Sorcerer Manual

Yaxiu had almost forgotten that top-ups were even an option in the Sorcerer Manual game. He had assumed that the daily check-in supply of origin crystals was his sole means of pulling from the gacha, never expecting that currency recognized by the game actually existed in this world. Regardless of its value, this discovery gave Yaxiu a shot of adrenaline, reigniting his drive to strive—like a boss telling you, "Work hard, and you'll be next in line for promotion." Even knowing the odds were slim, at least there was something to look forward to. Still, he didn't dare convert the medal on the spot, because he could tell that this medal was none other than the extraordinary foundation of this world, the source of power so eagerly pursued by sorcerers—a sorcery spirit! "Do you want this sorcery spirit?" he asked. "You want it?" Contrary to Yaxiu's expectations, Sonia showed no interest in the spirit. "Then take it." Now it was Yaxiu's turn to be curious. "This is a sorcery spirit, you know. You really don't want it?" "It's neither a swordsmanship spirit nor a generic sorcery spirit. Taking it would be useless to me and a waste of my money." "What does this have to do with money?" Yaxiu asked blankly. Sonia suspected the Watcher was secretly mocking her for being poor. After all, the Watcher was capable of steering a boat across the Void Realm—how could he possibly be ignorant of basic sorcerer common sense? Or was the Watcher a wealthy figure who never had to worry about feeding sorcery spirits? Novels often featured comical tropes about "rich nobles who didn't know basic common sense"—who knew she would actually encounter this endangered species in real life? As Sonia explained, Yaxiu realized that the ecology of sorcery spirits in this world was far more complex than he had imagined. First, sorcery spirits had to be fed, and they had to be fed with circulating currency! Silver and gold coins were the primary sustenance of sorcery spirits. One-winged sorcery spirits needed silver coins, while two-winged sorcery spirits required gold coins. Spirits that went unfed would dissipate on their own; some impoverished sorcerers genuinely managed to starve their own spirits to death! Aside from currency, sorcery spirits could technically be nourished with other materials, but each spirit required different ingredients, making the search extremely tedious. Silver and gold coins, on the other hand, served as universal rations for all sorcery spirits. Over time, sorcerers forgot how their spirits were originally supposed to be fed; plugging their mouths with money did the trick just fine. Furthermore, a sorcery spirit's mere existence consumed a sorcerer's mental energy. A sorcerer with many sorcery spirits was like a man with many girlfriends—not only could his wallet not bear it, but his body couldn't take the strain either. Therefore, for low-tier sorcerers—especially low-tier sorcerers upholding the fine tradition of the proletariat—more sorcery spirits was by no means better. They had to be selective and pick only what suited them. "Fewer, but elite" was the development strategy for the vast majority of low-tier sorcerers. Second, sorcery spirits came with usage restrictions. Based on these restrictions, sorcery spirits were divided into various factions: the swordsmanship faction that strictly required a sword, the gunnery faction that required a firearm, the mortification faction that demanded a resilient physique, the pugilism faction that overwhelmed with fists... Spirits with strict requirements for the sorcerer belonged to specific factions and were known as specialized sorcery spirits. "Wave Sword," for instance, required a sword in hand to activate. Meanwhile, those with virtually no requirements—or requirements so low that the vast majority of sorcerers could easily meet them—were called generic sorcery spirits. "Eagle Eye," for instance, could be activated as long as the sorcerer had eyes. Generally, the spirits owned by a sorcerer consisted of specialized spirits and generic spirits. Specialized spirits ideally shouldn't span more than two factions, while generic spirits depended on synergy, with sorcerers doing their best not to keep useless ones around. Even if Sonia took this "Rapid Fire" sorcery spirit, she would inevitably sell it; she wouldn't keep it around to waste her money. And the real reason Sonia had zero interest in this spirit was that the "Rapid Fire" sorcery spirit was virtually worthless. "'Rapid Fire' is a relic from the flintlock era hundreds of years ago. Nowadays it's an age of automatic rifles and automatic pistols. A pistol can empty seven rounds in a second, so who cares about the single extra shot from 'Rapid Fire'?" Sonia spread her hands. "Sure, 'Rapid Fire' can also be used on mortars, naval guns, and the like, but those have far better sorcery spirit options anyway, so no one would bother with 'Rapid Fire.'" "For a spirit made obsolete by time like this, the academy's buyback price is at most one silver coin—which is the absolute minimum buyback price for a one-winged sorcery spirit." Yaxiu already knew that the Sword Princess was enrolled at school, but he didn't pay it much mind, assuming it was just part of the game's background lore. "Then I'm taking it!" "Go right ahead." Sonia didn't care either. Yaxiu silently thought *Convert*, and the medal in his hand dissolved into white mist. A message popped up in the game: [Top-up successful! You have received 10 Points.] The cheapest purchase option in the game was 1 origin crystal for 6 Points. In other words, this "Rapid Fire" sorcery spirit was only worth 1.5 origin crystals. And a single gacha pull cost 3 origin crystals, meaning two one-winged sorcery spirits equaled one pull. A sorcery spirit was supposed to be an extraordinary power, so why was its price as cheap as a fresh college