The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 657: Giving the Last Will

—[Dragon Transformation].

In other words, becoming the envoy of the Old Grandmother.

Annan certainly knew what an “envoy” was.

In fact, this was a euphemism. Only the undead could become an envoy of a deity.

This meant that Ivan’s time had come.

However, Annan didn’t feel any grief.

It was not a farewell.

This differed from the doctrines of some false deities who claimed that “the souls of the deceased would join the deity” or “the souls of the dead would go to hell.” The Twelve True Deities didn’t need to deceive their followers with such lies. However, false deities, especially those keen on establishing their territories, would tell white lies to get support.

The biggest lies were “Deity will hear your prayers” and “Be faithful to Deity”.

—Except for Kafni possessing an inborn perception to communicate with deities, only the legitimate and powerful rituals would allow the deities to hear the followers’ voices. Of course, the situation was different with calling out the deity’s true name. After all, saying the real name was considered a ritual already.

Simply put, if the deities could hear their followers just by being called, the rituals served no function.

Neither upright nor false deities need piety nor faith. The deities’ role only involved two aspects: maintaining the concept of their divinity and purifying nightmares.

As for having more envoys, running churches, crafting divine art, inventing teachings, etc., they were feats achieved out of the two primary aspects.

However, even though the deity didn’t need piety and faith, the churches needed them.

The more a church lacked benefits and competitiveness, the more it emphasized the importance of faith. Through the web woven by faith and the afterlife, the church could compel its followers to perform various works for them.

When the followers were devoted enough, they wouldn’t ask for anything in return, and they didn’t care about experience. For small false deity churches, this was a crucial step.

There was no shortage of people for upright deities’ churches with solid appeal, such as Silver Sire Church.

The Silver Sire Church would tell their followers that it was okay not to truly believe in the Silver Sire as long as they didn’t blaspheme in the church. Even if they badmouthed the Silver Sire on the streets, as long as the Silver Sire didn’t happen to witness it, no one would bother them.

You can complain all you want, but the work cannot be delayed.

The highest mission assigned to individuals by the church was to purify nightmares, which was the volunteer mission that everyone needed to complete.

For example, they might have been asked to teach at the church school, manage the collected donations, or help ordinary people read and understand the contracts they encountered. They could also have received complaints and reports against other contract workers and participated in investigations… These tasks also had to be done.

—As a matter of fact, the core teaching of Silver Sire was not to gain profits but to maintain transactions.

So those merchants who made money through deceitful means, like killing the golden goose to get the golden eggs, would also be hunted down by the Silver Sire’s priests if they were reported. This kind of righteous punishment was also part of the Silver Sire’s job.

Old Grandmother adopted a different manner of action from the Silver Sire.

As the Tradition Deity, She favored only Her bloodline. For this reason, the Old Grandmother would only choose envoys from the heirs of the Frostwhisper blood.

In other words, all the envoys of the Old Grandmother were strictly blood-related.

After becoming an envoy, they might find their father, uncles, aunts, and grandfather all staring at them, muttering, “You’re here” or “You have finally showed up.”

All of Her envoys was a dragon in appearance.

It was completely different from the “Perfect Dragon Form” obtained after “Winter Heart” evolved to its final form and advanced to Gold Rank.

They could transform freely, had a long lifespan, and possessed strong resistance without losing their original profession. If they were originally a wizard, they could even cast spells in the form of a giant dragon.

To be more precise, it was becoming the “same race” as the Old Grandmother.

In fact, the “Winter Heart” talent was originally used by Old Grandmother to create the same kind. The curses, restraints, and enhancements it provided were all side effects caused by extracting the dragon bloodline.

Old Grandmother’s envoy “Frostwhisper Dragon” was just a dragon in appearance.

They lost their human hearing and vocal organs and could only use [Frost Lingual] or [Dragon Language] to “listen” and “speak”.

Therefore, to conduct the advanced ritual of summoning a dragon, one must proficiently master one of these ancient languages. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to command the dragon at all.

However, the giant dragon transformed in this way could not be transformed back into a human form, nor could it communicate in human language. They also lost the transcended abilities they had when they were humans. Naturally, they couldn’t perform rituals. They only possessed the skills granted by the “shell” bestowed by the Old Grandmother – abilities such as dragon’s breath, flying, resistance, and attack power. It was like humans transformed into dragons.

Of course, even so, their combat effectiveness was terrifying.

Unlike the “Silver Guide” type of envoy, the Frostwhisper Dragon were enforcers, weapons with ice breath. They also possessed human wisdom. With a calm and indifferent demeanor, they could summon blizzards with just their words. These creatures have tough skin, sturdy build, and height at a towering 20 feet tall.

That was a monster that even a group of Silver Rank transcenders could not handle.

The terrifying part was that this exterior could be damaged because it was essentially a projection formed with “traditional” power. So, when the summoned dragons were in a good mood, they fought for the summoner without caring about their safety.

However, even if the user couldn’t turn back into a human, it wasn’t a big problem.

The envoy wasn’t part of the mortal world anymore. This limitation of being unable to transform back into humans often led them to fall into a dragon slumber. To ensure effective control over them, the Old Grandmother ensured the envoys stayed away from the mortal realm.

If the envoy were in the material world, they wouldn’t be able to respond to the ritual in time. It was equivalent to being absent from work.

As an Undead, the deities paid the “fee” for the envoy to continue to survive without triggering the burial mechanism.

If the envoys didn’t work, it would be freeloading.

Although the Old Grandmother was kind to her blood descendants, it didn’t mean she would let them do whatever they wanted — all her envoys were blood descendants, which also meant that no one was special in any way to her.

Maybe Silver Sire would give someone occasional time off if they had unique talents, but the Old Grandmother wouldn’t do that.

She adopted the role of a parent seriously.

For the Old Grandmother, all Austere-Winter’s Grand Dukes were her child, no matter how powerful they were outside.

For their work, the envoys must reside in other adjacent worlds or the gaps between worlds. This way, they could respond instantly when the ritualists initiated their ceremonies.

As for the benefits, Ivan could finally reunite with his father and grandfather.

Ivan was so talented and devoted his entire life to his work. Annan didn’t need to worry about the Old Grandmother not appreciating him.

In that case, there was at least one upside. Annan and Ivan would not part forever.

After Ivan was turned into an envoy, they still had a chance to meet again.

Yes.

Afterward, as long as Annan held the ritual of “Summon: Frostwhisper Dragon”, there was a chance that Annan would summon his father.

“It’s likely to be this month,” Ivan said slowly, “I heard that you’re dealing with the Northern Alliance. I’ll try to live a few more days, waiting until you’ve handled their issues before turning into a dragon.”

“Before that, I must deliver to you the secrets passed down from generation to generation of the Grand Duke.”

“Is it the legendary curse vessel?” Annan guessed what Ivan was about to tell him.

Ivan nodded. He patted the three-color cane and said calmly, “Actually, this is the legendary curse vessel our family has passed down from generation to generation. You didn’t expect it, did you?”

“…Ah?” Annan froze for a moment.

I didn’t expect that.jpg ((??

Annan glanced at the three-color scepter in Ivan’s hand. Its three legs spread out like an IV stand and fell into doubt.

So, it isn’t an anti-slip cane?

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