Sorcerer’s Handbook

Ashe used to work at a game company named Aurora.

Aurora had launched several popular mobile games, including “Aurora’s Dungeon,” “Aurora’s Transmutation Land,” and “Xiao Yao with a Single Thought.” Among these, “Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook” was a new mobile game still in the Testing Phase.

Ashe wasn’t part of the new game development department but rather the operations team. However, he had heard that the new game was quite engaging and was expected to be a hit. The head of the planning department planned to have him lead a group responsible for the operational planning of the new mobile game. So, Ashe downloaded the Sorcerer Handbook demo to familiarize himself with it, aiming to contribute more effectively to the company’s profits in the future.

Yet before Ashe could even start the game, he transmigrated during an all-nighter at work.

How did the mobile game transmigrate with him? And how did it install itself onto his Consciousness Holographic Screen?

Ashe was filled with doubt and curiosity, but considering he was soon to be “slaughtered like a pig,” he had no time to ponder the game’s mysteries. All he could do was hope it would bring him a miracle!

“‘Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook’ is now launching…”

“Checking/updating game resources for you… Unable to connect to the network, switching to local network mode.”

“Warning: Image system missing… Repair in progress…”

“Warning: Data system missing… Repair in progress…”

“…”

A series of red warnings flashed across the Holographic Screen like a torrent until a green message appeared and everything stopped—

“The Search System has started normally.”

“The Recharge System has started normally.”

“Welcome to browse the Sorcerer Handbook.”

Geez!

The entire game managed to launch successfully with just the Card Draw and Pay-to-Win System functioning properly—typical of my company!

Ashe entered the game with a face full of disbelief.

80% of the Holographic Screen was blank, with only two sparkling rainbow options in the top right corner available for interaction—

“Material Procurement” “Operator Search”

Clicking on “Material Procurement,” there were Source Crystal purchase options: 6 Points for one, 30 Points for a group, 98 Points for a bunch, 198 Points for a bag, 328 Points for a box, 648 Points for a case, with each option offering a first-time top-up bonus…

Ashe could easily guess with the tip of his toenail that these Points were essentially money. But since Alipay didn’t transmigrate with him, how was he supposed to recharge?

What was the company thinking, including a Pay-to-Win System in the demo for internal testing? Were they trying to claw back the salary they paid us? Sheesh, the company really could pull something like this off.

Opening “Operator Search,” the interface was also a blank slate due to various missing resources, with only two dry options: “Search One Time,” “Search Ten Times.”

Ashe did want to try his hand at card drawing, but one draw cost 3 Source Crystals—where was he supposed to get the money for that?

Wait, you need to pay for the first card draw in a testing demo? Which shameless company released this kind of game… Oh, it’s ours, never mind then.

Wait a minute, I remember there’s a universal cheat command, perhaps… Ashe entered “Xiao Yao with a Single Thought Easy Cultivation”, the game interface blurred for a moment, but still no response, it seems this game hasn’t installed a secret command backdoor.

Just as Ashe was hanging his head in dejection, a notification suddenly popped up on the holographic screen: “Check-in System repair successful, connecting to the main server… Unable to connect to the server, automatically switching to LAN mode.”

A third option appeared on the screen: “Login Check-in”.

Upon clicking, a calendar appeared and Ashe saw that April 11th was automatically checked off.

“Regular Distribution: One Source Crystal.”

“First-time Check-in Distribution for Newcomers: One Operator Ten Consecutive Search Voucher.”

“Operator Ten Consecutive Search Voucher: A permit issued by the Aurora Investigation Department for batch searching of high-value targets, allowing one to Search Ten Times consecutively. And it is guaranteed to find an Operator.”

Although he didn’t understand the specific jargon in the description, none of that mattered. Ashe knew whether he could escape next week’s Blood Moon Tribunal depended on this unknown game that had transmigrated with him!

He opened the “Operator Search” interface and selected “Search Ten Times”!

There was no fancy card drawing animation, only an extremely plain list of cards!

“Energy Potion”, “Energy Potion”, “Experience Potion”, “Experience Potion”… “Death Maniac Swordswoman”, “Primary Combat Experience Card”, “Training Wooden Sword”…

Jackpot!

