Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 344: Ashe, Run

“Secret Toxin Diary”

“One-Winged Spirit”

“Restriction: The sorcerer must possess writing skills.”

“Basic Effect: Summon a diary in which you can freely write. When you complete a piece of secret toxin information, you will be immune to all effects of the secret toxin. Current number of secret toxins recorded: 0/1.”

“Passive Effect: A copy of your notebook will appear in the Virtual Realm. When the copy exceeds 500 readings, this spirit will be automatically promoted to Two-Wings. Current readings: 0/500.”

“Writing for yourself is called a diary; writing for others is called a biography.”

Given his surplus supplies, Ashe found it hard to resist purchasing this diary-this was his only known means to resist the effects of the secret toxin!

For a sorcerer, secret toxins are akin to staying up late, smoking, or working a job: you know they’ll severely impact your physical and mental health, but since the consequences manifest in a distant future, you endure them despite your worries, accepting the blows as they come.

Although the Secret Toxin Diary can currently record only one type of secret toxin, it at least offers Ashe, who suffers from multiple chronic conditions, a glimmer of hope for recovery.

Moreover, if Ashe’s guess is correct, he should be able to update the recorded secret toxin information at any time. This means that if the number of secret toxin infections suddenly surges, he can promptly document the outbreak. As other infected individuals gradually succumb, the toxin’s destructive power will decrease to a manageable level.

As long as multiple secret toxins don’t erupt simultaneously, Ashe’s life is not in immediate danger.

Every operator should have one of these diaries, but it’s uncertain when the next event will offer it. Nonetheless, this is a long-term virus prevention strategy and cannot be rushed.

Another point that surprised Ashe was that the “Secret Toxin Diary” is a spirit, yet its effects far exceed those of a One-Winged Spirit and are highly specialized.

If a sorcerer unaware of the secret toxin obtained it, it would essentially be useless.

However, this wasn’t the first time Ashe had encountered a low-level spirit with comprehensive yet quirky abilities. Compared to the zero wing spirit “Soul Summoning,” the “Secret Toxin Diary” seemed a bit more balanced and less overpowered.

After purchasing the “Secret Toxin Diary,” Ashe didn’t have many dream shards left, but there were still plenty of odd prizes available.

For example, the “Spirit Relationship Information” could reveal an unknown spirit relationship. Using this information, the Gate of Truth of the spirit would designate a safe Virtual Realm area of about 50 square meters. In simpler terms, this information could grant a sorcerer a 50 square meter mobile storage space.

It sounded great, but the Virtual Realm only allowed souls to enter. To store items in the Virtual Realm, special artifacts or auxiliary Miracles were required, and Ashe had neither. It was like buying a wife cake without having a wife to share it with.

In the end, Ashe decided to buy a “Swordsmanship Orb” and a “Fist-Claw Orb.” These Experience Orbs were not for Ashe’s personal use. To maximize the Bond relationship and Experience Sharing, the Experience Orbs had to be fed to the witch and the sword princess.

Just as Ashe was about to close the exchange shop, he suddenly noticed a new prize at the bottom of the list.

“Witch’s Dream: 10 dream shards, use immediately upon exchange. For 24 hours, your Mental Sect Realm will temporarily elevate to the Golden level. Can only be exchanged once.”

Witch’s Dream? Ashe blinked. Did this reward appear because he chose the witch as his role in the dream expedition?

If he had chosen the sword princess, would the exchange shop have offered the Sword Princess’s Dream, temporarily elevating his Swordsmanship Sect to the Golden level for 24 hours?

Lost in thought, Ashe exchanged for the “Witch’s Dream.” After all, it was only 10 dream shards—why not?

Whether it was an illusion or not, after exchanging for the “Witch’s Dream,” Ashe felt that his Mental Sect seemed to have genuinely elevated. If before he could only glean short essays of no more than 140 characters from someone’s gaze, now it felt like he could deliver a full thesis defense just with his eyes.

Closing “Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook”, Ashe opened the Gospel Book and inquired, “Open the Funeral Firm chat group.”

Since these past few days were all free activity, Annan had spent some Gospel points to create their exclusive chat group. Any issues could be discussed there. While there were civilian alternatives, the instantaneity and confidentiality of the communication service provided by the Gospel were unparalleled.

The chat group’s logs were sparse, mostly consisting of Annan’s notifications and neat rows of “received” replies. After all, in a chat group with a superior, many things are left unsaid, so the quietness was expected.

However, the chat group was quite lively at this moment—

“Mr. Bukin: I’m on my way to meet Ashe. Where are you all?”

“Death Artist: I’m heading to Ashe too.”

“Butler: Same here.”

“Butler: Young lady? Young lady?”

“Butler: Why hasn’t the young lady checked the group?”

“Mr. Bukin: Can the young lady not handle the craving attack by herself?”

“Butler: Impossible.”

“Mr. Bukin: Why hasn’t Ashe checked the group either?”

“Death Artist: Ashe, run.”

Ashe was taken aback. He suddenly realized that if the enemy causing Vamora’s mutation was indeed targeting them, their first target would undoubtedly be him. He was currently wanted by the Empire, ranked on the Art Ranking as a suspected doomsday culprit, and eliminating him wouldn’t lead to a red name—

Crash! Crash! Crash!

The windows of the gaming floor shattered consecutively. Red Hats, representing the Gospel’s armed forces, burst into the room, stepping on balancer boots. Leading them, Cleos held a short gun in her left hand and raised a document with her right: “Inter-district search warrant. We are conducting a raid!”

“We’ve got him.”

Leite raised a bolt-action sniper gun with one hand, aiming at the black-robed Ashe hiding behind the front desk: “I am Leite Rex, captain of the Modora Red Hat team. You are suspected of being the individual on wanted notice 69-165. Raise your hands high and face the wall for inspection.”

“How did you know I was here?” Ashe put on the Twisting Mask. “The Twisting Mask should block the Gospel Book’s tracking on me.”

In the Weave rewards of the Art Ranking, the Fiend trench coat could cause mental shock, while the Twisting Mask improved concentration and distorted detection effects.

Annan and the others had all tried it. Whenever they attempted to determine Ashe’s location through any means, the Gospel’s feedback was always absurdly off the mark.

This was also why Ashe hadn’t been abandoned yet. He always carried the Fiend trench coat and the Twisting Mask. If they could easily determine his location through special items, Annan keeping Ashe around would be akin to turning herself in.

“The Gospel indeed couldn’t pinpoint your location,” Leite said with a smile. “But we found your gaming account at Annan’s place. Although you didn’t use that account here, it’s not hard to use the Gospel to search for two players with the same behavior patterns-after all, I was searching for your player account, not you personally. It seems the Twisting Mask isn’t that smart.”

“Then we pinpointed your login address, infiltrated your gaming team, and determined your playtime. Naturally, we knew you’d be here at this specific time.”

Ashe was stunned. “You…”

“Didn’t I tell you I had work tonight?”

Leite’s sniper rifle was aimed at Ashe’s chest. “Captain, you should feel honored. I’m an Ultimate Mode player. Playing Extreme Mode with a noob like you was really painful.”