Sorcerer’s Handbook
Chapter 648: No Escape

“So what you’re saying is, we’re actually close partners participating in the Inheritance Trial, but because of the Miracle ‘Rejuvenating Return,’ we’ve turned into children and temporarily lost our other memories?”

Thud!

Little Sword Princess delivered a swift uppercut to Ash’s stomach, and as he doubled over, she expertly hammered his back with her fists, knocking him flat. Once again, she sat triumphantly atop him-she really loved pinning people down during a fight.

“This is just like the plot from ‘Virtual Realm Rules Horror Story.’ You think I haven’t seen it? Still trying to fool me! Still trying to fool me! Dare you try to fool me again?!”

Ash was utterly defeated-how could the screenwriters from Stars Kingdom have such wild imaginations that they even stumbled upon this trope?

Kids should spend more time outside playing, instead of staying home watching TV dramas!

Little Witch led Little Weiser over, with the latter still rubbing her eyes and sniffling.

She held Sword Princess back, advising, “Don’t rush. He seems to be the only one who knows what’s going on, while we know nothing. Do you remember what you were doing before you came here?”

“I…” Little Sword Princess clutched her small head, thinking hard for a while, but eventually shook her head, cautiously saying to Little Witch, “I can’t remember, but I should’ve been in town… I’ve never left the town.”

Little Witch squatted beside Ash, looking down at him, “He should know something, but he might be deceiving us.”

“Why would I deceive you?” Ash couldn’t believe he couldn’t even gain the trust of the Witch, “Do I look like someone who lies?”

“You do!” Little Witch pinched Ash’s cheek, “In fairy tales, boys as handsome as you are usually the villains!”

“…” Ash: “Isn’t it usually the pretty girls who are the villains?”

“Pretty girls can be wicked sorceresses or kind princesses, but handsome boys are either evil princes coveting the princess’s beauty or scheming evil sorcerers!”

“Wait, in the fairy tales you read, what identity do the good protagonists usually have?”

“Princesses and the loyal knights who protect them.”

“Can’t knights be handsome?”

“Knights should be scarred, resolute, brave, and strong!” Little Witch tugged at Ash’s face, “With you looking so vain and being pinned down by a girl, you definitely aren’t a knight!”

Ash never imagined that the Witch’s childhood aesthetic would be so macho, nor did he expect that his inability to fit her aesthetic after shrinking would prevent him from gaining her trust!

He was momentarily at a loss with these three little rascals, “I’m the only one who knows the truth, but none of you are willing to believe me, so whatever I say is useless.”

Little Sword Princess raised her fist, threatening Ash fiercely, “If I beat you up a few more times, you definitely won’t dare lie again!”

“Let’s not hit him yet,” Little Witch said, “Even though he doesn’t look like a good person, he might be our companion, perhaps a follower, or maybe an evil sorcerer we’ve hired. For a great cause, good people might cooperate with bad ones.”

Little Sword Princess found it quite reasonable and looked at Little Witch with admiration, “You’re amazing! By the way, what are your names?”

“I,” Little Weiser sniffed back her snot bubble and timidly raised her hand, “I’m Yolan Vesser.”

“Wait a minute,” Little Witch suddenly interrupted, “We’ve come to such a strange place, it’s best not to reveal our real names.”

“Oh!” Little Sword Princess immediately felt a bit uneasy, “Sorry, I didn’t think of that… But he said he knows us, so he must know our names too.” She poked Ash’s cheek.

“Right,” Little Witch turned to Ash, “You said you know us, so tell us, what are our names?”

Ash blinked and said, “Actually, we only use code names to refer to each other, never our real names. I’m called Observer, you’re Witch, and she’s Sword Princess.”

“What about her?” Little Witch pulled Little Weiser closer.

“Her… her code name is Yolan Vesser,” Ash suddenly realized something was off and emphasized, “She’s the only one among us who uses her real name, really!”

However, the skeptical looks in Little Sword Princess and Little Witch’s eyes were evident-Little Weiser had just voluntarily revealed her name, so her code name is her real name? And for those of us who haven’t said our real names, you only know our code names?

This is too much of a coincidence, even a six-year-old can see there’s something fishy!

Seeing Little Sword Princess about to resort to violence again, Little Witch quickly stopped her and asked Ash, “Regardless of whether we’re companions or not, what should we do to leave here?”

“Draw,” Ash pointed to the walls, “You just need to approach those whiteboards, and the spirit will tell you what to draw. Once you create those images, we can clear the level and leave.”

Little Witch pondered for a few seconds, gestured for Little Sword Princess to keep Ash subdued, then approached a wall and returned with a look of amazement, “There’s indeed a spirit telling me what to draw, and we don’t need brushes; we can use our fingers.”

“Anyway, it shouldn’t hurt to follow along, so let’s trust him for now.”

Faced with Little Witch’s instructions, not only did Little Sword Princess have no objections, but even Little Weiser wiped her tears and nodded timidly like a chick pecking at rice.

If Ash hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed that the usually lazy and adorable Witch could possess such outstanding leadership and charisma, while the calm and knowledgeable Vesser had turned into a crying echo, and the socially adept Sword Princess reverted to childhood, becoming so sensitive that she only used violence to protect herself.

At this moment, Ash finally realized the terrifying nature of the 35th challenge.

Unlike the Amnesia Cabin, where everyone lost their memories but retained adult thinking, allowing for calm discussion and cooperation driven by survival instincts, Rejuvenating Return was different. They not only lost their memories but their thinking abilities reverted to childhood!

If a sorcerer was a timid crybaby as a child, or too scared to explore the environment, in this state, they wouldn’t be able to calmly face the challenge and might even forget they have the specter key to escape the Inheritance!

