Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 240: The Toll of Hell

Star Shepherd Demilo, mounted on the Serpent-Scorpion Dragon, directed the Legion to orderly enter Cavern 73, the Compound Resource Point.

Upon reaching the entrance, there was still no sign of the Fierce Wolf Dragon; it must have already been raided.

Was it a passing Sorcerer, or a Crystal Flying Dragon wandering nearby?

Either was possible. After all, the troops sent to guard the Resource Point were doomed to become expendable items on the reimbursement list… How many Serpent-Scorpion Dragons should be left behind to guard this place?

Seemingly aware of the impending personnel shift, the Serpent-Scorpion Dragons grew restless, while the Thousand-Feathered Dragons stood on one leg in Rest, utterly unconcerned, even leisurely preening each other’s feathers—As the only long-range support unit under Demilo’s command, they naturally enjoyed treatment akin to that of lovers.

Arriving at the main hall of the Cavern, Demilo waved his hand, signaling the Serpent-Scorpion Dragons to move supplies.

The clever creatures sensed that their performance in the upcoming task would determine whether their future lay rotting in this Cavern or continuing to indulge in the luxuries alongside the Star Shepherd. Their morale soared as they searched the Cavern with their scorpion tails held high.

Demilo could clearly feel his followers’ shift in emotions but remained indifferent, gesturing for his mount to sit down. The Serpent-Scorpion Dragon obediently lowered its body, its tail bending into an arc worthy of a roller coaster track, the tip resting just upon its back, serving as Demilo’s pillow.

Demilo closed his eyes, thumbing through his memory album for a diversion. Yet, his gaze returned again and again to a dream he had browsed thousands of times and seemed destined to revisit in the future.

Born into the Leba Family, this surname meant nothing, for the family had been exterminated when he was 11 years old due to his uncle’s corruption and embezzlement, and his parents were implicated. In that era, the Nobility and the crown played a game akin to cat and mouse, a race between the speed of embezzlement and the swiftness of capture.

Young Demilo narrowly escaped to the maid’s house to avoid legal sanctions, then smoothly transitioned from a Noble young master to an orphan taken in by the maid, living in the dirtiest, narrowest storage room. He quickly became sensible, eating less, working more, keeping his head down, and in two years, he endured double the hardships of the previous Ten Years.

Clearly, Destiny is a harsh loan shark, and double was just the interest. At the age of 13, the maid said she had found a suitable Apprentice job for him and had two men, who looked much like blacksmiths, take him away to the locally infamous “Dove Fish Cage.”

Which was a place for buying pleasures.

Male workers were called doves, and female workers were called grass carp. At that time, Demilo did not understand the origin of these titles, but he soon learned.

When the ill-intentioned gang boss revealed the truth to Demilo, he did not react with fear or any other emotion, but calmly accepted the fact. Perhaps when he heard the increasing complaints from the maid and her husband, and saw the husband’s malicious face and the maid’s apologetic eyes, he anticipated that Destiny was ready to collect his principal.

As a fugitive wanted criminal, he had the freedom to choose to agree or to die.

The gang boss also told him about the scope of his upcoming work: As a boy with a hint of beauty, besides selling his body, he could also gather intelligence, assassinate important figures, frame others, and if lucky, might be bought by a Wealthy person enamored with his beauty… Obviously, working overtime was the norm here, and now, even if the Police Department caught him, he could no longer claim innocence.

With the aspiration to survive and become someone’s bed ware, the troubled teenage boy walked into one of the top floor rooms of the Dove Fish Cage, which was the staff dormitory.

The walls were a warm yellow, with a fireplace crackling, several tasteless burgundy patchwork sofas, and a low table carelessly littered with snacks and drinks. Because it was the highest floor, the warm light of the Radiant Star shone unreservedly through the balcony’s floor-to-ceiling windows, providing a stage for the dancing dust.

But the floor was clean, likely swept often.

Compared to the storage room, the living conditions had leaped forward; at least he wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night due to mice visiting.

“Hey, your skin is so white!” A tall and buxom girl approached Demilo, reaching out to touch the precious legacy left by his Noble life over the previous Ten Years: “So smooth and tender, wow…”

“Is there finally a new guy?” Another cute young boy who seemed even younger than Demilo jumped up, clenching his fists with excitement: “Am I finally going to be a Senior?”

“No, you seem to still be the youngest one.” Sitting far away on the sofa, the Quiet Girl put down her book, “Drink more milk to grow tall and big quickly.”

Demilo glanced over and saw that the Quiet Girl’s book had no text, only pages filled with images that set the Bloodline racing… Still studying diligently after work?

