Sorcerer’s Handbook

Yvaren Belldate!?

Everyone immediately believed it—this was clearly Belldate’s territory, and they had just been ensnared by the various mechanisms including volcanic eruptions, white mist from the Sea of Knowledge, Reverse Rain from the Golden Flow, and more. Even Sanctuary spellcasters had not been spared.

Indeed, if it was Belldate from the Angel Family, she did possess the power to suppress them.

Moreover…

Rein and the others turned their heads with great effort, looking at Yvaren in the distance, who was watching them from the railing. In the fading light of the fireworks, she observed the group without any expression, like a homeowner releasing the dogs and then watching the show.

“Belldate…” Rein trembled all over. Every rebellious thought in his mind—”stand up,” “gather spellforce,” “cast a Miracle,” “activate the Artifact Spirit”—was extinguished the moment it surfaced.

Only fear, shame, and panic remained in his heart. Even anger faded instantly, incapable of fueling his emotional energy.

There was no sealing of spellforce, no restriction on movement. Instead, they were directly dominated from the source of their thoughts!

Dominance Sect!

Clearly, Belldate was extremely displeased with their actions and used the Dominance Sect to directly suppress these intruders on her private property!

“You…” He was at a loss for words, unable to utter even a harsh word, as curses were quenched before they could leave his mind. “This time, the Mercury Family… trespassed on Belldate Manor without permission. On behalf of Mercury, I apologize and ask for Miss Belldate’s forgiveness.”

Zuvendas was no different. As a renowned spellcaster from Sanctuary and a high-ranking leader in his Family, he now could only wriggle on the lawn like a caterpillar, his eyes wide and teeth clenched, as he said, “The Kaesrei Family… offers the sincerest apologies to Belldate!”

The others seemed to be reminded by Zuvendas’ words, and their apologies grew louder and more solemn: “On behalf of the Vastino clan, I offer a profound reflection, remembering Belldate’s tolerance and respect. We will make a grand compensation for Belldate’s losses in the future!” “The Roland Family has learned a great lesson from this event. We are willing to go to any lengths to earn Belldate’s friendship, even if it means going bankrupt, just to receive an olive branch from Belldate!”

Though their words were increasingly flattering, the grim looks on their faces translated them to something like, “You have the guts to kill me now, or I’ll come back with my family to slaughter yours.”

Like the Mental Sect, the Dominance Sect also focuses on three elements: thoughts, will, and emotions. The domination that Rein and the others were subjected to was ‘Thought Domination.’ All their thoughts were directly twisted and suppressed, making them unable to move even a finger, and the spirits within their souls couldn’t receive their commands.

For the individuals involved, this was undoubtedly a terrifying and awful experience. They could keenly feel their thoughts being ripped away and crushed, as if a stick was stirring their brains. Thus, Rein and the others’ concessions were genuinely heartfelt; they only wanted to escape this humiliating state of being puppets as quickly as possible!

However, faced with the submission and surrender of Sanctuary spellcasters and consortium families, Yvaren remained unmoved, her aloof demeanor as steadfast as her blue hair tonight.

“Ahem!” Ashe coughed lightly and gestured for Lise and the others to stay calm. He then turned and bowed to Yvaren. “Lady Blue Rose, do you wish to accept the apologies of these insolent individuals? Or would you prefer that we, your loyal dogs, punish their baseness and trample their dignity for you?”

Who is Blue Rose? You say it like we have some special designation between us, but I’m not that familiar with you!

And it wasn’t me who did this. I hadn’t intended to dominate you all so crudely!

You’ve all misunderstood. The real culprits are Igor and Bukin!

Yvaren had countless things she wanted to express, but the ‘Thought Domination’ she was under was the most thorough: not only were her actions controlled, but even speaking, facial expressions, and frowning were all under domination. She couldn’t even pretend to pass out because the moment she had the ‘command’ to collapse, it was immediately purged!

It was as if she were a monarch held hostage by a power-hungry minister, every expression and movement entirely controlled by the regent. People only saw her tyrannical rule but failed to see the evil minister pulling the strings behind the Court!

At this moment, the only emotions stewing in her heart were her anger toward Igor and her regret for being so slow to recognize the signs.

She should have noticed sooner!

