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"I’ll be back in a mont," but it seed Silver Baron might have been influenced by Yawen... The tea kept waiting until it was dark, and only then did Silver Baron finally rush back.
"Sorry, Longjing Tea..."
With a rush of seaside dampness still upon him, Silver Baron, sitting back down hastily, embarrassedly apologized to Longjing Tea, "So matters ca up and delayed ... I will compensate for the ti you have lost."
"It’s alright, Lord Silver Baron. I actually didn’t feel bored."
Longjing Tea smiled gently in response.
After all, he didn’t just sit and wait; instead, he went to read books and watch dramas.
Lying in the beautifully splendid silver-purple garden of the royal palace, surrounded by no bustle, noisy children, or cloyingly clingy couples. Just basking in the afternoon sun, feeling the breeze, reading books, watching dramas until the sun set... it was quite pleasant indeed.
"So, Lord Silver Baron."
Longjing Tea sat upright and inquired to Silver Baron, "What was the result?"
"I have found out,"
Silver Baron said solemnly, "Let’s start with the conclusion—your concerns were correct and your alert tily.
"According to the mysterious lady, under normal circumstances, Annan should not exhibit symptoms of ’gradually diminishing humanity’."
"So, what specifically caused this?"
Longjing Tea asked while holding a grin.
"Ultimately," Silver Baron explained, "it’s because Annan is actually incomplete."
"...Incomplete?"
This answer montarily puzzled Longjing Tea.
Silver Baron nodded: "Yes.
"You might not know much about this... Annan actually ca to this world very early. He was about one or two years old as a baby.
"At that ti, Annan was known for his rationality and wisdom. From the age of seven or eight, he began studying arcane knowledge, and by the age of twelve, he was already a world-renowned ritual master, even secretly controlling the whole Winter Principality... more competent and ruthless than little Ivan."
"...Ruthless?"
Upon hearing this word, Longjing Tea was sowhat surprised.
He found it hard to associate this word with Annan.
"Because during that period, Annan’s Heart of Winter had not yet been reversed... thus, he could not feel any of humanity’s kindness, nor could he experience happiness. This cold and dark will was one of the prerequisites to inherit the ’Tri-Siren’."
"So, you an a dark version of Annan..."
Longjing Tea murmured.
Upon hearing this, Silver Baron imdiately shook his head: "Dark version? No, I think that taphor is inappropriate.
"Are you talking about the concept of alchemy’s dark version... or simply about good and evil nature? But whichever it is, that description isn’t accurate.
"A more precise term... what you see is ’White Annan’ who has already undergone ’whitening’. That ’Black Annan’ is actually the original state... and even that state of Annan can’t really be considered evil."
"...But how was the whitening achieved?"
Unable to help himself, Longjing Tea inquired, "In an environnt unable to feel warmth and kindness, having accumulated so many years of loneliness and indifference... even if this state is reversed, it couldn’t directly eliminate the impact of past experiences, could it?"
"It seems Annan really hasn’t talked to you about anything..."
Silver Baron sighed sowhat helplessly: "I thought you must all know."
Longjing Tea was a bit puzzled: "What?"
Speaking softly, Silver Baron said, "Simply put, Annan ’killed’ his past self.
"After completing ’the reversal of the Heart of Winter’, he sacrificed all mories of his past self, along with the newly ford personality from these mories, to the Lady of Silence."
Hearing this, Longjing Tea’s pupils slightly constricted.
——He certainly knew what this ant.
"...But why did Annan do this?"
"To achieve the ’absolute good’ in himself."
Silver Baron replied, "This is the answer I got after asking Ms. Haoyun and the Mysterious Lady.
"Because Annan believes that compared to ’Black Annan,’ who beca gloomy and indifferent after arriving in our world for fourteen years, the self-reford ’White Annan’ is more suitable for this world and better fits his own mission.
"This ability to place even himself on the ’sacrificial tray’ to plan and sche shows absolute rationality, which is one of ’Black Annan’s’ characteristics. Its core is closer to ’indifference’ than ’evil,’—or one might say, ’heartless and unloving.’ This is the heartless Annan who neither understands love nor thinks he needs to understand love.
"After that, I had my doubts and went to The Holy Nation to ask the Goddess of Cup. When she first contacted and embraced Annan, she indeed tasted Annan’s original desire... which is the ’desire for ascension’ Annan had when he was promoted to Gold.
