Sorcerer’s Handbook

Screech—

From the rain curtain ahead came the spine-chilling sound of steel bones grinding, as if the listener’s own spine was being bent.

The sports car had retreated to its limit, with just ten meters behind it the ever-flowing Golden Flow. If they crossed one more thin layer of the rain curtain, the heavy weight of time would instantly crush their souls.

The most terrifying monster is time; it is everywhere, relentless, chewing on all beings, devouring civilizations.

In the virtual realm map, only three colors remained: the green safe zone where Ashe was, the “seeking one’s own doom” red zone painted by the heroic soul legion, and the golden zone of the Golden Flow.

Though the Empress had promised them time for love, she hadn’t said it would be enough space. The heroic soul legion was pressing in, leaving Ashe with no room to maneuver.

Ten meters beyond the rain curtain, the horrific and grotesque heroic soul legion was poised for action, ready for their midnight snack.

Yet they remained outside the rain curtain, their figures completely obscured by the Reverse Golden Rain. Ashe and his companions could only hear the rustling, gnashing, and scraping sounds, which was even more unnerving than if they had charged through—their imaginations led a grand rebellion in their minds, eager to overthrow the dictatorship of reason and welcome the arrival of the terror.

Besides the rebellious imagination, the court’s instinct for survival was also scheming. This thin layer of rain curtain allowed the rebel survival instincts to swell endlessly, singing triumphantly as it defeated the guards of dignity, smashed the inner minister of courage, and dragged reason from the throne, forcing it to kneel and surrender.

This was no joke; the Empress’ heroic soul legion would definitely swarm them, devouring them completely, leaving at most a layer of soul skin to escape back to their bodies—but just like 100 milliliters of blood can’t drive the body, a tiny bit of soul fragment can’t reboot the operating system of consciousness.

Even if they hadn’t offended the local natives, other sorcerers dying in the Virtual Realm wasn’t uncommon. The Virtual Realm isn’t a charity, nor is it a lenient Party A. It’s a cold, indifferent filter that selects melodies that can adapt to the environment and destroys the dissonant noises that don’t belong to this era—whether you’re an outdated aria or an avant-garde rock.

The power of a Secret Incarnation is absolutely beyond their realm’s reach. Such a noisy dissonance naturally attracts widespread condemnation—though it might not be a thousand, at least a hundred armed units were besieging them.

The dominance of academic sorcerers makes sense; after all, adventurers might find themselves dead and buried at any moment, whereas academics can trade time for safety, steadily improving their sect’s realm and climbing step by step to the higher echelons of the Virtual Realm… Ashe couldn’t help but let his mind wander.

Smack!

A splash of unconditional malice landed outside the protective shield of the “Refracting Wall,” the dark green rotting aura almost melting their souls through their respiratory tracts. The sorcerers tensed up in fear, but the Empress’ heroic soul giggled and said, “Oops, my spider’s throat was a bit itchy, and I accidentally spat. I hope I didn’t disturb you?”

Ashe angrily shouted, “You did disturb us! We were just getting into the zone, and now you’ve ruined the mood. What are you doing!?”

“Hmm~ How about I offer myself as compensation?”

“Sure, sure! We’re short one player, you came just in time!”

“Sorry, I prefer to take the initiative. How about I send someone to bring you over?”

Ashe’s heart skipped a beat, but the sword princess responded before he could, “We only accept multiplayer games, no solo affairs allowed.”

“Oh~ Times have changed. Sorcerers today are much more open than in my time,” Danzel’s voice was full of amusement. “What a pity, so vibrant, so beautiful, so delicious…”

“Hearing my own eulogy while still alive is quite a novel experience,” Sonya sneered, turning to Ashe and whispering, “Don’t even think about going over and threatening the Empress! You’d need more than a few lives to survive that!”

“Huh?” Deya was stunned. “So, the Observer’s hesitation just now was about planning to assassinate the commander? I thought…”

“What else? Could there be any other possibility?” Ashe interrupted the Witch righteously.

He glanced at Deya’s hair, which was starting to darken, and felt a slight sinking in his heart.

“The last time we managed to gain an advantage over the Empress, it wasn’t because we were so powerful, but because the Amnesia Cabin helped us a lot,” Sonya said. “This time, the Empress is prepared. Any flaw she shows is just a trap; there’s no opportunity for us to exploit.”

“So what do we do?” Deya’s voice was a bit shaky. Although she hadn’t entered the duet yet, her tone was vastly different from before, a mocking sneer forming at the corner of her mouth. “Are we just going to wait here to die? Maybe you two might be satisfied with that outcome, but there are still people waiting for me to return in the real world.”

