The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 513: [Dye] & [Fear]

Dmitri did not answer this question.

According to Dmitri, he asked Annan about it at the time.

At that time, Dmitri was the established next-generation Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke.

It was just that Annan did not give him a direct answer. All Dmitri knew was that Annan had intentionally not taken the path of transcendence.

This was useful when he traveled around the world.

However, he went too far on the path of ritual.

With his identity, the occult knowledge he had access to was undoubtedly the highest level. Except for some of the most advanced knowledge about taboos that could not be touched, he should have more or less mastered other occult knowledge.

Annan might also have mastered taboo knowledge if there were no surprise variables.

Otherwise, the Old Grandmother would not rest assured and gave Annan the forbidden knowledge about “Austere-Winter” while half asleep.

The exception would be Annan had mastered this knowledge in the first place.

“Generally speaking, a ritualist can also embark on a path of transcendence. The path of ritual does not directly conflict with the path of transcendence, but there are exceptions.”

Dmitri replied, “The more transcended knowledge you have carried and the higher your rank, the heavier this occult element will be.

“When reaching the [Corruption] stage, it will directly increase the erosion rate to a certain extent if you hold occult knowledge; when you reach the [Condensation] stage, the more occult knowledge you have, the more additional curses you need for the condensation process to be completed.

“Most importantly, during the advancement [Dye] stage, by accumulating a large number of high-level occult knowledge in the same realm, one can modify one’s natural elemental tendencies,” Dmitri explained.

This was a secret that only official transcenders had access to. It was also the method used by the wizard towers and the official transcendence organizations of various countries to inherit the skills of using elements.

Annan finally understood.

Annan’s reason for abandoning the memories of his first life might not be just about eradicating memories without “positive emotions”. Part of the reason was to prevent occult knowledge from affecting his advancement.

Contacting the deities would inevitably bring ample occult knowledge. However, one could not be a trascender if he desired to have contact and interaction with the deities conveniently.

From this point of view, Annan probably decided to have a second life from the very beginning.

He took the path of ritual in the first life not because he did not want to avoid the path of transcendence.

Instead, the goal was to pave the way for the future self so that Annan would not have to make a correction during his actual pursuit.

He mastered the knowledge of the ritualist, traveled around the world alone, met the deities, successfully reversed the Winter Heart, and cleaned his past knowledge. Or, he might have achieved other things, but the current Annan had not yet mastered it.

It seemed the strategy of his first life focused entirely on optimizing the second life.

That’s really befitting my style.

“Is it for the sake of a pure and clean element?” Annan murmured.

Why are the elements mastered by the wizards the types that fit their attributes?

It turns out to be this reason.

How can there be such a coincidence that the awakening element happens to be the best to use?

They have no attribute panel, let alone Sage’s Stone.

Before the advancement, they don’t know what their elemental inclinations are.

For example, Dream Stealer Danton did not know that he needed the “Dream” element before he changed his profession to Dream Stealer; Spiritual Monk Bernardino was even less likely to know his element before discovering this profession with the “soul” attribute.

After all, not every wizard tower was like the Storm Tower, whereby the host could inherit the power of the previous generation’s elements and directly overwrite his talent.

However, they could [Dye] their souls through mastering a large amount of high-level occult knowledge in a particular realm!

I see.

No wonder this is called the “dyeing” rank in ancient times.

Was it renamed as the “Gold Rank” to hide this secret?

There were factors directly affecting the upper and lower limits of the Gold Rank transcenders’ strength. It was the coordination between the elemental power and the user’s transcender capabilities on whether power amplification could go beyond a simple 1 + 1 = 2.

“Conversely, if the knowledge acquired is too messy or has overwhelming content, it will make the advancement ritual uncontrollable, right?”

Thus, generally speaking, a ritualist was an “old man”.

The greatest advantage of a ritualist was to make up for his shortcomings by using the power of great people to accomplish things that could not be achieved with only one’s strength.

Then, a transcender couldn’t change his profession to a ritualist just to master rituals in a few realms. It was even more unlikely for their goals to collect transcended knowledge in the same realm as oneself.

After all, rituals in the same realm could be achieved with transcended power.

Therefore, it was not just because the ritualist got older that he had more knowledge.

Most of the reason was that transcenders would buy related books and acquire occult knowledge when they did not intend to continue to advance.

This was indeed knowledge that Annan had no way of learning.

If Annan had not asked Dmitri, he would have waited until Salvatore was ready to advance to the Gold Rank before learning from this senior.

But…

“Brother, don’t you know about Transcender?” Annan looked at Dmitri suspiciously.

Although Dmitri was not a transcender, he could grasp knowledge to this depth. Even Salvatore, as the Black Tower’s Son, did not even know this secret when he first advanced to Silver Rank.

But hearing Annan’s tone, Dmitri shivered suddenly, “Don’t call me brother. Instead, please call me by my name.”

Dmitri’s expression was a bit weird, “You may not remember, but you used to call me Dmitri directly. Whenever you call me ‘brother’, it is usually nothing good.”

It’s usually to let you take the blame, right? I understand.

Annan nodded knowingly.

This is indeed something I would do!

However, Dmitri did not answer right away.

He reached into his arms subconsciously again. Before he realized and pulled his arm out, Annan had reached out and held his arm.

“Just smoke. It’s fine.” Annan looked at Dmitri’s tired and even red eyes and softly persuaded, “One is fine. I don’t mind, but you remember to take care of your body.”

Smoking is bad for your health.

However, it was uncomfortable for Dmitri to hold back, given his addiction to cigars.

Dmitri sustained tremendous mental pressure. Annan did not want to deprive Dmitri because of him.

“I am more or less a high-ranking priest, so there will be no problems with my health. Maybe I am healthier than you.” Dmitri muttered, hesitated again, and sat down on Annan’s bed, taking out the humidor.

“You may not remember. I like to smoke the best cigar and drink the most inferior-grade wine. Ah, you don’t remember.”

Seeing Annan’s expression, Dmitri quickly understood and stopped talking.

After he put the lit cigar into his mouth, he sighed softly.

“I also thought about becoming a transcender back then.” Dmitri made a low, magnetic voice, “But it’s because of Father.

“Father’s sickness is because he is not a transcender.

“I’m much older than you and Maria. At the time, I had no other siblings. I was terrified the first time I saw my father sick. There was no one to share the fear with.

“I decided at that time to embark on the path of transcendence. I wanted to become a Gold Rank transcender—

“It happened until I watched my first younger brother, who was also my father’s second son, die miserably in a nightmare. In the end, he turned into an irrational demon.”

When Dmitri said this, he subconsciously bit the cigar.

Annan caught fear, sadness, and anger in his eyes.

“—So, I have backed down.”

He laughed at himself and whispered, “It’s ridiculous, Annan. It doesn’t matter if you laugh because it is absurd and shameful.

“Son of the Grand Duke, the future Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke, runs away from mere nightmares? I’m not a hero, not even a warrior.

“From then on, I didn’t want to inherit the position of Grand Duke. This is one of the reasons why I dared to make that bet with Rotten Man.” Dmitri murmured.

Dmitri’s voice was soft, “That’s because I don’t deserve it. It’s as simple as that.”

Annan fell silent.

But if you are terrified of nightmares, why do you choose to become a priest?