Sorcerer's Handbook-Chapter 621: Idealistic Sen Luo

In the Sanctuary of Heritage, the orc Chikara carried a coffin on his shoulder, observing Ashe and the others with a growing sense of seriousness, though he was somewhat puzzled.

Was Sen Luo’s unreality really that surprising? What difference did it make to know this? Would it get you a discount on fruits?

Besides, wasn’t this common knowledge?

The world was never truly real; what each person perceived was merely a ‘facet’ of the world. For instance, Chikara had discovered he was somewhat colorblind to blue and green, yet his hearing surpassed that of other races in high frequencies, which seemed to be a trait of the orc race.

This also meant that the world he perceived was different from others.

Later, the orcs realized that beyond the senses, the same event appeared differently to each person. Some saw war, others saw opportunity, some saw evil, and others saw kindness… Each person’s eyes reflected only a facet of the world, meaning the world each perceived was false.

His surrender to the Four Pillars Cult, and now to Ashe and the others, was for this reason-he lacked the pride of a sanctuary sorcerer and didn’t care about others’ opinions, as long as his own needs were met.

Because the orcs had long understood that people could not truly understand each other, each could only be responsible for themselves.

This perhaps was the most significant difference between the Four Pillars Cult and other sects: the former tried to make everyone understand this point, while the latter mostly tried to deny it.

Thus, Chikara didn’t overthink but instead focused on Gwen beside Igor. As the saying goes, love your work, and Chikara quickly embraced his role as a subordinate, pondering how to elevate his status-currently lower than the quartet and Alice, but on par with Gwen, who was also a trophy. The urgent task was to demonstrate his usefulness and surpass Gwen!

“I, Chikara, can’t possibly have a lower status than that two-wings woman!”

Everyone glanced at Chikara, who was completely unaware he was speaking his mind, thinking the influence of the Four Pillars Cult on orcs was indeed profound.

After Ashe gave him a sip of water, Igor finally calmed down completely. He handed his draft paper to Ashe, saying, “Look here, we’ve never connected the dots, but if you think about it, Sen Luo is really strange.”

“The Gospel Kingdom has the Gospel system because the Yisuo royal family worships the Gospel deity, but what about Sen Luo? Civilization is severed, it’s a wasteland Doomsday, yet the Demi-God system still functions. What maintains this system?”

“A deity? Deities require energy to be driven, and Sen Luo has no unified government to worship a deity.”

“We’ve known about the Demi-God since we arrived in Sen Luo, and over time we’ve gotten used to it. But if you told others, they wouldn’t believe such a system exists: it defies the laws of death, allowing people to avoid descending into hell after death, instead condensing into stronger obsessions to continue existing!”

“It gives death a second outcome-this is undoubtedly a divine intervention!”

Igor was right.

The Blood Moon is the most ‘primitive’ Kingdom, with no plugins, at most the Blood Moon Sovereign forcibly supporting two new races;

Gospel, on the other hand, has a ‘Gospel system’ plugin, but running this plugin requires dozens of legendary sanctuaries as maintenance personnel, which is understandable, and the ‘Gospel system’ does not interfere with the underlying logic of the world;

Sen Luo is truly baffling. Ashe and the others have yet to see any maintenance team, yet the ‘Demi-God system’ plugin that interferes with the fundamental laws of life and death is still operating!

People die and become Demi-Gods, Demi-Gods ascend to deities, and in Sen Luo, this is a natural upgrade system.

But why?

In other Kingdoms, whether you’re a legendary sorcerer or a sage, you must obediently take a trip to hell after death, then become learning material for future generations in the Virtual Realm.

Death is the ultimate fairness, and Sen Luo breaks this rule.

“Moreover, you’ve realized the effects of the divine era heritage are too outrageous, haven’t you?” Igor pointed to his draft paper, “The ‘Mirage Prism’, ‘Twin’, ‘Sanctuary’… these heritages, though their effective range is inferior to the Gospel system, are on the same level in terms of impact. Especially the ‘Sanctuary’, even divine intervention might not extend 10 hours to thirty thousand years, right?”

Ashe glanced at the draft paper and nodded slightly, “Indeed.”

“But these aren’t the main issues; the biggest issue is the Abyss!” Igor looked around, “Do you know how the Abyss is formed?”

Naturally, the people of Sen Luo couldn’t answer this question. Harvey thought for a moment, “I remember, it’s said that where sorcerers gather, there will be an Abyss.”

“Exactly,” Igor nodded, “because the Abyss is a product nurtured by sorcerers.”