“Fight our way out!” Sonya ignored Deya’s unpleasant tone, declaring resolutely, “The Refracting Wall hasn’t been broken, and the sports car still has the Evil Blade to clear the way. Our combat strength is intact! The Empress has been setting up here for days; all our strategies are just bubbles that she can pop effortlessly. The only way is to break out with force, to carve out a bloody path with all our might!”

As she spoke, the village girl’s calm face showed no trace of anger, but her right hand had already gripped the sword hilt tightly, and the red in her eyes deepened with a dark intensity.

The Witch’s hair color grew dirtier, but her eyes only shone brighter. Her innocent, cute face revealed a vivid, dripping madness. She even put her arm around the sword Princess’ shoulder, laughing and saying, “Haha, I like this plan. I didn’t expect that despite all your little schemes, you’d still be so adorable at a critical moment~”

What part of this plan that screamed “reckless” had anything adorable about it?

Though Ashe grumbled inwardly, the operators’ states relieved him. What he feared most was that the sword Princess and the Witch would lose their sanity and judgment under the terror of life and death. After all, just suppressing the insurgent imagination and survival instincts within himself had already drained much of his energy. If he had to deal with one or two more burdens, Ashe’s mindset would collapse.

Even if the sword Princess is stunning and the Witch is adorable, if they became burdensome negative monsters at this moment, Ashe would downgrade their trust level in his heart.

Nothing is more exhausting than having incompetent teammates, especially at the project’s most critical moment. The Virtual Realm team needs not mascots or ornaments but reliable comrades.

However, not only were the sword Princess and the Witch not burdens, but on the contrary, Ashe felt he was their accessory. Facing life-and-death crises, they were braver than one another, wishing they could slash through the gates of life and death with one sword, and open the doors of right and wrong with their hands. Fear, regret, despair, and cowardice all transformed within them into the most resolute killing intent. Standing with them, Ashe felt as if he commanded thousands of troops.

But Ashe pushed them back into their seats. “Wait a moment; let me see if there’s another way.”

“Paramour!” Ashe called out loudly, “I have a gift for you!”

“What gift?” Deya, Sonya, and Danzel’s voices rang out simultaneously.

Ashe pressed down the operators’ heads and shouted, “My soul summoning spirit, do you like it?”

“It’s so-so, not particularly satisfying,” Danzel said very picky. “But since it’s from you, I’ll reluctantly accept it.”

“After accepting it, can you let us go?” Ashe spread his hands. “We don’t have deep hatred between us. How about we pretend nothing happened? You fight your wars, and we explore our Virtual Realm.”

“What are you talking about, my dear little paramour,” Danzel chuckled. “If you don’t die, how can I take back the soul summoning spirit? Don’t you remember, once a spirit is abandoned in the Virtual Realm, it immediately disappears? Only the spirits that drop upon the sorcerer’s death, with the soul imprint of the original owner, can linger briefly, allowing other sorcerers a chance to capture them.”

“But didn’t the Pact say if you catch me, I have to voluntarily hand over the soul summoning spirit…” Ashe was puzzled. If he couldn’t hand over the soul summoning spirit, why would the Empress include this clause in the Pact?

“So the real meaning of that clause is that once I’m caught by you, I’ll obediently commit suicide without resistance,” Danzel spoke lightly, her tone cheerful like she was singing. “Every clause has a hidden trap beneath its literal meaning. You accepted all of them without changing a single one. I really had to hold back my laughter at the time. My dear paramour, you’re just so considerate.”

“But you still have concerns.”

Facing the Empress’s mockery, Ashe wasn’t angry at all. He calmly said, “If it were really just as simple as catching me, and I would obediently commit suicide to hand over the soul summoning spirit, you wouldn’t waste so much time and effort chatting with me. You’d just rush over and tear me apart.”

The laughter outside the Rain Curtain gradually ceased.

“You’re using your army to hunt me, using mockery to suppress me, using your legion to intimidate me, and using words to tease me. Even I feel tired for you. If you want to devour me, why not just come directly and peel me open? Why go through all this trouble? Would this whole process somehow improve the quality of my flesh to a premium level?” Ashe said. “You’re trying every possible way to wear down my will to resist. There’s only one reason for this — to make me completely lose my judgment.”

“If I’m not mistaken, once we become hysterical and lose our rationality, you’ll present us with a very generous offer. The content would probably be something like, as long as I willingly die by your hand, you’ll spare my companions, and you won’t completely kill me. You’ll just take the soul summoning spirit from my soul… right?”