I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Duke: "?"

"Alright, I'll help you spread the word. Now you should leave." The information broker immediately turned her back on them after receiving the payment. She waved her hand to shoo them away, but just as Duke and Cecil were about to turn and leave, she seemed to suddenly remember something and called out to Duke: "Wait, take this with you. Consider it a free gift from me."

As she spoke, she rummaged through a cabinet to the side, pulled out a thin book, and handed it to Duke.

Duke instinctively took the book and glanced down at the title on the cover:

The Wanderer's Guide to Advancement: Trickster Edition - A Speedrun of Heroic Level from Scratch

His eyelids twitched slightly.

The moment Duke saw the tutorial, a possibility flashed through his mind. He abruptly looked up at the information broker with Carol's picture on his phone and murmured in astonishment, "You are..."

Are you really going to tell me?

Although he couldn't see her face, Duke felt that she must be wearing a half-smiling face behind the mask.

The fragment of Talia's soul within Duke began to rage, and the pain from the depths of his soul caused him to bend slightly. Duke took a deep breath and slowly said, "No, thank you."

He stopped thinking, forcibly controlling himself from considering the possibilities he had already guessed, and quickly quelled the riot of Talia's soul fragments. Cecil, standing beside him, looked at him with some concern, wondering what had suddenly happened to him to make him act this way. The next moment, Guangbao turned his head and glared angrily at the information broker, a faint but chilling killing intent emanating from his body.

She seemed to think that Duke's strange behavior was the work of this suspicious panda trafficker.

“Cecil, stop it.” Duke’s voice interrupted her. “Let’s go out first.”

"oh oh."

The information broker squinted as he watched Duke and Cecil leave his shop side by side. Then, he leisurely leaned back in his chair and clicked his tongue in a savoring tone: "Tsk tsk, how come Cecil becomes so obedient in front of Duke?"

She lay on a recliner in the shop and dozed off. About twenty minutes later, the shop door was pushed open, waking her from her pleasant nap.

"Is the boss home?"

The information broker opened her eyes, sat up, and saw Amber and Annie enter her shop one after the other.

"Oh, what a rare guest!" She waved and greeted the two of them. "Amber, what brings you here? The last time you came to see me was when you first asked me to investigate Duke, right? ... Now that you and he are finally together, what's there to investigate? Investigate whether that pretty boy cheated on you?"

“Of course not, I trust Duke.” Amber nodded emphatically, then continued, “Anyway, with his looks, whether he cheats or not, there will always be women throwing themselves at him. Why should I waste my money?”

"...You're really optimistic, little sister."

The information broker wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and said with some emotion, "I was originally going to expose Cecil, since I'm always happy to watch the drama unfold and I won't get involved in the mess... But seeing how magnanimous Amber is now, I'm not so sure about it anymore."

“I’m here to ask you to investigate Duke’s whereabouts.” Amber, oblivious to the information broker’s strange expression, continued, “I can only confirm that Duke is in this underground world, but I don’t know where he is or what his current situation is… Boss, do you have any news?”

The information broker pondered for a moment, glancing at Annie, who hadn't spoken a word—Annie seemed to realize something and kept avoiding her gaze, not wanting to meet her eyes—and then, thinking of the artificial body inhabiting Duke's soul at this moment… she uttered a strange sound: "Oh, I see."

Anne shuddered, while Amber asked in surprise, "What? Is that so?"

"No, it's nothing." The information broker shook his head, then reached out and rubbed his hand against Amber. "You want to investigate Duke's whereabouts, right? That's easy. I happen to have information about his location. As long as that's available, everything is negotiable."

Amber and the boss were old acquaintances, and knowing how accurate her intelligence was, Amber immediately took out the intelligence fee she had prepared in advance and handed it to her.

The intelligence broker weighed the intelligence fee, nodded, and slowly said, "The Tower of Babel."

"He's in the Tower of Babel?!"

"No, but he'll be going to Babel soon. Many forces in the underworld are plotting to attack Babel and break it out of prison. Duke will most likely get involved."

"Thank you so much!"

Amber's eyes widened, she nodded with delight, grabbed Annie beside her, and vanished right in front of the information broker.

In the small shop, only the information broker remained. She stretched, took off her mask, tossed it aside, and exclaimed, "Ah, it's so nice to slack off."

After saying that, she lay down on the recliner next to her and leisurely took a nap.

