The Sorcerer's Handbook

May 30, 9:30 p.m.

It was the peak of the after-work rush hour, and the brightly lit metropolis of Montphera was choked with endless, crawling traffic.

Sangerte, an orc sorcerer and the local captain of the Montphera Red Hats branch, was aggressively rubbing his face. It was a bad habit he'd developed in childhood, back when he used to imitate his family's old calico cat. Whenever anxiety gripped him, he would scrub at his skin as if trying to physically erase his worries, until his face was completely contorted and unrecognizable. The dry flakes scraped loose by his palms felt like the physical manifestation of his unease drifting away.

He glanced anxiously at his Book of Gospel. The third Gospel rankings had yet to update. Because May had thirty-one days, the new standings could drop at any moment over the next forty-eight hours. If the system was lagging, it might even delay the update until 11:59 p.m. on the 31st.

"Captain," a voice called out from behind him.

Sangerte looked up to see a Red Hat elf whose height easily matched his own stepping forward. The elf warned coldly, "Follow my orders, and you'll share the credit afterward. Act on your own, and you'll share a coffin instead."

Despite being a powerful local figure in Montphera, Sangerte merely rubbed his nose and nodded repeatedly in the face of the blatant threat. "The overall commander for this operation is Captain Senheiser. Captain, if you still feel uneasy about it, you are welcome to assign someone to supervise my unit."

"Good," Quinna replied unceremoniously. She immediately ordered a Red Hat from the Vanmura branch to take remote control of the local squad's Stabilizer Boots.

Sangerte caught his subordinates' frantic glances. He gave them a sharp nod, signaling them to comply.

Stabilizer Boots were standard Red Hats issue, critical for aerial maneuvering and high-altitude combat. It took at least a year of rigorous training to master them, but they were vastly more efficient than virtual wings. With them, every Red Hat became an elite aerial combatant. However, if those boots were disabled, a Red Hat lost seventy percent of their combat capability. In the worst-case scenario, they would plunge to the pavement and shatter before a rescue team could even deploy.

By demanding control of their Stabilizer Boots, Quinna was threatening to reduce them to helpless, ground-bound prey at a moment's notice. Yet, no one objected. Not even Sangerte.

After all, the local Red Hats were just doing a job, while the people standing before them were driven by pure blood vengeance.

Senheiser, Vastonio, Mercury, Roland, Kessriel... These families might not possess the absolute, suffocating monopoly that the Belldet Consortium held over Montphera, but within their respective cities, they were the law. They controlled politics, commerce, and the military, standing as equals to the royal family of Isu itself.

Yet, even these untouchable families were destined to be turned into walking corpses if the necromancer wasn't stopped. They had every reason to rip the threat out by its roots. Sangerte, on the other hand, was merely a tax-funded Two-Winged alchemist. There was no practical reason for him to cross such titans.

Besides, he had his own problems. Sangerte had been born into penury. To be precise, Montphera recognized only three social classes, namely Negative Assets, No Assets, and Ruined Assets. His orc father and goblin mother had left him nothing. When they aged out of the workforce at forty, broken and spent, they simply went traveling, which was a polite term for disappearing.

By the time Sangerte turned twenty, he had successfully transitioned from having nothing to being drowning in debt. He had proudly qualified for Negative Asset status, which meant he was doomed to spend the next forty years working for Belldet like a beast of burden.

In Montphera, the No Asset status was practically middle class, a luxury that placed you above ninety-nine percent of the populace. Generally, only retirees in their fifties or sixties who had successfully cleared their debts ever qualified for that tier. As for Ruined Assets, the term spoke for itself. Merely discussing it aloud violated standard labor contracts, carrying severe financial penalties for "inflicting emotional distress" on the corporation.

Sangerte lived in a Belldet-built micro-apartment, ate Belldet-processed food, operated Belldet machinery, and purchased his spirits from Belldet digital platforms. Even so, none of this stopped him from cursing the corporation a few times a day before clocking in.

Yet, despite the corporate stranglehold, Montpherans possessed an overwhelming sense of superiority over outsiders. To them, their city represented true freedom.

