Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 383: The Little Bat and the Bewitcher

Ashe thought Valcas had something to tell him, but instead, he was asked a question. However, Ashe indeed had many things he wanted to know: “Start from after you died?”

Valcas seemed to have no intention of keeping secrets and said calmly, “After being killed by the Titan Executioner, my soul left my body, drawn downward by gravity.”

“It was like sinking into the deep sea, drifting unconsciously. But there were layers of filters in the deep sea. When a soul flows into the filters, many impurities are sifted out, and only then can my soul continue to sink. After passing through six layers of filters, I arrived at the Time Continent, constantly tumbling and floating, without even a self-consciousness.”

“But 72 hours after death, a drop of blood in my soul began to erupt and spread, binding me while also awakening my consciousness.”

Valcas pulled open her black robe, revealing a blood lotus on her collarbone.

For some reason, this blood lotus didn’t feel like a tattoo to Ashe but seemed to bloom from inside her body, much like the livor mortis Harvey had introduced to him many times before.

“And then I became the commander of the Tomb Keepers of the Blood Tomb.”

Ashe blinked: “Wait, where did that drop of blood in your soul come from? Why would there be blood in a soul?”

“I don’t know, I only know that this drop of blood was likely implanted in Shattered Lake Prison. Or rather, all Redeemed who die in the Blood Moon Tribunal must have a Blood Seed in their souls.”

Valcas said, “After becoming a commander, I understood the mystery behind this. For us Blood Moon Death Row Inmates, the Blood Seed in our souls erupts after more than seventy-two hours of death. If we are found to have the commander talent, the Blood Seed directly activates our consciousness, making us Tomb Keeper commanders.”

She paused: “All Tomb Keepers are born this way.”

The selection mechanism for commanders!

Ashe immediately grasped the intention of the Blood Moon Sovereign-the Blood Moon Tribunal was not just a spectacle for public venting and a guillotine for deterring criminals; it was also the Blood Moon Sovereign’s interview site!

Actually, Ashe had previously discussed with the Sword Princess and others about how the Divine Sovereign selects the commanders they need. After all, two-wing sorcerers die every day, and it’s impossible for the Divine Sovereign to personally test each one. According to Ashe and their conjecture, the birth of a commander likely consumes certain resources and can’t be mass-produced. Otherwise, the Time Continent would already be as crowded as a subway transfer station with heroic soul commanders.

Therefore, the Divine Sovereign must establish an efficient selection mechanism to obtain a commander who can grow with as little time and investment as possible. At that time, Ashe and the others believed the most likely method for the Divine Sovereign was to use the Miracle of the Prophecy Sect to directly select sorcerer projections with commander potential.

It’s normal for sorcerers not to know the Prophecy Sect, but the Divine Sovereign surely would, right?

But whether it was because the Prophecy Sect was unavailable or because this method was found to be more effective, the Blood Moon Sovereign used an ingenious selection method—the Blood Moon Tribunal!

The threshold to enter the Blood Moon Tribunal was actually very high. Being sentenced to death by public vote as a Redeemed required more than just killing a few people; one had to stand against the vast majority, like Ashe, an infamous Cult Leader, or Fenanshe, a high-ranking conspirator. Such people were the most likely to possess commander potential.

By planting a Blood Seed in them during the Blood Moon Tribunal, they would automatically awaken as commanders in the Virtual Realm after they died.

The entire process didn’t require the Blood Moon Sovereign to exert much effort. The reserve commanders would continuously become part of the talent pool for the Blood Tomb. Ashe wasn’t sure if the Blood Moon Tribunal was established to select commanders or if it was discovered after its establishment that it was the best talent market. Regardless, in the Blood Moon Kingdom’s industrialized system, death became a part of production.

The dead must serve the living, not the other way around… No wonder Harvey both loved and hated the Blood Moon, the necromancer’s sanctuary!

“So, after becoming a Tomb Keeper, do you still have your memories?”

“Yes,” Valcas nodded. “But I am left with only memories; Hell has washed away all my emotions.”

“What does that feel like?” Ashe was very curious. After all, no living person isn’t curious about death.

“My memories are like books,” Valcas said. “They are written in the first person, telling various stories. Although I can read these stories anytime, they are just stories to me. I’ve never stepped inside them.”

“Anger, joy, sorrow, emotion… these words can’t touch my soul. My soul is empty,” she pointed to her chest. “I have no heartbeat, and I can’t comprehend anything from my memories. But ironically, our consciousness is born from these memories. Therefore, our only desire as commanders is to accumulate merit and ask the Divine Sovereign to retrieve our soul fragments from Hell so that we can regain our heartbeat.”

“With each soul fragment, I understand a little more of my memories. When I gather all the soul fragments…”

Ashe interjected, “You will be resurrected?”

“I don’t know,” Valcas shook her head. “And I don’t care. Besides wanting to understand my memories, we have no other desires.”

Ashe exhaled deeply. Even he found it hard to resist the temptation of ‘resurrection.’ Though the path was fraught with difficulties, at least there was a glimmer of hope.

He even wondered if he should try to achieve something significant in reality. Perhaps, even if he died, he might be reborn as a commander and make waves again on the Time Continent.

However, from reality to the Virtual Realm, from survival to death, Ashe realized they had never left the Divine Sovereign’s control. Even though he had never heard any teachings about the Divine Sovereign, he vaguely understood the different ideologies of various Divine Sovereigns. Blood Moon’s ‘selfishness’ and Gospel’s ‘listening’ subtly influenced society from all aspects, spawning different social waves.

The Divine Sovereign’s strength was not reflected in the deterrence of power but in the implementation of will. Whether sorcerers were foolish or wise, rebellious or loyal, they would ultimately unconsciously enforce the Divine Sovereign’s will, becoming forces that drive societal change.

