Sorcerer Manual - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Sorcerer Manual

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Ash had almost forgotten that currency could be topped up in the “Sorcerer Manual” game.

He had thought that the supply of origin crystals from daily sign-in would be the only source for his card draws. He hadn’t expected that a currency recognized by the game could possibly exist in this world.

Regardless of whether the value was high or low, this discovery excited Ash. He had the motivation to work hard again—it was like his superior telling him “work hard and you’ll be chosen next time”. Even though he knew that the chances were slim, there was still hope.

However, he did not dare to use the medal for currency top-up just like that, because he could tell that this medal was the extraordinary foundation of this world and the source of power that sorcerers yearned for—spell spirit!

“Do you want this spell spirit?” he asked.

“You want it?” To Ash’s surprise, Sonia wasn’t interested in the spell spirit. “Then take it.”

This time, it was Ash who became curious. “This is a spell spirit, don’t you want it?”

“This is neither a sword spell spirit nor a general spell spirit. It’s useless for me, and it’s a waste of my money.”

“What does it have to do with money?” asked Ash, confused.

Sonia felt that the Observer was subtly mocking her for being poor. After all, how could the Observer not have the common sense of a sorcerer when he could control a boat to sail in the Illusory Realm?

Or was it that the Observer is a rich person who didn’t have to worry about feeding spell spirits at all? In novels, there are always funny scenes of “rich nobles who lacked common sense”. I didn’t expect to meet such an endangered species in reality.

After listening to Sonia’s explanation, Ash realized that the spiritual ecology of this world was far more complicated than he had imagined.

Firstly, spell spirits must be fed, and they must be fed with circulating currency!

Silver coins and gold coins were the main food for spell spirits. A one-winged Spell Spirit must be fed with silver coins, while a two-winged spell spirit must be fed with gold coins. Spell spirits that were not fed would dissipate on their own. Some poor sorcerers might really starve their own spell spirits to death!

In addition to currency, spell spirits could also be fed with other materials, but the materials that each spell spirit must be fed with differed, and the search was extremely tedious. Meanwhile, silver coins and gold coins were the common food for all spell spirits. As time passed, even sorcerers didn’t know how to feed their own spell spirits. In any case, they just stuffed their spell spirits with money and considered it done.

Apart from that, the presence of the spell spirit would consume the sorcerer’s spirit. Sorcerers who had many spell spirits were like men who had many girlfriends. Not only could their wallets not take it, even their bodies could not take it.

Therefore, for low-level sorcerers, especially low-level sorcerers who practiced good proletariat traditions, more spell spirits definitely did not equate to better. They had to choose spell spirits suitable for them selectively. “Few and specialized” was the development strategy of most low-level sorcerers.

Secondly, there were restrictions on the use of spell spirits.

According to the usage restrictions, spell spirits were divided into various schools. For example, the School of Swordmastery required using a sword, the School of Gun Mastery required using a firearm, the School of Infirm Mastery required a strong physique, and the School of Fist Mastery used fists to suppress others… The spell spirits that had a high requirement for sorcerers were specific for the school. They were also known as specialized spell spirits, such as “Wave Sword”, which required the sorcerer to use a sword to activate it.

Spell spirits that had little requirements for the sorcerer, or had requirements that could be easily met by most sorcerers were known as general spell spirits. For example, “Eagle Eye” could be activated as long as the sorcerer had eyes.

Generally speaking, spell spirits owned by a sorcerer consisted of specialist spell spirits and general spell spirits. Specialist spell spirits were ideally limited to no more than two schools, and universal spell spirits also depended on the combination. As far as possible, they tried not to keep useless spell spirits.

Even if Sonia took the “Repeater Shots” spell spirit, she would have certainly sold it, and would never have kept it around to waste her money.

The reason Sonia was completely uninterested in this spell spirit was that “Repeater Shots” was not valuable.

“‘Repeater Shots’ is a product from the era of flintlocks hundreds of years ago. Now, it’s the era of automatic rifles and automatic pistols. Even automatic pistols can fire seven bullets in a second. They don’t need the one additional shot from ‘Repeater Shots’ at all.” Sonia spread out her hands. “Although ‘Repeater Shots’ can also be used on mortars, ship cannons, and other weapons, they also have better choices for spell spirits and wouldn’t use ‘Repeater Shots’.

“For an outdated spell spirit like this, the school’s purchase price is one silver coin at most. This is also the lowest purchase price for a one-winged spell spirit.”

Ash already knew that Sword Maiden was in school, but he hadn’t put it in mind. He thought that it was just a game setting.

“Then I’ll take it!”

“Go ahead and take it.” Sonia didn’t mind.

Ash silently thought about redeeming. The medallion in his hand turned into white mist and dissipated. A message popped up in the game: [Currency top-up successful! You received 10 points.]

The lowest-priced purchase option in the game was to buy one origin crystal with 6 points. In other words, this “Repeater Shots” spell spirits was only worth 1.5 origin crystals, and drawing a card required three origin crystals. In other words, two one-winged spell spirits were equivalent to drawing one card.

Spell spirits were supernatural powers at the very least. Why was the price as cheap as graduates… Ash clicked his tongue and looked down at the hunting record in his hands. “Then what is this notebook?”

