The Sorcerer's Handbook

As Ashe opened the book, he felt as if he had stepped into the role of its protagonist, living through the memories recorded within.

Interestingly, the book wasn’t about blacksmithing, not entirely, at least. Ashe had been expecting the steady rhythm of hammering and the sparks of molten metal, and the absence of that left him slightly disappointed.

The sorcerer who had left this record seemed to be a prodigy. He had created multiple sorcery classes and commanded the Mind Class with extraordinary skill. In the Virtual World, he could enslave Knowledge Creatures and infuse them with Miracles from other sorcery classes, such as Hormonal Frenzy from the Biology Class and Steel Scales from the Alchemy Class. Then, mounting these empowered creatures, he would sweep across the Continent of Time with unstoppable force.

Yet even among Two-Winged sorcerers, a super-genius like him was not necessarily unique. Ashe recalled that the Blood Moon Kingdom alone held hundreds of millions of people, the Gospel Kingdom many more, and countless other nations accounted for the rest. Among billions, thousands, or even tens of thousands of super-geniuses were inevitable. Sorcerers capable of dominating the Virtual World? There were likely thousands like him.

The thought tempered Ashe’s slight disdain. His unique handbook, maps, and auto-vehicles had always made him feel untouchable. Yet reality had a way of reminding him that even without hacks or tools, a genius could craft mounts surpassing the current world, dominate the Virtual World, and plunder mana at will.

As the saying went, ”All beings in the harsh world struggle for their freedom.”

That was the law of the Virtual World. Some relied on hacks, some on talent, while others relied on luck. Everyone had a chance to forge their own bright future.

The book detailed how this genius sorcerer had enslaved and modified Knowledge Creatures. A Mind or Alchemy Class specialist might have learned much from it. Ashe, however, had inherited his Mind Class entirely from the Swordswoman. He could understand each individual point in the book, but connecting them into a cohesive whole felt like sitting through an advanced calculus lecture, which was completely beyond him.

Even so, as he casually flipped through the pages, Ashe quickly felt the reward of the book.

All of his Sword Class spirits appeared. A golden hammer materialized above the book and struck heavily at each spirit.

[Clang! The Thrust spirit advanced to Two-Winged.]

[Clang! The Cut spirit advanced to Two-Winged.]

[Clang! The Swordheart spirit advanced to Two-Winged.]

In an instant, all of Ashe’s Sword Class spirits advanced to Two-Winged. This was his reward for reading the book, a reward tied directly to the Miracle described within.

The book had mentioned a Miracle the genius sorcerer once performed, known as Forged Wings of the Blade. The genius often enslaved melee-type Knowledge Creatures, such as the Fish-Slaying Dragon, the Violent Slashing Dragon, and the Canopy Dragon. Many of these creatures carried Sword Class spirits. To make them stronger, he had devised a method to forcibly elevate their One-Winged spirits to Two-Winged.

It might seem like cheating, but that was exactly what defined a genius. And that was how Forged Wings of the Blade came to be. Under its effect, any target’s Sword Class spirits could be elevated to Two-Winged.

However, the boost wasn’t permanent. It required the sorcerer to continuously expend mana. Without it, the temporarily enhanced spirits would revert to One-Winged. The mastery threshold was impossibly high. A non-Alchemy sorcerer could never learn it, and for an ordinary Alchemy sorcerer, studying the Sword Class was simply impractical. In other words, the Miracle was only truly useful in the hands of the genius.

As a reward, though, it was different. Now, all of Ashe’s Sword Class spirits had reached Two-Winged, and this wasn’t the sorcerer’s Miracle. The Legendary Library had triggered the enhancement itself.

In other words, the Virtual World had fully sanctioned the upgrade.

This meant that even if Forged Wings of the Blade had originally been a Miracle offering only a temporary boost, the enhancement became permanent once the Legendary Library triggered it.

There might be hidden drawbacks, such as the three Sword Class spirits not being able to advance to Three-Winged, but Ashe simply didn’t care. Putting aside whether he could reach Three-Winged himself, even if he did, he could always swap in other Three-Winged Sword Class spirits to adjust his tactics. There was no need to cling to these particular spirits. They weren’t heirlooms.

Many sorcerers obsessed over evolving their favorite spirits, but as a mud-born sorcerer, Ashe had no attachment to notions such as ”swordsmanship,” ”beliefs,” or ”spirits I’ve trained for years.” If a more useful spirit appeared, Ashe wouldn’t hesitate to replace even his first-acquired spirit, the Substitute.

Operatives are my limbs, while spirits are my clothing. That was Ashe’s principle.

He had expected the Cut and Thrust spirits to advance, but he hadn’t anticipated Swordheart gaining its second wing as well. Swordheart was a rare and practical spirit, the one the Swordswoman had always wanted him to upgrade. Ashe had also been reluctant to give up such a versatile offense-type spirit. Unfortunately, his skill in Sword Class was insufficient, leaving him no choice but to feed it Sword Class materials to strengthen it gradually.

With Swordheart fully advanced to Two-Winged, Ashe no longer needed to compete with the Swordswoman for materials. His attack had grown strong enough to go beyond superficial damage and truly break through an enemy’s defenses.

Hmph! Just wait, Swordswoman. When you log in tomorrow, you’re in for a big surprise.

Extremely satisfied with his gain, Ashe returned the book to the shelf. The next step was leaving a part of his memory behind.

He knew exactly which memories to record. His memories from a previous life were treasures and secrets he would never reveal, so they were off-limits. From this life, only the jailbreak episode could be linked with the word ”legendary.”

Ashe placed his finger on an empty spot on the shelf and delved into his memories. In the space he touched, a new book slowly began to take shape.

***

Meanwhile, on the first floor of the Legendary Library, a red-haired woman draped in black veils pressed her finger against a shelf. Her body was like fragile, fleeting ash, burning lightly as if it could dissolve into smoke at any moment.

Threads of memory twisted and wove together, forming a new book. The instant it fully materialized, bloodcurdling screams erupted, echoing through the floor. Shelves wept dark red blood, and the floor softened into rotting mud, slowly swallowing the intruders inch by inch.

When she pulled the book from the shelf, all the abnormal phenomena vanished.

She smiled and said, ”Hmph, just as I expected. The guide might have said to read the book first and record your memories afterward, but in practice, the order doesn’t really matter.

”You can record your memories first, then read the book, including... the very memories you just left behind.”

She opened the book. ”Sonya, I hope you enjoy this gift.”