Sorcerer's Handbook-Chapter 624: The Fate of Senlo

Whose fate are we talking about?

“The three ‘Links of Truth’ should be progressive.”

On the rooftop, Igor sat on the coffin lid, pondering the third link, when Gwen softly spoke beside him.

Indeed, they should be progressive.

The first link revealed the truth of the world.

The second link pointed out the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s influence over reality.

So the target of the third link should be…

At this moment, Harvey flew over and said, “A mental sorcerer discovered that even after a Green Beast dies, its soul doesn’t disappear. Instead, it attaches to crystal fragments, retaining some consciousness and cognitive ability…”

Gwen quickly inscribed this intelligence, and after Harvey finished speaking, he looked at Igor on the coffin. “Get down.”

Igor stood up, noticing Ashe preparing to fly back to consolidate information. He spread his Twin Wings and flew to another side, saying, “Come over.”

The relationship between a necromancer and a con artist was quite nuanced: Igor always looked down on Harvey’s death aesthetics, and Harvey wasn’t interested in Igor while he was alive. They didn’t have much to say to each other.

Friends, companions, fellow travelers… none of these terms quite captured their relationship. If anything, they were like two freshwater fish in the sea, simply drifting together because they encountered the same current.

Igor flew to a shadowy ruin, glanced at Raven standing guard on the tower, and said, “Ashe just loves to create trouble for me…”

Harvey sat on a stone block. “Haven’t you gotten used to that by now?”

“Don’t act like you don’t cause trouble yourself.”

“I don’t need you to clean up after me.”

Igor stopped bantering. “If I’m not mistaken, the third Link of Truth likely points to Silver Lantern’s secret. More directly, it might justify Silver Lantern’s past actions.”

“That’s unlikely.” The necromancer shook his head. “Even by my standards, I can’t think of any reason to rationalize Silver Lantern’s actions. Even if, as she claims, death leads to eternity, to gloss over her actions… I might not mind, but Ashe certainly would.”

“But Silver Lantern believes it’s possible,” Igor said. “She may have other motives, but her main goal in coming to the Dead City is likely to make us-or rather, Ashe-understand her actions. Given her exposed intelligence, I don’t think this is wishful thinking or self-deception. Perhaps she knows some mental flaw of Ashe’s…”

Earlier, Ashe had mentioned how Silver Lantern’s stillness when trapped by the Four Pillars Cult until nightfall was unusual. After deciphering the first ‘Link of Truth,’ Igor vaguely understood the woman’s intentions.

She’s probably somewhere in the city now, waiting for them to uncover the final secret.

Harvey lazily said, “So why did you call me over? I’m not interested in understanding the scheming of you high-IQ folks.”

“Tamashi Raven Annihilation.”

Igor softly uttered the name. “No matter what truth we uncover, that stubborn Raven won’t give up opposing Silver Lantern. It’s not just about his beliefs; it’s about his revenge. As long as he wants revenge on the Mercury Trojan Horse, he can’t show any leniency to villains. Otherwise, the Mercury Trojan Horse will find a way to break his mental defenses.”

“‘Why target me and let Silver Lantern go’… A normal person might laugh it off, but that stubborn Raven can’t accept such accusations.”

“I had already broken his mental defenses, turning him into a useless Raven. Without principles, it would have been easier to handle him. But Ashe had to meddle…”

“I’m not surprised at all,” Harvey said leisurely. “I even find it amusing that you dared to overlook Ashe as a variable.”

“In any case, if it comes to it, I need you and your new servant to drag Raven away,” Igor said. “Two sanctuary sorcerers and a necromancer should have no problem binding an ordinary person who’s not even a sorcerer, right?”

“Though I take issue with the term ‘ordinary person,’ there’s no problem,” Harvey said. “So you’re hoping to cease hostilities with Silver Lantern?”

“We’re already struggling to deal with Silver Lantern,” Igor said. “The Blood Seed curse is troublesome, but it’s not wise to confront an enemy like Silver Lantern just for the Blood Seed.”

“Now that we’ve broken with the Four Pillars Cult, we’ve lost the capital to pursue Silver Lantern unless we’re willing to cooperate with the Mercury Trojan Horse. I have no problem with that, but can you, Ashe, and Tamashi swallow your pride?”

“Moreover, our main reason for pursuing Silver Lantern was to resolve Ashe’s Half Tactile Sense. If we cease hostilities, we can focus on finding heritage leading to other kingdoms. Once we leave Senlo, the Half Tactile Sense issue naturally resolves.”

