Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 362: Family Ranking

The Abyss-Ashe had heard countless stories about this place.

Most of them were complaints from the sword Princess during their idle chats, with only a few tales gathered from Shattered Lake.

Almost every place where sorcerers congregated had an Abyss nearby, sometimes even beneath a city. These Abysses could never be completely eradicated, and the monsters within were endless. A single misstep could lead to an Abyss monster attacking a town.

In the past, when populations and civilizations were still developing, the Abyss was a significant threat to kingdoms and a priority for national defense.

However, as the number of sorcerers surged and sorcerer civilization entered a rapid development era, even though the Abyss strengthened with the increase in sorcerers, the monsters couldn’t match the explosive advancement of sorcerer technology. As a result, the threat of the Abyss diminished year by year.

Eventually, the Abyss’s status dropped from a ‘major threat’ to a ‘daily task’ level, no longer even considered a national defense issue.

The Blood Moon Kingdom chose to hand over the Abyss to adventurers, using it as a means to deal with unruly adventurers who didn’t fit into civilized society, effectively turning the Abyss into a garbage disposal. In contrast, the Gospel Kingdom assigned Bluebeard to suppress each Abyss. However, Bluebeard wasn’t part of the national defense forces but rather a corporate private army. Simply put, the Gospel Kingdom leased the Abyss to corporations, allowing them to manage the Abyss and profit from it.

In the past, the Abyss was a looming threat to humanity; now, it was more like a minor inconvenience.

Of course, this only referred to the first layer of the Abyss. The deeper levels remained a perilous zone where even legendary sorcerers from the Sanctuary could fall.

Materials from Abyss monsters were often highly valuable. They could be used to craft equipment or made into potions that enhanced the ‘virtual realm resonance’ of specific spirits. For example, a ‘Vibration Sword Potion’ could significantly increase the chances of successfully summoning a Vibration Sword.

Moreover, Abyss monsters sometimes dropped spirits, making it almost like a mini virtual realm.

But the problem was, the Abyss was not a virtual realm.

If a sorcerer died in the Abyss, they truly died.

Moreover, the Abyss is unpredictable. If you’re unlucky and encounter an Abyss boiling, Deep Monsters might wander up to the first or second layers for a stroll. Even legendary sorcerers from the Sanctuary can meet their end. This isn’t a rare occurrence—if a legendary sorcerer is busy farming gold on the lower levels, they might attract Deep Monsters.

It’s a classic case of mutual escalation: you bully my smaller monsters, and I’ll send my bigger ones to bully you. It’s like both sides swapping baby creatures.

Thus, venturing into the Abyss is a mix of risk and opportunity. In the past, when society wasn’t as developed, people had no choice but to dive into the Abyss to gather sorcerer resources. Nowadays, with society more advanced, everyone prefers to comfortably become legendary sorcerers at home before venturing out. Who wants to risk their life fighting in the Abyss?

At that time, the sword Princess hadn’t yet participated in school competitions and was still struggling financially. She would repeatedly complain in Ashe’s ear about the dangers of the Abyss, with a clear motive: “I’m so cute, please take care of me. How could you bear to let such an adorable girl go on an Abyss Adventure?”

Ashe would always nod vigorously—of course, he could bear it. After all, he wasn’t the one going into the Abyss. “Sword Princess, you need to work hard in the dungeons so I can enjoy a good life.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to support her; he simply couldn’t afford it.

“But I remember, isn’t the Abyss terrain constantly changing?” Ashe asked. “Because of these frequent changes and outbursts, sorcerers can’t establish military bases and clear the Abyss layer by layer.”

“You’re right, the Abyss does frequently change,” Annan nodded. “But the changes don’t affect people. The Abyss terrain shifts, but its overall style remains the same—a dungeon stays a dungeon, a cave stays a cave, and a maze stays a maze.”

“The next part is simple—since Beauty Houttuynia hasn’t ‘died,’ the Abyss changes won’t affect them. Even the ground, buildings, and walls they touch won’t change. If there are enough Beauty Houttuynia spread widely, they can stabilize the Abyss terrain.”

“But how do we deal with the monsters in the Abyss?”

“Now, the white mist is suppressed by Divine Intervention, but don’t forget, this is where the Beauty Mist originates,” Annan said with a soft laugh. “Even we sorcerers are affected by the white mist; do you think the monsters are immune?”

“Creatures and beasts affected by the white mist are constantly filled with joy and pleasure, losing their will to fight from a physiological standpoint. Constant exposure to high concentrations of Beauty Mist quickly raises their threshold to the point of mental collapse. About once a month, reclamation sorcerers come to collect the monster corpses—we’re currently wearing the protective suits they use for their work.”

