Sorcerer’s Handbook

The earth was like sand, the day like night.

The disciples of the Transcendent Cult were swept away by the invisible torrent of fate, and even the Transcendence Building underground could not halt their flow. The barren, scorched earth seemed to be eroded as well, ground into fine sand where some young transcendence followers excitedly drew patterns.

Faced with the sudden catastrophe, the majority of the transcendence followers remained indifferent. Although they were no longer connected to the computational core within the Transcendence Building, years of consciousness hosting had completely dulled their sensitivity to reality. To them, the only thing that felt real was the heartbeat in their chests, sounding like the countdown of a death bomb.

Compared to the transcendence followers, disciples from other directions seemed much more panicked. Most were in an uproar, with One-Winged Sorcerers casting spells to save themselves, two-wings sorcerers spreading their virtual wings in an attempt to fly, and sanctuary sorcerers expanding their sanctuaries… Occasionally, when two cults collided, life-and-death battles would erupt. Perhaps, compared to the unknown fate, dying in a War of Faith was more reassuring.

Soon, they saw their destination.

On the desolate wasteland, a gigantic green spear pierced the sky from the Silent Spiral, entwined with a spiraling crystal storm. The swirling green crystals blotted out the sun, turning the afternoon Senlo into the absolute domain of night.

Seeing this scene, the sorcerers trembled all over. They vaguely guessed something but were unwilling to think further, and there was no time to ponder.

"Ah!" A sorcerer's scream abruptly ended as he pierced his own heart, dying with a smile of fear and relief.

In the wailing Ink Green Storm, hysterical screams echoed endlessly. Faced with the sudden natural disaster, death seemed to be the only solace.

"Transcendental consciousness, shed the self."

The transcendence followers stood up, One-Winged Sorcerers summoned their spirits, two-wings sorcerers spread their virtual wings, sanctuary sorcerers expanded their sanctuaries, ordinary disciples held their heads high, and children clutched the hands of adults, striving not to sit down.

Zzz. Countless lightning bolts gathered in the hands of the transcendence followers, as the Transcendent Cult almost exclusively practiced the Thunder Sect. This was nearly the first time in fifty years that they cast spells outside, their might like thunderbolts striking the earth, a thunderstorm march!

"Perfect Twinborn, Fate Spiral. Path of Redemption, Within It."

On the other side, the Dark Serpent Twins of the Twinborn Sorcerer cult also chanted loudly, completing the Divine Hosting Ritual in an instant. Other Twinborn Sorcerers followed suit, preparing double Miracles!

"For the Bronze Law, for the laws of all beings, for the divine era's legacy, for Senlo's peace."

The disciples of the Bronze Law chanted in unison, each gripping their bronze weapons, aiming at the formidable Ink Green Storm!

"The sun is a furry monster, licking away all misfortune with sunlight…"

"For a Pristine Blue World!"

"Tribulation Fire never extinguishes!"

The closer they got to the Ink Green Storm, the louder the disciples' slogans became! Not all disciples possessed Demi-God powers, and some had even defected to the Four Pillars Cult as non-believers, but at this moment, without exception, they all chanted the prayers they had heard millions of times. These prayers could not grant them any power, nor could they free them from their predicament. In the past, they might have found them irritating, but at this moment, they became their backbone, their strength, giving them the courage to launch a final charge against the Ink Green Storm sweeping across the world!

Faith may not create Miracles, but it can make one fearless.

In the face of Doomsday, mortals are not helpless.

The Senlo sorcerers are shining their final light.

"Could Vichy already be dead?"

On the eighteenth level of the Silent Spiral, the raging Ink Green Flame Storm occupied almost every area, with only a faint yellow hue beneath the ground slowly approaching the eye of the storm.

Hearing Ashe's naive question, Vesser gently shook her head and calmly said, "If even you can hold on for so long, Vichy would only have more cards up his sleeve. He probably already controls the Fire Cat and has left Senlo."

She paused and explained, "Unlike us, Vichy came to trigger Doomsday from the start, so he must have a way to leave the collapsing Senlo and would never be buried with this decaying Kingdom. Although he surely wants to seize the dove and Bluebird, given the current situation, unless he's willing to wait a few months, he can only give up."

