Chapter 540: The Calm Before The Storm

After setting a date with Nefertari, Annan left Ashwood Forest alone.

Of course, Annan would not have dropped all his plans immediately and rushed to Bone Farm with Nefertari without saying anything.

That would seem too eager.

That might give a poor impression.

It possibly gave off a feeling of “Did I fall into a ploy?”.

Even if there was no conspiracy behind it, it depended only on the “person who had this thought”. As long as he had such an idea, the suspicion and animosity would incubate in his heart no matter if he spoke it out or told the others about it.

Moreover, Annan actually could not make it at all.

That was because he had not even reached the Gold Rank yet.

Both his real body and his substitute “Ghirlandaio” were Silver Rank. Although Nefertari could not determine his specific rank, Bone Healer Seti could definitely see through it.

However, that was still fine.

After all, Annan had the blessing of the Book of Divine Transporter. Purifying nightmares would be a piece of cake.

After all the players came to the underground world, Annan could explore this place through the players. If Annan could locate simple and easy nightmares, he could head over and challenge them a couple of times to raise his level quickly.

Luckily, Nefertari’s elder brother, “the Thief Saint” Alfonso, was still relatively tenacious in physical condition.

He could live on for a while longer.

It was currently mid-February.

Nefertari told Annan that he should come to her in mid-June.

They would arrive at Bone Farm at the end of June and undergo tests a couple of days before July 1.

At that time, the Winter Insurgent Vladmir would also arrive.

On July 1st, which was Lady Luck’s Holy Day — “Great Lucky Day”, they would hold a ritual to replace Alfonso’s spine in batches and transplant the power of the sacred bone.

It would be a long surgery lasting seven days from July 1st to July 7th.

Sure enough, performing the operation lasting seven days was much more challenging and dangerous.

However, it was vital to make up the number “seven”.

Just as “three” was a mysterious number, the effect of the ritual could be strengthened by superimposing the number “three” in the ritual. In comparison, “seven” was a lucky number.

In a ritual where the result could not be predicted, the success rate would be effectively increased by piling up the number of “seven” in the ritual area.

For example, having seven ritualists, seventy-seven participants, using the seven-pointed star as the foundation to perform the ritual, using seventy-seven kinds of ritual material, seven kinds of small ritual, seven types of ritual material, etc.

Determining the level of a ritualist often involved seeing how many “powerful numbers” they could incorporate into a set ritual and how they could add the necessary spells without affecting the effectiveness of other spells and without disrupting their planned “numbers.”

Therefore, the ritual a clever ritualist optimized often had some strange and complicated details. These details often determined the ritual effect.

According to Seti’s calculations, only by extending the succession period to this extent would Alfonso be “lucky” enough to survive with the remaining power left by the sacred bone.

However, it was just a chance, nothing more.

Even with Seti helping him survive, removing the spine piece by piece without anesthesia was a test for both him and the “successor”.

If Alfonso could not survive and die, it would be easier for Annan’s side. Because there was no need to delay for seven days. The ritual would be over quickly.

However, if Annan’s side could not hold on, Alfonso would die. There would be no winner at all. Alfonso would explode on the spot without a soothing “pool” that gradually drained away the power.

This was like the difference between slowly releasing the air in the balloon from its mouth or directly puncturing the balloon.

Therefore, it was essential to have a rigorous selection process for qualified candidates.

There were no second chances for Alfonso.

The candidates would be tested one by one before the ritual commenced.

Although Annan could have handed over his blood or hair to Nefertari and let her take it for a remote test, that would be too dangerous.

In this world, assassination could be attempted through spells just by knowing the other target’s real name.

Just like the dragon blood, the blood given to the other party actively carried a special meaning on the ritual level. This was equivalent to getting the key to the back door, and even a double with the same name might not be able to block the magic.

Although Annan’s clothes could block a considerable part of the malicious ritual, he did not want to use his own life to test the opponent’s ritual level.

Everyone heard it. He asked me to.gif

Nonetheless, the exposure of his real identity would disturb his plan. Using ritual to locate the real name was much more convenient than testing via DNA.

Even Annan could use this simple ritual.

“Four months…” Annan murmured.

That should be enough.

It took him about four months to ascend from a mortal level to Silver Rank as he came to this world.

It should not be a problem to attain Gold Rank in four months.

Delicious Wind Goose had established the teleportation waypoint over his side not long ago.

Erecting the teleportation waypoint at Sporeggar Mill would be over in a week.

Afterward, Annan would delegate a mission to the players, getting them to spread out in the underground city to various towns to establish teleportation waypoints.

By that time, it would be almost time to recruit new players.

March 1st.

It was the opening time for a new round of beta testers.

The best way to give new players something to do when they arrive was to have the veteran players guide them. For example, they could form a mercenary party with 4 veteran players and 1 newbie, leading the newcomers to purify nightmares and compete with the Diggers and the Wises in the underground city.

As for the main storyline for the new players…

Annan actually came after Nicholas II.

However, the more he pursued it, the harder it would happen, according to the Paper Princess. So then, it was better to set the starting boss as “the Winter Insurgent Vladmir”.

Anyway, Annan would also run into each other after four months.

Thoreau Nick was still missing, and Professor Wolf should be within the territory of the Austere-Winter Dukedom. However, as an Idol Wizard, he was great at hiding. So much so that Maria, the Daughter of the Storm, could not hear his voice.

Undoubtedly, he was definitely plotting something.

Being aware of this matter was meaningless.

After all, he was the Tragedy Writer’s believer. The beneficiary of the conspiracy he planned was not necessarily him. His goal would be achieved if the scheme was “exciting” enough.

It could be said to be utter chaos and evil.

Thoreau Nick just wanted to make trouble, but Annan did not know whose side he would take or what to do. It was unfathomable.

Annan also asked Dmitri. He had no clues from the Austere-Winter’s side, so he could only play it safe and reserve his strength to strike when the time came. However, this was more of a euphemism.

Another way to put it was to wait for the enemy to “gank”.

However, sitting idle was not wise.

Moreover, the Winter Insurgent Vladmir was the more critical and direct enemy than Wolf Professor Frederick, whose purpose and stance was unknown.

This was true both for the current Annan and for the Austere-Winter Dukedom.

The Old Grandmother was about to wake up, which meant the disaster was approaching.

While everything looked calm at the moment, it might just be the calm before the storm.

“Let’s stay put and focus on growth.” Annan slowly closed his eyes.

He did not want to return to Austere-Winter yet.

After summoning the player on March 1st, he would conduct a secret investigation. Since the number of players summoned would be huge this time, it was inevitable that some folks would be out of control even if Book of Divine Transporter excelled at picking people. After all, more than a hundred players would arrive in one go.

At that time, Annan would dismiss all the players in disorder first.

Then, he would wait until mid-March and head back to Austere-Winter Dukedom to have the Winter’s Hands forge a set of legal and verifiable fake identities for these players.

As for the two weeks before March…

Since I’m just around, I should clear a few hard-difficulty nightmares and level up first.

Soon, these two quiet weeks passed like this.

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