Is Yaxiu the Only One Without One? Only Yaxiu? Only Yaxiu?!

Everlasting Walker! Although the name was steeped in wicked, arrogant flair, the effect was practically Yaxiu challenging Freya—instant death right after the climax. Luck +5 wasn't much of a boost, but at critical moments, it slapped on a Luck -50. Win a single piece of candy, lose an entire factory. Perhaps only mutual fund investing could lose money faster than this. On top of that, it made him "more likely to trigger mysterious events, more likely to cause complications, more likely to draw fate's hostility, and more likely to trigger critical failures." In short, he was far more prone to bad luck, and the moment misfortune struck, Luck -50 kicked in—a flawless one-two combo, like an all-out offensive from a Veela. If Yaxiu had a stable life, or even a normal home, he might have been able to withstand the drawbacks of this profession. After all, Luck -50 sounded terrifying, but it required the precondition of triggering a "critical moment" first. The way to avoid it was very simple. Just as moral blackmail required the target to have morals, if Yaxiu were an absolute good-for-nothing living a placid, uneventful life, no matter how low his luck dropped, the worst it could do was affect his odds of explosive diarrhea after eating Wallace fried chicken. Yet right now, Yaxiu not only lacked a stable life, he didn't even have a home. He genuinely wondered whether sleeping under an overpass would cause him to run into non-stop muggings, gang firefights, serial killers, Veela hunts, or foreign sorcerer invasions all night long due to his profession's traits. For Yaxiu, then, the option of "integrating into this country from the bottom" carried far too much risk. Finding a place to live, finding a job, and securing sorcerer resources were already exceedingly troublesome; with an added Luck -50, Yaxiu felt like every single agency or broker he encountered would be a ruthless scammer. Annan's hundred-day contract, while restricting his freedom, also meant his safety was guaranteed—the very first clause stipulated that the slave owner had to protect her slaves. With Annan acting as a buffer, Yaxiu could at least safely weather the perilous "newbie stage." Besides, he refused to believe bad luck would aim lightning bolts straight at his head like a sniper. It would definitely take the form of an event-scale area-of-effect strike with a fifty-meter radius centered on him. When the time came, dragging Igola, Annan, and the others into it would at least spread the misfortune around. If something truly terrible happened, someone else could cushion the blow. Come to think of it, that negative Everlasting status had most likely been planted when Serena slammed his head. Immediately after, two major disasters struck: Annan looting a burning house, and the little girl Lisi scamming him with weaponized cuteness. Luck +5 had yet to show any noticeable benefit, but Luck -50 was certainly demonstrating remarkable efficacy. While he was lost in thought, they arrived in the living room. Annan's residence seemed to be designed as an entire full-floor penthouse. The entire negative fifty-first floor was her home, and the living room alone looked to be over a hundred square meters. When Yaxiu and the others walked in, they happened to see several mechanical spiders crawling back into their web-nests to recharge. When they had first entered earlier, Yaxiu had seen these mechanical spiders cleaning. Words were hardly needed; anyone with eyes could see the advantages of such arachnid machines: extraordinarily agile, leaving no blind spots untouched, and capable of three-dimensional cleaning. There was no sign of other servants here. Daily housekeeping was likely handled entirely by mechanical spiders. Coupled with the drone delivery system and the advanced automated vehicular network outside, it appeared manual laborers here no longer possessed any exploitation value. Although both were sorcerer-dominated nations, this place utterly crushed the Blood Moon Country in development on both macro and micro levels. Yaxiu couldn't help considering a possibility: was Blood Moon truly the most barbaric and subpar sorcerer civilization? Had his transmigration been a hell-mode start all along? "Please, have a seat." Annan was already sitting at one end of the long table waiting for them. She had changed into a set of purple silk pajamas—Yaxiu felt he could already guess the color of this woman's underwear. The white-haired little girl, Lisi, sat beside her holding a cup of milk, wearing adorable rabbit pajamas, her eyes bright and full of energy. Naturally so. During the hour-long car ride from the outskirts where the Four Pillar Cult was based to the city center, only Lisi had slept like a log. Yaxiu and the other two had taken turns catching quick naps. The young butler, Banjie, stood to the side attending them. Setting aside his youthful appearance, he was as composed and steady as a sixty-year-old veteran butler. On the table lay four rings with an aluminum metallic sheen, engraved with the numbers 1 through 12. Sleek and futuristic, three were large and one was small. "It doesn't matter which finger you put it on. To use it, put it on and twist it once," Annan said as she buffed her nails. "These are Salome's newest model of Gospel Rings. They come in Starry Grey, Matte Black, and Brilliant Blue. If there's a color you prefer, speak up; you can exchange it within seven days. The numbers on the ring are merely for telling time, purely decorative." "A Gospel Ring?" Igola picked up a ring and inspected it closely. "That's right, exactly what you're thinking," Annan said. "Once you put it on, you'll be able to open the *Book of Gospel*. Most of your questions can be answered within it." Lisi, who couldn't wait, had already put her ring on. Hearing this, she decisively turned it once. Yaxiu and the others exchanged glances, then each slipped theirs on and rotated them as well. The next second, four distinct books materialized before them. Lisi's book had a crystal cover that radiated a rainbow