Sorcerer’s Handbook

In the Twinborn Palace, the Dark Serpent Twins, for some unknown reason, had not left. They sat to the side, watching the Con Artist.

Igor thought they were waiting for the latest research results, so he didn’t say anything and continued to review the documents in front of him.

After days of study, he had managed to understand some of the terminology by cross-referencing the context, allowing him to interpret more of the experimental data. However, there was still some information that, while he could comprehend, seemed too fantastical to be real.

He paced back and forth in front of the blackboard, then suddenly asked, “Have you ever encountered ‘the gifts of the virtual realm’?”

The Dark Serpent Twins immediately responded, “The gifts of the virtual realm? What exactly do you mean?”

“Simply put, it’s when virtual realm creatures suddenly assist you, whether you’re in the virtual realm or the real world,” Igor said, glancing at the documents in his hand. “For example, the Bronze Dragon, the Resentful Dragon, and so on…”

The Dark Serpent Twins shook their heads. “Why would virtual realm creatures help sorcerers? Isn’t it always a fight when you encounter them?”

“These experimental records mention that some sorcerers are naturally able to resonate with the virtual realm,” Igor explained. “Not only do they exhibit astonishing talent in specific Spellcasting Sects, but some virtual realm creatures even regard them as kin, pets, or companions, often bestowing gifts upon them. Moreover, these virtual realm creatures are of extremely high status, with intelligence comparable to that of sorcerers. They’re nothing like the Blade Fish Dragon, which is essentially a chew toy for infants…”

Harvey turned to look at Alice, and she turned to look at him. Then he reached out his hand, and Alice promptly opened her mouth and bit down on all four of his fingers. The necromancer then turned his gaze to the Con Artist, his eyes revealing a subtle skepticism.

But Igor wasn’t interested in Harvey’s talents. As long as the necromancer could confirm that this experimental data wasn’t just some made-up game setting, that was enough.

“Many of the sorcerer test subjects in the laboratory were geniuses with this kind of talent,” Igor casually recounted the brutal hunts from centuries ago. “They were also the first twin test subjects. Through repeated overlaps of fate, Nightfall pushed their talents to the limit.”

Hearing this, the Dark Serpent Twins couldn’t help but feel puzzled. “Why would they do that?”

“When a sorcerer’s talent reaches its limit, they can resonate with the wonders of the Virtual Realm,” Igor explained. “The text doesn’t specify where this conclusion comes from-perhaps the knowledge originates from an upper-tier existence… In any case, the core idea of the Twins Experiment is to create life capable of producing intense resonance with the wonders of the Virtual Realm.”

“But what does it mean to resonate with the wonders of the Virtual Realm?” the Dark Serpent Twins still couldn’t grasp it. “Does it make it easier to find wonders in the Virtual Realm?”

“More than that.”

Igor’s tone gradually grew more impassioned, his entire being radiating an unusual energy. His pupils reflected the words on the document, and his sickly pale face flushed with a vivid hue, so much so that the Dark Serpent Twins almost missed what he was saying. “Although I can’t fully understand the principle, the trials deep within the Abyss allow the Trial Takers to continuously accumulate time talent!”

“If what’s written here is true, then all we need to do is activate the Twins system by initiating the Divine Fire Trial, throw in a group of people to consume each other, and then we can obtain-“

Crack.

Like the sound of ancient fossil layers breaking, Raven slightly raised his head, his cervical vertebrae emitting a faint but distinct noise. It was akin to the grating of a sharpening knife or the dull click of a trigger being pulled.

Igor turned his head slightly, glancing at Raven from the corner of his eye, and continued, “The Trial Takers who complete all the trials will, in a short time, attain the pinnacle of time talent and resonate with the corresponding wonders of the Virtual Realm. As a result, their Gate of Truth will directly connect to the originals of those wonders!”

The wonders of the Virtual Realm corresponding to time talent…

Except for Raven, the sorcerers immediately realized how earth-shattering this plan was. No wonder Igor was so excited. Even if this was just a centuries-old relic, as a Con Artist, how could he not be moved by the grand ambitions of his predecessors?

“They want to deceive the Virtual Realm and channel the Golden Flow into reality!” Igor turned to look at the sealed Abyss, recalling a casual line from the document:

“Reality and the Virtual Realm embrace each other, and myth will be born from within.”

“Is it time already?”

“This isn’t what we agreed on!”

“I’m going to kill them once I get out!”

“It seems fate is playing another joke on me…”

Vesser, after all, was a sorcerer who had journeyed alone through the Sea of Knowledge for thousands of miles. Although the appearance of the Golden Flow was enough to consume all her mental resources, her body’s instincts alone were sufficient to maintain her balance in the turbulent river.

