Sorcerer’s Handbook

“Apocalypse Observer”

“Human Race Male 25 Years Old”

“Trust Value: ∞”

“Occupation: Social Idler”

“Occupational Traits: The appetite of controlling spirits is reduced, feeding requirements decreased by 50%.”

“Inherent Talent, Sorcerer Handbook (Intermediate): Log other operators into the handbook, and the experience gained by other operators will be proportionally shared with this character according to the Bond Level. The current number of pages in the handbook is 1/2 (talent upper limit can be unlocked after strength enhancement).”

“Personal Skill, Interdimensional Wandering Soul: Effect unknown.”

“Silver Blessing, Observer’s Visage: Your appearance is beguiling; unless you perform an unusual action, others will subconsciously overlook your presence. In the Virtual Realm, this blessing is enhanced, and unless one has an intimate Bond Level, others cannot discern your visage clearly.”

“Items: Honeyed Blade, Virtual Realm Telescope, Alchemist’s Refining Bottle”

“Swordsmanship Faction: Silver Rank”

“Radiance Faction: Silver Rank”

“Water Faction: Silver Rank”

“Mind Faction: Silver Rank”

“Exploration in Virtual Realm: 1.022%”

“Knowledge Curse: Whirlpool Secret Poison, Eviction Secret Poison, Golden Fish Secret Poison”

Ashe sat in Sylin’s place, lost in thought as he gazed at the words floating in mid-air.

After losing the chip, he naturally couldn’t summon the holographic screen, but the game “Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook” wasn’t bound to the holographic screen, but to Ashe himself.

He could still call up the interface of the sorcerer’s handbook, though the clarity had dropped from 4K ultra HD to 360P. Besides the portrait of the swordswoman going from pure and desirous to a bit cartoony, there was no significant impact.

Although Ashe felt that Sylin’s ritual miracle hadn’t affected him, when he opened his own operator profile and looked for a while, he discovered a change—his occupation had shifted from “Cult Leader/Ancient Historian” to “Social Idler”!

However, the game did not pop up any alerts, and Ashe had not been paying close attention to his status information. After all, with the Swordswoman’s Portrait becoming so cartoonish, he had been too lazy to open the game interface for the past few days, let alone his own Operator file.

Ashe could not determine whether the change in his occupation was the result of Sylin’s Miracle or the consequences of his escape from prison—after all, escaping did change his status from a death row inmate, a state-provided, all-inclusive position, to a Social Idler, which made sense.

After some thought, Ashe decided to stop pondering over this issue.

However, compared to the useless Luck Check +10 and Ancient Artifact Identification ability +5 of the “Cult Leader/Ancient Historian” occupation, the new Occupational Traits were much more practical—the cost to feed the spirits was halved!

It was as if the spirits knew Ashe had lost his iron rice bowl and thus everyone welcomed a pay cut—”I eat very little and am easy to maintain.”

Closing the game panel, Ashe looked at his own curriculum vitae.

This was the “Ashe Heath Curriculum Vitae” organized by Sylin, which included the awards Heath had received in the Nursery, middle school, college, the part-time jobs he had done, friends’ evaluations of Heath, photos of Heath from various ages, and even Heath’s Curtain browsing history—meticulously detailed.

This file was well-organized and not at all dull to read. Soon, Ashe had sketched out Heath’s life trajectory in his mind: at birth, he was deemed ‘elite’ and sent to a municipal model Nursery; he ranked 36th in the middle school entrance exams and entered the History Department of Kaimon Comprehensive College under the Time Series with average admission test scores; after graduation, he started a business based on a pyramid scheme, initiating Preaching activities.

He didn’t eat sweets, didn’t gamble, didn’t go to Tea Cafes, nor had he ever worked part-time at a Mud Café, and his voting record in the Blood Moon Tribunal stood at zero.

Outside of his apartment and school, Heath’s favorite place to frequent was the convenience store downstairs. Beyond everyday necessities, the item Heath purchased most often was a variety of books. Ashe recognized several familiar titles such as “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind”, “How to Manually Induce a Storm in the Virtual Realm”, and “Criminal Law”. Many who knew Heath described him as ‘low-key’, ‘respectful and polite’, and ‘capable but not a team player’.

