The Sorcerer's Handbook

Ashe glanced at his newly acquired blessings, his expression subtly complex.

Silver Blessing · Watcher’s Countenance

- Your appearance is deceptive. Unless you behave unusually, others will subconsciously overlook your presence. Within the Virtual World, this effect is amplified. Without a close bond, others cannot perceive your face clearly.

Gold Blessing · Hearer’s Sorrow:

- Your very existence is deceptive. Unless you actively seek death or throw yourself into danger, others’ hostility toward you will drop by one level. In the Virtual World, this blessing is enhanced. Without a close bond, others will find it difficult to develop killing intent toward you.

The blessings the Virtual World granted him had never offered direct combat enhancements.

Take the Silver Blessing, Watcher’s Countenance, for example. It had proven invaluable during his prison break in the Blood Moon Kingdom, the assassination of Professor Syrin, and his time masquerading as an adventurer. Ashe had assumed that leaving the Blood Moon would render the blessing mostly useless. Yet less than ten days after arriving in the Gospel Kingdom, he was already a wanted criminal. The fact that the Red Hats hadn’t knocked him out and dragged him off during his outings these past few days was entirely thanks to his full-coverage cloak paired with this blessing.

If the blessing could speak, it would probably ask, ”Do you ever plan to live peacefully for even a few days?”

Hearer’s Sorrow was undeniably even more practical. At first glance, it resembled the Spider Tower unit trait, Concealment. However, Concealment operated on a simple logic that you won’t be targeted as long as other allied units are nearby. In other words, enemies would attack the taunting minion first. Hearer’s Sorrow worked differently by reducing the severity of attacks directed at Ashe. He would still get beaten, except fatal blows would soften into grievous injuries, grievous injuries into minor wounds, minor wounds into a beating, a beating into a scolding, and a scolding into reluctant tolerance.

It sounded remarkably potent. So long as Ashe didn’t go around destroying the world or annihilating entire bloodlines, it seemed unlikely anyone would truly want to kill him. Still, Ashe quickly spotted a loophole. Hostility was subjective.

If a conflict stemmed from purely objective interests, the Gold Blessing couldn’t save him.

When he had been placed on the wanted list earlier, Cliose and the other Red Hats had pursued him. Cliose herself held no personal malice toward him, yet capturing Ashe would advance her career, so the Weeping Sand would strike without hesitation.

Despite that flaw, the blessing remained immensely useful. Humans were emotional creatures, after all, and purely rational beings who completely abandoned emotion simply didn’t exist. With this blessing in hand, Ashe could practically act as he pleased.

He remained deeply skeptical about the ”enhanced in the Virtual World” aspect, however. If having no close bond meant no killing intent, the reverse implied that once a close bond existed, others could execute him without a second thought! How was that an enhancement?!

In the Virtual World, Ashe only acted alongside his operators, and their bonds were bound to deepen over time. Unless he recruited someone who harbored deep hatred toward him, or the Swordswoman and the Witch staged a rebellion against his tyranny, this Gold Blessing was virtually useless.

Reasoning this way, Ashe chose to hide the enhanced effect, sharing only the first half with the two.

Sonya remarked, ”It doesn’t directly boost combat strength, but it’s still a permanent passive Miracle. Its practicality is no less than mine or the Witch’s blessings. As for you... the Virtual World really takes great care of you.”

Ashe pressed his hands together. ”Thank you, Mama Virtual World.”

In a few days, they would infiltrate the imperial palace to carry out the Princess Assassination plan. For him, this blessing arrived like rain after a drought. If things went awry and he had to flee, enemy attacks would likely miss him as if deliberately tracing around his body.

Still, both blessings leaned heavily toward survival. Ashe couldn’t shake the feeling that the Virtual World had formed a rather skewed impression of him. He was clearly just an ordinary guy longing for a peaceful life. His only wish was to upgrade his Substitute spirit so it could earn money on its own and support both him and Lys. How had he ended up living like a walking disaster, a harbinger of chaos?

Ashe remained confident that none of this was his fault. In the Blood Moon Kingdom, Heath had left behind the ”cult leader” mess without cleaning it up. In the Gospel Kingdom, Everlasting Doom had smeared him with trouble, forcing him into the Everlasting Wanderer side quest. In short, he was always the victim.

Right... once he returned, he would talk to Annan. If any wish capacity remained, he would ask to lift the curse Everlasting Doom had placed on him. Then again, it wouldn’t matter much if it stayed. Once the Woven Festival ended and his contract with Annan concluded, he would settle somewhere safe with Lys and abandon adventuring for good.

The moment he recalled that nearly half of his contract with Annan remained, his confidence in his own resolve crumbled. Come to think of it, Ashe had reproductive incompatibility with most species in the Gospel Kingdom, such as the elf sisters Quinna and Nona, yet Annan happened to be a pure human...

Ashe shook his head, forcibly casting away those dangerous thoughts. ”You’ve already felt the new Secret Poison, right?”

As they climbed out of the River of Flowing Gold and stood atop the White Ox, admiring the rainbow-colored tail left in their wake, a fragment of hidden knowledge quietly surfaced in their minds.

[Rainbow Tail Secret Poison]

Number of Infected: 9

Poison Enhancement Level: 9%

Current effects:

① Convert Gold Mana into Prismatic Mana at a ratio of 59:41.

② When using Prismatic Mana to control spirits below Three Wings, they perform as if they possess Three Wings.

