The Sorcerer's Handbook-Chapter 89: Swordswoman, Do You Hate Me?

On an Inheritance Island within the Virtual World.

Flames raged across the land. An axe-wielding sorcerer, encased in heavy armor, threw back his head and roared. "Blazing layers of fire. Burn what remains of me!"

Fire swallowed him whole. Even his pupils ignited and glowed like molten embers. When he opened his mouth, a torrent of scorching flame burst forth, and boiling lava seeped through the seams of his armor.

Living fire crept along the edge of his axe. With a bellow, he swung it horizontally toward Sonya.

Sonya stepped back at once to avoid the strike.

Without warning, the sorcerer rolled left and surged forward. In the same motion, the axe reshaped itself into a sword. At that moment, Ashe was launching an attack from the side with Swordheart. The sorcerer twisted sharply and drove his blade straight at him.

Ashe slammed his sword into the ground and activated both the Earth Sword and Wind Barrier spirits. He then fused them. Miracle, Sword-Wind Bastion!

A brilliant yellow barrier, shaped like the body of a sword, sealed around Ashe. It was flawless and airtight.

Clang!

The sorcerer's sword crashed into the Sword-Wind Bastion with a shrill impact. Ashe did not retreat even a step. Sword wind spiraled outward, slowly grinding away the flames clinging to the blade. The barrier remained perfectly intact.

The defense-type Miracle, powered by a Two-Winged spirit[1], rivaled an impregnable fortress within the Sea of Knowledge.

The attack failed to break through, yet the fire burning in the sorcerer's eyes only intensified. He let out a low growl as boiling lava erupted along the sword and rammed violently into the barrier.

"Joy and rage. Sorrow and despair. All return to dust!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each deafening explosion struck like heavy artillery. Lava slammed relentlessly against the Sword-Wind Bastion. Ashe's mana drained away like a waterfall, and the barrier's glow dimmed at a visible pace. It trembled on the brink of collapse, as if it might shatter at any moment.

This was the axe-wielding sorcerer's offense-type Miracle.

"Swordswoman!"

At Ashe's shout, Sonya completed her preparation. A gleam like polished steel flashed at the tip of her wooden sword. It cut into the sorcerer's armor as effortlessly as slicing through butter. At the same time, sharp shockwaves burst from the blade, transforming into rotating layers of blade wheels that expanded outward continuously.

They carved through the axe-wielding sorcerer and sliced him into dozens of pieces.

After acquiring the Slash spirit, Sonya had finally perfected her Fission Wave Slash. The Wave spirit excelled at impact rather than cutting, while the Fission spirit traded raw power for a broader attack range. In the past, the technique looked terrifying but lacked real lethality.

Now, reinforced by the Slash spirit, Fission Wave Slash compensated for that weakness. Combined with its wide area of effect and effective mid-to-short-range reach, it became one of the most practical Sword Class Miracles available to a One-Winged swordsman.

Its only drawback lay in Sonya's inexperience. She had just obtained the Slash spirit and still needed time to refine her coordination with it. Earlier, she had not found a proper opening. With Ashe drawing the enemy's attention, she finally had enough casting time to unleash the technique.

As for whether she deliberately wanted to see Ashe take a beating, that remained an open question.

"Have mercy upon all beings. Suffering is ever abundant..."

With that final lament, the axe-wielding sorcerer vanished like dying embers, leaving behind four spirits and a Sorcerer's Handbook.

Neither of them rushed to collect the loot.

Ashe turned to Sonya, frowning slightly. "You haven't said a single word tonight. Does your throat hurt?"

Ever since entering the Virtual World, Sonya had been unusually quiet. Ashe had assumed she was in a bad mood, yet even after the battle, she offered no commentary at all. That alone felt wrong.

In the past, she would first enumerate her own contributions, then point out Ashe's mistakes. By the end, Ashe would feel as though he had done very little and would somehow feel grateful to have her around.

