"Who says intelligence can only be obtained from Benjamin?"
"Claus knows quite a bit as well."
"The way to clear this copy is to kill all the traitors."
"Basically... it means killing everyone except for Benjamin, Tan Juan Geraint, and John. Although in the first cycle, Annan did see a very small number of ’loyal subjects’, they were really too few."
"And in the second cycle, they all died from an unidentified AOE by Benjamin."
"If they were all wiped out cleanly, and Claus also died... the copy would be forced to clear."
"Annan would then be unable to continue asking Benjamin those questions."
"—However, Annan didn’t plan to spare Claus’s life for extensive questioning either."
"Because he was too dangerous."
"Having witnessed so many Transcendents, Annan fully understood just how dangerous a silver-ranked Transcendent could be."
"After Karni, a bronze-ranked person, turned into a demon, he became so powerful... far surpassing an ordinary bronze-ranked Transcendent. And the last time Annan cleared this copy, when Claus was cornered, he also actively triggered the Curse Binding, attempting to demonize."
"This was probably why Benjamin was so anxious back then, insisting that Tan Juan freeze him to death immediately."
"Once Claus completed the demonization, a silver-ranked Wizard who couldn’t cast spells (especially a transmutation wizard), might not necessarily be able to defeat him."
"So the right choice was... to backstab and kill Claus as soon as the opportunity arose."
"Before that, they needed to keep some ’seeds of the traitors’ alive. Let them take refuge in the cabin ahead of time."
"That way it would be ensured that by killing Claus, the copy wouldn’t be completed at the same time."
"So, the topics Annan wanted to inquire about with Claus..."
"Had to be asked in full before meeting Benjamin."
"What identity should Annan adopt for himself?"
"It could be confirmed first that Claus was a follower of the Rotful Church, as well as a subordinate of the third prince—and it’s possible the third prince didn’t even know he was related to the Rotful Church."
"First, ’Eldest Princess’ and ’King’ were out of the question."
"If he planned to betray Tan Juan Geraint’s faction, then Annan’s status would clearly be lower than Claus’s. Everything would be the same as the previous cycle."
"And if Annan claimed to be a person from the Rotful Church or the third prince, then it would be inconvenient for him to inquire about information."
"—There was only one faction that could suppress Claus."
"That was the Bone Sovereign."
"They obviously knew from the beginning that the Bone Sovereign himself had always been in Frostwater Harbor."
"That’s why Claus and his group didn’t even dare to stay—they ran away as soon as they disembarked from the ship. They may have even fled on a small boat without reaching Frostwater Harbor."
"Because they knew that the relationship between the Bone Sovereign and the Rotful wasn’t very good."
"Just as the Bone Sovereign came over to give Annan a hint about the Rotful’s intelligence... the Rotful clearly didn’t want to provoke the Bone Sovereign, but the Bone Sovereign was actively looking for trouble with the Rotful."
"I think, you might be leaving the ship soon?"
Annan smiled faintly, "Won’t you come to Frostwater Harbor... for a visit?"
He could clearly see the guard captain Claus’s face suddenly showing a look of horror.
Claus was obviously startled by the answer.
His gaze flickered violently for a moment.
Then hesitantly, he took a half step back, looking at Annan with some suspicion, and asked in a low voice, "You asked me if I am a person of the third prince... for what reason?"
"This is because I want to tell you—that our conversation from here on has nothing to do with those two,"
Annan said cheerfully, "It’s just about matters of the mortal world. Don’t think too complicatedly... "
His words were loaded with meaning.
Upon hearing this, Claus’s back was covered with cold sweat.
...He actually knows that I am a person of the Rotful Church?
This secret is even unknown to the third prince!
They had just completely retreated from the Winter Principality to relocate to Noah Kingdom and were currently infiltrating the direct royal family...
—And the Bone Sovereign’s side had already gotten this intelligence?
"The lord knows about this too?"
Claus asked respectfully.
Annan nodded solemnly.