brilliance; Harvey's book looked bound in bleached bone, billowing with grayish mist; Igola's book gleamed with dazzling, blinding golden light... Yaxiu's book was the strangest of all. While everyone else's covers featured solid colors or assorted runic patterns, his cover depicted a hooded figure hanging upside down, holding a book to conceal their face—utterly mysterious. Annan couldn't resist looking twice at Yaxiu's book, though she soon lost interest. "Look at the Book of Gospel and silently say 'My Profile.'" Yaxiu followed her instructions. The Book of Gospel immediately unfolded, displaying lines of information: [Yaxiu Heath] [Current Points: 0] [Points Available This Month: 0] [Current Rankings: None] "Huh?" Yaxiu glanced sideways and saw expressions of shock on Igola's and Harvey's faces. He found it a bit odd—this setup didn't seem technologically all that different from a chip's light screen. Were they really acting like such country bumpkins over this— "Sister Annan, I'm ranked tenth on the *Azuma Beauty Ranking*!" Lisi showed off excitedly. Yaxiu blinked. "Rank one on the *Two-Wing Necromancy Ranking · Azuma Sub-ranking*," Harvey murmured faintly. "It seems the necromancy faction isn't developing very well here. I'm actually in first place..." "Wait, Harvey, when did you reach Two Wings?" Yaxiu suddenly caught onto a detail. "During the Blood Moon Trial, you were still a One-Wing Sorcerer!" "My foundation had actually been sufficient for a long time. During the jailbreak, I absorbed enough sorcery power in the Void Realm, allowing my necromancy faction attainment to smoothly break through to the Gold rank. Once I advanced my natal sorcery spirit to Two Wings, I crossed over into the Time Continent without a hitch," Harvey said with a shrug. "For a newly advanced Two-Winged Sorcerer of the necromancy faction like me to take first place here... sigh, I feel like I've walked into a cultural wasteland." "Isn't first place good?" Igola raised an eyebrow. "Rank two on the *Two-Wing Mind Ranking · Azuma Sub-ranking*, and rank five on the *Azuma Beauty Ranking*... Putting the beauty ranking aside, there's actually a Two-Winged Sorcerer here whose mind faction attainment is higher than mine. If this were Blood Moon, I might already be looking to hire you to assassinate my colleague." "You're strange. If someone is stronger than you, shouldn't you be thinking of surpassing them through sheer strength?" "Isn't spending money to have him assassinated also sheer strength? Resources, connections, influence, intelligence—those are the true strength of a mind sorcerer. Sorcery power is merely a negligible part of it." Harvey pondered for a moment, then surprisingly agreed with Igola's twisted logic. "Fair enough. After all, corpses count as part of my hard power too. Sorcery power alone hardly defines everything about me..." As they talked, they suddenly noticed a noisy voice was missing. The two turned to look at Yaxiu. "Yaxiu, what rankings do you have?" "M-Me?" Yaxiu said disdainfully. "This is top-secret information! How could I casually leak it like you two—" "Turn your 'My Profile' pages toward me," Annan instructed. Yaxiu and the other two complied instantly. Lisi obediently turned her book around as well. Annan glanced at it and saw the name was indeed "Lisi," with zero points in her account. The final trace of suspicion in her heart regarding this mystery girl was put to rest. At the same time, Yaxiu's page was completely exposed to Igola and Harvey. Igola feigned shock, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Ah, my dear Yaxiu, you don't have any rankings at all?" "No way! Is Yaxiu the only one without a single ranking? Only Yaxiu? Only Yaxiu?!" "As expected of Yaxiu! This truly is a secret that needs hiding. You absolutely can't let people discover how embarrassing you are—" The corners of Yaxiu's mouth twitched with fury. Never mind that bastard Veela Igola, but even Harvey, the necromancer who wore a dead-fish expression all day, was laughing as if he had overdosed on moon sugar, his shoulders shaking so violently his pajamas nearly slipped off. "Harvey, in our jailbreak operation, who was dragging their feet and who was dead weight? I think the verdict is pretty clear." "I-Indeed, hahahaha! Sorry, Yaxiu, I really can't help you here. This is just too funny, hahaha—" "Hmph, laugh all you want." Yaxiu abandoned all dignity. "As long as I work hard, I'll definitely place near the top!" "'As long as I work hard, I'll definitely get into university!'" The corners of Igola's mouth curled almost to the sky. "Ah, how nostalgic. The classmate who said that seems to have become the ace 'Silver Fire Dragon' at a mud cafe." "Yaxiu, don't be like that," Harvey laughed. "I promise you, if there's ever a Corpse Ranking, I will do everything in my power to get you near the top!" "Daddy, don't be sad!" Lisi said, balling her little fists. "I won't look down on you!" "Are you really still going to call me Daddy?" Yaxiu couldn't help saying. "Huh? But besides Daddy, who else would promise to protect Lisi forever and always listen to Lisi?" Lisi said earnestly. "I believe that even an incompetent daddy can protect Lisi well!" "When did the contract's duration get extended to forever—" Harvey pointed out, "She didn't mention any time limit when she made the vow. Theoretically, even after you die and I turn you into an undead creature, you'll still have to protect her." "Stop, stop." Annan tapped lightly on the tabletop. "Now that you have a rough understanding of the *Book of Gospel*'s significance, we should move on to business." "Is it about points?" Igola guessed. "The higher the ranking, the more points earned. Do you want us to hand all our points over to you?" "Ever since I turned sixteen, I've held placements on three or more rankings, and Banjie has just as many as I do," Annan said languidly. "I have no interest in your petty handful of points." "However, your work does involve the rankings, and it does involve the *Book of Gospel*." Annan blew on her fingernails. "I need you to become the future number ones."