If the rival city of Vanmura represented security and manufactured happiness, Montphera was the wild west of personal liberty. The citizens weren't ignorant of the crushing consequences of debt or the horrors of cognitive sharing. But according to local consensus and surveys, most preferred to enjoy life first and suffer the consequences later.

With this in mind, Sangerte looked at the Vanmura Red Hats with a touch of newfound pity. I can curse the Belldet mayor in my heart as much as I like... but could you do the same to your own family leader?

And look at all the other sorcerers who scrambled over here overnight for the sake of some grand family future. They are nothing but puppets controlled by their families.

Despite the corporate stranglehold he lived under, Sangerte felt an overwhelming sense of superiority over the Vanmurans. To him, his city represented true freedom.

If Vanmura represented security and manufactured happiness, Montphera was the wild west of personal liberty. The citizens weren't ignorant of the crushing consequences of debt or the horrors of cognitive sharing. But according to local consensus and surveys, most preferred to enjoy life first and suffer the consequences later.

More importantly, it was their choice. No one forced them into contracts. If someone disliked the system, they were free to leave and start over elsewhere. Even within Montphera, if you could resist the siren song of predatory lending and early consumerism, you could scrape by a normal life without working yourself to death. Compared to outsiders whose entire destinies were pre-ordained by the Gospel, noble families, or their birth environments, Montpherans believed they were the only truly free souls in the world.

Sangerte had only joined this high-stakes raid because a file on a few wanted criminals had crossed his desk. He didn't care about the Gospel rankings, nor did he care about the Gospel's future. He'd likely be dead in fifty years anyway. Whether the divine system was invaded, corrupted, or entirely demolished meant absolutely nothing to him. He was far more interested in figuring out where he was going to eat lunch tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the outsiders didn't share his apathy. They were already bickering fiercely over how to divide the spoils of the upcoming raid.

Sangerte rubbed his nose. As a mere Two-Winged sorcerer, he had absolutely no say here. There were already five Sacred Realm sorcerers present, including two Red Hats captains, Weeping Sand Cliose and Soul-Rending Quinna.

As for how a lowly Two-Winged sorcerer like him had managed to become a Red Hats captain in a first-tier city? That was simply because Montphera had zero high-tier combat power. Unlike any other city, Montphera's true defense mechanisms against both external threats and internal rebellion had absolutely nothing to do with the Red Hats.

Before long, the outsiders finally hammered out a distribution strategy. Simply put, everyone would hunt with their own skills, but no lethal blows were allowed. It seemed that, except for Cliose, everyone else wanted their targets alive.

When their sharp, impatient gazes finally shifted toward him, Sangerte knew his reprieve was over. It was time to work.

He rubbed his face one last time, took a deep, steadying breath, and spoke with a thick, nasal grunt. "Please follow me. Cargo Lift 23 is this way."

Besides providing the location of Ashe and the others, the informant had given one crucial detail, which was that the Belldet Consortium was contractually obligated to protect the Funeral Agency. If any pursuers exposed themselves to Belldet's surveillance, the consortium would inevitably have to use various means to divert or obstruct them. Therefore, capturing Ashe and Harvey required absolute speed and stealth.

The Book of Gospel had already provided a classified map for their operation. To infiltrate Belldet Estate unnoticed, they had to take Cargo Lift 23 to the second-layered city, where surveillance happened to be temporarily down.

Using forged employee passes, dozens of elite sorcerers boarded the massive freight elevator and descended to the warehouse level. The informant claimed that Ashe and Harvey were assigned to work in the Hell Region tonight, making the plan beautifully simple. They'd storm in, bag them, and get out.

None of them questioned the accuracy of the intelligence. The Book of Gospel would verify it. All they had to do was listen to it.

Everything went smoothly at first. The warehouse was dead quiet, and the servants seemed to be resting. Yet, as Sangerte walked at the front of the pack, carefully weaving past crates labeled Valuable Goods, an uneasy feeling began to claw at him.

When the tip first arrived, he had suspected a Belldet trap. But by contract, the Belldet shouldn't have been able to leak any information regarding the Funeral Agency. Still, a glaring question remained. Why would the Belldet do this?

