The Sorcerer's Handbook

Rein Mercury's eyes widened as he stared from afar at Ashe, who stood right behind Nona. His gaze was filled with shock and longing. "Bringing back the dead!"

No wonder the scheme had been so intricate. No wonder the ritual was so grand. This was an authentic resurrection ritual, a miracle that brought back the dead and overturned the laws of life and death itself.

Among sorcerers, there existed a rather peculiar mindset. The weaker and more ignorant they were, the more they believed resurrection was simple. After all, they had seen plenty of people saved just in time from crushed skulls, which, to them, already verged on resurrection. If that was possible, then true resurrection couldn't be much harder... could it?

Only those who had delved deep into the higher layers of the Virtual World, studied countless handbooks, and learned from the deeds of their predecessors came to understand that resurrection was the greatest miracle in the world.

The members of the Mercury family were all fragile "glass people." Sunlight, the edge of a table, even scattered toys on the ground... from childhood to adulthood, they were constantly at risk of injury from their surroundings. Consequently, after becoming sorcerers, most of them trained in Water Class sorcery and became healers. Rein was no exception. Years ago, when his younger sister's soul returned to the Continent of Time, Rein, proficient as he was in healing-type Miracles, had also tried to find a way to resurrect his family.

However, he'd soon realize that healing and resurrection were two entirely different concepts. Saving the dying was easy. Reviving the truly dead was nearly impossible.

A sorcerer's death generally unfolded in three stages. First came the decay of the body. A shattered heart, a crushed skull, or a form reduced to dust all fell within this category. This was the only stage where healers could intervene. Next, the soul fell, pulled by gravity into the Six Layers of Hell, where all excess impurities were cleansed. Finally, the soul merged into the Virtual World, settling into its depths to become a source of knowledge for future sorcerers.

Once a sorcerer had died for good, they became a mere projection within the Virtual World. Resurrecting them required three corresponding steps. Firstly, they had to retrieve the soul from the Virtual World. Secondly, they had to reclaim the heartbeat from hell. Thirdly, they had to reconstruct the body in reality. This final step was crucial. If the soul and body were incompatible, the soul would inevitably separate and fall once more.

Take Annan's Ancestral Descent as an example. Her ancestors could exist in reality only temporarily before returning to the Virtual World. Any mismatch between soul and body caused gradual wear, and once that damage accumulated beyond a certain threshold, the body could no longer contain the soul.

Of course, the body could be handled with shortcuts, such as patching up the original corpse. But this particular scheme was clearly a complete reconstruction. It was an entirely new body woven from nothing, perfectly fitted to the soul.

For sorcerers, retrieving a soul or reclaiming a heartbeat was already impossible. Forging a new body from scratch was completely out of the question. This was beyond doubt a domain reserved for gods!

In comparison, the rituals of the first nine schemes seemed almost cost-effective. Temporarily summoning ancestors, inheriting ancient knowledge, wielding the power of the past... these still demanded a staggering price, but they weren't true resurrections. Because of that, the rituals remained relatively manageable. Someone like Rein could complete them alone. But the final, number-one scheme?

It required years of meticulous planning. It demanded hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of participants. The risk level was so high that calling it seeking death felt like an understatement. No matter how you looked at it, only one word fit, and that word was madness.

If not mad, why join the Four Pillars Cult? If not mad, how could anyone conceive and execute such a scheme? If not mad, why create an entire shadow kingdom just to resurrect a single man?

And so, the looks directed at Ashe grew conflicted. Everyone wanted him to die as soon as possible, yet they simultaneously prayed he would hold on a little longer. After all, Ashe had already appeared on three separate rankings. Whether he lived or died, his very existence would bring catastrophic consequences to the Gospel. He truly was a disaster incarnate.

Among the sorcerers, Cliose felt the most conflicted. She knew that Harvey, Iger, and Ashe had all been casually picked up by Annan. She had been there when Annan bound them to the contract, standing right beside her as a display of authority. She had witnessed history in the making.

At the time, she thought it was completely trivial. Compared to those down-and-out outlanders, the escaped Everlasting Doom weighed far more heavily on her mind. Yet the world was full of strange twists. Those ragged outlanders turned out to be the root cause shaking the foundation of the Gospel, while the once-dominant cult leader was now nowhere to be found, likely hiding somewhere just struggling to rebuild.

Cliose even began to suspect Annan was lying to her. Did you really just pick them up in the wild? You didn't go to some evil god academy, demon nest, or apocalyptic training camp to handpick the ultimate top students, did you?

Feeling the crushing weight of everyone's gaze, Ashe instinctively wrapped an arm around Nona's waist, ready to bolt with his little aunt at any second. But then he suddenly turned to Annan and asked, completely out of nowhere, "You didn't secretly plot anything with Iger, did you?"

"No," Annan replied, a hint of amusement playing on her face. "What are you getting at?"

Ashe explained, "Because of you, our futures are all erroneous outcomes that deceive the Gospel. But even if they're wrong, within the Gospel's own logic, those outcomes shouldn't contradict each other or break their internal consistency. Judging from the other families shown in the footage, there's at least one financial family in the Schemer Rankings, the families in the Art Rankings are barely holding on, and only the Necromancer family is the only one left by the time of the Family Rankings. That means the chronological order must be Schemer Rankings, Art Rankings, and then Family Rankings."