The cute boy made a face: “But milk is so fishy…”

“Ah, I forgot!”

The balcony door was pushed open, and a Pretty Person who looked as exquisite as a sculpture walked into the room. He wore a loose shirt and extremely short shorts, carrying a tray of freshly aired laundry, exuding a domestic vibe yet incredibly seductive.

The warm orange light clung to him greedily, casting a divine glow upon him.

Was he a man? Or a woman? Gender seemed to lose its meaning at that moment.

“The boss only told us this morning that a new person would be coming to the dormitory. Everyone was still half asleep, and we didn’t have time to prepare food. But we don’t start work until the evening, so how about we have a welcome party this afternoon?”

“Is that something to celebrate?” The Quiet Girl voiced the question that was also on Demilo’s mind.

“Yay, a party!” The tall girl and the cute boy cheered in unison.

“Do we have mixed-gender living arrangements here?” Demilo asked his first question after coming in.

“Yeah, the boss said it’s troublesome to have all men or all women, but mixed living means we can keep an eye on each other, at least there’s less nonsense… He also said it’s his secret to management!”

But the risk of mixed living is… right, they don’t care about that risk here.

“Then, it’s time to move on to the next step!” The Pretty Person casually set down the laundry basin: “Let me help you pick a nice and suitable new name for the newcomer!”

“Here we go again…” The other three let out resigned sighs.

“It’s indeed time to adopt a new name to sever ties with the past.” Demilo nodded: “After all…”

Pretty Person shook their head with a smile, “No, a new name isn’t about discarding the past; it’s about embracing the future. Consider this: our first names weren’t chosen by us, yet they’re meant to follow us for life. How unreasonable is that? Choosing a new name signifies taking control of our future, saying goodbye to a Destiny that doesn’t serve us.”

Had Demilo not been in the Dove Fish Cage staff dormitory when hearing this, he might have nodded in agreement.

“So you’re willing to let me name you?”

“Go ahead.”

“Great!” Pretty Person pulled out a frequently thumbed, crumbly-paged book from the bookshelf.

“What book is that?” Demilo asked.

“The Stars Poetry Collection,” Pretty Person replied. “A poet has named every star in the sky, giving each a significant meaning. What better reference for a name could there be?”

“Every single one… isn’t that thousands?”

“More than that! So there’s a good name for everyone. For example, Anlilian, which means the fragrance of ink on a page.”

Quiet Girl tilted her head thoughtfully.

“Or Ruya, meaning the joy of sunshine.”

The cute boy looked up, his whole being radiating warmth even without the touch of the sun.

“Or Cilina, symbolizing a rainbow butterfly.”

The tall girl spun on her toes, her skirt twirling, embodying the name she was given.

“And then… ah, this is it, Demilo! From now on, you’ll be called Demilo,” Pretty Person decided someone’s lifelong moniker rather hastily.

“Does it have a meaning?”

“Demilo,” Pretty Person said with a smile, “symbolizes the rock in the Rapids. It represents that you will never be knocked down by Destiny.”

“What about you? What’s your name?”

Anlilian, Ruya, and Cilina all wore an expression that said, “It’s finally happening.”

“And me? I’m something special!”

Pretty Person leapt onto the sofa, striking an audacious pose as if about to transform: “The ‘Vloz’ that represents dominion, and the ‘rada’ that signifies conquest; my name is Vlozrada, meaning to master Destiny and conquer all!”

It was a level of silliness beyond description. Demilo exchanged glances with the other three, a silent consensus reached among strangers meeting for the first time.

“In any case.”

Pretty Person came over, hugging Demilo closely with a giggle: “Demilo, welcome.”

Two years had passed since Demilo last felt the warmth of an embrace, the face that had been numbed by relentless torment from Destiny softened for the first time.

Destiny had stripped him of all his capital, yet paradoxically granted him a loan despite his negative credit.

This was Demilo’s first encounter with Vlozrada, and it would become the most pivotal moment in his life.

Hiss, hiss, hiss—

The sound of the Serpent-Scorpion Dragon scraping against the ground interrupted Demilo’s dream. He opened his eyes to find his right hand raised, as if trying to hold onto some ethereal substance.

Soon, he thought, he would understand the emotions that once eluded him.

He was about to reclaim the beat of his heart.

Demilo touched his chest, finding it empty, devoid of anything.

This was the toll for transmigrating through the Sixfold Hell; every Soul must wash away all emotions there, leaving only pure memories to reach the Virtual Realm. Those like him, ‘activated’ by the Divine Master, were merely deficient lives born from those memories.

Having never possessed a body, they naturally lacked a heartbeat, much less emotions.

