The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 321: Austere-Winter & Frostwhisper

“…The Osser Empire was made up of refugees?” The news caught Annan by surprise.

He had never heard of any information related to this, not even a word.

His knowledge of the history of the Osserians dated back to the Third Era.

At the turning point between the Second Age and the Third Age, the Epoch Disaster occurred. A desert equivalent to three-quarters of the Yaselan Continent came to life. It moved around recklessly, like a child in a restless state.

So the Osser Empire relocated the entire empire. After paying a considerable price, the defeated soldiers finally escaped from the desert and arrived at a prosperous and peaceful oasis.

—”Yaselan” meant “oasis” in this case.

At this time, the technology of the Yaselan had just developed to a stage equivalent to the early Middle Ages. They were simply vulnerable to the Osserians. Without even waging a decent war, they were easily defeated and ruled.

In honor of the Osserians fleeing the desert, they changed the name of their new empire to “Yaselan”, which meant the land of the oasis.

There were roughly two types of people – Osserians and Yaselians on the Yaselan Continent during that time.

The Yaselians included the races of humans, dwarves, and werewolves native to the Yaselan Continent. On the other hand, the Osserians were referred to as elves and centaurs.

At this time, there weren’t many Osserians left. Their numbers determined that they could not rule such a vast continent, so they simply conferred the lands to different rulers. As a result, many small kingdoms and dukedoms were born one after another during the Third Age.

At the end of the Third Age, they had nothing to do with the world west of the desert.

They could only confirm that the Third Age was over through Prophet magic.

From the end of the Third Age, the number of elves suddenly began to decrease sharply. After two hundred years of unrecorded history, more information surfaced.

With the increase of the native population and the increase in the number of Transcended, the technology of the Osserians somehow stagnated and even began to regress on a large scale. Then, the races with dwindling populations gradually shrunk their territory. The Yaselians finally restored the political status of the Yaselan Empire and returned to an equal position.

In fact, at the end of the Fourth Age… Before the Yaselan’s capital sank, the number of elves had been reduced to only three figures. They had basically lost their power. On the other hand, the centaur was timid despite their inherently robust strength, and their race existed as a sub-race of elves.

But because they were tired of the power struggle in the capital, a considerable number of centaurs left the capital. The elves united in a group attaching a significant priority for political power, and they all stayed in the capital with the most advanced technology.

Until Yaselan’s capital was finally gone, the elves were utterly exterminated. Even if there were survivors, the man count was at a single digit.

Then, there came the collapse of the Great Barrier, the disintegration of the Yaselan Empire, and then hundreds of years of chaotic civil wars. In this sanguinary battle to become an upright deity, the number of centaurs was significantly reduced.

In the end, the centaurs, who were not good at competing with others and liked to run away when they encountered hardship, ultimately gave up the power struggle. They returned to the wilderness far away from the Yaselan civilization and rebuilt their living settlements.

At present, the centaurs could only be seen on the islands of the United Kingdom.

Judging from the information on Boffis’ side, everything was related to a technology called “curse energy”, no matter it was the downfall of the Yaselan Empire in the Fourth Age, the sharp reduction in the number of elves starting in the Third Age, and the advanced technologies that the Osserians acquired without warning.

However, did the “Osserians” take refuge due to demons?

Could this be the Epoch Disaster of the first epoch?

No wonder the Osserians are made up of elves and centaurs…

The characteristic of elves was that they were born with silver souls. Therefore, if they embark on the Ascension Path, they would start with Silver Rank and would not become a Fallen.

The centaur was exceptionally good at running away. Each centaur was the best Prophet, a robust warrior, and a timid coward.

They could predict the future and went through physical training to ensure their survival; they were without any strong desires. Therefore, even if their population were larger than elves, they would become subordinate races of elves.

The news from Boffis made Annan a little worried.

Demons...

Speaking of that, there were quite some Fallens and demons in the capital.

While Annan was pondering deeper about it, Boffis continued to chat with Citalopram, “Speaking of Mom’s Book of Truth, I only know its name is ‘the Anthem of the Storm and Heart’. But my mother doesn’t tell me which realm it is, so I have no idea.

“But I think that since there is the word ‘heart’, this should be why mom finds a way to get the ‘Heart of Justice’.”

“Heart of Justice?”

“Yes…the sacred bone is a part of a saint’s body. The sacred bone left by the righteous saint is his heart.”

Boffis replied seriously, “But my mother felt that the ‘Heart of Justice’ might not acknowledge her for the time being, so she planned to seal it first.

“Since the sacred bone will continuously release curse power… If someone signs a covenant, it will become an infinite source of saint power. But if there is no covenant, it will be like a fountain, spraying out curses continuously.

“It will continue to fluctuate, attracting adaptors. But generally speaking, the sacred bone won’t be satisfied with the Gold Rank Transcended, but ordinary people. The Gold Ranks simply can’t bear the power from the sacred bone. Once they forcibly use the sacred bone, their soul will collapse. They won’t survive more than a month.

“Due to the power coming from the sacred bone, they will turn into a massive nightmare after death. So, in addition to being a scarce item, the sacred bone is also a complex problem to resolve.

“The only way to put the sacred bone to sleep is the Wyrmrest Reagent.”

“…Wyrmrest?” Citalopram heard a familiar word.

She vaguely remembered that Old Grandmother seemed to be on Wyrmrest or something, but she wasn’t clear about it.

Boffis explained it to Citalopram subconsciously, “It’s exactly what you think… It’s the state that Cold-Blooded Lady will enter every once in a while. But the term is more so an adjective…

“This reagent will put the victim into a decade-long Wyrmrest that is difficult to wake up, like the Old Grandmother. Not only through touches and consumption, but even the smell alone is enough to put one in a coma.

“It’s the most powerful narcotic reagent, even strong enough to put dragons to sleep. So it’s also a dragon-hunting reagent, but it isn’t easy to craft. The main reason is that one of its necessary curse materials is ‘active adult dragon’s blood’.

“We call it the ‘active blood’ because they are the blood that is voluntarily drawn from the body after the blood donor holds a ritual. Therefore, it has a small intensity of spirituality in the blood. Once the active blood is drawn from the body, it is difficult to regenerate them. But in the same way, the active blood will also be like fresh blood, equipped with special effects.

“If you draw blood by killing a dragon or when the dragon is sleeping, or even collecting normal blood, the blood won’t bring out the desired effect. Only soaking the sacred bone in Wyrmrest Reagent can make them sleep.”

“Oh! That’s why your mother—”

“Yes, my mother sold the painting of Old Grandmother to a dragon to produce Wyrmrest Reagent. But the dragon seemed satisfied. It easily agreed to my mother’s request and sold 40 portions of active blood. That’s about as much as a bathtub…”

Boffis said this with some surprise in her tone, “Even though Mr. Dragon’s body size is enormous, it’s a huge loss. But, I can understand Mr. Dragon since it’s Old Grandmother’s painting. Old Grandmother is the idol of the dragon race.

“Speaking of which, did you say your friend is a descendant of Old Grandmother? What’s his last name?”

“His last name is ‘Austere-Winter’. That seems to be a sign of the Old Grandmother’s offspring,” replied Citalopram.

“…What?” Boffis was a little confused.

“As far as I know, don’t the descendants of the Old Grandmother have the last name Frostwhisper?

“…Or rather, is your friend, not a dragon?”