Super Righteous Player
Chapter 992 - 50: Bonds of the Heart

Chapter 992: Chapter 50: Bonds of the Heart

Julius’s aged face revealed a convincing and amicable smile, "You’ve completely grown tired of sculpting," even to the extent that you had almost gone mad with depression... Oh, should I not have said that to you? Then please forget what I’ve just said... Alright, you will forget this statement later."

"Is this something I shouldn’t know?"

Annan’s face showed a trace of panic.

But in his heart, he was incredibly calm and remembered every detail.

Although he didn’t deliberately think about it, the details were simply too numerous.

Annan didn’t want to think, but he easily guessed everything.

Julius did not use the Suggestion Spell to force "Bernadino" to forget this sentence. Moreover, Dr. Julius had already placed a suggestion of forgetfulness on "Bernadino" from the beginning.

In other words, this was a trap of lies deliberately set up so that "Bernadino" would not realize that the suggestion of forgetfulness had already been planted in him from the very start.

Dr. Julius wasn’t a real doctor.

Or rather, he did not truly wish for "Bernadino" to recover... but wanted him to abandon this path.

—The path for which Father Ludwig had sacrificed his own life to pave for Bernadino a way to ascend to the heavens.

Even Bernadino himself probably underestimated his talent in sculpting.

If Annan hadn’t misunderstood... it was even to the extent that he had a chance to become a deity.

Possessing such artistic talent meant he could easily attain the position of bishop, or even enter the cardinal class. That was the true status of a "powerholder."

For the son of a fisherman, missing this opportunity meant never finding another... a complete chance to change his destiny.

Father Ludwig truly cared for Bernadino. He couldn’t have agreed to Bernadino going to a seminary, as that would mean abandoning his talents. Nor could he have possibly written any recommendation letters for Bernadino—

Because at that time, Father Ludwig was already dead!

And he was even killed by Bernadino’s own hands!

As an elite Ritualist, Annan clearly realized... the process of Bernadino killing Father Ludwig was a very complex compound ritual. This was obviously a product long thought out and carefully designed by Father Ludwig.

He had unreasonably bound Bernadino to make himself the "shackle" in Bernadino’s pursuit of freedom.

The statues created by Bernadino had souls. Because he remembered the soul of everything he saw and inscribed it again upon them.

In other words, he was the type of sculptor with an "eidetic memory." He could sculpt someone’s likeness closely to their soul with just one glance, without needing a picture. Even if disguises were used in front of Bernadino, one couldn’t hide their true nature.

The destruction ritual had one basic requirement... only the "objects" one loved could be used in a destruction ritual. Thus, the father had him create many statues just like himself, to blur the distinctions in Bernadino’s heart between "murder" and "destruction ritual."

It wasn’t "killing" his foster father, but "destroying" the shackles.

By this means, he turned himself into a "limiter" constraining Bernadino’s abilities. He shattered all the constraints of Bernadino’s background, education, personality, morality, and imagination.

Consequently, Bernadino’s soul was no longer constrained.

This was not merely a simple destruction ritual, but also a substitution ritual using the "law of similarity"... much like burning "impure objects."

As long as Dr. Julius stripped the guilt, fear, and confusion from Bernadino, Bernadino even had a hope of becoming the next "Father of Stones," to become a subordinate god to Yawen!

...This entire process was just like Father Ludwig’s appraisal of Bernadino.

Not sculpting the stone into a desired shape; rather, it was like that jade was originally in the raw stone, and he was simply chiseling away the excess material.

The peerless sculptor, Father Ludwig.

He did not retire but intended to pass on his mantle to Bernadino.

He had spent years... sacrificing his own life to create an unparalleled sculpture.

——Bernadino himself was Father Ludwig’s final masterpiece!

The ritual itself was quite complex, but it was very understandable when broken down. As a professor at the Tower of Black Radiance, Julius could not possibly be ignorant of it. Rather, he was the final link, the one who blew away the dust on the sculpture and polished it to brilliance.

But old Wizard Julius gave Bernadino a different answer.

He erased Bernadino’s memory of killing Father Ludwig, distancing him from the path of sculpture and even tricking him into entering Dennisiowa Theological College, claiming that Bernadino had received a recommendation letter from Father Ludwig.

This was naturally what Bernadino had hoped for.

Thus, he believed it.

Or rather, having lost that most impactful experience, "Ritual: The Great Abandonment" which could reshape his personality, Bernadino wanted to believe it was true.

What followed was foreseeable...

——Of course, Bernadino had not lost any recommendation letter.

Because there never was such a letter to begin with.

It was merely his own belief that "this recommendation letter existed," because it vividly existed in his memory. And, after spending all his money, this was also why he stubbornly refused to go home or even contact the old priest.

He wanted to escape the reality that he "had killed his foster father," and this mentality was amplified and twisted by his psychologist—turning into the bond of [You swore to become a great man before you could return to meet Ludwig].

This was not a Curse Binding, but a binding of words.

More so, it was a binding of the heart.

From then on, he could no longer create good sculptures.

He was demoted back to the "apprentice" phase, and because the shackles were never broken, but rather led to increasing frustration, his work was even worse than when he was an apprentice.

Annan even guessed... it was probably Professor Julius who finally invited Bernadino into the Tower of Black Radiance.

Why would he invite a stranger into the Tower of Black Radiance?

Perhaps partly out of pity for his situation, partly from curiosity about this chance reunion... but mostly, to ruthlessly cut off Bernadino’s path to sculpture, ensuring he never returned home, never sculpted, never had an epiphany.

Thus, Father Ludwig’s sacrifice became meaningless.

——But this was certainly not a well-planned trap.

Because it was full of too many holes, and too rushed. It was precisely because Father Ludwig’s overprotective desire to not have him be distracted, that Bernadino, who was uninformed of the Transcendent world, carelessly accepted Julius’s Suggestion Spell.

Bernadino’s fate thus took a different path.

And fundamentally...

"Ah..."

Annan sighed deeply and looked up.

He met Julius’s gaze with a profound look.

In that instant, a flash of surprise crossed Julius’s eyes.

"...It’s jealousy, right?"

He sighed softly, "From your eyes, I see jealousy.

"For Bernadino’s jealousy, and... for your good friend, Ludwig’s jealousy."