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“It seems that the news from Austere-Winter Dukedom is not well-informed.” Annan couldn’t help but laugh, “They should have found out that I have a silver necklace after a little investigation.”
The necklace isn’t aesthetically pleasing.
It only serves as a curse vessel.
These assassins must have assumed that I’m still a ritualist.
They made their move in the ‘Fourth Exhausted Collection’ because it was Vasika’s territory.
Although Annan didn’t have a profound grasp of the occult knowledge, he knew it was impossible to use the ritual power in another ritualist’s ritual area.
It was like a program file without comments, written in a cryptic manner that only the person involved could understand.
Anyone planning to insert a piece of new code you wrote would face errors.
There was also the factor of personal preference. That was especially true for the advanced ritualists.
In their ritual area, the rituals of all other ritualists would be excluded.
Take, for example, the “cat’s heel” Annan saw.
In popular rituals, “cat’s heel” would usually herald “silent steps” and “the dead hunted”.
However, Vasika “used the Fusion Card” with a female cat. Thus, the cat’s heel represented “Vasika owned here” in the ritual area.
Vasika could be teleported to any cat’s heel in the gallery; she could cause damage to the enemy telepathically as if she was there.
There were many other cases of this ritual type.
Things had various meanings in different environments. The typical examples were weddings and funerals.
The definition of “ritual pointer” would be modified for the convenience of the owner of the ritual area. For example, if an external requirement necessitated specific celestial positioning, a particular date, or a unique state to complete the ritual, it could be substituted within the ritual space to replace these inconvenient elements.
The substitute could no longer be used as content for other rituals. Any universally applicable ritual involving this pointer would inevitably fail, and the consequences of ritual failure would be either death or permanent injury.
“But
 aren’t they afraid of you?” Annan didn’t understand.
Although Annan couldn’t use ritual here, Vasika was present.
Did they send the assassins from Silver Rank here for nothing?
Or did they think sealing Annan’s ritual ability was more important than sealing Vasika’s ritual ability?
“You don’t understand. They plan to kill me altogether.” Vasika sneered.
If outsiders didn’t completely understand all the elements within the ritual space, they couldn’t perform a ritual within it; likewise, the best way to kill a ritualist was to tamper with their ritual space.
“As soon as I entered the door today, I found out that although the collection itself has not been moved, the positions of several vases have been quietly moved. I have a ritual pointer, ‘the eyes of a sailor with 33 years of sailing experience’. It was replaced with a human eye of the same color. I have also lost a bottle of ‘Black Cat’s Footsteps’. That’s why I lost my footsteps.”
“Their objective is to make me fail when conducting a ritual. Afterward, the Destruction Wizard will trigger an explosion, causing an explosion and then frame me for the failure of the ritual leading to the explosion.”
Vasika sneered, “But why would they think a trap of this level could kill me?”
“They are nothing but a group of fools. I have more experience in the path of ritualist than all of them. As early as the moment I entered the door, I had already noticed that the layout of the inner gallery had been changed.”
“The [Fool’s Eye] was opened before I entered the door, but it would only open its eyes when someone approached it; the frequency of [Cat’s Haze] was abnormally high, which meant that the [Cat] curse material in the room was out of balance. I had already placed them in a balanced state. There are too many flaws.”
Catwoman sneered, “Only those reckless people from the Northern Alliance can be so stupid.”
“Their territory is already being invaded by the Gray Mists, shrinking inwards by a dozen meters every year.
“In other countries, it might not be a big deal.”
Vasika glanced at the three unconscious assassins and said coldly, “However, our Austere-Winter city is protected by the temperature-regulated barrier. The city closest to the edge of the Great Barrier, called “Sentinel Fortress”, has already begun a large-scale relocation inland. As the Great Barrier approaches the small barriers around the city, the small barriers that provide insulation are immediately shattered by the Great Barrier intercepting the curse.”
“The cold wind pours in. This means the total death of a city. Other cities will be under pressure from the refugees from the Northern land.”
“Based on current data, the cities protected by small barriers in the six northern provinces will come into contact with the Great Barrier as early as May next year, and the latest city will come into contact within five years. Among them, in the Frangell Province where Sentinel Fortress is located, the second city will come into contact with the Great Barrier in the third year.”
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“This means that seven cities in the six northern provinces will disappear within five years. This will lead to an increase in the number of refugees, a decrease in stability, and a sharp decline in taxation and power. In addition, nobles and officials in seven cities will lose their status.”
“I see.” Annan nodded and interrupted Vasika’s narration in a low voice.
Annan understood why these people wanted to seize power in such a hurry. They were even getting so desperate that they acted in a self-sabotaging manner.
The chaos of losing the seven cities would not fully erupt after five years.
However, the nobles of those seven cities were not fools. The scholars under them wouldn’t be stupid even if they were fools.
The scholars would explain to their masters that their happy life in the local area would only last less than five years.
When the Great Barrier shrunk, they would immediately lose their power, population, land, and everything.
The inland nobles would gloat or feel tired of the chaos caused by the refugees. They wouldn’t share their fief and authority.
Unless

There was more to gain.
For example, the entire dukedom.
“However, they are divided. Although the six northern provinces are all in the north of Frostwhisper Province, business districts are further south and north. The further it was to the south, the stronger their survivability when the Great Barrier shrinks.”
Catwoman Vasika said leisurely, “After all, no one knows how long the Great Barrier will shrink. So the nobles whose core territories are in the south and the smaller nobles whose own lands are relatively safer are not too concerned. Some even take pleasure in others’ misfortune. However, the seven northern cities or states closest to the border have become so anxious that they are starting to panic.”
The catwoman wagged her tail and put it on the table. Annan realized that Vasika had a very long tail.
Vasika said with deep meaning, “To keep their power, these stupid nobles are willing to try any taboo.”
“Assassinating the heir of the Grand Duke is one of the taboos. Cooperating with the Winter Insurgent and Ice-shredders is also one of them. Stealing the Frost Beast for military use is also a wrongdoing they would opt for.”
“Of course, they dare to pry into the demon’s power.”
“Demon’s power?” Annan frowned, “Do you mean the Fallen path?”
“Yes, but only partially.” Vasika answered curtly, “I mean curse power.”