Sorcerer Handbook

The game company Yaxiu had worked for in his previous life was named Aurora. Aurora had launched several hit mobile games, such as *Aurora's Underground Castle* and *Aurora's Alienated Land*, and *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* was a new mobile game the company currently had in beta testing. Yaxiu did not belong to the new game development department, but rather the operations department. However, he had heard the new title was a lot of fun and projected to become a massive hit. The head of the planning department planned to have him lead a team responsible for the operational planning of the new game, so Yaxiu downloaded the demo of *Sorcerer Handbook*, intending to study it a bit so he could contribute his surplus value faster, better, and stronger in the future. Yet before Yaxiu could even launch the game, he had suddenly transmigrated in the middle of pulling an all-nighter at work. How had this mobile game transmigrated along with him? And even automatically installed itself into his conscious light screen? Uncertainty and bewilderment churned in Yaxiu's heart, but the thought that he would be pork on the chopping block in a few days left him no time to ponder the game's origins. He could only pin his hopes on it delivering a miracle! "*Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* is launching..." "Checking/updating game resources for you... Unable to connect to the network. Automatically switching to LAN mode." "Warning: Graphics system missing... Repair in progress..." "Warning: Instance system missing... Repair in progress..." "Warning: Data system missing... Repair in progress..." "..." A torrent of red warning prompts scrolled across the light screen, only stopping when a green prompt finally appeared— "Search system successfully launched." "Top-up system successfully launched." "Welcome to the Sorcerer Handbook." Fuck! The entire game could launch successfully with only its gacha and top-up systems functional—truly worthy of his company! With dark lines running down his face, Yaxiu entered the game. Eighty percent of the entire light screen was blank. Only two options shimmering in rainbow colors in the top-right corner could be interacted with— "Supply Purchase" and "Operator Search." Tapping open "Supply Purchase," there were purchase options for origin crystals: 6 points for a single crystal, 30 points for a set, 98 points for a pile, 198 points for a bag, 328 points for a box, and 648 points for a chest. Every option featured a first-time top-up double bonus... Yaxiu could guess with his toenails that these points represented money. But Alipay had not transmigrated with him, so where was he supposed to get money to top up? What was the company thinking? Putting a monetization system into an internal testing demo? Did they want to claw back the wages they paid us...? *Hiss*, the company really was shameless enough to pull something like that. Tapping open "Operator Search," the recruitment interface was also completely blank, likely due to various missing assets. There were only two bare-bones options: "Search Once" and "Search Ten Times." Yaxiu actually wanted to try a pull just for fun, but pulling once took three origin crystals. Where would he get the money for that? Wait, even the first pull in a test demo costs money? Who made such a shameless mobile game... Oh, my company did. Never mind, then. Just as Yaxiu was feeling dejected, a notification suddenly popped up on the light screen: "Check-in system successfully repaired. Connecting to master server... Unable to connect to server. Automatically switching to LAN mode." A third option appeared on the light screen: "Login Check-In." Tapping it brought up a calendar. Yaxiu saw the box for April 11 automatically checked off. "Regular Ration: One origin crystal." "Rookie First-Time Check-In Ration: One Operator Ten-Pull Search Voucher." "Operator Ten-Pull Search Voucher: A permit issued by Aurora's Search Department, used for batch searches of high-value targets. Allows ten consecutive searches at once. Guaranteed to recruit at least one operator." Though he did not understand the proprietary terminology in the description, none of that mattered. Yaxiu knew that whether he could escape next week's Blood Moon Trial depended entirely on this mysterious game that had transmigrated with him! He opened the "Operator Search" interface and selected "Search Ten Times"! There was no fancy or dazzling card-reveal animation—only an utterly plain pull