Sorcerer’s Handbook

A massacre, or rather, a coronation.
Looking down, there are silver apprentices floating above the sea of mist, golden travelers walking across the stormy continent, and Rainbow explorers threading through illusory rifts… They are the humble masses, who can only raise their heads to gaze up at great deeds. Their eyes shine like twinkling stars, paving the way for the glory of this enthronement.
Looking up, there are proud gods hidden in the shadows. They are disdainful, they are jealous, they are full of malice, their killing intent is chilling, but all they can do is watch. Above the shadows, five great beings stand atop the clouds, their gazes descending as raging winds and torrential rain, echoing the cruelty and ruthlessness of this slaughter.
All eyes are focused on the summit of Ruby Mountain. That figure, so familiar to Igor, is standing at the far end of the peak. With his back to the viewer, Igor cannot see his expression, nor can he make out who stands before him-he can only vaguely discern the outline of a silhouette in the light.
By now, Igor was no longer surprised that Ashe could surf the tides of the era, nor did he feel annoyed. His heart was filled only with anticipation, for he vaguely sensed that this scene was not the end of a disaster, but the beginning of something great.
When Ashe raised his sword blade and slashed at the silhouette, the entire Virtual Realm seemed to be drawn by him. He was like an artist wielding a brush, painting the world with his own colors.
From sorcerers below to gods above, all could only watch helplessly as he committed his rampage, watching as he painted the silhouette into new colors. Then, like a drop of thick ink falling onto a painting, the new color quickly spread, seeping downward into the colored sky, the golden continent, the silver sea, and upward into the shadows and clouds.
Time was about to accelerate.
And most striking of all, above the clouds, in that high sky even the great beings must look up to, at that unknown, empty summit, new colors were brewing and condensing.
The era was beginning to shift; the positions of new and old were about to be exchanged.
This was a slaughter sorcerers must remember, a coronation the Virtual Realm itself had initiated.
Igor could almost hear the wheels of history rolling forward, as if he could hear the winds of the era turning the windmill.
From this moment on, the unbearable vacancy of the Throne of Heaven was declared over-someone would stand at the very top.
At this moment, Igor saw Ashe take a wine-soaked holy grail from the final silhouette. Then he turned toward Igor, raised the grail in a slight gesture, lifted his head, tilted the grail, and was about to drink it all in one go, completing the final step of the coronation and slaughter Ritual Track-
What would happen next?
Knock knock!
The knocking startled Igor awake. He jerked his head up and realized he had fallen asleep on the toilet, his head leaning against Ashe’s side. In front of him, Harvey was resting against the sink, eyes closed.
Ashe had one hand supporting the Con Artist’s head, the other hand behind Harvey’s head to keep them from slumping over.
Knock knock!
A woman’s voice sounded from outside. “Are the guests inside all right? Do you need any help? Hello?”
Igor asked, “How long has it been?”
“Forty-five minutes,” Ashe replied.
“Then it should be fine,” Igor stood up. “Let’s go.”
The three of them slid open the bathroom door and stepped out. The female attendant saw three men coming out together and was instantly stunned, stammering, “G-guests, what were you doing in there?”
“Exactly what you’re thinking,” Ashe replied.
The attendant’s face gradually turned red, her gaze darting between the three of them. “But-but that’s against the rules, and the bathroom is so small, it’s easy to bump into each other, please don’t…”
“I know, but I couldn’t help my craving for a smoke, so we had to gather in the bathroom to smoke.” Ashe spread his hands. “I’m very sorry for the trouble.”
“Ah, you were smoking?”
“Yes, what else could it be?”
The attendant didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved. “Smoking is prohibited in the carriage. There are still two hours to Galaxia South Station. Please hold out until you get off, and you mustn’t smoke in the bathroom-it’ll set off the smoke alarm.”
“Understood, understood. We know it was wrong, so we didn’t let out a single wisp of smoke.” Ashe pressed his palms together. “Thank you for your understanding.”
“Then please return to your carriage. I need to clean the bathroom a bit,” the attendant said. “Since children will use it, I have to make sure there’s no strange smell or mess inside.”
Ashe replied confidently, “Don’t worry, we didn’t leave a trace. If there was, we flushed it away. We’re very clean-“
“Let’s go.”
After they left, the attendant entered the bathroom and took a deep breath, checking the trash can carefully. She found nothing unusual, but that was the anomaly-no cigarette butts or ash at all. Who are you trying to fool, Lala Fatty!
Then she looked around carefully, using the handprints to reconstruct the scene in the bathroom: one person sitting on the toilet, one leaning against the sink, the third standing between them… Wow!
The three of them picked a less crowded corner of a carriage and sat down. Igor, by the window, pulled open the curtain and, under the starlit sky, watched the rear of the train. “They shouldn’t have caught up. They must still think we’re hiding in that forest.”
“Mm, interesting,” Harvey said. “This seems to be the first time we’ve actually escaped with our lives. It feels a bit strange.”
“Indeed,” Ashe said. “We’ve been in the Stars Kingdom for twenty-four hours, and I still have the freedom to use the bathroom, even my personal liberty hasn’t been restricted. It feels like I’m betraying my professional standards.”
“If you want, I can fit you with a shock-collar dog leash. If you want a tail too, that’s doable. Don’t be shy.” Igor said coldly, “What kind of profession requires ‘getting arrested every time you enter a new kingdom’ as a standard-We’re still wanted, so get serious!”
This time, the time trave was different from before.
When they first arrived in the Gospel Kingdom, they were immediately ambushed and knocked out by Annan, with no chance to resist. When they arrived in the Senlo Kingdom, they appeared right in the Tribulation Fire Chapel’s headquarters-there was no escape, and they could only become the last straw for the Tribulation Fire Chapel.
But this time, after Ashe and the others arrived in the Stars Kingdom, there was no ambush, nor did they appear in anyone’s territory. Instead, they landed in a deserted wilderness. This treatment wasn’t exactly good-just a zero-but compared to their previous time trave, which was ‘hell’ and ‘turning into Lala Fatty before entering hell’ level, now that fate merely spared them a beating, Ashe and the others were already grateful.
But the gratitude only lasted thirty minutes before a squad of sorcerers riding griffins appeared before them. At that time, Ashe was cooking, and his frying pan and stove were flipped over by a thunder spell Miracle, but he wasn’t angry at all-instead, he felt relieved.
Now that’s more like it!
How could there be no escape plot after a time trave!
It was like hearing one boot drop upstairs, and now the other boot had finally dropped-he could finally relax!