You Received the 'Sword Princess's Leave Request'

"I'm getting a little tired of this. Let's switch games." When Yaxiu suffered his tenth consecutive defeat of the night in *Sorcerer Duel 14*, he made the proposal Diya had seen coming. Tonight, Yaxiu had abandoned the Wandering Sword Saint he had practiced for so long, trying out popular picks like the Alchemical Sovereign and Earth Empress, and even resorting to niche fighters like the Rival Sorcerer and Scythe of Sorrowful Green. They all shared a single trait: simple, effective vortex setups for continuous pressure. Put simply, they were "spear moves"—a piece of jargon from the *Sorcerer Duel* series referring to techniques that, like a charging spear, were simple, practical, and difficult to block. Because they ruined the spectator experience, players tacitly banned them by mutual agreement. He shouldn't think he was the only one who had read the *Comprehensive Walkthrough of the Sorcerer Duel Series*; Diya had found time to have Lisi read it cover to cover, too. Naturally, she knew every spear move in the book. Unfortunately, Yaxiu only learned such superficial tricks, completely oblivious to the fact that the true core of a sorcerer duel lay in punishes, whiff punishes, links, and neutral play—or rather, those were too difficult to learn, so he had simply given up. The more Diya played, the more she felt that *Sorcerer Duel* contained immense amounts of knowledge about sorcerer combat, much of which could be integrated directly into real battles. For instance, a "link" meant visually confirming how much hitstun one's attack caused the enemy, timing the follow-up strike just right to form an unblockable combo and inflict massive damage. A game character's innate skills were merely different ingredients; once you mastered the fundamentals, you could handle any matchup with ease. Miracles worked the same way. Those who fired off miracles indiscriminately were complete novices whose only value was production; those slightly more versed in tactics, like Yaxiu, knew how to string miracles together into combos for burst damage, but that was their limit; true experts, like Diya, not only knew how to unleash burst damage, but more importantly, could seize upon every single flaw an enemy showed—and if the enemy showed none, forcibly create one out of thin air. At first, Yaxiu had indeed managed to trap Diya in the corner with his spear moves. But once Diya figured out the mechanics behind them, she used crouches, super jumps, and similar movement options to escape the corner. When Yaxiu tried the same old tricks again, Diya seized on the opening and dismantled him immediately. So when Yaxiu suggested playing something else, Diya was not surprised in the least. Tonight's banquet of spear moves had been Yaxiu's last ditch at stubborn pride. He had fallen, willing to abandon his dignity as a gamer just to gain the power to triumph, only to be effortlessly crushed by Diya anyway. In a fairy tale, he would be the corrupted villain effortlessly squashed underfoot by the righteous protagonist. Knowing he couldn't beat her at this game, Yaxiu naturally wouldn't keep playing it with her. On this point, Diya shared his philosophy completely: never play a game you cannot win. "Sure." Diya put down her controller. "What are we playing then?" "Let me look..." Yaxiu pulled open the drawer beneath the large light screen. It was packed with various game cartridges, neatly sorted with handwritten labels: *To Play with the Kids Someday*, *Hidden Gems*, *Endlessly Replayable*, *Only When the Eldest Miss Isn't Around*... He searched for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a cartridge. "This is it!" Diya was thinking that if the game was boring, she would let Lisi take over to play with him—after all, merely "defeating" Yaxiu counted as completing the Watcher's task. But when the light screen displayed the game's title screen, her eyes were instantly glued to it, and even Lisi banging loudly on the mirror beside her couldn't tear her gaze away. *Sorcerer Kart 5* "A spin-off of the *Sorcerer Duel* series. The characters drive karts across various Void Realm environments to race, and you can even attack opponents with miracles," Yaxiu explained. "We're playing this!" "Great!" *Maybe this game can teach me how to attack people from inside a car!