“Here.”

Ashe looked up and hurriedly caught the spirit and the map.

“Valcas’s hand-drawn map”

“Soul Summoning Spirit”

Ashe opened the virtual realm map, and the system immediately popped up a notification: “Map information has been updated.”

However, compared to Demilo’s detailed Star Shrine map, which covered one-sixth of the area, Valcas’s map was much more modest, only documenting one-twelfth of the Time Continent. This might be because she had just started her position and hadn’t yet familiarized herself with the terrain of the Blood Tomb.

The most noticeable feature of the new map was the three main cities of the Blood Tomb. Ashe noticed that the Blood Tomb had one fewer main city than the Star Shrine and asked why. Valcas explained, “The Star Shrine was the victor in the last Great Appointment of the Six Nations, so it has the most main cities. Unless something unexpected happens, the Star Shrine will likely become the primary target of the five major forces this time.”

“What is the Great Appointment of the Six Nations?”

“It’s a massive war that occurs every fifty years. I don’t know the reason for the war; I only know that it inevitably happens. A large amount of soul power, followers, and even commanders will perish in this war until the final victor is determined.”

Fifty years… hearing this familiar time interval, Ashe’s heart skipped a beat. “How long until the next Great Appointment of the Six Nations?”

“Very soon,” Valcas said. “If calculated in real-world time, there are about seventy days left.”

First Layer of the Virtual Realm, Sea of Knowledge.

A small bat flitted through the white mist, suddenly sensing something and flying straight towards an area ahead. Soon, an island appeared before her, with an orc gun sorcerer on it.

As the bat transformed into a human and landed, the orc sorcerer immediately armed his heavy sniper, attempting to blast the intruder with heavy firepower. However, the newcomer merely raised her hand lightly, and the orc sorcerer became completely paralyzed. Blooms of blood flowers appeared on his body, but they did not break through the skin, looking both bright and grotesque.

Pop.

The sound was like a pustule bursting, and the orc sorcerer exploded into a firework, dissipating and leaving behind a spirit and a Sorcerer’s Handbook.

“Does the necromantic Miracle have to be so disgusting…?”

Even though it wasn’t her first time, Sivirin still found it hard to accept this scene. Although she was also a member of the Blood Saint clan, her primary focus on the Blood Spell Sect made it difficult for her to understand necromancers’ fascination with livor mortis.

Just now, Sivirin had used a single spirit to instantly kill the orc sorcerer projection. This spirit, known as the “Flower of Death,” was a benefit that every member of the Blood Saint clan received.

The “Flower of Death” has a single effect: it activates the soul blood seed within a ten-meter radius. Once activated, the seed kills the host, allowing the Blood Moon sorcerer to achieve victory effortlessly.

The creators of the soul blood seed are none other than the Blood Saints themselves. In fact, the so-called soul blood seed is a byproduct of the Blood Embrace Ritual performed by the Blood Saints.

During the Blood Embrace Ritual, Blood Saints disguise themselves as Healers and infiltrate prisons, embedding their soul blood into chosen Death Row Inmates. When the inmate dies during the Blood Moon Tribunal, their spellforce is completely absorbed by the soul blood. The Blood Saints then retrieve the soul blood, converting it into nourishment for their source blood.

Because the Blood Saints’ souls and blood are intertwined, the soul blood also invades the inmate’s soul. While alive, the inmate’s robust soul can resist the infiltration of the soul blood. However, during the Blood Moon Tribunal, the soul blood is immensely strengthened, and the inmate’s soul stagnates at the moment of death. This allows the soul blood to burrow into the inmate’s soul like a centipede, rapidly growing until it becomes a “blood seed.”

Even in the Virtual Realm, Blood Saint sorcerers can detect the scent of the blood seed within a hundred-meter radius. By using the Flower of Death spirit, they can easily eliminate sorcerer projections harboring blood seeds.

Although these sorcerer projections are merely a drop in the ocean within the Virtual Realm, the Blood Saint sorcerers’ rapid flight, combined with the accumulation of blood seeds over years of Blood Moon Tribunals, means that Sivirin has encountered three or four such cases so far. This is considered a unique benefit for the Blood Saints.

Alive, you are society’s fuel and our material; dead, you are the Virtual Realm’s fertilizer and our nourishment.

Despite living under the Blood Moon for many years, Sivirin still finds it hard to accept this worldview: everything has a price, all items should be recycled, and the additional values of emotions, memories, and meanings are not recognized. Extracting the last bit of value from life is seen as the highest respect for it… This extreme pursuit of maximum profit leaves Sivirin, who enjoys travel, photography, and cardistry, feeling exhausted.

“Ashe is living in another Kingdom now… I wonder what kind of Kingdom it is. What races live there? What are its unique features? Do they still have archaic practices like bloodline heritage? Does their Divine Sovereign care for the people?” As Sivirin pondered these questions while collecting her spoils, she transformed back into a small bat and continued her exploration of the Virtual Realm.

Glug.

The small bat hovered in mid-air, detecting the strange sound of a whirlpool in the nearby waters through her echolocation.

A whirlpool?

Sivirin’s silver wings had long been ready, awaiting the Blood Spell Sect’s promotion to the Golden level for her two-wings advancement. She had been in the Sea of Knowledge for several months but had never encountered a whirlpool, so she decided to investigate.

Just as the small bat was about to fly into the whirlpool, a small boat emerged from it, leaving her no time to dodge. She collided directly with someone on the boat!

“Oh? I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?”

The small bat fluttered her wings, realizing she had been caught in the embrace of a Bewitcher sorcerer.