"Yaxiu Heath actually managed to make the rankings again... Is this the secret heritage of the Doran family?"
In Azula, inside the Family Harmony Agency, Aina Aldo, the "Red Cicada Duchess," was also watching the Book of Gospel's live updates.
She had not taken part in the operation to capture Annan and the others.
She was simply too old.
Though a Sanctuary Sorcerer, the Duchess was also an elderly woman. A sorcerer's growth in power did not directly extend their lifespan, and Sanctuary Sorcerers enjoyed no greater longevity than ordinary mortals. In peaceful eras like this, sorcerers were even prone to dying prematurely from excessive soul exhaustion, whereas normal people could comfortably live out their natural lives.
Although the Duchess's sorcery power remained at its peak, her aging body wore down more than just her physical energy—it eroded her will. Compared to decades ago, she no longer possessed the bold, enterprising drive from when she had first become a sorcerer, nor did she feel any remaining curiosity or longing for the Void Realm. Every night, stepping into the Void Realm felt like visiting a grave.
She was sick of it.
Even if the Void Realm were a handsome man, she would have grown nauseated after all these years.
Much like how middle-aged men with erectile dysfunction developed obsessions with fishing, phone chargers, virtual games, or studying philosophy, the Duchess, once tired of the Void Realm, devoted all her energy to running her agency.
Forming alliances, trading favors, weaving social networks... The more wine a sorcerer drank, the less blood she saw.
Stability, career, personal power—you always had to sacrifice one to life.
In recent years, the Duchess rarely went out on missions herself. After all, she ran an agency precisely so subordinates could handle the work for her. If she had to do the heavy lifting even after founding an agency, what was the point of opening one in the first place?
Besides, two Sanctuary Red Hats were taking part in the capture operation this time. If an unforeseen accident occurred that even two Sanctuary Sorcerers could not resolve, a third wouldn't make a difference either.
Unlike the Red Hats, however, the primary target of the Family Harmony Agency was Annan, with the others being secondary. After all, it was better to teach a man to fish than to give him one. If they could obtain Annan's method for foretelling the future, that would be far more valuable than the Weaving Ceremony itself.
Indeed, the Duchess was already certain that Annan possessed a way to predict the future!
Back when she first learned that Annan's group had fled toward Fanmula, she had faintly suspected the second leaderboard might be related to families.
Just as dipping regular crabs into a famous lake could multiply their market value overnight, Annan had soaked her "tools" in the great melting pot of Fanmula's families. That likely caused the Weaving Ceremony to misjudge the bubble in their valuation, prompting an impulse purchase!
As a fellow agency practitioner, the Duchess understood that mindset all too well. Although the Gospel constantly evolved and perfected itself, it still followed rigid operational mechanisms, leaving far too many loopholes to exploit.
In truth, this loophole in the Weaving Ceremony was no grand secret. If the Gospel were an attractive young lady who held intelligence on all the locals, Annan's approach was to bring in outsiders like Yaxiu and dress them up as lavish, suave scions of ultra-wealthy families, leading the Gospel into a misjudgment and letting these scoundrels take advantage of her.
Yet there was one critical difficulty—how had Annan known the upcoming leaderboard's theme in advance, allowing her to groom her "tools" specifically to conquer the Gospel?
The term practically leaped into her mind on its own: foreseeing the future.
It could not possibly be that Annan had mastered the prophecy faction. The Weaving Ceremony was a divine miracle bestowed by the Omniscient Weaver; let alone a Two-Winged Sorcerer like her, not even a Legendary Prophecy Sorcerer could catch so much as a glimpse of the Gospel's graceful profile.
Therefore, only one possibility remained.
"Now everyone knows the Doran family possesses a Gospel loophole and can foresee the future through the Book of Gospel..." The Duchess sighed. "The competition is about to get much fiercer."
When the first leaderboard was released, most agencies had harbored doubts about Annan's true capabilities.
Purely due to distance, the only ones who had actually taken action were the Family Harmony Agency and the Blissful Tranquility Agency.
Now, however, things were different. Anyone who investigated Annan's travel route even slightly would easily deduce that she could predict the rankings in advance. Agencies from other regions, corporate enterprises, and even the royal family would surely take an interest in her.
Forget failing to capture Annan—even if the Family Harmony Agency managed to seize her, they likely wouldn't be able to keep such a prize.
It was time to bow out.
With retreat in mind, the Duchess picked up her communicator to order her subordinates to withdraw. Just then, the Book of Gospel updated with another ranking.
"Family Leaderboard, 9th Place: Mech Spirit Clan · Aldo"
Aina Aldo froze. Aldo?
