After confirming their professions’ advancement, the players left contentedly.
As the group entered Ashwood Forest, Nieusel had prepared leaves for them at the entrance as a signpost when leaving.
However, for the sake of etiquette and safety, Nieusel decided to go out and send Lin Yiyi and the other three… at least send them out of Ashwood Forest.
If a guest were visiting, it would be impolite to have them get lost on the way back.
Annan originally wanted to leave with the players. On the journey, he could also chat and interact with the players. Anyway, such a long journey would be shorter with good company.
However, before Annan left, Nefertari kept him behind.
It seemed like she had some questions she was unsure if she could tell the rest of the three people.
“You sent them away,” “Ghirlandaio” crossed his arms in front of his chest and asked slowly, “What’s the matter?”
“Yes… Your Excellency.” After the players left, Nefertari became more respectful toward Ghirlandaio. Unknowingly, she changed to a more respectful term.
“I’m so sorry for suddenly taking up your time.”
The red-haired girl poured a cup of tea for Annan, then sat down and responded thoughtfully, “But I do have some important matters.
“I want to know if [Secret Eye]’s visit to our underground is related to the ‘Heart of Justice’?”
Oh?
Hearing this, Ghirlandaio frowned slightly.
The black-haired, black-eyed middle-aged man narrowed his eyes slightly at this question. Then, he uttered noncommittally, “Why do you ask that?”
“Let me introduce myself, sir.” Nefertari’s tone was calm.
However, in her pupils reminiscent of solid flames, the flames danced restlessly like candles in the wind, revealing her innermost emotions.
“You may not know… the Fearless Saint of the current generation, Alfonso, is my elder brother. My teacher is Bone Healer Seti.”
“Alfonso.” Ghirlandaio nodded, repeating the name carefully and slowly.
Who is that?
Annan was a little lost.
Annan was not ignorant of saints, but he had not heard of this saint… at least, he had not seen it in books.
At first, Annan did not get it.
After being accompanied by the Paper Princess for a few laps in the bookstore, Annan completed all the necessary information.
Annan knew about Bone Healer Seti, a Gold Rank Idol Wizard, a sacred bone restoration master.
After all, there were not many Gold Rank Transcenders. Once someone advanced into Gold Rank, he would still die if the ascension dragged on for too long.
Silver Rank Transcenders already had enough power to guard against accidents. Their strength was enough to give them high status. If the person had wealth and connection, it was not particularly hard to invite a ritualist to hold a ritual to prolong life.
Even the Roseburg’s Viscount, the Rotten Man’s believer who did not know anything about the ritual, could accomplish the life-prolonging ritual. Thus, it was not a problem for the Silver Rank Transcender.
They were easily recruited by wealthy noble families or actively joined various organizations.
Bronze Rank Transcender was just a relatively capable hired thug. They might be a show-off for a while but could be easily defeated by a flintlock shot. Only ordinary wealthy business people and local nobles would hire them as teachers or bodyguards. Formal organizations would not even accept them. Most of the stray transcenders were at this level.
However, it was a stark difference in the Silver Rank immediately.
During the “soul condensation” ritual during the advancement to the Silver Rank, not only condensed the turbid soul into an entity, but also purified the impurities in the body, prolonging a person’s lifespan. Moreover, it also transformed a person’s talent fundamentally. It mainly strengthened the brain’s memory and logical thinking ability. The “purification” of the body had freed them from talent defected.
It was a real “reborn”.
Silver Rank Transcender had a long lifespan and a burly physique. No matter what they did or what industry he was in, their situation would not be too bad.
They might lack the talent to become top performers, but it was impossible to have “no talent”. Furthermore, it would not affect their state due to aging, overtime work, staying late, and illness. The latter factor determined their capacity to grow instead.
Therefore, the status of this level of Transcender had suddenly risen—even the royal family would never underestimate the Silver Rank Transcender. At the very least, they could be recruited as a court minister with a long lifespan and excellent physical condition, immune to prophesy magic, charm magic, kidnapping, or assassination.
Two-thirds of Noah Kingdom’s ministers were Silver Rank Transcenders or direct descendants of these transcenders.
Transcenders were much easier to manage than ordinary people.
If it was not a collaboration but serving the hiree, submitting a personal curse was an expected “sincerity”.
That was just like Benjamin’s situation.
Having the curse in possession would help the hiree to be worry-free about betrayal and being bribed. Such talents were more reassuring to be utilized.
In fact, Dream Stealer Danton’s portrayed identity was a Silver Rank Wizard. He did not even show any other talents, and this was enough to make him employed in the Noah Kingdom’s human resources. He lived in the palace and did not have to do any work to enjoy the excellent treatment as a consultant.
Therefore, for ordinary transcenders—such as wizard apprentices, “Silver Rank” was the end of the path of transcendence.
Also, the number of Gold Rank transcenders was smaller than that of influencing ministers in various countries. There was no difficulty remembering the names.
Unless it was like Dream Stealer, who had never been active in front of people after advancing to the Gold Rank, could he hide his whereabouts? For those Gold Rank Transcenders who had showcased their power publicly, they could even find out what the profession was and what the elements were.
Except for the twelve upright deities’ popes and those tower masters who could not leave the wizard tower and thus would never meet, there were only ten Gold Rank Transcenders in the entire world at the west of the desert.
One of them was the Spiritual Monk.
However, he was dead.
Since he could successfully advance to the Gold Rank, he probably wanted to become a deity. Even if there had not been a new Book of Truth for a long time, advancement to the Gold Rank would not be possible even if their strength was sufficient if there was not enough desire for “ascension”.
Therefore, each of them was a leader in their respective fields.
Most of them held the [Supreme Crown].
The tower masters could not become a saint, and the popes might be unable to balance the responsibilities of saint and pope.
Then, the saint would only be born from these ten people.
Shortly after the end of the era of “Hermes II”, the thirteen saints gradually disappeared for unknown reasons.
They somehow gave up the sacred bone’s power and chose to die, or perhaps the sacred bone gave up on them.
This incident might be related to the man who was directly erased from almost all historical records, so the information Annan found was also vague about this.
In the end, people all over the world passed through the “decade without saints”.
Although there were thirteen sacred bones in existence today, there were only two saints that Annan knew of. Of course, there would be more sacred bones, but this information would likely be delayed.
After all, even the Gold Rank Transcenders were rare, let alone determining when they became saints.
These two saints, whom everyone knew, were the public figures among them.
Namely, the holder of the [Eye of Patience], Bacon, the “Man of Wisdom”; and the holder of [the Skull of Honesty], St. Peter, the “Man of Silence”.