The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 240: The Pale Princess’s Attention

[The nightmare has been purified.]

[Purified the nightmare with a designated identity. Evaluation ratings increased.]

[Constructed a perfect loop. Evaluation ratings increased significantly.]

[Received approval from the Pale Princess. Evaluation ratings increased significantly.]

[Comprehensive Evaluation — A]

[Obtained 150 points of Shared Experience. Perception+1.]

[Obtained dungeon instance clearance reward: Profession (Wizard) increases by 3 levels.]

[Hidden plotline has been decrypted: 75%]

[You may receive the second stage reward (obtained when completion reaches 66%).]

“…Receive.” Annan took a deep breath and adjusted his body on the bed so that he could lie comfortably on the pillow.

I just happened to reveal ? of the plot…

It didn’t go beyond Annan’s expectations.

After all, Annan only figured out the mechanism behind this dungeon instance, but he couldn’t break off the loop. It was something Benjamin had to do by himself. Moreover, he would have to prepare the items or learn abilities to intercept and store the soul in advance so that when Evelyn’s soul escaped the infinite loop, he could capture it as soon as possible.

Judging from the fact that Annan was able to get the second stage dungeon instance reward, Benjamin’s progress in decrypting this nightmare shouldn’t be as far as Annan imagined.

What Benjamin faced was his “old self” in his nightmare.

It seemed like Benjamin didn’t even fully understand the situation at the time, but he had already made up his mind to save Evelyn.

“What a romantic Benjamin is…” Annan muttered.

[Acquired dungeon instance decryption reward: Curse Vessel — “White Guillotine”]

[White Guillotine]

[Type: Weapon/Tool/Miscellaneous (Dark Purple)]

[Description: A guillotine that has severed countless heads remains as white as jade. Users approved by the Pale Princess can hold it without a hilt.］

[Effect: The owner will suffer the curse “God-sent Beheader” and “Divine Cut”]

[God-sent Beheader: You must behead at least one other person within 24 hours after this weapon sees blood, else your own head will be decapitated. Once you have inflicted a “decapitation” injury, the beheaded’s soul will be sent to the Pale Princess, which will cause the decapitated to die instantly.]

[Divine Cut: When the weapon inflicts “cut” damage to a living enemy, the damage done can ignore the enemy’s armor and inflict complete damage. When it inflicts “cut” damage to ghosts and spirit-type enemies, the damage is considered divine art damage.]

“…What a strange weapon.” Watching the guillotine gradually took shape from the void and lay peacefully on his quilt, Annan turned silent.

For ordinary human enemies, beheading already meant “immediate death”. The instant death effect wasn’t quite helpful. Necks unprotected by armor were so vulnerable that Annan could sever them with his existing kitchen knife. Hence, the armor-piercing property wasn’t that useful either.

The good news was that it was a dark purple weapon.

After ignoring the conditions to activate its effects, it was still quite a powerful weapon in terms of stats alone.

A weapon that ignored natural armor types such as scales, muscles, and bones. Moreover, it gave Annan the option to attack spirits without activating the [Silver Hand]. Also, he could defeat the enemy that could regenerate infinitely in one hit.

This was undoubtedly a weapon that specialized in “fighting undead monsters”, as long as they had a neck.

It’s actually the Mortal Blade.

[TN: A Sekiro Die Twice weapon.]

Annan was speechless.

From another point of view, the conditions of the weapon were too harsh, and the cost of using it wasn’t too serious.

Once it was unsheathed (Figuratively speaking, there was no sheath.), the user was required to decapitate someone within twenty-four hours. That was to say, if Annan intended to use this weapon, it meant he had to kill at least one person.

Let’s archive this weapon for the time being.

I should unseal this when I encounter a formidable opponent…

Annan imagined himself holding a bloody kitchen knife in one hand, a guillotine blade like another giant kitchen knife in the other hand; or a sledgehammer in one hand and a giant sword in the other…

He shuddered a little.

This style doesn’t feel quite right.

It doesn’t feel like the image of a magician!

I think I would look much cooler holding a kitchen knife in one hand and a hammer in the other.

Annan tried to wield the [White Guillotine]. He smiled with satisfaction once he confirmed that [Parallel Comprehension] ability was triggered normally.

I should keep it.

