Chapter 238: Mobius Ring
Annan was feeling quite complicated.
It didnât matter whether Evelyn gave up the ritual or completed it.
The only difference was whether her physical body left Benjamin or her heart.
In actual history, Benjamin would enter the Swampâs Black Tower, become an Alteration Wizard, recruit many apprentices, and sell Alteration products.
Was it all because he had attributed Evelynâs death that year as his fault because he didnât get an ointment for her?
Everything seems to be connected.
According to Salvatore, many Alteration products for civilian usage had only begun to appear in the Noah Kingdom in the last dozen years.
The âFlesh Threadâ that could sew together wounds, the âSorceress Ointmentâ that could heal burns, and the âElixirâ that relieved any injuries. These ointments had become so much cheaper due to the improvement in the product manufacturing process. There were also spectacles, artificial gemstones, high-quality gauze, and sails made with Alteration arts.
The most famous and iconic product was the âGreen Fireâ that had now reached thousands of households in the Noah Kingdom, almost replacing the use of candles.
On the other hand, Benjaminâs contribution to improving the synthesization process of the Elixir, the Sorceress Ointment, and the Green Fire granted him the honorary title âMaster Benjaminâ.
The improvement ideas of these Alteration products were similar.
Rather than amplifying their effects on Transcended, he chose a synthesis method that abstained from using the expensive materials, significantly reducing the price of production. In the end, he improved the Alteration arts catered for civilians that were simple and low cost.
Evelyn is likely Benjaminâs obsession that will always haunt his mind.
The main reason for Evelynâs death was that she watched the Pale Princessâs dance during the Pale Tide.
As for the reason she was fascinated by the Pale Princessâs dance was because she was obsessed with dancing.
This obsession came from her disfigured face by a fire.
She had a disfigured face because she couldnât afford the âSorceress Ointmentâ to heal her burns.
Evelyn wasnât born poor.
She wasnât forced into any labor or farm work. Apparently, she had no calluses on her hands, and she knew Benjamin. So it wasnât poverty that stopped her from being treated.
It was because of the arrogance of the wizards.
Salvatore told Annan that the wizards monopolized the technology in that era.
Not to mention ordinary people, even other types of Transcended could hardly buy any wizardâs inventions. Money didnât help in this situation because wizards strictly forbid the sale of Alteration products to anyone outside of the Swampâs Black Tower.
You could apply the product for them, but you couldnât sell those products.
Their goal was to prevent the Alteration Wizards of other towers from cracking their Alteration ideas and imitating their arts into crafting better Alteration products.
The situation had changed twenty years later, probably due to Benjaminâs efforts.
He improved many civilian versions of âAlteration productsâ, used them to dominate the low-end market, and helped Swampâs Black Tower earn a huge sum of money. At the same time, it also incurred competition from wizards in other countries, forcing them to put down their ego and research âAlteration products for ordinary peopleâ.
It had indirectly pressured wizards worldwide to share their technology with ordinary people.
This was an era that alchemists could never imagine before the wizardâs Unification War.
Benjamin was an Alteration Wizard who wanted to use Alteration products that only Alteration Wizard could make to benefit and help the public.
But who would have known that the change of an era was because of a dancer disfigured by fire?
Annan thought about it silently.
He was a little worried that Benjamin would be reluctant to host the ritual for her.
When Annan and Benjamin came out of the âć-shaped roomâ, Annan faintly heard something.
The sound was faint and distantâŠ
It seemed like⊠an ethereal singing voice.
âDid you hear anything?â Annan suddenly had a thought in his heart and asked Benjamin in a low volume.
Benjamin was stunned for a moment. He frowned and listened for quite a while, then slowly shook his head, âNo, not at all. Let me listen more carefullyââ
âItâs fine⊠Maybe I misheard it.â Annan comforted tenderly.
But the singing in his ear became clearer and clearer, âLife is bright and beautiful, but it is a prison;
âLove is fiery and brilliant, but it is the fire that confuses the eye;
âThe wandering dancer who pursues beauty and freedomâ
âThe
Pale
already knows your purpose,
âDedicate your soul remnant and love to the
Pale
;
âDedicate your head and blood to the
Pale
âŠâ
It was a similar poem Annan had read in the letter he found in the dream world.
That voice is coming from right above me.
The ghosts are in the lobby!
Annan immediately realized that this was the reversed hymn he heard in the âReflection of the Church in the Lakeâ!
The moment he heard the hymn, Annan lost consciousness again.
He awoke back at the dungeon cellâs entrance again. The same spot where he traversed between reality and the dream world previously.
â
âŠEh?
â Annan was startled.
Behind him, the cell door was wide open, but no one was inside.
The chain that he had removed was still intact.
He twisted the lock and found out that it was still intact.
