

As if it’s healthy to stay in this™ thin mint.

It’s the addition of the concept of "Elemental Power" that allows "strong, pure souls" to truly become a power within reach.

Even if there are a dozen demons, it would take only two or three Gold-rank transcendents with ample soul reserves to easily annihilate them without a trace.

Lucky for you guys your mana bar is short.png

The two brothers from the Saltpeter Ranch would have probably been taken down with two hits from a saint, one swing per person, if they didn’t have the secret of Genesis—of course, saints are actually at the Truth Rank as well.

But you can also tell that there are definitely no multiple Gold-rank transcendents in the Northern Brotherhood.

Because the entire Winter Principality simply doesn’t have any wild Gold-rank transcendents—the Hands of Winter are bound to the silver rank, and illegal silver-rank transcendents trying to advance in the Winter Principality are all captured, monitored, imprisoned, or expelled by the Hands of Winter.

The current Frigid Wight Tower has yet to select a new Tower Master.

So apart from the Lady of the Storm, Maria, and Vasily, known as "Beauty of Imbalance," who can resist Gold ranks in special circumstances, the only Gold ranks in Winter are the Pope of the old grandmother and the "Human Divine" of the Melvin family. The latter two are not forces directly belonging to the Winter family.

This is the weakest period for the Winter Principality—unless you count that ancestral shaking ritual which is not known to outsiders.

The Northern Brotherhood hasn’t attacked yet, and the only possible reason is that they are noobs.

Even if they had two Gold ranks they could have come over for a fight, to redraw their territory lines. If they had more than three, they could basically invade Frost Speech province, take Annan and Ivan hostage, and "command the princes by capturing the emperor."

So, they certainly have not completed the experiment of "Feast on Gold."

And it’s not so much that, but the person who proposed the experiment who limited them... Otherwise, with their Curse Cellar already built, they would have probably started mass-producing a silver army by now.

Annan narrowed his eyes slightly.

—He remembered something else.

Being the "lord at the northernmost point of the map," the Northern Brotherhood really doesn’t have much money.

So, how did they persuade the corrupted forces of the Saltpeter Ranch and Nata County to remain loyal to them? According to the character of these corrupted beings, they should have turned around and sold their partners out, coming to the duke to seek rewards instead.

Unless they were hoping to get something else from them.

From this viewpoint...

"...Could it be that a Shadow Sovereign has emerged in the world of the corrupted?"

Annan murmured with concern.

Someone who could cross national borders and control all the corrupted beings.

The Northern Brotherhood was just a pawn under their control—pawns used to produce "Feast on Gold."

And their ultimate purpose in acquiring [Feast on Gold]... was, obviously, to break free from the path of corruption.

Who could possibly control the corrupted from Noah, The Underground, and Winter at a distance, crossing national borders—what could such a person be like?