“Handling excess population, producing strategic resources, defending against Abyss invasions, efficiently slaughtering monsters… what a practical facility,” Igor remarked. “You could tell me that the Beauty Houttuynia Farm also serves as a sewer and a hospital, and I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“What about the Abyssal Passage?” Ashe asked. “This is the first time I’ve heard of such a mechanism.”

“Simply put, the Abyss doesn’t exist in isolation,” Annan explained. “At least, the Abysses within each Kingdom are interconnected. The passages between Abysses are special conduits that compress space and time, allowing rapid travel across great distances to another Abyss. It’s a convenient way to move quickly when needed.”

“If there’s such a convenient mode of transportation, then—”

“The only drawback is that the Abyssal Passage is constantly changing,” Annan said. “A stable Abyss like the Beauty Houttuynia Farm is unique to the Gospel Kingdom. Other Abysses don’t have as many ‘living’ residents, and their terrain is often complex and varied, which makes it impossible for Abyssal Passages to serve as regular transportation routes.”

“Additionally, before sorcerers completely subdued the Abyss, they couldn’t freely use the Abyssal Passage; by the time they could move in and out of the Abyss at will, they had already invented transportation tools that rivaled the Abyssal Passage.”

“Many people also can’t accept the time compression feature of the Abyssal Passage. For example, we might walk for several minutes here, but several hours would pass in the outside world. Overall, traveling through the Abyssal Passage doesn’t save ‘real-world time,’ but our subjective experience is that we’ve saved several hours.”

“Wait, isn’t this time travel?” Ashe’s eyes lit up. “If I stay here for a year, decades will pass outside-“

“Setting aside the dangers, your body still ages according to the external world’s time,” Annan explained. “So while it may feel like only a year has passed for you, your body will age by several decades. If you just want to travel to the future, sorcerers have other ways to delay aging without needing to come to the Abyss.”

“In this case, I highly recommend the coffin hibernation method,” Harvey, who seemed more energetic after leaving the Beauty Houttuynia Farm, chimed in. “It involves preserving you as a corpse and then restoring you to a living person a hundred years later, with only a 30% loss of your current lifespan. Interested?”

Ashe asked, “Has anyone tried it?”

“Yes, many wealthy individuals on the brink of death have used this method, though they typically wake up as paupers,” Harvey laughed. “The Blood Saint Institute runs this business through their ‘Hibernation Department,’ which specializes in milking money from wealthy Short-Lived Species. These clients seem to think that future societies will grant them eternal life for free.”

“Those who can’t face time will inevitably be abandoned by it,” Igor remarked calmly. “‘Hoping for the future’ is synonymous with ‘giving up on the present.’”

Banjeet, who was leading the way, suddenly said, “We’re here.”

It felt as though they had passed through an invisible veil, leaving the natural dark cave and entering a brightly lit underground ruin.

The brick buildings were dilapidated but not ancient. Wall torches were placed every ten steps, and the narrow corridors could only accommodate four people walking side by side. It felt like traveling from a modern city back to the feudal Middle Ages.

“Is this another Abyss?” Ashe looked down both ends of the corridor. “Why aren’t there any monsters?”

“It means Bluebeard has already completed his daily tasks,” Annan said, removing her protective suit and mask. “Even the Abyss needs time to rest and regenerate… Since we’ve left Vamora, let’s perform the Exorcism Surgery to completely eliminate the influence of the Beauty Mist.”

Exorcism Surgery can entirely remove the craving caused by the Beauty Mist. However, it only addresses the craving, ensuring that the recipient won’t physiologically desire Beauty Mist-related products. It does not lower the already increased threshold.

In theory, the residents of Vamora could undergo Exorcism Surgery to escape this city of white mist. However, for those immersed in their Dreams, removing the physical demon is easy, but removing the inner demon is difficult. Except for necessary business trips, they rarely leave Vamora to travel.

Banjeet took six white cups from his suitcase, then revealed the heraldry on the back of his left hand and placed a flame into one of the cups, pressing it firmly against the back of his hand!

Due to the fire consuming the oxygen, atmospheric pressure caused the cup to adhere tightly to his hand. Simultaneously, spots resembling insect eggs appeared all over Banjeet’s body, flowing towards the white cup like students rushing to the Dining Hall, seemingly being absorbed by the cup!

