Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 346: Abandoning Ashe

Igor discovered that in a dream, as long as your imagination is rich and detailed enough, you can create an illusion that interacts normally with you, even without a ‘real person’ assisting.

So, he created a cow-horse illusion and traveled with it through various dangerous ruins and mysterious places. When there was danger, the cow-horse would take the fall; when there was work, the cow-horse would do it. He had been very happy these past few days.

As for the love task arranged by Annan, he planned to just muddle through it. When the second ranking list comes out, he would explain to the young lady, “I’m sorry, I can’t distinguish between my love and killing intent. When I fall in love, I end up killing the other person.”

After ending tonight’s dream journey, Igor crawled out from under the bed. Just as he was about to take a bath to relax his nerves, his heart suddenly pounded hard.

“The first heartbeat is the final warning.”

The revelation he received while brushing his teeth in the morning was vivid in his mind. Before his other senses could react, Igor immediately cast ‘Heart of Stone’ and ‘Iron Will’ on himself, maintaining absolute calm to withstand the hormone imbalance triggered by his craving attack.

He didn’t even need to look at the window to guess that the concentration of white mist outside had dropped to a life-threatening level. Even if it wasn’t the whole of Vamora, at least the Senhaeser district was affected; otherwise, he wouldn’t have suddenly experienced withdrawal symptoms while living in the core area of Senhaeser.

At this sensitive moment, a city-wide disaster in Vamora must be related to the few of them, the outsiders.

If I were the attacker, my first target would be…

Igor tightened his robe, took a few steps in his slippers, then kicked them off, put on his pre-prepared emergency escape outfit, and left the room barefoot. As he moved, he opened the Gospel Book and summoned the funeral chat group.

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

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

“Butler: Same here.”

“Butler: Young lady? Young lady?”

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

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

“Butler: Impossible.”

Igor squinted his eyes, thinking that Banjeet and Annan were indeed prepared to leave Vamora at any moment.

He himself was temporarily suppressing the withdrawal symptoms with a mental miracle. If Igor guessed correctly, the necromancer didn’t suppress the withdrawal symptoms but rather satisfied his craving directly with smoking and sugar. It was said that he had been trying to quit smoking recently, but it seemed he was about to fail.

As for Banjeet and Annan, neither of them specialized in the Mental Sect, and they didn’t have a habit of smoking. Their ability to recover from withdrawal symptoms immediately could only mean they had prepared in advance.

Walking down the corridor to the elevator shaft, Igor saw several Senhaeser clansmen lying quietly on the side, their eyes vacant, their consciousnesses blank, like poor-quality toys whose springs had suddenly broken. Igor glanced at them and hurried by. Fortunately, there were no such still-breathing corpses inside the elevator.

However, Annan, Lise, and Ashe had remained silent until now, which made Igor’s heart sink-could Ashe have been overwhelmed by the craving attack?

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

“Death Artist: Ashe, run.”

The Con Artist frantically pressed the elevator buttons, canceling the descent to the 72nd floor where the gaming floor was located, and selected the 73rd floor instead. Harvey’s warning was definitely not without reason. Going to the gaming floor where Ashe was now would be walking into a trap. Igor queried the Gospel Book, “Show personnel activity within a 100-meter radius and display a 3D perspective map, real-time monitoring for 10 seconds.”

The Gospel Book transformed into a real-time monitoring map: “(Consumes 50 Gospel Points) Please see the map.”

On the map, there were many green dots representing living beings. Most of these green dots were neatly arranged, likely the Senhaeser clansmen lying in the gaming pods; in the open area near the windows, there was a group of green dots still moving, clearly the invaders who had come in after the white mist dispersed.

From the map, it could be seen that this group of green dots was confronting another trembling green dot, which was undoubtedly their beloved primitive man, who didn’t know to check the group chat in time.

“Bukin: Ashe was caught on the 72nd floor. I’m heading to the 73rd floor. Where are you all?”

“Death Artist: I’m going to the 71st floor.”

“Butler: I’ve already slid down the outer wall to the 72nd floor. There’s a group of Red Hats inside, eight in total. Among them are two three-winged sorcerers, ‘Weeping Sand Red Cap’ Cleos and ‘Deadshot Red Hat’ Leite. Ashe is beyond saving.”

Two Sanctuary sorcerers!?

Igor felt a chill down his spine—they couldn’t even handle one Sanctuary sorcerer, let alone two. Was it really necessary to deploy two Sanctuary-level sorcerers to capture a criminal as insignificant as Ashe? Such extravagant waste should be legislated against!

If Senhaeser were still functioning normally, due to the Pact restrictions, Qenna would definitely help them escape. Whether through official channels or violence, as a local powerhouse, Qenna could make these Red Hats pay dearly.

But now the white mist had dispersed, and the Senhaeser clan was nearly paralyzed. Qenna was out of the question! Igor even suspected that Qenna had become like the broken toys, only her Sanctuary-level strength made her a more advanced broken toy—broken sorcerer/patriarch/elf toy.

Let’s not forget, Igor and the others had only been in Vamora for a few days, but the withdrawal symptoms caused by the dispersal of the white mist quickly rendered them incapacitated, giving them at most one or two seconds of blackout protection time.

If we use cured meat as a standard, they were still not properly marinated as newcomers.

Those who had lived in Vamora for decades, thoroughly marinated from their body pores to the folds of their souls inside and out, were likely instantly ‘popped’—their fuses burnt out, causing a complete system shutdown without even a moment of blackout protection.

In other words, the fact that Vamora’s people didn’t immediately drop dead or explode, but merely blacked out and awaited a reboot, indicated that the Family Rebirth Dream had indeed preserved their original human essence, preventing them from degenerating into bizarre creatures entirely dependent on inhaling and exhaling white mist.

“Butler: Forget about Ashe. We’ve lost contact with Miss as well. We need to protect her first.”

“Bukin: No.”

“Butler: Do you have a way to rescue Ashe from the Red Hats?”

The elevator stopped at the 73rd floor, the storage level. Igor’s mind raced with countless thoughts, and he exhaled softly.

“Bukin: Yes. Harvey, can you create a distraction from below? We don’t need to cause harm, just a distraction.”

“Death Artist: If we’re targeting Sanctuary sorcerers, the distraction time can only be measured in breaths.”

“Bukin: That’s enough. Banjeet, stay on the outer wall. When you get my signal, storm the gaming floor and shoot up the Red Hats.”

“Butler: The enemy comprises Sanctuary sorcerers who far surpass us. Whatever we do, we stand no chance. Attacking the Red Hats will only get us captured too! With Miss’s situation uncertain, we should protect her first. Once she’s safe, she can figure out a way to rescue Ashe from the Red Hats!”

“Butler: Bukin, Harvey, we have no choice but to abandon Ashe for now.”