Sorcerer’s Handbook

"So this is...a spirit."

In the single cell dormitory of Shattered Lake Prison, Ashe looked at the spirit dressed in blue striped pajamas, sleeping soundly in his palm like a human child, and felt a sense of blood connection.

During the last adventure in the virtual world tonight, Ashe and his companion went to the area marked "Welcome" in the white fog, where they discovered a Serendipity Island.

Unlike the Legacy Island, Serendipity Island had no dangers or trials, only wild spirits frolicking on the island.

When they stepped onto the island, the spirits scattered in panic, and despite their quick reactions, they only managed to catch two spirits. The captured spirits resigned themselves to their bad luck and agreed to take them as masters.

Each person got one spirit. The one Ashe got was the human child spirit sleeping soundly in his palm - "Body Double".

"Body Double"

"One Wing Spirit"

"Limitation: The sorcerer must be a sapient creature."

"Basic Effect: Creates an identical illusion of the target which shatters when impacted. If the target is a sapient creature, it will obey the sorcerer's commands."

"Passive Effect: Slightly reduces pain."

"'If it hurts, pretend you are someone else, and it won't hurt anymore.'"

The spirit his companion got was a water-type spirit called "Raging Rapids".

"Raging Rapids"

"One Wing Spirit"

"Limitation: Liquid must be present nearby."

"Basic Effect: Shoots out a stream of water with impact force."

"Passive Effect: Increases control over liquids."

"'Gentle flow is life, raging flow is change. Nothing stays the same except flow itself.'"

According to his companion, Raging Rapids spirits were highly sought after in her magic academy's spirit trading platform, as they were rare offensive one wing spirits in the water element, capable of deriving powerful miracles, yet difficult to summon. Hence they commanded premium prices, even exceeding some two wing spirits.

Although Ashe wanted to say she was just a character in a game so what use did she have for money, he reconsidered - it was probably an automatic leveling mechanism in the game, plus he needed her help for now, so antagonizing his only partner was out of the question - never offend the sole contributor during critical project phases!

Thus they amiably divided the spoils, his companion very satisfied, Ashe even more so, because Body Double was a crucial spirit for his Spell Severing miracle!

Ashe's top priority was to gather the spirit arts that could help him break free from the control chip in his neck, otherwise he wouldn't even have a chance to escape from prison.

He stared intently at the substitute spirit art in his palm, silently activating the mysterious mental energy in his mind.

Ever since Ashe returned from the virtual world, he discovered that his mental consciousness had transitioned from virtual to real. This feeling was as if his imagination had truly become a physical force, or as if he had gained an invisible phantom limb that he could use to interact with everything in the real world.

Without needing to ask, Ashe knew this mental energy was the arcane energy that the Swordswoman had mentioned many times. Arcane energy was the all-purpose fuel for sorcerers and the foundational power they used to invoke spirit arts. A sorcerer without arcane energy was no different than an ordinary person.

In other words, as long as you have arcane energy, you are a sorcerer, even if you are the most inept one.

But Ashe remembered that before he entered the virtual world, he didn't have even a hint of arcane energy.

He was very clear on the origin of this arcane energy. Because he had sailed through the virtual world together with the Swordswoman, shattering through each layer of white fog not only tempered his spirit, but also gathered scattered knowledge for him. With this dual effect, the omnipotent fuel was generated - arcane energy.

Therefore, after returning from the virtual world, not only did Ashe obtain spirit arts, he also gained arcane energy.

In other words, he had become a bona fide high-purity sorcerer!

However...

Ashe tried using his mental tendrils to probe the substitute spirit art's body, but the feedback he got was like the listening comprehension section of a Level 6 foreign language exam - he not only couldn't understand it when strung together, even the individual descriptions made no sense.

This completely matched what the Swordswoman had said, "Even if it's not a spirit art you summoned yourself, you won't be able to analyze its structure."

Since he couldn't analyze it, of course Ashe also couldn't find the Gateway of Truth within the substitute spirit art.

In other words, Ashe was a sorcerer incapable of entering the virtual world on his own!

This completely contradicted the sorcerer system the Swordswoman had described - every sorcerer, whether gifted beyond measure or untalented, whether of noble birth or orphaned at the start, without exception first summoned spirit arts through learning and training, then entered the virtual world.

From ancient times until now, there had never been an unlearned sorcerer!

The term sorcerer itself meant a 'master of spells'. Every sorcerer could be the teacher of a skill!

Yet now, an exception had appeared!

Ashe Heath, an otherworldly unlearned soul, had crossed the threshold of knowledge and formally become a sorcerer!

He suddenly recalled the legend of the golden fish and stowaway the Swordswoman had just mentioned.