If someone were to burst into the shop at this moment, they would be astonished to find that the information broker, after removing his mask, revealed a face exactly like Carol's in the photograph...

No, she is Carol!

As everyone knows, you can find the City Lord's disguise anywhere in the Floating City except in the City Lord's office.

Clearly, the underworld is no exception.

Chapter 228 Stealing Steal

"Who's in charge of finances in the floating city's leadership team now?"

After leaving the information broker's shop, Duke suddenly spoke up and asked Cecil beside him.

Cecil scratched his head.

She was well-liked and one of Carol's good friends, so although she wasn't a member of any part of the Floating City's official organization, she was very familiar with the members of the Floating City's leadership. Of course, this didn't mean she knew their specific roles; she could only answer based on her vague impressions.

"It seems to be Sister Eve? Every time I see her outside the clinic, she seems to be worrying about how to approve the funds. It's definitely not Carol. She's usually the one in charge of coming up with the best ideas. In Sister Eve's words, 'If Carol is in charge of the money, this floating city will probably crash to the ground in a few years.'"

"That makes sense, otherwise she wouldn't be running around doing side jobs to make easy money."

"what?"

Cecil made a strange sound.

Guangbao was completely unaware of the identity of the information broker, while Duke, due to the side effects of Talia's soul, dared not confirm the information broker's true identity.

Of course, judging from this book, "The Wanderer's Guide to Advancement: Trickster Edition - Speedrunning Heroic Level from Zero," that panda information broker is most likely... cough! Nothing at all.

Duke sensed that the fragments of Talia deep within his soul were beginning to stir again. He quickly dismissed the speculations in his mind and tried to hypnotize himself to believe that he had not guessed the true identity of the information broker.

To distract himself, he looked down and opened the tutorial that the information broker had given him.

The first page after opening the cover of the tutorial only has one sentence:

"You're a spell thief, not a mage killer. Put away your ridiculous ambitions."

—Legendary Trickster Lyman.

As a branch of the Wanderers, the Trickster initially arose from some Wanderers who accidentally learned illusion and enchanting spells, using these magics to enhance their already considerable stealth and agility. These Wanderers included pickpockets and thieves, as well as some pranksters or sowers of discord, and quite a few became adventurers, gradually allowing the Trickster branch to spread and survive.

In the early days, however, tricksters could never become mainstream because, although they were casting spells, they could never be as free as true spellcasters. Their spellcasting was ridiculous and slow due to a lack of experience and knowledge. They were also unlike the relatively mature thief and assassin branches at the time, who had powerful abilities that could turn the tide once they reached the hero level.

Lucky strike and fatal strike.

Cause and effect, life and death.

These two realms are beyond the reach of sorcerers who practice magic year after year.

It wasn't until Lyman became the first Heroic Trickster, and then used his talent to brutally break down the door to Legend, that the path of this profession was finally established.

"The All-Powerful Trickster" and "The Spell Thief".

These two skills, which are no less powerful than Lucky Strike and Fatal Strike, finally made the Trickster one of the mainstream classes, and even earned him the nickname "spellcaster killer" among many.

But Lyman himself did not agree with this statement, and even after he became a legend, he was unwilling to confront noble mages head-on.

He always considered himself a "spell thief".

Since they are thieves, they must steal the spell before the spell's owner can react. If they beat up the spellcaster before stealing it, they shouldn't be called "spell thieves," but "spell robbers."

This tutorial has a very clear basic structure. It begins by analyzing the future prospects of the profession and defining the professional norms. It uses the two high-end skills, "Universal Trickster" and "Spell Thief," as a starting point to break down the professional barriers, empowering tricksters and forming a closed loop of professional development from scratch to hero level. It also promises that with enough experience, one can reach legendary status like Lyman...

Oh, in plain language:

The story begins with a disclaimer stating, "If you practice this and something goes wrong, it's not our fault." Then, it paints a rosy picture, convincing newbies that "Tricksters" can be promoted to Legendary. Only at the very end does it begin to teach the actual, effective techniques.

Of course, because this last part is indeed the trickster skills that Duke desperately needs (including essential skills for rogues such as kidney shot, sap, and backstab, and spellcasting skills exclusive to tricksters such as Mage Hand - Ghost), Duke hasn't thrown away this rather suspicious-looking tutorial yet.

This tutorial, written by the Rogues' Guild, is filled with grandiose pronouncements and empty promises. Given the current state of affairs where rogues can't outmaneuver warriors in a direct confrontation and are outmatched by shameless spellcasters in ambushes, it evokes a sense of "the 21st century is the century of biology." However, at least the content regarding various class skills is accurate and reliable.

