The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 602: Why Don’t You Give Tragedy Writer A Call?

After warning Annan again, Benjamin left through the mirror with the Man in the Mirror.

Annan could understand that Benjamin’s seemingly neutral but persuasive explanation was an act of kindness.

It was a warning to prevent Annan from using dangerous items like “Dream Egg” indiscriminately.

That was why Benjamin emphasized the “Dream Egg” and how dangerous the other world was without telling Annan precisely what he could get from it.

However, since Trisino Seti could get this “Dream Egg” from the Motherly Moth through gambling means, it meant that Seti had already laid his eyes on it.

Seti would be willing to bet on this back then and took the bet with the upright deity… after that, he didn’t choose to sell it but carried it with him until he was ready to give up his “Dream Eater” identity.

That meant he prepared to use Dream Egg.

That said, Seti thought of it as a good item.

Then, the rewards and income obtained from it must not be little.

Benjamin also mentioned to Annan that few “Dream Eggs” existed in the world. There was little knowledge of other worlds made into “amber” by the Motherly Moth.

There were many other worlds She had seen because of her racial trait. However, there were not so many wonderful worlds that She hoped to preserve.

For the Motherly Moth, the act of spending power to deliberately create a “Dream Egg” was probably similar to making specimens or models to preserve rare things encountered.

Of course, She did not need to sell it, nor would She give such hazardous things to her believers. In rare cases, it would only be given to outsiders as a prize or reward.

According to Pope Benjamin, only three or four copies of “Dream Egg” should exist that were currently known and had not been used. Counting those that might have been used, the total number of ambers distributed was only seven.

There was even a saint who died in another world. The twelve upright deities’ churches had always prohibited priests from using items that might enter other worlds — including “Dream Egg”.

However, Annan wanted the book.

However, Annan’s goal wasn’t to get something from the other world.

After all, Annan’s growth path was stable.

He had a Book of Truth that was almost complete and more than one sacred bone in the approval period. He didn’t have to take risks in using Dream Egg.

Annan wanted to experience…or let some lucky player experience traveling the world in Dream Egg and traveling in Book of Divine Transporter.

In this way, Annan would ponder deeper about the “Divine Transporter” and what the Book of Divine Transporter stood for.

This might be useful for him to grasp the truth.

However, Annan’s interest level was “potentially useful” and “quite interesting”. It was not to the point where Annan had to exhaust the favor from the Man in the Mirror. After all, even if Annan got the book, Annan could not use it.

Previously, the Man in the Mirror owed Annan a favor during the ascendancy ritual.

Owing one more favor now wasn’t much of a big deal.

It felt like Annan “raised a deity” in a sense.

Annan wasn’t worried that the accumulated favors would turn into grievances, let alone that the Man in the Mirror wasn’t that kind of deity. Annan wasn’t a mortal now.

With the Old Grandmother and Silver Sire around, the Man in the Mirror wouldn’t dare to make enemies.

As Annan became stronger and more prestigious, the Man in the Mirror wished to build more rapports with Annan.

Although Annan did not know how much strength Trisino Seti stole from the Man in the Mirror, Annan deduced that it was a significant amount.

After all, the Man in the Mirror gave too much reward.

Holy light engravings were not a one-time lease but a permanent power. Whether it belonged to the Silver Sire or the Pale Princess, it was a fixed unit. However, each unit could be exchanged for different things from different deities.

This was related to each deity’s “business philosophy”.

Some deities might be inclined to let priests exchange the holy light engravings for divine art, increasing their capability. The strategy was to nurture them into future elders. However, false deities had a different approach. They encouraged believers to exchange holy light engravings for cheaper “temporary capabilities” to recover the cost.

After all, holy light engravings were not “money”, but “a stock that could be held for life”.

If it were used to exchange for divine art or a permanent blessing, then as long as the believers were not dead, this part of power would always be theirs.

However, if the believers chose the temporary ability, even if the deity suffered a little loss, He would be willing to give more.

However, the time for the deities to get back these holy light engravings had also significantly been shortened.

Some deities, such as the Paper Princess, Father Stone, and Marquis Iris, would use holy light engravings to exchange for corresponding help and pay back the cost in a shorter cycle.

For example, use holy light engravings to buy the paintings of the Paper Princess, and even spend more holy light engravings to customize the paintings you want. Perhaps, getting Father Stone to help build huge and magnificent palaces for free… or having Marquis Iris fight someone.

Giving out 20 holy light engravings in one go was already quite a fortune for the Man in the Mirror, who had just become a deity and had no believers.

