Sorcerer’s Handbook

Sonya Therave, also a Sanctuary Sorcerer!

Nidhogg’s statement pierced through the audience’s eardrums, shaking their very minds.

Everyone wore a stunned expression, softly repeating the same word:

“Sanctuary…”

However, the fierce battle resuming on the field snapped the audience back to reality. They watched the Red-Haired Sword Princess, battling Truth College’s top prodigy, and finally confirmed they were not dreaming-

This first-year student from Swordflower College, participating in her first Meteor Trial, Sonya Therave, was already a Sanctuary Sorcerer!

Unlike Dimy, she didn’t come from a distinguished noble background; she was just a village girl from a distant rural town!

Unlike Dimy, she had been a sorcerer for less than a year… less than half a year, actually. Logically, she shouldn’t even have her silver wings formed yet!

Unlike Dimy, this stage of glory and honor was never meant for her!

No one thought she had a chance against Dimy. In everyone’s imagination, her best outcome was to push Dimy to reveal his Sanctuary and then gracefully accept defeat. As long as she could achieve this, no matter how dazzling Dimy was, no one could ignore Sonya’s brilliance.

Everyone was waiting for the village girl’s failure, also ready to embrace it.

The host, Arsenault, had stayed up all night preparing his speech, waiting for the dust to settle so he could paint her defeat as a glorious victory, bestowing her with honor and a triumphant return!

Adelle had also written a lengthy article in advance. Once Sonya lost, she planned to rally the Stretch Paw Club to dominate the school forums, vigorously promoting Sonya’s diligence, talent, determination, and perseverance. Jokes like ‘she sees 4 a.m. in Galaxia every day’ were ready to go, along with a comparison of strengths from past Meteor Trials, clarifying that Sonya was just unlucky this time, not defeated!

Lois was planning to take Sonya shopping in a couple of days; she had long wanted to give this village girl a makeover.

Engulite had the simplest plan: she had a box of liquor stashed in her dorm, ready to drown their sorrows upon return.

The others felt the same, all bracing themselves to console her, expecting her to lose as anticipated.

However, the Red-Haired Sword Princess shattered their worldview time and again with her achievements-

She could contend with Dimy,

She was learning from Dimy’s combat techniques,

She even managed to force out Dimy’s Sanctuary,

And now, she had wounded Dimy!

The Stars donned their armors, the nation watched; the glory once destined for Dimy was now inevitably shared with Sonya!

Even compared to the battle-scarred Red-Haired Sword Princess, the Duke’s eldest son, Vlozrada, seemed somewhat… dim!

Everyone realized that they were about to witness an even more dazzling meteor streak across the sky!

Amidst the brilliance, what captivated the sorcerers more was the fierce display from the Red-Haired Sword Princess!

“The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade!?” Sanctuary Sorcerers in the audience gasped, all eyes turning to Professor Trozan from Swordflower College.

“The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade…” Felix mulled over the words, her expression complex.

“The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade!” Engulite and others nearly jumped in excitement, while Adelle looked puzzled: “What is The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade?”

“A Radiant Rainbow Upper-tier Miracle, The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade!” Engulite tried to explain with plain and direct language, suppressing her excitement: “The effect of this miracle can be summarized in one phrase-trans-spatial slash!”

“I know about Space Slash,” Adelle said. “I’ve seen it in ‘Demonsbane Blood,’ where Delarose slashes through space, dividing the world-it’s really cool!”

“No,” Engulite chuckled, shaking her head. “That’s an artistic exaggeration compromised for visual effects. At the Sanctuary level, such broad and sweeping space attacks are the least effective and easiest to counter-Sanctuary can defend against all attacks, including those from external Space Slashes.”

“The truly powerful space attacks are trans-spatial attacks. You must have heard of the ‘Heart Theft’ story, right?”

“Of course, my mother used to scare me with that ghost story when I was little,” Adelle said. “If you don’t behave, the Heart Thief will come and steal your heart…”

“The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade is a miracle of the same type as Heart Theft,” Engulite explained. “It crosses spatial boundaries to strike directly at the vital points!”

“The Sanctuary, although capable of withstanding all attacks, is more like armor covering the body, perfectly blocking any external assaults. However, trans-spatial attacks can bypass the Sanctuary barrier, striking directly at the originals of the sorcerer, causing damage from within!”

Adelle finally understood this time and exclaimed in surprise, “Then isn’t the Sanctuary just for show? It can’t defend against anything at all!”

