The Sorcerer's Handbook

Inside the capital city.

As the headquarters of the Legion of Heroes, the capital city was the most dangerous and mysterious region on the Continent of Time. Even Sonya had failed to find a single mention of it in her university's records. For the vast majority of sorcerers, encountering a single Legion of Heroes was already their absolute limit. Unless they managed to kill a commander and obtain a map, they would never know where the capital city was located.

As for stumbling into it by accident, that was even more impossible. Both the Blood Tomb and Star Hall maps Ashe had obtained clearly stated that at least three legions patrolled the outskirts of the capital city in a constant rotation. Those patrol units were all equipped with flight and scouting attributes. Any ordinary sorcerer who stepped even half a step beyond the boundary would be killed instantly and forcibly ejected back to reality. Try it, and you die.

After learning the location of the capital city, Ashe's team had never even considered exploring it. Firstly, doing so offered no guaranteed benefits beyond satisfying their curiosity. Secondly, the risk was absurdly high. Not to mention, the Legion of Heroes was already hunting them.

Exploring the capital city would be no different from a gasoline tank willingly rolling into a fire to act as a firefighter.

Wasn't it better to steadily climb to the third layer of the Virtual World? Wasn't it more satisfying to follow the map and loot step by step? Why leave their comfort zone at all?

So, when Ashe realized they had entered the unfamiliar capital city, his mood plummeted to that of a terminal patient. Why is this happening?

Under normal circumstances, he would never have wandered into this place. Even without a detailed map, the moment he spotted a Legion of Heroes ahead, he would have turned away immediately. After all, seeing dark clouds in the sky meant it was time to take shelter from the rain.

However, the book's random curse, Eye Contact, made it impossible for him to focus on the Virtual World Map. If it were any other time, a curse like Eye Contact would have posed no threat at all. At most, they would simply sit there staring at each other for an hour, which might even increase their bond level.

In the worst-case scenario, even if they encountered lethal danger, they would only die once. They could not voluntarily log out while the curse was active, but this didn't account for a forced exit. Once they were forced to exit through death, the curse would automatically end, meaning they could essentially trade one death to secure their blessings.

This time, however, Ashe and the others were being hunted by the Legion of Heroes. And they had reasons they could not afford to die.

Worse, their sports car just happened to have enough speed to break through the patrol perimeter around the capital city. Even Ashe didn't know whether this was the effect of his declining Out of Toilet Paper luck, the resurgence of Everlasting Doom's malice, or the Empress Hero cursing him in circles. Of course, it wasn't an either-or situation. Under the precise alignment of multiple coincidences, Ashe had actually made it safely into the capital city.

However, none of them felt any excitement at witnessing the grand city. Instead, an overwhelming sense of fear rose within them.

"Roar!"

On the walls of the colossal wooden fortress, several black dragons spread their wings and roared. The sound almost materialized into dark lightning, rippling through space. Even the sports car at the edge of the region was affected, causing its Refractive Barrier to ripple violently.

As if provoked, Ashe's Conjuring spirit suddenly burst out on its own. A twin-colored crystal floated in the air, radiating a dazzling purple glow as if shouting at the dragons, Come at me! If you've got the guts, come and kill my master!

He couldn't even retract it. Ashe hurriedly stuffed it back under his coat.

Conjuring spirits sometimes manifested on their own. Most commonly, it meant they were hungry, but they would also pop out when something caught their interest. For example, when Ashe played Sorcerer Duel 14 with Lys, both Swordheart and Earth Sword would appear on his shoulders to watch.

Sonya's voice trembled. "It's a Champion-level Evil Eye Shadow Dragon! That's a high-level species that only exists in the Distant Sky Domain! How can it appear in the Continent of Time?!"

Ashe froze. "A Knowledge Creature from the Distant Sky Domain? So that means..."

Sonya gripped Dia's hand tightly. "In its Baby stage, it already possesses Sacred Realm-level combat power. In its Rookie stage, it can stand toe-to-toe against seasoned Sacred Realm sorcerers. A Champion-level Evil Eye Shadow Dragon is one of the Top Ten Calamities of the Virtual World! My professor once challenged one and ended up banned from entering the Virtual World for half a year..."

It was not a commander, nor even an armed unit. It was just a Knowledge Creature raised within the capital city, yet it already possessed a power capable of crushing Sacred Realm sorcerers. Only a fool would willingly approach the capital city.

Yet the Legions of Heroes chasing them from behind gave Ashe no room for choice at all.

The sports car roared in fear, racing desperately across the olivine grasslands as it tried to circle the perimeter. The air carried the fresh scent of leaves, and without the curtain of rain blocking their sight, the landscape stretched wide and unobstructed. With the beautiful female operators looking at him with hopeful eyes, he could almost delude himself into thinking this was a pleasant drive. Until the thunderous roars echoing from all directions shattered the illusion.

"I can't help it," Ashe said, shrugging. "My Virtual World plan didn't include storming the capital city as a side quest."

Dia asked anxiously, "So what do we do? At this rate, we'll definitely be surrounded... huh?"

She suddenly paused. Adjusting her glasses, her hair turned pure white as her outfit transformed into a silver-white armored dress.

"White Queen?"

"It's me," White Queen said with a nod. She then turned her gaze to Sonya. "Swordswoman, I need to make one thing clear."

Sonya, still focused on Ashe, turned to her. "What is it?"

White Queen said, "The Watcher cannot die. The Spider Tower round is coming in a few days. If he dies now, it will definitely be considered a breach of contract, and the Conjuring spirit will be forcibly handed over to the Empress. Without the Conjuring spirit, we can only hope for the Empress's mercy, but clearly, whether she has recovered her emotions or not, mercy is not something she possesses."

