The Sorcerer's Handbook

"Why is Vanmura's mist..."

Ashe hesitated for a moment, then scratched out his question and rewrote it in the Book of Gospel, "Am I in danger tonight?"

The Book replied instantly.

[Am I in danger tonight?]

Cost: 1 Gospel Point

Response: Yes.

After a moment's thought, Ashe ducked behind the front desk. He flipped the Book of Gospel to the page titled Aurora Sorcerer's Handbook, then navigated through [Senheiser's Dream] to the [Dream Fragment Exchange].

Tonight's dream expedition had already ended. Given the magnitude of the unfolding event, which was practically indistinguishable from a terrorist attack, Ashe felt their journey in Vanmura might be nearing its end. If that was the case, he needed to settle his gains from Senheiser's Dream early.

Regardless of what lay ahead, his priority remained the conversion of idle resources into combat power as quickly as possible.

He checked the interface. Through his substitute's hard work over the past few days, he had accumulated 1,553 Dream Fragments. It sounded like a fortune, but staring at the vast sea of rewards in the exchange shop, Ashe felt like a child holding a fifty-dollar bill in a candy store before a school trip. I have to budget carefully!

Fortunately, during his recent party-building sessions, Ashe had already done the math. For him, planning how to spend rewards before he even had them was a form of mental entertainment. Having researched the cost-performance ratio of every item, he didn't need to deliberate. He simply went for the optimal package.

First, The Five Unmatched Secret Swords Deluxe Mystery Box!

Compared to the standard version, the Deluxe box cost only a hundred extra fragments but included two bonuses, which were a specialized Miracle Orb that allowed a sorcerer to instantly master a Miracle and the key spirit components required to construct it.

The Swordswoman could instantly master almost any Sword Class spirit. Unlike her, Ashe needed days of training just to reach basic combat readiness, and even then, unless the spirit's base effect was extraordinary, he would still rather rely on Miracles.

Sorcerers had a limit on how many spirits they could maintain simultaneously. Ashe's limit was four. Any more, and he would lose control. To put it simply, controlling spirits was like playing an RTS [1] game. Powerful sorcerers could micromanage every unit with surgical precision, but Ashe was the type who could only "box-select" his entire army and order an all-out charge.

Because of this, he had barely updated his spirits since arriving on the Continent of Time. He still relied mainly on his Sword Barrier style of ranged support, simply because it was the only Miracle he had truly mastered. His self-created movement Miracle, Bidirectional Rush, and his debuff-remover, Slash Me, were rarely useful in standard combat. As for Swordheart and Sword Scar, they were little more than basic "chip-damage" attacks.

He needed a burst-damage Miracle more than anything. The moment he saw the Deluxe box, he locked on.

Exchange!

[You have opened the Five Unmatched Secret Swords Deluxe Mystery Box.]

[You obtained the Two-Winged Spirit: Emotion.]

[You obtained the Two-Winged Spirit: Devoted Love.]

[You obtained the Miracle Orb: Singular Devotion.]

Ashe was pleased that the spirits were Two-Winged and perfectly suited to his level, but the names made his heart sink. It felt as though his long-awaited burst-damage Miracle had, once again, slipped through his fingers.

[Emotion]

Two-Winged Spirit

Requirement

- The sorcerer must be capable of generating emotions.

Basic effect

- Consumes the sorcerer's current emotional state to manifest a controllable blade of Emotion.

Passive effect

- Your emotions become significantly more intense, manifesting externally as an amplification of your core personality traits.

Signature Quote

- You must be as happy as I am for it to count as sharing; you must be as sad as I am for it to count as an apology

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[Devoted Love]

Two-Winged Spirit

Requirement

- The sorcerer must be capable of generating emotions.

Basic effect

- Distills the sorcerer's current emotional spectrum into a single, concentrated state. Available conversions include Anger, Love, Joy, and Sorrow.

Passive effect

- Enhances concentration and eliminates emotional indecision. This effect significantly lowers the likelihood of the sorcerer's affections being swayed by others.

Signature Quote

- In the world of sorcerers, even emotions can be fake.

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[Miracle · Singular Devotion]

Description

- By funneling converted emotions through Devoted Love, the sorcerer manifests a blade of Emotion forged from a single sentiment. The chosen state determines the blade's properties.

1) Sword of Rage: Grants extreme attack speed and high-tier armor penetration.

