Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 3

The game company Ashe worked for in his past life was called Aurora.

Aurora had released many popular mobile games, including "Aurora's Dungeon Castle", "Aurora's Land of Mutation", and "Carefree Cultivation". "Aurora's Sorcerer's Handbook" was a new mobile game they were playtesting.

Ashe was not in the new game's development team but the operations department. However, he heard the new game was really fun and expected to be a hit. The planning lead wanted Ashe to spearhead a small team to handle the operations and planning for the new game's launch, so Ashe downloaded the Sorcerer's Handbook demo to study it and contribute more value later on.

But before Ashe could open the game, he suddenly got transmigrated while pulling an all-nighter at work.

How did this game also get transmigrated with him? And it automatically installed itself into his consciousness screen?

Ashe was full of suspicions, but thinking about how he would become meat on the chopping block in a few days, he didn't have time to investigate the game's origins. He could only hope it would bring him a miracle!

"Aurora's Sorcerer's Handbook is starting up..."

"Checking/updating game resources... Unable to connect to network, switching to local area network mode automatically."

"Warning: Image system missing... Repairing..."

"Warning: Instance system missing... Repairing..."

"Warning: Data system missing... Repairing..."

"..."

A flood of red Warning prompts flashed across the screen until a green prompt appeared and stopped them:

"Exploration system started normally."

"Recharge system started normally."

"Welcome to the Sorcerer's Handbook."

Dammit! The whole game could only start properly with the gacha and recharging systems. As expected of my company!

Ashe looked at the screen helplessly. 80% of the light screen was blank. Only two rainbow-colored options in the top right corner could be interacted with:

"Material Purchase" "Operator Recruitment"

Tapping on "Material Purchase", there were source crystal purchase options. One crystal cost 6 points, a set cost 30 points, a pile cost 98 points, a bag cost 198 points, a box cost 328 points, a crate cost 648 points. Each option had first recharge double bonus...

Ashe could easily guess these points were money. But his Alipay didn't get transmigrated with him, so where would he get money to recharge? Why would the company implement a recharge system in an internal test demo? Were they trying to get back the salaries they paid us... Tch, the company is capable of this kind of thing.

Tapping on "Operator Recruitment", due to the missing resources, the operator recruitment screen was also blank, with only two dry options: "Recruit Once" and "Recruit Ten Times".

Ashe wanted to try gacha for fun, but recruiting once cost 3 source crystals. Where would he get money to roll?

Hold on, I remember there's a universal cheat code. Maybe it'll work... Ashe entered 【Carefree Cultivation Easy Cultivation】, but the game interface glitched and didn't respond. Looks like there's no debug backdoor in this game yet.

Just as Ashe was feeling dejected, a notification popped up on the light screen: "Check-in system repaired successfully, connecting to main server... Unable to connect to server, switching to local area network mode automatically."

A third option appeared on the screen: "Login Check-in".

Tapping it showed a calendar. April 11th had an auto checkmark.

"Standard Supply: 1 source crystal."

"New Player First Check-in Supply: 1 Tenfold Operator Permit."

"Tenfold Operator Permit: Issued by Aurora Investigation Department. Used for recruiting high value targets in batches, allowing ten recruitments at once. Guaranteed to recruit an operator."

Although the terminology was unfamiliar, none of that mattered. Ashe knew whether he could escape next week's Blood Moon Tribunal depended on this unknown transmigrated game!

He tapped on "Operator Recruitment" and selected "Recruit Ten Times"!

Instead of fancy summon animations, it simply showed a plain list of recruitment results!

"Energy Potion" "Energy Potion" "EXP Potion" "EXP Potion"... "Death Maniac Swordswoman" "Basic Combat EXP Card" "Training Wooden Sword"...

Jackpot!

A message popped up: "Operator system repaired successfully. You can now manage your owned operators."

Ashe immediately checked the card. It showed a red-haired girl in a black halter dress, with the innocent smile of a girl next door. Hands behind her back, long legs in black stockings and little leather shoes, head tilted curiously, light red eyes full of curiosity.

"Death Maniac Swordswoman"

"Human·Female·18 Years Old"

"Trust Level: 0 (30% EXP Share)"

"Class: Sorcerer Apprentice"

"Class Trait: Learning Efficiency +5%"

"Innate Talent - Swordswoman (Lower): Gain 100% extra swordmanship EXP, small chance to gain 10000% swordmanship EXP. (Talent level unlocks upon strength increase.)"

"Personal Skill - Pitch Black Heart: Eliminate dangers before they sprout. Has a chance to automatically counterattack when enemy intends to attack them, based on relative strength."

"Owned Items: None"

"Controlled Magic Spirit: None"

"Hydro Style: Not Yet Unlocked"

"Training Strategy: Not Set"

Ashe stared for a long time but didn't see anything about death or mania. He couldn't help but get angry - other than a cool edgy name, this was just a generic cute girl!

Don't think you can scam money with just a nice illustration!

The starter character can't be put to use immediately and still needs the player to train them slowly? People these days live such fast-paced lives, if you don't let players enjoy the satisfaction instantly and instead make them spend time, what kind of trash game is this? The planning should be left to me, I could do it too!

And the first pull gives a useless character, whatever, but she can't be summoned to reality to help me fight, so what's the point of gacha!

In a few days I'll be on the execution stand as the executioner's KPI, this game can't even help me escape, am I supposed to just log in every day before death to contribute traffic to this trash game? As expected of my company!

