The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 448: The Witch’s Golden Fish

June 10, inside Belldet Amusement World, located in the middle layer of Nabistin.

”Wow, Ashy, look! From up here, Azura really does look like a blooming flower!”

”Huh? That’s the Mistbound Clock Tower in Vanmura! Those carvings, the architecture, the design... this is definitely the work of a necromancer. It might even have been personally overseen by that Legendary Six-Emblem necromancer from the past!”

”And to think I actually had expectations for your taste just now... Harvey, it’s entirely my fault.”

”Since when has Hemaira become this beautiful? The last time I went there was thirty years ago...”

”Miss, don’t grab me so tightly! Are you afraid of heights?”

”I... I’m not afraid of heights! This is just an illusion created by illusionists anyway. How could I possibly... Ah! Don’t push me out there, you bastard!”

When the Leap of the Gospel attraction finally ended, Annan angrily punched Ashe’s shoulder. ”How dare you scare me like that!?”

Ashe couldn’t help but laugh. ”Didn’t you use to live in inverted skyscrapers hundreds of meters above the ground? You’d casually drive hovercars through the air. How are you afraid of heights?”

Annan hammered his arm in rapid succession. ”That’s different! I knew I was safe back then. But this illusion removes the cable car entirely! We’re just flying directly above the city! I’ve never trained in virtual-wing flight, so of course I’d feel a little uneasy!”

At that moment, Lys ran over and grabbed Ashe’s hand. ”Asha! Let’s hurry to the next attraction! Our reservation slot is almost up!”

”Alright, alright...”

Thanks to the cloaks concealing their identities, the Funeral Agency squad blended in naturally with the crowd. Most visitors were dressed in all sorts of eccentric outfits anyway, the most eye-catching of which were a Sovereign-Blade Carp cosplayer and a Red-Hat Bunny Girl who had just passed by.

They even spotted someone cosplaying as Ashe himself. At this point, even if Ashe walked around without a disguise, no one would ever believe he was the real deal.

Their encounter with the mermaids had already taken place the previous night. Yesterday, because Heliphas had dried out and drowned in the plaza fountain, they had been forced to switch hotels. Then, Annan showed a rare flash of kindness and proposed that before assassinating the princess, they should relax a bit and do some team-building, which was how they ended up on a group trip to Belldet Amusement World on Nabistin’s second layer.

In truth, even the underground city of Nabistin had entertainment venues, far more than ordinary cities, in fact. After all, the lower and middle layers used to be the imperial capital, and this amusement park was built directly on the site of the former imperial palace. Moreover, many of the city’s transient residents were Nabistin drifters, people with intense emotional voids who relied on various forms of entertainment to fill the emptiness in their hearts.

Incidentally, the city with the fewest entertainment facilities was Vanmura. Because the Six-Emblem Families had their physical desires satisfied by the white mist and their spiritual needs fulfilled through family dreams, Vanmura had always produced more than it consumed, to the point of dumping its surplus onto other regions. It was no wonder Quinna was so wealthy.

Some might wonder why the underground city was so peaceful. After all, the typical first impression of an underground city was a lawless slum filled with chaos and violence, a place where, as Ashe had imagined before arriving, fresh bodies were fed to Lala beasts every day.

In reality, despite the lack of Red Hats in the underground city, the oversight of various corporate families had long since established a strict order. Because it wasn’t bound by conventional surface laws, it was, in some ways, even more prosperous than many surface cities.

The biggest difference between the underground and surface worlds was that combat sorcerers were the highest-paid, top-tier profession here. Conflicts of interest in the underground city were resolved directly through Sorcery Blood Battles. The Nabistin Bottom-City Decision Group, which the mermaids once mentioned, was the very organization responsible for managing these arenas.

As the only no-rules, blood-soaked competition in all of Gospel, most combat sorcerers came here to sharpen their claws. It could even be said that nearly everyone on the combat faction rankings had been an underground drifter in their youth. Annan was so familiar with the place because she had spent three months fighting in those blood battles herself.

Still, none of that really concerned Ashe and his group right now. They were just here to enjoy the amusement park before heading to the surface city to assassinate the princess.

Clearly, this team-building idea had been meant to accommodate Lys. Among the consciousnesses sharing the body, Little Witch was the only one with a mental age still that of a child. The others were more mature. The oldest among them, White Queen, for instance, was nearly twenty-five. Regardless of their stark contrast in age and mindset, when it came to an amusement park, all of them became victims of its allure.

Lys excitedly dragged Ashe to the entrance of Virtual World Horror. The staff had just opened the gates. Since they had already reserved their spots through the Book of Gospel, they boarded the exploration boat immediately and even secured seats in the very front row.

”This attraction is extremely thrilling. Children must be closely accompanied by a guardian, so Asha, you need to hold my hand tightly. There may be splashing water, so please take waterproof measures. Don’t worry, we’re wearing cloaks. This attraction...”

Ashe watched the unusually talkative Lys and obediently held her small hand as instructed. He couldn’t help but wonder: Does Lys really like amusement parks that much? She’s acting completely different today...

For one thing, just the way she addressed him had already changed several times. When they first entered the park, she called him Daddy, then Ashe, and now Ashy... Ashe felt that later on, he’d have to discuss this with Annan. If Lys ever called him Ashe-boy, he’d have to trouble Annan to give her a proper spanking.

It wasn’t just the names. More importantly, Lys’s attitude toward him kept shifting. Sometimes she acted like a little girl, sometimes like a young maiden, and now she seemed so mature that it was as if she were the one acting as his guardian.

Girls really do change like the weather...