2) Sword of Joy: Bestows a potent healing effect on both the physical body and the soul.

3) Sword of Sorrow: Standard attack speed. Each strike inflicts a cascade of debilitating status effects, including Slowness, Blindness, Tinnitus, and Vertigo.

4) Sword of Love: Provides a comprehensive enhancement to the target's physical attributes

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As it seemed, the situation was... complicated

It wasn't that the Miracle lacked burst damage. Technically, it was highly practical and incredibly versatile. But no matter how he looked at it, the thing was undeniably support-oriented. He was still destined to be a backline sorcerer, grinding down enemies over time while others took the glory.

I just want to show off a little in front of the Witch and the Swordswoman. Is that really so much to ask?

After purchasing the Deluxe Gift Box, his Dream Fragments had plummeted from four digits to three. Ashe didn't have many options left. Still, Devoted Love was undeniably a massive help. He had originally planned to buy a healing-type spirit for emergencies, but now the Sword of Joy could fill that role, saving him a significant amount of currency.

With his remaining fragments, Ashe couldn't help but shift his gaze toward the premium items at the very top of the Senheiser's Dream exchange list.

[One-Winged Spirit: Secret Poison Diary]

[Random Spirit Summoning Card]

[Operator Possession Card]

Among them, the Random Spirit Summoning Card was an item Ashe had encountered before. It was a gold-tier legendary utility card, and its effects lived up to its rarity. It allowed an operator to summon a spirit of their current rank within a week.

Back when the Swordswoman was still a One-Winged sorcerer, she had used it to summon a One-Winged Mind Class spirit, which had forcibly boosted her Mind Class proficiency to Silver Rank. Now that they were both Two-Winged sorcerers, using this card would naturally summon a random Two-Winged spirit, elevating the corresponding sorcery class to Gold Rank.

All three items shared the same price, meaning the others were also gold-tier legendary treasures. Initially, Ashe had excluded them from his plans. The Empress in the Virtual World was still watching them like a hawk, ready to tear their fragile "three-person household" apart at any moment. More importantly, these items didn't provide immediate combat power. They were far less practical than a gift box designed to plug the gaps in his offense, defense, and healing.

However, Devoted Love was simply too versatile. It was like planning to buy a massive home entertainment system, only to realize a single smartphone already covered most of those needs. As the saying went, "If it works, it works." There was no need to chase marginal gains at a higher cost.

The Random Spirit Summoning Card was the first to be ruled out. Its utility was proven, but its downside was equally infamous. The Swordswoman had been its victim before. The summoning ritual was entirely random. She had once ended up with a requirement that forced her to "only speak the truth," and that single debuff had nearly wrecked her social life.

Even if the outcome was potentially good, Ashe knew that if he dared try it again, the Swordswoman would absolutely kill him. And if it wasn't safe for her, it certainly wasn't safe for the Witch, whose mental state was even more unstable. As for Ashe himself, he had even less use for it. The card was essentially specialized training for an employee. He had never heard of a Boss taking his own staff's training courses.

The Operator Possession Card was also a complicated matter. In simple terms, it allowed Ashe to summon an operator to possess his body and take control during combat. Since it was a soul-level possession, the operator would bring their own spirits along, allowing them to utilize their full combat expertise while piloting the "Ashe-class combat unit."

Strictly speaking, it was a legendary trump card. Used correctly, it could turn the tide of a battle. The problem, however, was that the Swordswoman and the Witch weren't actually that much stronger than Ashe yet.

If they were Four-Winged Legendary sorcerers, the gap in their combat specializations would be astronomical. In that scenario, with Ashe built as a support, the Swordswoman as an elite attacker, and the Witch as a crowd-controller, the Possession Card would be a true ace in the hole. A possessed Ashe, piloted by the Swordswoman's legendary expertise, could slay enemies that the normal Ashe couldn't even scratch.

But right now, they were all only Two-Winged Gold sorcerers. Sure, the Swordswoman could beat Ashe, but it was not by an overwhelming margin. He could still survive a fight against her through defense, evasion, and harassment tactics. Conversely, against an enemy truly beyond Ashe's limits, even having the Swordswoman pilot his body likely wouldn't be enough to overturn the result.

It was a great card, but it had arrived at the wrong time.

And so, Ashe set his sights on the first item on the list instead.

1. Real-Time Strategy. ☜