Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 466: Bad Luck

Sonya was playing in a match.

However, it wasn’t the Meteor Trial but the Celestial Palace Trial, a five-person team battle representing their school. The roles were divided into Vanguard, vanguard, Center, Sub-chief, and chief. Each person could only compete once, and the lineup had to be submitted before the league started, without any changes allowed mid-tournament.

To avoid scenarios where a top-tier competitor faces a lower-tier one, which would harm the spirit and viewership of the competition, the Celestial Palace Trial didn’t purely focus on win-loss records. Each match earned 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 points respectively. Thus, even if a team lost the first three matches, the 4+5=9 points from the Sub-chief and chief could still reverse the situation. This meant that schools had to arrange their competitors from weakest to strongest; otherwise, they would be vulnerable to a comeback.

Being a single combat event, the restraint among different Spellcasting Sects was particularly evident. Bad luck could indeed lead to a fire sorcerer getting severely beaten by a water sorcerer. Therefore, although Sonya was the chief in Friendly Matches, she could only serve as the third Center in official competitions.

The Sub-chief was her familiar senior sister, Leoni, while the chief was a fourth-year student, Negus Barver, once heralded as the “Swordgrass.”

Like Sonya and Leoni, Negus was a student of the Sanctuary sorcerer “Rainstorm Singer” Valenteen. He had remained low-profile over the past year at Swordflower College because he spent most of his time adventuring in the Abyss’s third and fourth layers. If it weren’t for the College League, he likely wouldn’t have returned to the surface. He was a pure battle sorcerer.

Negus becoming the chief in the Celestial Palace Trial was a natural choice. He had already stepped into the Time Continent in his third year and completely formed his Golden Wings within a year and a half. He also had multiple Abyss Adventure experiences, making his qualifications and combat prowess unmatched by Sonya. There were rumors that Negus had already been reserved by the Royal Family’s Starburst Guard and would become a Sword Noble immediately after graduation-the lowest noble title in the House of Nobles, the starting point for the ruling class of Stars, and truly a person with a bright future.

As for who would be the Sub-chief between Sonya and Leoni, Professor Trozan mentioned that there had been debates at the school level. Both had become two-wings sorcerers around the same time, and Sonya had even defeated Leoni head-on. However, they ultimately chose the safer option, Leoni.

After all, in the Celestial Palace Trial, the lineup can’t be adjusted once submitted. If a participant encounters an opponent who restrains their abilities, they’ll have no leverage to fight back. While Sonya is indeed stronger, Leoni, with her three years of sorcerer experience, has much richer combat experience and a far more developed spirit system compared to Sonya. Hence, she has a lower chance of being restrained by opposing competitors.

Put it this way, Sonya still doesn’t have a good solution to deal with gun sorcerers, whereas Leoni is an anomaly—known as “The Orange Dancer,” she can dodge a gun sorcerer’s lock-on with her speed. In fact, her speed alone allows her to contend with most sorcerers.

Sonya hasn’t been a sorcerer for long, and she’s been too comfortable in the Virtual Realm. She only needs to focus on burst damage, with Observer and the Witch handling everything else, which inevitably leads to shortcomings.

In the chaotic battles of the Meteor Trial, she could rely on her combat instincts to find opportunities, but in one-on-one spellcasting matches, her weaknesses get infinitely magnified. It makes sense that Swordflower College didn’t select her as the Sub-chief.

In this year’s Celestial Palace Trial, except for the Vanguard who is a silver sorcerer, all other members of Swordflower College are golden sorcerers, marking the best lineup the school has had in nearly five years. By now, it’s clear that while Swordflower College has decent faculty and ranks high, its cultivation rate is far below other schools of the same level. They couldn’t even field five two-wings sorcerers for the Celestial Palace Trial. This is mainly because Swordflower College is the top choice for children of wealthy merchants and nobility who couldn’t get into Truth College.

Simply put, the student quality is too poor.

It’s not that these students lack talent, but their college life is filled with balls, socializing, and entertainment, leaving them no time to study spellcasting. In Sonya’s dormitory, students like Engulite, who focused solely on practicing swordsmanship, were the exceptions.

Sonya chose Swordflower College initially because of its advantage in meeting noble children.

