The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 178: Useless Ashe

[Black-White Witch]

Species

- Human Female

Age

- 19

Bond Level

- 0, EXP Share 30%

Class

- Daughter of the Tower

Class Trait

- Learning efficiency +15% while in the tower

Innate Ability

- Witch (Intermediate), Gain 150% extra time-based experience, with a small chance to gain 10,000% time-based experience. More likely to earn the favor of the Bronze Dragon (talent level unlocks after power increase).

Personal Skill

- Personality Fracture: The Black-White Witch can actively adjust her personality to adapt to different environments, even switching specific combat personas against different enemies. Insight +10, weak-point judgment +10, critical rate increases as battle time progresses.”

Silver Blessing · Witch’s Taboo

- Secret grants you power, and concealment is your weapon. The fewer people in reality who know your true self, the stronger you become in the Virtual World. Current concealment: 93% (unknown to anyone), granting +93% mana recovery rate. (Excludes the Watcher’s observations.)”

Owned Items

- None

Controlled Spirits

- Mask; Water Therapy; Claws...

Mind Class

- Silver

Fist and Claw Class

- Gold

Time Class

- Silver

Water Class

- Silver

Training Strategy

- Not set

Ashe fell into thought.

A Gold Rank class, plus a Silver Blessing. This is an actual Two-Winged operator.

Could it be that, since I’m a Two-Winged sorcerer myself, the new operator I pulled is also Two-Winged? Or is the gacha completely random, and I might even get a Four-Winged operator if I’m lucky?

The Black-White Witch came with a Water Therapy spirit and was ranked Silver in Water Class, meaning she could function as a semi-healer. She also specialized in the Fist and Claw Class and had trained in the Time Class. While impressive on paper, Ashe couldn’t immediately determine her exact role. He would need to team up with her in the Virtual World first to assign her tactical position properly.

Of course, if the Black-White Witch could stop time, Ashe’s tactical position would basically consist of clinging to her like a tagalong.

Glancing at her character illustration, Ashe noted her black-and-white checkerboard dress, with one leg clad in white stockings and the other in black. Heh... Maybe the Swordswoman could learn a thing or two from this.

Despite feeling a little reluctant, Ashe checked his newly acquired costumes and was actually pleasantly surprised.

[Swimsuit · Watcher: Grants +10% bonus from Water Class (Virtual World only; wearing the same style of outfit in the real world also grants the bonus).]

[Doomsday Afternoon · Watcher: +3% attack when not injured.]

The costumes actually boost stats! Not by much, but it’s still better than nothing.

Ashe would have loved to give the swimsuit to the Swordswoman, but swapping wasn’t allowed.

The swimsuit provided more bonuses, but Ashe still chose the Doomsday Afternoon outfit instead. The swimsuit was far too embarrassing. After years of the company’s relentless exploitation, he still had a shred of pride left, and he wasn’t about to waste it here.

Since the bonus could be triggered in reality by crafting the same clothing, the swimsuit could never become his normal attire. Ashe wasn’t willing to take on the negative ”everyone will probably think you’re a pervert” debuff just for a minor boost. Compared to the swimsuit, Doomsday Afternoon was far more ordinary. It appeared as a simple dark-red gradient coat, which was easy enough to accept.

Ashe grabbed a bottle of Pure Radiance Tonic for himself and the Swordswoman. He drank while looking at the illustration of the Doomsday Watcher. Meanwhile, the illustration of the Death Maniac Swordswoman showed a ”zzz” sleep icon, indicating she was in the middle of her sleep and couldn’t use the tonic until another five hours.

Finally, there was a special golden item he had never seen before.

[The Prince of Delight’s Twenty-Sided Die: Hand-carved by the Prince of Delight for amusement. Rolling this die during recreational activities grants gifts from the prince himself. Once the operator’s training strategy is set to Entertain, each completed recreational activity allows a roll of the twenty-sided die. Depending on the activity, the die result, and the operator’s mood, the operator may gain 0–200% spell joy experience (100% = one professional training session). Spell joy experience is not reduced by any penalty and only gains additional bonuses.]

Ashe quickly caught on. This item made the Entertain action he had never bothered to choose before actually worthwhile. Previously, Entertain only boosted operator mood, which had little practical meaning. Now, it could randomly grant large amounts of experience, allowing operators to grow even while playing and reducing the loss in experience gain during recreational activities. In short, the item was essentially...

