At that moment, after reviewing the path of his future growth, Iger's expression grew complicated.

Pankey, the young butler, noticed and asked, "Mr. Perskin, is something troubling you?"

"Nothing, really... I just feel that... the people here are genuinely happy."

A trace of melancholy lingered in Iger's tone. "The answer I received just now, which cost me eighty-two points, is guidance I could never have bought with any sum in my former kingdom. But you, having grown up here, probably can't understand the perspective of someone from the countryside like me, can you?"

Pankey replied with a faint smile, "That's not necessarily true. The Book of Gospel may offer its blessings without reservation, but not everyone is qualified to receive them. The first time I prayed to it, I too was struck by the greatness of the Omniscient Weaver."

Iger hesitated, then spoke, "Actually, I've had a question since last night. All the leaderboards have fewer than ten thousand entries, and each lists only ten names. Even if we assume no one appears on more than one leaderboard, the entire kingdom still has fewer than a hundred thousand ranked positions. And ranking is the only way to earn points. How do ordinary people get any points at all?"

"Through organizations," Pankey said simply. "For example, when the Funeral Agency ranks on a leaderboard, the Lady distributes a portion of its profits as points to me. Ordinary people just need to join one of the top ten companies in a given field; their salaries already include points.

"Beyond that, points from various city rankings are shared with workers across fields. A portion of the Security Ranking's points, for instance, goes to the Red Hats. Essentially, any normal, taxpaying citizen receives a points bonus at the end of the year."

Iger nodded slowly. "Sounds fair enough..."

Ashe was drafting a question when he overheard. He raised an eyebrow. "Iger, do you really think it's fair?"

Iger was about to argue, but froze when he saw Pankey's surprised expression. He realized Ashe was right. However, even as a seasoned strategist, he couldn't immediately spot anything amiss.

Harvey leaned forward. "Someone as smart as you won't see the trick. You're confident you can join a good company, earn your first batch of points, and gradually snowball your growth. But think logically. The positions and companies that share points are limited. Those who compete for them have already used points to refine themselves into high-quality talents.

"Points are a universal currency. Nobody ever has enough of it. Unlike wealth, which can only be spent so much, points can be easily used up. So the Gospel Kingdom inevitably follows the 80/20 rule. Most points flow into the hands of a few. Add the family system into the mix, and the more a family accumulates in one generation, the easier it is for the next generation to rank. The lower classes simply lack the resources to compete with these point-rich families."

Iger frowned. "That can't be true, right? There should at least be free basic education—"

Harvey said, "That's why, Iger, you're too clever to see it. Could a child from your orphanage really become a Two-Winged sorcerer like you? You surpass most of your peers in intelligence and discipline. You can perfect your knowledge through self-study, but ordinary people need guidance, and that's where points come in."

Harvey glanced at Pankey. "Of course, I could be wrong. Perhaps points are truly a blessing from the Gospel Kingdom, not a barrier between classes."

Pankey flicked ash from his palm, smiling faintly. "You're not wrong, Mr. Harvey. But due to loopholes in the Book of Gospel, the Kingdom's social system is more complicated than it appears."

"Loopholes?"

"It seems the Lady may have skipped this detail," Pankey explained. "Aside from crime-related leaderboards, most normal rankings take personal credit into account."

Almost instantly, Ashe noticed a spark in Iger and Harvey's eyes, like the one that lit up when laid-off workers saw a new job opening.

"Not all crimes are caught. Even murder goes unnoticed if the Red Hats don't find out. But the Book of Gospel records all illegal acts in personal credit. If someone drops from a ranking unexpectedly, the Red Hats can profit by investigating. And the loophole? As long as the act isn't your own, your credit remains untouched."

Iger mused, "So those who aren't qualified to rank still have work suited to their abilities. I thought the offices handled the dirty work..."

"The offices don't touch the really messy tasks," Pankey said, pointing with his cigarette toward the balcony. "At most, they trim branches or handle pest control. Azura is actually a three-layered city. We have the sunlit canopy of the second layer, the massive trunk sprawling across the first, and the roots below, in the negative first layer, which draw nutrients from the ground."

***

In the Mermaid Palace, hidden within Azura's sewers.

Annan crouched by the pool and complained, "Are you seriously not going to buy a dehumidifier? It's all sticky and gross."

"This humidity is perfect for us sea witches," Sirimoro replied lazily, splashing her tail in the water.

Annan blocked the spray with a barrier. "Don't fuss. I don't want to get wet and have to go back like this."

"You could change clothes here," Sirimoro said, her voice lilting like a song. She rested her hands on the pool edge. "Your office has been delisted from the Task Rankings anyway. Since you betrayed your employer, you probably won't get any future commissions. If you're bored, why not join me in the water?"

"You sure get around," Annan muttered.

Sirimoro lifted her chin to look at Annan. "Water knows everything. Why not join us and become a mermaid[1]? You may not be a sea witch, but I can give you an important role and hold a bubble ceremony for you!"

Annan said irritably, "Thanks for the offer, but I don't like anyone, and I'm not interested in losing my voice[2]." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Sea witches were a branch of the fish people. Ordinary fish people had developed limbs but still retained fish traits; sea witches, by contrast, had mostly human upper bodies, coral-like fin ridges on their heads, and fish-like lower bodies.

