The Sorcerer's Handbook

Sunlight filtered through the treehouse window, sliced into neat squares across the floor in the languid afternoon. It carried the faint scent of coffee and ink, spreading across the carpet like a dipping sauce and draping over Hope.

Iger sat beside her, holding a book titled The Ten Laws of a Fraudster. A cup of steaming coffee rested before him as he asked, ”Comfy?”

”Very,” Hope said, rolling across the carpet while hugging her large tail. ”I’ve got the perfect balance going right here. One side’s in the sun and the other’s in the shade. Irina, give the reading a rest and come join me already.”

”I’ll pass. I prefer—”

Before Iger could finish his refusal, Hope dragged him straight to the ground. The treehouse shifted with her movement. The roof opened wide, and the world spun. In an instant, afternoon gave way to deep night. The stars were bright and sharp, and the Milky Way rippled across the sky like a river of light. It was as if the universe itself was leaning in to greet them.

Lying beside him, Hope said, ”I knew you’d like the night sky.”

”Yes. Only two things truly move me. The starry sky above and the moral law within. The former represents the greatness of nature, while the latter reveals the brilliance of humanity. Only these two can make me feel my own insignificance.”

Iger raised a hand toward the sky, slowly spreading his fingers. ”Still...”

A blood-red moon, radiating a menacing presence, appeared between them. It scattered the stars at once, like a watchful eye above the world. ”This is the sky I’m familiar with.”

Hope reached out and crushed the blood moon in his hand. ”But it doesn’t exist anymore. You don’t have to live under its light anymore, not in dreams or in reality.”

Hope grabbed Iger’s hand and pulled him to his feet. ”Come on. Let’s go on an adventure!”

They ran through towering ancient forests that pierced the clouds, explored mysterious underground palaces riddled with traps, wandered eerie cities where the inhabitants had vanished overnight, and passed through mountain villages devoted to strange religions. Hope herself didn’t know whether these were dream constructs or fragments of her own imagination. Together, they pressed forward. Hope charged ahead recklessly, brushing against death at every turn, while Iger gathered information and unraveled puzzles. At times, they fled screaming from rolling boulders; at others, they stood in awe before magnificent, breathtaking sights.

At last, exhausted from their play, they lay on a patch of grass beneath the shade of a tree. The scent of green clung to them as they rested lazily, as if they might fall asleep right there in the heart of the dream.

Hope said eagerly, ”Hey, let’s keep playing together tomorrow! We can challenge that mysterious underwater city. But we should probably give ourselves sea witch bloodlines. Otherwise, breathing will be a problem...”

”Just the two of us again?” Iger asked.

”Of course. Just us is enough,” Hope said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. ”I don’t want to meet more people. The more people there are, the more conflicts arise. Once there are more than three, cliques start forming. Once there are too many voices, it’s just noise.”

She turned to him. ”The three things I hate most are humanity, society, and communication. What I want most is a life with just two people. You won’t be alone, and if anything comes up, we can handle it right away. Most of the time, we wouldn’t even need to speak. One look is all it takes for us to understand each other. What about you?”

Iger paused. He looked at the fragmented patches of sunlight beneath the shade and nodded softly. ”Me too. I hate meeting strangers, I hate interacting with others, and I hate a society tangled in a web of competing interests.”

”Right? Right?” Hope said excitedly, leaning close. ”It’s a promise, then. Tomorrow, we’ll go on another adventure, just the two of us!”

However, Iger did not respond. The sunlight quietly faded, and dark clouds took over the sky.

”No need to think about relationships, no need to scheme or plot. I can simply indulge my intelligence, adventure with the person I trust most, explore desolate places, and witness wonders beyond the world... This really is the life I dream of most.”

The wind began to rise. The grass bent low, and the leaves whispered as if they were weeping.

Hope asked, ”But?”

Iger sat up. ”But dreams are dreams precisely because they are out of reach. A dream that can be easily realized has no meaning.”

Hope sat up as well. ”But aren’t we dreaming right now?”

A thunderclap split the sky. First came a drizzle, then a sudden downpour driven by fierce winds. The tree’s shade no longer sheltered them. Rain soaked Iger’s hair and blurred Hope’s face.

