Sorcerer’s Handbook

Virtual Realm, Sea of Knowledge.

A lone boat floated quietly on the water. Inside, a Bewitcher wearing an off-shoulder sweater lay lazily. She stared blankly at the sky shrouded in white mist, seemingly lost in thought, until a little bat landed on her shoulder to urge her on. Only then did she slowly start rowing away.

But soon, the boat stopped again. It was clear that the boat’s master had no interest in working. If she didn’t have to avoid staying in the same spot in the Sea of Knowledge for too long, she would have gladly slack off there until the end of the day.

“Sigh~” Freya hugged the little bat tightly to her chest and said gloomily, “Why hasn’t any sorcerer found me yet…? Ugh, why does it take two sorcerers to fly up into the sky to find the Golden Fish?”

At this point, the Bewitcher grew angry for the ninety-third time — she had been furious the entire night after reading Chapter 119, barely calming down after envisioning herself as the Sword Princess unleashing a Miracle water spell with incantations. She pursed her lips and hugged the little bat even tighter. “Why is the one soaring through the sky with Ashe that random woman from who-knows-where? That’s supposed to be my place, it’s supposed to be mine… Thief, bad woman, shameless vixen, boohoo ┭┮﹏┭┮…”

The little bat, struggling desperately to escape her oppressive grip, rolled its eyes — if we go by the timeline, aren’t you actually the third party here? Even I’ve been around longer than you… If we really wanted to be literal about it, forget eating or drinking, you barely get a lick of the sauce.

However, there was no reasoning with a woman blinded by love.

Anger came and went quickly for Freya. Fantasizing about flying with the silver wings, her face lit up with longing. “But that silly woman is so stupid. If it were me, holding hands wouldn’t be enough; at the very least, we’d be embracing. And at the moment we broke through the white mist and saw the Golden Fish, it would be like the entire Virtual Realm was witnessing our love! Nothing is more fitting for such a scene than a romantic kiss…”

While the Bewitcher was lost in her reverie, hugging tighter and rubbing her legs together, she suddenly noticed that the little bat had gone completely silent. Looking down, she realized she had accidentally squeezed it unconscious.

“Sorry, sorry,” Freya quickly loosened her grip. The little bat lay motionless on the boat for a while, then suddenly twitched and woke up, swiftly flying to the stern and staring at the Bewitcher in terror.

The Bewitcher gave an awkward, apologetic smile. Whether it was a complaint or an explanation, she gently lifted the two culprits that nearly suffocated the little bat and helplessly said, “I don’t know why they’ve gotten bigger again lately. My shoulders are so sore during the day. I’m already twenty, way past the growth phase…”

So it’s true that a Bewitcher grows again when she has a crush, thought the little bat. However, the direction of her growth often aligns with her beloved’s preferences, which means…

“When will I ever encounter another sorcerer?” The Bewitcher stretched and complained, “I thought convincing other sorcerers would be hard; I didn’t expect even meeting them to be this difficult…”

Freya had never doubted the authenticity of the Golden Fish’s Secret Toxin. After fully condensing her silver wings, she thought about finding other sorcerers every day to smuggle her to the Time Continent. But she was too lazy to search herself. In the vast white mist over the Sea of Knowledge, searching was akin to waiting for a rabbit by a stump, so she lay in the boat, touching fish and waiting for someone to find her.

As for why she didn’t follow the proper route and work hard to cultivate her Mental Sect to the Golden level — first of all, greed is a sorcerer’s instinct. Utilizing resources is a mental sorcerer’s professional ethic. Indulging in pleasure and avoiding hard work are Bewitcher’s excellent traits. More importantly, Freya yearned to be close to Ashe.

Doing the same things, walking the same paths, admiring the same scenery… It was as if by recreating his past, she could make up for the missed moments between them.

When Freya confided these thoughts to the little bat, it couldn’t help but think how childish she was.

How nice it is to be so childish.

The little bat suddenly had the urge to tease her and flapped its wings, making two calls. Freya immediately understood and shook her head. “Of course not! I’m not willing to hold hands with another male sorcerer!”