“The Sorcerer Manual, of course!” Sonia looked at him strangely.

“Sorcerer Manual?” Ash was stunned.

Sonia nodded.

“The Sorcerer Manual will summarize the sorcerer’s life in a certain way. For example, this notebook records the information of the Gun Master’s previous hunting targets in it. This means that hunting is the most important part of the sorcerer’s life. Well, it’s basically the sorcerer’s diary.”

“However, this is not a diary that the sorcerer wrote voluntarily. Instead, after the sorcerer dies, their soul would automatically return to the Illusory Realm and turn into the sorcerer’s projection. Then, their memories of life would condense into a book. Like birth, old age, illness, and death, this is an inevitable law of nature.

“We refer to this book collectively as the ‘Sorcerer Manual’.

“If the Illusory Realm is the tomb of the sorcerer, then the Sorcerer Manual is their tombstone.”

Only then did Ash realize the hunter had been a projection of a dead man. He’d thought it was a living man. He had wondered how it was so easy to come across another sorcerer.

However, even if it was a living person, he would not hold back. After all, death in the Illusory Realm was not real death.

Sonia said, “Just like medals, the Sorcerer Manual can also be used. You can directly use your consciousness to absorb the manual. This way, you’ll be able to obtain a random technique from the owner of the manual that can’t be categorized as a spell. It’s completely random.”

“Do you want it, then?” asked Ash.

“I don’t want it. I’m tired after reading it for a while.” Sonia shook her head. “But you’ve read the entire manual, so you won’t be contaminated.”

“Contaminated?”

“The Sorcerer Manual can contaminate. Generally speaking, sorcerers can only read a Sorcerer Manual that is similar to their worldview, values, and outlook on life. If they forcefully absorb an unsuitable Sorcerer Manual, it will damage the soul and may even cause schizophrenia.”

“It’s that serious?”

“It’s serious, but it’s easy to take precautions, because as long as you don’t feel any discomfort when reading the Sorcerer Manual, it means that you won’t have any problems absorbing the manual.”

Having said this, Sonia was also a bit curious. “According to what I’ve heard, a normal sorcerer would be lucky to find two or three manuals that they can absorb out of ten manuals. There are even many sorcerers who never find a manual they can absorb in their entire life… How did you manage to just pick up a random Sorcerer Manual you can absorb without any contamination?”

Of course, Ash couldn’t answer that question. He followed Sonia’s instructions and guided his consciousness to touch the hunting record in his hands.

The hunting record turned into a wisp of smoke and flowed into his body. Not long after, he felt a slab of ice melt in his consciousness. Suddenly, there was a lot of indescribable knowledge.

He opened [Agent Management] in the game and realized that he had another skill.

[Counter Surveillance Mastery]

As a jungle hunter and war soldier, even if Kabin Stoli had never learned counter surveillance, he would have definitely honed this survival skill in war. For Ash, who was planning to escape from prison, counter surveillance could also be considered a minor skill that could come in handy.

After Ash absorbed the hunting record, they discovered that the island was sinking. The two of them hurriedly returned to the boat. Soon, the island completely disappeared. The surface of the sea was quiet, as if nothing had happened.

“This is the peculiarity of the Illusory Realm. Meetings are impermanent, and their only meaning is legacy.” Sonia said with a sigh. “There are countless Legacy Islands floating in the Sea of Knowledge, waiting for a new sorcerer to discover them. Once the sorcerer takes the legacy, the island will naturally return to the sea… Some people say that the island is the evolution of the sorcerer’s persistent will. They said that great sorcerers of the past hope that the future generations will remember their marks, so they place their legacies on the sea.

“The marks of the lives of all the sorcerers are deeply engraved in the Illusory Realm. We will encounter the legacies of countless predecessors here. We will fight with gun masters from centuries ago and communicate with sages from millennia ago. Anything is possible… Our marks will also be engraved in the Illusory Realm. When a sorcerer breaks through the white fog centuries later, they will also encounter the challenge left behind by you and me.”

“Sounds romantic.”

“Really? Do you think your life can be passed down to the future generations without any concealment, so that the future generations can admire your great achievements?”

Ash didn’t find it romantic anymore, all of a sudden. “Can you delete some of your life records before you die, like ‘Learning Information’, ‘Art and Life ‘…”

“How to die decently and how to live ignobly have always been the two major research projects of a sorcerer.”

Even though she’s attained nothing and Ash took all the benefits, Sonia was very relaxed. She stretched on the boat. “Which way to go next? You decide. It’s up to you.”

The battle on the island definitely didn’t count as dangerous. If Ash could find such a Legacy Island every time, Sonia was very willing to adventure.

She only needed one encounter with a spell spirit from the School of Swordmastery or a suitable Sorcerer Manual to make a killing.

The expectations of many sorcerers were only to explore the Illusory Realm stably. Forget encountering legacies of the Illusory Realm, not encountering any danger was already enough for them to be overjoyed.

“Let me see…”

Ash opened [Illusory Realm Exploration] and checked the surrounding grids.

[Waste of effort], [Waste of effort], [Waste of effort], [Waste of effort], [Best to stay away], [Waste of effort], [Waste of effort], [Waste of effort].

“What?”