The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 47: God-bestowed Paint

After Amos left Elle’s room, Annan quickly put on his clothes.

But he did not go out immediately.

Instead, he turned around and locked the door, then took out the book “The Curse and Seal of Soul” from under the pillow and read it calmly.

There was no doubt that this was the best timing.

Amos was a wise and gentle person.

Amos would feel sorry and feel embarrassed for the offense he committed. Although this wouldn’t push him to do anything that Annan said, at least he won’t break into Elle’s room again.

So at this time, even if Amos thought Elle had been in the room for too long, he wouldn’t break in again.

Because he would think that this was Elle’s punishment for him. In his perception, Elle must be angry. Leaving him outside alone for ten minutes was a punishment like a child’s temper. It was also a good time for Elle to calm down.

Then, Amos would not simply leave. Instead, he would stay quietly in the kitchen, waiting for Annan to come out.

Otherwise, once she (Elle) went out and didn’t see him, she (Elle) might get angry again. With Annan’s understanding of Elle, she would indeed react in this way.

Annan reminded Amos that “his daughter had grown up” in that event. She (Elle) needed some personal space. With a sense of guilt, Amos would never search Elle’s room again.

With that, Annan’s bloody kitchen knife hidden in the cabinet and the book “The Curse and Seal of Soul” would not be easily discovered.

Of course, the premise was that Annan couldn’t stay too long.

Fortunately, it was easy to investigate this book.

Because it had a bookmark in it. It happened to have bookmarked on the most crucial page. So Annan didn’t waste any time and was able to access the core content directly.

“…The seal utilizes painting as a medium. It also requires a ritual capable of communicating the Venerated Skeleton, Bone Burying Grandma, and the Dragon in the Mirror. Among them, the Venerated Skeleton ritual was recommended because you would not need to sustain any cost for the Venerated Skeleton’s first ritual.”

Reading this somewhat familiar sentence, Annan came to a realization.

Perhaps…

He held the page with his right hand and turned to the title page with his left hand.

“Grinznuha·Chilly Austere.”

Annan slowly pronounced the already familiar name.

Should it be unsurprising?

Why is it you again?

Is Amos’s wife a fan of you?

Or, is this author with the Chilly Austere bloodline a best-selling author on banned books?

Do you have an enmity with the Venerated Skeleton? Or are you fighting for business with the Venerated Skeleton? Why does every book of yours urge the reader to take advantage of the Venerated Skeleton?

Annan curled his mouth and flipped the pages back.

“If the ritual performer is a painter, the Venerated Skeleton will ask whether the other party wants ‘paint,’ ‘brush’ or ‘paper.’ At this time, the best choice is ‘paper.’

“Because if the person holding the ritual chooses the paint, then the Venerated Skeleton will give a special paint, which can silently strip a part of the other party’s spirit and store it in the portrait painting.

“Its advantage is that the victim will not be aware of anything. This part of the spirit can be trained as a guardian spirit or be used to curse the enemy. The guardian spirit can move freely in all the paints painted by this painter. However, the disadvantage is that these spirits cannot escape from the portrait. The amount of paint obtained in one ritual is limited. It’s usually far from being effective.

“Moreover, paintings made with this kind of paint will make the portrait painted extraordinarily real. It is far beyond the artist’s average level, so it is easily exposed. Therefore, it is not recommended.

“Except for the paint that is not recommended, the remaining two options are relatively common. Next, I will describe the differences between the two options, how to seal the soul and cast the curse in detail.”

Then, it was the end of the page.

Annan carefully read the rest of the book before closing the book.

Sure enough, the following two options were to trick the victims into signing their names with a “pen” and to write contracts on the “paper.” It had nothing to do with painting.

At this moment, a prompt appeared in front of his eyes:

[Exploring Amos Morrison’s secret.] Annan had completed this mission.

“As expected.”

Annan murmured.

Everything became clear.

“Our Mr. Amos should be a well-known and talented painter. He has an extraordinary dedication and talent for painting and beauty.

“But he was in pain because of a particular obsession. Perhaps because he felt the limit of his talents, or for other reasons, he read through the books left by his deceased wife. He accidentally found a way to sign a contract with the Venerated Skeleton.

“He didn’t need the Venerated Skeleton’s power to curse others. Instead, he wanted to borrow that “magical paint” to enhance his paintings. It allowed him to paint something beyond his ordinary paints and his capability.”

That was the human soul.

In this case, everything made sense.

After Mr. Amos tried to paint portraits with this kind of paint, he could no longer get rid of the enchantment of this kind of paint. He couldn’t accept his previous mediocrity.

He could not accept the “garden” he painted, perhaps because he could not use this kind of paint to paint the garden’s soul. He did not dare to use this kind of paint to paint a portrait of his daughter Elle because he was worried that it might affect Elle’s health.

But he dared to use this kind of paint to paint for other people.

So, Annan had no pity in his heart for the poor painter which the Venerated Skeleton coveted upon.

The painter reaped what he sowed.

Judging from Annan’s discerning eyes, Amos’s paintings were already quite outstanding. He was now in his thirties. How many painters turned famous only when they were old?

But Amos couldn’t wait any longer.

This might be the first bottleneck period he faced in his life. Because of his outstanding talents, he had been smooth in his previous life and had never encountered setbacks. Even before he got the paint, he was invited to paint a portrait for Mrs. Viscount twice.

In Amos’s age, this was enough to prove his talent.

Although there were still many unsolved mysteries…

For example, why did Amos do this, why did he swallow Elle’s eyeballs, why did he seal Elle in the paintings. There were more or less a hundred paintings in the gallery; where did they come from? Was Mrs. Viscount the wife of the old Viscount in Roseburg? Why was the entire Freezing Water Port cursed?

But those secrets must be hidden in the higher-level dungeon instance.

He only entered the third level this time. It was normal for him not to get all the information.

Anyway, Annan could enter the dungeon instance at any time. He could probably fool the player to help him decrypt it.

Annan dared to make a bet that the players would definitely like this.

At least in the gallery stage, the stimulus was like a person with a dull sense of taste tasted the spicy Sichuan hot pot for the first time.

Oh, I should set up a live broadcast channel for them. Annan recalled this feature in the backend interface.

For safety purposes, I shall not announce it to the public first. Though, I could post this feature in the forum. Then, the players can watch it like a dungeon instance guide. With this, I can test it out to see if those watching it will retain memories when the player tackling the dungeon instance failed and lost his memory.

Now, it’s almost time to end this dungeon instance.

Annan looked at the lonely [Live.] with a gentle and kind smile.

Then, he took the kitchen knife out of the dressing table.