Sorcerer’s Handbook

“Don’t be afraid just yet.”

Goblin Gibot looked at the restless crowd, having anticipated their reaction. With a gentle clearing of his throat, the entire camp fell silent, his voice the only one echoing clearly.

Every Sorcerer with political ambitions typically masters the Faction of Sound Magic. Voice equates to authority, and even if one has no interest in silencing political rivals, they must possess the ability to defend their own right to speak.

“I know your concerns, so let’s forgo the pleasantries,” Gibot continued. “If we were to line up all the Adventurers here and execute them by firing squad, there would surely be innocents among them. But if we shoot every other one, we’re bound to miss some of the guilty.”

Gibot looked down at the terrified Adventurers with growing contempt, as if they were nothing more than stray dogs.

The mayor was right; dogs can be used but not cooperated with because they can be lured away by someone else’s bone. Only by working with the real predators, bleeding these dogs dry and fattening the predators’ bellies, honing their feral claws and teeth, will they naturally turn to rip apart their master’s flesh.

There are too many dogs and too few predators in the Blood Moon Kingdom.

Therefore, the Combat League must be put into motion…

Recalling the mayor’s teachings, Gibot’s expression grew colder as he spoke, “But rest assured, this Festival is of great importance. Compared to the offerings required by the Blood Moon Sovereign, your transgressions are insignificant. Even if the Captain of the Blood Mad Hunters suddenly went mad, I would not allow him to harm the valuable fighting force here.”

“Don’t worry, Scribe Gibot,” Gerard said, arms crossed and looking amused as he surveyed the Adventurers, “I value this Festival more than anyone here.”

The crowd let out a sigh of relief—of course, the Sin Hunter’s Hall and the Warzone always kept to their own, and with the Festival being about repelling an invasion from the Outer Realm, why would Gerard come to arrest anyone?

But many still couldn’t relax. The Festival had nothing to do with the Sin Hunter’s Hall, so what was Gerard really doing here? Surely he wasn’t just sleepless and out for a stroll?

“However, the Captain of the Blood Mad Hunters is indeed here to pursue a Prisoner,” Gibot said. “But it has nothing to do with the vast majority here, and even less with the Adventurers. He is only here to find the wanted criminal disguised as an Adventurer.”

Ashe and his companions sensed trouble brewing.

“‘Necrophiliac’ Archibald Harvey, ‘Carrion Crow’ Ronald Wade, ‘Con Artist’ Igor Bukin, ‘Ghoul’ Langna Chios, ‘Demon Saint’ Ashe Heath.”

Gerard spoke loudly: “I am here to apprehend these five individuals. They have just escaped from Shattered Lake Prison and have removed the Miracle Chips from the backs of their necks. Therefore, they are certainly not Adventurers of the Lakeview Warzone, and I am not overstepping my jurisdiction.”

The Adventurers breathed a sigh of relief.

Not only did the five Prison Escapees have nothing to do with them, but more importantly, the escapees were not ‘Adventurers.’ This meant that Gerard was not breaking the unspoken agreement between the Lakeview Warzone and the Sin Hunter’s Hall by indiscriminately arresting criminals who sought refuge in the Warzone, which was what truly reassured the Adventurers.

If Gerard had been arresting criminals among the Adventurers, they certainly wouldn’t have resisted, but they would have quickly fled the Lakeview Warzone to seek a living in other Warzones afterward. After all, if even the Warzone couldn’t ensure their safety, why would they stay and risk becoming the next notch on the Sin Hunter’s Hall achievement belt?

Ashe and his group exchanged glances silently, nodding to each other. Without any need for verbal communication, they all knew they had to cooperate sincerely; otherwise, they would never escape the pursuit of the Tri-wings Sanctuary Sorcerers.

Alright, it was time to heat things up—

“By the way,” Gerard added, “although in theory I am after five individuals, I have a particular interest in Ashe. So, in addition to the bounties already offered by the Sin Hunter’s Hall, I have a private reward for information on Ashe Heath. Anyone who can provide concrete information on Ashe can receive a reward of 100 Gold Coins from me. If the other four escapees are willing to give up Ashe, I can represent the Sin Hunter’s Hall and cease the pursuit of you, granting you three days to flee.”

