‘Reincarnation!’
Zoe's heart was shaken to its core.
Fortunately, a Dual Shadow had no real face, so Zoe's suppressed shock did not show on the outside.
“S-grade skills possess unique traits,” Rosovali explained. “They can only be mastered by one person at a time. Once a person has mastered an S-grade skill, no one else can possibly learn it.
“Once that person dies, the S-grade skill they held returns to a learnable state.
“If, at that moment, another race learns this S-grade skill, humanity will lose one.
“This means losing a Legendary-rank combatant, as one must master an S-grade skill to ascend to the Legendary rank.
“However, through a special covenant signed with the Sacred Circle, when a master of an S-grade skill dies, the skill is retrieved by the Sacred Circle and bestowed upon someone else. Others still won't be able to learn it.
“This ensures that S-grade skills mastered by humanity can never be acquired by other races.
“Meanwhile, S-grade skills that humanity secretly learns or steals from other races can be directly recorded in the Sacred Circle, belonging entirely to humanity.
“This is the overbearing nature of the Sacred Circle.”
Zoe felt completely astounded.
How could such an absurd ability exist? Over time, if all S-grade skills were recorded by the Sacred Circle...
Aside from creating an S-grade skill from scratch, any being wishing to master one to advance to the rank of Quasi-Demon King would require the permission of the Sacred Circle.
By then, the humans controlling the Sacred Circle would, in a very literal sense, rule the entire magical world.
“The more S-grade skills the Sacred Circle controls, the stronger its power becomes,” Rosovali continued. “Through the Sacred Circle, one can even utilize the stored S-grade skills to a certain extent.”
It could even stack stats on top of itself.
What kind of perverted sacred relic was this?
But this was indeed the Sacred Circle. And right now, it was Year 641 of the Sacred Circle Calendar.
“Then what about reincarnation?” Zoe asked.
“On that point, a human's lifespan is extremely short compared to other races, and this holds true even for those of the Saint rank.
“However, the Sacred Circle allows beings with powerful souls to reincarnate as newborn humans, thereby granting them a new lifespan.
“The stronger the soul, the less its memories and soul power erode during the reincarnation process.”
Zoe recalled some fairy tales.
A saint reincarnating, born with all their knowledge intact—an event the church proclaimed as the descent of a saint.
Looking at it now, those fairy tales were true. This was the power of the Sacred Circle.
“You mentioned the erosion of soul and memory?”
This time, Rosovali did not answer immediately.
“Currently, the Sacred Circle has only existed for 641 years. Detailed information about it is far more precious.”
Zoe made a grand gesture, sacrificing another year of his lifespan.
“Sacred Circle reincarnation is not without cost; every reincarnation depletes soul power and memories.
“Based on the estimated rate of attrition, once a Legendary-rank human reincarnates twice, they will no longer be able to return to the Legendary rank. If they continue to reincarnate, they will become a completely new individual, even if the core essence of their soul remains the same.
“As for Saint-rank humans, after ten reincarnations, the soul's attrition will prevent them from ever regaining the Saint rank.”
Zoe was startled.
The Sacred Circle's reincarnation actually possessed such a flaw.
In that case, what about his [Infinite Reincarnation]?
Through two reincarnations, Zoe had suffered no memory loss, nor had he felt any soul attrition.
From now on, he would have to pay close attention to the state of his soul during every reincarnation.
“Why does soul attrition affect one's strength?” Zoe asked again.
“If a person's soul is valued at one hundred, and they reincarnate once, perhaps five points of it will be eroded.
“The Sacred Circle can patch and repair it, restoring the soul to one hundred to complete the reincarnation.
“At this point, ninety-five percent of the soul belongs to the original person, while five percent is the repaired portion.
“If this is repeated ten times, fifty percent of it is that person, and fifty percent is not.
“And what if it is repeated a hundred times? The original one hundred will have completely vanished. Compared to the very beginning, it would already be two entirely different souls.
“Therefore, the more times one reincarnates, the less they resemble their original soul.
“Once the integrity drops below a certain threshold, not only will memories be lost, but even S-grade skills will no longer recognize them as their master.”
So that was Sacred Circle reincarnation.
Hearing that the Sacred Circle had the power of reincarnation, Zoe had almost assumed his own reincarnation ability originated from it.
Now, it seemed his [Infinite Reincarnation (SSS-grade)] was far more unique.
Perhaps the key to [Infinite Reincarnation] did not lie in the effect of [Reincarnation].
But rather in the [Infinite].
"Infinite" meant that his soul could reincarnate endlessly without ever suffering attrition.
A process of reincarnation that could wear away even a Saint-rank soul left his own completely untouched.
Did this imply the immortality of his soul?
But what was going on with S-grade skills?
Zoe had only just learned that an S-grade skill could only be mastered by a single person at any given time.
It was as if reaching S-grade bestowed a unique property upon a skill.
If he had to describe it, it was almost like... convergence?
An S-grade skill gathered all concepts related to that skill, binding them together into a tangible conceptual entity, akin to a physical object.
Once this conceptual entity was held by an individual, all relevant concepts in the world were concentrated in their hands.
Consequently, others would be unable to touch that concept or leverage any abilities associated with it.
What was happening? He felt like he had suddenly become a genius.
For a moment, Zoe was actually a little uncomfortable with how easily his newly analytical mind had worked it all out.
“The Sacred Circle...”
“Who holds control over the Sacred Circle, and where is it located?”
Zoe recalled a few fairy tales from his childhood and drew a connection.
“The Sacred Circle possesses conceptual properties. Since the moment it was forged, it has had no physical form.
“It exists everywhere within this material plane, behaving as though it were part of the very rules of the physical world.
“Only those with control over it can cause the Sacred Circle to manifest and materialize.
“There is no single fixed controller; only specific professions can wield a portion of the Sacred Circle's power.
“These are namely: Sacred Circle Mages, Sacred Circle Priests, Sacred Circle Swordsmen, and Sacred Circle Knights.”
Finally, Zoe understood why he had run into Evelyn, a Sacred Circle Knight, in a place like the Great Hera Forest in the Grand Duchy of Rose.
Evelyn was not a pure-blooded human; she possessed half-elven blood, yet she was recognized by the Sacred Circle and became a Sacred Circle Knight.
Moreover, she also carried the bloodline of the Golden Race.
No wonder she had been cast out of the Kingdom of Eldoria, left to wander the magical world and enforce her own brand of justice.
Only after understanding the capabilities of the Sacred Circle could Zoe grasp just how crucial it was to humanity.
Humans would absolutely never allow such power to fall into the hands of someone they couldn't control.
Much less a mixed-race human possessing half-foreign blood.
If they could, the royalty and nobility would undoubtedly want to seize control of the Sacred Circle's power for themselves.
In doing so, they would solidify their class system, ensuring the commoners at the bottom could never rise.
Come to think of it, it was quite a miracle that Evelyn had managed to survive until now.
It likely wasn't that humans didn't want to kill her.
Was it because they had concerns regarding the Sacred Circle?
In any case...
Rosovali was incredibly useful. Truly worthy of a demon who had lived for thousands of years; the knowledge and intelligence they provided were exceptionally high-quality.
On top of that, they managed their appearance wonderfully—no matter the customer's race, they were willing to dress in female attire to offer emotional value.
Rate on N.U.