Wait. Hold on. Now that I think about it... has the Swordswoman been using rhetoric all along to undermine me and make me dependent on her?

Just as Ashe's long-suppressed corporate drone instincts flared, Sonya shook her head. She puffed out her cheeks, pointed at Ashe, then pointed at her own mouth.

It dawned on him at once. "You mean the Random Spirit Summoning Card took effect, and you're bound by a summoning ritual that prevents you from speaking?"

Sonya nodded.

Ashe said, "Then write. If you have something to say, write it in the sand."

It suddenly dawned on Sonya. She clapped her hands hard and wrote a few words in the sand with her wooden sword. "Watcher, I curse you, you loud little trumpet."

Ashe stared at Sonya.

Sonya stared at the words, then spoke aloud, "So it turns out I not only can't lie with my mouth, I can't even write something that goes against my true feelings."

From her explanation, which she somehow managed to include one insult in every five sentences, Ashe quickly pieced everything together.

She had drawn the Sincerity spirit. The summoning ritual tied to it was brutally simple. It demanded no exhausting physical effort like sword techniques training and required no prolonged study like other sorcery classes. It imposed only a single condition. She had to be honest. In other words, she could not lie.

In truth, Sonya's luck was not bad.

This was not only because Sincerity, a Mind Class spirit, was exceptionally rare, but also because the summoning ritual tied to it had little real impact on most people.

Take Ashe, for example. He told the truth every day, yet no one believed he was an innocent cult leader anyway.

As for ordinary people, even if they were forced to speak only the truth, the solution was simple. Stay home as much as possible and remain silent when outside.

However, Sonya was different. She was a prominent figure at the university. Every move she made drew attention. Even if she did not seek trouble, trouble found her daily. Some approached her to curry favor. Others came with hidden agendas. These people came not only from within the university, but from outside it as well.

If Sonya had always maintained a cold and aloof demeanor, she might have been fine. The problem was her past image.

She had once been the model student, the perfect good girl. In public, she carried herself with grace. In the training hall, she trained with diligence. Over time, she had built an image that bordered on flawless. Many even regarded her as the Rose[2] of the freshman year.

Now that she was unable to lie, that carefully crafted persona had crumbled overnight. To outsiders, it looked as though Sonya had grown arrogant after tasting success. It's as if she no longer cared to maintain relationships.

Ashe listened to her explanation and laughed.

That laughter finally pushed her over the edge. She snapped. "Are you serious? I'm in trouble right now, and you're laughing instead of helping me stop this ritual?"

Ashe replied with a grin. "Sorry. I'm not professionally trained. Seeing you this unlucky, I really couldn't help it. But if you stop the ritual, you won't be able to summon Sincerity on your own. And without that, you won't be able to advance the Mind Class to Silver Rank. Are you sure that's what you want?"

Sonya hesitated. "If I keep the ritual going, I'll offend even more people in the coming days. And compared to the Mind Class... they're simply not as important."

The moment the words left her mouth, she froze. Is this really what I think? Am I truly the kind of person who values personal strength above everything else, even at the cost of my own reputation?

Ashe shrugged. "See? You've already answered yourself."

Sonya protested, "But at least help me pause it for one day! I have a social event coming up. I'll have to lie then. If I don't, I'll offend a lot of people!"

Ashe spread his hands helplessly. "I can't. Once I've arranged your weekly schedule, not even I can cancel it. I can only add special events temporarily. I can't reduce what's already set."

Sonya said coldly, "Useless. A weakling who can only control me through despicable means."

Ashe remained calm. "You're right. The one controlling you isn't me. It's Aurora... a gift from my previous life."

Sonya had already expected that. The disparity between the Watcher's control over her and his current combat strength was too great to ignore. It made no sense unless he was relying on something beyond his present abilities.

If it wasn't the present, then it had to be a legacy—something left behind before he lost his memories and was reborn as a legendary powerhouse.