Ashe turned to look at the others, and the other four turned to look at him as well.

“…You wouldn’t be considering betraying a friend just to scrape by, would you?”

Harvey scratched his head: “We’re friends…?”

Ronald spread his hands, “What’s wrong with scraping by?”

Igor said coldly, “If it weren’t for your recording that provoked Gerard, would he be hounding us like this? Who causes the problem, should clean it up, right?”

With just three sentences, Gerard managed to shake the shaky alliance of this little group to its core, truly a Blood Mad Hunter adept in understanding human nature.

Just when Ashe was thinking of distancing himself from these rebels, Langna spoke calmly, “Without the Chips, we must find a way to leave Blood Moon regardless. Unless Gerard is willing to let us pass, there’s no benefit in betraying Ashe— even with three days to run, there’s no place for us here on Blood Moon.”

Ashe couldn’t help but give a thumbs up, “Look how sensible Langna is. You all fell for the enemy’s trick so easily. You should learn from Langna—”

“But if we really can’t find any gap to exploit,” Langna continued, “we might have to hand over Ashe to buy some breathing space. Better for one to die than all five.”

Igor hooked his arm around Ashe’s neck, “Thanks, Ashe. Didn’t expect you’d be willing to sacrifice yourself for us— you’ll fulfill my wish, won’t you? Hmm?”

Ashe’s face fell, but with a mask on, nobody could see. At this point, he had no choice but to take things one step at a time. Although Igor might betray him at any moment, Ashe had to admit that sticking with these four scoundrels was indeed the most suitable plan for the moment.

After all, they at least had a common goal, and doing bad things was right up these scoundrels’ alley. If Ashe were to team up with strangers, he’d have nothing to depend on but hope for a Miracle to happen.

Gerard waited for a moment, saw no one step forward to snitch, and wasn’t surprised. He gestured for the Goblin next to him to continue.

Gibot spoke, “Next, the Priest team will bestow the blessing Miracle on everyone. Please line up by team. The Blood Mad Hunters will be responsible for protecting the priests and will scan your Chip information on the side. Information about the Exotic Lands across the passage has been sent to everyone in this camp, please read it promptly.”

Ashe and his group also pretended to call up the Holographic Screen—without a Chip, they couldn’t receive the mass junk messages and could only make a show of it.

At this time, the Priest team approached the platform, with a few of them exhibiting canine traits, almost everyone sporting a fluffy tail. Ashe couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Langna, who silently pointed towards the hanging Blood Moon.

Unlike the Moonshadow who are graced with the Blood Moon’s blessings, Langna could only transform in the shadows, and wouldn’t show any Moonshadow characteristics normally. The difference between him and the other Moonshadow was as significant as the difference between living on food and living on filth, no wonder he was treated as a heretic and thrown into Shattered Lake to die.

Adventurers began to line up to receive the blessing, and Ashe witnessed the new-era blessing Ritual—five Priests had the Adventurers extend their right arms, located a vein, and then injected them with a steel syringe.

Acolyte Coir took out a loudspeaker, pressed a button, and holy chants echoed throughout the camp. Soon, the Adventurers started to change, with errant moonlight swirling around them like light smoke, transforming into layers of gossamer veils draping over their bodies.

“Wowooooo!”

“Strength is surging in!”

“Praise the Blood Moon!”

“Damn!” Ashe couldn’t help but criticize: “Isn’t this just injection and music hypnosis?”

“Blessings have always been like this,” Ronald said from the side. “The Priests prepare the blessing Potion in advance, and when needed, they inject it while listening to holy music to activate the Miracle effect in the Potion. Although it’s not as effective as a Priest’s direct spell, it’s quick, convenient, and can even be carried around. You can also exchange for these Priest-made blessing Potions in the Warzone, but they’re basically not available outside.”