She paused, “Yes, that’s right. As long as I find a female sorcerer, it’ll be fine. The ratio of males to females among sorcerers is about equal. I’m sure I’ll meet one.”

The Bewitcher looked up at the sky and encouraged herself, “Ashe, you wait for me. I will catch up to you soon!”

The little bat landed on her shoulder, a hint of hesitation flickering in its eyes.

The moment Ashe opened his eyes, he immediately collapsed in pain, convulsing on the ground.

Suffocation!

It felt as if he were being squeezed into a rubber tube!

He couldn’t even scream. The intense feeling of suffocation robbed him of any ability to express himself. His breathing became abnormally heavy; the low growl he managed to produce was the loudest cry his soul could muster from its deepest recesses!

The Sword Princess and the Witch fared no better. Gripped by despair, they simultaneously grabbed one of his arms and bit down. The Witch nearly tore a chunk of flesh off him, the dirt-colored hue of her hair slowly receding. Though the Sword Princess stopped halfway, her nails embedded themselves deeply into his flesh.

At this point, Ashe almost wished he could feel the pain inflicted by the Witch and the Sword Princess, for at least it would distract him from the mental suffocation he was experiencing. Unfortunately, a soul has no nerves. No matter how severe the injury, it wouldn’t hurt. Even if he shattered his silver teeth from clenching, it would be useless!

He didn’t know how long it had been, but when Ashe exhaled a deep breath, it was as if someone had pressed a switch. The three of them were finally freed from what felt like eternal torment. The Sword Princess and the Witch, now devoid of any sense of decorum, lay on the ground, greedily gasping for air. They were all reduced to a state of complete exhaustion; they had lost all will to fight. Even if a Blade Fish Dragon attacked them now, they would have no desire to resist.

After dozens of breaths, Ashe, like a student forced to wake up on a winter morning, struggled to sit up and leaned against the wall, tiredly saying, “R-Rainbow Tail…”

“It’s not a Rainbow Tail.”

Sonya lay on the ground, her chest heaving continuously, barely able to maintain rational thought. “That was… spatial teleportation.”

Ashe looked behind him and saw an ordinary wooden door frame standing there. It seemed they had emerged from it. He then realized they were in a small alley, with bustling streets at both ends. The lively noise from the busy streets made him feel as if he were back in reality.

“Where is this place?” Ashe asked her excitedly, “Have we been teleported back to reality!?”

Sonya hadn’t yet caught her breath when Deya suddenly looked up at the sky and said, “No, we’re still in the Virtual Realm. Look.”

Ashe glanced up at the sliver of sky visible through the alley and soon noticed a streak of crimson on the horizon at the center of his field of vision. Curious, he asked, “What’s that red dot?”

Deya didn’t answer but pointed to another part of the sky. “Look over there.”

Following her finger, Ashe saw another streak of crimson appear in the center of his view. He was puzzled, “Why is it showing up again?”

“As long as you look at the horizon in any direction, you’ll see it,” Deya replied with a weak smile. “The fairy tale book The Dream That Can Never Be Touched introduces the Distant Sky Domain. The protagonist just needs to observe the sky to know if they’re still in the Distant Sky Domain. I never thought it would actually work.”

“The crimson you see is the fourth layer of the Virtual Realm,” Sonya added. “This is also the defining feature of the Distant Sky Domain. No matter where the sorcerer is, they can always see their ultimate goal—the Ruby Mountain—when they look at the horizon.”

Ashe was astonished, “The fourth layer of the Virtual Realm is inside the third layer?”

“That’s what it says, but just as no one can find the Golden Fish or the Rainbow Tail, no one in the Distant Sky Domain has ever found the Ruby Mountain,” Sonya said, grabbing Ashe’s hand and struggling to sit up. “I didn’t expect to become a Sanctuary sorcerer so quickly and haven’t really studied the related books… but my elder sister, the professor, once told me that the Ruby Mountain is a kind of torment for Sanctuary sorcerers.”

“You can always see it, but you can never reach it,” she said, clutching Ashe’s sleeve. “The ‘Distant’ in Distant Sky Domain refers to the ‘Distant Land’ of the Ruby Mountain.”