Annan thought for a moment, got out of the quilt, and put on a coat casually.

Then, he went to find a roll of bandages and wrapped the [White Guillotine].

Its blade wasn’t too sharp; it probably could be considered blunt.

However, its curse was enough to sever anyone’s head easily.

Annan was suddenly curious. If I wrap it with a bandage, will the curse itself still work?

If that works, should I put it in a scabbard? Would the weapon still function normally?

Beheading an enemy directly with the scabbard…

“If that can work too, it would be interesting.” Annan sighed.

It’s a pity that my character design seems to be getting weirder.

However, now that I have personally experienced the information of the Half-dead Enchantress…

Annan pondered a little and tweaked Citalopram’s spawn location.

Then, he began to write a customized starting plotline for her.

Since she was a Half-dead Enchantress, she had to play this role well.

Just looking at the item “recognized by the Pale Princess” in the mission score, Annan was startled.

Annan knew that this dungeon instance belonged to the Pale Princess.

Benjamin put the [Chaos Spell: Denial of Life] as the core reward of the nightmare, which meant that he must have reached some kind of agreement with the Pale Princess.

The side effect of this spell was to fall into this nightmare that was under the Pale Church’s control.

This chaos spell wasn’t the divine art used by the priest but a spell that borrowed the deity’s power as a “non-believer”.

The price they paid was to be engraved with the traces of the divine power — “influence”.

Their souls were teleported across regions and entered a nightmare even without a key when the chaos spell’s effect wore off.

Sure enough, someone must have realized that nightmares could be entered this way, but they might not necessarily have cleared the nightmare. It was likely that the deity’s believers discovered it.

Not all deities had as many priests as an upright deity. Moreover, the priests didn’t have to do anything. As long as they cleansed the nightmares, they wouldn’t starve to death.

For false deities, their believers were only required to “discover” the nightmare.

So, this group of people was also known as “traveling priests”.

They looked as though they were preaching their faith, but they were actually searching for nightmares. As long as they find a nightmare similar or consistent with their deity’s domain, they could borrow the Divine Art’s power to anchor it.

—In other words, when they encountered dungeons they couldn’t defeat or didn’t have the spare time to challenge, they would share those dungeons with other Transcended. In return, the Transcended would have to work and pay off their debts.

When an anchored dungeon instance was purified, it would produce a holy light engraving belonging to the corresponding false deity. Usually, these Transcended would utilize these engravings to purify their erosion rate or purchase new chaos spells.

This was how those Transcended who walked the path of chaos would improve themselves.

They were the PvE players who wouldn’t participate in the main storyline when they farm the dungeons.

[TN: PvE stands for players vs. environment.]

The speed at which they improved their strength was much faster than the Transcended at the same level.

After all, even if ordinary Transcended found a nightmare, it took a long time to explore it. The advantage was that the Transcended in his category could dig deeper into the secrets of these nightmares.

On the other hand, Transcended who have borrowed a false deity’s power had the opportunity to improve their might via this one-time nightmare quickly. The good news was that they would know what was the nightmare’s central theme before going in.

Although the night could only be entered once, the probability of one passing would be higher. The price was that once you failed, your erosion rate would skyrocket.

Evelyn’s nightmare was clearly in the hands of the Pale Princess. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be assigned to Annan.

The traveling priests didn’t find this nightmare and “share” it out.

From the very beginning, the Pale Princess kept this nightmare.

It appeared that the Pale Princess granted Annan entry into this dungeon instance because he knew Benjamin.

It was only the first try on the nightmare, and yet Annan attracted the Pale Princess’s attention.

If Annan acquired the influence of the “Death Howl” a few more times, enter a different dungeon instance belonging to the Pale Princess or even completely purify a dungeon instance and obtain the Pale Princess’s holy light engravings…

He instinctively felt that the Pale Princess would come over with her iconic scissors and take his head off one day.

It was like the naughty kids stealing the fruits from the fruit trees by the streets.

Since Annan couldn’t become a Half-dead Enchantress, then he could only run away with his head in his arms.

“Hey, has Yiyi also brought in a newcomer?” Annan suddenly sensed that a new player had entered the world.

He opened his eyes curiously and opened the backend interface.

Forget it. I’m not sleeping tonight!

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Credits to MindMatrix for editing this chapter and improving the readability.