“Artifact Spirit: Exorcism,” Annan explained. “Besides removing the craving, it also has effects like clearing heat and detoxification, beautification and rejuvenation, refreshing and calming, promoting dreamless sleep, and enhancing vitality. This product is expensive, being one of Vamora’s main sorcerer technology exports. Using it just to remove a craving is a waste-ordinary people go to hospitals on the outskirts of the city to find regular Healers for Exorcism Surgery.”

Since the area was safe, they decided to rest here and complete the Exorcism Surgery. Although the white cups looked like they would cause severe suction pain, Ashe found the sensation quite comfortable. His skin felt slightly itchy, like hundreds of mosquitoes were sucking out dirt, blackheads, pimples, and other impurities…

“Hahaha, Dad, you’re so dirty!” Lise pointed at the spots appearing on Ashe’s body and laughed loudly.

Ashe glanced at Lise and noticed she was surprisingly clean; the white cup couldn’t extract much from her. In contrast, his skin was covered with a multitude of dirty spots, as if he hadn’t bathed in days at a construction site. It was like hundreds of cockroaches were crawling all over him.

“Oh…?”

Seeing the strange smile creeping onto Ashe’s face, Lise sensed danger and retreated. “W-Why are you smiling… Ah, don’t come near me!”

“Watch out for my special attack: Creep Out!”

Ashe grabbed Lise and started rubbing against her like a cat, causing her to freak out from the grossness. She rolled her eyes and foamed at the mouth, barely managing to pull out a hand mirror. “H-Help… help…”

Feeling the trembling ‘Lise’ suddenly stop, Ashe blinked and cautiously released her.

Did he scare her too much? It was just like throwing a box covered with hundreds of cockroaches at her; it shouldn’t have been enough to make her faint…

However, ‘Lise’ broke free from his embrace, turned around, and quietly glared at him. “Did you find that amusing?”

“If I say no, it was definitely amusing, but if I say yes, it wasn’t that amusing…”

‘Lise’ furrowed her small brows, placed her hands on her hips, and said, “Do you think it’s fun to disgust me?”

For some reason, Ashe felt as if ‘Lise’s figure was growing taller, like she had become a neighborly big sister who loved to lecture, while he had turned into a mischievous child. He chuckled awkwardly, “It’s not that fun…”

“Don’t do that again, or I’ll start hating you.” ‘Lise’ looked at his frozen right hand. “Does your hand still hurt? Your whole body is injured, and I still made you carry me…”

Ashe was startled by ‘Lise’. Just as he was about to reach out, he pulled back and turned to shout at Igor, “Igor, Lise is mentally disturbed because I grossed her out. Come quick… Igor, what are you doing?”

Unlike them, who were quietly waiting for the Exorcism Surgery to finish, the Con Artist was hiding under a blanket, not showing an inch of himself. It was clear he had gotten it from Banjeet.

Annan was also hidden under a blanket off to the side. The two of them seemed out of place with the rest of the group.

“If a kid has mental issues, just beat them senseless. Solving the problem and the person who brought it up must resolve one of them,” Igor’s voice came from under the blanket. “You only need to take off your belt as a tool.”

Curious, Ashe walked over. “What are you doing under there? Let me see—”

“See what? Your dead head!”

A fist shot out from under the blanket, knocking Ashe flat on the ground. Ashe hadn’t expected that this mental sorcerer had also trained in physical combat, and he couldn’t dodge it!

Lying on the cold ground, Ashe felt the pain in his arm and abdomen return. He cast a ‘Joy Sword’ on himself, sat up, and saw ‘Lise’ beside him. Before he could say anything, ‘Lise’ reached out and hugged his neck, resting her chin on his shoulder, and nuzzled him. “Stop fooling around. I might not always be so playful, but no matter which me it is, I always like you.”

Ashe felt goosebumps all over his body as a strong sense of dissonance washed over him. No, this mature big sister tone should be coming from Qenna, or Annan at least. When you talk like this, it makes others question my usual parenting methods!

Not only Annan and Banjeet, but even Harvey was looking at him like he was a pervert. Ashe felt his social status at the Funeral Firm was about to plummet to the level of an untouchable!

I get it. This is your method of revenge, isn’t it?

Lise, you’re so devious!

Click.

Suddenly, everyone’s Gospel Book popped out, each containing a shining bookmark. Everyone froze for a moment, then realized what was happening.

“We’ve been in the Abyssal Passage for a few minutes, but over two hours have passed in the real world,” Banjeet said. “It’s already past midnight… It’s May 20th now!”

“The second ranking list updates right at midnight?”

“What kind of ranking will it be?”

“Is Annan’s plan really working?”

With various thoughts in their minds, they all opened their bookmarks. The title of the second ranking list came into view—

Family Ranking.

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