Sorcerer’s Handbook

After completing a round of Spirit Exchange, the most thrilling moment of tallying the harvest arrived.

"Even though we fell asleep as soon as we entered the Celestium, however…" Ashe opened Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook, "the Virtual Realm didn't withhold our blessings."

"Death Maniac Sword Princess"

"Human – Female – 18 years old"

"Bond Level: 4 (75% Experience Sharing)"

"Silver Blessing – Carnival / Brutality: Each enemy defeated increases critical rate and critical damage. Different traits can be triggered based on the operator's training route."

"Golden Blessing – Luminous Star / Lunar Star: Each battle increases insight, willpower, and charisma. Different traits can be triggered based on the operator's training route."

"Rainbow Blessing – Serenity / Tumult: Each victory enhances the Sword Flash spellcasting technique."

"Additional Blessing Trait – Serenity: The sword Princess hopes to preserve her small happiness, live a quiet life, and become a cherished little girl. This route triggers the 'Serenity' effect, increasing the activation chance of Sword Flash. The calmer her daily life, the higher the enhancement, reaching up to a 100% activation chance (capable of rebounding any attack not exceeding her own limits)."

"Knowledge Curse: Vortex Secret Toxin, Expel Secret Toxin, Golden Fish Secret Toxin, Bronze Dragon Secret Toxin, Conceptual Secret Toxin, Rainbow Tail Secret Toxin, Faded Dream Secret Toxin."

As Ashe finished reading the sword Princess's new blessings, he looked up to find her already leaning over, her eyes wide as she watched him.

"What?"

"Waiting for you to tell me what my blessing effects are," Sonya said matter-of-factly. "After all, you understand my blessings better than I do."

Ashe blinked, feeling a bit hesitant, and asked, "Do you know about Sword Flash?"

"Huh? How did you know I just mastered Sword Flash?" The stretching paw sword saint was a bit surprised. "It's a high-level technique that only a sword saint might master-relying solely on the sword and spellforce enhancement, it can break through any spirit miracle, and even rebound the miracle's power back into one's swordsmanship."

"I only recently managed to execute Sword Flash once successfully, and I'm still far from mastering it, unlike Professor Trozan, who can easily rebound some two-wing miracles… Your swordsmanship sect is nearing Sanctuary, right? I can teach you."

So that's how it is… Ashe glanced again at the sword Princess's Rainbow Blessing. Without a doubt, the serene path was far superior to the tumultuous path, as the former could achieve a 100% rebound, while the latter, despite being able to rebound divine intervention, had a probability issue.

More importantly, rebounding divine intervention implies being attacked by enemies above Demigod level. If one is already under attack by Demigod enemies, what good is rebounding a miracle once or twice?

Looking at the different paths, it's clear that the enhancements each one offers have their own significance. In the serene path, the Sword Princess is unlikely to encounter any trouble, and if she does, Sword Flash could easily handle it; in the tumultuous path, any trouble the Sword Princess faces would be a major issue, and if attacked by a Demigod, Sword Flash would allow her the leeway to figuratively flip the bird, allowing her optimism to be passed down through the Sorcerer's Handbook.

Ashe, both from a cost-effectiveness and personal preference standpoint, hopes the Sword Princess will choose the serene path. After all, she is now a legendary sorcerer, having reached the pinnacle of her life-something she couldn't even dream of entering the Sanctuary a few months ago. Now, instead of striving for further heights, her task is to maintain this advantage and truly enjoy life.

Frankly, even if the Sword Princess were to become a legendary freeloader from this point on, she would still be at the zenith of her life.

However, Ashe can't help but wonder, does the Sword Princess genuinely enjoy a tranquil and lavish lifestyle?

If this were asked a few months ago, the answer for both the Sword Princess and Ashe would be unequivocally clear.

But now, having ascended Ruby Mountain and inherited the Wishflux Celestium, and with various adventures under their belts, even Ashe, who considers retirement the ultimate goal, can't help but question if he should strive a bit more, just as one might think of buying more shares seeing their funds skyrocket.

Greed, after all, is a common human trait-particularly among sorcerers.

During a moment of deep meditation, Ashe finds the Sword Princess looking at him, puzzled.

