The Shotgun is Accurate and Fast Within Seven Steps

"Let you do it?"

Sonia was a bit puzzled. She looked at Ash with doubt.

In the life of a sorcerer, the exploration of the Illusory Realm was undoubtedly an important part of their life. It could even be considered the most important part.

Most of the fortuitous encounters, breakthroughs, and advancements in this world happened in the Illusory Realm. Many sorcerers were willing to spend their entire lives exploring the Illusory Realm.

Compared to the Illusory Realm, reality was just a stage for the sorcerers to show off in their spare time.

Although the Illusory Realm was so important, up until now, there had never been a guide for Illusory Realm exploration that could be followed.

If there was, it wasn't something Sonia could access with her current status.

Sonia had asked Professor Trozan if he had any helpful tips about the Illusory Realm in class that afternoon, but Trozan just shrugged and said that there's none.

"Sorcerers have equal status precisely because we are all equally ignorant in the Illusory Realm."

Sonia knew how much Professor Trozan valued her, and she could tell that the professor was a typical swordsman. He would not bother with lying to fool his inferiors like her.

Even a Three-Winged Sanctuary Sorcerer did not have an effective guide, so Sonia did not have any expectations for the Observer.

"The Illusory Realm is dangerous," Sonia reminded him. "If I die here, I'll have to spend three days to recover when I return."

Sorcerers could die in the Illusory Realm.

The most common cause of death was naturally drowning.

When a sorcerer wanted to explore the deep sea or stayed still in the sea, they might be drowned by the Sea of Knowledge.

That was why Sonia was so surprised by the little boat—it meant they were spared the risk of drowning.

If a sorcerer died in the Illusory Realm, it would cause great damage to the soul. The stronger one was, the greater the damage, and the longer one needed to recover.

A newbie sorcerer like Sonia only needed to recuperate for three days, while an official Silver Sorcerer would need to recuperate for at least fifteen days. A Gold Sorcerer would need months, and it was said that the Sanctuary and Legendary Sorcerers would even need to recuperate for years.

Being unable to explore the Illusory Realm would mean a 90% decrease in their rate of development. Therefore, sorcerers had many views on exploring the Illusory Realm. Some people were conservative and tried to develop steadily, while others liked to take risks—if they won the gamble, they would win greatly, and if they lost, they would lose heavily.

In the past, Sonia had been inclined to take risks because she had nothing. Now, she was inclined to be cautious—after unearthing her talent for swordplay, Professor Trozan had evaluated that she'd have no problem becoming a Gold Sorcerer in twenty years, and a chance of becoming a Sanctuary Sorcerer in forty.

In the Astra Nation, a Two-winged Gold Sorcerer was a figure of considerable status. They could become minor nobles without issue. It could be said that this already fulfilled Sonia's life goal.

If she could advance to a Three-winged Sanctuary Sorcerer, she would even be able to establish her own clan and become famed for the era.

As a result, Sonia's attitude as an ordinary citizen was very normal. It was not that she didn't know that she had a better future ahead of her, but the hard-pressed reality forced her to cling to what she had.

The world was beautiful, and worth fighting for. She could only agree with the latter half of this statement.

However, no matter how conservative she was, Sonia still had to explore the Illusory Realm. There was no such option as "staying put". Countless teachers in school and even Professor Trozan had specially reminded her absolutely not to stay in the same place.

Until now, no one knew what would happen if they stayed in the same place for a long time. However, for people who entered the Illusory Realm and stopped moving, their heartbeats quickly stopped in reality as well. Even medical sorcerers could not save them, because their souls were not in their bodies at all.

Therefore, there was a saying that if you stopped moving in the Illusory Realm, your body would believe you were dead, and you would die instantly.

"I've heard that it's safest to go in the direction where the white fog is the thinnest on your first trip into the Illusory Realm," Sonia said.

This was not really a guide. At most, it was a tip summarized by the senior sorcerers of Sword Flower University. Also, the success rate was less than 60%. The other 40% of the respondents still encountered danger.

However, in this completely unknown sea, a 60% chance was already worth a gamble.

"No, we're going that way."

Ash pointed to the place where the fog was thickest. It was impossible to see through it at all, and the sight of it was enough to bring about a hint of fear. Sonia was about to say something, but the small boat somehow started sailing over on its own. Her attention was immediately redirected. "You can control this boat? You brought this boat?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did you trick me into jumping into the sea just now?!"

Seeing Sonia tighten her grip on the wooden sword again, Ash quickly explained, "I only just found out that I can control this boat. I was sincere when I told you to jump into the sea!"

"Sincere about watching me embarrass myself?"

"Sincere about seeing you wet… Ah, calm down, calm down. We have entered an unknown area, and we may encounter danger at any moment!"

The white mist came straight at them, and the unknown could appear at any moment. Sonia could only sit down in indignation.

However, as they passed through the layers of white mist, Sonia felt something flowing into her body. Her consciousness became clearer and clearer, and her skin glowed with a silver light. A great amount of knowledge about swordplay suddenly appeared in her mind.

This was the reason sorcerers had to explore the Illusory Realm—as long as they moved within the Illusory Realm, sorcerers could automatically obtain knowledge within the Illusory Realm and condense their knowledge into Silver spell energy!

When a large amount of Silver spell energy condensed, it would form the symbol of strength for an Illusory Wing Sorcerer: Silver Wing!

Sonia suddenly understood why sorcerers liked to immerse themselves in the Illusory Realm.

The feeling of gaining knowledge every second and becoming stronger every moment was as comfortable as the first stretch in the morning.

While Sonia was enjoying the thrill brought by the knowledge, Ash was staring at the map on the hologram like a distracted underachiever in class.

In the center of the map was a small boat with eight compartments around it. At this moment, the small boat was entering the top left compartment.

That's right, this was the "Illusory Realm Exploration" mode provided by the game. When Ash moved the small boat in the mobile game, the small boat in the Illusory Realm would move along with it.

Apart from moving, he could also check the information of the eight squares.

[Waste of energy], [Courting death], [Waste of energy], [Waste of energy], [Waste of energy], [Worth a shot], [A bit troublesome], [Best to stay away].

Among the eight hints, [Waste of energy] clearly meant that there was nothing in the grid, [Courting death] meant danger, [Best to stay away] was not something Ash could guess about, and [Worth a shot] was obviously a hint given by the game.

Very soon, after passing through layers of white fog, a small island covered in thick fog appeared in front of them.

Seeing this, Sonia suddenly recalled that the place where the Observer conducted the dream trial with her was exactly the same as the Illusory Realm.

No wonder the Observer was so confident. If he could use the Illusory Realm to carry out a trial, exploring the Illusory Realm was naturally not a problem!

The boat slowly stopped. The moment the two of them stepped onto the island, the thick fog suddenly dispersed. A hunter wearing a wide-brimmed hat and holding a shotgun appeared before them.

"The shotgun is fast beyond seven steps."

The hunter raised his shotgun and aimed at the two. "The shotgun is accurate and fast within seven steps!"