Even if he poured over his memories countless times, he could not experience Demilo’s true feelings. It was like using a finger to pick someone else’s nose, incapable of feeling real joy.

Between him and his memories lay the Curtain of death.

The only solution was to retrieve the fragments left in Hell, to fill the gaps in his Soul, to make the decayed heart beat once more.

And such a Miracle, without a doubt, could only be performed by the Divine Master, which is why from the moment of his creation, he had fought for the Divine Master across the lands.

Sixfold Hell, six fragments, his accumulated Merit was nearly enough to exchange for the first fragment. He estimated that he would soon begin to understand why Demilo so greatly valued his first encounter with Vlozrada.

Soon, very soon, a few more decades and it would be time. After all, more than a thousand years had already passed…

Demilo turned his head and saw that the Serpent-Scorpion Dragons seemed to be contemplating rebellion—not a single ordinary resource had been moved; what audacity.

But something was off.

It was then that the Star Shepherd finally focused and surveyed the surroundings, noticing a thin layer of powder covering the ground, while not a trace of any materials could be seen around the cave. Moreover, with the complete disappearance of the Fierce Wolf Dragon family, there was only one possibility—the materials had been moved.

Had an enemy Legion stealthily swept in to raid? But this was the heartland of their Star Hall. Wouldn’t the enemy Legion fear annihilation after such a long incursion? Or was this the prelude to a major invasion?

The closest hostile force was… Blood Tomb!

Could it be those irritating lunatics from Blood Tomb? Demilo had previously dealt with the tomb keepers during the two previous six-nation wars. Even though everyone was a fragmented Soul, for some reason, the tomb keepers seemed to be missing a few screws in their heads, not to mention those ghoul troops from Blood Tomb that seemed as if they were fermented in a Sewer…

Vroom, vroom, vroom!

Suddenly, a thunderous roar of steel, unheard before, came from the cave entrance. Demilo turned to see a steel monstrosity charging like a storm, its sharp blades slicing through the Serpent-Scorpion Dragons’ armor as if through warm butter, crushing their rudimentary defense line in an instant and barreling towards Demilo!

Thousand-Feathered Dragons, volley fire!

With a single thought from Demilo, the Thousand-Feathered Dragons took to the sky, their densely packed feather arrows preemptively shot towards the empty ground in front of Demilo. Filled with ‘piercing’ spirits, each volley was capable of annihilating a large number of Knowledge Creatures!

However, the steel beast suddenly braked hard, the brake pads emitting a whining sound, releasing a fragrance akin to tar. The strong inertia drew an arc like a doughnut, stopping just short of the rain of arrows.

Only a few sparse feather arrows landed on it, but they were also blocked by a transparent protective barrier, guarding the manipulator inside the beast.

Serpent-Scorpion Dragons quickly formed a defensive line in front of Demilo; the most important aspect of Legion combat is to protect the commander.

The Star Shepherd observed the three individuals inside the steel monster, and in the moment their gazes met, both parties recognized each other’s identities.

A Sorcerer, perhaps… So is this steel monster a product of a Miracle? Mechanical Department? Alchemy Department? It could also be Biology Department, maybe it’s a vehicle modified from a Slaying Fish-Dragon…

Many thoughts surfaced in Demilo’s mind, but they did not hinder his command. With a single thought, Serpent-Scorpion Dragons and Thousand-Feathered Dragons formed an assault from all directions, like a surging wave, attacking the three misguided Sorcerers.

He had no desire to engage in conversation with juniors.

Even if the other party was a seeker of the Virtual Realm like himself, and even though the Divine Master did not impose any Restrictions on communication, Demilo still had no interest in uttering a single word to those born a thousand years later. Even though he knew that revealing even a hint of the secrets of the heroic soul would cause a huge stir in reality.

The only desire of the heroic soul is to complete its fragmentary self. Beyond that, it seeks nothing else.

As for the reality above Hell, heroic souls treat it as if it were an ex-lover they’ve blocked and deleted from their lives, sparing none of their thoughts. No expectations, no hatred, only indifference; they do not care how the world they once lived in has changed.

Go back to where you belong, living ones.

Facing the oncoming tide of monstrous forces, the steel beast roared again, extending five pipes from its rear. Explosive sounds emanated from within, and the pipes spewed a venomous green gas that almost threatened to submerge the entire cave in an instant!

Facing the car’s exhaust, Demilo was sprayed directly in the face, his hair blown back!

Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—

Amid the heavy roar of the steel monster, a phrase in the clear and proper language of Sorcerers mingled through: “Ah, the feeling of farting and then running away is truly exhilarating~”

A thousand years after awakening from eternal slumber, this was the first human speech that Demilo heard.