Enshrouded in frost, Annan made a swift upward slash from below, aiming directly at the opponent's chin.
If this strike were to hit, it should at least slow down the opponent's transformation...
These thoughts flashed quickly through his mind.
But soon, Annan was startled, and his advancing steps halted.
It was just an ordinary upward slice.
He didn't even hit the enemy, the blade merely grazed the tip of the opponent's nose—
However, a faint trace of frost streaked diagonally from the tip of the blade, slapping onto the right eye of the young guard.
In an extremely short amount of time, the frost trace spread across his head. The guard's entire head was covered in white frost, even the motion of turning his head, and the twitching of facial muscles became stiff, with visible cold air steaming off his skin.
His eyes expressed even more astonishment than Annan:
"...Frost Sword Technique? You—"
The words of the young guard were cut off as the spreading frost enveloped his throat.
After crawling over the heart, the frosty mark suddenly increased manifold, spreading over his entire body. The young guard fell back stiffly, his complexion pale without a hint of color, his eyelashes covered with frost, looking like a frozen corpse that had been encased in ice and snow for ages.
Even Annan was intimidated by the power of his own sword.
He was always a cautious person. He had actually just wanted to reduce speed and think things through...
—So I'm this strong?
"I need to test and see what the upper limit of Frost Sword Technique is."
If he couldn't complete the main quests in the instance with this life, he at least had to find someone to test his damage on. Otherwise, it would be hard for him to gauge what level of enemies he could defeat outside...
As the saying goes, if you can beat them, ripple on; if not, best to run swiftly. One must know their own strength when posturing to avoid a counter-kill.
Annan quickly made up his mind and began to tidy up the bodies in the room a bit. There was no need for extensive handling, just burying them with wine barrels would suffice.
After all, this was just an instance, as long as the room didn't reveal everything at first glance when someone opened it.
Once he had rearranged his attire, Annan walked out of the room calmly, following the path back.
When he returned to the front of Tan Juan's room, he deliberately slowed his pace.
Upon reaching the door, Annan indeed heard someone rummaging inside, without any attempt to conceal it.
"Keep looking, be meticulous!"
Claus's deep voice resonated from the room: "That thing is a piece of paper, it could be anywhere—flip through every book carefully! Check under the bedding too!
"And search the rings and seals thoroughly! Missing any of them and we won't be able to deliver, anyone who dares to entertain sinister thoughts, I'll throw them into the Black Sea!"
Deliver?
Annan's brows furrowed slightly.
He glanced at the quest log.
The task[Identify the true identity of the traitor]had already been silently marked with a (Completed) flag. But the two tasks that followed were still incomplete.
He didn't alert these people; instead, he quietly retreated, preparing to head to the captain's cabin to take a look.
Before he reached the deck, he heard the clang of swords clashing from above.
With just a cursory listen, one could tell at least three groups were engaged in battle. Whether the wizard was friend or foe was uncertain... If a friend, then he most likely faced grim odds by now; if an enemy, then going up there would be like delivering himself to his doom.
And at this moment, rapid footsteps approached from behind Annan.
With wolves ahead and tigers behind.
He had no escape.
"Heh... they've discovered me, huh?"
Yet Annan laughed: "Looks like they're not completely foolish."
Survive until dinner starts?
Prevent Tan Juan Geraint from drinking the poisoned wine?
He never intended to do either of those things.
Annan had heard it clear as day, decoding earns extra rewards. So what he intended to do was, of course, do it the best—clear everything up, get the best outcome.
He couldn't resurrect in the outside world. If he shied away from perfection in an instance where he could be revived, how could he clear the far more dangerous game outside with just one life?
Wasn't that the simplest logic?
Annan no longer hesitated, kicking open the deck door and scrambling up.
As soon as he reached the deck, he scanned around and located the captain's cabin.
Without a second thought, he dashed toward it. The two battling parties on the ship, seeing him suddenly burst out and head unhesitatingly towards the captain's cabin, couldn't immediately determine which side he was on.
But soon, those among the larger group came to their senses.
"Kill John!"
Someone shouted: "If you want to live, kill him! He can't be persuaded to join us!"
"You're talking nonsense!"
Annan retorted defiantly as he ran at full speed: "How do you know without trying?"
He threw his scabbard far away and struck at the one trying to intercept him with a slash of Frost Sword Technique.
He hit the opponent's sword blade, diverting the chopping blow. At that moment, the man screamed in agony, his long sword slipping from his hand.
Annan, taking advantage of the momentum, shouldered the man aside. The man did not continue to block Annan's way, but instead retreated while holding his right hand and wailing.
Faint cold air was emitted from the man's right hand, pallid without a trace of color, in stark contrast to his vigorously pulsing left hand.
The long sword he had dropped on the ground quickly frosted over, cementing itself to the deck.
At that moment, Annan finally stormed into the captain's cabin.
Just as he expected... there were only two people in the captain's cabin.
Or to be precise, one and a half.
Tan Juan was bound and hung in a corner, watching Annan with a complex expression.