"Mech Spirit Clan: A new undead branch created by fusing members of the Family Harmony Agency with liquid metal. Neither entirely mechanical nor entirely undead, they commonly possess base traits such as Cloud Computing Miracle, Electric Healing, and Automatic Operation."
"Cloud Computing Miracle: The core of a mech spirit is a soul chip, which produces the purest mental computing power. A sorcerer with the highest authority over mech spirits can task them with calculating and preloading miracles, allowing instantaneous activation whenever needed."
"Electric Healing: Mech spirits can absorb electricity of a certain intensity to mend injuries to their soul bodies."
"Automatic Operation: Mech spirits are the finest laborers, capable of continuous, repetitive work around the clock."
"Clan Head: Aina Aldo"
In the projection, a swarm of identical silver-white androids was working in flawless order. They had mechanical arms and caterpillar tracks for swift locomotion, set against the backdrop of a mechanical rampart they were actively constructing.
The Duchess was utterly dumbfounded.
What did "a new undead branch created by fusing members of the Family Harmony Agency with liquid metal" even mean? How could people fuse with liquid metal? Were they bathed in molten iron?
Besides, the mist spirits at least possessed some combat capability, but weren't these mech spirits just factory workers?
Even so, reviewing the mech spirits' abilities made the Duchess's heart skip a beat.
The first ability was preloading miracles. Many sorcerer miracles required coordinating multiple sorcery spirits, leading to vast disparities in casting times—some were instantaneous, while slower ones could take dozens of minutes to manifest!
If mech spirits could preload miracles in advance, a sorcerer's combat prowess and productivity would experience a qualitative leap. In combat, every miracle could be cast instantaneously, and one could even risk deploying highly complex composite miracles. In production, it would not only compress preparation time but also eliminate training costs; after all, mastering production miracles usually required squandering dozens or even hundreds of material batches!
The second ability, Electric Healing, meant mech spirits had no upkeep costs for food. Electricity was the cheapest energy source in the Gospel Country. Mech spirits that sustained themselves on electricity were easier to maintain than robots—robots still incurred maintenance and wear-and-tear costs!
The third ability, Automatic Operation, meant that even if a mech spirit's soul chip dedicated its full computing power to preloading miracles for a sorcerer, the spirit itself could still perform manual labor, squeezing productivity to the absolute limit!
Who wouldn't be enticed by such pure beasts of burden?
Just imagining owning such workhorse mech spirits felt exhilarating!
Unless, of course, you happened to be one of the beasts of burden.
"Aina Aldo has received the reward: 'Liquid Metal Chip.'"
"Liquid Metal Chip: Allows a sorcerer to freely transition between mech spirit and human form, while retaining full access to sorcerer abilities in mech spirit form."
A chill touched the back of Aina's neck, as though something had been inserted there. She closed her eyes for a moment, and countless droplets of mercury emerged from the nape of her neck, coating her entire body.
Seconds later, a youthful Aina Aldo appeared in the mirror.
Much like the Mist Spirit Ring, the Liquid Metal Chip came with its own exclusive projection:
"'Your idea really is brilliant—fusing steel with the undead, intertwining cold machinery with silent death, all while capitalizing on the flourishing mechanical sorcery faction of our era... Could you tell me what inspired it?'"
"'Hm? Because you said you were coming to Azula to build an undead legion, which reminded me of the Family Harmony Agency. Thinking of them reminded me of how they used smart mechs to hunt us down. Since they love messing with machines so much, we might as well turn them into machines—just a petty bit of vengeance, nothing more.'"
"'A source of inspiration entirely devoid of artistry.'"
"'Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment. Well then... Red Cicada Duchess, or Mech Spirit No. 001, I appoint you head of the Aldo Production Corps. Be sure to work hard every second from now on so I can enjoy a comfortable life.'"
"'Yes,' Aina replied in her silver-white robotic form. 'Your command is the destiny of the mech spirits.'"
Watching the scene unfold, Aina fell silent.
Right then, the communication call she had dialed earlier finally connected, and a subordinate's voice came through: "Duchess, what are your orders?"
"Did you capture Annan, Yaxiu, and the others?"
"No. The Gospel doesn't show any vehicles leaving Fanmula. They likely slipped out through other means... Should we pull back?"
"No." The Duchess stood up. "Stand by where you are. I'm coming to join you."
"What?" The subordinate was startled. "Duchess, you're going to lead the mission in person?"
"That's right." The Duchess snapped her fingers, and a hovercar glided over to the parking pad on her balcony outside. "Having offended someone, one shouldn't dream of getting away unscathed. After drinking wine for so many years, it's time to make others bleed."
Chapter 364