The Righteous Player(s)

Of course, this wasn’t a coincidence.

Fate is the track of the Divine Transporter.

At least when Annan made up his mind to get involved—or even long before that, from the very first time he was drawn in, the situation had already changed because of his presence.

Rather…

Annan mused.

What if this “coincidence” happened before I got involved?

Because no one knew everything, nor was there a completely objective account of everything.

Perhaps what Euphemia said was all she knew, but that didn’t necessarily represent the absolute truth.

What she knew might not be the deepest truth.

For example, Euphemia didn’t know about the existence of the Eternal Dukedom… let alone that the Eternal Duke had been played by the same person for a very long, long time.

On the other hand, the technology that the Melvin family was best at was the “Law of Similarity” in Idol Magic.

Then maybe the situation with the Eternal Dukedom was not the same as that with the Melvin family.

However, did the legacy of “the Divine of the World” come from the “Law of Similarity” that imitated the Eternal Dukedom?

Annan highly considered this possibility as the deepest truth.

Using a one-time Gold Rank to create a force capable of resisting the Frost Beast troops. It was a waste no matter how you looked at it. They couldn’t possibly go to such great lengths just for combat power.

So, what they needed was probably other uses for the Gold Rank transcender.

Given Euphemia’s authority, she wouldn’t find out the deeper purpose.

Then, there was the fact of the Eternal Dukedom being buried in history.

It was also the place where the first “lawless deity” in history, who could shape the Truth by himself without relying on the Book of Truth, was born. This ritual held great power within a reasonable manner.

Suppose the tradition shaped by the Melvin family was fundamentally to overlap with the Eternal Kingdom.

Then…

“Do they want the throne of the Venerated Skeleton?” Annan murmured.

According to Euphemia, the Melvin family had always been diligently creating living corpses and death chrysalises… If this custom stretched for hundreds of years, then the things they accumulated, they would be too wasteful and too patient.

Annan was more inclined to believe this tradition hadn’t been maintained for too long.

It amounted to more than a dozen death chrysalis and three digits of living corpses.

According to Annan’s investigation… As the largest wizard family in the Austere-Winter Dukedom, the Melvin family, including its branches, would have about 30 children every 10 years. Moreover, it would be tough to find the heir qualified as the “Divine of the World”. Only one suitable candidate would appear every 20 or 30 years.

That ‘three-digit’ number didn’t seem like a lot. Otherwise, Euphemia would have said ‘over 200’ or ‘over 300’.

It was like claiming a five-digit income, which usually just meant just over ten thousand.

If Euphemia wasn’t exaggerating, then the Melvin family’s efforts had spanned over 30 years — from when Euphemia was little, or around the time of Annan’s mother, there were over a hundred living corpses. Then counting another 30 years forward in time after that.

“That’s almost 60 years ago.” Annan murmured, “If there are about a hundred living corpses, the shortest time may even be less than 50 years.”

In Annan’s knowledge, the last time the Melvin family changed the “Divine of the World” was indeed in the year 1451.

Currently, they were in the year 1504.

In other words, the last time the Divine of the World was replaced was about 50 years ago. Assuming it started from his generation, that would align.

…Wait a moment.

Annan thought for a moment and asked in his heart.

“Elle, when were you born?”

[…Huh? Wait, wait, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I… Give me a moment…]

The sudden question threw Elle off guard.

She thought for a moment before replying:

[I was born in 1442… Yes, that’s right. It’s June 12th… What’s wrong?]

“Got it.” Annan comforted, “I suddenly thought of it, so I just asked.”

—Actually, this is bad.

Amos dedicated Elle to the Venerated Skeleton on her 16th birthday. At that time, the Venerated Skeleton had arrived at Freezing Water Port.

That was 1458.

The time between Elle’s birth and death was less than ten years from when the Melvin family implemented the “gold refining” plan.

Suppose the focus was shifted from Elle to the Venerated Skeleton.

The Venerated Skeleton was at odds with the Elegant Elder and was not welcomed by the Bone Burying Grandma. Before he came to Noah Kingdom, the only places he could go to were Austere-Winter and the underground city.

Suppose the Venerated Skeleton had been in the Austere-Winter Dukedom before going to the Freezing Water Port. The Melvin family would easily obtain the information that “the Venerated Skeleton had been taking the role of Eternal Dukes across many generations”.

Annan remembered that the first time he met the Venerated Skeleton, the Venerated Skeleton snatched a mysterious book that recorded many of His past events. At that time, Annan thought the Venerated Skeleton was his enemy. However, the Venerated Skeleton seemed to have great respect for the Old Grandmother and did not attack Annan at all.

So why did He take away the record about Himself?

What gave Him this habit?

Think about the law of similarity of the Melvin family again, Annan had a rough idea of what the Melvin family was going to do.

“As for that Satiated Gold, it’s probably part of the efforts to support this plan.” Annan sneered in a low voice, “That’s it. What a close call! I almost got deceived.”

Euphemia didn’t realize the crux of the problem at all.

The Melvin family had indeed betrayed.

But they were different from the uncultured people of the Northern Brotherhood. They were a wizard family with a long-standing heritage. Naturally, they should have known that there was no point in seizing power in the Austere-Winter Dukedom. It had been the Old Grandmother’s lineage since the Elven Age.

Their true objective was to steal the Truth of the Venerated Skeleton.

They somehow learned about the past of the Venerated Skeleton. They were also the ones who changed the Melvin family’s tradition, crafting it into a “similar idol” according to the Eternal Dukedom’s standards. So, the “Divine of the World” was essentially equivalent to the “Eternal Duke”.

And the Divine Child raised by their family, in order to inherit the Divine of the World… The candidate naturally possessed the talent for the same type of element. This was the similarity they intentionally cultivated.

Weaker Idol Wizards could use the ‘Law of Similarity’ to borrow the power from stronger Idol Wizards. Conversely, powerful Idol Wizards could also use this method to absorb and consume those who were similar but weaker than themselves

This level of rapid promotion to the Gold Rank, in terms of combat power, had no difference from the demonized Fallen. But their only difference was that they could burn souls to extract a large amount of pure elemental power.

Moreover, supposed they shared the same elemental power.

This meant that “the Divine of the World” could focus all these powers on himself. The characteristics of those clan elders were also sufficiently similar to the Divine of the World. They might also project their spirit onto them.

In the end, “the Divine of the World” would be like the Venerated Skeleton – betraying the whole clan, absorbing the existence of the entire clan, attributing their “cause of death” to themselves, and dissolving their bodies and curses within.

And after attaining the same height as the Venerated Skeleton and sufficient similarity, it would attempt to devour the existence of the Venerated Skeleton through the “Law of Similarity”.

So, the “gold” in the Satiated Gold program…

Did it really refer to the ordinary “gold”?

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