Annan heard this and looked down at the ring in his hand.
This was a gold ring. It did not have a smooth, circular structure but was made entirely of two serpents entwined together.
It looked like two serpents in the midst of a fight, cast in liquid gold... It emanated a sense of wildness and chaos.
And as Annan gazed upon it, the specific attributes of this ring appeared before his eyes—
[Vatore’s Ceremony: Shadow Within Shadows]
[Type: Accessory (Gold)]
[Description: Crafted using Kafney’s "shadow" as material and created by Salvatore’s "hand of shadow," this cursed artifact can only exist in light. It also contains so divine substance; it seems that simply placing it in a room can turn any city’s weather cloudy]
[Effect: Continuously absorbs excess light within a two-kiloter radius to charge (12/12)]
[Effect: Consu one charge to summon a "shadow demon"; consu two charges to use the silver-tier idol spell "Greater Dispel Curse"; consu three charges to use the silver-tier shaping spell "Illusory Shaping: Intense Heat Beam"; consu six charges to use the gold-tier decree spell "Decree: Dissolution"; consu all charges to use the gold-tier prophet spell "Death On: Ergency Teleport"]
[Cost: It must always be placed in light; otherwise, it will be permanently transford into a living being after stagnating in a lightless environnt for nine hours]
"This is..."
Annan’s pupils contracted slightly, and after a pause, he changed his question, "It’s alive?"
"You truly have sharp eyes, Annan."
Salvatore revealed a smile of self-satisfaction, "As you’ve noticed... rest assured, it does not use any living materials. It is a life created from ’inanimate matter.’"
"Isn’t Kafney’s shadow a living thing?"
"Of course not."
Salvatore shrugged, "Even a vivified, substantial shadow is just a shadow after all. After obtaining Her Majesty’s consent, I used the ’Shadow Cutting Ceremony’ to remove a part of Her Majesty’s vivified shadow to serve as the material for the cursed artifact.
"That’s its primary effect—You only need to charge it for an hour to summon a ’shadow demon’ from Princess Kafney’s shadow."
Salvatore revealed a particularly proud and pleased smile, "During this process, Princess Kafney will rely be aware of it but will not have her strength siphoned away.
"Shadows are born from light. Without light, there is only chaotic darkness... This ans the ’shadow demon’ summoned through this ceremony is actually crafted from the ’light’ in the ring, following the rules of Princess Kafney’s abilities to create a new shadow demon.
"Since Mr. Radiance’s holy number is eight, ’when the count reaches eight, light overflows’, thus, the duration of all ’shadow realm’ abilities are not allowed to exceed eight hours. So, it can exist for a maximum of seven hours and fifty-nine minutes... Basically, it only needs to be charged for three hours each day to maintain a full day’s summon."
Annan nodded.
He knew this saying.
This was also the reason why normal people in this world generally only need eight hours of sleep.
"But this ability..."
The young boy Hugo, as if he realized sothing, looked at Salvatore in surprise.
And Isaac blurted out, "Isn’t this—Divine Arts?"
The cursed artifact Salvatore had created had, in a sense, stepped into the domain of the divine.
It used a portion of power as a "conduit" to borrow strength from another source... It was not like the output of fluid, transferring from one side to another, but more like utilizing a higher-grade computer, sending a piece of data, obtaining the calculation result, and then sending it back.
And this was the thod used by clerics when wielding Divine Arts!
But...
"Why a shadow demon?"
Annan raised such a doubt, "Kafney’s shadow... in my impression, is probably only capable of dealing with silver-rank Transcendents."
"That’s in the past. After all, Her Majesty is actually half a year younger than you, and while you’ve grown stronger during this ti, I’ve also seen Kafney grow stronger, little by little."
Salvatore chuckled lightly, "You certainly don’t know that two months ago Her Majesty... oh, at that ti she wasn’t yet the queen—she directly counter-killed a silver-rank assassin."
"Speaking of which, Kafney’s erosion level was indeed a bit high at the ti."
Annan nodded thoughtfully.
The Path of the Fallen is a practice route that involves being eroded and transford by curses continually.
Although it’s not necessarily true that the higher the erosion rate, the stronger one becos... However, in the process of becoming stronger, the erosion rate inevitably increases.
If Kafney’s increased erosion rate wasn’t due to nightmares or the use of disorderly powers...
"Her Majesty Kafney’s power had actually co close to the gold rank at that ti."
Salvatore explained, "If it had been Her Majesty of the past, she probably could only use shadows to strangle the opponent."
"I rember."
Annan nodded, "Kafney’s profession is a Dragon-Wrestling Monk, and she specializes in grappling attacks."
The fallen are on a divergent path from bronze-rank... there isn’t a "silver rank" in this process. If one can fully demonize themselves, they effectively reach the sa level as the gold-rank. And if they can continue to survive, they will gain increasingly powerful strength as the years pass.
But this does not an that the Fallen will imdiately beco gold-rank.
Rather, it ans that during this process of gradually becoming stronger, there won’t be a clear hierarchy. In other words... anyone, before becoming fully demonized, might suddenly grow significantly stronger, without being hindered by a "bottleneck."
"Just two months ago, Her Majesty’s shadow abilities had already evolved to a considerable strength—the assassin wasn’t captured by tentacles made of shadows, but was impaled by spikes in an instant.
"At that ti, the assassin was still in stealth. He had slipped into the shadow... But when his shadow touched Her Majesty’s, the shadow that had accommodated him suddenly rejected him and at the sa ti transford into countless stalactite-like sharp spikes... directly piercing him through.
"Or it could be said, the soft yet tough tentacles could now take on a sharper form. Even if you, Annan, do not have as much power as Kafney, it would still be quite effective... not to ntion, the ’light’ you can give it will be stronger, which will make its texture stronger."
Salvatore spoke earnestly, "You are about to head underground—although I have never been there, I know it’s a lawless area. Even serial killers, as long as they can escape from the city where they are wanted, will be regarded as innocent people without any cris.
"In such a vicious place, it’s inevitable that so villains will erge. And without the strong sunlight, stealthy abilities will not be easily dispersed. Even if you have the ability to dissipate invisibility, you can’t always maintain it. If so, your identity will firstly be exposed, and it might attract even more malice.
"I made this ring especially for you. It can absorb the excessive light from your body... that way, as long as you don’t enter a combat state, you will appear just like a normal person.
"And the shadow demon it summons can hide in your shadow on ordinary days, protecting you as a warning in critical monts—any enemy trying to sneak up on you from the shadow plane will be attacked by it and directly dragged out."
"...I see."
Annan suddenly understood.
The "cost" of this ring was actually its real ability. When Annan needed it, he could use it to absorb the light from his body... to camouflage himself. That anti-stealth capability was actually just an extra...
After all, Annan was a Wizard, a gold-rank Transcendent.
His perceptual attributes were extraordinarily strong. No one could escape Annan’s notice if they dared to gaze upon him, even if they stealthed into another world.
However, it was considered that having an active anti-stealth summon was different from possessing a passive invisibility detection ability.
"You really are thoughtful."
Annan nodded, "Thank you, Senior Vatore."
Salvatore’s smile froze on his face.
A mouth split open on his arm, and he couldn’t help but laugh loudly, "I knew it, Annan would definitely realize this was my handiwork!"
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