Following that, another message popped up: “Operator system repair successful, you can now manage your owned Operators.”

Ashe immediately checked the Card Face, which was a portrait of a red-haired young girl wearing a black strap dress, with a pure neighborly girl’s smile on her face, her hands behind her back, her long legs in black stockings stepping on small leather shoes, tilting her head as she looked around with eyes full of curiosity.

“Death Maniac Swordswoman”

“Human Race   Female   18 Years Old”

“Bond Level: 0 (30% Experience Sharing)”

“Occupation: Sorcerer Student”

“Occupational Traits: Learning efficiency +5%”

“Inherent Talent Swordswoman (Lower Rank): Receives an additional 100% Swordsmanship experience, low chance to receive 10,000% Swordsmanship experience. (Talent level can be unlocked with strength improvement).”

“Personal Skill Pitch Black Heart: Nip dangers in the bud. When an enemy intends to attack, there is a certain probability to automatically counterattack based on the difference in strength between both sides.”

“Items: None”

“Controlling Spirits: None”

“Water Art Faction: Not Initiated”

“Cultivation Strategy: Not set”

Ashe looked for a long time but couldn’t find anything particularly “dead” or “maniacal” about her, and couldn’t help but become furious—apart from having a cool and explosive name, wasn’t this just a blank canvas beautiful girl portrait?

Don’t think you can scam money just because the portrait is well-drawn, damn it!

The initial character they give can’t be put to immediate use, requiring players to slowly cultivate her themselves? With the fast pace of modern life, if you don’t let players have fun right away and make them spend time instead, what kind of trash game is this? It’s really harmful!

The planner should let me take over, I could do it too!

The fact that my first card draw was a crappy character is bad enough, but not being able to summon Operators to help me in battle in reality makes card drawing totally useless!

In a few days, I’ll have to step up to the executioner’s block and meet my quota as a headsman. This mobile game can’t even get me out of this mess. Am I expected to keep checking in daily to give this trash game free traffic before I die? It’s just like something my company would do.

With his last hope dashed, Ashe couldn’t help but feel even more despondent. He exited the Operator’s personal interface and noticed a red dot in the top right corner of the new “Operator Management” on the main screen. Being a bit of a perfectionist, Ashe naturally clicked on it.

The next second, he bolted upright in bed.

Because in “Operator Management,” there were two Operators.

Besides the recently drawn “Death Maniac Swordswoman,” there was also a rather handsome, slender young man dressed in a Black Windbreaker—

“Apocalypse Observer”

“Human Race   Male   25 years old”

“Trust Value: ∞”

“Occupation: Cult Leader/Ancient History Scholar”

“Occupational Traits: Blessed by the Four Pillars, Luck Check +10; more adept at identifying ancient artifacts, Ancient Artifact Identification +5”

“Inherent Talent   Sorcerer Handbook (Lower Rank): Register other Operators in the handbook, and experience gained by other Operators will be shared with this character based on Bond Level. Current handbook page count 0/1 (Talent limit can be increased with strength improvement).”

“Personal Skill   Interdimensional Wandering Soul: Effect unknown.”

“Items: None”

“Controlling Spirits: None”

“Faction: Summoning Faction Not Initiated”

Ashe turned to look at the only mirror embedded in the cell wall, comparing it for a long time with the Portrait on the holographic screen, before he finally confirmed that this “Apocalypse Observer” was, in fact, himself, Ashe Heath!

Whether it was the Inherent Talent ‘Sorcerer Handbook’ or the Personal Skill ‘Interdimensional Wandering Soul,’ both seemed to be alluding to his current predicament!

Ashe also remembered the title “Apocalypse Observer”—this was exactly what the Four Pillars cultists revered him as.

It sounds dominant, but he was easily taken down by a group of Hunters. It’s a classic case of being wiped out by the police the moment you attempt a rebellion.

He never expected this to become his codename in the game; it’s not very damaging but incredibly insulting.

