Sorcerer’s Handbook

"You're coming?"

Sonya was a bit puzzled, looking at Ashe with doubt in her eyes.

In a sorcerer's growth journey, exploring the virtual world was undoubtedly an important part of it, and could even be said to be the most important part.

The vast majority of adventures, breakthroughs, and promotions in this world happened in the virtual world. Many sorcerers would not hesitate to devote their entire lives to exploring it.

Compared to the virtual world, reality was merely a stage for sorcerers to show off during their leisure time.

Although the virtual world was so important, there was no exploratory guide that could be followed to this day.

Maybe there was one, but Sonya didn't have the status to access it yet.

During her afternoon class, Sonya had specifically asked Professor Trotzam if he had any tips for the virtual world, but Trotzam just shrugged and said he didn't have any.

"The reason why sorcerers have equal status is precisely because we are all equally ignorant in the virtual world."

Sonya knew that Professor Trotzam valued her, and she could also see that the professor was a typical swordsman who disdained lying to weaklings like her.

Since even the Three Wings Holy Domain sorcerers didn't have an effective guide, Sonya didn't have much expectation for the Observer.

"There are dangers in the virtual world," Sonya reminded: "If I die here, it will take three days to recuperate my spirit when I go back."

Sorcerers could die in the virtual world.

The most common way to die was, of course, drowning.

When sorcerers wanted to explore the deep sea, or stayed still in the sea, they might get swallowed by the sea of knowledge.

That was why Sonya was so surprised by the small boat - it meant they were free from the risk of drowning.

After a sorcerer dies in the virtual world, it would cause tremendous damage to the soul. The more powerful the sorcerer was, the more severe the damage, and the longer the recovery would take.

For a newbie sorcerer like Sonya, only three days of recuperation would be needed. But for official silver-rank sorcerers, at least fifteen days would be needed. For gold-rank sorcerers, it would be counted in months. It was said that the recuperation time for Holy Domain sorcerers and legendary sorcerers would even be counted in years.

Being unable to explore the virtual world meant a 90% reduction in one's growth speed. Therefore, sorcerers held various views on virtual world exploration: some were conservative, trying to grow steadily; some liked taking risks, either hitting jackpot and living lavishly, or losing it all and becoming a host club worker.

Previously, Sonya tended to take risks, because she had nothing. But now she leaned towards prudence - after discovering her talent in swordsmanship, Professor Trotzam evaluated her as "no problem reaching gold-rank in twenty years, with hope for Holy Domain in forty years".

In the Starchild Realm, a gold-rank sorcerer with two wings was also quite a figure, easily mixing into the petty nobility, which was Sonya's life goal.

If she could be promoted to the three-winged Holy Domain, she could even establish her family clan and make a name for herself.

Therefore, Sonya's petty bourgeois mentality was very normal. She knew she had even better prospects, but the awkward reality forced her to just want to grasp what she currently had.

The world was beautiful and worth striving for, she could only agree with the second half of the saying.

But even if she was more conservative, Sonya still had to explore the virtual world, there was no "staying in place" option. Countless school teachers, even Professor Trotzam, had specifically reminded her - never stay in the same place for too long.

No one knew what would happen if one stayed in the same place for a long time, but those who entered the virtual world and stopped moving soon lost their heartbeat in reality, and even healing mages couldn't save them, because their souls weren't in their bodies at all.

Therefore, there was a saying that if you stopped moving in the virtual world, your body would think you were already dead and just drop dead on the spot.

"I heard that for the first time entering the virtual world, walking towards the shallowest fog is the safest," said Sonya.

This could barely be called a guide, at most just a small tip summarized by senior sorcerer alumni of Swordflower College. And the success rate was less than 60%, the other 40% of survey participants encountered danger.

But in this completely unknown ocean, a 60% chance was worth gambling on.

"No, we're going there," Ashe pointed to the place with the thickest fog, where the view was completely obscured, just looking at it brought a hint of fear. Sonya was about to say something more, but the small boat automatically sailed towards it. She immediately shifted her attention: "You can control this boat? You brought this boat?"

"Yeah."

"Then you tricked me into jumping into the sea just now!?"

Seeing Sonya gripping her wooden sword again, Ashe quickly explained: "I just discovered I could control the boat, I really meant it when I told you to jump into the sea earlier!"

"You really meant to see me make a fool of myself?"

"I really meant to see you wet...hey hey calm down, we've entered unknown territory, danger could pop up any time!"

The white fog rushed up, the unknown could emerge at any moment, so Sonya could only sit back down indignantly.

But as they passed through layers of fog, Sonya felt something flowing into her body, her consciousness becoming clearer and clearer, her skin taking on a silvery glow, and a large amount of swordfighting knowledge suddenly surfaced in her mind.

This was why sorcerers had to explore the virtual world - as long as they moved within it, they would automatically obtain the knowledge inside, and condense their own knowledge into silver arcane power!

When large amounts of silver arcane power precipitated and coagulated, it could form the embodiment of a virtual wing sorcerer's power: the Silver Wings!

Sonya suddenly understood why sorcerers all liked immersing themselves in the virtual world.

This feeling of gaining knowledge every second, becoming stronger every moment, was as comfortable as the first lazy morning stretch.

While Sonya enjoyed the thrill brought by knowledge, Ashe was staring at the map in the light screen like a slacking student causing mischief in class.

In the center of the map was a small boat, surrounded by eight grids. Currently the small boat was entering the top left grid.

That's right, this was the "Virtual World Exploration" mode provided by the game. When Ashe moved the small boat in the game, the boat in the virtual world would move along.

Apart from moving, Ashe could also check the information of these eight grids:

"Waste of effort", "Seeking death", "Waste of effort", "Waste of effort", "Waste of effort", "Worth a visit", "Bit of trouble", "Best not go".

Among the eight tips, "Waste of effort" clearly meant there was nothing in the grid, "Seeking death" was dangerous, Ashe couldn't guess what "Best not go" meant, while "Worth a visit" was clearly a hint given by the game.

Soon, after passing through layers of fog, a small island shrouded in thick fog appeared before the two.

Seeing this scene, Sonya suddenly recalled that the place where the Observer had put her through the dream ordeal was exactly the same as the virtual world.

No wonder the Observer was so confident, he could even use the virtual world for trials, exploring the virtual world must be a piece of cake for him!

The boat slowly came to a stop. The moment the two stepped onto the small island, the thick fog suddenly dispersed, and a hunter wearing a wide-brimmed hat and holding a long gun appeared before them.

"Beyond seven steps, the gun is fast."

The hunter raised his gun and aimed at the two: "Within seven steps, the gun is both accurate and fast!"