*Sorcerer Manual: Gourmet Chronicles*: "Common Recipe Mastery."
*Sorcerer Manual: Cat Rearing Diary*: "Cat Rearing Mastery," "Litter Scooping Mastery."
*Sorcerer Manual: Fishing Secrets*: "Unknown Item Identification Mastery."
"Incredible. Because this angler sorcerer kept catching strange, bizarre things from the river, he actually developed Unknown Item Identification Mastery... Though judging from his constant record of coming back empty-handed, he probably lacked the Fishing Mastery skill."
"He was certainly good at angling for people, though." Dropping all decorum, Sonia plopped down onto the sand. Her face was flushed as she panted in short breaths, the corners of her lips curling slightly upward as she spoke in a tone caught between complaining and excitement. "I was almost killed by him."
The angler sorcerer used a bizarre weapon—a "fishing rod" that combined the utility of a spear and a sling. Smoothly shifting between ranged attacks and close-quarters combat, he was an exceedingly rare One-Wing Sorcerer who excelled at fighting groups. Facing both Yaxiu and Sonia at once, he hadn't fallen behind at all.
He had even pulled a clever trick: after using his long line and hook to bait out Yaxiu's defensive move, he instantly redirected his attack toward Sonia's back. At that moment, Sonia was already dealing with a frontal strike from the rod. Although she noticed the sneak attack from behind, she had no room to evade.
If Yaxiu hadn't promptly cast Sword Body Barrier over her, they likely would have been forced to exit the Void Realm right then and there. Even having avoided that deadly trap, they had expended an immense effort afterward to finally slay the angler sorcerer. Yaxiu suffered countless minor wounds, and Sonia's arm was pierced halfway through. Fortunately, soul energy could be used in the Void Realm to rapidly recover; had this happened in reality, the angler sorcerer would have killed them long ago.
Aside from not knowing how to catch fish, the angler sorcerer could be considered a One-Wing Sorcerer without any weaknesses.
Yaxiu watched the sorcerer manual in his hands dissolve into light smoke, while the legacy islet rumbled, on the verge of sinking. Seeing Sonia still resting on the ground, he noticed her body had turned nearly translucent, indicating a massive consumption of soul energy. He reached out a hand and said, "Let's call it a night."
Sonia glanced at him, took his hand, and stood up. "I think I can manage another fight."
"Well, I'm tired. I don't want to keep fighting."
Yaxiu chuckled and shook his head, sitting down in the boat and stretching lazily. "No need to force yourself. If we actually die in the Void Realm, it'll mess up tomorrow's prison break. Let's sail for a bit longer, then log out."
"When it comes down to it, trying to find the Golden Fish in a single night was an absurd wish to begin with. Failing to do so is only normal. If we actually pulled it off, I'd have to wonder if the Four Pillar Gods were truly watching over me." Yaxiu pretended to complain. "It's all your fault for bringing up the Golden Fish. Now the higher the hopes, the greater the disappointment. Sword Princess, you have to take full responsibility this time!"
Hearing the Watcher pass the blame so absurdly, Sonia wasn't angry in the slightest.
Sitting in the small boat, she crossed her legs, her shapely, slender thighs pressing together into an alluring dark contour. Resting her elbow on her knee, she propped her chin on her fair, delicate hand and gazed intently at the Watcher.
Tonight she wore a black vest over a deep-crimson miniskirt, paired with short leather boots and stockings, along with black strap-like ornaments encircling her thighs. It was stylish and glamorous yet brimmed with youthful energy, brushing a stroke of vivid color across the grayish-white world of the Sea of Knowledge.
Seeing the Sword Princess remain silent, Yaxiu grew a bit intimidated. "Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself. Oh, right, let me tell you a joke. Once upon a time, a little white rabbit met a bear who was having diarrhea..."
"Hush, I'm thinking."
"Thinking about what?"
"Thinking about intelligence on the Golden Fish," Sonia said calmly. "Organizing the information we have to see if we can uncover the truth about it."
Yaxiu waved a dismissive hand. "Don't waste your energy. So many sorcerers have searched for so many years without finding a thing. Are they less talented than us, or did they train less diligently? Even they had to take things step by step, advancing their faction realms before climbing to higher layers of the Void Realm. Counting on a miracle like the Golden Fish is an unrealistic fantasy..."
"Yet sorcerers are born to pursue miracles, aren't they?"
Sonia tilted her head and smiled. "Since we have nothing better to do anyway, just humor me. Brainstorm with me on how to find the Golden Fish."
Yaxiu pressed his lips together, tapped the Void Realm Map to set the boat toward a safe zone, and crossed his arms against the gunwale. "Seeing how nicely dressed you are tonight, I'll humor you."
"Thank you!" Sonia replied briskly. "Let's review the new information first."
Yaxiu nodded. "Of the three sorcerer projections we just defeated, two of their manuals mentioned the Golden Fish. The gourmet sorcerer wanted a taste of its flesh, while the angler sorcerer believed it could be hooked."
