If large chunks of flesh were thrown directly into the fire to roast, the outer layer might appear charred, but the inner cells would still retain their vitality. Given the chance, Viken could potentially regenerate.
Rosen knew very well that to completely kill Viken, every single cell in his body had to be killed!
"Okay!" Annie responded and started working again.
While they had defeated the high-ranking vampire, Annie still harbored a deep fear of Viken. Only by completely destroying this high-ranking vampire's body could she feel at ease.
Holding her steel sword, Annie became a temporary butcher, hacking away at the flesh until pieces flew everywhere.
Strangely, although his body was hacked to pieces, not a single drop of blood flowed from the remains. Viken, the vampire, had drunk so much blood, yet not a drop of blood flowed from his own body.
To Rosen, Viken's flesh didn't seem like a living organism; it looked more like a large mass of highly elastic silicone.
As he hacked, Annie suddenly stopped. "Rosen, look, there's a letter."
There was a pocket inside Viken's dark blue evening suit, containing an exquisite parchment scroll. Rosen put down the firewood he was holding, walked over, picked up the scroll, and opened it. He found several sentences written on it, in the common language of the Parasun Empire.
"What does it say?" Annie asked.
Rosen read it aloud: "The Awakener has descended, steel submits to his will, fire worships him as its master, the world trembles before his power. He will save all suffering, he will bring heaven to earth—Sage Nia."
"Sage Nia? It seems this prophecy is true." Annie believed it immediately.
Rosen was taken aback, and couldn't help but ask, "Annie, I didn't expect you to be so easily fooled."
In the game, he had heard of the Sage Nia's reputation, but had never seen her in person, only knowing that she was a highly renowned mage. She was said to be a professor at the Northern Nilogard Academy and also the royal magic advisor to the Northern Kingdom of Kowison. Judging from Annie's current behavior, she seemed to have complete faith in Nia.
Annie rolled her eyes at Rosen and said firmly, "This is a prophecy, not a hoax. I'm telling you, Sage Nia's prophecies have never been wrong, never!"
Rosen strongly disapproved of this gullible attitude. He frowned, "Annie, prophecies, if they're right, it's luck; if they're wrong, there are plenty of excuses to cover it up. They're basically meaningless."
His skepticism wasn't based on personal emotion, but on rigorous scientific theory.
This was chaos theory.
Chaos theory reveals that in a multivariate system, any variable, even a tiny change exceeding the current measurement limit, will, after a sufficiently long period, trigger an unpredictable and enormous change in the entire system.
In layman's terms, it's the butterfly effect.
Weather is a chaotic system, which is why weather forecasts are always so inaccurate.
The prophecy of the Sage Nia is remarkably accurate. Rosen immediately suspected it was a 90% scam, the only reason he left out a 10% possibility was because he didn't understand magic and dared not speak rashly.
Annie, while hacking at Viken's body, retorted, "Rosen, you're young and inexperienced, so I don't blame you for your ignorance. Let me tell you, the Sage Nia is the wisest person in the world. She can see the mysteries of the universe and find divine guidance for mortals in the stars. In the past, the Sage Nia issued three prophecies, and each one was incredibly accurate!"
Rosen's heart skipped a beat. He asked, "You mean, she's not only a magician but also an astrologer?"
"Yes." Annie had successfully hacked Viken's hands into a pulp; she began hacking at his legs.
Rosen asked again, "Were her previous three predictions about solar or lunar eclipses?"
Annie looked at Rosen in surprise. "Yes. How did you know? You've heard of her, haven't you?"
"Oh, I see," Rosen said, suddenly understanding.
Just as chemistry's precursor was alchemy, astronomers' precursors were astrologers. Compared to the complexities of the human world, the laws governing celestial motion are much clearer. For astronomers, as long as they diligently observe the night sky, it's easy to summarize a set of rules, making accurate predictions about specific celestial bodies relatively straightforward.
In ancient astrology, most of the content was deceptive trickery; only a very small portion of the essence constituted rigorous science.
Rosen's understanding wasn't arbitrary; it was based on real-life examples.
On Earth, Kepler, who proposed the three laws of planetary motion and was known as the "Lawgier of the Sky," was actually an astrologer in the 16th century. He supported himself by selling astrological books and performing astrologer readings. Kepler possessed genuine skill and considerable luck, even correctly predicting people's fortunes. In today's world, he could probably earn the title of a sage.
In fact, Kepler's teacher, Tycho Brahe, was also renowned for his astrology in his time.
If Rosen was only 90% certain the prophecy was a hoax before, now he was 99% certain.
However, the sage Nia was clearly Annie's idol, and black idols are always hated. Rosen didn't intend to upset Annie over such a trivial matter.
"If I have the chance in the future, I'd like to seek out the sage Nia for guidance," Rosen thought to himself.
Besides the prophecy, the parchment scroll contained a few more sentences. Rosen continued reading: "The following humans are very likely to grow into Awakeners in the future; they must be eliminated as soon as possible."
Below were three names.
Rosen read aloud, "Dirac Ingram, third son of Marquis Ingram of the Parasun Empire, 9 years old, possesses a photographic memory and an astonishing affinity for fire."
Annie paused, "The fire prodigy Dirac… he's been targeted by vampires."
Rosen continued, "Vigo Milatis, a student at the Nilogard Academy in the Northern Kingdom of Kowell, 19 years old, stunningly beautiful, the prized disciple of the sage Nia, possesses terrifying talent in illusion magic."