③ While holding this Secret Poison, all Rainbow Mana is converted into Prismatic Mana. Using Prismatic Mana to control Three-Winged spirits reduces mana consumption by 10%. (At 11% enhancement, this bonus will decrease.)

The Secret Poison came with three distinct effects. The first mirrored the Golden Fish Secret Poison. Where Golden Fish converted Silver Mana into Gold Mana, Rainbow Tail transformed Gold Mana into Prismatic Mana. Whenever Ashe and his companions wished, they could pool all their Silver and Gold Mana into a single Prismatic reservoir at any time.

The second effect was formidable. Using Prismatic Mana to command One- or Two-Winged spirits allowed those spirits to perform at the Three-Winged level, entirely bypassing their original rank. It was like offering a fresh graduate a monthly salary of fifty thousand. He would deliver work worthy of the pay regardless of his experience.

As a result, despite not yet mastering the Sacred Realm or possessing a single Three-Winged spirit, their combat power already far surpassed ordinary Two-Winged sorcerers, matching the level of Three-Winged practitioners.

Until they upgraded all their spirits to the Three-Winged level, the second effect would yield immense benefits.

As for the third effect, it left both Ashe and Dia somewhat puzzled.

Sonya, the only literate member of their group, explained, ”A normal Sacred Realm sorcerer uses Rainbow Mana rather than Prismatic Mana. Prismatic Mana is likely an enhanced version of Rainbow Mana.”

Ashe recalled Pankey’s Frost Mana and Harvey’s Necromantic Mana, readily accepting the explanation. Still, he noted with a trace of regret, ”If the Golden Fish Secret Poison had infected fewer than ten people, we might have obtained an enhanced strain of Gold Mana as well. It seems we’ve missed that chance for good.”

Prismatic Mana could not directly enhance the performance of Three-Winged spirits, yet it functioned across spirits of all sorcery classes, making it exceptionally versatile.

Setting aside advancement to the Sacred Realm, these effects made all their arduous searching for the Rainbow Tail feel entirely worthwhile. It certainly lived up to its reputation as a powerful Secret Poison shared among fewer than ten infected individuals!

”Nine infected count...” Dia blinked. ”There are three of us, which means there are still six people who know about the Secret Poison...”

For survivors who had just escaped the Continent of Time, the number six carried an almost ominous weight. The lingering suspicion that those other ”people” might be supreme beings was enough to unsettle even Ashe.

Simply put, discovering secrets about someone you like created a sense of intimacy and excitement. Uncovering secrets about a serial killer, however, felt as if the monster was closing in on you, stirring an instinctive fear and revulsion toward something deeply twisted.

Compared to Divine Lords, a serial killer seemed almost harmless.

Ashe dared not dwell on the thought any further. Standing up, he said, ”While we still have time, let’s explore this place... Oh right, Swordswoman, does the Distant Sky Domain have anything like the Static Zone, a place where you die if you stop moving?”

Sonya shook her head. ”No.”

The three of them emerged from the alley into streets bustling with people. The ground was clean and tidy beneath somewhat aged architecture. Bright daylight filled the sky, yet every shop had its neon lights blazing, and even passing cars kept their headlights on. Perhaps night reigned in this dream’s reality, yet the Distant Sky Domain remained perpetually bathed in daylight.

While not densely packed, doorways consisting of bare frames were easy for Ashe and his companions to spot. Some hung on walls, while others stood fixed to ceilings. They were so conspicuous they seemed designed to ensure no sorcerer could overlook them. Without a doubt, these were spatial gates leading to other dreams.

No pedestrians paid the trio any attention, merely stepping around them as they passed. Ashe glanced back at the little blonde girl still trailing them from a distance, then asked, ”How do we explore dreams?”

”Sorcerer projections and Knowledge Creatures exist within dreams as well, but they remain hidden,” Sonya replied. ”Some dreams are purely dreams, containing nothing at all. Still, the dream itself serves as a resource.”

”Every dream has an owner, known collectively as the Dream Master. So long as you locate and make contact with them, the dream will dissipate, granting sorcery class experience relevant to the Dream Master. It isn’t as valuable as Experience Orbs, but the gains accumulate over time. The problem is that Dream Masters are notoriously difficult to find, and any unusual movement from a sorcerer will cause them to vanish into hiding.”

Ashe cast a skeptical glance at the little blonde girl, who had now tucked her head behind a tree, and decided to reserve judgment on Sonya’s explanation. ”So exploring simply means finding the Dream Master?”

Sonya shook her head. ”Of course not. Exploration in the Distant Sky Domain differs entirely from the Sea of Knowledge or the Continent of Time. Given your intelligence, explaining it clearly would be quite a challenge.”

”Is that so?” Ashe turned to Dia. ”Witch, sounds like you’ll need to let White Queen take over from here on out.”

”We just have different personalities! I’m every bit as smart as White Queen!”

”I wasn’t talking about your intelligence...”

”What are you implying!?”

”I was lying,” Sonya interrupted their bickering. ”Books regarding the Distant Sky Domain require specific clearances to access. What I shared is already the extent of my knowledge. More importantly... haven’t you noticed that you can’t return to reality?”

Ashe and Dia froze. They tried and instantly panicked.

They could no longer locate the thread of consciousness that would lead them back to reality!

Entering the Virtual World had always felt like tying a guide rope around their waists before stepping into a maze. Now, they were still trapped inside the maze, except the rope was gone.