Were they too poor to sustain the Funeral Agency? Impossible. The food wasted daily in Montphera alone could feed ten thousand agencies. Were they using them as bait to lure in enemies? Plausible, but why wouldn't the Belldet just crush the outsiders directly? Had the Belldet intended to betray them from the very beginning? Unlikely. If that were the case, there would have been no need for a protection contract in the first place. Most importantly...

Sangerte glanced back at the task force behind him. Every single sorcerer was the elite of the elite, and there were even Sacred Realm sorcerers leading them. Simply put, there were too many outsiders.

There were countless ways for the Belldets to leak information. Why choose the most volatile, indirect channel possible? Did they not realize this would draw multiple powerful families right into Montphera's heart? Did they not realize Harvey was a walking catastrophe?

Ding.

Simultaneously, everyone checked their Book of Gospel. It was a message from the informant.

Informant: The members of the Funeral Agency have used the Book of Gospel and discovered intruders within the Belldet Estate. They are preparing to flee.

Quinna immediately snapped, "We're out of time. Move now."

Sangarte nodded. "Then let's speed up—"

"Don't walk!" a Vanmuran sorcerer interrupted, instantly taking flight.

Boom!

The ceiling shattered. Dozens of sorcerers blasted straight through multiple layers of the warehouse roof until the open night sky of Montphera gaped above them.

The warehouse structure, reinforced by defensive Miracles, was designed to distribute kinetic force across the entire building, making a single point incredibly difficult to breach. But once it finally gave way, the structural integrity completely collapsed.

Countless crates plunged and shattered into the abyss below. Sangerte and his peers stared in absolute horror as the outsiders wantonly destroyed Belldet's property. Those were valuable, sealed spirits, priceless treasures even within the Gospel Kingdom.

Sangerte rubbed his nose violently. How dare they... Did they not understand...

And then, the terrifying truth finally clicked. The Belldets' target had never been the Funeral Agency. It was...

***

Iger closed his Book of Gospel. "Red Hats across two cities, three agencies, and eight major families. They are all here. Congratulations, Evelyn. From this moment on, you are the most powerful head of the Belldet family in history."

The blue-haired girl stood on a footstool, staring out at the outsiders swarming across the distant sky like a cloud of flies. She asked calmly, "And how do you know this?"

"The wealth-driven sorcery class in your family has done too much damage to the development of sorcerer potential," Iger said. "Sorcerers vary wildly in form and nature, but the truly powerful ones always possess strong conviction. In a playground of extreme hedonism like Montphera, conviction has no ground to develop. All conviction requires delayed gratification, but Montphera is built entirely on instant gratification.

"Even in Vanmura, they at least have the concept of family as an anchor. But Montphera has nothing. Those who have no need for the future will not have a future.

"As for recruiting high-tier sorcerers... just look at how you couldn't even recruit Harvey. Other Sacred Realm sorcerers are even less likely to be tempted by the Belldet. Anyone at that level has their own ideals and pursuits. They cannot be bound by a pleasure-driven system like yours.

"There is only one way for you to rapidly expand your power, and that is by forcefully taking control of strong individuals from other families."

The fraudster couldn't help but chuckle. "What a childishly simple scam. Even children in the Blood Moon wouldn't fall for it."

Evelyn shrugged. "But it works, doesn't it?"

"You lure them into destroying massive amounts of Belldet property, so the Gospel judges them as being in debt to your family, thus triggering a Control Class Miracle. With both the Virtual World and the Gospel supporting it, it's an absurdly effective strategy. But I'm curious. Why didn't the Belldets ever use this method before?"

Evelyn countered, "Why would we need to? If the future could remain peaceful, I would never resort to such an unpleasant method. Honestly, it's all your fault."

"Because you're afraid of some future disaster predicted by the Gospel... no." Iger shook his head. "Is it because of your family's Angel Inheritance?"

Evelyn said, "Both. Regardless, in the future, Harvey will crush the Belldets like an insect. The other families have gone mad. For the sake of survival, they will cling to any lifeline they can find. If Harvey can become the master of the Blood Moon Corpse King, why can't they?

