The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 212: Rotten Man’s Intervention On His Investment

Rotten Man: ?

Look at what you said, aren’t you over-courteous?

Can I not agree to that?

Do I fucking dare?

Facing the partial Silver Sire, Rotten Man found the situation difficult for him.

Once the contract was signed, Silver Sire no longer had the friendly business person’s face. He took the initiative to stir up trouble for the Rotten Man.

If Rotten Man expressed dissatisfaction with this or rejected the proposal, Silver Sire would drag the conversation longer.

“Sure,” replied Rotten Man. He could only agree and had no other choice.

Also, he was confident because he knew what Annan’s trump cards were.

“Book of Divine Transporter, isn’t it?” Rotten Man glanced at Annan deeply.

There had been no new Book of Truth spawned in the recent centuries. Faced with such a situation, many people didn’t dare advance into Gold Rank. Those who had attained the Gold Soul Rank could only find other ways for their ascension.

One successful example would be the ritual invented by the Venerated Skeleton. Through a massive ritual, it allowed the user to obtain the temporary Truth awarded by the world. If the user managed to keep the ritual going, he could utilize this as an opening to forcefully promote himself to become a deity. Of course, it took more than the ritual but various elements for the ascendancy process.

Indeed, this was the ‘hope’ to ascend into deityhood.

As a sage, the Venerated Skeleton’s alchemy level was excellent. His train of thought was foolproof somehow.

Since this new ritual could be realized without relying on the deity’s power, it meant that the Truth could exist in this world independently. But, the Truth might not have fully formed yet. Perhaps, it hadn’t yet been separated independently. It was also possible that it only appeared in the future or the past.

Rotten Man also promoted himself to deityhood in the same way the Venerated Skeleton utilized.

Michelangelo approached this challenge the same way too.

But the difference was that the Venerated Skeleton and Michelangelo’s ritual was complete. Only their ritual area was difficult to destroy.

The Venerated Skeleton’s ritual area was hidden underground of the Elegy Dukedom.

Michelangelo’s ritual area was hidden in the past.

But, Rotten Man was different.

Only his ritual wasn’t fully completed yet.

Strictly speaking, the Rotten Man wasn’t even a false deity. He only got the essence and power of a deity, but he didn’t acquire the Truth.

This was why he wanted the Book of Divine Transporter.

In Rotten Man’s view, what the Book of Divine Transporter represented was the Truth he “rented.” As long as Annan relied on the Book of Divine Transporter to become a deity, Annan would take away Rotten Man’s slot to become a deity.

A temporary rented Truth was naturally inferior to the genuine one.

The Venerated Skeleton had gradually stabilized his temporary Truth by practicing the curse he got when he became a deity. After all, for hundreds of years, he had been diligent in practicing his Truth on “bones” and “betrayal” in different places. His efforts in guiding others to betray relatives and friends and craft powerful curse vessels based on bones were incessant. As a result, his name had become well-known in many countries.

But for Rotten Man, he hadn’t yet completed his ritual.

If he knew that Annan was the holder of the Book of Divine Transporter, Rotten Man would never make a move so quickly. Instead, he would try to foster a good relationship with Annan and search the Book of Divine Transporter in Annan’s name.

After Annan collected at least four pages, the Rotten Man would kill him, snatch the Book of Divine Transporter and run away.

But he was also self-aware now.

Old Grandmother had woken up. Silver Sire would be sheltering Annan. The odds of murdering Annan through his believers would be unlikely. Only fools believed that Silver Sire would let Rotten Man believers murder Annan.

When interests and benefits were involved, a businessman’s promise was the least credible.

Silver Sire could even sit out. He only needed to inform the royal family and ask them to send some guards to protect Annan. Moreover, he could run a census and find excuses to lock up the suspicious people.

Instead of killing Annan and taking the Book of Divine Transporter from him now, it was better to give him the space to grow.

But, Rotten Man could no longer stay in the Noah Kingdom.

Holders of the title page of Book of Truth were always attracted to other “eggs” subconsciously. A complete Book of Truth must have at least six or seven pages. Even in terms of probability, there would be at least four pages outside of the Noah Kingdom and Austere-Winter Dukedom.

Hmph, I have time towait for it.

When Annan goes abroad and collects at least four pages of the Book of Truth, I will come to trouble him again.

For Rotten Man, the utmost priority now was to interrupt Michelangelo’s ascendancy ritual quickly.

It wasn’t because he and Michelangelo had a grudge.

Instead, Michelangelo could successfully reincarnate with the aid of Rotten Man’s power.

Five years ago, Rotten Man himself was in Austere-Winter Dukedom.

The five elements of becoming a deity were “four rotating wheels,” “the creation,” “supreme crown,” “prototype of truth,” and “perfected element essence.”

After all of them were gathered together, the ascendancy ritual could be started.