It was hard to say whether the former had been ridiculously audacious to covet a great entity of the Void Realm, or the latter obsessively deranged to still be fixated on fishing even after entering the Void Realm.
"Although the gourmet sorcerer searched for years without ever tasting the Golden Fish—or even its dung—before he died, he didn't come away empty-handed. He once reached a Destiny Q&A islet."
From this, it was clear that Yaxiu's ability to read sorcerer manuals without obstruction would only become more important in the future.
Early on, they could only read manuals left by low-tier sorcerers, where the gains were naturally negligible since the lives of low-tier sorcerers held little value.
However, once they reached the core region of the Sea of Knowledge and encountered powerful sorcerer projections, the rewards of reading manuals skyrocketed.
After all, they weren't the only ones to encounter miracles in the Void Realm; other sorcerers had also enjoyed moments blessed by fortune.
Even more wondrous was that such lucky encounters in the Void Realm were not necessarily impossible to replicate.
Reading a sorcerer manual was equivalent to obtaining another sorcerer's guide and intelligence regarding Void Realm exploration. Vortex Secret Poison was the best example. Had Yaxiu not happened to read that manual and learn the fast-leveling method, they would probably still be stuck at the silver half-wing stage.
"Just like us, he asked the Void Realm about the Golden Fish: 'Can I eat the flesh of the Golden Fish on the Sea of Knowledge?' The Void Realm's answer was 'No.'"
"We can draw a conclusion from this: the Golden Fish does not exist as flesh and blood on the Sea of Knowledge."
"Meanwhile, the angler sorcerer believed the Golden Fish hid beneath the sea, so he stubbornly fished in the Void Realm for over a decade. Yet aside from occasionally hooking knowledge creatures like mudfish dragons and Fishcleaver Dragons, he never found any trace of it. He also tried diving into the Sea of Knowledge, but it was pitch-black below, and he died shortly afterward."
"From this, we can draw another conclusion: we cannot dive into the Sea of Knowledge to search for the Golden Fish."
Sonia mused, "And the information we obtained earlier states that the Golden Fish can be seen without triggering any ritual, and that it continually floats upon the surface of the sea."
Yaxiu counted on his fingers. "Floating on the sea, not made of flesh and blood, directly visible... Ah! I know what the Golden Fish is!"
"Huh?"
"Look, doesn't this white mist fit every single trait? It's on the sea, it can't be eaten, and it's directly visible." Yaxiu gazed at the dense white mist blanketing the boat. "The only problem is, it doesn't look like it could support a whole continent."
"Be serious!"
"I am being serious." Yaxiu leaned lazily against the boat, looking at Sonia with a sudden grin. "Don't worry. Even without golden sorcery power, I won't just die during the breakout... probably."
Sonia's eyes flickered. "Who cares about you? I just want to see the scenery of the Time Continent as soon as possible. Staying in the Sea of Knowledge all the time does nothing to help my sorcery power grow."
"Fine, fine, I flattered myself." In high spirits, Yaxiu asked, "By the way, didn't you take an hour off tonight? What did you do with it?"
"I went out for drinks with Senior Leonie."
"Senior Leo, the one who beat you so badly last time?"
"Beat me badly? I was clearly the one who won! And when you get right down to it, wasn't that your fault anyway? You were the one who insisted on making me fight her! How do you have the nerve to bring it up—"
"Hey, are you even old enough to drink?"
"Tch, honestly... Of course I am. I've been an adult for a long time. She told me a lot of stories about adventuring in the Abyss. They were fascinating."
"Like what? Tell me."
"For example, there's an extremely rare creature called an 'Evil Shadow.' It has no physical form and attacks the soul, making it very troublesome. But its weakness is obvious: as long as a light source casts its shadow, attacking the shadow will severely wound its true body."
"Then there's the terrifying 'Eyeball Hunter.' Its body is incredibly sturdy, and it freezes completely when observed by sight. But the instant you look away, it rushes in and pierces through the sorcerer's eyes. Senior and her companions ran into one once; luckily, they were far enough away to flee in time."
"The most dangerous monster in the shallow Abyss is the 'Devourer.' It's colossal and disguises its stomach as an ordinary cavern. Once a sorcerer steps inside, it seals the cavernous stomach and secretes potent digestive acid. Ordinary Silver Sorcerers find it nearly impossible to breach its stomach walls, leaving them to helplessly watch themselves dissolve..."
Recounting these frightening Abyss tales, Sonia grew animated, her eyes sparkling. Yaxiu had been listening with an affectionate, gentle expression as the sweet girl shared her campus anecdotes, but his face gradually shifted until he suddenly sat upright.
"Did you just say there's a monster that disguises its stomach as a cavern?"
"Yeah, the Devourer. Why, have you seen one?"
"I think... I might have seen something similar."
Sonia blinked. "Something similar?"
Yaxiu looked up toward the sky veiled in white mist.
"Do you think... we might already be inside the belly of the Golden Fish?"
Chapter 118