Useless.

Ashe had no intention of assigning any operators to recreational activities, even with the item in hand.

After a quick calculation, he worked out that the Entertain action cost two Action Points and could yield up to 200% experience, whereas training cost only one Action Point and reliably delivered 100%. In other words, two training sessions always outperformed a single recreational activity.

As for the supposed mood boost from the Entertain action, the Swordswoman often grumbled, but under Ashe’s cutting-edge motivational chicken soup[1] guidance, she had gradually adapted to high-intensity training. People were surprisingly adaptable, and her initiative still had room to grow. Ashe knew this from experience. When he first started work, he had survived, and even thrived, on a punishing 9–9–7 schedule. Slacking off was his way of resting. Using his method, he had survived and even outperformed others, earning promotions and raises. Clearly, entertainment wasn’t necessary.

Suffer the hardships! Ashe leads! Operators grind, the player drives the Ferrari! Stack the bricks, the Watcher claims her prize! Come on, Swordswoman and Witch! Give it everything!

Still, the item’s name—The Prince of Delight—lingered in his mind. Pleasure Prince... isn’t that one of the Four Pillars’ incarnations?[2]

The thought passed quickly. It doesn’t matter if you are a Heavenly King or the Pleasure Prince; once you are in my hands, you are mine!

Turning to the Black-White Witch’s training strategy, Ashe paused. Tomorrow marked the end of the Swordswoman’s weekly training. After a moment’s thought, he decided to set the Black-White Witch’s schedule to align with the Swordswoman’s cycle, allowing weekly reports to be sent out simultaneously. It wasn’t exactly OCD, but syncing operator cycles felt satisfying... Well, maybe just a little OCD.

Then there was the Intermediate Trial Card. Its moderate experience gain was negligible for the two Two-Winged operators; what mattered more was the small bond increase. The Swordswoman already had a level 3 bond with him, while the Black-White Witch was at zero.

For the Swordswoman, the trial card was like going out for a casual meal and a stroll with Ashe. At most, it only helped maintain their current bond. For the Black-White Witch, however, it served as an icebreaker, a way for Ashe to introduce himself and for them to share a little about their backgrounds. It wouldn’t immediately raise her bond, but repeated interactions would gradually build familiarity. The cost-to-benefit ratio was excellent. Ashe chose to use the card on the Black-White Witch.

As soon as he closed the interface, Ashe felt as though a membrane in his mind ruptured. The drowsiness that had been teasing him surged with tyrannical force. Ashe collapsed into a heap, unconscious within seconds.

A little over thirty seconds later, the carriage door opened. A boy in a deep-blue butler uniform stepped in. He had long pale-blue hair that flowed beneath a gradient-blue cloak. Bright-eyed, with perfect teeth and a youthful pale face, he looked no older than thirteen or fourteen.

He flipped the sleeping Iger over, pressed a finger to his forehead with his left hand, and conjured a floating book with his right. Flipping through it, he announced.

”Second place on the Two-Winged Mind Class Rankings (Azura Division), fifth on the Azura Beauty Rankings. Name, Iger Perskin.”

A person outside chuckled. ”Ah~ so Mildred, the social butterfly, got pushed down? Perfect. One less person dragging down my standards. Tentatively a three-star character, then.”

The boy nodded and moved to Harvey.

”First place on the Two-Winged Necromancer Rankings (Azura Division). Name, Archibald Harvey.”

”First in a minor Necromancer Ranking? Well... at least it’s first. Tentatively three stars.”

Finally, he examined Ashe, pressing a finger to his forehead for an unusually long time.

A person outside whispered, ”What’s going on?”

”It seems... he doesn’t appear on any rankings.”

”No rankings at all? He’s a Two-Winged sorcerer, right? General, killer, creation, class... not even one of the marginal lists?”

”None.”

”Hmm... then he’s a zero-star useless character.”

1. Chicken soup guidance is a metaphorical way to describe motivational or inspirational advice. It comes from the expression ”chicken soup for the soul,” which refers to comforting, uplifting stories or words that encourage people emotionally. ☜

2. Referring to the Debauched Prince. ☜