For some reason, he suddenly blurts out, "Sword Princess, I'm sorry."

"Hmm?" Everyone-including the Foxling, still attuned to the mourning of the earth-immediately turns their gaze to Ashe.

Ashe is surprised by his own reaction but decides not to hide anymore: "I never truly told you about the blessings of silver, gold, and Rainbow…"

He confesses, revealing the content of the blessings related to each path, "I made a choice based on my own considerations, and looking back, I realize that wasn't quite right."

Vesser chimes in, "But Observer, you weren't trying to harm the Sword Princess; you were just helping her make a better choice-"

"It's still not right."

Surprisingly, Deya doesn't side with Ashe this time, stating earnestly, "Observer certainly didn't have bad intentions, but it should be the Sword Princess who decides, not just be presented with one path while hiding crucial information she deserved to know."

Deya had spent the first several years of her life in a state of naïve seclusion, imprisoned in a tower. Had she not accidentally heard the secret of Armored Sanctification and fostered a desire to escape, she would now be Queen Gosdeya.

Therefore, she is particularly sensitive to secrecy and utterly detests the notion of 'arranging someone else's life.' Even though Ashe is now being open and showing good intentions, she still harbors a slight resentment, which might take days to dissipate.

Meanwhile, the village girl, now contemplative, asks, "The brutality path and the Carnival path are quite similar, you only told me about the Carnival path because…"

"I didn't want to upset you," Ashe says. "I also prefer not to explore with companions who are in a bad mood."

"But the Lunar Star path is clearly stronger than the luminous star," Sonya interjects, "Why did you only tell me about the luminous star path? And for you, isn't the Lunar Star path more…"

"Ashe replied candidly, 'Because I thought it was better for you. You mentioned wanting to shine brightly, to be admired by everyone, to be loved by all… Compared to being a Lunar Star that revolves around others, becoming a luminous star clearly aligns more with your life goals.'

'For my own good,' Sonya narrowed her eyes slightly, 'so you decided for me?'

'I'm sorry,' Ashe admitted sincerely.

'But why aren't you making the decision for me this time, and why bring up the past?' Sonya questioned. 'If you hadn't said anything, I would never have known.'

Ashe was silent for a while before slowly saying, 'I don't know.'

'If I had to say, maybe it's because, subconsciously, I feel obligated to protect you.'

'Not just you, but the Witch and Vesser too. I can conjure a small boat in the Sea of Knowledge, drive a sports car on the Time Continent, summon the Dream Treasure House in the Distant Sky Domain, and I can gather you all together… I'm too important. Even if your combat abilities surpass mine, I still feel like I'm your guardian. I organize you, lead you, and I must protect you.'

'Choosing your blessing route was my way of protecting you.'

Vesser gazed at Ashe, sensing that the following words might be ones she didn't want to hear, but she asked anyway, 'So by confessing now, does that mean you've given up on this idea of protection?'

'Yes,' Ashe replied. 'In the Dreaming Celestium, when we couldn't communicate normally, were separated to perform different tasks, and faced imminent death threats… I played an important role in that adventure, but your contributions were no less significant than mine. I realized that in terms of strength, will, and determination, you are not inferior to me, and perhaps even far surpass me. In fact, it's you who are protecting me now.'

'Though it might sound arrogant, this is the only way to accurately express my feelings,' Ashe continued. 'You've earned my respect.'

The atmosphere shifted.

Vesser looked down at the ground, sensing a subtle change in the team's dynamic. While the overall combat strength of the team might not have increased significantly, everyone's mood had changed.

Previously, the relationship between the sword Princess, the Witch, and Ashe was half love, half friendship, with trust mixed with dependency. Now, a feeling different from love or friendship, yet more binding, was quietly taking root, ready to grow into a towering tree.

It was the feeling Vesser had always longed for.

A yearning she could never fulfill in reality.

'I'll remember this,' Sonya said, crossing her arms. 'If I find out you're hiding something from me again… hmph.'

'By the way,' Deya suddenly recalled something, 'is the sword Princess on the luminous star route now?'

Ashe and Sonya's expressions turned peculiar."