Super Righteous Player
Chapter 752 - 293 The End of the First Epoch_1

Chapter 752: Chapter 293 The End of the First Epoch_1

The Goddess of Cup is the mother of all "Children of the Cup."

The reason why all "Children of the Cup" have blood-red pupils is exactly because the Goddess of Cup has hair and pupils of blood—this is the proof of inheritance. It transcends the limits of bloodlines and space to take effect forcefully.

——That’s right.

In the ritual of the "Children of the Cup," although only one side’s genetic material is invested, the Children of the Cup are not the offspring of a single individual.

Whether the ritual is performed by a male or female, the mother of the Children of the Cup is always the Goddess of Cup, and the father is the provider of the genetic material.

Although they do not possess divine blood or descend from gods, the Children of the Cup can still be considered the progeny of the Goddess of Cup. For the chalice held by the Goddess of Cup is her womb, and the process of "conception from the cup" can itself be considered as "birth from the Goddess of Cup" during the ritual.

That’s why a child can be born directly from this empty cup, which contains nothing but blood.

And the god represented by the "Charioteer" had died, and all traces of her left in the world should have been erased.

But because of the "Light of the Chariot," or in other words, because Annan would be born in the future, things related to the chariot were not eradicated.

The existence of the Pillar of Truth can transcend timelines... although "can" does not mean "must."

Just as the mysterious lady who is the god of ritual is herself born through ritual.

And as the goddess of desire, the Goddess of Cup became divine through her own thirst for knowledge; in the ancient times devoid of the mechanical god, elves created magical technology; and Mr. Radiance himself is light, but he is also one facet of light.

Among the elves at that time, there was a genius ritualist—they suddenly realized they could exploit a BUG after obtaining the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail is the relic of the "Charioteer," a symbol of her authority.

Just as "the mother of a Child of the Cup is considered the Goddess of Cup"... but if the Holy Grail is used to perform the "Child of the Cup" ritual, the concept of the "Holy Grail" as the place where the ancient gods were conceived will override the "cup" of the Goddess of Cup. Then the mother of a "Child of the Holy Grail" can be considered the "Charioteer."

But in the third era, the "Charioteer" was dead, and Annan had not yet been born.

At that time, the "Chariot" became a rule that acted according to established logic, so it was "a thing equal, exalted, and merciless." This description is actually hinting that the "Chariot" is a program with high priority!

And since the Chariot is just a program, it can be understood that "the authority of the Chariot is controlled by the world itself." That is to say, the Charioteer is the will of the world itself... then a "Child of the Holy Grail" can also be considered as a "Child of the World" in the ritual!

——What a convoluted loop.

But it also seems quite reasonable...

That’s why Endymion said he carried the bloodline of the Charioteer, and Annan was his mother...

Because the Charioteer’s blood flowed in him, and now this identity belonged to Annan!

Annan had fully understood where magical technology originally came from.

The elves were able to establish the "umbilical cord ritual" for extracting magic energy with ritual logic because back then the "Chariot" had not been born, and these "Children of the Holy Grail" with their special qualities became the Children of the World!

It’s like when the leader of a human resources department leaves her position, the rules she set still continue down, which is the so-called "Ritual of Sublimation"; but her stamp is stolen and used by others, which is the so-called "Children of the Holy Grail"!

In other words, Annan need not consider how to cut off magic energy.

As long as Annan can successfully complete the Ritual of Sublimation and formally become the "Chariot," the BUG-exploiting "umbilical cord ritual" for extracting the Blood of the World would be automatically cancelled.

With the BUG fixed, those sinners who exploited magic energy would no longer exist!

"...So that’s how it is."

Annan murmured.

He also understood clearly now who this "Charioteer" really was.

A deity who died in the first era, related to the path of sublimation, whose ritual presence can even overwrite the "Child of the Cup" ritual of the Goddess of Cup...

While still unclear about the "original Charioteer’s" divine office and name, just by this title, Annan knew—this unknown goddess was the deity who led to the end of the first era.

It was because of her death that a certain truth was lost and demons were born. Before her death, even with a full erosion rate, one would not become a demon, or it’s possible that there simply was no such thing as an erosion rate.

However... the birth of demons did not directly cause the end of the first era.

Annan came to know this... because Paper Princess revealed part of the secret to him.

He then carefully questioned Endymion further.

With the help of the obliging elven librarian, Annan finally grasped what had happened in the past:

In the era of gods, there was no concept of "gods" at all.

Just as elves, centaurs, or Aesirlanders all referred to themselves as "humans"... In their view, it was the other species that "did not seem human."

