Sorcerer’s Handbook

“This is… a spirit.”

In the solitary dormitory of Shattered Lake Prison, Ashe looked at the spirit lying sound asleep in his palm, wearing blue-striped pajamas and resembling a Human child, feeling a sense of bloodline connection.

In their last Adventure in the Virtual Realm tonight, Ashe and his companion headed to the white mist area marked “Welcome,” where they discovered an Adventure Island.

Unlike Inheritance Island, Adventure Island was completely safe, with no Trials, just wild spirits frolicking on the island.

As they stepped onto the island, the spirits scattered, and despite their keen eyes and quick hands, they only managed to catch two spirits. The captured spirits, resigning to their bad luck, were willing to acknowledge them as their masters.

One spirit for each person, Ashe received the spirit now dozing in his palm, the Human child-like ‘Substitute.’

“Substitute”

“One Wing spirit”

“Restriction: The Sorcerer must be a Primate Intelligent Creature.”

“Basic Effect: Creates a perfect illusion of the target, which shatters upon impact. If the target is an Intelligent Creature, it will obey the Sorcerer’s commands.”

“Passive Effect: Slightly reduces sensitivity to pain.”

“‘If it hurts, imagine yourself as someone else, and then it won’t hurt.’”

The Swordswoman, on the other hand, obtained a spirit from the Water Art Faction, ‘Rapids.’

“Rapids”

“One Wing spirit”

“Restriction: There must be unclaimed liquid nearby.”

“Basic Effect: Shoots a jet of water with kinetic force.”

“Passive Effect: Increases control over liquids.”

“‘Gentle flow is life, turbulent flow is revolution. Nothing is constant except for the flow itself.’”

According to the Swordswoman, the Rapids spirit could fetch a high price at her school because it was a rare high-burst attack spirit within the Water Art Faction, capable of generating many powerful Miracles, but summoning it was quite difficult. Therefore, its price was extremely high, even surpassing some Two Wings spirits.

Although Ashe wanted to say what does a Paper person need money for, he reconsidered that it might be part of the game’s automatic leveling mechanism, and he was currently reliant on the Swordswoman’s support. This was definitely not the time to have a conflict with the Swordswoman—the key phase of the project, one cannot afford to offend the only technical person who gets things done!

Therefore, the two of them happily completed the spoils distribution, the Swordswoman was satisfied, and Ashe was even more satisfied: because the Substitute spirit was exactly one of the Main Spirits needed for the ‘Slay Me’ Miracle!

Ashe’s top priority was to gather the spirits for the ‘Slay Me’ Miracle, to completely shatter the dominion of the neck chip, otherwise, he wouldn’t even qualify to escape from prison!

He gazed intently at the Substitute spirit in his palm, subtly mobilizing that inexplicable Mental Energy in his mind.

After returning from the Virtual Realm, Ashe discovered that his mental consciousness had solidified from virtual to real, a sensation like his imagination truly turned into a physical force, akin to having an invisible phantom limb. He could drive his Mental Power to touch everything in reality.

Ashe didn’t need to ask to know that this Mental Energy was the arcane energy that the Swordswoman had mentioned many times before. Arcane energy is the universal power source for Sorcerers, as well as the fundamental force for activating spirits. A Sorcerer without arcane energy is no different from an ordinary person.

Conversely, as long as you have arcane energy, you are a Sorcerer, even if you’re the least skilled one.

But Ashe remembered that before he entered the Virtual Realm, he didn’t possess any arcane energy at all.

The source of this arcane energy was clear to Ashe because he had navigated the Virtual Realm with the Swordswoman. Breaking through each layer of white mist not only tempered his spirit but also gathered the scattered knowledge, creating the universal power source—arcane energy.

Therefore, after returning from the Virtual Realm, Ashe not only owned a spirit but also possessed arcane energy.

In other words, he had become a pure and highly concentrated Sorcerer.

However…

Ashe tried to use his mental tendrils to explore the body of the Substitute spirit, but the feedback he received was like the listening part of a level six foreign language exam—completely incomprehensible, not even a single sentence made sense.

This aligned perfectly with what the Swordswoman said, “If the spirit wasn’t summoned by you personally, you wouldn’t even be able to parse its structure.”

Since he couldn’t parse it, it was impossible for Ashe to find the Gate of Truth inside the Substitute spirit.

That is to say, Ashe was a Sorcerer who couldn’t enter the Virtual Realm on his own!

This was completely contrary to the Sorcerer system described by the Swordswoman—every Sorcerer, no matter how talented or dull, no matter the noble birth or an orphan’s start, invariably summons a spirit through study and training before entering the Virtual Realm.

From ancient times until now, there has never been a Sorcerer without learning!

Every Sorcerer can be a teacher of a skill!

Yet now, an exception had occurred!

Ashe Heath, an unlearned spirit from another world, had crossed the threshold of knowledge to become an Official Sorcerer!

He suddenly recalled the legend of the Golden Fish and the Trespasser that the Swordswoman had just mentioned.

