The Sorcerer's Handbook

The good news was that Annan hadn’t overheard Ashe’s blasphemous remarks. The bad news was that she meant every word she said.

”The second future ranking depends on two key factors, love and family,” Annan spoke with crisp clarity. ”You get it by now, don’t you?”

Compared to the Blood Moon Kingdom, the Gospel felt like a place where even the air carried a saccharine sweetness. There was no need for hypotheticals. Ever since the National Friendly City Ranking was established, Vanmura had held first place without fail. It stood as the undisputed most loving city in the country. This honor granted every Vanmura citizen a yearly reward of five Gospel Points.

If the second ranking required love and family, they had indeed come to the right place.

Harvey walked to the window with a Catnip cigarette held between his fingers. A wisp of pale gray smoke curled upward, looking as thin and hazy as his own confusion. ”No, I still don’t get it. Why do we need to fall in love?”

Annan replied, ”Because it is the fastest way for you to acquire the status of love and family. For insects like you with no past, even the smallest step over a dirt mound makes the Gospel think you are preparing to cross mountains and rivers. The same applies here. You can’t build a real family in a few days, nor can you forge a love that pierces the soul. But as long as you show a longing for it, the Book of Gospel will acknowledge your intent.”

Ashe chimed in, ”A reasonable deduction. But here’s the problem. Falling in love is, usually, mostly, and probably an activity that involves two people, right? Miss, are you finally handing out employee benefits? Does it mean we get to have one girlfriend per person?”

Annan flicked her earring lightly. ”That is where your own effort comes in. I’ve bought you the tickets to the stage. What kind of performance you put on is up to you.”

Ashe frowned. ”You mean... in a place as xenophobic and materially detached as Vanmura, where everyone has their marriages pre-arranged, we’re supposed to find someone willing to date us? I think it might be more realistic if we just date each other.”

”Is it the Family Reincarnation Dream?” Iger asked suddenly.

Annan glanced at him, a flicker of approval in her eyes. ”It seems you didn’t waste your day. Exactly. I’m not asking you to find partners in reality. You will enter the Family Reincarnation Dream and participate directly in matchmaking.”

Ashe caught the nuance immediately. ”Matchmaking? That sounds like blind dates and social mixers, both of which are terrifying events filled with hidden schemes and endless social competition.”

Annan said, ”I have no idea why you’d think that, but I can assure you, matchmaking there is simpler than you can imagine. Put it this way. In the real world, the same amount of time might get you a stranger’s contact info. In the dream, however, you could already be kissing... or tangled together.”

She leaned back. ”I’ve mentioned this before. The Family Reincarnation Dream is a place every family member must log into daily. They need to vent their excess positive emotions to prevent their sensory thresholds from rising permanently. To accelerate that process, the dream imposes almost no restrictions. As long as you’re willing, you can do anything.

”If you want pain, you’ll find sadistic interrogators. If you want to sing, thousands will gather to listen. If you want to kill, a battle royale can start anywhere, anytime. Do you know how many Senheiser family members there are? They are in the millions. Even with your wildest imagination, you couldn’t capture a tenth of what happens in that dream.

”In that world, romance is as easy as joining a party in a video game. No prelude is needed. You meet, and you immediately dive into the most intense moments.”

Annan’s fingers twined together idly. The simple motion of her hands carried a strangely suggestive air. ”In the dream, you can freely set your appearance, including race, gender, and age. There are practically no limits. Likewise, everyone you meet is a carefully crafted work of art, shaped to match your exact preferences. Add total anonymity into the mix, and you can imagine just how chaotic it becomes.”

Anonymous identities. Altered appearances. Boundless environments.

Aside from Iger having some inkling of the truth, the others stood frozen. Despite their best efforts to imagine it, they still couldn’t quite grasp the sheer scale of the dream’s hedonism. Ashe and Lys, listening from the sidelines, instinctively clung to each other as if the very concept made them tremble.