Perhaps that was the true reason the Watcher stayed close to her. He could not freely use that legacy. It had chosen her at random. All he could do was help her grow stronger and wait until she reached a certain threshold, allowing that power to be fed back to him.

The curse Sonya had written earlier had not been impulsive. From the moment they entered the Virtual World, she had been planning carefully. By labeling herself as "unable to lie," she deliberately pushed her accusations just slightly past the line, enough to pressure the Watcher into revealing more information, while stopping short of provoking hostility.

Yes, even honesty could be exploited.

As Sonya silently processed what Ashe had revealed, he suddenly asked, "By the way, Swordswoman... do you hate me?"

"I don't."

The instant the words left her mouth, Sonya slapped a hand over it. Her eyes widened in fury. This time, she was genuinely angry.

She said seriously, "I'm warning you, if you take advantage of this to pry into my secrets, I will resent you for the rest of my life."

Ashe immediately rattled off three apologies in rapid succession. "I'm sorry. Truly sorry. My fault. Tonight's loot is yours to choose first. Huh?"

While Ashe was speaking, the four spirits the axe-wielding sorcerer left behind had somehow crawled onto his body.

One of them, a One-Winged spirit shaped like a cat, was especially shameless. It rubbed against Ashe's armpit repeatedly, as if it found the spot particularly appealing.

Seeing Sonya's puzzled expression, Ashe explained, "I used a spirit stimulant. It's stronger than the Spirit Joy Potion I gave you. That's why the spirits are sticking to me."

"That potion makes spirits actively seek us out?"

"I'm not sure. It increases their favor toward us, so maybe that's why."

The four spirits were Slashing Axe, Burn, Lava, and Remnant Body.

Slashing Axe was the core spirit of an axe-wielding sorcerer. It greatly enhanced the destructive power of the axe in both its default and sword form. Interestingly, it had taken the shape of a cat.

Burn and Lava were Fire Class spirits. Together, the Miracle they formed had nearly shattered Ashe's Sword-Wind Bastion.

Remnant Body belonged to the Brute Body Class. It strengthened recovery and resistance in proportion to the severity of damage sustained, while drastically dulling pain.

This battle also made one thing clear. The sorcerer projections they encountered were growing stronger.

They had progressed from the initial gun sorcerer with a single spirit, to an axe-wielding sorcerer wielding four spirits and mastering two Miracles. As their mana continued to rise, the Door of Truth pushed ever deeper into the Sea of Knowledge.

Unless a sorcerer chose to lie flat and flee, the Virtual World would never stop hunting them.

Sonya skimmed through the Sorcerer's Handbook and tossed it to Ashe. He caught it and flipped through it, only to realize it was a Catalog of Spoils.

So the axe-wielding sorcerer was a bandit?

Ashe quickly dismissed the thought. More likely, the man had been a religious mercenary or a mercenary bound by religious doctrine. Most of the spoils were recorded as offerings to the so-called Temple of Calamity Flame.

Materials were donated to the temple. Intelligent beings were converted into followers. Spirits and Miracle formulas were handed over for redistribution. Whether due to personal virtue or strict temple discipline, the axe-wielding sorcerer had rarely embezzled spoils, except for one item.

"Swordswoman," Ashe said, "take a look at this."

Sonya replied flatly, "I'm not like you. Accepting everything that comes your way like some temptress, no matter what it is. You know I can't lie right now."

Ashe felt she was openly insulting him while he had no right to argue back, but he had no proof. He sighed. "It describes a method to trigger a Whirlpool."

Sonya blinked. "A Whirlpool? No wonder... Wait. Trigger a Whirlpool?"

He met her excited gaze and nodded. "According to this, a Whirlpool isn't random at all. It's a Virtual World mechanism that can be artificially triggered."

1. Earth Sword is a Two-Winged spirit. ☜

2. [ref]Refer to C6, Sonya is regarded as Rose of the 67th Batch. ☜