He paused, “When sorcerers die, their souls are pulled by gravity into the earth until they reach hell. But during the journey to hell, the negative energy of the sorcerer’s soul already pollutes the earth. Death is a fate that all things cannot avoid, whether you’re a legend or a hero, at the moment of death, immense fear, unwillingness, and even despair are inevitable, so souls after death are almost always dark and filthy.”

“Only by experiencing the Sixfold Hell can a purified soul reach the Virtual Realm.”

“The Abyss is the gap between reality and hell. So, the more sorcerers there are, the stronger the Abyss becomes.”

“Sen Luo has no Abyss, only two possibilities: either the souls of Sen Luo’s sorcerers don’t traverse hell to enter the Virtual Realm-“

“Impossible.” Ashe shook his head, “I’ve seen the projections of Sen Luo sorcerers in the Virtual Realm.”

“So, there’s only the second possibility,” Igor said, “the earth is fake. Even if a sorcerer’s soul falls into the earth, it can’t pollute an inch of soil.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment, and Harvey stomped on the ground, “Are you saying, if I stomp hard enough, the ground will break like paper?”

“Igor.” Ashe reminded, “We’ve seen more than one underground city.”

“Areas observed by people will collapse into reality, but places unobserved by people are fake.” Igor pulled out a third draft paper, pointing to it, “There’s another crucial clue-there’s no starlight in the night.”

“This is because the people of Sen Luo have never seen the starry sky; they can’t imagine a night lit by stars.”

Ashe vaguely grasped Igor’s keyword, “Imagine?”

“Exactly.” Igor had spoken too much in one breath, feeling a bit thirsty, and Gwen beside him immediately handed him some water. “Sen Luo is not a real world, but an idealistic world where willpower determines matter.”

“Here, sorcerers can transform into Demi-Gods through strong obsessions, ascend to deities through the faith of countless people; sorcerers can rely not only on technical power but also infuse imagination into fantasy creations, hence the ability to create so many heritages that rival deities; the people of Sen Luo are united in their pursuit of ideals because they too are swept by the power of idealism.”

“We should have realized this earlier,” Igor looked at Ashe and Harvey, “why is Sen Luo so powerful, yet we’ve never heard of it?”

Indeed.

Sen Luo had the production capacity of millions of legendary sorcerers two hundred years ago, at a time when the Blood Moon Kingdom was just entering the industrial era, and the Gospel Kingdom hadn’t yet entered the electrical age. If the Sen Luo Kingdom had a virtual realm passage with other Kingdoms, even if it only allowed two-wings sorcerers through a Level 2 virtual realm passage, as long as Gray Fox sorcerers equipped heritages like the ‘Sanctuary’, or dispatched divine hosts, they could still crush other Kingdoms.

However, Ashe and the others could find traces of other Kingdoms’ technology in Sen Luo but found no evidence of Sen Luo’s advanced development in other Kingdoms.

“Because the divine era civilization is a civilization unique to the Sen Luo Kingdom,” Igor said, “heritages, divine hosts, Demi-Gods… these local specialties are meaningless once they leave Sen Luo; they can only be effective within Sen Luo. Unless other Kingdoms invade Sen Luo, Sen Luo has no advantage over other Kingdoms.”

“Don’t forget, if Sen Luo sorcerers were truly exceptional, other Kingdoms’ sorcerers could also gain knowledge of Sen Luo sorcerers from the Virtual Realm.”

Ashe had a slight realization: the Virtual Realm is an online game, but each Kingdom is a single-player game. The Divine Sovereign can add various elements to their single-player Kingdom, and others entering the single-player Kingdom must abide by the rules of different single-player Kingdoms, such as Sen Luo having Demi-Gods and divine hosts, and Gospel having the Gospel system.

But in the online realm (Virtual Realm), only the most primitive laws can be effective. And the knowledge that can be passed on in the Virtual Realm must be universal knowledge applicable to all regions.

Raven suddenly spoke, “But couldn’t these be the Divine Sovereign’s aid to the Sen Luo Kingdom?”

Indeed, the Demi-God system, idealistic creations, and the absence of the Abyss could be seen as the Chasm Sovereign of Sen Luo’s care for the Sen Luo Kingdom. If the Omniscient Weaver can install the Gospel system for the Gospel Kingdom, can’t the Chasm Sovereign of Sen Luo install a few more plugins?

“Let’s not discuss whether the Chasm Sovereign of Sen Luo has the means to directly interfere with reality, but if it were the Divine Sovereign’s aid, would they intentionally harm you?” Igor asked, “Then what about the Choking Green?”

Raven was taken aback, then after a moment of silence, said, “It’s a harsh system meant to spur us to keep striving and eliminate the lazy and weak.”