"The Belldets, lacking high-tier combat power but possessing an Angel's Inheritance, became the perfect target. From the moment the Family Rankings were released, I knew my real enemies were the other factions. To protect myself, I had to cut off their hands before they could reach for me."

Iger couldn't help but nod repeatedly. "The moment we appeared in front of you that day, you were already painting the picture for tonight... It's precisely because you had Ashe and Harvey as bait that they invaded Belldet without a second thought, storming right into your backyard!

"You even prepared an escape route for yourself. The entire time, you were 'protecting' us under the guise of ignorance. Conversely, they are the ones who broke into Belldet Estate and destroyed your private property. Even in the worst-case scenario, you were merely acting in self-defense, and the Gospel will judge you as entirely in the right. As long as the other families don't plan on openly rebelling against the Gospel right now, they have no way to penalize you. In fact, the very sorcerers they sent to penalize you have already been subjugated by you.

"As for harboring wanted fugitives... the Gospel has never recognized Ashe as a fugitive. That is purely an internal imperial matter, and you will only need to pay a minor fine to settle it. But breaking into a private residence and destroying personal property? Now that is a crime fully recognized by the Gospel."

Iger noted, "But I do have a question. What if they simply pay off their debt?"

"They can't," Evelyn said flatly. "The loss is calculated in terms of spirits. Unless they return the same spirits, they will always remain in debt to the Belldets. Even higher-tier replacements won't count. That is the greatest flaw in the Gospel debt system."

Iger applauded lightly.

For sorcerers, higher rank or rarer spirits were not always better. Giving a Two-Winged sorcerer a Three-Winged spirit t was useless, and giving a Fire Class sorcerer a Water Class spirit was outright sabotage. The Gospel system accounted for this by requiring exact repayment, and this defensive rule had become Belldet's most terrifying weapon.

Iger nodded in appreciation. To Iger, Evelyn's scheme looked almost childish at first glance. Yet because she fully exploited her available resources, including the Gospel mechanics, Control Class Miracles, and Virtual World contracts, she had managed to ensnare dozens of elite sorcerers.

Even he had to admire her boldness. She had set her sights on the Red Hats and major families alike. Even with the Belldet family backing her, a single mistake would have caused her to offend half the Gospel Kingdom. Unlike Annan, she could not simply walk away from the fallout. She had to bear the consequences herself.

And now, five Sacred Realm sorcerers and dozens of elites still did not realize that half their minds had already been compromised. Even without direct control, Evelyn had planted a psychological influence that would form an unbreakable shield for the Belldet family.

"Still, I owe this success to you," Evelyn said, glancing back at Iger. "Annan and the others are the foundation of the puzzle, but you were the final piece."

"A top-tier deception like this is rare even in the golden age of the Blood Moon," Iger said. "I'm curious. Where did you learn it?"

Evelyn replied, "This wasn't my plan. By the way, did Anna ever contact you?"

"No."

Evelyn summoned her Book of Gospel, checked it briefly, and nodded. "Strange... she's not usually this quiet."

Iger said, "You should go handle the mess now. This play still needs the head of the Belldets to bring it to an end. So what is your plan? Quietly suppress everything, or publicly intimidate the other families?"

"There's no need to overthink it. I'll just go down, scold them a bit, and they'll retreat on their own. Tomorrow, they'll publicly apologize, compensate us, and even form alliances with the Belldet.

"Still, I have to fulfill the contract and 'protect' Annan. At least I need to push back most of them, or else the Virtual World will judge me as negligent."

Evelyn leapt onto the balcony railing. "Thank you, Iger. Without a master of deception like you, I wouldn't have been able to lure all these families here."

"I didn't deceive anyone. The deception came from the Gospel. Trust should never be placed in a Divine Miracle that is nothing more than a tool."

Evelyn didn't respond. She simply jumped down from the balcony.

The fraudster sat in Evelyn's seat and summoned his Book of Gospel, murmuring to the empty room, "Trust should only be given to those worthy of it."