Sorcerer’s Handbook

The future number one?

The crowd was taken aback, but Annan did not elaborate further. Instead, he turned to introduce the Gospel.

“The Gospel is a Boon from the Omniscient Weaver and the foundation of the Gospel civilization. The all-knowing Gospel has not been stingy with its glory, allowing us to hear the most authentic gospel, to confirm our talents, and to find our place.”

“The Ranking List is the Weaver’s way of spurring and rewarding the world.”

“According to statistics, there are currently a total of 3,788 Ranking Lists, including the General Ranking, Regional Sub-Rankings, Individual Rankings, and Organizational Rankings. They cover all Magical Factions and include various common Occupations and special deeds,” Annan said. “For example, ‘Azura’s Quest Ranking’ lists the firms within the Azura region that have completed the most tasks with the best results. My Funeral Firm ranks ninth, which is considered top-tier in Azura. And then there are ‘Heroism Rankings,’ ‘Songstress Rankings,’ ‘Chinese Jump Rope Rankings’ – even ordinary people who are not Sorcerers can make it onto a list.”

At this point, everyone couldn’t help but glance at the only Sorcerer present who hadn’t made any Ranking List. Using the Gospel to cover his face, he basked in silence, full of impulsive regret.

Igor raised his hand to ask, “Is there a Ranking List related to inventing new devices, popularizing advanced tools, transforming cities, and improving the lives of citizens?”

“‘Pioneering Inventions Rankings,’ ‘Corporate Rankings,’ ‘City Comprehensive Rankings,’” Annan glanced out of the floor-to-ceiling window at the two-tiered city: “Banjeet, has Azura changed a lot over the past few decades?”

“Miss, sixty years ago, Azura still had dry toilets; thirty years ago, it wasn’t a two-tiered city.”

The young Butler beside them let out a sigh that seemed beyond his years: “As a child, I never imagined that one day I would see skyscrapers hanging upside down.”

“Because the competition on the Ranking List is fierce, every minute and every second, new inventions, new tools, and new designs are erupting from every corner of the Gospel Kingdom, quickly entering the application phase, becoming reality, and transforming the world.”

Is it really because of the systemic advantage…

Although the Institute System of the Blood Moon Kingdom was quite impressive, with the immortal species dedicating themselves to research, not only ensuring that leading figures could play a role for a long time, but also allowing for a focus on fundamental research without short-term gains, the Blood Moon Kingdom was indeed a prosperous and resource-rich developed country. Otherwise, the Socialized Rearing System would not have been possible.

Yet, compared to the competition-embracing Gospel Kingdom, the group of vampires still seemed too conservative and traditional. Perhaps a thousand years ago, the Blood Moon Kingdom was not much different from the Gospel Kingdom, but while the former relied on the prolonged cultivation of a few immortals, the latter thrived on comprehensive competition at the societal level, making a significant gap after a millennium quite natural.

Igor asked, “The Ranking List must offer substantial rewards to make organizations and individuals take it so seriously, right?”

“Points,” Annan nodded. “Compared to gold and silver, Points are the real currency in the Gospel Kingdom. As long as you have enough Points, you can obtain anything you want.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.” Annan extended her hand, and the next second, a bunch of juicy grapes suddenly appeared in her palm. She took a grape with her mouth, gently biting into the juicy flesh: “For example, you can use Points to get a fresh bunch of chilled grapes.”

“Any material item, any spirit, any Miracle, as long as you can think of it, you can obtain it if you spend enough Points. However, there are a few Restrictions, such as not causing harm to others or engaging in illegal activities.”

“But for things like extending life, treating mortal wounds, instantly moving to a target location, or obtaining a rare Quadruple wings spirit, the Gospel can still make it happen.”

“Must be expensive, right?”

“Exorbitantly so,” Annan laughed. “The real purchasing power of the Points spent on these grapes could let me buy an entire grape farm. Divine Concealment, come eat grapes.”

Ashe and the others wondered whom she was calling when suddenly, a milky-yellow lizard appeared on her shoulder, with a pair of clever vertical pupils rolling around, looking quite adorable. It smacked its mouth a few times, and the bunch of grapes was left with only stems, not a single grape remaining.