Was I spawned at an earlier timeline?
Annan walked forward while being occupied with his thoughts.
But this time, Annan didnât see the candlelight.
He walked to the middle of the corridor, only to see that the table blocked the path leading to the âguillotine roomâ.
Annan struck the match and lit the candle, but the candlelight was too dim.
The light was not enough to illuminate the entire corridor. The faint light hardly reached the middle of the passage.
I
need to move this table out of the way.
â
Hmm
, I should slow down a little bit.â Annan muttered, âLetâs see if the letter is different this timeâŠâ
After speaking his mind out loud, Annan skillfully opened the letter.
Then, he was stupefied on the spot.
The paper strip was much longer than what he first saw!
âTo the person who are loved by the
Pale
:
âThe pursuit of a tragic love,
âImprisonment in the shell of life,
âThe wandering dancer who pursues beauty and freedomâ
âThe
Pale
already knows your purpose,
âThrough this door,
âDedicate your soul remnant to the Pale,
âSend your lover to freedom,
âOffer your head to the earth,
âYou shall receive a condensed soul, a pure spirit;
âOr to leave here,
âFollow the mortal rules and send the soul remnant back to the earthâ
âYou will be remembered dearly.
âThe choice is yours,
ââbut I already know your answer.â
It was a narrow strip of paper, about four fingers wide.
After reading the note, Annan understood something.
He had made some incorrect assumptions.
When âCitalopramâ created a character, she was only at Level 5⊠So Annan thought that the profession of Half-dead Enchantress should start at Level 5.
But it could be because the profession offered to the player was a more simplified version â or Evelyn really had an extremely pure heart.
If she was willing to become a Half-dead Enchantress, she could even start at the Silver Rank directly!
The upper limit of the priesthood was at Silver Rank!
With that said, Evelyn even had the talent to become a pope.
In this case, it was beyond doubt that Evelyn, the future Half-dead Enchantress was the owner of the nightmare!
Since Evelyn had completed the ritual and became a half-human and half-undead⊠why did she die?
If she really died, shouldnât she become a wandering spirit following the Pale Princess?
Could it be that turning into a wandering spirit can also cause nightmares?
OrâŠ
Another doubt floated in Annanâs mind.
Benjamin had a desire to advance into Gold Rank.
He had been stagnant in Silver Rank for more than 20 years. Was it really because he couldnât find a way to advance into Gold Rank?
Or was it that his original goal was to become the pope for âthe Man in the Mirrorâ?
Annan suddenly remembered something.
In the âWhite Towerâ, he told Benjamin that he and Salvatore joined forces to kill Gerald.
At that time, Benjamin probably didnât know that Gerald would survive in the end and compete with him for Michelangeloâs resurrection.
But then Benjamin muttered, âJust as I expected.â
This showed that Benjamin knew from the very beginning that his future self would have murderous intentions towards Gerald sooner or later.
If that is the case, the answer was clear.
Benjamin and Michelangelo had known each other for a long time.
For the âmatchingâ during that event, Benjamin didnât partner up with Gerald and Michelangelo didnât team up with Melvin. Michelangelo had misled Annan!
Michelangeloâs duo wasnât Benjamin but Melvin!
The Melvin he killed was Geraldâs partner!
Benjamin, who had witnessed everything from the beginning, was too lazy to care. Benjamin didnât interfere with Michelangeloâs ritual because he had to preside over Michelangeloâs resurrection ritual in the future and help Michelangelo achieve divinity!
As for his reasonsâŠ
â
âŠOh
, yes.â Annan muttered.
He folded the upper and lower ends of the note in his hand and then slowly tore it open. That was to prevent misleading the past self⊠and thus achieve the perfect loop.
Benjamin likely entered this nightmare at some point and learned of Evelynâs actual whereabouts.
Evelyn hadnât become a Half-dead Enchantress, so she hadnât forgotten about Benjamin.
However, she didnât die because the one who killed her was her future self!
The real Half-dead Enchantress was forever trapped in the cracks of time, where no one could love her.
She gained the Half-dead Enchantressâs Transcended power but managed to escape the fate of forgetting the one she loved, at the cost of being caught in a loop of âthe pastâ.
From then, Benjaminâs goal had never changed.
He wanted to become the Man in the Mirrorâs pope and acquire the elements of mirror and time.
That way, he could plunge his consciousness into this infinite loop and rescue Evelyn from the fate of dedicating her soul to the Pale Princess!
In front of Annan, the actual main mission slowly emerged.
[Main mission: Create a loop.]
Below this main mission, three side missions slowly appeared.
[Witness the completion of the sacrificial ritual.]
[Light the candles as a Half-dead Enchantress.]
[Return to the beginning.]
âââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââ
Credits to MindMatrix for editing this chapter and improving the readability.
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