The "Silver Rank Wizard" Benjamin, dressed in a long robe, was already lying on the table. The silver ring on his right hand was cracked, and from the fissure emerged countless tiny, trembling eyes. His own mouth was overflowing with fresh blood that dyed his teeth and plate red, while his eyes were without pupils, irises, or whites, with nothing but pitch black remaining.
"...John, are you one of the Winter Duke's men?"
Tan Juan asked Annan softly, his expression complicated, "Are you also a spy planted by someone else at my side..."
Annan, however, asked back with interest, "How did you make that assumption?"
The young master did not struggle much, apparently having mentally prepared himself for his fate.
He was silent for a moment, then quietly answered Annan's question:
"I saw it, you used the Frost Sword Technique. You have no rank, nor do you know witchcraft, yet you can freeze others from a distance, which only the Frost Sword Technique of the Winter Duke's family can accomplish. They would never teach this move to an outsider... and you are indeed from the Winter Principality."
He paused for a moment, then asked Annan again, "Did you come all this way to the Royal Capital also in search of the Book of the Celestial Chariot? Does the Winter Duke also have designs on it?"
"Not at all, not at all."
Annan casually answered, looking at the old wizard who was barely breathing, and asked again, "What happened to Lord Benjamin? Is he poisoned?"
"He violated his own Curse Binding, and suffered a rebound curse."
The young master quickly responded.
"What is Curse Binding? And what is a rebound curse?"
Annan pressed for an answer.
Without much struggle, Tan Juan spoke in a low voice, "You'll understand once you've ascended... Transcendents are not all that wonderful."
"Tell me more, tell me more."
Annan locked the door and turned urging him to continue.
Tan Juan sighed as if he thought Annan had gone mad, and thus fulfilled his wish, telling him everything he knew:
"Power comes at a price. In this world, all supernatural powers come from curses. To carry a force, one must bear an equivalent curse... For instance, with each increase in the rank of your soul, you must take on a new Curse Binding. A Curse Binding is everyone's greatest secret, and every violation of a Curse Binding results in suffering; violating all of your Curse Bindings would result in a rebound curse, temporarily stripping you of all your power.
"Lord Benjamin had two Curse Bindings: 'Do not consume squid' and 'Do not refuse wine given by those older than oneself.' I don't know how Claus found out about his Curse Bindings, so he plotted to kill Lord Benjamin with poison wine mixed with squid ink."
"And how are you so sure I haven't ascended?"
Annan frowned lightly.
Without clearing up this issue, he felt a bit reluctant to use the Frost Sword Technique anymore...
The technique was indeed cruel, but it exposed his identity. Unless the opponent was sure to die afterward, it could only be used when no one was paying attention.
— Of course, it didn't matter in the instance.
Upon hearing this, Tan Juan looked at him with a bit of curiosity.
"...Isn't that common knowledge?"
He seemed puzzled, as if he started to doubt Annan's identity.
"Come on, tell me. Consider it a distraction. You have nowhere to go anyway, and we're both going to die together—"
Annan said quickly.
Tan Juan was startled, scrutinized him carefully, then looked at the bronze ring on his hand.
"...You really aren't wearing any bronze ornaments, are you?"
Tan Juan himself seemed unsure, "Where did you store your curse?"
"...I see."
With this comment, Annan suddenly felt enlightened.
He glanced at Benjamin's shattered silver ring and then at Tan Juan's bronze ring, and broadly understood.
The supernatural powers of this world seemed to be accompanied by curses. And a container was needed to store these curses... so below the Silver Rank was the Bronze Rank?
So that's it. That's why they are called "Bronze Rank" or "Silver Rank"... Does the Gold Rank stand above them?
Just then, the door to the captain's room was suddenly kicked open.
Standing at the doorway was Claus, his face dark and somber.
He looked at Annan without uttering a word.
"You might not believe it, but I have an iron codpiece."
Annan muttered to Tan Juan, then without hesitation, he attacked Claus head-on.
He began with a trump card—using all his strength with the Frost Sword Technique, aiming a blow at the opponent's head!
But Tan Juan's expression suddenly changed:
"Don't attack him head-on!"
"What?"
Annan was briefly taken aback; the frost spread from his sword had already struck Claus' chest.
But Claus did not evade in the slightest, coldly watching Annan, still without a word.
Suddenly Annan felt a chill in his chest.
He looked down and saw a touch of frost rapidly spreading over his whole body. But this frost only stiffened his body, and he could not feel any destructive force.
"...Is this the extent of your ice? Ice that can't even freeze an ordinary person to death?"
Claus then suddenly spoke, scoffing, "If that's supposed to be the Frost Sword Technique, then I'm a ghost."
Without hesitation, he stepped forward and with a single stroke, he beheaded Annan.
— The next moment, time reversed.
Annan had just been enveloped in darkness but suddenly felt himself being pushed hard.
"...John? John, wake up!"
A gruff male voice rang out in front of him, "How did you fall asleep? Where has the young master gone again?"