Super Righteous Player-Chapter 1257 - 289: Winter Turns to Spring

Originally, Annan thought that adapting his body to the second divine artifact might be even harder than the first...

But the reality was quite different.

After obtaining the first divine artifact, Annan’s spiritual body had already been transformed by the Heart of Justice... Even upon acquiring a new divine artifact, Annan’s soul would no longer evolve again.

In fact, based on the situations of Gerenz Nuha and Alfonso, Annan was somewhat doubtful. Perhaps, aside from the Heart of Justice, no other divine artifact could inherently facilitate soul transformation.

This actually made a lot of sense.

After all, the essence of the Heart of Justice was the "seed of fire" left in this world by Sisyphus—a being who had failed to ascend but left behind the purest part of himself.

On the other hand, the divine artifacts modeled after the Heart of Justice—those artifacts’ "raw materials" were never subjected to ascension rituals. Either because they decisively abandoned ascension, or because they couldn’t find a path to ascension—they left only fragments of themselves behind for this world.

This is the fundamental difference between the Heart of Justice and other divine artifacts.

Since Annan’s soul had already acquired the Heart of Justice, the difficulty of implementing other divine artifacts was greatly reduced... Moreover, the Hand of Hope was inherently one of the easiest divine artifacts to install.

The challenge of installing a divine artifact lay in the fact that it needed to be integrated with the soul. If improperly installed, any subsequent healing would cause the body to reject and "push out" the divine artifact.

One must first remove the corresponding segment of their physical arm along with the soul—only after the shape of the soul changes can the body remember its form with the divine artifact attached.

And this was the core challenge of transplanting divine artifacts.

How to precisely remove the correct portion of the soul—not too much or too little... To avoid detachment due to atrophy, or rejection caused by over-healing, which would treat the divine artifact as a foreign object.

The surgery performed by the Grandmother for Annan was astonishingly precise and swift:

Unlike Annan preparing to replace Maria’s heart.

Annan’s left hand actually served no essential purpose.

After consulting Annan and receiving repeated confirmation, the Grandmother directly froze Annan’s left arm along with the soul attached to it into powder.

In just a moment—Winter’s icy breath, dating back to the dawn of Genesis, shattered Annan’s left arm and his soul, vibrant like a diamond, into pieces.

After that, it was enough to apply healing to integrate the divine artifact, long since approved of Annan, and newly fully activated by him.

The Hand of Hope had already accepted Annan long ago. Annan had even embraced it and made a sacred vow:

[Persistence in the face of adversity is hope]. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

This was Annan’s own understanding of hope, and the hope recognized by the Hand of Hope.

Yet it had been hindered by Annan’s intact left hand and the deterrence of the Heart of Justice—it dared not directly take the place of Annan’s left hand, for that would mean tearing the soul apart with excruciating pain.

In the presence of the true "big brother," it did not dare to act recklessly.

Thus, Annan directly acquired the abilities of the Saint of Hope.

His rank in truth increased by eleven levels, reaching level fifty-four.

—Compared to the Heart of Justice’s level forty-three, the Hand of Hope was indeed like a younger sibling.

The abilities granted by the Hand of Hope to Annan were far less straightforward than those of the Heart of Justice—unlimited revives, infinite energy, and copying all skills.

Instead, its abilities were far flashier... useful only under specific circumstances, yet potentially monumental in impact.

Quite fitting of the name "hope."

One of these abilities was something Gerenz Nuha had demonstrated before Annan:

[Restore Hope: You can return to your peak state under any circumstances (even if controlled or killed), though received damage will still accumulate and you’ll endure one-seventh of recorded damage once the effect ends]

The other two abilities were never demonstrated by Gerenz Nuha, and might include new powers obtained by Annan:

[Victory Hope: Activated only when the Saint triggers the "Victory" element; using the Victory element requires no soul-burning. Each failed judgment doubles the depth of the Victory element, allowing its awakening depth to exceed 100%]

[Share Hope: The Saint can use the Hand of Hope to touch another person, temporarily granting them abilities described as ’you,’ originally only usable on oneself]

When Annan tested this, he found that the ability could "share" [Restore Hope], but not Victory Hope or Share Hope itself. In other words, Annan couldn’t share the sharing mechanism itself.

The Justice Saint’s infinite health and energy could not be copied, but the Salvation Holy Sword could.

Almost all other abilities could be shared.

—This was a bona fide miracle.

And the creator of the miracle!

Having any of these three abilities would undoubtedly make one a Saint capable of bringing "hope" to others.

And now, Annan was about to bring the ultimate, supreme miracle to Winter’s Duchy:

"Until now, we’ve endured far too much suffering..."

Under the setting sun, Annan addressed the crowd in the Frost Speech Square.

The gathered citizens, already somewhat aware of the coming events, gazed expectantly at Annan with urgent eyes. He truly couldn’t muster a lengthy speech.

What did those pairs of eyes yearn for?

—It was "life."

Thus, Annan abandoned his plan for an elaborate speech.

Because vitality and renewal should need no verbose explanations—

"...And now, the trials of the past shall finally end.

"Winter’s Duchy, from this moment—welcomes spring!"

With Annan’s decree issued.

Maria opened the province’s small barrier, and people instinctively hunched their shoulders, bracing for a cold wind.

But instead, what came was a warm breeze.

The rune-engraved sun was visible in the clear sky; no longer shrouded in perpetual gray gloom or dark clouds swirling above... The crowd looked up unprepared, and their unshielded eyes were stunned by the azure sky and dazzling sunlight.

The snow of Winter melted in an instant, and in defiance of all logic, every tree began to sprout fresh green buds. The barren ground suddenly teemed with life.

In the city’s "greenhouses," all fruits, vegetables, and grains ignored seasonal restrictions, growing explosively and ripening to harvest readiness in an instant.

In the wilderness and inside the city, Frost Beasts were abruptly restored to life, transforming back into regular animals—regaining flesh and blood, yet retaining remnants of abilities acquired during their Frost Beast state. Even Dmitry’s daughter transformed and became a "true human"... or rather, a true half-werewolf.

Ice-sealed rivers burst open instantly, not exuding decay or the stench of prolonged freezing—instead, a vigorous vitality emerged... Schools of fish leaped wildly, turning the sunset-reflected river into a shimmering silver spectacle.

—It all happened in an instant.

The blizzard-stricken, frozen kingdom was transformed under the watchful eyes of the Grandmother into a living Eden.

Full of hope.