Sorcerer’s Handbook

“Above the High Skies: Souls shackled by gravity can regain their freedom only from the sky. Touching any ground-based surface will cause your spirit to stagnate and be unable to activate for 3 seconds; when you are not in contact with a surface, all effects of your spirits will be enhanced by 100% for 3 seconds.”

“Affix Identification Reward: small amount of spatial sect experience, small amount of spellforce.”

“Limited Affix Privilege: In the next dream phantom, you will trigger the positive effect of Above the High Skies.”

Within the first five minutes of entering this dream phantom, Ashe and his team quickly figured out this affix, especially since their spirits seemed to wilt as if they couldn’t breathe as soon as they arrived.

However, when they triggered the actual battle, they realized the situation was completely different from what they had imagined!

Swish!

Ashe launched the Miracle ‘Heart Pen,’ and the Heart Sword’s strokes created a mesh of ink marks in the air.

Yet, the Spear Sanctuary flapped its golden and silver Twin Wings, swiftly rising above the defensive ink web. Even though Ashe immediately attempted to intercept, the Spear Sanctuary expertly leaned back in mid-air, executing a Spin, its spear tip carving a half-moon Trajectory, striking Ashe’s Sanctuary like a comet!

Boom!

On the other hand, the Spear Sanctuary remained nearly unharmed by Ashe, whether by Heart Sword, Heart Pen, or Rage Sword. With its flight capabilities, it evaded all of Ashe’s attack methods, and even in close combat, Ashe couldn’t reach its Sanctuary!

Ashe desperately needed support, but the others were not faring much better:

The Sword Princess fought against the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon, whose surface was covered in Saint-like fur that hardened with speed, rapidly increasing resistances. Without striking a weak point, the Sword Princess’s explosive attacks felt like mere backrubs.

The Witch was tangled with the Swordsmanship Sanctuary, her Water-born Thread easily severed, leaving her struggling to maneuver.

Vesser was the only one unscathed, but even a momentary distraction would lead her to fall prey to the virtual realm creature’s sudden assault.

In fact, given the enemy’s configuration, it should have been the Sword Princess against the Swordsmanship Sanctuary, the Witch restricting the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon, and Ashe and Vesser engaging the Spear Sanctuary, waiting for the Sword Princess and Witch to finish off their enemies and regroup for support.

However, the “Above the High Skies” affix restricted the battlefield to the air, making all their strategies unworkable-more accurately, they wanted to implement their tactics, but the virtual realm creatures simply demolished their strategies through sheer mobility.

Ashe and his team’s aerial combat skills were too weak.

Accelerated turns, loops, rolls, barrel rolls, ascension maneuvers, half-roll reversals, cobra maneuvers… For Ashe and others who could only fly forward and weren’t yet accustomed to reversed perspectives, the virtual realm creatures’ flying techniques were dizzying. Not to mention, while everyone had Twin Wings, the virtual realm Sanctuary’s flight speed was notably faster-clearly mastering the art of fluid dynamics.

When Ashe’s team initially figured out the first affix, they felt quite confident. Wasn’t it just aerial combat? Wasn’t it simply changing the battlefield from flat to three-dimensional? How hard could it be?

It turned out to be very hard.

Even the Sword Princess, who had some preparation, found the difficulty much greater than she had anticipated.

To put it in perspective, she thought this affix merely made ‘enemies adept at aerial combat stronger,’ but in reality, it meant ‘anyone who isn’t proficient in aerial combat becomes obsolete,’ instantly rendered irrelevant by a temporary version change!

Ashe felt like they weren’t battling opponents of the same level but rather like a casual gamer thrown into matches with diamond-tier players. In other aspects, there wasn’t much of a gap between the sides-if it were a ground battle, Ashe and his team would certainly defeat the enemy. Yet, their weakness in aerial combat was crippling them.

They wanted to deploy opponents based on Spellcasting restraint, but it wasn’t up to them-the virtual realm creatures, with their superior maneuverability, dictated the engagements.

The sole exception was Vesser. Her aerial combat skills weren’t weak. Initially, the virtual realm creatures tried to attack who they thought would be the weakest, Vesser, but realized they couldn’t take her down quickly and shifted focus to others.

However, Vesser wasn’t particularly skilled in combat and could at most assist in rescuing her teammates.

“This isn’t going to work if this keeps up!” Ashe shouted as he maneuvered away from the Spear Sanctuary. “Our spellforce is going to run out eventually! Can any of you deal with your opponent!?”

“Ugh…” Deya grumbled, narrowly avoiding the pursuit of the Swordsmanship Sanctuary. Her threads could barely manage to constrain the enemy. “Just give me a bit more time. If I can trigger the aging effect a few more times, he’ll be done for!”