This level probably has a time limit, and Ash doesn’t believe that the Evil Sorcerer known as the Specter Seer would be kind enough to simply kick out unqualified challengers. It’s likely similar to the Soul’s Obsession in level 34, where challengers who exceed the time limit face continuous soul erosion. If they don’t wake up before their souls are completely eroded, then they might as well be dead.

Ash can fully understand the Specter Seer’s mindset: leaving behind this Inheritance means he has already fallen. Since he himself is dead, why would he care about the life or death of future sorcerers? Not only wouldn’t he care, he might even wish to kill more people!

Over a long time scale, the relationship between sorcerers is “cooperative development,” because all sorcerers’ achievements and explorations accumulate into the knowledge Inheritance of the Virtual Realm. The higher the sorcerers’ power and the greater their numbers, the better the sorcerer world develops.

But over a century-long time scale, the relationship between sorcerers is undoubtedly “competitive interests!” The higher the power, the more competitive it becomes!

Take the Senlo wasteland, for example. Before the emergence of the Four Pillars Cult, the wasteland’s three strongest cults were those with legendary sorcerers! If the wasteland had only one legendary sorcerer, his cult could easily flatten half of Senlo!

Even though the Virtual Realm is important, sorcerers ultimately have to compete in reality!

Moreover, through the feeding issues of the three-winged spirit, Ash vaguely realizes that to support a four-winged spirit, a legendary sorcerer might indeed need to rely on organizational power to achieve it.

Interestingly, the Lake Handbook, Time Handbook, and Specter Handbook all mention that feeding spirits was quite troublesome back then. Different spirits required different food materials, and if the corresponding food wasn’t found, the spirit could starve to death. However, feeding in this manner allowed for longer intervals between feedings, not requiring daily nourishment.

The Round Cicada is a prime example; it only needs to drink the Golden Flow Water produced by all things in the world, requiring no additional feeding.

Modern sorcerers generally feed spirits with gold and silver coins, which, while simple and convenient, require almost daily feeding. Moreover, three-winged and four-winged spirits have an extremely high demand for gold coins, truly living up to their name as gold-devouring beasts.

Clearly, in the era of the three Angels, spirits couldn’t be fed with gold and silver, nor did they view gold and silver as wealth. Previously, Ash might have just brushed past this notion, but knowing about the Blank Concept, he couldn’t help but wonder-could there be a Blank Concept engraved with the idea that “spirits can be fed with gold and silver”?

Regardless of ancient or modern times, legendary sorcerers inevitably need organizational power to gather resources to support spirits, and involving organizational power inevitably concerns the distribution of power!

If the Specter Seer kills more sanctuary sorcerers in the Inheritance, his successor will face less difficulty in reality; if he kills a genius in the Inheritance, his successor will face less challenge in the future!

Even the reward “specter key” that inevitably appears in level 20 might be a trap. If a sorcerer believes they can exit the Inheritance at any time with the specter key, they might boldly challenge the levels, only to meet a sudden demise in Soul’s Obsession and Rejuvenating Return!

It’s more likely that he simply doesn’t want the younger sorcerers to have an easy time, aiming to trap and eliminate sanctuary sorcerers whenever possible!

The Inheritance only showcases the Specter Seer’s deep research into the Soul Sect, but this cunning strategy of taking before giving truly befits his title as a seer!

Little Sword Princess climbed off him, and once Ash stood up, she suddenly reached out towards his face. Ash instinctively leaned back, thinking the little tigress was about to throw another tantrum.

However, Little Sword Princess merely placed her hand on his face and asked, “You’re not lying to us, are you?”

“Of course not,” Ash replied with a smile. “Because you’re so smart, you’d catch me if I lied. I wouldn’t dare lie to you.”

Little Sword Princess lowered her head in silence for a moment, then gently touched his face and leaned in to blow on his cheek.

“Pain, pain, go away~”

Then she stood with her hands on her hips, proudly puffed out her little chest, her cheeks flushed, and huffed, “If I find out you’re playing tricks on me, I’ll catch you and then…”

“I’ll end up being pinned down and beaten by you,” Ash surrendered with raised hands. “Don’t worry, I won’t escape.”

Ash turned to start working on his ‘masterpiece,’ when his sleeve was tugged.

“What’s up?”

Little Sword Princess held onto his sleeve, her lips moved slightly, her expression extremely uneasy, and she whispered a few words. Ash didn’t catch them, so he leaned closer and asked, “What did you say?”

“I can’t…” Little Sword Princess glanced at Little Witch and Little Weiser, and whispered like a mosquito, “I can’t draw.”

Ash understood. “Why don’t you ask them to teach you?”

“They…” Little Sword Princess grumbled, “They seem…”

She didn’t finish her sentence and instead put on a fierce front, demanding, “Are you going to teach me or not?”

Ash thought for a moment. “I can teach you, but you need to ask me properly, with the right attitude.”

Despite being pummeled by Little Sword Princess earlier, Ash wasn’t one to hold grudges. He made this request to temper her spirit a bit, making it easier to teach her drawing later. To get a child to learn properly, you first need to establish authority so they listen, a teaching tactic Ash had used with his little nephew.

However, Little Sword Princess’s expression turned very sour, and she tossed a remark over her shoulder as she walked away, “If you won’t teach, forget it!”

She didn’t seek help from anyone else and went straight to her own whiteboard. She raised her finger, stared at the board for a long time, but still didn’t dare to start drawing.

She sneaked a glance at Ash, saw he was still watching her, and quickly turned her head back, pretending nothing had happened.

It’s hard to imagine how this stubborn and sensitive little girl grew up to be such a social butterfly… Ash scratched his head, helplessly walking over.

It seems he really can’t escape.

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