With his last hope shattered, Ashe became even more disheartened. He exited the operator details screen. Seeing the red dot on the new "Operator Management" option on the main screen, the slightly OCD Ashe naturally tapped it open.

The next second, he bolted up in bed.

Because in the "Operator Management" screen, there were two operators.

Aside from the newly pulled "Death Maniac Swordswoman", there was also a rather handsome, slender young man in a jet black coat -

"Apocalypse Observer"

"Human·Male·25 Years Old"

"Trust: ∞"

"Class: Cult Leader / Ancient Historian"

"Class Trait: Blessed by the Four Pillars, +10 to luck checks; better at identifying ancient artifacts, +5 ancient artifact appraisal"

"Innate Talent - Sorcerer's Handbook (Lower): Logs other operators into the manual. Experiences gained by other operators is shared with this operator based on Trust percentage. Currently 0/1 manual pages (talent limit unlocks upon strength increase)."

"Personal Skill - Displaced Soul: Effect unknown."

"Owned Items: None"

"Controlled Magic Spirit: None"

"Summoner Style: Not Yet Unlocked"

Ashe turned to look at the only mirror inlaid on the prison wall, comparing it to the illustration for a long time before fully confirming - this 'Apocalypse Observer' is him, Ashe Heath!

Whether it's the Innate Talent 'Sorcerer's Handbook' or the Personal Skill 'Displaced Soul', they're referencing his current situation!

Moreover, Ashe recognized the title Apocalypse Observer - it's what the cultists of the Four Pillars called him.

It sounded awesome but he still got wiped out by some hunters right after starting his rebellion, a typical example of getting shut down by the police station as soon as you try to rebel.

He didn't expect this to become his codename in the game, not very damaging but extremely insulting.

However, what's with this jet black coat? Ashe didn't remember ever wearing that. Maybe it's an outfit Heath likes? Then his taste really isn't great.

Ashe looked through Death Maniac Swordswoman's details again, staring at the '30% EXP Share' Trust Level for a long time. He knew this was likely his only chance of escaping prison!

If he didn't guess wrong, when he trained "Death Maniac Swordswoman" in the game, he could obtain 30% of her EXP! The stronger the swordswoman, the stronger he becomes!

Hope rekindled. Ashe became invigorated as he checked the other trash he got from gacha - 2 Energy Potions, 4 EXP Potions, 1 Training Wooden Sword, 1 Basic Combat EXP Card, 1 Trial Card.

"Energy Potion": In training actions, grants operator 1 extra action point, lasts 7 days.

"EXP Potion": In training actions, operator gains +10% skill EXP, lasts 7 days, max 50% increase per operator.

"Training Wooden Sword": Equipping grants +15% EXP from sword training.

"Basic Combat EXP Card": Operator use grants lots of EXP from combat training, lasts 7 days (Risk Level: Low)

"Basic Trial Card": Grants operator a trial, gains varied EXP, each operator limited to 1 use per week.

All useful for training, perfectly suiting Ashe's needs. Getting items that directly increase strength wouldn't benefit Ashe anyway.

Though why was there a "Risk Level: Low" note after the combat EXP card...

He tapped into Death Maniac Swordswoman's Training Strategy and found there were many considerations:

"Death Maniac Swordswoman"

"Current Mood: 5 (EXP Bonus 0)"

"Selectable Actions: Rest, Amuse, Train, Trial"

"Rest: Consumes 1 action point, recovers some mood."

"Amuse: Consumes 2 action points, recovers large amount of mood."

"Train: Consumes 1 action point, conduct style training."

"Combat: Consumes 1 action point, requires use of specific item."

"Trial: Does not consume action point, requires use of specific item."

"Daily Action Points This Week: 2 points (Can use Energy Potion to gain 1 extra)"

"I see, need to consider the operator's mood too. Better training results when they're happier. Must find a good work-life balance, the basis of education..."

Ashe greatly appreciated this humanized training system. He chose to equip Death Maniac Swordswoman with the "Training Wooden Sword", consumed 1 Energy Potion and 4 EXP Potions, using up 3 action points!

"Training Strategy: Train, Train, Combat"

"Trial Event This Week: Swordsmanship"

"I'm about to be executed, who has time to care about a 2D girl's mood!"

When Ashe tapped Confirm in the Training Strategy screen, a prompt popped up in the light screen: "Trigger Apocalypse Observer's Innate Talent to log Death Maniac Swordswoman into the Sorcerer's Handbook?"

"Oh right, almost forgot to bind the swordswoman. Good thing the game reminded me, otherwise wouldn't the training go to waste?" Ashe exclaimed in relief. Now, his life was like a candle in the wind. He couldn't afford to waste any time and had to maximize every gain.

"Confirm logging Death Maniac Swordswoman into the Sorcerer's Handbook? Note: This is irreversible."

"Confirm!"

"Operator Trust login successful. Training in progress, scheduling events..."

"Constructing trial scene... Missing scene materials, auto-filling..."

"Searching available scenes, occupying..."

"Missing trial targets, auto-filling... Searching available targets, extracting..."

Watching the game messages, Ashe had nothing to do for the time being. Perhaps due to the day's extreme highs and lows, as soon as he relaxed, drowsiness washed over him. It was as if all his energy had been sapped away. His eyelids kept drooping.

Before his head even hit the pillow, Ashe fell into deep sleep.

At the same time.

In another faraway place, 3 hours behind Ashe time zone-wise.

A girl who went to bed early for skincare and beauty sleep suddenly found herself awake in a dream.

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