The Sorcerers couldn’t see clearly how it ate!

“Scarlet Gold Dragon Lizard,” Igor murmured softly.

“An endangered species?” Ashe asked.

“It’s not about being endangered; they simply don’t exist in reality,” Harvey explained. “I remember it’s a special creature from the Time Continent. Once tamed, it can follow its master through reality and help capture fleeing spirits in the Virtual Realm. It’s an extremely precious pet.”

Compared to the ‘real-world achievements’ like large flat structures, Firms, and relationships with the Red Caps, the Scarlet Gold Dragon Lizard as a ‘Virtual Realm achievement’ finally made the Trespasser trio take Annan’s personal strength seriously. The world of Sorcerers is that simple: being formidable in reality doesn’t count for much; only strength in the Virtual Realm is considered true power.

In some ways, Sorcerers are like a group of live-action role-playing gamers, except their ‘game’ abilities can also take effect in reality.

Annan stroked the little head of the dragon lizard and said, “The real use of Points is to purchase one’s own Gospel, meaning intelligence and knowledge.”

“For example, if you can’t progress in the Magical Factions Realm, you spend Points for guidance, and the Gospel will tell you how to proceed; if your research hits a dead end, the Gospel will pinpoint the issue; if you’re unaware of your own Talents, the Gospel will reveal your true potential; you can even verify if someone is lying…”

Ashe, the ‘Mudblood

1

 who steals arcane energy,’ didn’t seem phased, feeling that the Gospel was akin to Google. Meanwhile, Igor and Harvey were completely astonished.

As true Sorcerers, they understood the value of such ‘guidance.’ If the “Gospel” were truly crafted by a Divine Master, it would mean that everyone in this kingdom has a Divine Master grandfather figure providing guidance at their side. This, this…

What is the Blood Moon Kingdom compared to this? I am a Gospel man now!

Igor asked with a trembling voice, “What’s the proportion of Sorcerers here?”

“Because the ‘School Comprehensive Ranking’ includes factors like the healthy growth of students, the proportion of Sorcerers has been declining over the past few decades,” Annan flipped through her Gospel, “The current ratio is 10.19%.”

“One in every ten people is a Sorcerer…” Harvey murmured, “The Corpse resources here are of such high quality…”

“Although it sounds strange, don’t think our sorcerers here are that impressive,” Annan spread his hands and said, “I imagine that in your Kingdom, you probably aren’t considered very powerful Two Wings sorcerers, right? Yet in our place, where the proportion of sorcerers is very high, you can still rank first and second, which already speaks volumes.”

“For the whole, the Gospel naturally has great benefits; but for the individual, the Gospel is a double-edged sword that must be used with caution.”

“Self-learning ability,” Ashe hit the nail on the head. “If you get into the habit of seeking the Gospel whenever you encounter a problem, then your self-learning ability will only gradually decline, and eventually, you’ll reach a point where you can’t make any progress without the Gospel’s guidance. Just like a house cat raised like a pig, because life is too good, in the end, it may even be chased by mice.”

“That’s exactly right,” Annan played with the Dragon Lizard’s little claws, “Our sorcerers are divided into ‘Gospel sorcerers’ and ‘Silent Sorcerers,’ because listening to the Gospel’s guidance is either zero times or countless times. Gospel sorcerers generally stop at Two Wings, and it’s difficult for them to make any Breakthroughs in the Faction Realm, even if the Gospel points out how they should strive.”

“To become a consolidated Tri-wings, it’s basically only possible for Silent Sorcerers who have never listened to the Gospel even once.”

“Like the ‘Crysand Red Cap’ Cleos you just met, besides asking if her Fated Lover was born, she never listens to any other Gospel.”

Ashe was shocked, “You can even ask about love!?”

“Of course you can, it’s just that it often doesn’t happen,” Annan shrugged, “For example, I currently don’t have one either. The so-called Fated Lover is a Destiny Miracle where you fall deeply in love with each other at first sight, without any need for adjustment, and once you meet, you never separate. Many people don’t date in their entire lives, preferring to wait for their Fated Lover, but end up waiting to death without ever meeting them.”

Ashe muttered, “There’s actually such a good thing as fate assigned lovers…”

Harvey said to Lise, “It seems like you won’t have the chance to have a mom.”

