Sorcerer's Handbook-Chapter 777: When Do You Plan to Submit the Manuscript?

“Great apocalypse observer, Ashe Heath! Goodness follows you, evil admires you! Light yearns for you, darkness also desires you! You are an existence beyond all, the color bestowed upon all things by the gods!”

“Great apocalypse observer, Ashe Heath…”

Ashe sat on the cold stone throne, looking at the large group of weirdos in black robes kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and praying to him. Behind his dazed, half-awake expression, a huge question mark was slowly forming.

(⊙⊙)?

He saw a pair of thighs nearby and slapped them directly.

“Hmm?”

Ashe looked up and found that the person standing next to him was not Igor or Harvey, but a girl he didn’t know. She had deep blue waist-length hair as profound as the starry sky, eyes as clear and blue as Qinghai Lake, rosy lips and white teeth, skin fairer than snow, and was looking at him curiously.

“Why did you hit me?”

I thought you were a Con Artist or necromancer… Ashe asked, “Did it hurt?”

The girl: “It hurt.”

“Then I’m not dreaming.” Ashe held his forehead, looking incredulous. “Did I… just load a save?”

“You’re a bit strange.” She said calmly, “Just now you were muttering about Ruby Mountain, Four Wings, legend, Celestium, Virtual Realm, all sorts of random terms. You’re making me worry about you. If you’re fine, please hang in there, the event is about to end.”

Ashe looked up at the ceiling, wondering if Gerard was about to jump down and start hacking people.

His thoughts gradually cleared-he had clearly used the Gate of the Minor Four Pillars to bring Igor and Harvey into Ruby Mountain, so how did he suddenly end up here?

Could the Gate of the Minor Four Pillars be a trap?

No way, this was an artifact drawn from Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook. If even this had a trap, Ashe would never dare use the “virtual realm exploration” mechanism to team up again. Who knows if it would lock him and the sword Princess Witch in a dark room.

And if it really was a trap set by the Four Pillars or some other great being, wouldn’t they just harvest their kidneys directly? Why bother trapping them in a rebirth illusion?

Or did he die the moment he activated the Gate of the Minor Four Pillars, so he’s starting over? So he wasn’t just a simple time trave, but stuck in an infinite loop of loading saves?

Just then, all the lights in the basement turned on, and the disciples’ voices of praise abruptly stopped. They stood up respectfully, faced Ashe, and exited the basement one by one. Until everyone had left, the ceiling remained unbroken, leaving Ashe a bit disappointed.

Only Ashe and the deep blue-haired girl were left in the basement. By now, he vaguely realized this wasn’t some kind of rebirth or loading a save, but another situation he couldn’t understand. Although he should be cautious and gather Intelligence, Ashe sensed his inner soul-spellforce could operate normally, and his spirit could be driven. In other words…

He was still a legendary sorcerer.

Since that was the case, there was no need to be cautious.

Ashe asked directly, “Who are you? Who am I? What’s our relationship? What year, month, and day is it now?”

“I’m Rose Lena, you’re Ashe Heath, we grew up together as childhood friends, and I’m also your assistant now. It’s October 18, 1668.” The deep blue-haired girl, Rose, gazed at Ashe, curiosity on her face. “These questions of yours… seem like only someone who time traveled from a parallel world would ask. Is this your new persona?”

Ashe pointed at the basement. “What’s with this cult? Am I the Cult Leader?”

“That depends on how you define Cult.” Rose said, “If you mean unlimited worship of a particular person, treating them as a spiritual idol, practicing their ideas, spreading their theories-that would be a Cult, yes.”

“But on a societal level, no, they’re just members of your fan club. We’ve reported this event to the local police, and the club is a widely recognized charitable organization.”

Ashe widened his eyes, incredulous. “A club? Then why are club activities about worshiping, praising, and revering me?”

“The full name is ‘Apocalypse Observer Study Group’.” Rose said, “As for why the activities are like this, it’s because you starred in ‘Blood Moon Tribunal’. Your cult leader character was so outstanding that every fan meeting has many fans spontaneously performing cultist rituals to you, and quite a few even long to be scolded by you.”

“In public fan voting, ‘cult worship’ overwhelmingly became the club’s regular activity.”

Ashe pointed at himself, “I’m… an actor?”

“Not just that.” Rose pulled up her sleeve to check her watch. “It’s about time, let’s go have lunch.”

Rose walked out of the basement, and Ashe followed, discovering the basement was under a villa. Although the furniture was very different, the basic structure looked very familiar to him.

“Isn’t this Felix’s villa?” Ashe muttered.

“This is my villa.” Rose said, “I lent it to you as a venue for club activities.”

Suddenly, Rose felt her shoulder grabbed hard. Ashe was almost nose-to-nose with her, his deep black eyes staring straight into her sapphire pupils.

“Do you know Felix, Igor, and Harvey?” he asked.

Rose thought very seriously, then shook her head. “I’ve never heard of them.”

Ashe looked at her for a while before letting go. “Sorry.”

“Nice names.” Rose rubbed her shoulder and said calmly, “Are they characters in your next work?”

“You’re really strange.” Ashe frowned. “I should be completely different from the childhood friend you know, right? Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

If a friend were possessed by an unfamiliar soul through time trave, a normal reaction would be disbelief or fear. No one would calmly accept it, let alone converse with Ashe so peacefully. Ashe was even ready for a violent interrogation, but Rose showed no suspicion or resistance, answering all his questions obediently.

“I really have to explain this every time… You say you’re completely different from my childhood friend, but that’s not true.” Rose said, “After all, you’ve often been like this in the past.”

“Often like this?”

“Sometimes you wake up as if from a dream, your mind full of astonishingly brilliant ideas, then lock yourself in your room for a few days and create a work that’s sure to be a hit. You used to say you were actually asleep most of the time, your soul going to a world called ‘Blood Moon’ to study and gather material, and only occasionally returning to be awake.”

“But every time you go to ‘Blood Moon’, you forget you’ve been to this world, so this isn’t the first time you’ve asked me who you are, what year, month, and day it is, or ‘why aren’t you afraid of me’.”

Rose shrugged. “I don’t know why you like this kind of role-playing so much, but as your assistant, I can only play along.”

“You told me last time that there was no need to go to ‘Blood Moon’ anymore, and next time you’d stay here forever, but then you ‘slept’ for over half a year before coming back.”

“Speaking of which.” Rose took out a notebook, flipped a few pages, and said, “The only project you reached a cooperation agreement on before you left last time was the romantic comedy ‘Sorcerer 100%’. Although you only wrote half of it, the partner was very satisfied. Now that you’re ‘awake’, when do you plan to submit the manuscript?”