Those holy light engravings worthed the amount to nurture 20 priests.

These were the 20 churches—or perhaps 20 “gold mines”.

[TN: The gold mine depicts the economy in terms of Warcraft 3.]

For every priest, even if they only purified one-third of an ordinary nightmare every month, it would only take less than two months to recover the cost entirely.

Apart from Pope Benjamin, Annan did know if there were other priests.

Starting a “deity” business was difficult.

It was also challenging to be a deity during the startup period.

Objectively speaking, the 20 holy light engravings given out for nothing at the Man in the Mirror’s “startup” stage were lesser than the 120 engravings that Tragedy Writer should have given Annan in full. However, they carried different values and meanings.

It was more accurate to say that Annan was surprised that Tragedy Writer could gather so much power to construct this nightmare…

It was 120 holy light engravings.

Annan speculated that Trisino might have stolen the ritual of the Man in the Mirror’s power but failed in the end.

Tragedy Writer himself exchanged the power of the Man in the Mirror for the power of the same scale.

Judging from this, Annan guessed that the Man in the Mirror had about 120 holy light engravings worth of curses locked in this ritual. This was no small number for a new deity.

The Man in the Mirror gave a 20% commission to Annan of the debt collected. It was a sign of great courtesy.

The so-called reciprocity.

Annan had no point holding these holy light engravings too.

He had already seen the divine art list of the Man in the Mirror.

The divine art that could be purchased here from the Man in the Mirror was mostly illusion, mirror image, clone, and sneak… The most valuable divine art was mirror movement—an ultra-long-distance teleportation circle that required installation in advance.

However, this was a teleportation circle, after all, not teleportation by itself.

It provided the same existing function the players had.

The player could set up a teleportation circle, so it was not a big problem for Annan to use.

For Annan, the Man in the Mirror’s divine art list was divine art of little value.

At least there were alternatives to replace the functionality of those divine arts.

However, it was different for players.

The mirror image of yourself, the mirror image of the enemy, and the mirror image of the field… For players whose fighting style had yet to be systemized, they could have more inspiration if they acquired the divine art of the Man in the Mirror.

Annan planned to select some players, find an excuse, and give each one or two holy light engravings. As long as the player had one, he could transfer their profession to the priest without occupying the profession slot; if they had two engravings, they could save one to buy divine art.

Of course, the main goal was to gift out the holy light engravings of the Man in the Mirror.

Annan could take the opportunity to expand the number of priests.

Although the average piety level might be significantly reduced, the player’s “work enthusiasm” was still reliable.

They could be lazy about anything other than farming dungeon instances.

For the ten holy light engravings of the Venerated Skeleton, Annan would not give them to players, making them the Venerated Skeleton believers.

This reminded Annan that he seemed to be the Venerated Skeleton’s pope.

As for the 120 holy light engravings of Tragedy Writer…

“How the hell am I going to spend these things?”

Suddenly, Annan felt a headache.

He did not need the divine art and ability to murder others!

Couldn’t it all be replaced with detecting hostility?

That was no different from buying undesired membership for 20 years in one go.

A few years later, he would succeed as the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke.

What murder conspiracy was better than a Grand Duke’s direct order?

Plus, his brother’s pope’s order?

Plus, Kafni’s queen’s order?

Plus, the senior… Unfortunately, the senior was a lone commander.

As for using conspiracy to obtain other people’s secrets, Annan could get help from the Crow family. His own Winter’s Hand does precisely this, and the Faceless Poet was also quite familiar with Annan.

“Wait?”

Suddenly, Annan remembered.

He seemed to have a mirror—[The Man in the Mirror’s Newborn Mirror], also known as the Beginning Mirror, which could be used to communicate with other deities.

As long as Annan called the other party’s real name, he could summon the other party’s reflection in the mirror for free.

Although Annan did not know Tragedy Writer’s real name, Old Grandmother or Silver Sire should know.

Perhaps, Annan could give Silver Sire a “call” and ask for Tragedy Writer’s real name first.

Then, the holy light engravings would be used as payment for consultation from the Deity of Conspiracy.

“—Hi, hello. May I ask what conspiracy your pope is brewing?”

Would he respond?

Or make Him teach Annan how to detect or stop a conspiracy. The Conspiracy Deity should be good at this, too, right?

Anyway, it was better than these holy light engravings being unspent there.

Annan thought of this and decided to do it.

He quickly ran to the inner room, changing the ritual that had yet to be removed, and put up the mirror directly.

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