Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 238: Academy Faction vs. Adventurer Faction

“Why?” Ashe expressed surprise. “Isn’t your mentor a Tri-wings Sorcerer from the Sanctuary? How could she be unaware of matters concerning the Time Continent?”

“There are two reasons for this.”

Sonya raised her index finger. “First, compared to the volumes of information in the Sea of Knowledge, literature about the Time Continent only constitutes one-tenth. It’s not just because there are far fewer Two Wings Sorcerers than One Wing Sorcerers, but more importantly, compared to the Virtual Realm, Sorcerers place a greater emphasis on the Faction Realm and are more inclined to create Silver codices and Gold tomes about how to advance within their Faction Realm.”

“For instance, in the library, the Swordsmanship Department’s books take up thirty shelves, encompassing various fields like summoning different spirits, combat, production, and more. In contrast, books describing the Sea of Knowledge only fill two shelves, and those about the Time Continent are even fewer, merely a handful.”

“Sorcerers like us, who make gains in the Virtual Realm every night, are exceedingly rare, rare enough to be considered an exception. For the average Sorcerer, the Virtual Realm is merely a place for absorbing arcane energy and honing combat skills. They don’t expect to gain anything extra in the Virtual Realm; instead, they acquire more spirits by advancing within the Faction Realm and through the trading platform, building a Spirit System that suits them.”

“As they ascend to higher levels of the Faction Realm, they climb to a higher layer of the Virtual Realm and then repeat the process. If it weren’t for the fact that each layer of the Virtual Realm forces Sorcerers to explore and move around, many would be happy to stay in one place, peacefully absorbing arcane energy every night.”

“Second,” Sonya raised her middle finger, “my mentor is a Genius. She left the Time Continent and reached the Distant Skies in just four years. She’s been living on campus for four years and still occasionally forgets where her office is, let alone the Time Continent.”

Ashe sighed, understanding the divide between Academy Faction and Adventurer Faction Sorcerers.

Just as people who have enough to eat won’t rebel, and those who save in fixed deposits far outnumber those who speculate in funds, Sorcerers naturally vote with their feet, finding their own comfort zone.

It’s quite understandable, really. Rather than pin their hopes on the Virtual Realm, Sorcerers prefer to invest in themselves, at least that’s something they can control. For those in the Academy Faction, focusing on advancing in the Faction Realm requires both effort and Talent, but the progression is stable, and as long as one can elevate their Faction Realm, there are no bottlenecks. After all, a fool and a Genius absorb arcane energy with the same efficiency in the Virtual Realm.

By contrast, no matter how well one does in the Virtual Realm, if there is no Breakthrough in the Faction Realm, one will still be marking time.

If the Virtual Realm is seen as a fulcrum and the Faction Realm as a lever, then the Academy Faction is constantly reinforcing and extending their lever to pry more power from the Virtual Realm; whereas adventurers like Ashe are looking for a more suitable and effortless fulcrum, prying here and there, valuing serendipitous and inexplicable opportunities.

Whether at the individual, organizational, or societal level, the Academy Faction is superior to the Adventurer Faction in all respects. The only downside to the prosperity of the Academy Faction is that it may lead to the neglect of the potential value of the Virtual Realm due to an excessive emphasis on the importance of the Faction Realm.

After all, they are so busy advancing in the Faction Realm that they have no energy left to uncover the secrets of the Virtual Realm, much less organize related information.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the two Factions are incompatible. The Swordswoman, for example, is currently balancing both the Academy Faction and the Adventurer Faction, and her progress is soaring. But for a Sorcerer civilization in development, they can only focus on the knowledge system of the Academy Faction, unable to illuminate the tech tree of the Adventurer Faction.

It seems there’s no counting on Swordflower College; they can only rely on themselves to unearth the Treasures of the Time Continent.

“Speaking of which, I just remembered…”

“What, you’ve got another fairy tale more thrilling than an adult story?”

“No.” Deya shook her head and shared her discovery at the lumber mill—the fact that if the wood that didn’t deplete kept accumulating, the entire nest would be filled, but the quantity of wood in the factory was not much.