Pankey walked over to Harvey, lit another pale gray cigarette, and added, ”The Senheiser family members care nothing for reality. It’s not just because the Beauty Mist keeps them in a state of physical bliss, but because the Family Reincarnation Dream fulfills every unspeakable desire. To them, the dream is real, and reality is the trivial dream.”

The young butler gazed down at the sprawling city below. ”The people who live here... are little more than pitiful animals stamped with the mark of family.”

”You sound like you’re implying something,” Iger said. ”If you have thoughts, speak plainly. After all, besides me, you still have to look after a few colleagues with... less capable minds.”

Ashe looked at Harvey with sympathy. ”Yeah, yeah.”

Harvey returned the same look.

Pankey said bluntly, ”I’m worried you’ll lose yourselves in there and become nothing more than Senheiser drones. To be honest, I only learned the details of the Lady’s plan today, and I oppose it. The Family Reincarnation Dream has a powerful assimilative effect. For people like you, who have never truly experienced love, entering that dream is like a primitive tribe facing a modern army, or a small workshop trying to compete with an industrial assembly line. It is a temptation you simply cannot resist.”

Igor responded promptly, like someone who had just pried open a can and immediately driven the blade deeper. ”Thank you for the warning, Mr. Pankey, but your tone feels a bit too emotional. Do you have some personal experience you’d like to share?”

Annan also turned toward Pankey, a flicker of curiosity in her eyes.

Pankey fell silent for a long moment. ”Miss, when I stayed in Senheiser to care for you during your childhood... that wasn’t actually the Master’s order.”

”Then whose was it?”

Pankey replied, ”It was Madam Quinna’s request. At that time, my name was Pankey Senheiser. After Madam separated from the Master, I followed her and defected to Dolan.”

Ashe’s eyes widened. ”Wait. So does that make you a three-time turncoat?”

Pankey shot him an annoyed glance. ”The Dolan family showed me great kindness, and the Master treated me like family. But whether it is kindness or love, they are intangible feelings locked within the heart. Since our inner worlds are fundamentally isolated, an invisible barrier always exists between people.”

He paused, his voice dropping an octave. ”The Family Reincarnation Dream shatters that barrier. It allows hearts to intertwine directly. You can experience the inner world of a stranger firsthand. What people call romance, communication, or entertainment are only surface expressions. Its true horror is that emotions become tangible. No one can fake anything, and every interaction carries genuine feeling. That is why the family stands as solid as a rock. That is the terrifying nature of familial love.

”Once someone experiences that, they can never leave. It’s like moving to a pristine city where everyone follows the rules. You would find it impossible to return to a filthy, chaotic den.”

Pankey looked at Annan squarely. ”Miss, you have never experienced the complete Dream. Minors are confined to their own dreams and cannot unlock the Connect function. You left Senheiser before you reached adulthood. If I had known your plan earlier, I would have stopped you. Vanmura represents the final form of the family. Ordinary people cannot escape this sweet prison.”

”Then how did you defect?” Iger asked.

Pankey answered calmly, ”Because I had to protect the Lady. My care for her stands above everything, above myself, and even above the family. That was the only way I could resist the family’s assimilation. I don’t mean to look down on you, but do any of you possess a love so absolute that it asks for nothing in return?”

”I did. Once.”

Everyone stared in shock at the necromancer. He was the last person they expected to hear such a sentiment from. In response, Harvey merely lit a second Catnip cigarette, intentionally increasing the burden on his body to numb the internal pressure.

With a voice tinged with sharp, undisguised displeasure, Annan asked, ”So, do you intend to oppose me?”

Her gaze didn’t fall on Pankey. Instead, she stared at her own reflection in her wine glass. It wasn’t the opposition that angered her, but something deeper.

”No. Dolan’s will is my fate,” Pankey replied instantly.

Ashe pulled the conversation back to the matter at hand. ”So... our next mission is to dive into the Dream and become shameless playboys who fall in love at the drop of a hat, right?”

Annan quickly regained her composure, once again putting on her Purple Moth demeanor. ”More precisely, it’s their mission. You and Lys don’t need to go.”