The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 538: The Winter Insurgent, Vladmir

One of the two saints was formerly an Alteration Wizard from the Jade Tower of the Denizoya Kingdom.

Instead of inheriting the Tower Master role, he chose the “Doctor Forbidden” profession to learn spells across many schools.

At the same time, he also studied the path of ritual and collected ample occult knowledge.

He was a wise man who had reached the pinnacle of both the ascension and ritual path.

They said that he had mastered all rituals in the world and could cast all spells. Of course, it was only “what the folks said”.

No one would be surprised that he was recognized by the [Eye of Patience]. After all, he could become the Mysterious Lady’s pope if he wanted to. He must be a “very patient” person, given his capacity to achieve that.

However, the holder of the [Skull of Honesty] was the opposite.

If “the Man of Wisdom” was a great man whose ability was so outstanding that everyone recognized him, then “the Man of Silence” was so low-key that no one knew why he became a saint.

However, he was indeed a saint.

St. Peter was Mr. Ray’s pope and one of the few who could become a saint’s pope.

On his outward appearance, he was a short man with a mild temper and low profile.

He was so low-key that no one understood what “the Skull of Honesty” was capable of and why he was chosen. He never stepped forward to answer people’s questions, either.

After all, compared with such attributes as “patience” and “courage”, “honesty” was too difficult to judge. It was even more difficult to deduce what qualities he possessed that granted him the acknowledgment of the sacred bone.

If honesty meant not telling lies, even some monks whose roots were related to the “Truth” Realm would spend their entire lives not telling a lie.

In fact, a Gold Rank Monk decades ago had a problem with “the Skull of Honesty” picking such a weirdo instead of him. He was still tangled with the grievance even when his soul dried out.

Saint Peter had never even shown the power of his element, let alone fought with others.

The strangest thing was that he never prayed in front of people.

He was a contrast to other upright deities’ popes who held meetings now and then, organizing various grand blessing rituals and festivals several times a year. However, instead of treating others amiably while maintaining dignity like the other popes, he was not as gentle and polite to everyone as these popes were.

If it weren’t for the fact that this matter could not be faked, some people would have suspected that he was the Silent Lady’s pope instead of Mr. Ray’s pope.

He was just too “quiet”.

This eccentric pope would hide where others could not see him no matter what he did, whether it was a festival or prayers.

But as a leader, doing nothing was bound to make things worse. But every time there was a crisis, things would always be inexplicably back on track.

Initially, people thought the pope was lucky and could turn misfortune into blessings.

A crude way of putting it was, “the fools had their unique blessings”.

However, something was not right if he had been lucky for decades.

Thus, people treated it as a mystical and profound art. After all, he was the longest-lived Gold Rank Transcender, an old tortoise that had lived for more than a hundred years. It was expected not to comprehend the profundities of his ways.

What was even more interesting was that after he had acquired the Skull of Honesty, he never said a word in front of others.

He did not become mute. He would at least speak in the Internal Council of Cardinals and the “House of Purity”. Moreover, he had taken his turn in becoming the Supreme Pontiff for a couple of generations. However, his silence was a little too much.

It was a duty for the popes to bless others, blessing the priests under his command and those who suffered from misfortune.

Not to mention that he was the Purification Deity’s pope. His priest was always on the front line of fighting against nightmares, and the death rate was relatively high.

However, he never said a word to the sacrificed priest, shed a tear, and never even attended their funeral.

He never said even words of recognition for the dead and comfort for the living, such as “he was a great man”, “he was a bright kid”, “I am saddened by their passing”.

This had accumulated dissatisfaction of the Papal Kingdom’s citizens against him for some years.

However, although some people think that the method of “maintaining honesty through silence” was ugly, he had solidly served as a saint for nearly a hundred years.

The other popes of his generation had changed six times, and the sons of his friends had all died of old age, but he still sat on the pope’s throne as firm as a mountain. Moreover, the connections he accumulated over the years had gradually grown.