”Why is it raining?” Hope took out a large umbrella from nowhere and held it over both of them. ”Irina, do you like the sound of rain?”

”I don’t like the rain. But it has always been raining here, and I have always been standing in it,” Iger said. ”So dreaming is pointless. You can stay with me now, but once you leave, I will still be standing in the rain.”

”I’ll stay with you until the very end.”

”The ’end’ and ’forever’ are the same. Both represent a future so distant that I will inevitably fail to keep that promise.”

Hope blinked. ”But our future isn’t distant. When the Woven Festival ends, that day will be our destination. For the final stretch, you won’t have to walk alone. We bought tickets to the same destination. We’ll ride together all the way to the last stop.”

Iger looked at her calmly. ”Are you really going to stay with me?”

”Yes.”

”No regrets?”

”No regrets.”

Iger let out a long, slow breath. ”Hah... Alright then.”

The rain stopped. The wind stilled. Just as Hope thought Iger had finally opened his heart, the ground beneath them trembled. The earth buckled and collapsed, rising into tiers of spectator stands that ringed them like a canyon. A single, harsh spotlight cut through the dark, illuminating the sandy arena at the bottom.

”Do you know what this place is?”

Hope looked up. Iger was no longer dressed like a literary girl. He now wore a tight-fitting combat suit, calmly wrapping bandages around his forearms with practiced ease.

”This is the Death Match Club at Shattered Lake Prison,” Iger said evenly. ”I’ve snapped the ulnae of countless scumbags here and stripped the wealth from a thousand villains. To put it bluntly, I survived by feeding on the spoils of the dead.”

”But Irina, you already left that behind—”

Iger shook his head. ”I never left. I merely moved from one Shattered Lake to another. As long as I remain who I am, the whole world is just another prison.”

Hope cried urgently, ”But you can change now! I’ll stay with you! I’ll help you! Don’t you want to leave that detestable life, and that detestable version of yourself, behind?”

Iger lowered his gaze. ”I do. My soul urges me to accept you, and you’ve completely broken through the wall around my heart. Your words, your beliefs, your face... everything about you fits my ideal perfectly. I don’t know who you really are, or how you learned my deepest preferences... but even if you are a trap, you have already made your way into my heart.”

”Then why—”

Iger snapped into a fighting stance. ”So... you have to die.”

Hope froze in shock, completely unable to follow the fraudster’s train of thought.

Iger said coldly, ”I would love to lead the Gospel army to invade the Blood Moon, but there are still parts of the Blood Moon doctrine worth keeping. Any relationship that makes you anxious will corrupt you. Any relationship that makes you feel wronged will harm you. Any relationship that changes you... will control you. The freedom of the self is the foundation of everything, especially for a Mind Class sorcerer. If I am no longer myself, how am I any different from the dead?”

Iger’s expression turned grimly serious. ”I never kill, unless someone crosses my bottom line. This is it. Anyone who enters my heart, anyone who breaks through my walls, must die. I gave you a chance. It’s a shame you refused to leave.”

”W-wait, wait...” Hope backed away, hands waving frantically. ”Your understanding of love is flawed! There is such a thing as selfless love! Changing for someone else is—”

Iger cut in, ”Forgive me, but you’re the one with the flawed understanding. The first law of a fraudster is to believe that everyone in this world is fundamentally selfish.”

By the time Hope realized he was charging, it was already too late.

She screamed internally. This wasn’t in the data!He’s hard to win over, but once he falls in love, he kills the person to preserve his own purity? How is anyone supposed to work with that?! Are all you Blood Moon people this messed up?!

As Iger lunged into her space, his voice dropped to a strange, dark murmur. ”And besides... I’ve actually always wanted revenge.”

Revenge for what?

Boom!

Iger struck with total, lethal force. Hope’s body burst apart like a bubble under his fist.

”Hah...”

Exhausted, Iger let out a ragged breath and collapsed onto the sand. He raised his fist high above him, a flush of dark excitement spreading across his face. He whispered. ”Damn... Now I really want to punch him in real life, too.”