Sorcerer’s Handbook

Ashe didn't ask which path the Sword Princess was planning to choose-he knew that even she found it hard to decide at the moment.

Serenity represented her past ideals, while tumult stemmed from her restless emotions; the two paths embodied desires that the Sword Princess couldn't reconcile. It was like pondering which of the top domestic universities to attend in her childhood-indeed, the Sword Princess needed some time to deal with this sweet trouble.

However, fate is as sharp as a knife, and human hearts are unpredictable. Even if the Sword Princess made a decision, reality might not agree with her choice. Perhaps she would resolve to take a risk, only to find her family needing her care; or she might wish for stability, only to be thrust into the limelight by an accident…

Compared to that, the Witch's Rainbow Blessing was more stable:

"Black and White Witch"

"Human – Female – 19 years old"

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

"Silver Blessing – Witch's Taboo: Secrecy grants you power, concealment is your weapon. The fewer people in reality know your true nature, the stronger you become in the Virtual Realm. Currently, the Black and White Witch's concealment level is 80% (little known), granting an 80% spellforce recovery speed bonus."

"Golden Blessing – Witch's Rebellion: Rebellion grants you power, desire is your weapon. The more you wish to rebel against those who love you, even harboring ill intentions towards them, the stronger you become in the Virtual Realm. Currently, the Black and White Witch's rebellion level is 96% (filial piety distorted), granting 96% extra spellforce."

"Extreme Effect Spellforce Capacity: Sorcerers can enhance the effect of a single spell by consuming more spellforce, currently up to an additional 99%, achieving a 99% enhancement."

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

The Witch's Rainbow Blessing not only proved immediately useful but was also perfectly suited for her. Her Silver Blessing increased her spellforce recovery speed, her Golden Blessing provided extra spellforce, and the Rainbow Blessing's extreme effect spellforce capacity allowed her to fully leverage her mana bar advantage.

However…

"Are you really that dissatisfied with yourself now?" Ashe asked the Witch worriedly, inquiring earnestly, "What about you is bothering you? Can we help?"

"It's nothing much…" Deya's lips twitched, her eyes wandering, "Just some dissatisfaction with my appearance and figure… it's common among girls!"

Sonya and Vesser immediately scrutinized the Witch's beautiful features and slender, fair physique. It's known that one's appearance in the Virtual Realm almost perfectly mirrors reality, as the soul represents your true self-perception. So, whatever you look like in the Virtual Realm, you surely look the same in reality.

Regardless of her face, the Witch might indeed be dissatisfied with herself, but in terms of physique, her figure was definitely what Sonya and Vesser considered ideal.

Although she was a martial sorcerer, the Witch's limbs hadn't become bulky, maintaining a perfectly healthy state. Sonya had recently noticed her own thighs getting meatier from too much sword practice.

In other aspects, the Witch's figure was just right-neither too much nor too little, making her the perfect clothes hanger. Sonya had always been dissatisfied with her own chest; it was too large, forcing her to give up on some beautiful clothes, and after practicing swordsmanship, the weight caused noticeable shoulder pain. Engulite didn't have this problem. Vionelle, born with a weak soul and body, could only maintain health even after training in the Physical Sect, yet she inherited all of Vionelle's body advantages without exception. For ease of movement, she usually kept herself wrapped up, naturally preferring the Witch's healthy physique.

Whether men liked it or not was unknown, but the Witch definitely had the perfect figure that women adored. And yet, she was dissatisfied? A whole 99% dissatisfied!?

Noticing the 'are you showing off?' look in Vesser's eyes, Deya felt a silent grievance.

What she was dissatisfied with was her real-life appearance as a white-haired young girl!

The Witch wasn't without solutions to this problem. With spirits like Reverse Month and Reverse Year, she could revert from a white-haired young girl to her 18-year-old adult form.

But the issue was, she didn't dare to reverse until she dealt with the Gospel Deity!

If she returned to her original form and Ashe suddenly returned to the Gospel, seeing an Empress Yisuo identical to the Witch in the Royal Palace, he would instantly figure out the truth, and Deya would lose her secrecy, leading to the Gospel Deity taking over.

Therefore, Deya had to maintain Little Lise's appearance, even if Ashe returned, she had to keep up the act until the Gospel Deity was dealt with before revealing her true self.

For this reason, Deya's 99% dissatisfaction with her white-haired young girl form was understandable. The remaining 1% might be her inner desire to play a prank on Ashe-imagine, when Ashe returned to the Gospel, one night Little Lise insisted on sleeping with him, and then the next morning, he woke up to find a beautiful woman in his arms… That would definitely be fun!

Although Ashe is somewhat concerned, since Deya wants to gloss over the topic lightly, he won't probe further. Respect means acknowledging the other person's autonomy and offering help when they need it.

"Yolan Vesser"

"Human – Female – 24 years old"

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

"Silver Blessing – Yolan Vesser's protective color: A weak scholar always receives more compassion. Once you have had a favorable impression of Yolan Vesser, it becomes difficult to harbor ill will towards her."

"Golden Blessing – Yolan Vesser's armament color: A clever scholar always finds the right prey. Target locked by Yolan Vesser easily becomes foolish and dumb. When the situation is clearly in favor of the target over Yolan Vesser, they will find traces from details indicating that Yolan Vesser still has hidden cards, causing them to be fearful and voluntarily retreat; when the situation is clearly in Yolan Vesser's favor, the target will use various reasons to convince themselves that they have the advantage, abandoning escape and voluntarily meeting their demise. But their intelligence quickly returns to normal."

