Annan's mood was a little complicated.
Whether Evelyn abandons the ritual, or completes it.
The difference is nothing more than the body leaving Benjamin, or the mind leaving Benjamin...
Benjamin would enter the Black Tower of the Zedi, choose to become a transformation wizard, recruit a large number of apprentices, and sell transformation products—is it because of Evelyn's death that he thought it was because he didn't get the ointment back then
... seems to make sense.
According to Salvatore, the Kingdom of Noah has only begun to produce a large number of civilian transformation products in the past ten years.
The "meat thread" that can suture trauma, the "witch's ointment" that can heal burns, and the "panacea" that can alleviate injuries caused by unknown reasons... all of them are dozens of times cheaper because of the improvement of the synthesis method. There are also glasses, artificial gemstones, high-quality gauze and sails made by transformation technology.
Among them, the most famous and representative one is the "green fire" that has entered thousands of households in Noah's Kingdom and has almost completely replaced candles.
—and the improvement methods of panacea, witch ointment and green fire all came from Benjamin. For this reason, he was honored as "Master Benjamin".
The ideas for improving these conversion products are also completely consistent.
It is not to continue to strengthen their effects against extraordinary people, but to choose a way to greatly reduce costs and choose to synthesize them without using expensive materials to make a low-cost, easy-to-transform civilian version.
... This is very likely to be the obsession that Evelyn brought to Benjamin.
The direct reason why Evelyn will die is because she traveled during the Pale Tide and watched the dance of the Pale Princess;
She is fascinated by the dance of Pale Princess because of her obsession with dance;
She has obsessions because she was disfigured by the fire;
She will be disfigured because she cannot buy the "witch's ointment" that can heal the burns.
Evelyn did not come from poverty.
No work, no farming, no calluses on her hands, and getting to know Benjamin—it all goes to show that she wasn't deprived of treatment because of poverty.
Just because of the arrogance of wizards.
Salvatore told Annan that the technical monopoly of wizards in that era was very serious.
Not to mention ordinary people, even other types of extraordinary people have difficulty buying wizard things. It doesn't matter if you have money—since wizards strictly forbid the sale of transmutation products to anyone outside the Black Tower of the Marsh.
Can be used for them, but not sold.
The purpose is to prevent transformation wizards from other towers from deciphering their transformation ideas and imitating transformation products with better effects.
And twenty years later...
I don’t know if it’s because of Benjamin’s efforts that the current situation has completely changed:
He improved many civilian versions of the "transformation products" to occupy a large number of low-end markets, and helped Zedi Black Tower get a huge amount of money. Transformation products for human use".
It has pushed wizards all over the world to share their technology with ordinary people.
This is an era that alchemists could never have imagined before the War of Wizard Unification—
Benjamin is a transformation wizard who really wants to use the transformation products that only transformation wizards can create to benefit and help the public.
…but who would have known that the beginning of an era would almost be changed just because of a dancing girl disfigured by a fire
Annan thought silently.
He was a little worried... Benjamin would not be willing to preside over the ceremony for himself.
But when Annan and Benjamin came out of the back-shaped room, Annan vaguely heard something.
The sound is very small and far away...
It's like... a very ethereal singing voice.
"... did you hear anything?"
Annan's heart moved, and he asked Benjamin in a low voice.
Benjamin froze for a moment, frowned and listened for a long time, then slowly shook his head: "No, not at all. I'll listen carefully—"
"No, don't worry... I heard wrong."
Annan comforted softly.
But the singing in his ear became more and more clear:
"Life is bright and beautiful, but it is a prisoner's cage;
"Love is blazing and brilliant, but a blinding fire;
"Wandering dancers following beauty and freedom—
"Pale already knows your purpose,
"Dedicate the remnant soul and love to the pale;
"Dedicate your head and blood to Pale..."
That was almost exactly the same as what Annan saw on the note in his dream.
… It was a voice coming from directly above him.
It's those ghosts in the hall!
Annan immediately realized that this was the first time he floated out of the "reflection of the church in the lake", the upside-down hymn!
The moment he heard the salute, Annan lost consciousness again.
When he woke up again, he stayed at the prison gate—still in the same position.
"… Huh?"
Annan was taken aback.
Behind him, the prison door was wide open...but it was empty.
The chain that was originally removed by myself was still hanging on it end by end.
He twisted the lock of the door and found that it could still be opened and closed normally without being smashed by the lock.
