The Sorcerer's Handbook

”Add restrictions to the guards’ chips?”

After retching, Ronald wiped the filth from the corner of his mouth. Disbelief was written all over his face. ”But they aren’t inmates!”

Harvey sneered. ”Why do you assume only inmates’ chips can have restrictions added? Or rather, why do you believe ordinary people’s chips cannot be restricted?”

”The Sinner’s Directory—”

Harvey interrupted, ”When you were detained by the Heresy Court, multiple restrictions were already imposed on you. At that time, you had not even signed the Sinner’s Directory. You were no different from an ordinary citizen. The directory’s true purpose is simply to make those restrictions permanent.”

Ronald muttered, ”I thought a hunter used a Miracle on me...”

A chill crept through Ashe’s chest.

That meant everyone in the Blood Moon Kingdom, civilians and sorcerers alike, lived with a noose around their necks. At any moment, it could tighten and kill them. As long as the processor received an order, it could compel anyone within range to obey. It could even force them to slit their own throats.

Ironically, Ashe had never truly seen the Blood Moon Kingdom. He had not met a single ordinary citizen. Yet he already knew secrets most people would never touch.

It felt like peering at the world through a narrow crack, grasping only scattered keywords from multiple races and the Human Rights Association, to foster systems, the Heresy Court, the Church, memory specialists, the Blood Moon Tribunal, and the Woodpecker gang. These fragments formed a grotesque image of a world both democratic and authoritarian, wealthy yet impoverished, respectful of human rights while invasive of privacy, and obsessed with entertainment while unnervingly stable. Like a blood-red lotus blooming from filth, dazzling to behold while steeped in rot.

Perhaps the sources Ashe had gathered his information from were largely responsible for this warped impression. After all, what beauty could there be in a death row prison? No nation on the surface was ever perfect. Perhaps once he escaped, Ashe would end up praising the place and lying sprawled on a sofa to watch the Blood Moon Tribunal every month.

Suddenly, Iger said, ”This is not information a mere cleaner should have access to. Who exactly are you? And how did you fool the Heresy Court?”

Harvey replied evenly, ”I am a cleaner. My job is to handle corpses. To ensure they do not cry for help, resist, or attempt to escape.”

Ronald remembered something and blurted out, ”The Manipulator! A few years ago, there were several infamous murder cases. The victims were killed in their homes without any signs of struggle, and their bodies disappeared. Some were even sorcerers. People called the killer the Manipulator and believed he possessed an extremely powerful control-type Miracle, strong enough to completely overwhelm Two-Winged sorcerers!”

”You give me too much credit,” Harvey said, shaking his head. ”I only exploited existing loopholes. As for how I deceived the Heresy Court, it was simple. I erased my memories first, then recovered them later.”

Ashe frowned. ”If you could erase memories, why not remove all illegal ones? Wouldn’t that let you walk free immediately?”

Iger cut in, ”He couldn’t. His primary sorcery class is necromancy. Most of his memories are bound to it. Erasing them would leave him effectively amnesiac. But if he erased everything except necromancy, the Court would notice at once. You cannot learn necromancy without corpses. This was the best outcome he could calculate.”

Ashe nodded slowly. ”Wait... if you manipulated your memories in advance, does that mean you deliberately let yourself be captured? Did you have a reason for entering Shattered Lake Prison? For example, Narbel?”

At the mention of the name, an icy wind suddenly swept through the sealed room.

When Harvey lifted his chin and raked the space with his vicious gaze, Ronna immediately pulled Ronald behind him, while Iger stepped forward and placed himself in front of Ashe.

The cold crawled over Ashe’s skin. His breathing faltered, and his thoughts nearly froze. Is that a spirit? Or a Miracle?

The wind vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. Harvey lowered his eyes. ”I can place restrictions on the guards’ chips. I can immobilize them. I can even prevent them from sending an alert. Is that sufficient to earn your promise?”

”State your condition first,” Iger said.

”After the escape, you will help me kill someone.”

”Who?”

”Arandor Fernandez,” Harvey said, naming a figure known to all. ”The current mayor of Caimon City.”