But there was one aspect of Heath that unnerved Ashe—Heath’s Curtain browsing history was filled with politics, history, military, sorcerer, religion, and racial information, with not a single trace of erotica, be it videos, images, or novels!

Let alone human females, even an Orc male battling an Ogre male, while Ashe couldn’t accept it, he could at least understand. However, there was absolutely none of that kind of content!

The only thing that could be remotely related to sensuality was the notorious female Orc regiment “The Iron Roses”. It was rumored that they would hunt for reproduction during their mating season, capturing male Orcs and dismembering their limbs to create fuel stations, demonstrating exceptional combat prowess and a terrifyingly fierce nature.

But female Orcs… It was highly unlikely that Heath also had a commercial truck driving license!

In essence, a 25-year-old young man who showed no interest in pornography and had never exerted any effort to satisfy his sexual desires was certainly not normal.

However, the file also indicated that Heath had no extraordinary adventures; it was as if he suddenly became enlightened and started a business. There was no information on how Heath came into possession of the Four Pillars Cult materials. Ashe previously thought the mastermind behind the scenes was Professor Sylin, and that the cult materials had been delivered to Heath by Sylin. Yet, Sylin’s mind appeared to be focused solely on the Blood Moon, clearly not an Elf’s doing.

“Hmm?”

Ashe noticed that Professor Sylin had highlighted a record in the file with a red pen—it was Heath’s leave of absence record. Eight years ago, when Heath was still in middle school, he had taken half a month off for self-study, during which there were no known sightings of him.

Eight years… eight years ago?

Igor had mentioned that Sylin was involved in an archaeological dig of a ruin eight years prior, unearthing some ritual tracks and scriptures of the Four Pillars Cult. However, in that same year, the ruin was struck by a storm in the Virtual Realm, leading to the loss of most of the findings.

But eight years ago, Heath was only 17…

Ashe thought he would achieve his revenge and unravel the enigma of Heath in one go, but Heath turned out to be like a nesting doll, with layers upon layers to uncover.

Moreover, Ashe had to consider the possibility that Sylin was telling the truth, but it was all lies concocted to deal with the Sin Hunter’s Hall.

After all, in a world where ‘memory modification’ is possible, Sylin could have altered his own memories to deflect all blame onto Heath, portraying himself as a devout Follower, faithful to the Blood Moon Kingdom without question. This was not only possible but highly likely.

Although he was still in a fog of mystery, Ashe decided to temporarily give up on investigating Heath’s background. As Heath’s biggest detractor and fan, the information Sylin had collected should be the most comprehensive and detailed account of Heath’s ‘real’ life.

If Heath did have some unknown Adventure, it would either be in dreams or… the Virtual Realm.

Honestly, Ashe was about to leave the Blood Moon Kingdom, and no matter how complex Heath’s background was, it was merely someone else’s story to him.

But Ashe had a strong premonition that even if he left the Blood Moon, Heath’s past would continue to haunt him like a shadow. It’s like when you see a gun mentioned in a mystery story, you know it’s bound to go off—Heath couldn’t have gone to all this trouble just to send Ashe off to enjoy the luxuries of Shattered Lake Prison.

Four Pillars, Heath, Tactile, Ritual… Ashe jotted these keywords down in his notebook, thinking it’s fine if he doesn’t encounter the relevant people, but if he does in the Virtual Realm, they shouldn’t blame him for being ruthless with the Swordswoman.

Next was the time to collect the spoils of war. Ashe searched high and low, tallying up 4 Gold Coins, 5 Silver Coins, a bunch of luxury goods that seemed exchangeable for money, and 5 Spirit Cocoons.

This highlighted how the credit currency system had devastated the traditional industry of “robbery.” Although physical Currency was still in circulation, most people were accustomed to using Chips for payment, carrying only a small amount of emergency cash in their daily lives.

Sylin’s total assets are likely in the tens of thousands of Gold Coins, but he typically only needs to carry a few Gold and Silver Coins to satisfy the needs of his Sorcerers, so it’s unlikely there’s much money kept at home. Compared to these coins, the luminous watch Sylin wears is probably worth much more.

Among the 5 Spirit Cocoons, there are 3 Two-Wings Sorcerers, 1 One-Wing Sorcerer, and 1 Tri-wings Sorcerer! This should have been a fantastic haul, but Ashe found no joy in it.