“Exactly,” Engulite nodded emphatically. “Professor Trozan is hailed as one of the top ten sword saints, precisely because of her nearly unbeatable move, The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade!”

“Then Sonya is sure to win this time!” Adelle excitedly clenched her fist. “Just a mere first son of Stargazer Duke, and president of the Stretch Paw Club, she’ll crush him!”

However, Engulite’s smile faded as she shook her head slightly, “It’s hard for Sonya to win.”

“What? Why? Isn’t The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade very powerful?”

“It is powerful, but if Sonya knew how to use it, she would have already severed Dimy’s throat,” Engulite observed the clashing sword blades on the field. “But she doesn’t know how.”

Meanwhile, Arsenault asked the same question as Adelle, “Lord Nidhogg, if Therave has mastered The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade, isn’t Vlozrada in danger?”

“She can merely perform The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade, far from mastering it,” Nidhogg replied calmly. “The core spirit of The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade is the ‘Boundless’ Spatial Spirit with three wings, probably a gift from Trozan. It’s unknown how long she has trained this miraculous technique, but she certainly can’t unleash its full potential.”

“The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade is listed in the Star Miracles Directory. Miracles and spirits, though costly, are trivial for Sanctuary Sorcerers and are sanctuary-level miracles accessible to all. So why is it that only Trozan has earned the title of ‘the invisible sword saint’, and other swordsmanship practitioners dare not face her blade?”

At this moment, a female host made an untimely comment, “Including you, Lord Nidhogg?”

This inappropriate remark caused a brief silence throughout the venue, which Arsenault quickly glossed over, “Why don’t other swordsmanship practitioners learn The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade?”

“Because they can’t,” Nidhogg replied as if nothing had happened. “To truly master The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade, one needs at least to be of the Sanctuary level in the Spatial Sect, essentially requiring a complete focus on the spatial discipline!”

Nidhogg’s comments instantly made everyone aware of the challenges associated with The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade-if a two-wings sorcerer can major in two or three types of spellcasting, a Sanctuary Sorcerer typically focuses on just one.

The reason is simple: mastering your primary spellcasting takes ten to twenty years to reach the sanctuary level. Even if you can save some time on your second type of spellcasting, it still requires several years of study, especially in the highly advanced Spatial Sect.

“These miracles that can easily penetrate the sanctuary, such as ‘The Invisible Hand’, ‘Heart Theft’, and ‘Bone Corrosion’, all require a foundation in the Spatial Sect, or rather, they are spatial miracles themselves, simply executed in different ways by sorcerers,” Nidhogg explained.

Nidhogg continued, “Sonya, this young lady, can at most scratch Dimy’s surface and is incapable of inflicting a critical wound.”

“Why is that?” Arsenault asked. “Therave just injured his neck, what if she went a bit deeper-“

“It’s exactly this tiny bit that sets the invisible sword saint far apart from other swordsmen,” Nidhogg replied. “Sonya can’t go any deeper because she ‘can’t see’. As long as her spatial attacks are reliant on vision, she won’t be able to reach Dimy’s internals, as The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade will be defended against by Dimy’s sanctuary first.”

Arsenault asked, “Can you explain that in simpler terms? The audience might not understand.”

Nidhogg, ever patient in public, explained, “Ordinary spatial attacks, like shooting through space bullets or slashing through space sword strikes, merely make the attacks harder to defend against, akin to sharpening the weapon further.”

“But miracles like ‘The Invisible Hand’ and ‘Heart Theft’ are higher-dimensional overpowers, as they target the sorcerer’s undefendable insides, which, unless one is a physical sorcerer, are as fragile as paper.”

“However, the greatest difficulty with the Trans-Spatial Miracle lies in the sorcerers’ inability to pinpoint spatial coordinates.”

Arsenault: “Spatial coordinates?”

Nidhogg: “Ordinary spatial attacks are directed at physical objects as coordinates, such as a sword blade or a bullet. Trans-spatial attacks are different; they require the sorcerer to tear open a spatial gateway themselves, delivering the attack directly to the target. Thus, if you can pinpoint the spatial coordinates of the enemy’s heart, you can easily shatter it.”

Arsenault: “Is it difficult to pinpoint spatial coordinates?”

“It’s very difficult,” Nidhogg paused. “But you’ve never been to the Distant Sky Domain, so it might seem simple to you.”

Arsenault: “…I apologize for never having visited the Distant Sky Domain.”