When the Rust Crow mentioned that the new dogma of the Four Pillars Cult was “Increase what they desire, gift what they need,” she should have realized that the Rust Crow was Igor—because these words are at the core of Belldate’s Dominance Sect principles!

The Rust Crow was able to expand the Four Pillars Cult to an unprecedented scale because he stole knowledge from the Dominance Sect and applied it to cult management. Although the Rust Crow didn’t receive the blessing of an Angel ancestor, the Four Pillars’ gifts were probably just as powerful!

From the beginning, Igor never intended to betray the Funeral Gospel!

He came for Belldate’s Dominance Sect! Even the Gospel saw through it!

But Yvaren couldn’t help but feel a deep confusion: she had repeatedly verified that Igor indeed hadn’t conspired with anyone else; this was purely Igor acting alone. But… how was that possible?

Was he not afraid of losing the trust of his companions?

Why did Annan and the others subtly cooperate with his actions?

More importantly, how did he seize the highest authority of Belldate, even to the point where I, the patriarch, am now under his domination?

Could it be that I have become the Substitute, and he is the real Igor Belldate?

Smoldering confusion gnawed at the blue-haired girl, making her doubt if her father had once left a Bewitcher love child in the Blood Moon Kingdom.

“Lady Blue Rose, we understand completely.” Even though Yvaren remained silent, Ashe continued speaking as if to himself, “Your orders are their fate!”

Rejoining the Funeral group, Ashe noticed that aside from Little Banjeet, who was busy sucking his fingers, Alice, Annan, and Lise were all looking at him. Annan, however, seemed unsurprised by the events that had just transpired.

“You knew this whole time?” Ashe asked in a hushed voice.

“I’ve always said we share a common understanding,” Annan replied with a smile. “Even I didn’t expect Igor could pull off something this grand.”

“Can someone explain what’s going on?” Alice, sitting cross-legged on the coffin, scratched her head and asked, “What happened? And what is this common understanding?”

Ashe responded, “The common understanding is—why did the Young Lady bring us to Mephila?”

“Hmm? To escape from Vamora, and…” Alice pondered for a moment, “To prepare for the upcoming ranking list?”

“Although we were immediately captured by Yvaren due to the Family Ranking, even without the Family Ranking, my fugitive status could have been used as leverage by Yvaren to propose a trade for our stay in exchange for protection,” Ashe then looked at Annan. “In other words, the Young Lady likely foresaw what would happen before bringing us to Mephila—because she knows Belldate well, and also understands Yvaren.”

“She knew Yvaren would try to turn us against each other and even anticipated that Yvaren would ultimately betray us.”

“So, what was the true purpose of bringing us to Mephila?”

Lise immediately replied, “To have us experience being turned and betrayed!”

“More precisely, to have us step into Yvaren’s trap,” Ashe continued. “The Young Lady deliberately avoided discussing the relevant details with us, watching us walk step by step into Yvaren’s snare… while ignorance made us easy prey, it also served as our camouflage.”

“In a world where the Gospel can detect lies, only the ignorant can lie convincingly.” The Cult Leader turned to the Purple Moth. “Igor may not have guessed that the third ranking list would be the Ranking of Schemes, but from the Young Lady’s actions, he caught onto the key element of this trip to Mephila—actively stepping into Yvaren’s trap, and then using our ignorance to deceive Yvaren in return!”

Pretend to be fooled by Yvaren, only to turn around and fool Yvaren?

Lise and Alice both looked at Annan in bewilderment, as if to ask, “Why go to such lengths?” and “Are you out of your mind?”

Annan shrugged, “I wasn’t intentionally hiding anything, but if you couldn’t figure out even that much, you wouldn’t have been recognized by the Ranking of Schemes.”

“Actually, I didn’t plan on you deceiving Yvaren—that was a bonus. In my view, as long as you realized I was hiding something, the Ranking of Schemes would judge that you had the potential of a Con Artist. Clearly, only Igor passed that test.”

“However, I thought Igor might swindle a bit of money or something. I didn’t expect he’d aim to swallow Belldate whole…” She spread her hands helplessly. “So, what does he need us to do?”

“Bullying with power,” Ashe pointed to the spellcasters squirming on the ground behind them.

Annan quickly caught on, “Brilliant… this way, all their hatred will be focused on Belldate. Even if we escape, they’ll assume Belldate is hiding us!”