Deya was equipped with the “Golden Collection: Golden Flow Water,” which allowed her attacks to gradually infuse the target with Golden Flow Water. This effect doubled the target’s spellforce consumption and had a 5% chance to trigger an aging effect, causing a 20% loss of current spellforce and slowing reaction speed by 20%.

This Collection was perfect for sustained effects, which suited Deya’s threads, known for their control and entanglement, making the Collection an ideal match for her.

Indeed, in previous dream phantoms, as long as Deya’s threads managed to latch onto the enemy, they quickly triggered the aging effect, causing the enemy to lose combat ability.

Thanks to the powerful boost from the Golden Collection, Deya undoubtedly became the main damage dealer in this virtual realm exploration. However, in aerial combat, she couldn’t choose her opponent and was forced to face the Swordsmanship Sanctuary, which restrained her. Her threads didn’t stay attached long enough, and only triggered the aging effect once, leaving her suppressed by the Swordsmanship Sanctuary.

Damn it!

When she first acquired the Collection, the Witch sisters were so excited, thinking that this would be their moment to shine. They imagined encountering strong foes, fighting a prolonged battle, and then she would heroically defeat the enemy, rescuing Ashe from danger. Naturally, this would lead to Ashe being captivated by her heroic demeanor, unable to help himself from embracing her, while the Sword Princess, still entangled by the virtual realm creatures, could do nothing but witness the Witch’s flawless victory…

Though they were indeed embroiled in a fierce battle now, she couldn’t make any headway! And to make matters worse, she was stuck fighting the Swordsmanship Sanctuary, which countered her abilities. Deya couldn’t help but wonder if the virtual realm was implying something.

“I’m not having much luck either,” Sonya said, dodging the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon’s swoop attack. The crimson Vibration of the “Blood Moon Shattered Lake” flickered across its underside, producing an ear-piercing clang of steel without even scratching its surface.

Sonya’s Collection for tonight was the “Silver Collection: The Moonshadow Governs Life,” which bestowed a blessing reducing Sanctuary damage by one layer with each attack, lasting 30 seconds and stacking up to 10 layers. This meant that for the same spellforce expenditure, Sonya’s Sanctuary could absorb more damage, which gave her the ability to confront the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon head-on.

The best time to attack the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon was when it halted. However, the beast would always charge far away, then soar high into the sky before swooping down, moving much faster than Sonya.

The most frustrating part was that after Sonya first used the Meteor Trial to severely damage its wings, the beast would initiate every dive by ejecting steel feathers, triggering the Meteor Trial.

The village girl’s Meteor Trial could counter long-range attacks by tracing the Trajectory to the source. The issue, though, was that the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon itself was rapidly moving, meaning by the time Sonya struck back, it was long gone from its original spot.

Without the Meteor Trial’s effectiveness, the dragon’s Sanctuary-like feathers could deflect all of Sonya’s slashes. Its speed was so great that even cutting its fur was impossible, with the sword light’s Vibration merely petting it like a dog.

“Focus fire to break through,” Ashe suggested. “Two people concentrate on one target, while the other and Vesser work to distract the other two.”

“I have an uncertain idea,” Vesser suddenly spoke up. “I need you all to fly close to the ground and give me time to experiment with different possibilities. Of course, I can distract them if necessary; I’ll follow the captain’s orders.”

“Then let’s test your idea,” Ashe quickly decided. To be honest, even focusing fire might not quickly resolve a target-these virtual realm creatures aren’t just Lala Fatty, they can fly when hit. On the ground, you can trap them, but in the air, they can escape with all their aerial maneuvers.

“But we need to proceed with the focus fire plan as well; we can’t delay any longer. Sword Princess, you and the Witch-“

“Captain, is your spellforce reserve still sufficient?” Vesser asked. “You’ll need to distract two of them.”

“I’ll do the distracting. Observer, you and the Witch go for focused fire,” Sonya immediately offered. “With ‘The Moonshadow Governs Life,’ my Sanctuary is sturdier than yours.”

Time was of the essence, and Ashe nodded in agreement. “Alright! Vesser, keep an eye on the sword Princess. If there’s any danger, prioritize assisting her! Let’s go!”

The four immediately plunged into the steel forest below. This dream phantom’s realm resembled the bustling metropolis of the Blood Moon Kingdom, with towering skyscrapers. However, after fighting for so long, the ground had long been cleared of people.

With their flying altitude reduced, Ashe and his team became more cautious. Any contact with a surface would lead to spellforce stalling, causing their Sanctuary to dissipate and making them plummet from the sky.

These surfaces included skyscraper walls, balconies, and railings. Anything that traced back to the ground would trigger the negative effect of “Above the High Skies.”

