The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 599: Thousand Faces Illusory Tower

I wasn’t doing anything. Then, the Venerated Skeleton rewarded me with 10 holy light engravings…

This made Annan confused and at a loss.

Although this nightmare did contain a lot of “betrayal” elements, the purifier of this nightmare was not Annan.

You old fellow, not doing your own work and coming here to watch my livestream… You even tipped me along the way.

Judging from the rewards given by the Man in the Mirror, the rewards were fruitful.

However, something seems wrong here.

“You’re not taking me as your pope, right?”

Annan showed a complex look.

Not to mention, Annan was really the covenant holder of Angel of Betrayal, Angelo. In fact, he was one-half the pope of the Venerated Skeleton, even though he didn’t want to take the job himself.

Sensing from the room that the ritual was over, Nefertari walked out of the room.

Her expression was a little complicated.

Looking at Annan, Nefertari asked in a low voice, “Is it over?”

“It’s all over.” Annan replied.

Annan looked at Nefertari, who was frowning and reserved. He couldn’t help but chuckle, “You don’t have to be like this. This is not your problem, and it has nothing to do with you at all.”

Annan didn’t want to push everyone, who was a little bit close to Trisino, to the other side.

Although Nefertari referred to Trisino as a teacher to this day, they were not on the same side. Nefertari was also innocent. She was also the one being used, but her relationship with Trisino was deeper.

Even though she knew that she might be used or even deceived by Trisino, she couldn’t completely forget the teacher-student relationship for a while.

This was expected.

If Nefertari could completely abandon the old relationship in the blink of an eye, Annan would be wary of her instead.

Everything was just fine now.

“Bone Healer Seti, also known as Gray Professor. He is also the soul within the current ‘Professor Wolf’.”

Annan said slowly, “They’re the same person, but they’re not using the same name. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

Nefertari nodded slightly.

She even knew about it a little more than Annan.

The Idol Wizard played around with having names and dissociating themselves from names. It was not an art Trisino Seti invented first, and it was not even bothersome. However, surviving after dissociating from a name was not easy.

Typically speaking, the name dissociated from a person was a deactivated curse vessel. He could use this type of curse vessel at any time to switch his mind.

Nefertari hesitated for a moment before making up her mind.

“Teacher… is not actually a native underground dweller.”

Nefertari said softly, “He grew up in the Papal Kingdom, and graduated from the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower. When he was still a Silver Rank Great Wizard, he worked as a ‘dealer’ for several years.”

“…Thousand Faces Illusory Tower?”

Annan frowned slightly, and murmured in a low voice, “No wonder.”

He knew that the spell that split the name and identity was inherited from [Thousand Faces Illusory Tower].

It was the wizard tower that mainly taught the schools of Idol and Shaping, but it was not known for being a wizard tower.

Except for the wizards, other transcenders and ordinary people called it the “Tower of Lies”.

The apprenticeship period of this wizard tower was extremely long.

As long as the person failed to advance to Silver Rank, he would always be an “apprentice”. Even after reaching the Silver Rank, it would take several years for the person to serve the wizard tower before leaving.

It was a wizard tower as dangerous as the “Forbidden Lava Tower”.

Compared with the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower, Swamp’s Black Tower, which existed in the depths of the poisonous swamp full of methane, was even considered a safe zone.

Except for Swamp’s Black Tower, Jade Tower, and Azure Diamond Tower, other wizard towers were more or less dangerous.

The most dangerous one is the most mainstream inheritance of the Destruction School – Lava Forbidden Tower.

The apprentices of the Lava Forbidden Tower were in a precarious position. If they got too close to the core area, they could be blasted to death by the magic of high-ranking wizards. If they stayed too far away, they risked being engulfed by the active magma elementals. Even during class, there was always the possibility of a fellow student having a sudden revelation… and causing an explosion.

The classmates, who sat with this enlightened classmate, would die at random.

The the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower was not as dangerous as in the Lava Forbidden Tower, but it was about the same.

That was the wizard tower that inherited [the “dark side” of wisdom].

Mentors, or “dealers” teach apprentices not just spells but intrigue, trickery, murder, fraud.

The tower was not only used as a teaching institution, but also an “entertainment place”. It attracted many gamblers who were eager to “change their fate against the destiny”.

It was a life casino where anyone could use “luck”, “lifespan”, “loyalty” and other abstract things as bets or rewards to gamble or trade with others.

However, “direct attacks” of any kind were ban.

Whether it was using ritual to curse the opponent, using Soul Snatch Magic to increase the rapport and trust of others, using Shaping Magic to become another person, using Prophet Magic to predict the future, or using trickeries to win the gamble — as long as you were not exposed, it would be allowed.

The Thousand Faces Illusory Tower had only three absolute rules.

First, the chips of each gamble must be of equal value. The stakes of both parties must be judged to be of the same value by the wizard tower before the gamble could proceed. Only apprentices could initiate a gamble, while outsiders could only choose to accept or not.

Second, outsiders entering the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower must win at least one gamble before they could leave. Once any kind of debts of outsiders were not settled, they would never be able to leave the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower.

Thirdly, all wizards belonging to the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower, whether they were apprentices or “dealers”, must wear “masks” when they were in the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower.

It was some sort of protection mechanism.

As long as the person was found “not wearing a mask” and being reported to the tower owner, they would be immediately deprived of the status of “apprentice” or “dealer” and be regarded as “outsiders”.

Apprentices could leave the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower at any time, but they couldn’t come back after leaving. If an apprentice reached the Silver Rank, he could choose to become a “dealer”. In other words, a mentor.

The “dealer” could not participate in any form of gambling as the initiator or responder, but each game must have at least one dealer present to oversee the game. According to the prior agreement of the three parties, the dealer could draw any percentage from the winner — usually around 5%. However, there were a few exceptions.

When the dealer left the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower, he needed to send the mask back, and pay himself “one-third of the chips he won this time” as a deposit for the mask. Then, he could still receive the mask when he returned next time.

Otherwise, the next time the person returned, he would be treated as an outsider.

Generally speaking, the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower was a sacred place for wizard apprentices to deceive outsiders and use their wisdom to plunder their abstract possessions such as lifespan, luck, memory, and skills, so as to grow themselves.

That was where smart people with bad intentions go.

However, it would be false to say that there was no intrigues between wizard apprentices. The wizard apprentices could also initiate a “duel” like other wizard apprentices, as long as the other party was willing to accept, they could still gamble.

The only thing that was absolutely fair was the “chip”.

There were even a few deities, who “played” in the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower and followed the rules. Since the chips provided by both parties must be of equal value, unless someone was being emotional, otherwise it was safe for the deities.

To prevent the deities from retaliating from anger, the Holy See of “Lady Luck”, one of the twelve upright deities, was built at the entrance of the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower.

In other words, the entrance to the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower was in the backyard of Lady Luck’s house.

“…Including ‘Tragedy Writer’ himself, he has been waiting in the Thousand Faces Illusory Tower for a long time, pretending to be an outsider. Waiting for the foolish apprentices to start a gamble with him. Naturally, there is no camaraderie among the apprentices of the Magic Tower. The seniors are also happy to watch this kind of fun.”

Nefertari said so.

The usual image of Tragedy Writer was a middle-aged werewolf, who was obsessed with gambling games or wine games. He wore a purple robe, smelled of alcohol, and had a decadent and sloppy face.

To figure out when Trisino Seti began to believe in Tragedy Writer…

“—That can only happen at that time.”

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