Annan nodded. By this point, after seeing the future rankings, everyone more or less understood this.

Ashe glanced at Alice, who was sitting on the coffin. "In the Family Rankings, Harvey said he got the location of the necromancer Angel's tomb from the Belldet family. But he's not the type to gather intelligence, and no one in his social circle is actually alive."

Alice nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"Which means the information that the Belldet family possesses an Angel's inheritance must have been given to him by someone else."

Ashe turned to look toward the Belldet Estate. "The only members of the Belldet family are the two sisters. They would never betray their family's secrets. But there is now a third person in the Belldet family. And in the Schemer Rankings, that person has already been judged by the Gospel as someone who would 'never abandon us.'"

"Never abandon us..." Annan repeated the words thoughtfully, then suddenly smiled. "Perhaps."

"Then you—"

Annan shrugged. "But I'm not lying. Eye contact, body language, direct communication, written communication... I've had no exchange of information with Iger whatsoever. There's been no conspiracy between us. The only thing we share... is a consensus."

"What consensus?"

Annan didn't answer. Instead, she lowered her gaze to Lys.

Lys thought for a moment, then pried Ashe's hand off Nona's slender waist and whispered into his ear, "Daddy, what exactly did Aunt Annan bring us to Montphera for?"

Ashe froze.

***

While Ashe and the others were talking, the sorcerers had also reached a consensus.

Rein said calmly, "Senheiser, I'm afraid we need to revise our terms. You may take your daughter and any other non-essential individuals. But Ashe Heath and Archibald Harvey must be handed over to different factions for separate custody."

Up to this point, the Gospel had never explicitly stated what kind of threat Ashe posed. But the mere fact that he connected three future rankings that foretold disasters was enough. No one dared treat him as a worthless, zero-star nobody anymore. In other words, the fact that he was still breathing was already the greatest blasphemy against the Gospel. He had to be strictly contained and isolated.

To use a card game analogy. If Ashe were a single card, playing him alone wouldn't do much. But if he were paired with Annan Dolan, Archibald Harvey, or the Rusty Crow, any one of those combinations would become an unbeatable hand.

Now that everyone recognized Ashe's danger, even Cliose, despite her close ties with Annan, set aside her past sentiments and tacitly accepted Rein's harsh terms. Moreover, Rein, Juventus, and Aina had already agreed that Ashe Heath would be personally handed over to the kingdom by Cliose. Even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, Cliose could not allow Quinna to take Ashe away.

The sorcerers slowly rose into the air, surrounding Quinna and the others from all directions.

Sensing danger, Ashe was about to retreat when Nona grabbed his right hand. Annan, while calming the crouching, trembling Pankey, watched Quinna's back.

Quinna lifted her head to look at the four Sacred Realm sorcerers in the sky. For the first time, a hint of weakness entered her voice. "Can't we negotiate further?"

Juventus responded, "Hand over Heath and Harvey, and then we can talk."

The elf leader let out a slow breath. "I see... then so be it."

She looked back at her group. "I will protect my kin. My people."

Lys clung tightly to Ashe, staring down at her hand mirror on the verge of tears.

"So," Quinna slowly drew her twin pistols, her voice turning solemn and steady, "I will never let you take Annan, or Ashe Senheiser."

Rein said, "I'm sorry, but you've left us no choice."

Alice blinked and patted the coffin lid, trying to get their attention. What about us?

Just as the tension reached its breaking point, the Gospel finally revealed additional information for the number-one entry in the Schemer Rankings.

[Schemer Ranking No. 1: Ashe's Kingdom Resurrection Ritual]

Synopsis: To resurrect Ashe Heath, the leader of the Four Pillars Cult, Iger Perskin launched the Kingdom Resurrection Ritual on April 10, 1678, using the previous nine rituals as a foundation.

Culprit: Iger Perskin.

Most of the sorcerers present merely glanced at the name, committed the Rusty Crow to memory, and moved on. Evelyn was the exception. Watching from afar, she snapped out of her daze the moment she saw Iger's name.

In a flash of realization, it struck her that she was currently trapped inside a scheme that the Gospel had not yet fully exposed.

She made the correct decision instantly. Activating the fireworks mechanism in the front garden, she used the dazzling display to draw everyone's attention. "Everyone, I—"

Thud!

With an invisible, muffled strike, the overbearing sorcerers were knocked out of the air, and Evelyn's only chance to clear her name was cut off right in her throat.

At the same time, the entire Belldet Estate lit up.

The forest sea, the mountains, the grasslands, the main residence... every single statue across the estate began to glow. A faint azure river of light seemed to flow in from Montphera, continuously pouring into the statues.

In the blink of an eye, only Ashe and his group remained standing. Everyone else, including Quinna, collapsed to the ground. They trembled all over, unable to move, like puppets waiting to be controlled.

Ashe and the others didn't dare move either. From their perspective, Evelyn had just stepped forward to protect them, shouted something, and then everyone magically fell. It was almost touching.

At that moment, however, Ashe noticed a new message in his Gospel. The sender was...

The Rusty Crow?

After reading it, Ashe hesitated for a moment. Then he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and walked straight into the center of the field.

He swept his gaze across the surroundings, meeting the crowd's shocked and fearful eyes, and broke into a wicked, arrogant grin. "Sorry. I'm actually Miss Evelyn's dog. Offend me, and you offend the Belldet family..."

He paused, his smile widening. "You're all finished."