The virtual realm creatures pursued them relentlessly. Compared to Ashe and his team, they were much more adept at maneuvering, with even the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon gracefully gliding over the obstacles as if dancing on eggshells. This was why Ashe had chosen the sky as their battlefield; the high-rise buildings posed a greater threat to them than the virtual realm creatures did.

As the distance between the Swordsmanship Sanctuary and the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon closed, Sonya launched a circular slash at the Swordsmanship Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Deya accelerated, her fingers deftly plucking to wrap her threads around the Spear Sanctuary.

When the Spear Sanctuary attempted to slice through the threads, Ashe executed a climbing maneuver, his Heart Sword intercepting the spear to buy Deya enough time to trigger the “Golden Flow Water” effect.

The virtual realm creatures weren’t allies; they simply acted on instinct, executing the best combat strategies. Now that Sonya was willing to face two opponents at once, the Swordsmanship Sanctuary and the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon naturally didn’t shy away from ganging up on her.

Despite several exchanges, even with the defensive enhancement from “The Moonshadow Governs Life,” Sonya found her spellforce rapidly depleting like floodwaters rushing through an open sluice.

Unlike ground battles, where she could use the terrain to minimize her exposure to attacks when facing multiple adversaries, the sheer number of potential attack vectors in aerial combat overwhelmed her defenses.

Moreover, the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon and the Swordsmanship Sanctuary demonstrated seamless teamwork. Whenever she defended against one, the other would seize the opportunity to attack from a blind spot, creating an almost unbreakable pressure.

Sonya suddenly understood how the Blade Fish Dragon must have felt. Back in the Sea of Knowledge, she and Ashe had similarly toyed with and overwhelmed the Blade Fish Dragon.

The tide has turned, and the virtual realm is getting its payback…

But I am not just another stepping stone like the Blade Fish Dragon!

Sonya lowered her flying altitude once again, weaving daringly through the buildings. This forced the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon and the Swordsmanship Sanctuary to adjust their positions carefully. In some areas, the dragon even had to retract its wings, breaking their rhythm and greatly reducing the pressure on Sonya.

At that moment, Sonya suddenly heard the sounds of battle nearby. When she glanced sideways, she saw Ashe and the others engaged in combat between the buildings behind her. She immediately redirected her flight toward a corner street, but just then, the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon loomed above her, forcing her to dive lower and accelerate.

Smack!

A neon sign for “Mimosa” appeared in front of her, and it was too late to avoid it.

As she crashed into the sign, her spellforce stalled, her Sanctuary was dissolved, and her virtual wings shattered. She went crashing through the sign’s glass, plummeting downward.

The effect of “Above the High Skies” would last for 3 seconds. With her spellforce not yet recovered, the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon’s deadly wings were already closing in, and its enormous shadow engulfed her vision.

There was no escaping this dire situation!

Perhaps because she hit her head, Sonya’s mind went blank. But as she caught a glimpse of Ashe flying toward her from the corner of her eye, a strange light gleamed in his ruby eyes.

Boom!

With an explosive crash, the Blade Wing Chariot Dragon soared over Sonya’s head, like a derailed train smashing into the ground. The Swordsmanship Sanctuary also fell, crumpling upon impact.

“Made it just in time,” Vesser’s voice rang out from above. “The second affix is that falling buildings have a strong negative effect.”

Vesser flew up to Sonya, and when the Stretch Paw Club President jumped up, she grabbed her and ascended, smiling as she explained, “The Blade Wing Chariot Dragon isn’t afraid of spellforce stalling, so why does it insist on diving in the air instead of the more effective ground jumps? The latter is faster and more destructive. It seems the reason is that the dragon fears the buildings themselves.”

As Vesser explained, a piece of information flowed into the minds of the sorcerers:

“Overturned Tower: The dust bathed in the tower’s shadow will witness everything’s collapse. Any target hit by a collapsing building will be stunned for 10 seconds.”

“Affix Identification Reward: A small amount of spatial sect experience, a small amount of spellforce.”

“Limited Affix Privilege: In the next dream phantom, you can trigger the effect of the Overturned Tower once.”

“Thank you,” Sonya exhaled with relief after narrowly escaping. “If it weren’t for you, I might have to wait another dozen days before I could enter the Virtual Realm again.”

“You’re welcome. Aren’t we friends who help each other?”

“Well…,” Sonya said, somewhat embarrassed. “My spellforce has recovered, so you don’t have to hold so tightly.”

Vesser had one arm around her back and the other around her waist, holding her so closely it was like she was pulling Sonya into herself. Vesser gazed intently into the village girl’s eyes, their noses practically touching-an intimacy that left the village girl blushing.

“Sorry,” Vesser released her grip and said politely, “You’re a captivating person.”