Ashe nodded in disappointment, looking up through the faint yellow sword body barrier at the stormy night above, where only residual flames remained. Every minute, every second, Senlo people were being corroded into Green Beasts, shredded into crystal fragments, flying and wailing in the lower level space. Their pain never ceased, destined to be divided into different crystals for eternity, rolling slowly in the barren land, embracing madness in the painful night.

Even when ground to dust, their consciousness would not extinguish; their pain and resentment would become the only color of Senlo.

This is the most brutal Doomsday, the despair that even the perished Gray Fox sorcerers mourn, the curse Silver Lantern thought she could escape.

Originally, only when the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo died would the negative energy he stirred up engulf all of Senlo. But the deities feared too many Senlo people would die, so they used themselves as wedges to pry open Senlo's death laws.

Logically, even if the deities acted personally, they would merely kill the Senlo people prematurely, and the Senlo people could still return to the Virtual Realm. However, in the Kingdom of Senlo, due to the absence of the Abyss, there always existed a second possibility of death-being Choking Green into beasts.

The dove and Bluebird, in cooperation, actually managed to unleash the Ink Green Storm, and all beings who died in the storm were equivalent to being Choking Green to death, transforming into Green Beasts!

Though the Senlo people died, their pain and resentment remained a heavy burden on the Chasm Sovereign. This was the purpose of the dove and Bluebird: people could die, but they could not leave.

Even in death, they must endure eternal torment in the Kingdom of Senlo! Even in decay, they must fester on the Chasm Sovereign's wounds!

The Senlo people now howling in the storm could not have imagined that the culprits making them wish for death were none other than the dove and Bluebird they had admired and yearned for since childhood. Although Ashe knew the deities had long lost their humanity, he wondered if they needed to learn gradually, or if, for some reason, the three deities could have unleashed the Ink Green Storm from the start rather than plugging the loophole.

If they could have plugged the Doomsday loophole, they would not have unleashed the Ink Green Storm. Perhaps… as long as it didn't affect the primary goal of killing the Chasm Sovereign, the three deities might have been inclined to favor the Senlo people.

If not for Vichy, things would never have reached this point. Ashe fervently hoped Vichy would be swept away by the Ink Green Storm, ground into millions of pieces, and suffer millions of pains.

But he had to admit that Silver Lantern's guess was the most likely: Vichy, this human-skinned monster, not only survived but had probably already left Senlo, breathing fresh air in a new world while desecrating the Fire Cat deity.

Vichy no longer needed to remain in Senlo, as this Ink Green Storm would last for months.

When the Ink Green Storm first erupted, Ashe and Vesser both believed it wouldn't last long, which was why their first reaction was to retreat and wait for it to end. But as time passed, they gradually realized the severity of the situation.

The crushed green crystals not only continuously strengthened the storm's power but also reduced its energy consumption! Vesser had been observing the deities using "Perspective," and found that the moment the divine intervention was activated, Bai Ge and Qing Niao both aged by a year. However, their appearances remained almost unchanged afterward, allowing them to maintain the storm with ease.

This storm would not stop until all the people of Senlo were dead. The people of Senlo were the fuel for the storm.

This was why Ashe had speculated that Vichy might already be dead. Under the ravages of the storm, a sorcerer's spellforce could not sustain a Sanctuary for long. The current protection for Ashe and Silver Lantern was Ashe's defensive miracle, the "sword body barrier." They were traveling underground, minimizing the area of the sword body barrier exposed to the storm's attacks.

Some might wonder if defensive miracles also consumed spellforce. Of course, they did, but not Ashe's spellforce; it was the Source Crystal's spellforce.

It was during the last time he used the Source Crystal to power the Dreamwake deity that Ashe finally understood the second way to use the Source Crystal. Thus, this time he exchanged the Source Crystal and had the spirits directly consume it to cast spells.

Vesser glanced at the Source Crystal and said nothing.

Ashe had also considered if he could consume the Source Crystal to recover his spellforce, but after nearly breaking his teeth, he had to admit that the Source Crystal was still far from being part of the human diet, unless Lala Fatty crossbred with the Source Crystal.

The Source Crystal, as the energy source for deities, was like a truck crushing a child when used as an energy pool for a few spirits. It was effortless. So, could Ashe and the two of them persist forever, worry-free?

Of course not.

Ashe looked at the sickly Earth Sword, Heart Sword, and other spirits, then at Silver Lantern crawling beside him, and asked, "How much further?"