“There’s no need for that. In the wave of united faith, even without the Choking Green, everyone would ultimately follow the Demi-God path.” Igor said, “The Choking Green is actually a variant of the Abyss.”

“Although the sorcerer’s soul eventually goes to the Virtual Realm, the despair of the soul remains in this world. There’s no soil to form an Abyss here, so the negative energy gathers in the unseen night, transforming into the Choking Green that devours the will, turning all weak-willed individuals into monsters.”

“Whether or not the Choking Green was part of the Chasm Sovereign of Sen Luo’s plan, it happens to complement the Demi-God system, so they didn’t interfere with this mechanism.”

“They just needed a Kingdom that could steadily produce deities.” Igor said, “Everything in the Sen Luo Kingdom serves this purpose.”

By now, everyone understood Igor’s deduction process.

Perhaps the Chasm Sovereign of Sen Luo initially just wanted to create an idealistic environment for mortals to ascend to deities, but changes in the world’s fundamental laws led to endless variations, with the Choking Green, fantasy creations, and waves of faith being effects of the idealistic world. The Chasm Sovereign of Sen Luo may have intervened, or perhaps not, but the fact is that the Sen Luo Kingdom has indeed produced four generations of deities, and they succeeded.

Ashe and the others could quickly accept this outcome, as they were not locals. But for others, it might be harder to accept this truth.

Ashe patted Raven’s shoulder, “Even if the world is idealistic, it’s still yours.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not shaken at all.” Raven said, “I will never give the world to those hideous evil ravens.”

A chuckle escaped.

The orc suddenly laughed, and everyone looked at him. He quickly explained, “I just thought of something funny.”

“If it’s not funny, you’ll carry the coffin upside down.” Igor said.

Seeing Harvey nod, Chikara quickly said, “I just thought, according to Mr. Bukin’s theory, the Sen Luo Kingdom is like those dream phantoms with affixes. Sigh, I’ve never been good at deciphering affixes, usually relying on brute force to break through the phantoms…”

Igor was taken aback, murmuring, “Dream phantoms…”

“There’s really no need to take it seriously, what difference does it make to know these things?” Ashe seemed calm despite hearing this shocking secret, clapping his hands, “The essence of the world doesn’t really concern us, does it?”

Harvey glanced at him, “Ashe, we’re already sanctuary sorcerers.”

Even in the Sen Luo Kingdom, sanctuary sorcerers were considered researchers capable of exploring the essence of cutting-edge technology.

“More importantly, Igor, do you recognize your own writing?”

Ashe handed the draft paper back to Igor, and the Con Artist nodded, “Of course, I’m not you.”

“Then what does this word mean?”

“This word means ‘Gospel Kingdom’…” Igor immediately realized, his face showing confusion, “How is that possible…”

Ashe had noticed earlier that the draft paper wasn’t written in proper text, but it wasn’t exactly gibberish either. With Igor’s explanation, he realized it was multiple words merged into one.

It was likely a side effect of the “Link of Truth,” where Igor’s writing speed couldn’t keep up with his thought process during deduction, so he subconsciously compressed the text further, creating recognizable but incomprehensible merged characters.

Harvey suddenly said, “Silver Lantern might be related to this place.”

He glanced at the others, “Her ‘delusion’ ideology seems to overlap with this truth to some extent.”

Having clashed with Silver Lantern for a long time, everyone had always wondered-where did Silver Lantern’s worldview originate?

No cult in the wasteland aligned with her worldview, not even the Four Pillars were as extreme as her. A person’s thoughts couldn’t be rootless; consciousness must be influenced by the environment, and now, they seemed to glimpse a corner of Silver Lantern’s hidden iceberg.

Although ‘Sen Luo isn’t real’ is still a distance from Silver Lantern’s ‘reality is just a delusion,’ they’ve only cracked the first Fog Wall, and the subsequent ones might provide more detailed answers.

“Perhaps,” Raven interjected, “but so what?”

“At most, it shows she’s not a madwoman without reason, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s still an evil raven with countless murders to her name.” His distorted voice was full of solemnity, “We can understand her to find her weaknesses, but we must not develop any sympathy for her through understanding.”

“Only the souls in hell have the right to forgive her.”

“Do I look like someone who would have any sympathy for the living?” Harvey glanced at Raven.

Igor squinted at Raven, “I think, as sorcerers, we don’t need a literate to lecture us-“

“Alright.” Ashe interrupted them, leading the way through the Fog Wall, which no longer blocked someone who knew the truth, “Tamashi is right.”

“Let’s continue exploring.”