Before Annan entered this advanced dungeon, he definitely didn't think that the biggest gain of this dungeon was ......

…… It was actually these forbidden books that I saw in Amos's study.

Because of the urgency of time, Annan first roughly flipped through the book "Belief in These Gods is Dangerous", and quickly found the entry about the skeleton man.

Then he learned the information:

“…… The Skeleton Gong is a new pseudo-god in the Third Age, and due to the change of eras, a lot of information has been lost. However, what can be known through archaeology is that the Bone Princess, at least in the Fourth Age, that is, the previous era, had a friendly relationship with the protector of January, the god of death and the earth, the righteous god 'Buried Bone Mother'.

In the Fifth Age, the Bone Father was inexplicably estranged from the Church of Bones and other righteous gods, and was even denounced as a false god. The Archchurch in the United Kingdom was also forcibly dissolved by order of Jaon and forced to go underground.

"According to the author's investigation, it may be because the Bone Gong is related to the Great Barrier Collapse incident at the beginning of this era......"

This information was something that Annan had not seen at all from his seniors before.

In particular, the chronology of the "Third Age" and "Fifth Age" has never been seen before. The statements about the Great Enchantment are also vague.

When Annan saw this, he couldn't help but turn the title page.

Then he saw the author's name.

A name that made him feel a little déjà vu......

“…… Gryaznoha Rindon. ”

Annan read the somewhat tongue-twisting name twice more and memorized it in his heart.

This does not seem to be the name of Annan's father, the current Grand Duke...... Was it his uncle or grandfather?

He didn't think much of it, just turned the book back to that page.

Annan soon found the ritual of the Skeleton Father, because it was marked with a wavy line:

"The ritual realm of the Skeleton Princess, which involves the realm of death, mystery, concealment, and art, requires avoiding January protected by Granny Bones, February protected by Lady Mystery, and April protected by Yaon.

"If it's a long-term ceremony, it's recommended to do it in May and cut off from January. But if it's a short-term borrowing of power, then March is okay too. April 1st is a good termination day, and Yaon is the artist's protector and can use Yaon's light to sever the ritual connection with the skeletal spawn. It's a technique to break free from the shackles of ritual.

"Because the rituals of the Skeleton Male are all deceptive, each time the ritual is performed, the price paid will gradually increase. And once dependence is formed, it will surely die.

"No matter what kind of strength you ask for from the Skeleton Father, it's usually almost costless the first time. But the second time, he will ask you to give 'half of your conscience' or 'friendship from now on', which is a trap: be sure to choose the former, because the latter means that the person who performs the ritual will be disgusted by everyone for no reason. In order to eliminate this state, they have to perform a third ritual that is not beneficial......

"In the third ritual, the Skeleton Gong will ask to 'devour a part of someone's body' or 'half of their life remaining,' which is still a trap. Because what he needs is not the second half of his life...... It is the first half, and the other is calculated according to the maximum lifespan, that is, no disease and no disaster.

"Because in the previous requirement, both the 'person' and the 'part' are designated as bones, and they are usually fatal. Therefore, it is recommended that before the ceremony, the ceremonitor must permanently disown the relationship with the parents and children, divorce the current husband and wife, and injure all friends and lovers with a silver ritual knife, at least with blood on the blade, in order to show that the ceremonial person has broken off his friendship and never interacted with him again.

After that, it is necessary to find a suitable victim for the ritual marriage three months before the ceremony begins, and to be inseparable from it for three months. In this way, the original sacrifice goal can be discarded. But the best option is to refrain from performing the second and third rituals - the Skeleton Male is a very generous false god, and if he only performs one ritual, he will almost only get benefits.

"The author's suggestion: people should be content."

So warns the author.

That's it for the part of the book about the bones. Just by looking at the content and knowledge in it, you know that this is knowledge that is absolutely impossible to make public.

Annan frowned slightly.

He remembered...... When I was in the gallery before, I coughed up the part "by myself".

It was an emerald eyeball.

…… I'm afraid, that is Elle's eyes.

Could it be that Amos did not hold a sacrifice transfer ceremony and performed a third ceremony with the skeleton duke?

But it can be clearly seen from Elle's diary that he has a very close relationship with Elle. There's no way he's going to let Elle be chosen by the ritual......

With such doubts in mind, Annan opened the "Encyclopedia of Rituals".

The book is searched in a dictionary-like manner by domain as a keyword. Annan searched one by one according to the keywords of "death", "mystery", "hidden", and "art", but he saw almost nothing, and the entire dictionary was foggy, and only a few rituals could be seen......

Annan originally wanted to use his strong memory to forcibly memorize the rituals in this book. However, the information of these rituals, like the one that Klaus had taught Annan before, was not just a matter of memorizing the words.

This knowledge has weight -

After Annan tried to understand the first ritual in the realm of death, [Curse of the Living], he gradually lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, he suddenly found that nearly fifteen minutes had passed—you know, it didn't take him that much time to retrieve and look through the information of the skeleton duke before.

He immediately realized it was a trap. As long as you are obsessed with watching other rituals, you don't have time to investigate the truth. And as long as he fails in his mission, these memories will be erased......

So Annan no longer hesitated, just continued to read. And in the end, in the entry in the field of "art", he found a ritual belonging to the skeleton father:

He lost consciousness again...... And this time, when he lost consciousness, the character of the system appeared in front of his eyes:

【True God Communication-Bone Father】

[Ritual requirements: tail bone of a black bull, horn of a ram, complete ribs of a boar that died of natural causes, palette/carving knife/strings/pen (core offerings) that have been used for at least ten years, fragments of artwork created by the ritual (destroyed for no more than three days)]

[Ceremonial requirements: those engaged in art occupations, no less than 30 years old]

[Ritual income: Blessings related to the profession, usually physical gifts]

[Cursed: Nightmares and Whispers]

[Nightmares and Whispers (Persistent Curses): Before the ritual connection is severed, the ritual practitioner will be in nightmares from time to time at night, and will occasionally hallucinate whispers from unknown sources during the day]

"I see......"

Annan came to his senses again and realized that more than twenty minutes had passed this time.

He muttered under his breath, jot down the second ritual he had seen today.

"Elle, Elle...... Hehe......"

But he was just about to open the third book when he suddenly heard a woman's chuckle...... Or rather, sneer.

The light in the study suddenly dimmed, and a wonderful colorful smoke slowly rose.

"Laughing at your mother?"

Annan gave elegant feedback immediately.

Without hesitation, he picked up the kitchen knife in his hand and threw it in the direction where the laughter came.

The laughter instantly turned into a scream of pain:

"Ahh

The smoke cleared instantly.

Annan immediately saw that it was a painting. If you were hanging opposite you and didn't move......

A kitchen knife is stabbing precisely in the center of the painting.

Blood slowly flowed down the kitchen knife.