… this was at an earlier time
Annan was thoughtful, and walked directly to the left.
But this time, Annan did not see the light of the candle.
He walked all the way to the middle of the corridor, only to see that the table was blocked before leading to the "beheading room".
Annan struck a match and lit a candle.
But the candlelight was too dim.
At this distance, the light is not enough to reach the beginning of the corridor... It is very difficult to reach halfway.
The table has to be pulled half way.
"... Well, don't worry."
Annan muttered: "Let's see if the letter is different..."
As he spoke, he skillfully tore apart the letter paper.
Annan paused slightly.
The length of this note... is much longer than what he first saw!
"To those loved by Pale:
"Pursuing unconditional love,
"Imprisoned in the shell of life,
"Wandering dancers following beauty and freedom—
"Pale already knows your purpose,
"Through this gate,
"Sacrificing the remnant soul to the pale,
"Give your lover to liberty,
"Give your head to the earth,
"You will get a condensed soul, a pure spirit;
"Or get out of here,
"Follow the rules and send the remnant souls back to the earth—
"You will be remembered with love.
"The choice is yours,
"—but I already know your answer."
This is a very narrow note, about four fingers wide.
After reading the new content on the note, Annan understood something.
He had preconceived it before.
Because when "Citalopram" created a character, there was only level five... So Annan thought that the profession of half-dead daughter should start at level five.
But it may be because the profession the player gets is a castrated version—or because Evelyn really has a very pure heart.
If she is willing to become a half-dead daughter, she can even start directly at the silver rank!
The upper limit of the priesthood is basically the silver rank!
In other words, Evelyn even has the talent of the Pope...
In this case, there is no doubt about who the owner of the nightmare is.
——It is the half-dead daughter who has completed the transformation in the future, Evelyn!
But Evelyn has already completed the transformation, becoming half human, half undead with an immortal body... Why did she die
If she really died, shouldn't she become a wandering spirit following Pale Princess
—Could it be possible to have nightmares by becoming a wandering spirit
Or…
Another doubt floated in Annan's mind:
Benjamin obviously has the desire to advance to gold.
But he has been stagnant at the silver level for more than 20 years... Is it really because he can't find a way to advance to gold
Or is it that Benjamin's original goal was to become the pope of the "man in the mirror"
Annan suddenly remembered something.
In the "White Tower", he told Benjamin that the cause of Gerald's death was killed by Annan and Salvatore.
At that time, Benjamin probably didn't know that Gerald would survive in the end and compete with him for Michelangelo's resurrection ceremony.
But at that time Benjamin muttered:
"—about as I guessed."
This shows that Benjamin knew from the very beginning that sooner or later his future self would have murderous intentions for Gerald.
Then the answer is clear.
Benjamin and Michelangelo had known each other for a long time.
The "pairing" of the year was not at all Benjamin and Gerald, Michelangelo and Melvin-Annan was still misled by Michelangelo in the end!
Michelangelo's symmetry is really Benjamin, not Melvin!
The Melvin he killed was actually Gerald's match!
And Benjamin, who saw through everything from the very beginning, was not because he didn't care about it...but because Benjamin didn't interfere with Michelangelo's ceremony, in order to preside over his resurrection ceremony in the future and help Michelangelo achieve the godhood!
As for his reasons—
"… Yes."
Annan murmured.
He folded the upper and lower ends of the note in his hand, and then slowly tore it open. In order not to mislead my past self... so as to achieve a perfect cycle.
Benjamin probably entered this nightmare at some point in the future and learned of Evelyn's true whereabouts back then.
Evelyn has not become a half-dead daughter, so she has not forgotten Benjamin;
But she didn't really die either, because it was her future self who killed her!
A true half-alive, half-dead daughter, forever trapped in the cracks of time when no one loves her...
She obtained the extraordinary power of the half-dead daughter, but managed to escape the fate of forgetting the one she loves—but the price was that she was caught in the cycle of "past".
Since then, Benjamin's purpose has not changed:
He wants to be the pope of the man in the mirror, and get the elements of mirror and time.
——Rescue Evelyn who consciously trapped herself in an infinite loop to escape the fate of dedicating her soul to the Pale Princess!
In front of Annan, the real main task slowly emerged:
[Main task: forming a loop]
Under this line of tasks, three lines of side tasks slowly emerged:
[Witness the completion of the sacrificial ceremony]
[Light the candle as a half-dead daughter]
[Back to the beginning]