"Rainbow Blessing: Yolan Vesser's Perception Color: The solitary Scholar tends to avoid crowds, and Yolan Vesser can sense the movement of everyone within a 100-meter radius. Additionally, whenever someone harbors thoughts of pursuing Yolan Vesser, she becomes aware of it. This effect does not apply to those Yolan Vesser wishes to see."

"Knowledge Curse: Vortex Secret Toxin, Mirror Dragon Secret Toxin, Faded Dream Secret Toxin."

After listening to Ashe introduce his Rainbow Blessing, Vesser remained silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "Do you know all my blessings?"

"Yes," Ashe replied, only to realize why Vesser's expression was so peculiar.

Protective Color and Armament Color!

Unlike others' blessings, Vesser's Silver Blessing, Protective Color, is a passive aura that immediately affects anyone who holds goodwill towards her, including Ashe and his companions.

Even though they currently have no conflicts, knowing about the Protective Color means that the next time they have a disagreement and compromise, Ashe might inevitably wonder: Was he influenced by the Protective Color to compromise with Vesser?

The strength of the Protective Color lies in its ability to affect others without their awareness, but its weakness is that once known, it can cause endless apprehension.

Not to mention the Armament Color, a formidable weapon that catches people off guard with its aggressive blessing.

Vesser was well aware of this. To enemies, her talents might not surpass those of the sword Princess or the Witch, but as a teammate, her talents were overwhelmingly advantageous.

The Mercury Trojan Horse had vaguely sensed this, which is why they brought in additional personnel from other areas to assassinate her, rather than directly ordering her subordinates.

She was a traitor blessed by the Virtual Realm, surviving by consuming trust as an infiltrator.

However, Ashe pondered for a moment and revealed the effects of Vesser's Protective Color and Armament Color to the sword Princess and the Witch. Just as Vesser's heart began to sink, Ashe spoke of his own blessing effects:

"Silver Blessing: Observer's Visage: Your appearance is deceptive; unless you make an unusual move, others will subconsciously ignore your presence. Enhanced in the Virtual Realm, unless there is a close bond, others cannot see your appearance clearly."

"Golden Blessing: Listener's Woe: Your existence is deceptive; unless you actively seek death, others' hostility towards you will decrease by one level. Enhanced in the Virtual Realm, unless there is a close bond, others find it difficult to harbor killing intent towards you."

"Rainbow Blessing: Bard's Words: Your language is deceptive; unless your statements are too outrageous, others will tend to believe your words. Enhanced in the Virtual Realm, unless there is a close bond, others will believe your words for at least one second."

This time, Ashe was quite satisfied with his Rainbow Blessing!

Although it doesn't amplify attack power like the sword Princess, enhance spell effects like the Witch, or improve reconnaissance like Vesser, compared to the stealth-oriented "Observer's Visage" and the hostility-reducing "Listener's Woe," "Bard's Words" is at least an active skill!

Not only in everyday life, but Bard's Words can also yield remarkable effects in battle. For instance, if Ashe shouts "I'm your Dad" during a fight, anyone would believe him for a second!

Unless faced with someone who would mercilessly kill even their own father, anyone would hesitate for a second! In a legendary level battle, that one second is enough for Ashe to turn the tide!

Both the sword Princess and the Witch expressed that such a skill shouldn't fall into Ashe's hands.

"Won't it be too easy for the Observer to deceive people in the future?!" Deya, who only allows herself to deceive others but not be deceived, was quite anxious.

"Deception is secondary; the real strength of this blessing lies in its ability to gradually brainwash," Sonya said softly. "If he keeps feeding us some odd values, we might unknowingly be transformed into his puppets-"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Ashe shouted. "This is clearly the Virtual Realm praising my honesty and kindness. How can you assume I'll use this blessing for evil? I wouldn't deceive anyone!"

"So, you might be feeding us strange values then?"

"Isn't it normal to have some value clashes during casual chats? As the saying goes, Truth becomes clearer through debate. We can chat more about current affairs, like whether a game should be exclusive to a single platform or available on all platforms…"

"Are you really talking about games?"

Vesser watched them bicker as usual, suddenly feeling a lump in her throat, and couldn't help but laugh.

She understood Ashe's underlying message-yes, your blessing is particularly effective against teammates, but mine isn't bad either! If blessings lead to trust issues, then I would be the prime suspect for distrust.

Just as the sword Princess and Witch wouldn't doubt Ashe, she too had earned everyone's trust, perhaps through daily interactions or perhaps due to the Shared Life in the Dreaming Celestium.

Finally, they reached the part everyone was most curious about-the faded dream secret toxin!

"Faded Dream Secret Toxin"

"Number of Secret Toxin Infections: 10"

"Secret Toxin Strength: 10%"

"Current Effects of the Secret Toxin: ① You can convert Rainbow spellforce into Primary Color spellforce at a conversion ratio of 60:40; ② When you use Primary Color spellforce to drive spirits below Four Wings, you can achieve effects equivalent to Four Wings; ③ While holding this secret toxin, all your colorless spellforce will convert into Primary Color spellforce, using Primary Color spellforce to drive Four-winged Spirits can reduce spellforce consumption by 10%, and same-color spirits receive a significant enhancement. (Strength reaching 11% will reduce enhancement)."