***

At the Virtual World’s Sea of Knowledge.

”So you actually signed an unbreakable contract, and even before the jailbreak, you already had the city’s high-ranking mayor on the assassination list?”

”Yes. Luckily, there’s a contract sorcerer on our team. There’s no chance to verbally agree and then back out.”

”Tch... and you actually considered reneging.”

”What choice did I have?”

”You could have teamed up with others after escaping to take out the necromancer. That way, you wouldn’t have to fulfill the contract! The contract doesn’t forbid you from hurting each other, does it?”

”Impressive. Maybe you should have been the one in prison.”

Their banter was interrupted as the battered Canopy Dragon suddenly folded its tattered wings, like a broken umbrella, and dissolved into white mist to escape. At the same time, it hurled a spirit in the opposite direction.

”Swordswoman!”

”No problem!”

Ashe dashed forward to grab the spirit while Sonya positioned herself in front of the Canopy Dragon. She assumed a sword stance, completely unfazed by its charging momentum. Streams of Moonthreads surged around her like flowing water.

Clang!

The moment the Canopy Dragon touched the Moonthreads, Sonya tensed like a spring, then swung her wooden sword in a perfect arc, releasing a wave of scarlet sword energy.

Miracle, Killing Intent Water Moon!

Her new Miracle fused the Killing Intent spirit with the power of Water Moon, amplifying its force dramatically.

”Growl...”

The Canopy Dragon’s body split under the strike. It let out a frustrated cry before dissolving into smoke, leaving behind two spirits.

Ashe sighed. ”Without Experience Orbs, how long will it take for you to reach Two-Winged Gold...”

Sonya stretched lazily in the small boat, resting her legs on the edge. ”These things can’t be rushed. Many sorcerers say the Virtual World responds to desire. The more you want something, the less it gives. But once you stop caring, it appears right before you.”

”Sounds like the Virtual World is deliberately cruel.”

Sonya warned, ”Say another word like that, and you might never see another Experience Orb in your life.”

Thanks to the Exile Secret Poison and the Virtual World Telescope, Ashe could now reliably track Knowledge Creatures for hunting. To level up the Swordswoman quickly and gain a strong ally, he specifically targeted Knowledge Creatures that could drop Swordsmanship Orbs.

But after consecutive hunts of the Fish-Slaying Dragon and the Canopy Dragon, only a few spirits had dropped, and no Experience Orbs appeared. Ashe felt a twinge of frustration. At this pace, his goal to raise the Swordswoman to Two-Winged status within ten days seemed unrealistic.

Sonya yawned and stretched, her legs dangling over the boat’s edge. ”I still don’t know how many Swordsmanship Orbs it takes to reach Gold Rank. Most sorcerers improve their class through study and travel. Experience Orbs are rare enough as it is. If you actually find one that matches your main sorcery class, that’s a lifetime bragging right. And here you are, trying to forcibly raise a class with them? Anyone hearing that would just laugh.”

”The ideas that get laughed at are the ones worth trying,” Ashe said, glancing at the way her legs swayed over the boat’s edge and the pale skin showing between her skirt and stockings. ”Maybe it’s just me, but you seem more relaxed around me lately.”

”Wha~t? No~ I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

”But I remember, even when you rested before, you always sat upright.”

”Lying down is more comfortable than sitting. Hey, can you make the boat a bit bigger? Maybe add a footrest. I want to stretch properly.”

”Don’t go too far, Swordswoman!”

”Why not? You get to act spoiled, but I can’t even stretch?”

”Act... spo-spo-spoiled?!” Ashe stammered, flustered. ”I’ve never acted spoiled! Don’t accuse me!”

Sonya cleared her throat dramatically. ”I feel light all over, like a balloon, with only a single string tying me to the ground. Swordswoman, you are that string...”

”Hmph, you think that would embarrass me?”

”But—”

”Still, leaving your feet like that will get your socks wet. If you slip during battle, it’ll be bad,” Ashe said calmly, patting his own thigh. ”I actually know a bit about foot massage. Put your feet on my thighs and stretch properly.”