"John" that innocent face gradually revealed a trace of indifferent and rational light, "Bone King, you knew our purpose from the beginning. Whether it was the Decay Lord trying to complete His ritual for immortality or what you did in the Winter Principality, we knew it all.
"—That’s why he sent me to enter this male body."
The "ritual for immortality" was something Annan had read about from books regarding the Decay Lord.
In fact, the Decay Lord was not a true deity.
According to the books, "He, like the Bone King, is a god who has not fully grasped the Truth."
By the general path of soul ascension, only by obtaining a complete Fragment of Truth and forming one’s own Book of Truth can one attempt to hold a Sublimation Ritual and become a true god.
As for the boundary between False Gods and True Gods, it is not so clear. The only difference between False Gods and True Gods, besides True Gods having a "human-like" appearance... is that True Gods have their own Protective Moon.
After all, there exist no planes such as the "Starry Realm" or "Divine Realm" in this world; the deities exist in the mortal realm itself.
Since they are visible and tangible with material form, there is an extremely small chance they can fall.
And True Gods, within their own Protective Moon, can not only radiate their power to the whole world... but can also resurrect when their Protective Moon arrives.
—In other words, only True Gods in this world are completely immortal.
But the situation for the Decay Lord and the Bone King is different.
When they ascended to godhood, they did not obtain the Book of Truth.
The Bone King likely performed a ritual sacrifice of the corpses from his entire country, gaining a temporary truth. That is to say, he only received a temporary divine office. If the ritual was disrupted, for some reason, the truth that supported his ascension would dissipate along with it.
The Decay Lord’s situation is very similar to the Bone King’s.
He was a true eunuch before his ascension to godhood.
At the same time, he was a powerful "Alchemist."
That is to say, a transformation wizard.
His Curse Binding allowed him to achieve "life transformation."
That is, transferring the life span of kin onto another person.
So he held forbidden rituals for his king, transferring the lifespans of the king’s descendants onto him.
In the meantime, he conducted another ritual—
He transferred the king’s bloodline to all the newborns in the country, under the guise of "blood tests for newborns."
Under the covert support of the old king, he completed this composite ritual without anyone’s notice through his own secret service agency.
But at the final moment, the Decay Lord could be said to have betrayed his king... or not.
Because this plethora of lifespans could not reverse the already aged body of the king.
So, the Decay Lord destroyed the grand barrier, allowing the Mist to envelop the country—the significant power of the curse permeated the newborns nationwide. Using these pure infants as purifiers, and through the blood connection, the cleansed curse force along with endless vitality surged into his royal body.
Yes... At first, he wanted to mimic the Bone King’s ritual to make his king a god with infinite lifespan. And both he and the other citizens would be reborn with the power of the "God of Undeath."
But the king was enraged by this.
He personally executed the Decay Lord, who had been loyal to him and grew up with him since childhood.
However, to the Decay Lord’s surprise.
The king was not angry because "so many newborns died because of this evil plan"... but because he "destroyed the barrier and ruined this land passed down through generations."
But since the ritual was not truly completed, the king had not received temporary truth. The curse accelerated the depletion of his lifespan, and he died instead after seven days.
And through the connected bloodline, the enormous curse along with vitality surged into the Decay Lord’s corpse, resurrecting his decaying body.
He originally planned to base his own ritual on the one used by the king to form a temporary truth of "immortality" and "without descendants."
At last, it was the Decay Lord, who had never considered becoming a god, who became one.
But he found this state to be to his liking.
So he had absolutely no intention of resurrecting that king and the innocent newborns anymore...
He only needed to repeat the ritual six more times... to truly complete his own Sublimation Ritual.
Only then could his temporary truth solidify and he become a true god.
Compared to the Bone King, the advantage of the Decay Lord is that he does not have a ritual base that could be physically destroyed—although the Bone King’s ritual base, located in his former territory hidden deep within the Mist, is not easily destroyed either.
But the Decay Lord’s power is much weaker than that of the Bone King.
Because, strictly speaking... he is just one-seventh of a deity. That’s why he is so active...
—Of course, this information is from books written hundreds of years ago.
How much of the seven parts the Decay Lord has completed now is not certain.