Vesser opened her transparent, bead-like eyes and looked into the depths of the storm, saying, "Another five minutes away. Can't you make it?"

"We have to if we can't," Ashe said softly, continuing to crawl in the underground tunnel.

Spirits were tools, and tools would wear out.

Previously, the sword body barrier was used for a few seconds at most, never exceeding a minute. Now, they had been walking in the divine intervention storm for over ten minutes, with the sword body barrier being tested to its limits every second. This was no longer overtime; it was consuming the spirits to death.

Even with the Source Crystal for recovery, a person couldn't work intensely for days without sleep by drinking energy drinks every minute and second. Spirits couldn't either. Perhaps in another ten minutes, or perhaps five, all spirits except the Four-winged Spirit, Heart Sword, would die from exhaustion and break, just like Ashe used to.

If the spirits died, Ashe wouldn't be able to spend the Source Crystal.

That's why Ashe and Vesser were walking back, actively approaching the core of the Ink Green Storm.

They had nowhere left to escape; outside was the endless night.

If they couldn't kill the deity and stop the Ink Green Storm, the only thing they could do was choose a way to die that they liked, or to give the world a middle finger with a laugh before dying, letting their optimistic emotions travel through the Sorcerer's Handbook to future generations.

God-killing.

Ashe savored the phrase, and surprisingly, he tasted neither fear, excitement, nor joy. He had expected to feel grief for Igor and others, and regret for the Sword Princess and the Witch, but over ten minutes of trekking through the night had been enough to calm his restless heart, allowing him to calmly face his own fate.

"I am a legendary sorcerer," Ashe thought.

The so-called legend was someone who could happily taste every dish cooked by the fate chef at a buffet.

If he wanted to complain, Ashe had so much to complain about. They were about to leave, but they encountered an event like the Doomsday Cataclysm. Going further back, from the moment they arrived in Senlo, they were forced to be involved in the gambits of the Tribulation Fire Chapel, the Four Pillars Cult, and Silver Lantern, and were forced to run around.

Looking back, throughout their entire journey in Senlo, it felt as if they had been constantly targeted by fate, and everything had gone wrong. Even without the Doomsday, Ashe swore he would never come back.

But if he were to say whether this experience was worth it, Ashe felt it was.

Not to mention Tamashi, his close friend, was worth the ticket price. What Ashe found most unforgettable was the few days he spent with the Observer during the Divine Fire Trial.

There was also the Transcendence Building, Black Robe Town, Dead City… and various other cults, all of which opened the eyes of the Cult Leader.

More importantly, Ashe felt as if he had been infected by this wasteland full of fantasy and faith, and gradually, he had developed his own beliefs.

This belief did not have any grand goals, and Ashe couldn't even articulate what it was. But he knew that this belief was composed of everyone he knew. Whether they were alive or dead, whether they were by his side or not, those people in his memories had become Ashe's courage to challenge fate.

Even if I'm trekking through the long night, I won't be alone.

However, Ashe wasn't without something to complain about.

"In the end, I still have to die with you," Ashe said softly.

"Are you thinking that since it's all death anyway, it would have been better to die together in the Divine Fire Trial," Vesser said without looking at him, as if she could read his mind. "At least none of this would have happened."

"A little bit, but it's just escapism," Ashe said. "As long as the people of Senlo wanted to escape on a large scale, the Three Deities would have appeared; if Senlo maintained the status quo, it would only have postponed this doomsday to the future."

"But at least, you could have left Senlo," Vesser said. "This matter had nothing to do with you in the first place."

"Isn't that blaming you?" Ashe said. "If you hadn't taken us away, if you hadn't activated the Dragon Blood Cultivation System… perhaps we wouldn't have ended up in this situation."

"If you expect me to reflect or apologize, then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you," Vesser said calmly. "I have no regrets about what I've done, including how many people I've killed, how many bad things I've done, and…"

She paused. "Involving you."

Ashe's lips twitched slightly, but he quickly said, "Yes, I know."

"If there were no Three Deities and Vichy, if I could have executed the plan I told you back then…" Ashe looked at the storm-filled long night. "Perhaps the ending wouldn't be like this."

"We still have a chance to change the ending."

"I know, but can we really kill gods?"

"Yes."

Vesser looked at him, her eyes revealing an inexplicable expression. "Because, there is a third possibility for death."