The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 333: The Heart's Barrier

The back of his hand was burning.

Iger had returned to his room early, dressed in nothing but a coral fleece robe. For safety, he had already prepared a decoy, an Iger dummy, before entering the dream. However, his actual body wasn't hidden in a closet or under the bed. Instead, it was hidden inside the dummy itself.

Truth within illusion, illusion within truth. Outwitting even the air itself was simply a fraudster's daily routine.

He stared at the glowing, heated mark on his hand. With his Gold Rank proficiency in the Mind Class, he could feel that the fuel sustaining the mark's activation was his own positive emotions.

This was a grand miracle of the Senheiser Family District. Once the primary crest activated the Miracle, all subsidiary crests responded in kind. There was no secrecy to this magic. It operated purely based on the crest's physical pattern. In other words, if he really wanted to, Iger could simply draw a functional crest for himself.

This flawed authentication method made one thing clear. The six great families of Vanmura had never truly forbidden outsiders from entering the Family Dream. One of Annan's original plans had involved hiding within another family's territory, and Iger had once wondered what leverage she possessed to smuggle a group of strangers along. Now he saw that joining a crest-bearing family in Vanmura was no harder than stepping into a teahouse. One might even get pulled in just by walking past.

The problem, however, was that while entering was easy, leaving was another matter entirely.

A teahouse[1] used beauty to detain the body, while a family used love to dissolve the soul.

Recalling Pankey's warning, Iger felt a flicker of hesitation. As a Mind Class sorcerer, he lived by the principle that "those skilled in swimming are the ones who drown." He never relied on his Mind Class discipline to challenge addictive traps like sweets, murder, or gambling. He had caused deaths before, yes, but he never personally pulled the trigger. Gambling was a tool for work, never a form of leisure.

The deeper one explored the limits of the mind, the more restrained a Mind Class sorcerer became. Only the ignorant believed they could "overcome sugar addiction," "kill without blinking," or "gamble in moderation." A wise person simply avoided such things from the start, knowing they could erode one's reason.

Asking him to enter the Family Reincarnation Dream was like sending a walking fuel tank to work at a gas station. In the past, Iger would have refused the task outright. But... for public reasons, he was living under someone else's roof. Unlike Pankey, he hadn't changed Annan's diapers, so he had no standing to oppose her. On a personal level, he was also hungry for the second future ranking.

The Divine Wish. The future ranking. Either was enough to stir a fraudster's soul. When Annan first proposed the plan to desecrate the Divine, Iger had already decided to join. As an ambitious social engineer, he found it impossible to resist such a grand scheme, or a "big feast," as fraudsters called it.

Beyond distant ideals, there was the matter of immediate survival. They were not out of the woods yet. The Red Hats and the agency aside, the mother and daughter, Annan and Quinna, were threats right at their doorstep.

To survive, Iger needed to prove his value. When a person's value rose high enough, others would step in to clean up their messes. Ashe was the perfect example of that.

After casting Heart of Stone and Iron Will on himself, Iger's mind became utterly still. Even if the sky collapsed, his emotions would not waver.

He didn't intend to act immediately on this first night. Instead, he planned a trial run, a careful investigation of the dream under the strict premise of avoiding addiction.

As his consciousness sank into the burning crest, Iger felt his soul rise like a wisp of smoke. The sensation was entirely different from entering the Virtual World. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a vast expanse of white, boundless and solitary.

Looking up, he saw countless bubbles floating above.

With a single glance, he could discern the worlds within them. There were realms of endless feasts, arenas for Legendary sorcerers, misty fishing havens, and battlefields choked with bone...

These were worlds with massive numbers of participants. However, when Iger brushed his mind against the thought of romance, the bubbles instantly shifted. Now they were all romance-themed, with participant counts ranging from one-on-one to a hundred-against-one.

Iger didn't rush in. He first adjusted his appearance to ensure he wouldn't be recognized. Long skilled in the art of disguise, altering his face was as natural as breathing.

[Appearance No. 78: Literary Veela Maiden.]

To ensure total concealment, he chose a rarely used female form. His voice shifted accordingly. At this point, even Harvey or Ashe wouldn't recognize him.

A voice drifted through the white mist. "Hello there!"

Iger stiffened, then realized that while he had been searching for a romance bubble, he had inadvertently become one himself. Someone had come directly to him.

And from the sound of that voice... Could the other party also be a girl?

As the sound of footsteps approached through the white mist, streaks of blue and green bled outward. The sky cleared into a brilliant azure, the ground transformed into lush grass, and a cool breeze brushed against him. This was the greatest charm of the Family Reincarnation Dream. Each dream was its own microcosm, an environment that shifted according to the owner's will. If one could conceive it, one could make it real.

Soon, Iger saw his first... romance match.

She wasn't tall, barely reaching 1.5 meters. A fluffy tail swayed behind her, and she wore an obviously oversized dark-red gradient coat. On her face was a mask that looked... strangely familiar to him?

The moment she spotted him, she waved enthusiastically and broke into a sprint.

Thud!

Halfway there, she tripped over her own feet and fell flat onto the grass, lying perfectly still.

That appearance. That clumsiness. That personality...

Iger fell silent for a moment, then walked over and crouched beside her. "Are you alright?"

The girl in the dark-red coat suddenly sprang up and tackled him, pinning him to the ground. She rubbed her face against the delicate features he had just crafted, giggling. "Got you! Miss, would you happen to want to date me?!"

Feeling the softness of the person in his arms, Iger's expression remained stony. He maintained the cool indifference of a "literary girl."

Good thing I made thorough preparations. Good thing I cast Heart of Stone and Iron Will on myself. This combination should have formed an impenetrable mental barrier, making me immune to all temptations.

Right now, his heart wasn't shaken in the slightest. Yes! Outwitting even the air had its rewards. Quick! This is the trap of the Family Reincarnation Dream. This is Quinna's scheme. I have to knock this troublesome woman away with one punch before it's too late!

Crack.

Sss...

Iger froze. What is that sound? It sounds like... stone shattering and steel rusting.

The girl in the dark-red coat wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes sparkling like stars. "What's your name? My name is Hope."

"My name is... Irina."

The barrier in his heart... could not hold.

1. Refer to C141. In this context, it refers to an establishment for prostitution. ☜