Compared with two wheels and three wheels, a four-wheeled chariot was much more stable; compared with the six-wheel and eight-wheel upgraded version, a four-wheeled chariot was the most cost-effective.

It represented the “minimum cost on smooth operation” and also represented the “equilibrium” of the deities’ center of gravity. Therefore, they shouldn’t have any apparent weaknesses. In other words, the person had to make up for their flaws.

In other words, this represented a rigid requirement for attributes and levels. The Venerated Skeleton and Rotten Man’s ritual had allowed them to get this power.

But Michelangelo didn’t need to do that. The Venerated Skeleton and Rotten Man both rushed to become deities without preparation, while Michelangelo made plans to become a deity from the beginning.

He had been stranded in the Gold Rank for a long time, and he had accumulated enough curses for promotion. “Four rotating wheels” was established for him.

Michelangelo succeeded in making divine creations such as “living stone statues” and had some powerful curse vessels named after him. This fulfilled “the creation” requirement.

As the most potent surviving Prophet wizard in the world, he had the title of “Time Stopper Eye.” When his prophecies conflict with others’ prophecies, people would unconditionally choose to believe in him. This was his “supreme crown.”

Michelangelo had no truth, but he relied on the taboo ritual he designed to put himself in a paradox state of both life and death. No existing deity could do that, but he had established it. Hence, it became the temporary Truth he rented.

The problem was that Michelangelo had developed his elements of “mirror” and “time” to the limit.

There was no perfect Sage’s Stone as a substitute. He would need to improve the elements continuously. This difficult project was supposedly achieved through the Truth power after getting the Book of Truth.

However, as a mortal, Michelangelo couldn’t control “time.”

Michelangelo pondered for a long time and had a bold idea.

He used a Rotten Man believer he killed as a medium. He initiated a seemingly harsh deal with a particular deity who had been stuck on the final step to achieve deityhood for hundreds of years.

Rotten Man would resurrect Michelangelo at the appointed time and place. After that, if Michelangelo succeeded and wholly ascended into a deity, then he didn’t need to pay any price. However, if Michelangelo succeeded in the resurrection but still failed to attain deityhood, all the power Michelangelo accumulated, including his soul, would belong to Rotten Man.

At that time, Rotten Man thought to himself. Isn’t this a Gold Rank envoy for free?

Although he had to wait five years and spend his power to reincarnate him, the Rotten Man Church would immediately have an elite at the peak level of Gold Rank. He would acquire the curse power Michelangelo accumulated and Michelangelo’s soul in this process.

Rotten Man had his judgment in the situation.

Although Michelangelo was strong, his elemental power hadn’t exceeded the limit. Moreover, he hadn’t yet obtained the Book of Truth or a temporary Truth. He was still very far away from the road of ascendancy.

So, the Rotten Man agreed without hesitation.

Soon after that, Michelangelo sent a letter to the 8 Silver Rank Wizards, inviting them to the White Tower.

Now, Rotten Man had completed the first half of the agreement.

But he realized something was wrong.

Michelangelo’s ritual seemed much more complete and reliable than the ritual he duplicated. The last component of this ritual was the “Michelangelo’s Resurrection,” or rather the “Michel Nottdamm’s Birth.”

The overlapping crying sounds were the manifestation of the ascendancy in the element of the “mirror.”

Seeing that his investment was about to lose, Rotten Man decided to intervene in person and make some “fine adjustments.” All his efforts were to ensure that Michelangelo’s promotion would fail in the end.

After all, Michelangelo wasn’t a believer of any upright deity.

There was no need to worry that his ascendancy ritual would be protected by an upright deity, turning him into a subordinate deity after attaining deityhood.

What he believed in was only the Elegant Elder’s subordinate deity, the deity of palace and sculpture, “Father Stone.” Worse still, he was even disrespectful to Father Stone, thinking that his works in the mortal period “weren’t as good as the people had preached.”

Rotten Man’s initial idea was right.

As he paid a specific price to reach a deal with Silver Sire, he was confident that he could increase his power and acquire an envoy at the peak of Gold Rank through this transaction. With that, even if he lost all the believers in the Noah Kingdom, he could easily make a comeback.

As his capabilities improved, his church would have more substantial backing. At least in the future, the situation would be better when his believers fight with other deities’ believers, and both parties summon divine envoys. Otherwise, the divine envoys summoned at Rotten Man’s side could only peak at Gold Rank.

It was originally that way.

Rotten Man gave Annan a deep look.

Michelangelo doesn’t have much popularity to get someone to help him.

But my grudges will persuade people to stop me.

Fine, Annan.

Since you stood up and provoked me…

If I respect your power and hurt you by accident for not restraining myself, I can’t be blamed, right?

It’s just a pity that Annan hasn’t accumulated four pages of the Book of Divine Transporter yet. After he dies, the title page will disappear again.

Hmph, I have to look for the next holder of the Book of Divine Transporter.