“Sounds like my kind of job,” Alice stretched lazily. “Just as long as we don’t kill them, right?”

“Lise isn’t good at bullying people,” the white-haired girl scratched her head.

Ashe picked up Little Banjeet, “Here, use this water gun. It will definitely leave a heavy impact on their young minds.”

“Does Senhaeser need to join too?” Annan suddenly asked.

Ashe glanced at her, “One Belldate is enough to attract all the hatred. Do you really want to bring in Senhaeser too?”

Annan realized her mistake—Senhaeser insisting on protecting them earlier had already drawn enough ire. If they now showed preferential treatment to Senhaeser, it would only confirm that Belldate, Senhaeser, and Funeral were all in cahoots.

That wouldn’t do. All the hatred of the Gospel Kingdom should be directed at Belldate, not scattered to include Senhaeser.

As the Funeral group approached the spellcasters, Rein and the others felt a sense of impending doom.

“What are you planning to… Ah!”

“You… I’m a Sanctuary spellcaster…”

“Urgh…”

The Funeral team hadn’t intended to be overly violent, but this group had spent the entire night hunting, ambushing, and terrorizing them, even trying to separate and imprison them until just moments ago. If it hadn’t been for Igor’s last-minute turnaround, Ashe and his companions would now be scattered and separated… Thinking of this, even though they didn’t go all out, their spirits seemed eager to work overtime on their own.

“This is the fate of those who offend Belldate!”

“Howl, scream, repent!”

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands~”

The scene grew increasingly brutal, but with the Healing Miracle in place, as long as the spellcasters didn’t die, they could be healed. Therefore, Ashe let them continue.

After doubling up with Substitute to bully and beat several of their pursuers, Ashe felt invigorated and began seeking a new target, but his foot unexpectedly bumped into a soft body.

Looking down, Ashe locked eyes with Qenna, who lay sprawled on the ground. Despite being pinned, Qenna remained proud and cold, showing no sign of panic. Ashe, however, instinctively avoided her gaze.

Wasn’t this Annan’s area? Ashe turned to see Annan had skipped over Qenna and was now putting on a show of reprimanding her Auntie.

In a moment of realization, Ashe understood Annan’s dilemma. Despite Purple Moth usually speaking of her mother through gritted teeth, now given the chance to openly beat Qenna, Annan chickened out, leaving the mess for Ashe to handle.

What a troublesome mother-daughter pair.

“Ashe,” Qenna said calmly, “do you dare touch me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ashe snapped, sitting down on her. “I’ve been annoyed with you for a long time. Don’t forget, in the Future Ranking, you’re just my servant!”

“For disrespecting me!” Slap!

“For not calling me master!” Slap!

“For not wearing my ring!” Slap!

Qenna watched as his hand flailed in front of her face, her hair tousled by the gust of wind but not a single strike landing on her nose. Instead, Ashe’s Substitute was the one slapping its own thigh to mimic the sound of slaps.

“I am wearing it,” Qenna suddenly said.

Ashe was startled and looked down to see that Qenna was indeed wearing the Mist Spirit Ring. He had thought that such a symbolic and humiliating future reward would be resisted by the patriarchs, especially since most of them were Sanctuary spellcasters. The ring’s effect meant little to them, and wearing it was simply too disgraceful.

Just as Ashe averted his gaze, Qenna suddenly opened her mouth and bit his finger. Ashe was shocked and thought he was about to be counterattacked. However, perhaps because of the mental domination she was under, Qenna’s bite was weak and feeble, causing no pain—it felt more like his finger was just being held in her mouth.

Noticing that Annan seemed to be looking his way, Ashe had a stroke of genius and, with his left hand, decided to put on a show: “How dare you bite my finger! Let go! You’ll pay for this! Tonight, I’ll show you who the master really is!”

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!

His Substitute slapped its own thigh with loud sound effects.

On the second-floor garden of Belldate’s main residence, the door to Yvaren’s office quietly opened, and a red-haired girl in a butler’s uniform entered.

Behind the desk sat Igor Bukin, the future revitalizer of the Four Pillars Cult, the first Con Artist certified by the Gospel, and the imminent equal of the “Ghost King Harvey”—a human natural disaster. He sat with his eyes closed, leaning back in his chair, as if taking a nap.

“Sorry, have you been waiting long?” Anfel asked.

“No,” Igor shook his head.