Super Righteous Player
Chapter 697 - 238 Gold Refinement_1

Chapter 697: Chapter 238 Gold Refinement_1

The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead.

If translated directly, it could be understood as "the living skeleton."

Because it was related to "skeleton," Annan paid particular attention to this term.

...Speaking of which, this nightmare of the Otherworld level was also born after the Skeleton abandoned the domain of "skeletons."

Thus, "Elle" did not hesitate at all.

She inquired, "’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’... What is it?"

"As the name implies, the remains of those who are dying but not yet dead,"

Euphie said in a low voice, touching her own hair.

More than four-fifths of her hair had turned into a heavy silver-grey, like mercury, with only the tips seeming to have some vitality left.

"...This is the proof that the ’Curse of the Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’ is nearly complete. If the curse fully takes effect, I’ll turn into a faceless corpse."

She narrated in detail, suppressing the fear in her heart.

——The material manifestation of the Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead is a skull.

If you’ve seen a human body model, you’d understand. That type without eyes, without a mouth, without hair... just a blank face with only an outline of the head left, like a plaster statue.

It’s like the "skull" of that kind of plaster statue model. The spine, oral cavity, flesh, and brain all need to be extracted... What’s left in the end is a silver-grey, hollow skull that, if put under strong light, you can see through.

That is the Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead... also known as "The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead."

"Because it’s already a skeleton, it won’t be killed by a curse anymore, nor will it be killed... In this world, it’s counted as a deceased; but because it hasn’t died yet, it can still bear curses and can still possess desires. Having completely lost sensory organs, a body, and a brain, their thoughts are frozen at the last moment before death.

"And according to the research of the Melvin family, such ’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’... are still considered a person. They can be used as a ’keeper of secrets’ for Curse Binding, and rituals can be performed to transfer the cost of failing to cleanse nightmares onto The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead.

"From this perspective, sending me into a marriage alliance is a kind of grace... because those who are sent into marriage alliances are those whose curse of the Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead will be erased. Of course, the curse binding for secrecy still needs to be signed."

Euphie said slowly: "But I don’t want to comply with them.

"——They disgust me."

What kind of expression was on her face then?

It wasn’t just fear... but also anger, hatred, disgust, and an intensely strong sadness.

"Many people have been curious about why there are so many newborns in each generation of the Melvin family... while there aren’t many ’elder family members’ capable of developing abilities for fetuses, and there aren’t particularly many young men and women ’sold off’ for marriage alliances, and there’s only one inheritor of the God among Men. So where did all the others go?"

The corners of Euphie’s mouth lifted slightly, revealing a cold, mocking smile lacking any emotion: "They usually only have two uses... either to be made into ’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’ or to create ’Death Cocoons.’"

The so-called "Death Cocoon" is an "unstigmatized solidified soul."

If a silver-rank Transcendent fails due to exhaustion of obsession during their advancement to gold, they become an empty shell that has lost its mind. This is the "Death Cocoon" — endowed with the everlasting body and soul of gold rank but no longer capable of perceiving the world or controlling the body.

Like a butterfly that never broke free from its cocoon.

"The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead need to be placed for over a dozen years, or even several decades, before they can be normally used. And during these decades, they must be located within ’the world of man.’ They are hidden in the bedrooms of godly children, studies, crevices in walls, or any nook and cranny..."

Euphie’s words made Selicia involuntarily feel a chill down her spine.

...A young child who knows nothing and isn’t allowed to leave their dwelling, and their living space is filled with a great number of "skulls"?

"And if the [Melvin] family needs to, they can combine ’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’ with ’Death Cocoons’ through a ritual... to get a ’gold-rank Transcendent that can only be used once.’

"In the ritual, another person needs to be killed with precision—keeping him alive, extracting his brain, and transplanting it intact into the ’brain cavity’ of The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead. Using his pain and fear of death to awaken The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead..."

"In that instant, when the ’Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’ that had been stagnant for decades began to think, memories frozen for decades would awaken all at once... The intense and pure will to live that had burst forth during those decades on the brink of life and death could serve as the key, driving the desire-less ’Death Cocoon’ to reach Gold instantaneously. And that powerful ’body’ would be driven by the person from whom the skull had been removed."

"At that time... With the Soul Snatching Spell or the Idol Spell controlling the mind of the person who had been stripped of their skull, one could indirectly control this immense power. Before the ’initiator’ completely died, before the soul of the ’Death Cocoon’ burned out, It could be manipulated at will."

"This plan is known as ’Gold Refinery.’ ’Only death and pain can forge Gold’... That’s what they said. But what they intended to do was not to make gold, but to create ’Transcendents of the Gold rank’."

Yufimia fell silent for a while before speaking softly, "And within the Melvin family’s residence..."

"There are already over a dozen ’Death Cocoons’ stored. And the number of ’Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’ is in the triple digits... even the Grand Duke of Winter does not know of their plan.

"There is no doubt, this is decidedly an act of treason."

"...I see."

Annan couldn’t help but take in a deep breath.

—One provides the shell and the most important "fuel," one grants the "permission" to use it, and another provides the "key" to initiate.

The Melvin family had broken down the unreachable "Gold rank" for ordinary people into three steps... Using one failed Transcendent on their way to gold, along with the lives of two others who didn’t even require silver, they could directly achieve it.

...Although cruel and terrifying, the thought process was indeed quite genius.

If the Grand Duke of Winter had been a tyrannical despot, willing to expend lives as if they were mere numbers, he would surely have applauded and sought to seize this technology at all costs.

—But for Annan, this was utterly useless.

Even Transcendents of the Gold rank, without access to the Book of Truth, could not leave the grand enchantment.

As for smuggling or sealed transport, or using an airship to airdrop for a cross-border strike, that would also be too much trouble. Compared to a one-time, inexperienced Gold rank, players who could teleport and resurrect at will and had a high probability of ascending to Gold were much more useful.

The Melvin family could not be unaware of this fact.

This meant that from the very beginning, their target for this forbidden technology, their imagined enemy, was set within the nation.

Due to the presence of the Frost Beast forces, large-scale rebellion was impossible in the Eternal Principality of Winter. The Frost Beasts had absolute lethality and suppression against all emotionally sensitive animals—as they were hatched in Grandma’s breath.

To resist the Frost Beasts, one would at least need to wield Elemental Power.

That is to say.

The so-called "Gold forged from agony and death" was a dagger designed to counter the Frost Beast forces.

The Melvin family had always been amassing power... That’s why they did not allow family members to flee or divulge secrets on their own.

Frederick seems to have been groomed as an "Elder," that is, a higher-up within the Melvin family. In other words, he was an "operator of the Golden Body," or perhaps a candidate for the "God Among Men."

That’s why he wasn’t afflicted with the ’Curse Binding of the Remains.’

His going to Professor Grey to study rituals was because the Melvin family planned to train him as a manipulator of the ’Gold Refinery Ritual.’

In other words, the Melvin family actually had a very clear hierarchy—the true leaders, the heirs to the family, were those who could inherit the "God Among Men." All others in this generation who did not inherit the "God Among Men" would become "Elders," that is, the actual power-holders of the Melvin family.

—Apart from these, all other family members were expendable.

The true supreme being, the "God Among Men," could prolong their "existence" through a succession of heirs... While the rest, who could not come into contact with or even fully perceive the "God Among Men," would be destroyed by terror if they understood too much—

"...Wait a minute?"

Annan paused.

Isn’t this essentially another "possibility" for the Eternal Principality—or rather, this Otherworld-level nightmare?

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