Chapter 45 Ritual: Communication with the Skeleton

Before Annan entered this advanced dungeon, he never thought that the biggest gain of this dungeon...

...these banned books I saw in Amos' study room.

Because of the lack of time, Annan first roughly read the book "Belief in these gods is dangerous", and quickly found the entry about the skeleton.

Then he got this information:

"...The Bone Lord is a new pseudo-god in the third era. Because of the change of the era, many materials have been lost. But what we can know from archaeology is that the bone Lord was at least in the fourth era - that is, the last During the epoch, he had a friendly relationship with the protector of January, the god of death and the earth, the goddess 'Bone Bone Granny'.

"In the fifth era, Duke Bone was inexplicably estranged from the Buried Church and other true gods, and was even dismissed as a false god. The general church in the United Kingdom was also forcibly disbanded by Javon, and was forced to become a underground.

"According to the author's investigation, it may be because Duke Bone is related to the Great Barrier Collapse at the beginning of this century..."

This information was something that Annan had not seen at the senior's place before.

Especially the chronology about the "Third Era" and "Fifth Era", which I have never seen before. The statement about the Great Enchantment is also vague.

Seeing this, Annan couldn't help but open the title page.

Then, he saw the author's name.

A name that gave him some sense of sight...

"...Grynznuha Winter."

Annan recited the somewhat convoluted name twice and took it to heart.

This doesn't seem to be the name of Annan's father, the current Grand Duke... is it his uncle or grandfather?

He didn't think too much, just turned the book back to that page.

Annan quickly found the ritual of the skeleton - because it was marked with wavy lines:

"The ceremonial realm of the skeleton involves death, mystery, concealment, and art, so it is necessary to avoid the January of the burial mother-in-law, the February of the mysterious lady, and the April of the Yaon.

"If it's a long-term ceremony, it's recommended to do it in May, cut off from January. But if it's a short-term borrowing of power, then March is fine. April 1st is a good day to end, and Javon is the protector of the artist and can Use Javon's Light to sever the ritual connection with the Skeleton. This is a technique to break free from ritual restraints.

"Because the rituals of the Skeleton Lord are all deceptive, the price paid for each ritual will gradually increase. Once a dependency is formed, there is no doubt of death.

"No matter what kind of power you ask the skeleton, usually the first time is almost free. But the second time, he will ask you to pay 'half your conscience' or 'friendship from now on', which It's a trap: the former must be chosen, because the latter means that the person who performs the ritual will be hated by everyone for no reason. To eliminate this state, they must perform a third ritual that is useless...

"And in the third ceremony, the skeleton will ask for 'devour a certain part of someone's body' or 'the remaining half of life', which is still a trap. Because what he needs is not the latter half of the half life. ...but the first half, and the other is calculated based on the maximum lifespan, that is, no disease and no disaster.

"Because in the previous requirement, both 'person' and 'part' are designated by skeletons and are usually fatal. Therefore, it is recommended that before the ceremony, the ceremonial person must permanently sever ties with parents and children, divorce the current husband and wife, and use silver The ritual knife wounded all friends and lovers, at least with blood on the blade, in order to show grace and justice, and never communicated again.

"Afterwards, it is necessary to find a suitable victim for a ritual marriage three months before the ceremony begins, and stay with him within three months. In this way, the original sacrifice goal can be shifted.

But the best choice is still not to perform the second and third rituals - the skeleton is a very generous pseudo-god, and if only one ritual is performed, it will almost only benefit.

"The author's suggestion: people should be content."

The author warns.

That's it for the part about the skeleton in this book. Just by looking at the content and knowledge in it, you know that this is knowledge that is absolutely impossible to disclose.

Annan frowned slightly.

He remembered... the part he coughed up when he was in the gallery earlier.

It was an emerald green eyeball.

...I'm afraid, those are Elle's eyes.

Could it be that Amos did not hold a sacrifice transfer ceremony, and had a third ceremony with the skeleton?

But it can be clearly seen from Elle's diary that his relationship with Elle is very close. He couldn't let Elle be selected by the ceremony...

With such doubts in mind, Annan opened the "Compendium of Rites".

The book is searched in a dictionary-like manner by domain as a key word. Annan searched one by one according to the keywords of "death", "mystery", "hidden" and "art", but he could hardly see anything. The entire dictionary was foggy and only a few ceremonies could be seen. ...

Annan originally wanted to use his powerful memory to forcefully write down the rituals in this book. However, the information on these ceremonies, just like what Klaus taught to Annan before, is not just a matter of memorizing the words.

This knowledge has weight—

Annan gradually lost consciousness after trying to understand the first ritual in the field of death [the Curse of the Living].

When he woke up again, he suddenly found that nearly fifteen minutes had passed-you know, he had searched and read the information on the skeleton before, and it didn't take that much time to add up.

He immediately realized it was a trap. As long as you indulge yourself in watching other rituals, you won't have time to investigate the truth. And as long as his mission fails, these memories will be deleted...

So Annan no longer hesitated, but continued to read. In the end, in the entry in the field of "art", he found the ritual belonging to the skeleton:

He lost consciousness again... and this time, when he lost consciousness, the characters of the system appeared in front of him:

[True God Communication-Bone Lord]

[Ritual requirements: tailbone of a black bull, horn of a ram, complete rib of a boar that died naturally, palette/carving knife/strings/pen (core offerings) that have been used for at least ten years, by the ritualist Fragments of created artwork (destruction must not exceed three days)]

[Requirements for ritualists: art professionals, at least 30 years old]

[Incomes from the ceremony: blessings related to occupations, generally physical gifts]

[Bearing the Curse: Nightmares and Whispers]

[Nightmare and Whispers (Continuous Curse): Before the ritual connection is cut off, the ritualist will occasionally fall into nightmares at night, and during the day will occasionally hear whispers of unknown origin]

"I see……"

Annan regained consciousness and realized that more than 20 minutes had passed this time.

He murmured in a low voice, writing down the second ritual he saw today.

"Ai Lei, Ai Lei...hehe..."

But just as he was about to open the third book, he suddenly heard a woman's light laughter... or rather, sneer.

The light in the study suddenly dimmed, and wonderful colorful smoke slowly rose.

"What about your mother?"

Annan gave elegant feedback at the first time.

Without hesitation, he picked up the kitchen knife in his hand and threw it in the direction of the laughter.

The laughter instantly turned into a scream of pain:

"--what!!"

The smoke dissipated instantly.

Annan immediately saw that it was a painting - a portrait that was originally hanging across from him, smiling gently at himself, motionless.

At this moment, a kitchen knife was precisely stabbing the center of the painting, and the woman in the picture looked at Annan angrily.

The blood slowly flowed down the kitchen knife.