Ashe, having collided with her, instinctively grabbed Vesser’s waist before being swept away. Though Vesser immediately kicked him off, it gave him a brief moment to catch his breath and barely withstand the onslaught of the Golden Flow.

At the same time, the long-sealed legends of the past began to resurrect one by one from the Golden Flow!

A young female sorcerer, her eyes transformed into clock faces, strolled leisurely through the Golden Flow as if untouched by its currents. “Where are the people from the Circle Cicada?”

“Stop bickering, Skadi,” growled a male orc sorcerer. “Clearly, something went wrong in another part of the plan. Nightfall didn’t wake us up as scheduled… Mess, do you have any way to contact the outside?”

“No, and there’s no need,” Mess replied. “This experiment was designed to mimic the womb in absolute isolation, using the slaughter of memories as a form of prenatal education to cultivate time talent. There’s no way I could contact the outside… But I assure you, if something has gone wrong, the outside world is far more anxious than we are. The ones who want us to succeed the most are the people of the Circle Cicada.”

At this, the legendary sorcerers’ expressions shifted as they realized a possibility. They turned their gaze toward the two strangers struggling against the reverse current in the distance and asked, “Are you newcomers? What’s happening outside?”

Vesser instinctively glanced at Ashe, only to find him looking back at her. Though Silver Lantern wasn’t exactly trustworthy, these unfamiliar legends were unlikely to be benevolent either. Just as Ashe always left negotiations to Igor to handle, he decided to let Silver Lantern take the lead in speaking to these unknown entities, fearing that saying too much might cause trouble.

Vesser’s mind raced as she slowly replied, “It’s the year 1668.”

“So much time has passed!?”

“Impossible! The longest estimate back then was only 10 years!”

“Over two hundred years… That means so many wonderful cultural works must have been created by now!”

“Has the Gray Fox Divine Era already ended?” Skadi asked. “What’s the current divine era? What’s the prevailing Demi-God philosophy? And why are you here?”

Vesser, wearing her Mask, naturally didn’t reveal any expression, but Ashe’s face showed a subtle hint of displeasure.

The legendary sorcerers were all sharp-witted. Mess, the handsome middle-aged man, immediately spoke up. “Skadi, they’re not your disciples or students. They have no obligation to share information with you. Even if they’re only at the Sanctuary level, who here can actually use their spirit?”

Ashe and Vesser were startled. How did Mess know they weren’t legendary sorcerers? Shouldn’t everyone here, being legendary sorcerers themselves, have instinctively assumed they were equals?

However, no one else reacted to Mess’s words, clearly indicating that they too had recognized Ashe and Vesser as the weakest among the Trial Takers. This situation only proved one thing: legendary sorcerers could effortlessly discern the highest Sect Realm of others without even using any special means!

No wonder Skadi, the female sorcerer, was so domineering. Legends had no need to be polite to those in the Sanctuary Realm, just as Ashe would never greet a Blade Fish Dragon. Mess had deliberately pointed this out as a subtle warning-anyone here could easily crush them once they left.

Vesser remained silent for a moment before saying, “I’ll ask a question, and then you can ask one.”

Skadi replied, “Then you go first.”

The question itself was enough to reveal their limitations. For legendary sorcerers, manipulating social dynamics was almost second nature. Vesser had no choice but to ask, “What was your original plan?”

The legends in the Golden Flow exchanged glances, and many of their expressions changed dramatically. It was clear they had already guessed that the situation outside was vastly different from what they had known. After all, “a gap of over two hundred years” and “ignorant Sanctuary Trial Takers” both suggested that those in charge of the experiment were no longer the people they had once known.

Skadi closed her clock-like eyes, and her aggressive demeanor softened unexpectedly. She said, “To answer this question, we first need to clarify who we are and why we’re here. So, you’re actually asking three questions, and you’ll have to answer three in return.”

So, it’s impossible to play word games with legendary sorcerers… Vesser exchanged a glance with Ashe and nodded. “Fine.”

“We are legendary sorcerers on the verge of death,” Skadi began. “Some of us have half a year left, others as little as ten days. We can accurately estimate the day our souls will extinguish.”

“In the final days of waiting for death, we received an invitation from the secret cult ‘Circle Cicada’ to participate in their Immortality experiment,” she continued softly. “Before me, almost all the Gray Fox legends had joined this experiment. And after me, there will be no exceptions.”

“Even the greatest of lives cannot resist the fear of death. The instinct for survival is both ugly and impossible to defy.”

