Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 326: Conceptual Secret Toxin, Facing the Miracle

Scorching Soul Essence Elixir: Every powerful soul releases a bit of scorching soul essence when it dissipates. Drinking this elixir can significantly heal the soul, and a Golden Soul will fully recover within seven days. Additionally, spellforce absorption in the Virtual Realm is increased by 10% during this period. What kind of person, and in what kind of place, could so easily collect a bottle of Scorching Soul Essence Elixir?

Zealous Potion: The user becomes more honest and passionate, actively expressing their emotions with a strong desire to deepen intimate relationships, and their sense of shame is greatly reduced. The bond improvement speed of operators is increased by 100%, lasting for one day.

Ashe drew nine bottles of Pure Luminescence Elixir and, with one more bottle stored in the warehouse, used the Alchemist’s Refining Bottle to refine them in pairs. He succeeded four times, resulting in three bottles of Advanced Scorching Soul Essence Elixir and one mutated Zealous Potion.

Undoubtedly, Ashe had met his basic goal. With these three bottles of Advanced Scorching Soul Essence Elixir, both he and the Sword Princess Witch could fully heal their soul injuries before the next round at the Spider Tower.

As for the Zealous Potion… while its effects seemed promising, it also felt like it could lead to some major news. If Ashe were to give the Zealous Potion to the Witch, causing her to increase her intimacy with him, leading to clinginess, affection, and embraces, just the thought of it was exhilarating.

But the Sword Princess was watching.

Ashe had already exhausted his office politics skills just to get the Sword Princess to accept the Witch into the team. Now, seeing the Witch possibly heading towards becoming a secretary, the jealous and hot-tempered redhead would undoubtedly throw a fit.

So, should he give the Zealous Potion to the Sword Princess?

But that would turn it into a gamble: if Ashe and the Sword Princess reached a new level of their bond within the day, Ashe would win the bet; if not, the Sword Princess would surely be furious once she realized, and while he might not die, life would certainly be less pleasant…

After all, the interactions in the Amnesia Cabin might have already caused the Witch to misunderstand. If she saw Ashe and the Sword Princess suddenly getting closer, she might think she belonged under the car rather than in it…

Moreover… the Witch might not be misunderstanding at all.

Thinking about this, Ashe couldn’t help but sigh.

As someone who had worked as a corporate slave, he knew that there were certain taboos in the office for good reason. Colleagues could become good friends, but they should remain just that—good friends.

Crossing that line not only had a negative impact on others but wasn’t good for oneself either. You go to work to earn money and satisfy your material needs, not to enjoy a spiritual life. A team is a team, and a family is a family. The former requires clear rewards and punishments and focuses on interests; the latter is about mutual tolerance and emotional bonds.

The two should never be confused.

Although Ashe had never worked for a small company, he had heard from classmates that those who failed to distinguish between team and family in small companies often ended up contributing to the landlord’s rent before completing their historical mission.

Even though it was only a three-person team, Ashe was conscious of his role as a leader. He knew that a three-person team wouldn’t be the end. And even if it remained just the three of them, he had to find a way to manage their relationships well. “Two people becoming closer, causing the third to feel alienated” was a common pitfall in startups, as ubiquitous as baldness among city dwellers.

For both emotional and logical reasons, Ashe had to balance the scales of their relationships. Therefore, he couldn’t give the Zealous Potion to the Sword Princess.

As for the idea of kicking out either the Witch or the Sword Princess for a day and then giving the potion to the remaining one—that was even more unacceptable. Put yourself in their shoes: if you returned from a break and saw your boss colluding with a colleague, you would surely feel excluded and start doubting the company’s system.

So, the Zealous Potion had to be kept for now.

But Ashe didn’t plan to discard it.

After all, becoming close with only one person would lead to many thoughts for the other. So… what if he deepened his relationship with both of them at the same time?

If Ashe could get another bottle of Zealous Potion in the future, he could use both bottles simultaneously on the Witch and the Sword Princess. This might create a harmonious bond among all three of them, advancing their relationships to a new level!