graduate... Yaxiu clicked his tongue and looked down at the hunting log in his hands. "Then what is this notebook?" "A sorcerer manual, obviously!" Sonia cast a strange look at Yaxiu. "A sorcerer manual?" Yaxiu froze. Sonia nodded. "A sorcerer manual summarizes a sorcerer's life in some way. For example, this manual records data on everything this gunner hunted during his lifetime, which shows hunting was the most important part of his life. Well, basically, it's a sorcerer's diary. "Except it's not a diary written voluntarily. After a sorcerer dies, their soul automatically returns to the Void Realm and becomes a sorcerer projection, while their life's memories settle and condense into a book—just like birth, aging, illness, and death, it's an unavoidable law of nature. "We call this kind of book a sorcerer manual. "If the Void Realm is the graveyard of sorcerers, then the sorcerer manual is a sorcerer's gravestone." Only now did Yaxiu realize that the hunter earlier had been a dead man's projection. He had assumed it was a living person, wondering how he had run into another sorcerer so easily. Still, even if it had been a living person, he wouldn't have pulled his punches. After all, dying in the Void Realm wasn't true death. Sonia said, "Just like the medal, a sorcerer manual can also be used. You can directly absorb the manual with your consciousness, which grants you a random skill of the manual's owner that cannot be categorized under a sorcery faction—it's completely random." "Do you want it?" Yaxiu asked. "No, I felt exhausted just after glancing at a few pages." Sonia shook her head. "But since you read the whole thing, you definitely won't get contaminated if you absorb it." "Contaminated?" "Sorcerer manuals carry contamination. Generally speaking, a sorcerer can only read a sorcerer manual from someone whose worldview, values, and outlook on life are similar to their own. Forcibly absorbing an incompatible sorcerer manual causes damage to the soul, and could even lead to schizophrenia." "That severe?" "Severe as it is, it's easy to prevent. As long as you don't feel uncomfortable while flipping through the manual, it means you won't have any issues absorbing it." At this point, Sonia was also somewhat curious. "From what I've heard, for an ordinary sorcerer who encounters ten sorcerer manuals, finding two or three they can absorb is already good luck. Many sorcerers never come across a manual they can absorb in their entire lives... How did you manage to pick up a random manual and absorb it without any contamination?" Naturally, Yaxiu couldn't answer this question. Following Sonia's instructions, he guided his consciousness to touch the hunting log in his hands. The hunting log dissolved into a wisp of light smoke and flowed into his body. Before long, Yaxiu felt a chunk of ice melt in his consciousness, and a wealth of indescribable knowledge suddenly flooded in. He opened "Operator Management" in the game and found that he had acquired a new skill: [Anti-Reconnaissance Mastery] As a jungle hunter and a soldier of war, even if Carbine Stoli had never formally studied anti-reconnaissance, he must have honed this survival skill through warfare. For Yaxiu, who was planning a prison break, anti-reconnaissance was a handy little skill that could definitely come in useful. After Yaxiu finished absorbing the hunting log, they noticed the islet sinking. The two hurriedly returned to the boat. Before long, the islet vanished completely, leaving the sea's surface calm and quiet, as if nothing had ever been there. "That's the wondrous nature of the Void Realm: impermanent encounters, existing only for inheritance," Sonia mused. "Countless legacy islets float upon the Sea of Knowledge, quietly awaiting discovery by nascent sorcerers. Once a sorcerer claims the inheritance, the islet naturally returns to the sea... Some say the islets are manifestations of a sorcerer's obsession, left on the surface by sorcerers of the past so future generations might remember their traces. "The marks of every sorcerer's life are deeply engraved within the Void Realm. Here, we can encounter the legacies of countless predecessors, clash with gunners from centuries ago, converse with wise sages from millennia past—anything is possible... And our traces will also be engraved in the Void Realm. When some sorcerer tears through the white mist hundreds of years from now, they too might face the challenge left behind by you and me." "Sounds pretty romantic." "Really? You feel fine having your life passed down to future generations without any concealment, letting posterity admire your 'glorious achievements'?" Yaxiu suddenly didn't find it romantic at all. "Can a sorcerer delete some of their life records before they die? Say, folders like 'Study Materials' or 'Art and Life'..." "How to die with dignity and how to scrape by in life have always been two major subjects of research for sorcerers." Even though she hadn't gained anything and Yaxiu had taken all the spoils, Sonia felt relaxed. She stretched on the boat and said, "Where to next? You decide. I'll follow your lead." The battle on the islet was by no means harrowing. If Yaxiu could find legacy islets like this every time, Sonia would be more than happy to take the risk. If she could just find a swordsmanship sorcery spirit or a compatible sorcerer manual once, she would hit the jackpot. The aspiration of many sorcerers was simply to explore the Void Realm smoothly and safely; never mind finding a Void Realm inheritance, just not running into danger was already cause for heartfelt celebration. "Let me take a look..." Yaxiu opened "Void Realm Exploration" to check the status of the surrounding tiles: [Waste of Effort], [Waste of Effort], [Waste of Effort], [Waste of Effort], [Better Not Go], [Waste of Effort], [Waste of Effort], [Waste of Effort]. "Huh?"