The Abyssal Scholar

He sought knowledge to escape poverty, but discovered a living grimoire that revealed a horrifying truth: the world is a lie. This ancient empire is a grand, failing ritual, its court a den of inhuman entities cloaked in human skin. Here, advancement isn’t a career—it's a sacrifice. State exams are bloody rites, and political battles are contests of cosmic corruption. Armed with forbidden secrets from his cursed tome, a brilliant outsider must outmaneuver ancient cults and eldritch gods. He will twist dark arts into world-altering technology and public works into massive seals, all while walking the razor's edge of madness. Can he forge a new destiny for humanity in the abyss, or will the price of truth be his very soul?