Though there might be a tad bit of selfishness involved, Ashe felt his idea was quite rational and aimed at a better future for the team—aside from the slight personal gain.

In any case, Ashe had to face the unknown Weaving Festival in reality and the pursuit in the Spider Tower in the Virtual Realm. Their team’s interpersonal relationships couldn’t afford any more upheavals.

This was indeed a critical moment of life and death!

As the saying goes, “One thinks of desire only after their stomach is full.” He needed to ensure his material safety before contemplating his spiritual life.

However, thinking about what happened in the Amnesia Cabin, Ashe couldn’t help but chuckle.

O(∩_∩)O Haha, he definitely had to recount the Sword Princess’s coquettish remarks during a less dangerous battle round. Such good ammunition shouldn’t go to waste!

Having completed the basic goal of the card draw—securing his material needs—Ashe now looked forward to the exciting “desire” phase. Since his intentions had allowed him to draw the Pure Luminescence Elixir, they should also help him pull a Golden Legend!

He wanted to draw a new operator!

He wanted to get more useful Virtual Realm items!

He wanted to find miraculous items that could increase his sect experience even while operators rested!

Feeling his emotions still needed a boost, Ashe calmed himself and checked the Limited Search pool for anything he liked…

“Bridal Sword Princess”

Something surged within him—a powerful feeling!

Ashe: “Now’s the time, amplify my intentions!”

“The faithful Gospel will amplify your intentions, countdown: 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second… You have entered the intention amplification state, remaining duration: 10 seconds!”

Draw!

Golden light, “The Magic Mirror Shards of the Black and White Witch”!

White light, energy potion!

White light, experience potion!

All the rest were white lights!

The Magic Mirror Shards of the Black and White Witch: No one knows exactly how many shards the Black and White Witch lost, but everyone who found one died a swift and unnatural death, until the shards returned to their original owner. It’s said that the Witch shattered the mirror herself to escape her own reflection. Using this item expands Bond functionality.

Ashe fell into deep thought.

Was this a success or a failure?

It could be seen as a success since he drew an enhancement item for the Black and White Witch; however, it was only one success. On the other hand, it wasn’t a complete failure either.

Ashe had already done ten draws without pulling a Golden card, so statistically, the odds of getting one were higher this time. Thus, this might have been a normal draw, unrelated to his intentions.

There was also another possibility-since Ashe had never seen the Bridal Sword Princess, his imagination might have had its limits. His intent may not have been strong enough to influence the draw system.

Nevertheless, the Witch’s enhancement item was evidently more useful than the Sword Princess’s Bridal skin, so this was still a win… Ashe could only console himself this way.

Although he still had Gospel points and game credits, Ashe decided to stop here. He had only 190 Gospel points left, which he needed to save for emergencies.

In the Kingdom of Gospel, points that could gather all kinds of information were an unparalleled strategic resource, more crucial than even a sorcerer’s own power.

Using “The Magic Mirror Shards of the Black and White Witch,” the information about the Black and White Witch was updated.

“Black and White Witch”

“Species: Human”

“Gender: Female”

“Age: 19”

“Bond Level: 1 (35% Experience Sharing)”

“Bond Resonance: Playing with People’s Hearts: Even without related mental spirits, you and the Witch have a supernatural ability to influence minds.”

“Class: Annihilation Follower”

“Class Trait: Increases damage to groups of knowledge creatures by 5%.”

“Silver Blessing: Witch’s Taboo: Secrecy grants you power; concealment is your weapon. The fewer people in real life who know your true nature, the stronger you become in the Virtual Realm. Currently, the Black and White Witch’s concealment level is 85% (little known), granting an 85% spellforce recovery speed bonus (Observer’s observations not included).”