“The Circle Cicada cult privately created the divine fire system and, combined with centuries of experimental results, successfully helped us condense our time talent to its limit, allowing our Gates of Truth to directly connect to the Golden Flow. But there weren’t enough sorcerers-we needed at least 42 legendary sorcerers to initiate the Cicada Song Sharing Ritual. So, we’ve been sealed within these statues, waiting for the ritual to begin.”

Ashe frowned. “The Cicada Song Sharing Ritual?”

However, Skadi very precisely cut to the chase and asked, “Now it’s our turn to ask-which Demi-God’s divine era is the outside world in?”

Vesser shook her head. “The outside world isn’t in any divine era.”

“Just the interval between divine eras?”

“Could the Fifth Divine Era already be over? But two hundred years-it’s certainly possible…”

The legends began to chatter, but Skadi shook her head and pointed at Ashe. “I want you to answer.”

“Do I look easier to bully?” Ashe naturally wasn’t about to undermine Silver Lantern now. “My answer is the same as hers.”

“Then I’ll ask another question. If you answer, it’ll count as two; if she says even a single word, it’ll only count as one.” Skadi continued, “I’m old and don’t want to play word games-what exactly happened outside?”

Even without looking back, Ashe knew Silver Lantern was subtly implying he should take the lead. The best strategy here was to conceal as much real information as possible, then use intelligence to negotiate with these former legends. Besides uncovering the truth about this Trial, they might even deceive them for personal gain.

However, Ashe wasn’t on the same level as Igor when it came to such talents. And looking at these remnants of the Gray Fox who had been abandoned by the world for over two hundred years, he didn’t think he could spin a flawless lie.

I really must be easier to bully… Ashe sighed and said, “Over two hundred years ago, a ‘cataclysm’ occurred. Nearly all sorcerers were killed or injured, and most fantasy creations lost their effects. To this day, Senlo remains in a chaotic era of sectarian warfare.”

Surprisingly, the legends didn’t panic. Knowing that over two hundred years had passed, they had already prepared for the worst.

“So that’s what happened…” Skadi murmured. After a pause, she calmly added, “The Cicada Song Sharing Ritual was the final step toward our Immortality.”

“The essence of the Cicada Sound Project was to fuse sorcerers with Demi-Gods, thereby achieving Immortality in the form of a Demi-God’s existence.”

Ashe couldn’t help but interject, “But Demi-Gods themselves aren’t eternal. In fact, they’re fragile beings that can’t exist without faith.”

“Almost all Demi-Gods are as you described,” Skadi nodded. “But there’s one exception.”

Vesser had already guessed it. “The Circle Cicada?”

“In the Fire Cat Divine Era, only one Demi-God successfully ascended, and that was the Fire Cat ‘Knowing Guard Fire,’” Skadi explained. “After the Fire Cat’s ascension, both the Circle Cicada and the Chasing Light lost their disciples, and the Chasing Light Demi-God subsequently fell. Then the Bluebird Divine Era began, and new Demi-Gods became the mainstream of the era.”

“The Circle Cicada Demi-God should have vanished into history, but perhaps because it’s a rare Time Sect Demi-God, or because its obsession with ‘Immortality’ was too strong, it managed to cling to existence by drinking the Golden Flow Water. Time could no longer erode its essence, and so the Circle Cicada became a ‘Secret Cult’ that persisted through every divine era.”

“The so-called Golden Flow Water is essentially the flow of time for all things in the world-omnipresent, the source of all life. In other words, it is Immortality itself, flowing alongside time, coexisting with heaven and earth.”

“So, we’re not just aiming to fuse with a Demi-God, but specifically with the Circle Cicada Demi-God.”

Skadi explained, “The Cicada Song Sharing Ritual involves gathering 42 sorcerers to open the Gate of Truth together, converging 42 different tributaries of the Golden Flow Water to fully awaken the Circle Cicada. This is what we call the ‘Cicada Song.’”

“At the same time, we transform into time-based beings capable of containing a Demi-God. But for a single sorcerer, recklessly containing a complete Demi-God is far too dangerous. Since all we truly need is the ability of Immortality, we-“

At that moment, a resonant cry, like the trembling of space-time, echoed above the Golden Flow Water. The river itself seemed to freeze, and time within the entire palace slowed to a crawl.

Then, the legendary sorcerers suddenly ceased their struggles, allowing themselves to be swept away by the river’s reverse current, even actively swimming toward the source of the cry!

“-only need to consume a portion of the Circle Cicada.”

As soon as Skadi finished speaking, she turned and plunged into the reverse current.

Ashe was still standing there in shock when he saw Silver Lantern rush forward to join the feast. With no other choice, he followed the crowd, letting the current carry him along.

Save a bite for me too!