The Righteous Player(s)

POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2022 BY JACK RUSSELL

“What are you doing here?” Salvatore looked blank.

He wore an unbuttoned white coat with sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He had just left the basement of Geraint’s house, strolling in Geraint’s house while trying to find Nolan or Eugene to report the latest situation. Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked to the Gallery of Mirrors, he saw Annan and Kafni walking in together through the back door.

Looking at their clothes, it was indeed quite formal.

Annan had put on a new tuxedo the Paper Princess bought for him, imported from the United Kingdom. On the other hand, Kafni did not wear her typical dark dress. Instead, she put on a long skirt with the color combination of white and purple like a petunia [1] and a pair of silky white lace long gloves.

Salvatore might have thought the two of them were going on a date.

But, isn’t it too formal?

“Have you gone to seek an audience from His Majesty?” Salvatore was a little surprised.

It seems like they have met the king, judging from their appearance.

But I heard that Henry VIII was so ill that he was bedridden. Because of this, Princess Royal Elizabeth reigned over the government.

“You look quite surprised.” The corners of Annan’s mouth rose. “I’m from the Austere-Winter family, and Kafni is the princess. Is there anything strange about us seeing His Majesty?”

“No, it’s just…” Salvatore frowned slightly and murmured, “I was just wondering if Henry VIII was feigning illness?”

Hearing this, Annan and Kafni looked at each other.

Annan asked in a low voice, “Why do you say that?”

Salvatore scratched his fluffy, somewhat dry, and dull brown curly hair in anguish, thinking seriously, “What I’m thinking about is that if the king is ill, then he won’t let the heir of another country, which is you, to approach him.

“Not because the king will be worried that you have bad intentions against him, but to avoid anyone trying to use this as a reason to start a war.

“If the king dies shortly after you left, no matter if he died of illness or old age, it will undoubtedly arouse suspicion as long as anyone mentions that you have seen him. That’s because Her Royal Highness Kafni’s words won’t clear the suspicion of you harming the king.

“If they bribe the guards or get Prince Philip or Princess Royal Elizabeth to frame you, you won’t be able to exonerate yourself from the blame. This will be a sharp blade in the hands of the wicked, which will stir up the Noah Kingdom’s civil unrest.”

Henry VIII would avoid this to ensure the kingdom’s continuation unless he knew from the start that he would not die anytime soon and there must be more than one person who knew about this.

“It’s even possible that they’re feigning illness for a purpose… for example, to lure the enemies?”

“You are quite sharp.” Annan smacked his lips.

Although Salvatore was not as capable as the “other him”, he was still quick-witted.

However, there was a problem with the most crucial point. For example, Henry VIII did not care about the Noah Kingdom. But, the problem was that Salvatore was short of this piece of intelligence.

Regardless of his omission in this regard, he had guessed everything available to him.

“Fine, just tell me if it’s inconvenient to tell me.” Looking at Annan and Kafni’s tacit glances, Salvatore clapped his hands in dissatisfaction.

With his left hand on his waist, he took out a bottle of medicine from his pocket with his right hand and handed it to Annan, “Here you go. I have completed it.”

“What kind of medicine is this?” Annan took over the medicine suspiciously.

Then, the glimmering panel immediately appeared in front of him:

[Salvatore School — Dream Elixir]

[Type: Consumables/Ritual material (Gold)]

[Description: The Dream Elixir was crafted with the technique invented by Benjamin. It uses all the curses contained in the souls of 11 Bronze Rank Transcenders, 51 Silver Rank Transcenders, and 1 Gold Rank Transcender as raw materials, in addition to the brain of the Dream Stealer Danton as the curse material. There are a total of 63 tablets.]

[Effect: After taking at least one tablet before falling asleep, you will enter a unique “Distortion” difficulty level nightmare, which has a unique property of “phantasm”; each tablet can also be used to nullify a death count, and you will wake up from the nightmare after the drug is completely dissipated.]

“I have improved the teacher’s technique, and I call it the Dream Elixir.”

When Annan looked down at the panel, Salvatore explained complacently, “I was thinking, since I would be making the nightmare here, and it was not naturally formed, why shouldn’t I alter it slightly to my wish?

“Using this agent I invented to enter the dream, you will be kicked out automatically when you die. Although you won’t be collecting the souls of those transcenders, their remnants remain in their curses. I can use this remnant to deceive the nightmares, purifying the nightmare with a ‘non-existent puppet’.”

“That’s genius.” Annan couldn’t help but praise from the bottom of his heart.

This could be the first nightmare in the world with a “safety net”.

It’s not that it can’t be done, but no alchemist has ever wanted to do so.

After all, ordinary transcenders would struggle to reduce the erosion rate on their souls. It was totally unlike Annan and the players who could enter the nightmares and grind [2] their progress as though they were games’ dungeon instances.

For them, the nightmares were more of a “natural disaster”.

Only a few people in urgent need of power would actively seek nightmares to improve themselves.

Only the priests would treat the nightmare purification as their duty.

So, why would an alchemist want to help a priest?

The alchemists were occupied with their work without any spare energy. At the same time, they were prideful and thus would not think of this possibility.

After all, the status of alchemists and priests has been different since ancient times.

Even Salvatore thought of this to help Annan instead of helping the priests to purify the nightmares more safely.

“Annan, we don’t have Danton’s soul here. Without the soul as the cornerstone, we can’t extract historical projections from the dream world and turn them into nightmares.”

Salvatore said thoughtfully, “So I have installed a setting—

“I used the ritual of ‘the Man in the Mirror’ to make this nightmare into a mirror mode. That is to say, I did not forcibly install a story into the nightmare but utilized the soul of the drug user as the cornerstone to import a story into the nightmare. Then, the curses and the power of the elements in Danton’s skull will serve as a catalyst.”

After Annan pondered for a while, he slowly said, “In other words, if I take this elixir, what I will enter will be my nightmare?”

“Yes, it is equivalent to yourself being the dream key of this nightmare. If you distribute this elixir to someone else, the nightmare he sees will be different from yours. However, you may stray into other people’s nightmares since I haven’t perfected the segregation technique.”

Salvatore warned earnestly, “So it’s a compound nightmare — like a gallery. It will be more complicated than a typical [Twisted] difficulty nightmare.

“Your advantage is that the nightmare you see must be something you have experienced. However, the challenge also lies here. The consciousness remaining in the curse of others will lead the story in a completely different direction from the actual history. That’s also the possibility of falling into someone else’s nightmare once in a while and coming back very quickly.

“You must give up your habitual thinking route to escape the nightmare.

“This nightmare is unlike a gallery. It will not erase your memory. The details of each entry may be different, so I recommend taking at least three pills at a time, allowing you to have three opportunities to restart.

“But, don’t take more than five tablets. Otherwise, it will put too much pressure on your heart and affect your body. Although it’s not that I can’t treat you, it’s always better to be careful.”

Hmm, turning the memory of the past into a nightmare.

But I have absolutely no memory of Annan Austere-Winter’s past.

In this case, can the dream world still import nightmares normally?

Is it better to have me complete it than the past “Annan”?

Annan stopped overthinking.

“I understand.” Annan nodded, looked into Salvatore’s eyes, and replied seriously, “I’ll take the elixir tonight.”

Kafni held Annan’s hand worriedly, “How about I accompany you?”

“No, it’s fine. I can do it myself.” Annan immediately rejected Kafni.

His juvenile version and Kafni’s juvenile version were different.

But are they still Annan’s nightmare?

What could it be?