New Class: Unemployed Idler

[Observer of the End] [Human · Male · Age 25] [Trust: ∞] [Class: Unemployed Idler] [Class Trait: Sorcery spirits' appetite is reduced; feeding requirements are decreased by 50%.] [Inherent Talent · Sorcerer Handbook (Intermediate): Register other operators into the handbook. Experience gained by other operators will be shared with this character in proportion to their bond level. Current handbook pages: 1/2 (Talent cap can be unlocked as strength increases).] [Personal Special Skill · Wandering Soul from an Alien Domain: Effect unknown.] [Silver Blessing · Observer's Countenance: Your appearance is misleading. Unless you make abnormal movements, others will subconsciously overlook your presence. In the Void Realm, this blessing is enhanced; unless possessing an intimate bond, others cannot see your features clearly.] [Items Held: Honeyed Words and Daggered Heart, Void Realm Telescope, Alchemist's Refining Flask] [Controlled Sorcery Spirits: Heart Sword, Substitute, Transference, Earth Sword, Wind Wall...] [Swordsmanship Faction: Silver Level] [Radiance Faction: Silver Level] [Water Sorcery Faction: Silver Level] [Mind Faction: Silver Level] [Void Realm Exploration: 1.022%] [Curses of Knowledge: Vortex Secret Poison, Expulsion Secret Poison, Golden Fish Secret Poison] Sitting in Xilin's seat, Yaxiu gazed at the words floating in midair, lost in thought. After losing his chip, he naturally could not summon the light screen. However, the game *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* was bound not to the light screen, but to Yaxiu himself. He could still bring up the Sorcerer Handbook interface, though the resolution had plummeted from 4K ultra-HD down to 360p. Aside from Sword Princess's portrait shifting from pure yet sensuous to somewhat cartoonish, it made essentially no difference. Although Yaxiu felt that Xilin's ritual miracle hadn't affected him, when he opened his operator dossier and examined it for a good while, he discovered a change—his class had gone from "Cult Leader / Ancient Historian" to "Unemployed Idler"! However, the game had popped up no notification, and Yaxiu hadn't been monitoring his status information constantly. After all, with Sword Princess's portrait turned so cartoonish, he hadn't even bothered to open the game interface over the past few days, let alone check his own operator dossier. Yaxiu couldn't be sure whether this change in class was the effect of Xilin's miracle or the result of his jailbreak. After all, breaking out of prison truly had turned him from an employee on a state payroll with room, board, and entertainment provided into an unemployed idler roaming society. It made complete sense. After pondering for a moment, Yaxiu decided to stop racking his brain over the matter. Still, compared to the practically useless "+10 to Luck checks" and "+5 to Ancient Artifact Appraisal" from "Cult Leader / Ancient Historian," the new class trait was markedly more practical—sorcery spirit feeding costs cut by half! It was as though the sorcery spirits knew Yaxiu had lost his iron rice bowl and cheerfully welcomed a pay cut: *"I eat very little, I'm very easy to keep."* Closing the game panel, Yaxiu turned his attention to his personal dossier. This was the "Yaxiu Heath Dossier" compiled by Xilin. It contained the awards Heath had won at the rearing institute, middle school, and university; the part-time jobs he had held; his friends' evaluations of him; photographs of Heath at every stage of his life; and even Heath's browsing history on the Curtain. It truly covered everything down to the finest detail. The dossier was so well-organized that reading it felt not the least bit tedious. Soon, Heath's life trajectory took shape in Yaxiu's mind: assessed as having "Elite" aptitude at birth, he was sent to a municipal model rearing institute; ranked 36th in the intermediate examinations to enter high school; scored moderately in the admissions exams to enter the History Department under the Time Department at Kaimeng Comprehensive University; and founded his own venture immediately upon graduating, embarking on missionary activities based on a pyramid-scheme model. He consumed no sugar, didn't gamble, never visited tea cafes, had never taken a part-time gig at a mud cafe, and had a voting record of zero in the Blood Moon Trial. All of that might have been fine, but one detail about Heath gave Yaxiu the chills—Heath's browsing history on the Curtain consisted entirely of materials on politics, history, military affairs, sorcerers, religion, and racial studies. There was not a single record of him browsing adult videos or pictures! Never mind human women; even if it had been an orc male battling it out with an ogre male, Yaxiu might have found it unsettling, but at least understandable. Yet there wasn't a trace of anything along those lines! The only thing that came even remotely close to the erotic was the rumored all-female orc regular corps known as the "Rafflesia Troop." Supposedly, during estrus, they conducted reproductive hunts, chopping off the limbs of captured male orcs to turn them into "refueling