Ashe did not object. Even if he could somehow produce a few more bottles of the soul-healing Blazing Soul Essence Tonic, they wouldn't fully recover in just three days. His only other hope was drawing a far more powerful item, but he had just been slapped with a curse that reduced his luck.

Ashe could use the Book of Gospel to amplify his intent and boost his gacha odds, but that was nothing more than a desperate, stopgap fix, like finding hand sanitizer beside a toilet with no paper. Rather than relying on lucky draws, he might as well hope that the rankings would update tomorrow, instantly reward him with a Sacred Realm promotion, and hand him a few wives on top of it. That would truly solve everything at once.

In truth, after losing the Conjuring spirit, the Empress theoretically had no reason to keep pursuing them. There was no further benefit. The problem, however, was that the Empress was not a being governed by pure logic. More importantly, leaving life and death in someone else's hands was simply too foolish. Ashe had escaped Shattered Lake Prison precisely because he refused to let anyone else dictate whether he lived or died.

White Queen continued, "Maintaining eye contact between all three of us is too restrictive. But with only two people, it becomes much easier. We might even be able to cross the River of Flowing Gold."

Ashe said, "But the curse is already in effect. Even if we want to interrupt it, we can't—"

He cut himself off mid-sentence.

The curse could indeed be broken, and the method was brutally simple.

"Self-inflicted blindness," White Queen said. "However, our souls will automatically heal any injuries, so we would need to continuously damage our eyes to maintain the blindness."

"Actually, what's more likely is that the curse itself will actively prevent recovery, ensuring that for its duration, the sorcerer permanently loses the ability to see."

The Eye Contact curse was fascinating in its cruelty. At its core, its true nature was simply to force a sorcerer into a fixed status condition. If a sorcerer forcibly broke that state through self-harm, the curse's underlying mechanism couldn't change. After all, eye contact strictly required two people. Instead, the curse would likely adapt through a more indirect approach, like turning the mandate of maintaining eye contact into maintaining blindness.

"If two people maintain eye contact while carrying a third, blinded member, we can regain some mobility," Ashe mused. "If we can find a River of Flowing Gold to cross, we might still make it out alive..."

Boom!

Fireballs rained down like falling meteors, exploding into lotus-shaped flames against the Refractive Barrier. The shrill, piercing cries of flying creatures drowned out their voices as another Legion of Heroes materialized behind the curtain of rain outside the capital city, once again cutting off their escape.

Forced to evade toward the capital, their maneuvering space grew smaller by the second. At any moment, a commander from the city could simply step outside and collect them like a delivery order dropped off at the front door.

Just over half an hour ago, they had been delighted to encounter the Chaotic Shopping Guide of Blessings and Curses. Now, the situation had taken a disastrous turn. Though they were still speeding across a vibrant, beautiful grassland, death was already closing in to embrace them.

And this time, failure meant losing the Empress's wager. Once they forfeited the Conjuring spirit, their future would be left entirely at the Empress's mercy. It was a total rout, with nowhere left to run.

White Queen spoke up, "At this rate, we'll turn into feed for Knowledge Creatures before we even reach the River of Flowing Gold. It's time to make a choice."

"What do you mean?"

White Queen replied calmly, "Arm the blinded member with a unit and have her stay behind as a rear guard to buy time. It might only buy us a second, or it might confuse the Legion of Heroes, but either way, it is better than waiting to die."

Ashe retorted, "The return on that is too low, and whoever stays behind will die."

"But this is not the Spider Tower," White Queen countered. "They are not the Empress. They won't specifically order their attendants to devour our souls. The rear guard will suffer heavy soul damage, but they should survive. If we do nothing, we all die anyway. At least this gives us a chance to fight. That is already far from the worst outcome."

Sonya added, "I agree with the Witch's analysis. This really is our best, and only, option. In that case..."

The two women uttered the same words at the same time.

"Let me do it."

"Let me do it."

White Queen looked slightly surprised. "Swordswoman, you've worked with the Watcher the longest, and your synergy is better. Besides, I can't fight at full strength if I'm constantly forced to maintain eye contact with him. You should be the one to go on."

The country girl shook her head. "No. Our combat power is nothing compared to the Legion of Heroes. Even if I fight, it would only be a desperate, futile struggle. But you, Witch, have a sharper sense of time. You helped us greatly during our last crossing of the River of Flowing Gold. If we need to cross it again, you are the most suitable one to guide him."

White Queen said softly, "Swordswoman, we volunteered for rear guard duty. You don't need to carry any burden because of it, nor do you need to prove we are equals. We already trusted you during the last crossing."

"I'm not..." Sonya paused, biting her lip. "Fine, let's not argue about who should stay. But as I said, I have to prove we are equals! I take the most loot, I eat the most orbs, and I've been in this team longer than you. Therefore, I must take on the greater responsibility when things go south. Otherwise, how can we ever call ourselves equals?"

She looked directly at the Witch. "You can say you don't mind right now, but that doesn't mean anything. You might not mind today, but what about tomorrow? What about the day after? I refuse to test human nature because once you test it, it turns into an abyss, into a dragon! If it were anyone else, I wouldn't care about taking advantage of them. But we still have countless days and nights ahead of us together. I won't let you look down on me!"

"Swordswoman, your pride is too unyielding. I would never look down on you for wanting to live."

"I'm not being proud," Sonya insisted, her voice tight. "I'm just used to judging others by my own standards."