* Both thought at the same time. ... An hour and a half later, the two emerged from the game room disheveled and covered in grime. Diya's hair was a tangled mess, and Yaxiu's clothes were practically torn to shreds. They glared at each other, gave synchronized cold snorts, and marched in opposite directions—Yaxiu back to his room, and Diya to the kitchen to find something to eat. "While I can't say I'm surprised, did you really get into a fight with Lisi?" Igola happened to step out of his room just then. Seeing their state, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't make it sound like it's my fault," Yaxiu grumbled in annoyance. "The brat threw a tantrum because she's a sore loser. Am I supposed to just take that lying down?!" "I have no parenting experience, but speaking from my upbringing in the rearing institute, guardians are supposed to yield to children. Thinking back, those were truly wonderful days. Using the *Child Protection Act*, I held the entire rearing institute under my thumb. Not even the adults dared cross me..." Yaxiu was no longer surprised by Igola's wicked and absurd past. He retorted dryly, "We were playing a racing game. Tripping each other up is an essential part of the experience, but after I dragged Lisi down from first place three times in a row, she threw a fit... *Sigh*, why do kids these days care so much about winning and losing?" "Yaxiu, I genuinely advise you to wear a mask. Your facial expression control is honestly worse than that of the new boarder Harvey brought back. When you say that, you can't even hold back your gloating grin." "Huh?" Yaxiu instinctively touched his mouth. "Then pick up a face mask for me while you're out. Make sure it looks good." "How did you know I was going..." Igola caught himself halfway through. He looked down at his trench coat and tall boots; even a fool could tell he was heading out—ordinarily, they walked around here in slippers. Yaxiu asked, "Have you talked to Harvey?" Igola knew what he wanted to ask and shook his head. "I did, but Harvey wouldn't say what mission he and Annan went on last night. Only..." "Only what?" "The cold, flowing fire inside him that had been slowly dying out seems like it's genuinely about to blaze up," Igola said, leaning against the wall. "If Harvey was digging his own grave before, now he seems intent on digging it bigger and bigger. Only heaven knows who he plans to bury in it." "In other words, Annan completely revitalized Harvey?" Yaxiu said. "Could the eldest miss have used the Light of Hope?" "Harvey doesn't have Longevity Syndrome. The Light of Hope can't cure what he has." Igola shook his head. "The things he cares about boil down to just two: his deceased lover, and... the advancement of the necromancy faction." "Hmph. Unlike me, who would love nothing more than to be the only person in the world who knows the mind faction, Harvey wants the whole world to cultivate necromancy." "You're the abnormal one, Igola," Yaxiu said. "Don't you ever hope for an equal who can keep up with your thinking—a friend with whom you can strike intellectual sparks?" The Swindler shot the cult leader a glance. "Only cowards need friends," he said. "Harvey is just that kind of person—unable to live without something to cling to, keeping his life only so he can throw it away... I've seen far too many patients like him. Many of my clients were just like that: strong, tenacious, yet more brittle than glass. Though among all the psychiatric cases I've encountered, Harvey is a heavyweight. Do you know why he loves the necromancy faction so much? Because he's so lonely he needs corpses to keep him company—" "Hey," Yaxiu cut him off, his expression half teasing, half serious. "Talking trash about someone only means anything if you say it to their face. Talking behind people's backs is like blowing up shit behind a shield—not thrilling at all." "You still have the leisure to worry about others, Yaxiu Heath?" Igola lifted his chin, his face dripping with sarcasm. "The fact that Harvey hasn't come to see us should tell you everything: he already has other plans. In this house, you have no friends. The alliance no longer exists." Yaxiu looked at him, then suddenly burst out laughing. "What are you laughing at?" "I was just thinking: when you want to use me, you flatter me. So when you're spitting venom at me, what exactly are you after?" Yaxiu patted Igola on the shoulder. "I'm heading into the Void Realm. Have a good night at work." "I hope you get trampled to death by a White Ox in the Void Realm," Igola snapped back. Yaxiu returned to his room to bathe. Since he still had some time, he soaked in the tub and brought up the game system to examine it. If not for acquiring the map the previous night, Yaxiu wouldn't have known that his Void Realm Map had a recording function. That meant the game system might have other useful features he had yet to discover—like the possibility that Void Realm Exploration could be run on auto... However, as soon as Yaxiu opened the game, he spotted a red notification dot on Operator Management. Tapping into it, he saw an envelope icon over the Sword Princess's portrait. *Prompt: You have received the "Sword Princess's Leave Request."*