Ashe pondered and said, “Speaking of which, at the Resource Points we searched earlier, if all the common materials kept piling up, they should have been overflowing by now…”

“Could it be that the overflowing Resource Points are blocked, and we simply can’t discover them? Only the ones that haven’t overflowed are found by us?” Sonya pointed out a blind spot.

“The survivorship bias does make sense, but there’s another possibility.”

Ashe said, “That is, seemingly useless common materials are also being regularly collected.”

Sonya shook her head, “I haven’t heard of anyone other than you who can utilize common materials.”

“That would mean, those who can use those common materials might not be Sorcerers…”

As they were talking, Ashe had already opened the Virtual Realm Map, ready to drive to the next Resource Point. But at that moment, he noticed an unlabeled red dot on the edge of the Map.

“Wisdom is demonstrated by outnumbering the unknown presence.”

An unknown presence means it’s not a Knowledge Creature, and the only entities that roam the Time Continent aside from Knowledge Creatures are Sorcerer Projections!

“It seems there’s a Sorcerer Projection taking a stroll ahead.”

“Run it over!” “Hit it!” The Swordswoman and Witch expressed very dangerous suggestions.

Ashe complied smoothly, driving straight at it. Their favorite enemies now were the Sorcerer Projections wandering around because their car’s “Evil Blade” could directly hit and kill the other party without needing a Battle, easily earning the other’s spirit and Sorcerer Handbook. It wasn’t so much taking advantage as it was straight-up robbery.

As the distance closed, Ashe saw more details on the Virtual Realm Map.

Then he slammed on the brakes.

“Why did we stop?”

Ashe rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn’t misreading the prompt on the Map: “Behind the Sorcerer Projection, there’s a large group of Serpent-Scorpion Dragons… as well as some Thousand-Feathered Dragons! They seem to be moving in our direction!”

“Does everyone see that? (Some Thousand-Feathered Dragons)”

“The statement below is correct (A Group Serpent-Scorpion Dragons)”

“Wisdom is demonstrated by outnumbering the unknown presence (Unknown Existence)”

A Sorcerer Projection moving with Gregarious Creatures?

Sonya thought of a terrifying possibility: “Quick, get out of the way, don’t block their path!”

Ashe quickly steered the car to an adjacent Area and asked, “How can there be a Sorcerer Projection mixed in with Knowledge Creatures? Are they bundling sales now?”

Deya suggested, “Or perhaps it’s just on their way?”

“No!” Sonya shook her head emphatically. “It’s not like that… They’re a whole!”

As they spoke, swift predators rolled across the earth like bulldozers, the moans of the bending grass and the low growls of the bowing trees wove into a catastrophic symphony of nature.

Even with the Reverse Golden Rain providing cover, Ashe and his companions could still clearly hear an army composed of Knowledge Creatures marching unbridled beside them.

The bodies of the Sorcerers were nearly stiff, as if afraid that their own movements would disturb the passing monsters.

Ashe’s fingers hovered over the directional keys, eyes glued to the dots on the Map, ready to make a run for it at any moment.

They all secretly Prayed in their hearts for this unknown legion to proceed to another place for their gathering, hoping fervently not to draw the attention of this pitiful group of little wild creatures.

While Ashe and his team could sweep through three Resource Points, they still needed to seize advantageous terrain when facing a horde of monsters, or even create narrow terrains to reduce the numerical advantage of the Gregarious Creatures, often resulting in the three of them ganging up on two creatures in a localized area.

In other words, they actually lacked the ability to engage in group combat.

This was no nest or cave, and the Sorcerers couldn’t find any terrain to their advantage. If this Virtual Realm legion attacked them, they could only Pray that their four wheels were faster than the flying creatures.

Only as the wailing of the trees faded away did they breathe a sigh of relief. Although one doesn’t sweat in the Virtual Realm, everyone felt a chill of evaporated fear.

“What was that?” Ashe asked.

“I’ve never seen it before either,” murmured Deya. “Lucky it was the first time, or Little Red would have been doomed.”

Red Death Eater: “I just knew it would take a battle where death is certain to bring me fully into play.”

“That should be the second-ranked threat on the ‘Time Continent Danger Ranking List.’”

Sonya whispered, “They are the harbingers of death, the nightmare no Sorcerer wants to encounter, the Virtual Realm’s unrestrained malice towards outsiders—”

“The heroic soul legion.”