Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1315: Section 1316 Dark Melody

The Magic Rune Scroll used by Sanders was exactly what Angel had sent into the Wilderness of Dreams through the Dream Conch, to help Frode better manage the order of Originheart City. Not only were there Magic Rune Scrolls, but also many Alchemy items.

Even though, at present, it was not possible to bring real strength from the Wilderness of Dreams into reality, with these items, controlling a person was a breeze.

Under the effect of the Magic Rune Scroll, Rolando completely fell into confusion.

“What’s your name?” Angel asked casually.

“…Rolando Nord,” Rolando answered after a moment’s hesitation.

Angel muttered to himself in a low voice, “It seems he didn’t lie to King about his own name.”

… However, it was at this moment that Sanders suddenly asked, “Is Rolando Nord really your true name?”

Rolando hesitated for a long time, sweat pouring from his forehead, before he faintly said, “No.”

This answer took Angel by surprise.

“How did the Mentor know this wasn’t his real name?” Angel frowned, with puzzlement in his eyes, “He was clearly hypnotized, so how could he still lie?”

Sanders said, “Hadn’t you speculated to Suise before that the true master of the Crimson Authority should be someone with a familial bloodline to King Gumman?”

“Since it’s a familial bloodline, the surname should be the same. And the Gumman royal family’s clan surname is Gumman, not Nord.”

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The discrepancy between Rolando’s surname and reality was why Sanders had questioned whether it was his real name. As expected, Rolando had negated this.

“As for whether he is lying, just asking will reveal the truth.”

Rolando seemed to be troubled by his own name, answering with particular hesitation, “I know my name is not Rolando, because I feel that Nord is not my surname.”

“You feel?” Angel frowned, under what circumstances would someone use ‘I feel’ to describe their own surname?

“I also don’t know what my real name is, Rolando was given to me later by King, so it sort of became my name,” Rolando explained.

The prior confusion now seemed to be resolved. Since he didn’t know his true name and had been using the name Rolando externally, his previous ambiguous response had not technically been a lie.

“Why don’t you know your own real name?” Angel asked curiously.

Rolando explained, “This is the price for the birth of a dark alter ego, the moment it was born, my name was stripped away.”

A dark alter ego!

Angel and Sanders exchanged glances, understanding that this dark alter ego was the so-called second personality.

Angel hadn’t expected that a casual question about his name, meant to test the success of the hypnosis, would uncover such a secret.

Moreover, from Rolando’s answers, it was clear that the dark alter ego was indeed not an inherent part of Rolando himself!

“What’s with this dark alter ego?” Angel inquired.

Their goal was to find out how to undo the blood origin tracing on the Crimson Authority, but they were being thwarted by the dark alter ego, so understanding this aspect was essential.

Rolando said, “The appearance of the dark alter ego was due to a trade deal between a mysterious person and King.”

Initially, they had thought that the dark alter ego resulted from the Crimson Authority, but as Rolando elaborated, they realized there was an unknown internal story.

Rolando’s own name had been stripped from him, but his memory remained intact.

The incident took place twenty years ago, when a mysterious stranger suddenly approached King Gumman. His arrival was unexpected and unheralded, alarming the entire Gumman royal house.

It seemed King Gumman had fought with the individual, but the encounter ended with King Gumman’s defeat.

Later, Rolando didn’t know what transpired, but King Gumman seemed to have negotiated with the stranger, and after a few days, brought him to Rolando.

At that time, Rolando had already become the master of the Crimson Authority and had been confined for three years. It was the first time in those three years that he had met someone other than King Gumman.

King Gumman sought out Rolando with the stranger because he had made a trade deal with the stranger.

King Gumman didn’t conceal the content of the trade from Rolando, but rather conducted it in front of him.

The purpose of the stranger’s visit to the Gumman Kingdom was simply to have a look at the Crimson Authority. And the price he paid was the birth of the dark alter ego in Rolando.

Rolando finished explaining the origin of the dark alter ego, but there were many puzzling aspects in his story.

Especially regarding the mysterious stranger, Angel and Sanders were completely in the dark; was his visit to the Gumman Kingdom really just to glimpse the Crimson Authority? That seemed oddly strange.

Furthermore, how had the stranger induced the birth of the dark alter ego within Rolando?

They asked Rolando to describe this mysterious person in more detail, but Rolando knew very little. This mysterious person had been secretive from start to finish, even their appearance seemed shrouded in a layer of mist, completely unrecognizable.

According to the mysterious person’s own account, they were not from the Southern Domain but from the Source Continent.

“From the Source Continent? It has been a long time since a wizard from the Source Continent has come to the Southern Domain ever since the passage there was severed,” Sanders said softly. However, it was highly unlikely that the other party would lie about such details, so it was very possible that the mysterious person indeed came from the Source Continent.

