Chapter 150: Truthful Lies

“That false deity mainly can change different corpses into various Transcendence materials.”

Joseph Buckel said slowly, “For example, the paint Amos used needs to be ground out from the skin of [loved one]; his curse vessel ‘Piercing Rifling’ requires the heart’s blood of [enemy]. ‘Bone blood trigger’ uses [the same person’s bone and blood]. ‘Turbid blood bullets’ is a consumable made of the Transcended’s liver.”

From the sound of it, it doesn’t seem particularly powerful.

It feels like a better Alteration Wizard.

Annan muttered silently in his heart.

But he did not say this out loud.

It wasn’t Annan concerned with how Joseph Buckel perceived him.

He cared more about the Venerated Skeleton hearing his comment.

Annan didn’t directly say the three words “the Venerated Skeleton,” hence he would not be dragged into a nightmare.

But who knows if the Venerated Skeleton had already set up a field that generates response autonomously at this place, and he could hear it.

If he could hear it personally, then Annan might as well refrain from expressing strong opinions for the time being.

But Annan had some doubts.

“But I heard that that person seems to have existed since the Third Age…”

Annan asked with some doubts, “In my understanding, several countries are currently under the rule of an empire hundreds of years ago.”

Annan learned this knowledge through the book written by the suspected Annan ancestor “Grinznuha Austere-Winter.”

Then, he learned more information from the books that Salvatore brought. In the book he read, the five existing countries were split due to a brutal civil war after the sinking of the capital of an empire.

—That civil war was called the “Blood War.”

Upon hearing this, Joseph Buckel frowned slightly.

“…Feudal lord, have you read the books in Amos’s study?”

“En?”

Annan was startled.

He suddenly remembered.

The books in Amos’s study seemed to be from Joseph Buckel.

Joseph sighed helplessly, “I didn’t take those books away because they were useless…

“Grinznuha Austere-Winter is the believer of the false deity. Many books he wrote recorded that ritual, and he will encourage people to use it.”

“Is he a fraud?!”

Annan raised his voice subconsciously.

That person was the Austere-Winter family’s member—

What does he want?

“He isn’t a member of the Austere-Winter family.”

It was like Joseph knew what Annan was thinking.

The tall wizard chuckled, “To be more accurate, he used to be. But he was expelled, deprived of Austere-Winter’s surname. But he still uses this name without shame. So you can treat the book he wrote as a leisure novel. At least his writing skill is excellent, and it’s interesting to read.

“As for the empire you just mentioned…”

His expression became slightly serious, “I think you are talking about the Yaselan Empire.

“The Yaselan Empire is considered ancient. But he isn’t the only ruler in this world. It used to be called the Osser Empire. It came from the desert region by the east and was an empire ruled by centaurs and elves. Until two Epochs, the empire has always been in the eastern desert.

“Later, there was the Epoch Disaster. Some of the Osserians fled westward and launched a war of aggression. They easily seized Yaselan’s territory and established the Yaselan Empire. At that time, we were not called humans, but called ‘Yaselan.'”

“Epoch Disaster?”

Annan tilted his head and asked softly.

“En, this is our Transcended way to distinguish the times.”

Joseph seemed to have noticed Annan was a new Transcended. He started from the beginning, “Upright deities can’t keep dealing with the suppressed curses. The accumulated curses will give birth to some ‘accidents.’ Disaster-like accidents strong enough to change every civilization.

“For example, the desert went alive and turned into a huge sentient creature. Another example will be one-third of the Yaselan Empire suddenly sank, forming the current Yaselan Sea.

“But in fact, mortals are still not clear about something. That is the beginning of the Fifth Age, not symbolized by the sinking of the Yaselan Empire. Although the old empire is great, it is not worthy of changing the entire civilization.

“The real symbol is the destruction of the Great Barrier.”

“Wasn’t the Great Barrier shattered because of the sinking of the Yaselan Empire?”

“Of course not.”

Joseph laughed, “Order Fire has always been under the upright deities’ church’ control. It has nothing to do with the Yaselan Empire. After the capital sunk, all the elves living in the empire’s capital and most of the centaurs went extinct. Besides changing the true deity’s appearance to Yaselan, does it affect the church?

“They are still the twelve true deities unique to this world, whether at the world in the west of the desert or the east of the desert. The gray mist can’t isolate the deities’ power.”

Ya.

Indeed so…

Annan remembered.

In the history books he read, the Great Barrier was broken “because the twelve deities’ church fell apart.”

But that reminds me…

Why did the church suddenly fall apart?

Joseph explained, “At the end of the fourth epoch, the real symbol is that the barrier is no longer permanent.

“For the previous barrier, the true deities will extract the power of the gray mist to sustain it. But now, the true deity must consume their own power to maintain it. For example, Silver Sire and Old Grandmother are more powerful and can maintain the barrier independently. But, for Red Knight and Mysterious Lady, they must be united together to maintain the barrier.

“This will not be announced publicly for fear of its consequence, most likely to avoid causing panic in public. There are other epochs that are not written in the history books. Our five countries today are based on the foundation of the Yaseland Empire in the Fourth Age.

“The knowledge before the Third Age is utterly unnecessary for ordinary people to learn about it. The population of elves and centaurs is small. They can only occupy a small territory area, and the other parts must be sealed back again. For example, the former Elegy Dukedom has been ruled by them since the Third Age. It’s just that they were still a kingdom at that time.

“In other words, or at least in our research, we believe that the collapse of the Great Barrier may be the result of the discussions between the true deities. Anyway, the Yaseland Empire has sunk. Maintaining the barrier in the area that encompasses the Yaselan Sea consumes too much power. It is better to divide the barrier with a deity to shelter a piece of land separately so that the barrier can last for a longer time.”

After hearing this, Annan came to a realization.

Why did Grenznuha’s book say that the Venerated Skeleton had a good relationship with the Bone Burying Grandma in the last era but was relegated to evil deity in this era…

The Venerated Skeleton was an evil deity from the beginning.

He was a believer in Bone Burying Grandma in the last century. Of course, he had a good relationship with Bone Burying Grandma.

The earliest could be traced back to the Third Age. What constituted the Venerated Skeleton was the history and corpses of the entire Elegy Dukedom, and these existed since the Third Age.

What Grinznuha said was his truth. Therefore, even if a lie detector were utilized, the display would show “this was the truth.”

But the content inside the book was all bullshit.

It was all deliberate effort to whitewash the Venerated Skeleton.

However, learning that the true deity’s power fumed the barrier gave Annan an uncomfortable Déjà vu feeling.

How does it feel so similar to a game filled with suffering?