Lise nodded seriously, “Compared to a mom, I feel like the probability of me having a second dad is higher…”

Harvey nodded earnestly, “Fair point, to be honest, indeed.”

“I’m telling you all this because I want you to understand that the Gospel truly has the power to grant any wish,” Annan said calmly as he placed the Dragon Lizard on the table. “With this understanding, you can grasp the magnitude of my plan and what I’m staking on you.”

“The next part, not a single word must be revealed to anyone else.”

After saying this, Annan’s green eyes suddenly fixed intently on Ashe, making him feel both panicked and utterly confused.

Is she staring at me because she covets my beauty? Could she be planning to get me drunk, or take advantage of me during a Ritual? It’s all because 222 made me more attractive, even Freya can’t stop thinking about me… If the new boss wants to play by unwritten rules, should I accept or play hard to get?

As Ashe was lost in his wild thoughts, Lise made a zipping motion across her lips: “Daddy, I’ll be good.”

Ashe blinked, then realized: “Lise, you’re also not allowed to reveal anything you hear next.”

The new boss couldn’t directly command Lise; it had to go through Ashe as a sort of router.

Only then did Annan withdraw her gaze and asked, “What do you think my Firm usually does?”

“Transporting half-finished Corpses.”

“Human trafficking.”

“Biological transport.”

The three of them almost instantly gave the same answers. Annan raised an eyebrow: “This is indeed one of the main operations of the Firm… To avoid any misunderstandings, let me explain.”

“In the various Ranking Lists that assess regional development levels and the abilities of rulers, which include but are not limited to ‘Internal Affairs List’, ‘Innovation List’, ‘Security List’, ‘City Comprehensive List’, ‘talent’ is a very important evaluation indicator. So, what do you think should determine ‘talent’?”

Lise raised her hand: “Good kids who make it onto the Ranking List like me are talents.”

Harvey and Igor turned to look at the only person present who wasn’t considered a talent, the zero-star trash Ashe, who slammed the table in anger: “Annan, they’re not taking your teachings seriously and are messing around. I, Ashe, am reporting them for real. I cannot stand people who touch fish during meetings!”

“Indeed, only those who make it onto the Ranking List can be considered talent.”

Purple Moth blinked, surprised that before she could make a move, the People from the Exotic Lands had already started to quarrel among themselves: “But not every Area’s Ranking List can be filled. There’s a minimum threshold for the lists, and if the standard isn’t met, no matter what, you can’t get on the list. Therefore, there are many ’empty lists,’ and correspondingly, those with enough people to fill them are called ‘full lists.’”

“The more ‘full lists’ there are in an Area, the higher the ruler’s level of governance and the better the area’s development. By the way, these city Ranking Lists are updated every six months, so every ruler wants to fill up the empty lists as much as possible before the evaluation deadline.”

The Con Artist quickly realized the loophole: “If you lure the top talents from other Areas to your own, then—”

“Exactly,” Annan said, fiddling with her new amethyst earring. “When the location of people changes, they naturally count toward the current Area’s Ranking List.”

“So right before the evaluation deadline, it’s war for firms like ours—kidnapping specific talents from surrounding Areas to the client’s designated Area, using them to fill the empty lists. You’ve also ridden in our work vehicles; we don’t harm or kill people, we just temporarily incapacitate the talents so they can’t resist, and once the evaluation is over, we release them. If possible, we even try to minimize physical contact to ensure the talents have a good short travel experience.”

“I hope you don’t have any misunderstandings about the Funeral Firm; we are a very serious business.”

Ashe and the others exchanged glances: experts in personal restraint, colluding with the security forces, exploiting migrant workers during times of chaos… it seemed they had no misconceptions.

“With this in mind, you should understand the true nature of our firm’s business.”

Ding.

Purple Moth gently scraped her earring with her nail, taking the wine glass passed to her by the young Butler Banjeet.

“Although the business is diverse, at its core, what we do is to find, study, and even exploit the loopholes in the Gospel.”

“That is to say, to desecrate the Gospel.”

Footnote:

1. Mudblood(泥巴种):

   A term originating from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, referring to a person born to non-magical parents or from a non-traditional lineage.