Because these Spirit Cocoons are locked!

Due to various trade needs, Sorcerers have invented numerous methods to seal Sorcerers, such as the Fluorescence Sphere, which is a common technique. It involves shoving the Sorcerer into the sphere, causing it to fall into a deep slumber and reducing the feeding frequency by 70%. It’s a good choice to seal a Sorcerer in a Fluorescence Sphere to cut down on feeding costs when a Sorcerer acquires surplus arcane energy but doesn’t need to use it right away.

However, the downside of a Fluorescence Sphere is also significant – it offers no defense. If the sphere is damaged, the Sorcerer will escape, and if someone else gets their hands on the sphere, they can directly control the unclaimed Sorcerer. A Sorcerer in a Fluorescence Sphere is like money withdrawn from a bank, vulnerable to theft and destruction.

The Spirit Cocoons in front of Ashe are a more advanced method of sealing. The Sorcerer sealed inside the cocoon ceases all activity, doesn’t need to be fed, and more importantly, it is secured with a three-dial combination lock. Only by entering the correct password and infusing arcane energy can the cocoon be dissolved.

If the password is incorrect, the Spirit Cocoon will automatically lock, and only the original caster can unlock it. It’s said to be akin to a Miracle of the Sanctuary level, hence why a Two-Wings Sorcerer is almost certainly incapable of breaking the seal by force. Even if one could force it open, there’s a high likelihood that the Spirit Cocoon would self-destruct along with the Sorcerer inside.

One might wonder, is it necessary to use a Tri-wings Sanctuary-level Miracle to seal a Sorcerer? But in a stable civil society, Sorcerers are not just of practical value; they also have the potential to become luxury items.

The only One-Wing Sorcerer in the Spirit Cocoons is exactly such a luxury good. It resembles a cicada, with an emerald exterior and a golden glow within. This is the ‘Retrograde Month’ Sorcerer.

Retrograde Month is a consumable Sorcerer, disappearing once used. Its effect is simple – it causes the specified target’s reality to revert to one month prior.

If Retrograde Month is used on an elderly Sorcerer, their physical condition would revert to that of a month prior, but the arcane energy, memories, and Sorcerer contained within their Soul would remain unchanged. In other words, it could grant the subject an additional month of life to some extent.

Aside from Retrograde Day Sorcerers being used as emergency Healing Spirits, Retrograde Month and Retrograde Year Sorcerers are considered life-extending Spirits without side effects and are in high demand in the market, fetching extremely high prices. Ashe had heard about this in casual conversation with the Swordswoman; in her words, “Picking up trash on the Time Continent can really make you rich.”

This Retrograde Month Sorcerer was clearly stored as a gift, and the other Sorcerers likely have a similar purpose, including a highly coveted Two Wings Swordsmanship Sorcerer. However, after some consideration, Ashe made a decision that went against the Swordswoman’s wishes.

“Recharge successful! You have gained 8 Points.”

“Recharge successful! You have gained 20 Points.” ×3

“Recharge successful! You have gained 40 Points.”

The Spirit Cocoons were too large to take away; they couldn’t possibly fit in a pocket, and even if Ashe could carry them, he had no means of dissolving the Spirit Cocoons. Therefore, feeding all the Sorcerers inside to the system, a greedy little beast, was naturally the best choice.

But only 40 Points for a Tri-wings Sorcerer? That seemed like a rip-off…

After searching again and finding no new valuables, Ashe began the Retrieval of the documents Sylin had left here. Previously, in pursuit of ‘Ashe Heath,’ Sylin would have racked his brain to guess Heath’s escape route, aiming to block all potential loopholes Heath could exploit. Therefore—

It was very likely that Sylin had ‘helped’ plan a highly probable escape route!

It didn’t take long for Ashe to find what he was looking for.

“Report from Virtual Realm Passage Observation Point No. 49 (Top Secret)”

“April 21, 1668, 13:11, observed water surging, the other side of the passage is an underground river, abandoned.”

“Report from Virtual Realm Passage Observation Point No. 53 (Top Secret)”

“April 30, 1668, 17:36, ‘Rabbit’ returned, the other side of the passage is an uninhabited wilderness, safe, suitable for a Hunting Festival.”

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