Over the past five years, Swordflower College couldn’t even break into the Top Sixteen of the Celestial Palace Trial. This year, reaching the Top Eight is all thanks to the sudden rise of Sonya and Leoni. Apart from Sonya’s uniqueness, Leoni quickly elevated her spirit system to the two-wings level as soon as she stepped onto the Time Continent. Coupled with her “rhythm swordsmanship” at its peak during the golden phase, she easily surpassed other schools’ fourth-year students in combat strength.

With this lineup, Swordflower College could hold its own against other schools. Losing the Vanguard and vanguard matches wouldn’t matter much because the team would almost certainly come back to win the last three matches, aiming for a solid fourth place or even second place.

However, when the match draw was announced, the whole team from Swordflower College fell silent.

Boom!

When the blood-red sword light, curved like a crescent moon, descended, the thick Concrete Wall shattered instantly. The green-haired young man hiding behind it immediately raised his hand, “I surrender.”

“Sigh, such bad luck,” he said with a sigh, “If it had been The Orange Dancer or a water sorcerer, I definitely would have won. But to face the Red-Haired Sword Princess… I’m the only one who lost, and now I’ll be laughed at for a long time when I get back…”

Though blunt, Sonya knew he was telling the truth. As a sorcerer specializing in both earth and wood spells, his powerful earth spell, the Defensive Miracle “Concrete,” could withstand gun attacks. Additionally, he possessed an extremely strong spell called the Senlo Miracle “Spirit-Siphoning Vines”!

Currently, the whole arena was covered with Spirit-Siphoning Vines, which had a simple yet devastating effect: they drained spellforce from other sorcerers to bolster his own!

In his previous battles, he had used the combination of Spirit-Siphoning Vines and Concrete to wear down his opponents until they had no strength left. What was remarkable was that the Spirit-Siphoning Vines were not weak against fire, but rather against toxic or dark spells with corrosive properties, making it difficult for him to meet his match.

If it had been Leoni or Negus, they might have been worn down by him because his Concrete Wall’s defense was terrifyingly robust. However, his opponent happened to be Sonya, whose burst attack capability was unparalleled. When Sonya broke through his defenses with three consecutive “Blood Moon Shattered Lake” attacks, he had no choice but to gracefully admit defeat and surrender.

The audience erupted in cheers, though not overwhelmingly so. When Sonya returned to the players’ area, there wasn’t much elation; only Professor Trozan and Leoni gave her a nod of acknowledgment.

She went over and patted Leoni on the shoulder. “Let’s go for a drink later?”

“No, thanks. You used to always turn down my invitations to rush off to the Virtual Realm, so tonight I’ll use the same reason to refuse you,” Leoni stood up and smiled, “After this match, I’m sure I’ll be motivated to dive into the Virtual Realm. Thank you, you at least made our defeat not quite so embarrassing.”

Sonya watched as Leoni walked onto the field,

The host’s voice rang out: “Next is the Sub-chief Battle, featuring Leoni Vickt from Swordflower College, against—”

“Aisha Maltz from Truth College!”

Swordflower College’s opponent in the Celestial Palace Trial Top Eight was Truth College!

The pinnacle of all universities, the nightmare that has dominated the College League for decades!

No matter how much Swordflower College hated the draw results, there was nothing they could do. Some school had to face obliteration at the hands of Truth College. Why shouldn’t it be them?

The Vanguard Battle and Forward Battle were practically instant defeats. Although Sonya won one match, no one believed Swordflower College had any hope.

Truth College’s Sub-chief and Chief were overwhelmingly powerful and insurmountable.

On the arena, Aisha said from a distance to Leoni, “Nice to meet you. I’ve long wanted to see the renowned move ‘Rhythm Melody’ of the rhythm sword saint. They say Rhythm Melody needs three strikes to fully unleash its power?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then I’ll let you attack three times. I hope you don’t disappoint me.”

Facing Aisha’s dismissive words, Leoni solemnly nodded, “I won’t disappoint you.”

“Very well,” Aisha smiled, raising a shield with her left hand and pulling out a handgun with her right.

At the host’s signal, “Begin!” Leoni instantly vanished, leaving only a fleeting orange streak. Aisha, however, stood leisurely in place, not using any Defensive Miracle and even distractedly gazing at the starry night sky.