"When a silver-rank sorcerer finds a golden fish, they can stowaway to the Time Continent and become a gold-rank sorcerer. And I hitched a ride on the Swordswoman's favoring wind, stowing away onto the Sea of Knowledge to become a silver-rank sorcerer..."

When others stowed away, it was merely upward mobility within the ranks of sorcerers, akin to population flow between different regions of the same country - an internal contradiction ultimately. But Ashe's stowaway was like a tribal people scaling the walls into a developed country - it could be called a species invasion.

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

Once other sorcerers discovered he was a stowaway, they would definitely not let him off in order to protect biodiversity.

Substitute!

Ashe silently thought in his mind, but nothing happened. The substitute spirit art still snoozed contently on his palm.

The next second, a light curtain suddenly popped up, and streams of information flashed across his vision.

"Warning: You are attempting to output arcane energy! This is prohibited!"

Ashe knocked his own head - right, since the control chip restricted him from entering the virtual world, of course it would also restrict his use of arcane energy!

He had to bypass the chip to invoke the spirit arts' miracles, but to bypass the chip he had to invoke the miracles to purify the chip... damn, he was stuck in an endless loop again!

"Swordswoman A-Meng, save me—"

"Swordswoman?"

Ashe called out twice, but the dormitory remained empty. The elusive Swordswoman did not appear this time.

On second thought, she had accompanied him in the virtual world all night, no wonder she was tired. Virtual beings needed rest too. Best not disturb her today.

"When hurt enough, sever with a hand, the curse of yesterday. Wait for dawn in the night, leaving just the scar..."

Ashe looked up and realized it was already 8 am the next day. The prison morning song sounded on schedule.

Time for breakfast. The Deathmatch Society still had a deathmatch awaiting him.

In the meditation room of Swordflower College, Sonya slowly opened her eyes.

She extended her palm, and a young girl spirit in a white dress appeared above it.

If she publicized this spirit, it would surely attract much attention - gaining a harvest on the very first day in the virtual world was extremely rare, not to mention Sonya had obtained such a valuable prize.

She hadn't lied to the Observer. Raging Rapids spirits were indeed highly sought after in Swordflower College's spirit trading platform. Even across the entire Cailleach, it ranked among the top tier one wing spirits.

But she hadn't revealed the full truth: Body Double spirits were also very valuable.

In fact, general purpose spirits were naturally one tier above specialized spirits, unless their applications were too narrow. Otherwise one wing general spirits could fetch prices on par with two wing specialized spirits.

After all, only specific element sorcerers needed specialized spirits, while all sorcerers could use general spirits, so supply fell far short of demand, naturally inflating prices.

Then why did she conceal this information?

She wanted the Observer to discover this little 'scheme' of hers.

Back in the virtual world, Sonya had already noticed the Observer could no longer read her inner thoughts.

Perhaps it was due to restrictions in the virtual world, but it hardly mattered - the Observer could listen to her inner voice again upon returning to reality anyway.

When they obtained the Body Double and Raging Rapids spirits, even without seeing the Observer's expression, she could tell from his body language that he really wanted the Body Double spirit, so Sonya went with the flow and gave it to the Observer.

After returning to reality, the Observer would be able to hear from Sonya's inner voice: she knew the Body Double spirit's value, yet pretended it was the Raging Rapids spirit she gained hugely from, in order to let the Observer accept the Body Double spirit unabashedly.

This move had a hint of cunning, but the cunning was entirely for his benefit, and the methods were so artless that he saw through it - even if it didn't strike the Observer, it could still greatly improve his goodwill towards her.

I thought you were on the first level, I was on the second, but you saw through me from the third level, yet the truth is I was on the fourth level precisely hoping for you to see through me.

But the premise was that Sonya had to conceal being on the fourth level herself. This wasn't difficult for her - after two days of mental training, Sonya could already preliminarily control her thoughts, making herself only ponder what she wanted to ponder.

Sonya withdrew the Raging Rapids spirit and left the meditation room.

"Observer, I'm going back to shower, remember to look away."

"Observer?"

After leaving the meditation building, Sonya glanced around, confirming the Observer really wasn't present.

The past two days, whenever Sonya called out, the Observer would emerge from Sonya's blind spots without fail. Not appearing for so long this time could only mean one thing -

After the virtual world exploration, the Observer also had to rest, suspending his 24/7 monitoring of Sonya.

Yet Sonya felt no joy at regaining freedom, instead frustration like bringing back cake to eat in her dorm only to find the dorm toilet exploded!

I finally found a chance to prepare a sugar-coated shell, yet you only ate the sugar coating before fleeing!