stations." Their combat strength was formidable, terrifying, and twisted. But female orcs... surely Heath couldn't hold a heavy-duty truck driver's license too! In short, for an able-bodied young man of twenty-five to indulge in no filth whatsoever and never expend the slightest effort to satisfy his desires was proof enough that he was definitely not normal. Yet the dossier also indicated that Heath had had no unusual encounters or miraculous windfalls; it was as though enlightenment had struck him out of nowhere to start his enterprise. There was nothing explaining how Heath obtained materials on the Four Pillar Cult. Yaxiu had previously believed Professor Xilin was the mastermind and that Xilin had handed the cult materials to Heath. But Xilin had only ever held a single Blood Moon in his heart; clearly the elf hadn't been the one orchestrating things behind the scenes. "Hm?" Yaxiu noticed that Xilin had marked one record in red pen: Heath's leave of absence. Eight years ago, while Heath was still in middle school, he had taken two weeks of self-study leave, during which there was no record of anyone sighting him. Eight... eight years ago? Igola had once mentioned that eight years ago, Xilin took part in an archaeological expedition to some ruins, unearthing several ritual texts belonging to the Four Pillar Cult. Yet in that very same year, the ruins were struck by a Void Realm storm, causing most of the findings to be lost. But eight years ago, Heath was only seventeen... Yaxiu had thought he could achieve his revenge this time and unravel the mystery of Heath along the way, but it turned out Heath was like a nesting doll—peel back one layer, and there was always another beneath. What was more, Yaxiu had to consider another possibility: Xilin had told the truth as he knew it, but it was all an elaborate lie meant to deal with the Sin Hunting Hall. After all, memory modification existed in this world. Knowing Heath might betray him at any time, Xilin modifying his own memories, shifting all the blame onto Heath, and framing himself as a devout believer wholly dedicated to his nation with no room for a second moon in the sky—such an operation was entirely possible, and even highly probable. Though the matter remained shrouded in thick fog, Yaxiu decided to put digging into Heath's background on hold for now. As Heath's number one hater and ultimate stalker-fan, the materials Xilin had gathered were likely the most comprehensive and detailed available. This was the entirety of Heath in "reality." If Heath truly had some secret encounter unbeknownst to anyone, it was either in dreams, or... in the Void Realm. Truth be told, Yaxiu was on the verge of leaving the Blood Moon Country. However complicated Heath's past might be, to him it was ultimately someone else's story. Yet Yaxiu harbored a strong premonition that even if he left the Blood Moon, Heath's past would cling to him like a shadow. It was like seeing a gun mentioned in a mystery novel: that gun was bound to go off. Heath had gone through so much trouble; surely he hadn't done it all just to send Yaxiu to Shattered Lake Prison to live in luxury? The Four Pillar Gods, Heath, Touch, rituals... Yaxiu jotted these down in his little mental notebook. If he never ran into anyone involved, so be it; but if he crossed paths with them in the Void Realm, they shouldn't blame him for being ruthless enough to unleash Sword Princess on them. Next came loot-collecting time. Yaxiu rummaged through boxes and chests, turning up a total of 4 gold coins, 5 silver coins, a massive pile of luxury goods that seemed convertible to cash, and 5 sorcery spirit cocoons. This was a clear illustration of how a credit currency system had devastated the traditional offline industry of burglary. Although physical currency still circulated normally, the overwhelming majority of people had grown accustomed to paying via chips, carrying only a little emergency cash in everyday life. Xilin's total wealth would probably have to be counted in tens of thousands of gold coins, but day to day he needed to carry only a few gold and silver coins to feed his sorcery spirits, so naturally he wouldn't leave that much cash lying around at home. Compared to these few coins, the luminous wristwatch Xilin wore on his person was probably worth far more. Inside the five sorcery spirit cocoons were three two-winged sorcery spirits, one one-winged sorcery spirit, and one three-winged sorcery spirit! This should have been a magnificent haul, yet Yaxiu couldn't bring himself to rejoice. Because these sorcery spirit cocoons had chastity locks. To accommodate trade and various other demands, sorcerers had invented numerous methods to store and seal sorcery spirits. Fluorescent orbs were the most common technique: stuffing a sorcery spirit directly into a fluorescent orb caused it to enter a deep slumber, decreasing its feeding frequency by 70%. When a sorcerer acquired surplus sorcery spirits they had no immediate use for, sealing them in fluorescent orbs to cut feeding costs was a sound choice. However, fluorescent orbs had a severe downside—they possessed zero