Clang!

Suddenly, Aisha swung her shield backward, perfectly blocking Leoni’s attack. Though the first strike didn’t succeed, Leoni quickly adjusted her angle and launched a side attack—

Slash!

Although there wasn’t time to maneuver the shield, Aisha effortlessly leaned to one side, narrowly avoiding Leoni’s slash. The longsword merely cut off some of Aisha’s hair!

Leoni disappeared again, and after a brief adjustment, the third strike of Rhythm Melody descended from above, its golden sword light falling like a meteor!

Clang!

Aisha’s block was so sharp it was almost piercing to the ears. Not only was Aisha unharmed, but Leoni was sent flying, rolling several times on the ground. The Orange Dancer tried to stand but found her legs too weak, falling to her knees and coughing up a mouthful of blood.

When Leoni looked up, she saw Aisha pointing a handgun at her head.

She smiled bitterly, “I lost.”

There were no cheers or boos from the audience, just an expected silence.

Aisha was proficient in both the Prophecy Sect and the Shielding Sect.

Shields are actually quite common among sorcerers; in the early stages of the Virtual Realm, everyone conjures a shield to block attacks like those from a Blade Fish Dragon. However, the Shielding Sect is very niche because it specializes in defense, and other sects can achieve similar defensive effects through their own Defensive Miracles, reducing the need for shields.

The biggest advantage of the Shielding Sect lies in its miracles of ‘Perfect Block’ and ‘Perfect Counterattack.’ By mastering the timing, a block can entirely neutralize an enemy’s attack—sometimes even reflecting it back at the attacker.

However, mastering this timing is extremely challenging, with only a fleeting window of opportunity. The enemy’s attacks are unpredictable and varied, making it very hard to consistently achieve. Most Shielding Sect sorcerers can, at best, only manage a ‘Normal Block’ or ‘Normal Counterattack,’ which is less effective than other Defensive Miracles, thus leading to the Shielding Sect’s unpopularity.

However, ‘Unbeaten Star’ Aisha showed everyone that when combined with the Prophecy Sect, the Shielding Sect’s powers can become terrifyingly potent.

Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Swords, Gunmanship, Nunchaku, Fist-Claw… she can perfectly block any attack. Since her debut, she has never been defeated, nor even injured! And whenever an enemy launches a strong attack, she uses a Perfect Counterattack to reflect the attack back in full, sometimes even stunning the opponent!

Leoni was defeated because the third strike of Rhythm Melody was perfectly countered, causing her to bear the full power of her own miracle. Even if Aisha wasn’t pointing the handgun at her, Leoni was too weakened to continue fighting!

Of course, Aisha wasn’t invincible. Take Sonya’s earlier opponent, for example; a defensive and multi-target combination like ‘Concrete’ and ‘Spirit-Siphoning Vines’ could slowly wear Aisha out. But that’s when her handgun comes into play—it’s not an ordinary standard-issue handgun, but the Spellforce-powered Stargazer Model 85, an Artifact Spirit gun whose power increases with the input spellforce.

Because it holds no pre-sealed miracles and requires the sorcerer to expend spellforce, such tools are allowed in the College League.

This handgun, of course, lacks the destructive power of a dedicated gun sorcerer, but if Aisha infuses all her golden spellforce into a single bullet, it can still punch a hole through a wall of Concrete. Although the hole would close quickly and dodging the shot would be an option, who can guarantee they can evade a surprise attack from a prophecy sorcerer?

If you don’t attack her, she’ll shoot you; if you do attack, she’ll counter and kill you.

Fortunately, Aisha struggles in multi-person battles; otherwise, she would have dominated the Meteor Trial!

Watching Leoni being carried off for medical treatment, Sonya refocused on the arena. Compared to facing the prophecy sorcerer Aisha, the next match was the one Sonya was most concerned about.

Because the two sorcerers about to face off were both Top Eight contenders from the Meteor Trial! If Sonya wanted to capture a meteor, she would inevitably have to face them eventually!

“And now, for the highly anticipated Chief Battle, representing Swordflower College, Negus Barver, versus—”

“Truth College, Dimy Vlozrada!”