“Silver Sorcerers who find the Golden Fish can trespass to the Time Continent and become Golden Sorcerers, and here I am, having hitched a ride on the Swordswoman’s vessel, trespassing into the Sea of Knowledge to become a Silver Sorcerer…”

Others trespass as a form of upward or downward mobility within the Sorcerer hierarchy, akin to the internal migration of people within different regions of the same country; but Ashe’s trespass was like jumping from a primitive tribe over the wall into a developed country, a sort of species invasion.

This was a secret that absolutely could not be exposed, Ashe thought.

If other Sorcerers discovered that he was a Trespasser, they would certainly not let him off for the sake of protecting biodiversity.

Substitute!

Ashe mentally called out, but nothing happened. The Substitute spirit continued to sleep soundly in his palm.

The next second, a Holographic Screen suddenly popped up, and a stream of information flashed before his eyes.

“Warning: You are attempting to output arcane energy! This is a prohibited action!”

Ashe slapped his forehead—of course, if the Chip restricted his access to the Virtual Realm, it would definitely also restrict his use of arcane energy!

To activate a spirit and Cast Miracle, one must bypass the Chip; to bypass the Chip, one must activate a spirit and Cast Miracle to Purify the Chip… Damn, it’s a vicious cycle again!

“Swordswoman, save me—”

“Swordswoman?”

Ashe called out twice, but the dormitory was still eerily quiet; the Swordswoman, who usually appeared out of nowhere, did not show up this time.

Upon further thought, Ashe realized that the Swordswoman had spent the entire night with him in the Virtual Realm and was likely exhausted. Even a Paper person needs to Rest, so he decided not to disturb her today.

“If hurt enough, use both hands, joyfully sever, yesterday’s curse. Await the daylight as night falls, leaving only scars behind…”

Ashe lifted his head, only to discover that it was already 8 o’clock in the morning of the next day. The prison’s wake-up song, played punctually, was echoing through the air.

It was time for breakfast, and there was a Deathmatch waiting for him at the Deathmatch Society.

In the Meditation Room of Swordflower College, Sonya slowly opened her eyes.

She extended her hand, and a spirit of a young girl in a white dress materialized above her palm.

Revealing this spirit would surely attract a lot of attention— it was extremely rare for someone to gain such a trophy on their first day in the Virtual Realm, not to mention that Sonya had acquired such a valuable prize.

She hadn’t lied to the Observer; the Rapids spirit was indeed very popular on the Swordflower College’s spirit trading platform, and even across the entire world of Gales, it was considered a top-tier One Wing spirit.

But she hadn’t told the whole truth: the Substitute spirit was also valuable.

In fact, the price of a Universal Spirit was generally higher than that of a Specialized Spirit, unless it was too narrow in use; a One Wing Universal Spirit could fetch the price of a Two Wings Specialized Spirit.

After all, only Sorcerers of a particular Faction have a demand for Specialized Spirits, while Universal Spirits are in high demand by all Sorcerers, hence their lofty prices.

So, why did she conceal this piece of information?

She wanted the Observer to notice this ‘small thought’ of hers.

Back in the Virtual Realm, Sonya had realized that the Observer could no longer read her Inner Voice.

Perhaps this was due to the Restrictions of the Virtual Realm, but it didn’t really matter—after all, the Observer could listen to her Inner Voice again once back in reality.

When they obtained the Substitute and Rapids spirits, even though Sonya couldn’t see the Observer’s face, she could tell from his body language that he really wanted the Substitute spirit. Thus, Sonya went with the flow and gave the Substitute spirit to the Observer.

Once back in reality, the Observer would be able to know from Sonya’s Inner Voice: she was aware of the value of the Substitute spirit, but she only told half-truths, pretending as if acquiring the Rapids spirit was the bigger win. This was so the Observer could comfortably accept the Substitute spirit.

This kind of cunning, where the scheming is all for your benefit and is so transparent that you’re meant to see through it, might not be a critical hit to the Observer, but at least it would greatly increase his fondness for her.

I thought you were on the first level, I was on the second, but you were on the third seeing through me. However, the fact is I was on the fourth level all along, just waiting for you to see through me.

But all of this was predicated on the fact that Sonya had to conceal that she was actually on the fourth level. This wasn’t difficult for her—after two days of mental training, Sonya had already learned to control her thoughts to some extent, allowing herself to only consider what she intended to think about.

Sonya retracted the Rapids spirit and stepped out of the Meditation Room.

“Observer, I’m going to take a shower, please remember to give me some privacy.”

“Observer?”

As Sonya left the Meditation Tower, she looked around to make sure the Observer really wasn’t there.

In the past two days, whenever Sonya called out, the Observer would appear from an unseen corner without fail; this time, several minutes passed without a sign, which could only mean one thing—

After the Exploration in the Virtual Realm, the Observer also had to Rest, suspending his round-the-clock surveillance of Sonya.

However, Sonya felt no joy in regaining her freedom. Instead, it was as frustrating as bringing a cake back to the dormitory to enjoy, only to find out the dormitory bathroom had exploded!

I finally found the opportunity to prepare a sugar-coated bomb for you, and you just eat the coating and run away!?