It was obvious that the Adventurers had never tried such premium stuff before; they were so exhilarated that they almost wanted to throw their heads back and spill their blood to vent the power surging through their bodies, making Ashe wonder if the Potion contained Moon Sugar… or perhaps it was the other way around, with Moon Sugar containing elements of the blessing Potion.

But this blessing was almost like bad news for Ashe’s group—because the blessed Adventurers all had a thin, conspicuous layer of red gauze on them.

This meant that it was immediately obvious who was blessed and who wasn’t. They couldn’t just sneak by unnoticed. When the time came, everyone would be shining with the light of the blessing, except for the five of them. The only difference between this and turning themselves in was that they would be resisting to the end, which could be seen as an aggravating circumstance.

They were at the back of the line, and the Priests’ blessing process wasn’t slow; it would be their turn in at most ten minutes. They had to make a decision quickly.

“How about we just package it up.”

“It’s best to take care of it properly before handing it over; that’s the only way to truly show our sincerity.”

“Leave it to me. When it comes to handling Corpses, I’m a professional.”

As Ashe trembled at the sight of Igor discussing earnestly with Ronald and Harvey, he began to regret why he had ever helped these scumbags escape from prison.

“What are you talking about? We were clearly discussing the preparation of Lala Fatty…”

“Alright, stop scaring our cute little Ashe.” Langna turned to Harvey: “Necromancer, can you repeat your old tricks?”

“I could, indeed.”

Harvey looked up at the night sky: “But the Prison is a special structure, which is why it holds such strong Restriction power. This place doesn’t even have a ceiling, I can only guarantee the effectiveness of two Restrictions: ‘Attack Restriction’ and ‘Movement Restriction’.”

“As for Gerard, don’t get your hopes up.” The Necromancer didn’t dare to look directly at the Hunter Captain, only daring to glance quickly with the corner of his eye: “Not to mention his strength is enough to counteract Restrictions, just his access rights are probably higher than the ‘Chip Processor’. Any Restriction command issued by the Processor would be ineffective on the Enforcement Squad Captain.”

Sure enough, Harvey had come fully prepared to face this life-and-death challenge, even though it was pointless—the greatest threat to them here was Gerard. If they couldn’t use the Chip Processor to impose Restrictions on Gerard, the examiner, then their escape from prison ‘exam’ would be doomed to fail.

Ashe asked, “Could we cause a commotion and then take the chance to break through? Didn’t they say the Virtual Realm Passage can only accommodate Two Wings-level arcane energy? Gerard shouldn’t be able to chase us through there, right?”

“You might be underestimating Gerard’s combat capabilities,” Igor said, spreading his hands. “Even the most unscrupulous gambler wouldn’t bet on a Tri-wings Sanctuary Sorcerer revealing weaknesses that could be exploited by us Low-rank Sorcerers… Wait, Gerard’s main target is you, meaning we could hand you over to attract his attention, then take the chance to pass through the passage. There’s a high likelihood of escaping with our lives then.”

Ashe shot him a sideways glance: “Do you really think that under those circumstances, I’m going to desperately run away to buy you time, or just give up and let Gerard capture me so he can free up his hands to go after you guys, ensuring we all go down together?”

“Yeesh, Ashe, you really are a piece of work, aren’t you?”

“Thanks for the compliment, I might blush.”

Jokes aside, Igor’s concern was unavoidable—Gerard was like an immovable mountain blocking their path to freedom. No matter how many clever tricks they had, everything was meaningless if they couldn’t deal with Gerard.

“I agree with Igor’s plan,” Langna suddenly said.

Ashe looked at Langna in surprise, not expecting the burly bald man to succumb to the desire to survive and betray them without a second thought.

Damn, give me back all the emotions I felt earlier!

However, Igor’s eyes lit up with a sudden realization. He slapped his hand and put his arm around Ashe’s shoulder: “Indeed, given the current situation, this is the plan with the highest chance of success.”

“Ashe Heath, we have to hand you over.”

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