list! "Vigor Potion," "Vigor Potion," "Experience Potion," "Experience Potion"... "Death Frenzy Sword Princess," "Novice Combat Experience Card," "Wooden Training Sword"... A hit! Immediately following, a message popped up: "Operator system successfully repaired. You can now manage your owned operators." Yaxiu immediately inspected the card art. On the card was a red-haired young woman in a black slip dress, bearing the pure smile of a girl next door. Her hands were behind her back, her long legs clad in black stockings were slipped into leather shoes, and she tilted her head to look around, pale-red eyes brimming with curiosity. "Death Frenzy Sword Princess" "Race: Human · Female · Age: 20" "Bond Level: 0 (30% Experience Sharing)" "Class: Sorcerer Student" "Class Trait: Study Efficiency +5%" "Inherent Talent: Sword Princess (Lesser): Gains 100% bonus Swordsmanship experience; low chance of gaining 10,000% Swordsmanship experience. (Talent ranks unlock as strength increases.)" "Personal Special Technique: Pitch-Black Mind's Eye: Nips danger in the bud in advance. When an enemy forms an intention to attack her, there is a certain probability of automatically counterattacking based on the difference in strength between both sides." "Held Items: None" "Controlled Sorcery Spirits: None" "Water Arts Faction: Uninitiated" "Training Strategy: Unset" Yaxiu stared at it for a long time without finding a trace of "death" or "frenzy." Fury flared within him—aside from the ridiculously cool name, wasn't this just a blank-slate pretty-girl portrait? Don't think you can scam people out of money just because your card art looks pretty, you bastards! The free starting character could not even be put to use right away and required the player to slowly train her? In modern times with such a fast-paced life, you do not let players feel satisfied right off the bat and instead make them waste time? What kind of trash game is this? It's practically a menace to society! They should have let me be the planner—even I could do better than this! And fine, so what if the first pull was garbage? But if I cannot summon operators into reality to fight for me, what the hell is the point of pulling cards! In a few days, I will be marched off to the execution grounds to serve as some executioner's KPI. If this mobile game cannot even help me escape, is it expecting me to check in every day before I die just to feed traffic to this trash game? Truly worthy of my company. With even his last hope dashed, Yaxiu felt even more disheartened. Exiting the operator's personal profile, he noticed a red dot in the top-right corner of the newly appeared "Operator Management" on the main interface. With a slight touch of OCD, Yaxiu naturally clicked on it. The very next second, he bolted upright from the bed. Because inside "Operator Management," there were two operators. Aside from the freshly pulled "Death Frenzy Sword Princess," there was also a rather handsome, slender young man dressed in a pitch-black trench coat— "End Watcher" "Race: Human · Male · Age: 25" "Trust: ∞" "Class: Cult Leader / Ancient Historian" "Class Traits: Blessed by the Four Pillar Gods, Luck Check +10; easier identification of ancient relics, Ancient Relic Identification +5" "Inherent Talent: Sorcerer Handbook (Lesser): Register other operators into the handbook. Experience gained by other operators will be shared with this character according to their Bond Level sharing ratio. Current handbook page capacity: 0/1. (Talent capacity limit unlocks as strength increases.)" "Personal Special Technique: Wandering Soul of Foreign Lands: Effect unknown." "Held Items: None" "Controlled Sorcery Spirits: None" "Summoning Arts Faction: Uninitiated" Yaxiu turned his head toward the only mirror in the cell, embedded into the wall. After comparing it with the portrait on the light screen for a long time, he finally confirmed beyond doubt that this "End Watcher" was none other than himself, Yaxiu Heath! Whether it was the inherent talent "Sorcerer Handbook" or the personal special technique "Wandering Soul of Foreign Lands," both clearly reflected his current situation! Furthermore, Yaxiu remembered the title "End Watcher"—it was precisely the honorific title used for him by the cultists of the Four Pillar Gods. It sounded overwhelmingly imposing, yet a pack of hunters had wiped them out in one go, practically the textbook example of getting rounded up by the local police station right as you try to start a rebellion. To think this had become his codename