Super Righteous Player
Chapter 349 - 347 The Betrayer of Humanity_1

Chapter 349: Chapter 347 The Betrayer of Humanity_1

"...What?"

Annan was astonished.

The answer truly shocked him.

He fell deeply into confusion.

How exactly did Nicholas accomplish this? An artificial human that doesn’t require parents...

"Before answering this question," Bishop Daryl spoke softly, pulling a book from the shelf, "have you heard of the ’Gift of the Cup’ ritual?"

"It sounds like a ritual of the Goddess of the Cup."

"Indeed, it is."

Daryl said, then plunked himself back onto the sofa.

Perhaps it was because he was old, or maybe because he had grown a bit fatter, even these few steps seemed to have tired him out.

After the corpulent, bald-headed bishop sat down, he placed the thick book on the table and took a long sigh. He took a big gulp of the now slightly cooled black tea from his cup.

Then, he began turning the pages of the book while explaining in a low voice, "Although the Goddess of the Cup is a True God, and desire is the cornerstone of humanity, in many places, openly admitting to worshipping the Goddess of the Cup is still considered frivolous and even lowly by the public.

"However, even so, many noble families still openly worship the Goddess of the Cup. But this doesn’t necessarily mean they indulge in sensual pleasures... but rather to practice the ’Gift of the Cup’ ritual.

"To perform this ritual, one must openly declare their faith in the Goddess of the Cup for at least nine years and hold an official and public worship ceremony every September. Then, prepare a pure gold cup, in which is placed the practitioner’s own blood collected and preserved from each month over the nine months without rotting.

"After that, the practitioner needs to add a tube... of liquid containing their genetic information, then seal the cup. Every month, the liquid level in the cup will drop by one-ninth, gradually revealing the embryo inside the cup; and after nine months, a newborn baby will appear in the cup.

"—That is what’s known as a ’Child of the Cup’."

Daryl answered.

...A clone?

This must be an emergency measure used when the bloodline cannot continue, right... like infertility?

Annan hesitated for a moment, then asked, "So this Child of the Cup... is it exactly like the practitioner?

"Roughly so. Furthermore, based on this, their bloodline will be optimized, their looks will become more beautiful, and their intelligence and physical strength more outstanding. Although they can’t be called the child of the Goddess of the Cup, they will inherit some of Her characteristics...

"Therefore, when some families, for certain reasons... completely sever their bloodline."

Saying this, Daryl took a deep look at Annan before slowly continuing, "They would carry out the ’Gift of the Cup’ ritual.

"The Goddess of the Cup does not demand they maintain faith in Her. So, after the child is born, they can claim to renounce their faith in the Goddess of the Cup... but once the ritual has been used, traces belonging to the Goddess of the Cup will remain—that is, the eyes turning red.

"And those families with red eyes, if they carry out the ’Gift of the Cup’ again, they will still receive a child, but the bloodline will not continue to be optimized. They will only receive a child with talents similar to those of the practitioner.

"Thus, some merchant families who can afford golden cups, or noble families that rarely birth a ’genius,’ may also perform this ritual when they wish to extend the glory of the family for another generation. But more often than not, it is used as the ’last resort,’ when the bloodline is about to end, to leave behind a seed.

"—And this is the typical ’artificial human created from the samples of a father or mother.’ Even though it utilizes the power of a True God, it is neither operated by the Goddess of the Cup nor is it her Divine Art.

"’Rituals’ belong to human power, not divine. Such artificial humans are, in essence, still lives not naturally born."

Bishop Daryl said, pausing for a moment: "I think you’ve guessed it by now."

"...For instance, the royal family of Noah?"

Annan asked softly.

If it came to families with red eyes, he could only think of this one...

Bishop Daryl slowly nodded.

...So that’s how it is.

This explanation resolved one of Annan’s doubts.

That was why Philip dared to openly worship the Goddess of Cup as a royal heir in a nation that widely believed in the Silver Baron. It wouldn’t even be considered immoral by others.

On the contrary, it was a tradition.

Because the Noah royal lineage had, in fact, been severed once before. It was now being continued anew...

When exactly was the lineage severed?

Thinking carefully, Annan realized that he hadn’t heard of the current King having any brothers or sisters.

Perhaps the natural bloodline had already been completely severed during the generation of Henry VIII’s father.

Suddenly, a thought emerged in Annan’s mind:

—Could it be that Nicholas appeared in Noah and not somewhere else because Henry VIII was an artificial human?

"What about Nicholas?"

After understanding that artificial humans indeed existed in this world, Annan immediately noticed the problem: "The technology he used to create artificial humans must be superior to that of the Goddess of Cup, right?"

Hearing Annan’s statement, Daryl sighed.

"You’re truly smart, Prince Annan. And you’re very sharp...

"Maybe what you said before is correct—those created by Nicholas could indeed be called monsters.

"But it’s not because they are ugly or lack intelligence. It’s the exact opposite...

"The artificial humans made by Nicholas, even by the most critical of aesthetic standards, are considered handsome and beautiful. You could call them ’synthetic humans’—created simply by synthesizing the Philosopher’s Stones of the Hermes Faction and some cheap materials in a flask.

"Their bodies are strong and healthy, free from disease, they are even very intelligent, and they have a strong sense of unity among them—considering the convenience of implanting common knowledge and daily operations, Nicholas initially bound their thoughts together, sharing a single soul. As such, there was no conflict among his creations, and their efficiency in work and learning was very high. It would be better to refer to them as ’it’, or even ’They’, rather than ’they’.

"I must admit, they are indeed a more excellent species than humans. Nicholas truly created new life, a new race... just like a god.

"However, his creation had a fatal flaw. The one who discovered the problem was the Moth Mother, who governs the principle of ’fertility’."

"Although these beings can be born relying only on the Philosopher’s Stone, without needing human flesh and blood, after their birth... they can procreate with each other through sexual relations, just like humans do normally. But they cannot produce offspring with humans."

Annan’s pupils dilated slightly.

He realized something: "So they... eventually lost control?"

"No."

Daryl said bluntly: "If even the oversight of twelve True Gods could let the situation spiral out of control, it would be an existential catastrophe.

"But it was nearly as severe as an existential catastrophe—they didn’t lose control, not because they couldn’t, but because we discovered it in time.

"A being that could replace humans in all aspects, instilled with all the common knowledge of human society, identical in appearance to humans, yet reproductively isolated from humans, capable of reproducing as fast as humans... For humanity, they are much more terrifying than elves and centaurs.

"That was the cause of Nicholas’s death, and his crime.

"Ultimately, after his death, all his research and writings were completely destroyed, all the prepared Philosopher’s Stones of the Hermes Faction were obliterated, all of the synthetic humans were captured and executed then burned, and their bodies were thoroughly destroyed. The memories of any Transcendents who knew about this were erased. As a result, not even the traces of this matter would remain in nightmares.

"From an alchemist’s perspective, Nicholas was indeed the greatest alchemist in the world, the second Hermes. He, a human, accomplished what belonged to the divine...

"But for his magnificent work, he betrayed all of humanity."

Daryl spoke slowly: "That’s why I said if that person is truly Nicholas. Or even if he’s merely related to him...

"Then our troubles are much worse, Prince Annan."