Suddenly, the exploration boat jolted forward. After passing through a short tunnel, they plunged into a replica sea of knowledge shrouded in dense white mist. Just as Ashe tried to discern the boundaries of the illusion, more than a dozen ferocious Fish-Slaying Dragons burst from the mist. Instinctively, he shoved his fingers into his mouth, poised to draw his Honeyed Tongue Sword.

The swarm of Fish-Slaying Dragons merely swept over their exploration boat, splashing water everywhere. Before the passengers could even turn around, a small island suddenly materialized ahead. A Foxlight Dragon perched on the shore summoned Foxfire, launching a barrage of long-range attacks. As the flames chased them down, the exploration boat abruptly accelerated. Ashe and the others tensed instinctively, as if the illusory fire might actually reduce their vessel to ashes.

Common sights within the Sea of Knowledge, like the projections of sorcerers, Mudfish Drakes, and Swordfish Dragons, all made their appearance one after another. The ride even featured classic landmarks Ashe had never seen before, such as the Grand Road, the Sea Waterfall, and the Sky Bubbles.

Despite already being Two-Winged sorcerers who had long since left the Sea of Knowledge behind, they were still thoroughly amazed. It felt like high-level players returning to a beginner village, only to discover countless hidden secrets they had never explored during their own time there.

As the journey continued, they fled frantically while countless Knowledge Creatures pursued them from behind. Just as it seemed they were about to be caught, the exploration boat suddenly capsized and plunged into the sea, startling everyone. Lys instinctively grabbed Ashe tightly with both hands.

Only then did they realize the ride was simulating a Whirlpool experience. The boat quickly broke free from the whirlpool tunnel and breached the surface once more.

Just as the passengers thought the ride was drawing to a close, a silver-colored wing suddenly extended from the back of each seat. At the same time, the surrounding environment began to drop rapidly, creating the thrilling illusion that they were flapping virtual wings and soaring upward into the sky!

Iger chuckled from behind them. ”Can you actually reach the Continent of Time by flying upward? The designer of this attraction is quite imaginative.”

Harvey noted, ”Even if a Silver Rank sorcerer possessed flight-type spirits, they couldn’t sustain flight for that long unless they had a pair of virtual wings.”

Pankey scoffed. ”How could a Silver Rank sorcerer possibly have a pair of virtual wings? If they did, they wouldn’t be Silver Rank sorcerers anymore.”

Annan mused. ”If two sorcerers with fully formed Silver Wings met in the Virtual World, it might be possible. If they held hands and flapped their virtual wings together... Forget it, it sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale.”

While the other passengers admired the cleverness of the design, the father-daughter duo sitting in the very front were thrown into complete inner turmoil.

Ashe never expected that someone would openly reveal the secret of the Golden Fish Secret Poison, let alone incorporate it into a public amusement ride, as if they weren’t afraid of anyone noticing at all!

Yet reality was just that strange. Even for elite Two-Winged sorcerers like Annan and Iger, and even though the mechanics, creatures, and environment here were identical to the real Virtual World, they still couldn’t bring themselves to believe that this seemingly whimsical flight segment was actually the genuine method to find the Golden Fish.

Ashe understood why, though. For Silver Rank sorcerers, flying was an almost impossible condition to fulfill. Faced with something so utterly unattainable, it wasn’t so much that they couldn’t believe it, but that they refused to.

Wait... following that logic...The method to find the Rainbow Tail must also be something totally impossible for Two-Winged sorcerers...

Lys suddenly spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. ”Ashy, come closer. And close your eyes.”

Ashe did as he was told. Immediately, he felt his face being kissed four times in quick succession.

Wiping his cheek, Ashe coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment. ”Are you really that happy? I mean, I’m glad too, but don’t do that in public. It’s a bit embarrassing... and maybe not even after we go back. I’m not really used to such... intimate expressions.”

”No, I just owed you those from before. I’m paying them back now,” Lys said.

”Huh? When did you owe me?”

”Anyway, you just did,” Lys replied. Her eyes shimmered as she glanced at him, before she lowered her head to look at the hand mirror reflecting her other four sisters.

Within their inner world, Little Witch was screaming, ”Ahhh! White Sis, give me my body back! I want to ride the Virtual World Horror too!”

White Queen responded thoughtfully, ”So, the Golden Fish Secret Poison really does exist.”

Black Butler added, ”Back then, the Watcher and the Swordswoman must have discovered the Golden Fish by flying through the Sea of Knowledge hand-in-hand like this.”

”I never doubted the authenticity of the Golden Fish Secret Poison,” Red Death Apostle chimed in.

Secret Princess concluded softly, ”Back then, it wasn’t that we didn’t believe in the Golden Fish Secret Poison... we just couldn’t believe that in this world, there could exist two sorcerers who truly trusted each other enough to become each other’s wings and leave that lonely sea together... But now...”

Lys looked up at Ashe, her small hand turning to clasp his. Ashe glanced back at her, then relaxed his grip, letting her hold on tight. ”We’ve found our Golden Fish too.”

Suddenly, a stream of profound information flowed directly into the minds of the Witch sisters.

[Golden Fish Secret Poison]

Number of Infected: 15

Poison Enhancement Level: 15%

Current Effect: You may convert Silver Mana into Gold Mana at a ratio of 64:36. (If the Poison Enhancement Level drops to 10%, the gain becomes extreme. Reaching 51% reverses the effect.)

The legendary secret poison that the Watcher and the Swordswoman had failed to transmit despite countless historical attempts... the Witch sisters had just been infected with it through an ordinary ride at an amusement park.