"I know about that."
Annan nodded, then said, "Later, Benjamin gave it up to save his first love from the ti rift and chose the path of the Pope instead?"
"You are mistaken."
To Annan’s surprise, Hugo gave a negative answer, "In fact, that was afterward. It wasn’t that he gave up on becoming the Fla Pilferer... but at that ti, he had already lost the qualifications to beco the Fla Pilferer.
"Benjamin’s character is exactly that of a perfect Fire Transmitter... He could sacrifice his own happiness for others and would not feel pain for it. This is a necessary quality to obtain the ’Fla Pilferer’ Gold-tier profession."
...To obtain a Gold-tier profession, one needs a certain special character trait as well as adaptiveness?
Annan was sowhat surprised.
But after thinking about the ’Victorious Knight’ who also had skills that were useful at the Gold-tier, he felt he could understand.
"The only reason Benjamin did not inherit the ’Fla Pilferer’ was that we got Salvatore. He is the most perfect inheritor.
"Therefore, Benjamin beca his ntor.
"Before that, Benjamin had already beco disgusted with Wizards’ styles full of selfishness. He ca to , saying he didn’t want to take on any more students... because he didn’t want to see people who studied for their own self-interest.
"He knew that such thinking wasn’t wrong. But he just didn’t like it. I accepted his request.
"But after that, Salvatore entered the Black Tower. It was for him that Benjamin beca a ntor again."
Hugo said earnestly, "Your Majesty, you are Salvatore’s most reliable friend. After my death, this secret will be yours to guard."
"...Guarding a secret?"
"Yes, keeping the secret of Salvatore’s Curse Binding."
"Wait..."
Annan furrowed his brows.
He realized the weight of this issue, "The Curse Binding on Salvatore, isn’t it the ’Reflection Ritual of Restlessness’?"
The reflection of goodness is the cocoon of a demon.
The ’Reflection Ritual of Restlessness’ is one of the ten Reflection Curse Bindings. Those who harmonize with the Reflection Curse Binding must possess a trait of pure goodness.
This was originally a ritual for hatching demons... it was later repurposed as a Curse Binding.
Hugo countered, "We had no desire for a demon to be born from his remains. How could we place such a dangerous Curse Binding on him when we did not know that the Heavenly Chariot would co to this world?"
"Then what is the truth?"
"Salvatore actually has a dual Curse Binding. Besides the Reflection Curse Binding from his advancent to Bronze-tier, he has another Curse Binding that even he has forgotten... It is this very Curse Binding that gave him the qualifications to beco a ’Tower’s Child’."
This is why Salvatore himself could not quite rember when exactly he beca the Tower’s Child.
He has always believed that his talent was not enough—indeed, he was right.
"This Curse Binding has been passed down through the generations of the Heath Tower of Black, called ’The Fire Not Kindled for Oneself’. This Curse Binding dates back to the elven Sage Protheus in the ancient living desert, who stole the sun’s third brightest star.
"He imprinted his will on this profession, hoping that his successors would take over and beco the eternal burning light in his stead."
Hugo said solemnly, "Its requirent is that one ’must not profit from the knowledge taught by the ntor’ and not be aware of this Curse Binding nor doubt one’s own motives.
"It is a continuous Curse Binding... The longer it persists, the more benefits Salvatore will gain from it.
"As the Fire Transmitter who bestowed this Curse Binding on him, I am rely the custodian of the fire. My wisdom’s fla will gradually flow to him through this Curse Binding... that is the power of the third brightest star—the never-ending, bright fla.
"Because this power demands complete goodness, we filed him with the ’Reflection’ Curse Binding. The purpose is to ensure Salvatore’s goodness during the ritual—that is to say, we do not expect Salvatore to always act for the sake of others.
"But if the Curse Binding of the reflection holds, then it is not Salvatore who will break the ritual, but his reflection. Thus, the Curse Binding will continue to stand."
Annan finally understood.
From the very beginning, the existence of the reflection was to ’release’ the psychological pressure off Salvatore.
She acted as the scapegoat in anger for Salvatore, selfishly for Salvatore’s sake.
If Salvatore couldn’t control his shadow... then whenever the shadow erged to vent, it would carry away the pressure within Salvatore’s heart. Because Benjamin had told him that it was "another personality," "a demon that would destroy the world," there was no way Salvatore could willingly release it.
—Just as he couldn’t voluntarily enter sleep during the day, he could only find soone to knock him out.
The thought process was essentially identical.
As long as Salvatore did not wish to release the shadow, then the shadow’s sins were not his own.
What they hadn’t anticipated was... with his own goodness and rationality, Salvatore forcefully suppressed his own reflection.
Although they were all good people, there was a fundantal difference between them.
Salvatore... was a truly pure good man.
"Yes. The shadow called forth by the Reflection Ritual represents the dark side of a personality... It’s the inescapable primal instinct."
Hugo nodded gravely, "I also didn’t expect that the boy Salvatore could achieve such a feat..."
An astonishing goodness.
With nothing but his goodness and rationality, and without any "constraints," he could completely suppress all his selfish desires.
Just like soone born without the capacity to consider themselves.
Annan suddenly recalled... theoretically the exact opposite of Salvatore, "Sister Vatore," whose irritable nature hid an unnoticeable goodness and kindness toward others—typically referring to Annan.
At the ti, Annan had thought it was "The malice buried deep in the heart of a honest person" being reversed into goodness by the Reflection Ritual.
Annan had wondered... how it wasn’t apparent that Senior Saul harbored the kind of malice that could grant "Sister Vatore" such an evident goodness.
Now he understood.
His judgnt was correct.
There truly was no such evil in Salvatore’s heart.
Because the goodness and humanity harbored in Vatore’s personality weren’t "reversed" but "overflowing."
While maintaining one hundred percent purity of goodness, Salvatore was still able to spare a portion for the shadow.
It was for this reason that "Sister Vatore" managed not to beco a "demon of extre evil" but rather had a complex personality closer to that of an average person.
"... I never imagined that he hadn’t broken the Curse Binding until now. Among all the Tower Masters through the generations, I was the only one drained by this curse.
"I’ve always served as the energy reservoir for the Heath Tower of Black... not because it was my obligation as Tower Master, but because I didn’t want Salvatore to notice my cognitive decline. I fear even walking would make stumble.
"If I were to leave the external thinking ability of the holy fla now, I wouldn’t even be able to cast spells, let alone precisely prepare and convert reagents.
"This is also why, under my ’ntorship,’ there was Benjamin as his tutor. Because under the erosion of this curse, my wisdom is now less than even a farr’s, not to ntion teaching Salvatore the art of alchemy.
"So I used myself as the core for the Wizard’s Tower to operate—aiding my own thoughts with the holy fla that originally powered the Heath Tower of Black. I just appeared inside the tower through projection, reducing my cognitive load to the minimum. Only then could I maintain rationality.
"Of course... a significant portion of wisdom has flowed into his shadow.
"But that’s inconsequential. Salvatore’s shadow even possesses humanity. I think this might be because Salvatore has a sort of ’divinity’ within him. He is special—unlike , he should beco a deity.
"With that being the case, I plan to lend him a helping hand."
Hugo spoke slowly.
Annan took a deep breath.
He vaguely realized that he was about to witness a miracle.
He cautiously asked, "What are you planning to do?"
"I’ve already burned through my wisdom, so why not ignite sothing more? Therefore, I decided to consu my soul and prepare a grand ritual."
Tower Master Hugo said solemnly, "I will give Salvatore my soul, elents, magic power—and the final sacred fla passed down through the generations in the Heath Tower of Black."
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