Thanks to their prophetic talents, sea witches were virtually the uncrowned rulers behind the scenes of the Gospel Kingdom. They could extract maximum information from the Book of Gospel at minimal cost. The Ten Sea Witches were rooted in the nine most prosperous cities of the Kingdom, and someone like Sirimoro controlled all internal organizations within Azura.

The sea witches did not refuse outsiders, but new members had to undergo the Bubble Ceremony, in which participants had to either murder a loved one or lose their voice. Completing one of these trials would earn the trust of the sea witches and even grant a portion of their prophetic talent. At the same time, the participant forfeited the right to appear on normal leaderboards, serving as a form of initiation into the organization.

Sirimoro interrupted. "If this is about business, you know the rules."

Annan froze, then reluctantly dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups.

Mermaids had a peculiar habit. They enjoyed watching people exercise. If you wanted to negotiate with them, you'd have to work out while talking, much like drinking during business meetings in human culture.

Annan panted after only a few repetitions. "I will... use... my favor to make you do something for me."

Watching the fragrant sweat bead on Annan's forehead, Sirimoro giggled. With a sudden leap, she rose from the pool without splashing a drop and slid beside Annan, the slick sound of her movement echoing like a duet. "Are you sure? This is the favor you used to help me become a sea witch. Once it's spent, you'll never receive any privileges among the mermaids again."

"I'm sure."

"State your request. The water is listening."

"Over the past fifteen years in the Azura region, have there been any Echo Infants who died prematurely?"

Sirimoro summoned her deep-blue Book of Gospel. With a thought, the relevant data automatically organized itself. Once someone possessed a Book of Gospel, it continuously gathered all surrounding information, allowing the owner to access everything they had ever known without spending points. Essentially, it served as a portable, independent library.

"Seventy-six," Sirimoro said with a hint of schadenfreude. "Almost none survived, and the best one died at five."

"Did your people handle them directly?"

"Of course not. Nobody dares touch the messy work. Our clients always delegate the final execution to us. But if you want the Miracles of these families, I cannot provide them. We've signed contracts. Even legendary sorcerers cannot break the contracts recorded on woven paper in the Gospel Kingdom."

"I don't need their techniques. Do you handle the corpses as well?"

"Of course. It's all part of the job."

"And the quality of the Echo Infants?"

"Exceptional, given decades of iteration. Almost every infant was a prodigy across all sorcery classes. Some achieved Silver Rank at just two years old. But miracles like this come at a cost. Their short lifespans are almost inevitable. To compete in the Woven Festival, an infant needed at least ten years of life; otherwise, the festival would not recognize them."

Echo Infants were unique to the Gospel Kingdom. Miracles were imposed on them in utero, accelerating their intelligence and bestowing talents across all sorcery classes. Those who survived to ten were destined to master a Gold Rank class, but almost none lived that long.

The purpose of their existence was to be deployed for ambushes or to deceive the Woven Festival. Any infant surviving past ten and recognized by the festival could become a true Echoer. Festival rankings were random, but Echo Infants were universal prodigies, capable of solving any challenge.

Of course, the rewards went to their families. The infants were raised until they died of natural causes. Without life-extending rewards, few survived past fifteen. These artificially created prodigies defied natural law; if it weren't for the severe cost, the entire Gospel Kingdom would have ascended long ago.

Like the Blood Moon Kingdom with its bioengineering, the Gospel Kingdom had nurtured artificial prodigies for decades. Since the Woven Festival began, countless people had sought ways to deceive the Omniscient Weaver's prophecies.

Perhaps one day, stable prodigies who could live past twenty might be created. For now, Echo Infants were essentially a lottery for the top-scoring families. Winning brought triumph, while losing was to be expected. It was essentially a fierce contest, a kind of arms race, where the families' fifty years of accumulated skills and techniques were put to the test.

"I need you to alter the records of the Echo Infants to match three specific individuals, even creating the illusion that they never died and had been active in the suburbs, sewers, and forests," Annan said.

Sirimoro raised an eyebrow. "No problem. Do you want to specify birth years?"

"No. Modify all the Echo Infants who died over the past fifteen years."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

Sirimoro squinted. She understood Annan's plan.

The Book of Gospel had many loopholes, one of which was the search loophole. When querying people with identical names, it could merge multiple individuals into a single record. This loophole had long been fixed. Anyone born in the Gospel Kingdom now received a unique identifier, preventing confusion among identical names.

Annan clearly knew this, yet she was willing to spend her favor to merge all the Echo Infants' records into these three individuals. This meant she had high confidence that the Book of Gospel would trigger the search loophole, treating these three as universal prodigies.

In other words, these three...

Sirimoro's thoughts were cut short by the sudden appearance of a woven-paper contract.

"I trust your integrity as a sea witch, but it's safer to sign a contract," Annan admitted, collapsing to the ground, her amethyst earrings catching the light. "Once signed, I'll hand over the names and appearances of these three individuals to you."

Sirimoro took the paper and signed her name. As the contract burned into light, she asked, "Are you really willing to let your office drop from the leaderboard just for this? Did you back me to become the Azura Sea Witch for this very moment?"

Annan nodded, exhaustion etched across her face, but her resolve unshaken. "I've already staked the name of Dolan."

1. Mermaid is a type of Sea Witch. ☜

2. A reference to Disney's Little Mermaid ☜