“And…”

Igor’s face was hidden in shadow. “There’s no need to make it difficult for him.”

“I’d like to see his expression after he personally kills Silver Lantern,” Harvey said. “It would be quite interesting.”

Igor looked at the necromancer. “Archibald…”

“Just teasing you,” Archibald Harvey said, patting his behind and spreading his Twin Wings to leave. “Next time, don’t sit on the coffin.”

With this matter arranged, Igor returned to the rooftop, where Gwen had already recorded much intelligence.

“The wasteland has persisted for over two hundred years…”

“Though they can be promptly exterminated, the frequency of Deep Sea Level Green Beasts is increasing…”

“Due to the growing power of the Choking Green at night, merchant caravan frequency is decreasing.”

“During the Fire Cat Divine Era, there were two ‘Great Dizziness’ incidents where everyone lost consciousness for a minute. The Bluebird Divine Era experienced it once.”

“Compared to a hundred years ago, daylight hours have decreased by an average of 30 minutes.” freeweɓnovel.cѳm

“With the start of the divine era, Green Beasts were completely eradicated.”

Unlike the first two ‘Links of Truth,’ the third required highly complex and seemingly unrelated intelligence. Igor’s deduction process was arduous, only vaguely deducing that the living environment in the Senlo wasteland seemed to be deteriorating. However, with so many cults fighting, it would be unreasonable for it not to worsen…

The increase in Green Beasts was also expected. With more deaths came more despair, naturally strengthening the Choking Green.

What caught Igor’s attention was that Green Beasts seemed to lack the concept of death.

Even when destroyed, devoured, or ground to powder, their souls persisted in other forms. Igor wasn’t sure if they felt pain in this state, but the mere thought of eternal exile, unable to do anything, was an unimaginable torment.

However, this despair wasn’t endless. Once a divine era emerged, and the people’s hearts aligned, the Green Beasts would be completely eradicated, ending their eternal exile.

As the intelligence was compiled, Igor’s doubts deepened-this intelligence couldn’t be further deduced. What did it have to do with the conclusion? It seemed like a crucial puzzle piece was missing, leaving the logical chain broken.

Boom!

A distant explosion suddenly sounded. Igor’s first thought was, ‘Why can we hear sounds in slowed time?’ but he quickly realized-just as they could affect objects, sound was the result of their impact on the air, naturally having a certain effective range.

He looked up and saw the scene he least wanted to see: in the distant skyscraper ruins, Raven was chasing Silver Lantern.

That Raven, not even a sanctuary sorcerer, wasn’t afraid of being taken down by Silver Lantern-oh, he wasn’t afraid because Ashe was nearby.

At this moment, Harvey was returning to submit intelligence. Seeing this scene, he knew things were troublesome, so he slowly spoke the effective clue he had found: “The interval between the first divine era and the Fire Cat Divine Era was 30 years, between the Fire Cat and Bluebird Divine Eras was 5 years, and between the Bluebird and Gray Fox was 3 years.”

Igor’s mind stirred, realizing this was an important puzzle piece. But without the crucial piece, he still couldn’t-

Suddenly, Igor recalled his exploration method in the Distant Sky Domain.

Ordinary sanctuary sorcerers exploring the Distant Sky Domain either engaged in direct combat like Chikara or probed for affixes like Ashe and the others. But Igor was different-

He sought the Dream Master.

The Dream Master, the owner of the dream phantom, once the Dream Master died, the phantom would shatter.

Sometimes, sorcerers and virtual realm creatures’ battles inadvertently killed the Dream Master, directly breaking the phantom.

But few knew that the Dream Master also knew the affix of the phantom, or rather, the affix arose from the Dream Master’s special desires.

However, the Dream Master was indistinguishable from most passersby, making it challenging for sorcerers to identify them. But Igor was different; he could analyze the phantom environment, passerby appearances, and surrounding scenery to gradually narrow down the Dream Master’s range until he found them and used a mental miracle to control them.

This method naturally took time, but as his proficiency increased, Igor could determine the difficulty of finding the Dream Master within 5 minutes. If it was within 30 minutes, he continued searching; if it exceeded 30 minutes, he moved to the next phantom.

He could now explore nearly ten phantoms in one night, which was why he had gained combat power shortly after entering the Distant Sky Domain-he had no secret like Ashe or the Ghost King Shackles like Harvey; it was all through his own efforts.