At that time, the elves called Them "Lords", centaurs named Them "Living Pillars", the Dragon Race revered them as "Kings", giants as "Elders", the Insect Race as "Winged Ones"... There were also names like "Keystone", "Guardian", and so on, with each race having its own nomenclature, which was rather chaotic.

After the end of the First Epoch, the birth of deities became a difficult affair. Some people, including a few "Lords", "Kings" and "Winged Ones", abandoned the truth and fell into becoming enormously powerful demons.

However, at that time, demons did not provoke conflicts with other races. Their transformation was simply a natural occurrence. The word "demon" did not carry a negative connotation; it only meant "horned people" in the elven language.

Although demons became impulsive and had strong desires, they were not foolish. They knew not to misuse the Blood of the World; they were aware that excessive use would lead to the world’s collapse...

... So they banded together, under the leadership of a certain vigorous dragon who had not yet mastered the truth, and went to other worlds to plunder the Blood of the World.

——If I can’t use my own world’s, then it wouldn’t hurt to steal from someone else’s, right?

The Philosopher’s Stone was seized from The Void World during the first expedition, causing its complete downfall—where this Philosopher’s Stone ended up is unknown... But since then, the ascended beings of this world gained access to the power of "elements".

For his victory in that expedition, the dragon earned the Book of Truth titled "Flint Sonata," became deified, and was given the name "Flint Father."

Then, after a long time, there appeared to have been a massive disaster.

Twelve individuals, originating from different species and with varying stances, yet all critically important Guardians, were gradually forced to unite.

They discussed using the Book of Truth "Chrono-Law" as a sacrifice, and the entire world as the Ritual Plate, delineating twelve months and three hundred sixty days, establishing spring, summer, autumn, and winter, thereby creating the "True God Ritual," and designated all managers of truth as "gods."

Their initial intent was to protect the critically important True Gods through the "Holy Month." Later on, as the number of significant deities grew, this ritual was revised for a second time, introducing the concept of "Lesser Gods," distributing "immortality" to other deities.

At the same time, they constructed three laws: A god could only be worshipped and must not directly guide or kill mortals; conflicts among deities were to be handled by their proxies as much as possible; and as long as gods had temples, they could not be slain by other gods.

This was established to differentiate humans from gods, keeping the struggle of the world within certain bounds.

In the beginning, even demons were believers in gods.

Then something happened.

Demons from all races on the path to corruption, under the leadership of one of Flint Father’s brothers, came together trying to form a new regime—they divided among themselves a very strict demonic hierarchy and class system. Within the same rank, elders were respected, while among equals, military merits were honored.

Those unwilling to take the path of corruption were ostracized as the lowest tier within their circle of influence; and once one became a demon, they were regarded as inferior within their rank due to "joining later in life."

... However, elves were incapable of walking the path of corruption.

Since they inherently possessed pure souls, they were at a disadvantage in the realm of demons. Thus, the entire elven race fled, under the protection of two True Gods, to the desert that was said to be enterable but not leaveable...

The centaurs, for unknown reasons, followed along. There were also a small number of dragons and giants that refused to submit.

Because demons would suffer sevenfold damage once they entered the desert, they were stopped in their tracks.

The elves intended to settle in the desert indefinitely... at least until the reign of that Emperor had ended before returning.

But by the end of the Second Epoch... the desert gained life, transformed into a devouring Living Desert, and began spreading rapidly in all directions.

It was then that the elves fled westward in an utterly disgraceful state—that’s when they did something even demons wouldn’t do.

——They stole the Blood of the World.

This act alarmed the remaining ten True Gods, who rushed to see what had transpired. During the hundred-odd years of their absence, the unsupervised demons split into many factions... and waged war against each other in the world east of the desert.

Latterly, demons were only willing to worship three True Gods—The Red Knight, the Goddess of Cup, and Flint Father, united in veneration by the "Charcoal Blood Church."

It was the many False Gods that fled from Aesirland who struggled through the living desert that even gods could devour... Ignoring the Sacred Three Laws, they began to establish their own powers.

In contrast to the tranquility on the Aesirland side, the Old Continent to the east of the desert was embroiled in a long, endless war of fragmentation.

Only with the end of the Third Epoch—due to the Epoch Catastrophe—did this war finally come to an end. But the knowledge belonging to demons had been secured by the Mysterious Lady into the realm of Mysterious Knowledge; hence, Aesirlanders could no longer obtain information from their "homeland" through rituals, and they had no idea what had occurred... Thus, the two worlds were severed.

At that time, the Aesirlanders to the west of the desert were subjected to Austerian invasion and colonization and were in shambles due to the elves’ rampant use of curse abilities; whereas the world to the east of the desert had experienced a prolonged thousand-year war, the whole world engulfed in blood and fire.

——And all this was a direct or indirect result of the death of this "Charioteer."