Hugo’s relationship with the gods was not a close one. Those who could know that Annan was the Celestial Chariot were generally True Gods, False Gods, or those directly related to the deities.
Even the gods could not know things that had nothing to do with them. Their grasp of information about Annan was linked to the previous cycle when "Black Annan" had connections with the True Gods.
Logically speaking, Tower Master Hugo should not have known that Annan was the Celestial Chariot.
But Annan quickly realized... It must have been Bernardino who told Hugo. Their relationship did not seem to be entirely adversarial.
Just as Annan had explained to Thirteen Fragrances before—the friendships of young wizards were primarily built around "talent." Because if the gap in talent was too wide, after graduation, there would essentially be no intersection in their lives.
Considering Hugo and Bernardino both eventually beca Wizards of the Gold rank and their ages were not much different.
Perhaps they got along well when they were young... But as they aged, they ultimately took completely opposite paths.
"...Now that the Book of the Celestial Chariot is complete, it must an that The Light of the Seventh Day is finally about to descend,"
Hugo was silent for a very long ti before he spoke softly, "Sadly, I was unable to make it."
Annan knew what he was talking about.
With Hugo’s desire and ability, he should have long been acknowledged by the Book of Truth. But just as the reason why Annan had co here—the old truths stored in the Celestial Chariot were no longer sufficient to compile a book.
But... it was too late.
If he had not had that fight with Bernardino, he might have been able to wait for Annan to complete the Transcendence Ritual. As soon as Annan beca the new Celestial Chariot, he would have definitely been the first to obtain the Fragnts of Truth... and imdiately ascend to the Truth Rank.
Even becoming a deity, gaining eternal life and immortal authority, was just a matter of ti.
But everything was too late.
"I can live at most another two months,"
The tall, thin ghostly shadow said calmly: "This is the maximum. Due to excessive depletion of the soul, I will start losing my sanity due to soul starvation roughly after forty days.
"Even if you could imdiately beco a Gold Wizard and ascend with great haste... it’s already too late. The remaining life I have is not enough to collect all the Books of Truth.
"That ans... I’ve already missed it."
Hugo was probably at the sa level as the man in the mirror in terms of being a Transcendent.
Whether it was talent, desire, or sothing else, he was at the topmost line.
The difference between them was that the man in the mirror was able to let go of the Frigid Wight Tower’s legacy—using the legacy of the Wizard’s Tower as bait to lure other wizards to help him complete the transcendence ritual.
For the man in the mirror, using his own life, future, dignity, the legacy of the Wizard’s Tower, and everything he could offer to verify whether his ritual was correct... there was no doubt that it was worth it.
This ritual, originally invented by the Bone Lord and used once by the Rotting Husband, was believed by the man in the mirror to have room for optimization. But such a ritual, a replacent for the Book of Truth, could only possibly be completed by a Transcendent at the very top of the Gold rank who had completed all other accomplishnts except for the "Prototype of Truth."
His theory had no chance to be put into practice.
The man in the mirror thought—why not experint on himself?
Fortunately, in the end, he succeeded.
If he had failed at that ti... his soul would probably have always been drifting in the gap between life and death, tornted by a pain that was neither alive nor dead. Until tornted into forgetting everything, becoming a vengeful spirit that will never be at peace.
For the man in the mirror, he was first a wizard, a ritualist, and then the Tower Master.
But for Hugo, it was the opposite.
He was first the Tower Master—and then a wizard.
It was only later that Annan learned from Salvatore... the sacred fla passed down generation by generation at the Heath Tower of Black even possessed qualities akin to the Philosopher’s Stone itself.
It could use "wisdom" as its fuel directly.
This ant... if Tower Master Hugo at that ti could harden his heart and burn all the wizards of the Marshland Black Tower to death.
They would not only prevent becoming materials for Bernardino to create the "Philosopher’s Stone."
Instead, they could have burned in place of Hugo’s soul... and easily defeat Bernardino.
But in the end, Tower Master Hugo couldn’t bring himself to be so ruthless.
He would rather watch the wizards he had taught be killed by Bernardino, then go after Bernardino desperately... rather than burn them early as his own "fuel."
"Vatore the senior" believed this was a aningless act of weakness.
She thought that human "emotions" had constrained Tower Master Hugo, leading him to make decisions that weren’t rational enough and were unfit for a superior being.
But both Annan and Salvatore believed Tower Master Hugo was right.
Even though the outco would undoubtedly be better if he acted himself... not everything in this world could be judged by the outco.
This was a typical trolley problem.
If one were to deprive a portion of people of their lives personally for the sake of a "greater good," in essence, one turned himself into a scale and supre judge, replacing natural law to determine right from wrong.
That was undoubtedly an act of arrogance.
The fundantal reason was—these students and ntors were not "possessions" of Tower Master Hugo. He had no right to sacrifice things that did not belong to him to save others.
Indeed, they could choose self-sacrifice, but Hugo could not sacrifice for them. Although in terms of consequentialism, it made no difference... but killing to save and saving to kill are ultimately different.
That’s why Annan was calmly sitting here, discussing with Tower Master Hugo "matters that Salvatore must not hear for the ti being."
"I am sorry, I can’t help you,"
Annan spoke slowly: "It is all too late... it’s already too late."
There was no guilt in his voice, just a sincere and rational regret.
Not because Salvatore’s ntor had lost the opportunity to beco a deity.
But because the world had lost a dependable "living pillar."
Annan was regretting for the world.
"It doesn’t matter,"
Hugo just shook his head, indifferent to his own death: "To live is to head towards death. Just because I cannot beco a deity does not an my life is aningless.
"The torch is passed on—as long as the original fla keeps burning until the end, we ’successors’ along the way are valuable.
"I asked you here... to seek a certain possibility."
He said earnestly: "Do you know, Your Majesty. The next [Fla Pilferer] was originally ant to be inherited by Benjamin Foster."
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