“Simply put, our surrounding space is constantly changing,” Nidhogg explained. “The Earth is continuously rotating, and even if we’re sitting still, our spatial coordinates from one second to the next are already kilometers apart.”

“The moving world is the biggest obstacle to trans-spatial attacks-without sufficient spatial knowledge, sorcerers cannot lock onto spatial coordinates!”

Arsenault seemed puzzled: “But Therave just injured Vlozrada…”

“That’s because she’s using visual locking,” Nidhogg said with a hint of scorn. “What she’s doing now is like turning a handgun into a slingshot to hurl stones-The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade is merely launched along her line of sight! While the Secret Blade can graze Dimy’s skin, that’s about it, as Dimy’s Sanctuary will immediately neutralize the attack from The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade!”

“She needs to ‘see’ inside Dimy to let the Secret Blade explode outward from within to possibly defeat Dimy. Otherwise, The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade is merely a hugely costly, ordinary spatial attack for her.”

Boom!

On the battlefield, the Red-Haired Sword Princess swiftly retreated amid the collapsing ruins. Her combat attire was torn in several places, with multiple injuries marking her fair, smooth face, leaving it scratched and covered in grime.

In contrast, Dimy still maintained a pristine appearance, his combat attire unscathed and even the wounds on his neck healed-naturally, he possessed the miracle of healing.

“You haven’t constructed your own Sanctuary yet, you’ve just climbed to the Distant Sky Domain a few days ago, haven’t you?” Dimy paused, “I shouldn’t have felt a bit superior just now-I should feel ashamed instead. Compared to you, I feel like I’ve been wasting my time these years.”

“You’ll be able to construct your Sanctuary and catch up to me soon, but I might not be able to keep up with your pace,” he laughed. “Perhaps tonight is my only chance to defeat you.”

While not all three-winged sorcerers can construct a Sanctuary, no one believed that Sonya would stop there. Even Nidhogg spoke of her as if she were already a Sanctuary Sorcerer, and everyone believed that it was only a matter of time for her.

Yet, it was this very layer of Sanctuary that proved to be the critical distance between victory and defeat tonight.

Injuries and blood loss were rapidly draining Sonya’s strength. As time passed, she only felt more exhausted. More crucially, Dimy could launch relentless attacks with his Sanctuary, forcing her into a purely defensive position, retreating step by step with no room for counterattack.

The initial excitement in the audience had also faded, everyone realized that although Sonya was a Sanctuary Sorcerer, this accident would not affect the outcome of tonight’s match.

Sonya wiped the bloodstained dust from the corner of her eye with her sleeve, then gripped her Wooden Sword and assumed a Stance, showing no intention of giving up.

But at that moment, Dimy stopped, sheathed his sword, and said, “Let’s call it a draw.”

“What?”

“Let’s have a draw,” Dimy smiled. “The committee surely won’t mind having two Meteor Lords this year-two Sanctuary Sorcerers in the same session of the Meteor Lord competition will make us a legend, unmatched in history and perhaps never to be seen again.”

“You haven’t lost, and I haven’t won.” He looked around: “This stage is large enough for both of us. What do you think?”

Dimy’s voice, amplified by the Miracle, spread throughout the Sports Arena. It was the first time the audience had heard someone propose a draw in the Final, but upon reflection, it seemed entirely reasonable.

Indeed, they no longer needed the Meteor Lord to prove their glory; instead, the Meteor Lord needed them to enhance its own luster. If they agreed to a draw, the committee would have no choice but to award two Meteor Lord titles.

However-

“Maybe it’s because of preconceived notions, but I also find you quite annoying now.”

Sonya calmly stated, “I’m at a disadvantage now, everyone thinks I’m going to lose. Even if I agree to a draw, everyone would still assume that my first place is due to your charity, effectively making it a factual second place. And then I’d owe you a favor, adding another scandal for others to ridicule.”

Dimy shook his head, “No one dares to mock a Sanctuary Sorcerer.”

“They might not dare to in person, but they would in private, and even in their hearts,” Sonya replied. “Besides, I don’t need your charity.”

“Moreover…”

“Why do you assume I’m definitely going to lose? Be careful.”

Suddenly, Sonya unleashed a Blood Moon Shattered Lake, and just as Dimy tried to counterattack, he felt the vibration of space right in front of him-

Right there!

Snap!

The Invisible Hand’s Secret Blade streaked across Vlozrada’s eyeball!