But what’s the deal with the Black Windbreaker? Ashe didn’t remember ever wearing one, thinking it might be Heath’s preferred style of clothing? If that’s the case, his taste was really questionable.

Ashe looked again at the Death Maniac Swordswoman’s interface, focusing on the ‘30% Experience Sharing’ in the Bond Level for a long time, knowing this might be his only chance to break out of prison!

If he wasn’t mistaken, by training the “Death Maniac Swordswoman” in the game, he could gain 30% of the Swordswoman’s experience! The stronger the Swordswoman became, the stronger he would become!

Hope reignited, Ashe perked up and checked the other junk he had drawn: 2 Energy Potions, 4 Experience Potions, 1 Training Wooden Sword, 1 Primary Combat Card, and 1 Trial Card.

“Energy Potion”: In training actions, adds one Action Point to an Operator, lasting seven days.

“Experience Potion”: In training actions, increases skill experience gained by an Operator by 10%, lasting seven days, with a maximum of 50% enhancement per Operator.

`Training Wooden Sword`: After an Operator equips this, they receive a 15% experience bonus during Swordsmanship Training.

`Primary Combat Card`: When used by an Operator, it arranges for combat Training that grants a large amount of experience over seven days (Risk level: Low).

`Primary Trial Card`: Allows an Operator to undertake a Trial, earning varying amounts of experience. Each Operator can only use this once per week.

These are all for cultivation, which perfectly aligns with Ashe’s intentions. Items that increase combat power are of no use to Ashe.

But why is there a note mentioning “Risk level: Low” after the combat experience card…

He clicks on the cultivation strategy for the Death Maniac Swordswoman and discovers there’s a lot to consider:

`Death Maniac Swordswoman`

`Current Mood: 5 (Experience Bonus 0)`

`Selectable Actions: Rest, Entertainment, Training, Trial`

`Rest: Consumes one Action Point, restores a certain amount of mood.`

`Entertainment: Consumes two Action Points, significantly restores mood.`

`Training: Consumes one Action Point, undergoes specific Faction Training.`

`Battle: Consumes one Action Point, requires Specific Items.`

`Trial: Does not consume Action Points, requires Specific Items.`

`Daily Action Points this week: 2 points (can use 1 Energy Potion to add 1 Action Point).`

“So that’s how it is; I have to consider the Operator’s mood. The better the mood, the more effective the Training. A balance between relaxation and effort is the essence of education…”

Ashe appreciates this humanized cultivation system and decides to equip the Death Maniac Swordswoman with the `Training Wooden Sword`, consuming 1 Energy Potion and 4 Experience Potions to fill up 3 Action Points!

`Cultivation Strategy: Training, Training, Battle`!

`this week’s Trial Project: Swordsmanship`!

“I’m almost at the point of execution, who has time to care about the mood of a Paper person!”

As Ashe confirms the cultivation strategy, a prompt suddenly pops up on the Holographic Screen: “Do you wish to activate the Inherent Talent of the apocalypse observer and register the Death Maniac Swordswoman in the Sorcerer Handbook?”

“Ah, right, I almost forgot to bind the Swordswoman. Lucky the game reminded me, or else all the Training would have been for nothing,” Ashe exclaims, relieved. His life is hanging by a thread, and he cannot afford to waste time; every ounce of benefit must be maximized.

`Are you sure you want to register the Death Maniac Swordswoman in the Sorcerer Handbook? Note: This action is irreversible.`

`Confirm`!

`Operator Bond registration successful. Cultivation in progress, arranging schedule…`

`Constructing Trial scenery… Scenery material missing, auto-completing… Searching for usable scenery, occupying…`

`Trial subject missing, auto-completing… Searching for usable subject, extracting…`

Watching the messages in the game, Ashe finds himself with nothing to do for a while. Perhaps the day’s highs and lows were too stimulating; once he relaxes, Ashe feels waves of drowsiness, as if all his strength has been drained, and his eyelids start to fight each other.

His head hasn’t even touched the pillow before Ashe falls into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile.

In another place far away, with a three-hour time difference from where Ashe is located.

A young girl who went to bed early for skincare and beauty suddenly finds herself waking up in a dream.