“Items: Training Gloves”

“Controlling Spirits: Mask, Hydrotherapy, Claw, Riptide…”

“Mental Sect: Silver Level”

“Fist-Claw Sect: Golden Level”

“Time Sect: Silver Level”

“Water Sect: Silver Level”

“Knowledge Secret Toxin: Bronze Dragon Secret Toxin”

The concealment level of the Witch had decreased, from 93% previously to 85% now. Since Witch’s Taboo only counts those who know in the real world, it must mean someone else has discovered something about her. This was quite careless!

However, this Bond resonance… Last time, it was said that Ashe and the Sword Princess had a resonance of “Insatiable Greed.” But this time, how could he have a resonance of “Playing with People’s Hearts” with the Witch?

When had he ever played with someone’s heart?

Perhaps this was just a preset for players, Ashe thought, not giving it much more consideration.

He casually used the Scorching Soul Essence Elixir on the Witch and then navigated to the Sword Princess’s operator interface. Immediately, he noticed something strange—

Knowledge Secret Toxin: Golden Fish Secret Toxin, Vortex Secret Toxin, Expel Secret Toxin, Bronze Dragon Secret Toxin, Conceptual Secret Toxin

Why did the Sword Princess have an additional toxin?

Was she secretly getting stronger behind his back?

However, this particular toxin could be directly clicked to view, which meant… he already had the knowledge to access this toxin?

“Conceptual Secret Toxin”

“Toxin Details: In the Virtual Realm, certain abstract concepts can, for special reasons, gain physical form and manifest as conceptual incarnations. When you possess a conceptual incarnation, you gain the highest priority enhancement effects. When a conceptual incarnation is destroyed, it means the Virtual Realm temporarily loses this concept, and all spirits related to this concept will be directly annihilated and cannot be reborn until the concept is regenerated by the Virtual Realm.”

“Number of Secret Toxin Infections: 79”

“Secret Toxin Strength: 79%”

“Current Effects of the Secret Toxin: Occasionally, you will witness traces of all miracles (enhancement effect at 50% strength, large negative effect at 100% strength).”

Ashe was momentarily confused—wasn’t being able to see the traces of miracles an enhancement?

However, when Ashe lifted his head, the entire world transformed.

The lamp, walls, ceiling, carpet, and blanket—everything in his room suddenly transformed into post-modern art made of spider silk.

Feeling something, Ashe instinctively turned to look at Vamora outside the window.

At this moment, the bustling cityscape had vanished, replaced by a spider’s nest entangled with countless layers of web. In the sky, a giant web extended to the horizon, endless and impenetrable.

On the streets shrouded in white mist, spiders were walking, with every creature connected by dozens of silk threads. They didn’t seem to be moving on their own but were rather being pulled along by the threads, like puppets walking through various nests.

Terrified, Ashe stood up, but his hands felt sticky. Looking down, he found himself covered in countless spider threads. The bed he was just sitting on had turned into a cocoon storing food. He now resembled an insect caught in a spider web, his skin completely covered in sticky white liquid. Threads seemed to be crawling into his mouth and eyes, trying to seal his mouth, blind his eyes, and grasp his heart—

In the next second, the world returned to normal.

The room was just a room, the city was just a city, and the white sheets were neatly spread on the bed.

Ashe touched his face, smooth and tender, without any sticky residue.

This was the second toxin he had that brought negative effects.

The other one was the Vortex Secret Toxin, which made him averse to water. However, Ashe had largely overcome the Vortex Secret Toxin’s influence. As long as he didn’t directly look at the water and convinced himself that he was soaking in cola during baths, he could avoid triggering the toxin—this was a life hack taught to him by the Sword Princess.

Compared to the Vortex Secret Toxin, the influence of the Conceptual Secret Toxin might be much greater.

For weaklings like them, ignorance was indeed their camouflage.

Ashe was not unaware that Gospel was omnipresent, like air, but presenting the horrors of Gospel in this way would inevitably plunge people into hysterical fear and despair.

After all, if you hate water, you can still drink cola or milk. But if even the air, the land, and the food make you feel fear, where can you escape?

“…This should be the first time since I came to Gospel that I start to miss the Blood Moon Kingdom.”