He did not need to say a word, and Mr. Ray’s Church could operate tacitly.

St. Peter was a well-known figure, though he always got the scolding.

But “Alfonso”…

“In my memory, there seems to be no one named Alfonso.” Annan blurted.

Nefertari was silent for a moment.

“My brother is the saint whom my teacher gave the ‘Courage’ sacred bone.” She explained tactfully.

…the Thief Saint?

Annan frowned slightly.

“I don’t intend to be rude.” He said slowly, “But is your brother still alive?”

Annan heard something about this sacred bone in Boffis’ nightmare.

In the knowledge, a soul that had not reached Gold Rank could not bear the power of sacred bone. Once the sacred bone was unleashed, the soul would soon disintegrate. His lifespan would not exceed one month at most.

Ghirlandaio ignored Nefertari’s embarrassed smile, tapped on the table, and said slowly, “To my knowledge, the most satisfying candidate for sacred bone will not be the Gold Rank Transcender. It is not even the transcender but the ordinary people who have not embarked on the path of transcendence or ritual. But I am afraid they will die in less than a month.

“Or perhaps the ‘Bone Healer’ can make the Silver Rank Transcender use the sacred bone’s power without dying?”

Hearing this, Nefertari’s eyes lit up.

“You indeed know about this!”

Most people did not know about this matter. Not all Gold Rank could master the sacred bone because the top leaders of various countries had never mentioned this knowledge in any records to prevent people from competing for the sacred bone!

That was because the power poured out from the sacred bone could instantly elevate ordinary people to the strength of Gold Rank. After they die, it would become a large-scale distorted nightmare.

That was why the sacred bone was not only a rare treasure but also an unmanageable trouble.

Even elves with the curse power had to craft Wyrmrest Reagent to put the Heart of Justice to sleep.

To collect enough dragon blood to make Wyrmrest Reagent, Boffis’ mother even sold a painting to the dragon willing to sell blood — this painting was later “the Paper Princess”. And the dragon who sold blood back then also gave his life and soul to the Paper Princess.

Without this incident, the Deity of Illusion would no longer be the Paper Princess.

From this point of view, the price of temporarily sleeping in the Heart of Justice was even the life of a deity.

Although this statement was somewhat exaggerated, it was enough to prove the trouble that the sacred bone would bring.

“Back then, half of the teacher’s experiment had failed.” Nefertari replied honestly, “As you said, my brother’s body is on the verge of collapse. Even if my teacher is there to repair it, I’m afraid he won’t survive this year.

“But if you let your brother deviate from the Way of Courage and abandon the sacred bone, he will die immediately and turn into a terrible nightmare. Those ignorant people who came to seek the [Fearless Bone] had no idea about what would happen if they inherited it.

“But the [Fearless Bone] is composed of multiple sacred bones. The bones can be transplanted in batches if someone can inherit the Way of Courage. In this case, my brother might not have to die.”

Nefertari explained earnestly, “We have previously contacted ‘the Daughter of the Storm’ Maria of Austere-Winter Dukedom, the ‘Light Forger’ Gregory VII of the Papal Kingdom, and our underground world’s ‘Captain Stone’ Celecia, and ‘the Winter Insurgent’ Vladmir. We asked if they wanted to inherit the [Fearless Bone], but they all refused except for Vladmir.

“But ‘the Winter Insurgent’ Vladmir once betrayed the Austere-Winter Dukedom. There is no guarantee of what he will do after he becomes a saint. We don’t want to offend the Austere-Winter Dukedom, but we also don’t want Alfonso to die and become an intractable nightmare.”

When she said this, she looked eagerly at Annan·Austere-Winter.

“Since you are here to find the Heart of Justice, you must have reached the Gold Rank.

“If I have a way here to let you master two sacred bones simultaneously, would you like to test it out — your compatibility with the [Fearless Bone]?”