During this process, Igor discovered that besides death, the Dream Master could have other impacts on the phantom. For instance, when the Dream Master was injured, passersby would feel pain; when the Dream Master bled, the phantom environment would begin to deteriorate; when the Dream Master was near death, passersby would no longer maintain normalcy but become…

Mad.

It was as if the iceberg in his mind suddenly melted completely. Igor looked at the record-covered ground, and all the connections became clear, the deduction process crystal clear-

First, “Senlo is idealistic” and “the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s will can directly interfere with reality” were two truths already deduced.

The reason for the “short intervals between divine eras” was straightforward, indicating the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo wanted to quickly enter the next divine era to gain new deities.

The “wasteland era lasting over two hundred years” could only point to one conclusion: the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s influence over reality was weaker than before, unable to even initiate a divine era! Otherwise, there was no reason to abandon this fertile land capable of producing deities!

While “Senlo’s environment worsening” was reasonable from a realistic perspective, it was highly unreasonable in the Idealistic Senlo-here, the will of the people could interfere with reality. Moreover, everyone was fervently devout, and their collective will could even create divine interventions. In a place where everyone pursued beauty, the natural environment of the Idealistic Senlo should only improve, not decline.

Yet the environment was deteriorating, which could only mean the people’s will was being overshadowed by a grander will.

The ‘Great Dizziness’ and ‘cataclysm,’ events affecting the entire nation, must be divine interventions. But under the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s protection, even if other Divine Sovereigns wanted to cause trouble, there should have been other coordinated actions. Why did they only cause the extinction of the Senlo people without occupying the Land of Senlo?

Therefore, the ‘Great Dizziness’ and ‘cataclysm’ could only have been orchestrated by the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo.

All this evidence pointed to two truths: the Kingdom of Senlo was both an idealistic kingdom and a dream phantom jointly created by the Senlo people and the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo.

Because it was a dream phantom, the people of Senlo could become Demi-Gods, and absurd fantasy creations could appear. But because the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s will surpassed the people’s will, His commands became Senlo’s fate, and His original state was closely tied to Senlo.

The Chasm Sovereign of Senlo was the Dream Master of this phantom; everyone else was a passerby in the phantom.

The second truth was-the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo was on the brink of death!

Only on the brink of death would He be unable to maintain the divine era enterprise of the Kingdom of Senlo, and even the ‘cataclysm’ itself was likely due to His original form suffering a fatal injury, leading to the extinction of billions of Senlo people!

He was bleeding, so Senlo’s environment worsened year by year; He couldn’t initiate a divine era, so the wasteland persisted for over two hundred years!

Therefore, the third ‘Link of Truth’ asking ‘what is the conclusion’ referred to ‘what will happen to the Kingdom of Senlo when the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo steps into death.’

When a person dies, they instinctively unleash the most intense despair. Igor didn’t believe a Divine Sovereign could resist the despair of death, and because He was trying to save Himself, stretching the moment of death unbearably long, it would ultimately breed extreme malice.

He had likely been in a state of severe injury and near death for two hundred years, yet there were still no signs of improvement.

If the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s death would lead to the destruction of the Kingdom of Senlo and the extinction of all beings, it would be an unstoppable Doomsday. But Igor recalled Silver Lantern’s actions and suddenly realized another more terrifying possibility-if the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo died, but the Kingdom of Senlo still existed, what would happen?

As the Dream Master of the ‘Idealistic Senlo,’ the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s despair would be enough to taint the entire land, turning the Choking Green into a constant presence even during the day, strangling everyone, and then-

All would enter the most despairing conclusion.

In a flash of insight, the con artist fully grasped Silver Lantern’s intentions. Though lacking the most crucial puzzle piece, he was confident this was the truth Silver Lantern wanted Ashe to know.

He abruptly stood up and grabbed Harvey. The necromancer said, “Alright, alright, I’ll have Alice come out and go with me to stop them-“

“No.”

Igor firmly pressed down on the necromancer’s shoulder, his eyes filled with chilling intent. “We need to kill Silver Lantern.”

Harvey was slightly taken aback, his expression unchanged, but his eyes clearly questioned, ‘This isn’t what we agreed on.’

“She isn’t self-deceiving, nor is she wishful thinking; she’s just selfish.”

“Silver Lantern must die,” Igor said, enunciating each word. “There’s no need to make it difficult for him.”