defenses. If an orb was damaged, the sorcery spirit would escape, and anyone who obtained the orb could directly take command of an unowned sorcery spirit. A sorcery spirit in a fluorescent orb was like cash withdrawn from a bank: vulnerable to theft and destruction. The sorcery spirit cocoons before Yaxiu were a higher-grade preservation method. A sorcery spirit sealed in a cocoon ceased all activity entirely and required no feeding at all. More importantly, each cocoon featured a three-dial combination lock; only by inputting sorcery power while the combination was correct could one dissolve the cocoon. Enter the wrong combination, and the cocoon would automatically lock down, solvable only by the original caster. It was said to be a miracle on par with the Sanctuary rank, meaning it was virtually impossible for a Two-Winged Sorcerer to breach it by brute force; even if one could, the cocoon would most likely self-destruct along with the sorcery spirit inside. Some might wonder: was a Three-Winged Sanctuary miracle really necessary just to seal a sorcery spirit? But in a stable, civilized society, sorcery spirits possessed not only practical utility, but also the potential to become luxury goods. The sole one-winged sorcery spirit among the cocoons was precisely such a luxury good. It resembled a cicada, emerald-green on the outside with golden light concealed within. This was the "Reverse Month" sorcery spirit. Reverse Month was a consumable sorcery spirit that vanished upon use. Its effect was simple: return a designated target's physical state in reality to how it was one month prior. If used on an elderly sorcerer, their bodily condition would revert to that of a month ago, while the sorcery power, memories, and sorcery spirits encased in their soul remained untouched. In other words, to a certain extent, it granted the recipient an extra month of lifespan. Apart from "Reverse Day" spirits, which were typically used for emergency healing, both "Reverse Month" and "Reverse Year" spirits were regarded as side-effect-free longevity spirits. They were in extremely high demand on the market, fetching exorbitant prices. Yaxiu had only heard about this from Sword Princess during casual chatter. In her words, "Scavenging on the Time Continent really can make you rich." This "Reverse Month" spirit had clearly been kept as a gift, and the other spirits likely held similar roles; there was even a two-winged swordsmanship spirit that was exceedingly rare when pushed to its limits. But after brief contemplation, Yaxiu made a decision that went against that little ancestor Sword Princess. [Recharge successful! You received 8 points.] [Recharge successful! You received 20 points.] ×3 [Recharge successful! You received 40 points.] The sorcery spirit cocoons couldn't be taken along. They were far too bulky to stuff into his pockets, and even if he could carry them, Yaxiu lacked the means to dissolve them. Feeding every spirit inside to that greedy little bitch of a system was naturally the best option. Still, only 40 points for a three-winged sorcery spirit was an absolute rip-off... After another sweep yielded no further valuables, Yaxiu began scouring the files Xilin had left behind. In order to hunt down "Yaxiu Heath," Xilin must have racked his brains trying to deduce Heath's escape routes and plugging every possible loophole Heath could exploit. Therefore— Xilin had very likely "helped" him map out an escape route with the highest chance of success! Yaxiu quickly found what he was looking for. *Report on Observation Post for Void Realm Passage No. 49 (Top Secret)* [April 21, 1668, 13:11. Water surge observed. Opposite side of passage is an underground river. Abandoned.] *Report on Observation Post for Void Realm Passage No. 53 (Top Secret)* [April 30, 1668, 17:36. "Rabbit" returned. Opposite side of passage is uninhabited wilderness. Safe; hunting festival may be held.] *** *Bewitching Girl's Sorcerer Handbook* [Format: Photo Album] [Contents: Various photographs of the Observer of the End] [Example: Photo 4512 (Bewitching Girl's Top 100 Picks) Source: A historic photograph secretly taken by Bewitching Girl from the sidelines during the cooperative consultation between the Observer of the End and the Dead Frenzy Sword Princess. Photo Caption: *Aaaaaah! How dare that damned, foul woman from that garbage country come within five meters of His Excellency the Observer?! Doesn't she know her place?! Barf, barf, barf! My Observer looks so handsome, so adorable, so radiant today—what divine, peerless beauty! I'm completely struck dumb, losing my mind, purged of all worldly desires! Is this really something I get to look at without paying?!*] [Reading Requirements: Female / Romantic Mindset / Veela / Infatuated / Mind Faction / Fond of the Observer (Satisfy any three)] [Possible Reward 1 · Heart of the Sage: You can endure all physical desires and pain] [Possible Reward 2 · God of Wilderness Gastronomy: You excel at creating delicious delicacies in any wilderness setting] [Possible Reward 3 · Mastery of Childcare Theory: You become highly skilled at caring for human or Veela infants]