in the game—low in lethality, but high in sheer humiliation. Still, what was with this pitch-black trench coat? Yaxiu had no memory of ever wearing it. Could it be an outfit Heath liked? If so, his fashion sense was really nothing to write home about. Yaxiu pulled up Death Frenzy Sword Princess's interface once more. Staring at the "30% Experience Sharing" under Bond Level, he pondered for a long while, realizing this might very well be his only chance to escape prison! If his guess was right, whenever he trained "Death Frenzy Sword Princess" in the game, he would personally receive 30% of her experience! The stronger the Sword Princess became, the stronger he would become! With hope rekindled, Yaxiu perked up and inspected the other junk he had pulled: two Vigor Potions, two Experience Potions, one Wooden Training Sword, one Novice Combat Card, and two Trial Cards. "Vigor Potion: During training actions, grants the operator one additional action point. Lasts for seven days." "Experience Potion: During training actions, operator gains +10% skill experience. Lasts for seven days." "Wooden Training Sword: When equipped by an operator, Swordsmanship training experience gained +15%." "Novice Combat Card: Upon use, arranges combat training for the operator to gain a large amount of experience. Lasts for seven days (Danger Level: Low)." "Novice Trial Card: Grants the operator a trial, awarding a variable amount of experience. Each operator can only use this once per week." They were all for training, which suited Yaxiu's needs perfectly. Pulling stat-boosting combat gear would not do him any good anyway. Still, why did that combat experience card have a note at the end saying "Danger Level: Low"...? He clicked open Death Frenzy Sword Princess's training strategy and discovered there was quite a lot of nuance to it: "Death Frenzy Sword Princess" "Current Mood: 5 (Experience Bonus: 0)" "Available Actions: Rest, Recreation, Training, Trial" "Rest: Costs 1 Action Point. Restores a moderate amount of Mood." "Recreation: Costs 2 Action Points. Restores a large amount of Mood." "Training: Costs 1 Action Point. Conducts training in a specific art." "Combat: Costs 1 Action Point. Requires a specific item." "Trial: Costs 0 Action Points. Requires a specific item." "Daily Action Points This Week: 2 points (Use 1 Vigor Potion to add 1 Action Point)." "I see. You have to take the operator's mood into account. The better their mood, the better the training results. Balancing work and rest, tension and relaxation—that's the true essence of education..." Yaxiu praised this remarkably humane training system, then promptly had Death Frenzy Sword Princess equip the "Wooden Training Sword," consumed one bottle of Vigor Potion, and maxed out all three action points! "Training Strategy: Training, Training, Combat"! "This Week's Trial Project: Swordsmanship"! "I'm about to be executed, so who has time to care about the mood of a 2D waifu?!" When Yaxiu pressed confirm on the "Training Strategy" interface, a prompt suddenly popped up on the light screen: "Activate End Watcher's inherent talent to register Death Frenzy Sword Princess into the Sorcerer Handbook?" "Oh, right! I almost forgot to bind the Sword Princess. Good thing the game gave a reminder, or wouldn't all that training be for nothing?" Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief. His life was like a candle in the wind right now, and he could not afford to waste any time. He had to squeeze out every drop of value. "Confirm registration of Death Frenzy Sword Princess into the Sorcerer Handbook? Note: This action is irreversible." "Confirm!" "Operator Bond successfully registered. Training in progress, arranging schedule..." "Constructing trial scenario... Missing scenario assets, automatically generating complement... Usable scenario found, seizing..." "Missing trial target, automatically generating complement... Usable target found, extracting..." Watching the messages in the game, Yaxiu had nothing left to do for the moment. Perhaps the dramatic twists and turns of today had been overly exhausting; the moment he relaxed, waves of drowsiness washed over him. It felt as though all strength had been drained from his body, and his eyelids drooped uncontrollably. Before his head even touched the pillow, Yaxiu fell fast asleep. Meanwhile. In another distant place, three time zones away from where Yaxiu was located. A young woman who had gone to sleep early for her beauty rest suddenly found herself waking up inside a dream.