However, with no way to teleport, why would someone from the distant Source Continent make their way to the Southern Domain? Was it just to get a glimpse of the Crimson Authority?

Rolando: “I remember, his explanation to the king was that he wanted to find a mysterious object that was about to go out of control. And the Crimson Authority, he determined, was likely to lose control.”

A mysterious object that was about to go out of control? This was the first time Angel had heard of such a thing. He glanced at Sanders, who shook his head slightly at him, clearly indicating even Sanders didn’t know what a mysterious object losing control meant.

“However, after seeing the Crimson Authority, the mysterious person looked very disappointed, clearly the Crimson Authority wasn’t the mysterious object he was looking for.”

The true objective of the mysterious person had appeared, but it only led to more questions.

What is a mysterious object that has gone out of control? Why is he looking for such a thing? Are there deeper distinctions within mysterious objects?

Angel: “Once, when I was at Black Castle, I conversed with Lady Isabel, the Twilight King. She told me that the Source Continent has a more detailed classification of mysterious objects. However, Lady Isabel didn’t know the specifics either.”

“It seems, this belongs to a higher level of information,” Sanders remarked, not feeling regret but rather a hint of excitement in his gaze.

Many wizards have been in the Southern Domain too long, with their vision completely restricted to this world. Such confinement over time could create the illusion of being a tall figure among dwarfs, pompously forgetting oneself.

But Sanders wasn’t one of those; he yearned for improvement, longed for higher knowledge, and was eager to pursue the ultimate truth. The Southern Domain was by no means his final promised land.

The news from the Source Continent brought obscure secrets, yet it made Sanders feel excited because it represented the unknown, a higher level of existence.

“The goal sought by the mysterious person, we cannot access for the time being, nor is there any need to explore it at this stage,” Sanders checked his emotions and turned to Rolando: “However, you haven’t answered the previous question. How did he create the darkened persona?”

Rolando: “He brought out a flute that played on its own, which he said was a mysterious object called the Dark Melody.”

The rendition effect of the Dark Melody would gather the negative energy within one’s body, forcibly giving birth to the most evil personality.

But when this new personality appeared, the name would also be stripped away. This stripping was compulsory. Even if someone else were to tell Rolando his true name, he would forget it the next moment. Hence, Rolando could only use the second name given to him by King Gumman—Rolando Nord.

For a wizard, this most evil personality could be both a blessing and a curse. By casting aside all unnecessary emotions and using negative emotions like selfishness, self-interest, and greed to cultivate, the speed of advancement could be unimaginably fast.

However, although the evil personality was inseparable from the original self, it had an independent cultivation system, meaning its cultivation was its own and could not merge with the original self.

There was also one more crucial point.

The most evil personality would only obey the commands of the holder of the Dark Melody, and the mysterious person who gave rise to the darkened persona within Rolando had ordered him—

“Obey King Gumman’s commands, and ensure that the Crimson Authority does not slip away!”

As they discussed this, many unsolved puzzles began to unravel. The reason Rolando’s darkened persona was so vastly different in strength from his original self was that it had an independent cultivation system and could not merge with the original self.

Why the darkened persona was so obedient to King Gumman was because of the command given by the mysterious person.

“Where is that mysterious person now?”

Rolando: “He left twenty years ago after making a deal with King Gumman and hasn’t come back since.”

If the mysterious person had disappeared, to the darkened persona, King Gumman’s words would become an absolute command to follow.

…

They also inquired about the madness of Eulica, and the general circumstances were almost the same as their conjectures. Indeed, it was Rolando who controlled the Crimson Authority through the scrolls in the suitcase, causing the tragedy.

With the basic facts established, the current issue was how to deal with the Crimson Authority. And dealing with the Crimson Authority couldn’t bypass the darkened persona.

After pondering for a moment, Angel asked, “What would happen to the Crimson Authority if you died?”

It was precisely because Suise and Sanders dared not touch Rolando that they feared some anomaly with the Crimson Authority should he die. But that was their speculation, with no proof. Now that Rolando’s main persona had been separated, it was possible to ask for the real answer.

Rolando: “If I die, the darkened persona will replace me, taking complete control of my body.”

That meant, to kill Rolando, one would have to do it twice; the first time was the death of the main persona, with the darkened persona being reborn through the corpse.

The second time would be the death of the darkened persona.

“No wonder the darkened persona kept ranting for you to kill him,” Angel suddenly understood.

Rolando continued, “If my main persona dies, nothing will happen to the Crimson Authority. But if even the darkened persona dies, then unpredictable consequences will occur with the Crimson Authority.”

These consequences, Rolando did not know because King Gumman had not informed him. But it was certain that the location of the Crimson Authority would immediately come to King Gumman’s knowledge.