Furthermore, to create a compelling narrative, the author of this tutorial placed the two most core and advanced skills of the Trickster—"Universal Trickster" and "Spell Thief"—at the very beginning, along with practical instructions on how to use them. Therefore, these were precisely the two skills Duke read about first.

Duke walked along while reading a book, snapping his fingers as he did so.

Then, to Cecil's astonishment, a white dove suddenly appeared in Duke's hand. Its face seemed to share Cecil's bewilderment and confusion, completely unaware of where it had come from to be in this human's hand. The next instant, the little white dove vanished from Duke's hand, replaced by a large bouquet of roses.

Duke didn't even glance at his hand, casually stuffing the rose into Cecil's arms before waving his arms around a few times. Soon, explosion effects, fire effects, and even lightning effects appeared around him. A moment later, various large rocks and streetlights by the roadside floated up for no apparent reason, and then, the roadside weeds suddenly sprang up from the ground and grew into towering trees.

Various magic tricks, some of which looked somewhat familiar, appeared one after another, vying to take the stage.

This bizarre scene startled the passersby, who began to flee, trying to get away from the center of this strange occurrence.

Guangbao also made a somewhat surprised sound:

"What the hell?"

"what?"

Duke, engrossed in his book, looked up, startled by the panic of the passersby and Cecil's astonishment.

As Duke looked up, the strange phenomena around him abruptly ceased. From beginning to end, Duke seemed completely unaware of the bizarre events unfolding around him.

He casually flipped to a page of the tutorial, glanced at the "Spell Thief" page, then raised his hand, pointed it at Cecil, and whispered:

"Steal".

Then, a pair of pure white panties appeared in Duke's hand.

"Huh?"

Chapter 229 Playing Hard to Win

Cecil, as one of the most powerful witches in the floating city, is absolutely overpowered in all aspects of magic power. Many genuine legendary witches are far inferior to her, such as Lord Carol. In terms of total magic power and the upper limit of firepower output in a short period of time, she is even far inferior to the Radiant Witch.

However, even a witch with such a vast amount of magical power has her own little troubles, namely, it is difficult to prevent her magical power from leaking out of her body and causing unnecessary waste.

When she first grasped the power of Holy Light, she was once unable to control herself, radiating light 24 hours a day without stopping, becoming a bright light bulb in the floating city. Even now, with Cecil's top-tier micro-management skills among heroic spellcasters, she still cannot stop the magic power that automatically transforms into Holy Light from leaking out of her body year-round.

To avoid wasting precious magical resources, Cecil learned long ago to constantly imbue herself with various forms of Holy Light blessing. The brightness of these blessings, after her adjustments, was almost imperceptible in daily life. Over time, the clothes she regularly wore (most of which were knight's armor) received multiple Holy Light enchantments… In other words, every piece of clothing she wore, even her underwear, was enchanted by +15.

The Trickster's top skill, "Spell Thief," allows him to randomly steal one spell from the spells that the target spellcaster frequently uses. Generally, the stolen spell is either the spell the target just used or the spell the target uses most often.

For Cecil, her most frequently used spell was the Holy Light Blessing, which was always active. Unfortunately, she was wearing the Cinderella evening gown she had recently changed into, with only her underwear still intact, having been nourished by the Holy Light for years.

Then... Duke's spell thief "stole" her Holy Light Blessing along with her precious original underwear.

"In conclusion... Guangbao, I might be a genius among tricksters—I only glanced at the tutorial and succeeded on my first attempt at spell thievery! Shouldn't you be happy for me? So... so, could you please stop chasing me?"

While being chased by the enraged Cecil, Duke tried to say something to appease Cecil, but when he saw that Cecil was still holding his pure white underwear, even the easily fooled Guangbao could not calm down and listen to his nonsense.

"What's there to be happy about! I've never heard of a spell thief stealing an enchanted magical item along with it!" she screamed. "You must be a pervert who modified the spell, turning it into a weird skill that strips girls naked!"

"In all honesty, how could I possibly do such a despicable thing? This is just a reasonable sacrifice. From today onwards, I've learned the art of spell thievery, and you've had the novel experience of the vacuum. We still have a bright future ahead of us, don't we?"

"Don't think you can fool me like that just because I'm stupid... Put my underwear down first, you bastard!!!"