"Goddess of Cup said, Annan has no desire for power, money, strength, the opposite sex, or fa. He does not crave a novel life or an interesting journey either. What he most longs for deep in his heart is the ability to ’erase all accidents and misfortunes involving himself and others.’
Silver Baron concluded, "That is, the so-called [happiness]. Annan lives to make himself and others feel happy.
"And today’s Annan... is because he is imrsed in an overly intense and obsessive ’happiness.’ He hopes to resolve everything himself and believes he has the ability to do so. So, he tries to take all the responsibilities onto himself...
"Just like a person being covertly eroded—corrupted by wealth and beauty, twisted by desires, which distances them from ’the light,’ gradually losing the possibility of redemption. This is because darkness expands and reproduces itself.
"What most people do not know, and what is impossible to know is... an excess of light is also ’harmful.’ Light also reproduces itself, just like a virus. It instinctively drives people away from evil, and thus increasingly distances them from humanity—just like those aloof sages and saints who cannot be understood and accepted by others.
"In order not to beco corrupt, they would rather live chanically and discipline themselves severely. This indeed can maintain their goodness but also wears down their desires, bringing them closer to the so-called ’divinity.’
"...So, are you saying that Annan will irreversibly lose his humanity?"
"If we don’t notice it in ti, that would indeed be the case."
Silver Baron laughed and said, "You have done a great service, Longjing Tea. Now we still have other ways to solve this problem..."
"What specifically?"
"The problem with Annan mainly stems from his being incomplete. He only has the side that ’yearns for goodness.’ His way of thinking is missing half. So, what we need to do is simple... that is to let Annan complete the compensation.
"The way he ’erased’ his old self back then was by praying to the Lady of Silence, completely forgetting a segnt of his mories. This process can also be seen as a form of Sacrifice."
Silver Baron said earnestly, "Since it’s a Sacrifice—like sending a letter, there’s a sender and a recipient. Lady Silence would receive these mories. Which ans, although Annan has completely forgotten his past, this world has not completely erased those mories."
So it ans... it was deleted but not emptied from the recycle bin?
Longjing Tea blurted out, "Then should we retrieve this mory from Lady Silence?"
"No. The job of retrieving lost mories should be left to the Ash Maker. The division of labor among gods is very clear."
Silver Baron said with so concern, "Resolving this issue is not difficult in itself. The most difficult part is... whether Annan really wants to solve it.
"In any case, we must respect his personal will. If Annan does not wish to complete, we cannot force him to accept ’another self,’ and so his gradual loss of humanity would be his own choice.
"On the other hand—if he regains the ’rational’ side of himself, would he still be recognized by the Heart of Justice? If he has already gained the Heart of Justice and then regains his other half, the true self, would the complete Annan be abandoned by the Heart of Justice?
"There’s sothing even more crucial..."
Silver Baron paused, showing hesitation, "That is his[Three Sirens of the Third]. If the two Annans rge into one, it ans he loses the shielding and protection of the Heart of Winter.
"—Such an Annan, would he still have the willpower to use the Three Sirens of the Third? And the Three Sirens, undoubtedly, is a weapon against The Worm.
"So, is it worth risking a myriad of ssy problems to seek a more complete self; or is it better to play it safe, change nothing but gradually lose most of one’s humanity? Annan needs to resolve this before completing the ascension ceremony.
"Once he steps into the rkabah Hall of the Realm of Light, Annan’s personality can only be split, not added. From my observation, Annan is now just one step away from stepping into the Truth Rank... which ans he is about to ascend.
"No matter how much Annan tries to delay, he can only drag it out for another month at most. There’s not much ti left for him to make a choice."
In the end, Silver Baron concluded, "This matter involves a lot, but it is not up to us to decide. Longjing Tea, you can go back and make the advantages and disadvantages clear to Annan, and ask for his opinion. Of course, if Annan himself is also uncertain... you can also urge him to return to Winter.
"According to the Mysterious Lady, the old grandmother is about to awaken—she’ll wake up at最晚 the 最晚 three days."
He said, revealing an inexplicable smile: "Also, Longjing Tea. I just transferred a thousand pounds to your account."
"This is my belated apology... and reimbursent for your international travel expenses. If you succeed and return, there’s more to add."
Silver Baron said with a smile, "Money, just say if you need it. We’re friends... as long as Annan’s problem can be solved, everything is negotiable."
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