Mage Manual
Chapter 413 - 342: Unparalleled Secret Sword Wuling Random Luxury Gift Box

Chapter 413: Chapter 342: Unparalleled Secret Sword Wuling Random Luxury Gift Box

"Why is the thick fog of Vatican Mura so..."

Ash paused for a moment, crossed out the question, and rewrote on the Gospel Book, "Am I in danger tonight?"

Gospel Book: "Yes (consumes 1 Gospel Point)."

Ash pondered for a moment, hid behind the front desk, flipped the Gospel Book to the "Aurora’s Mage’s Handbook" page, and then opened the "Senheiser Dream" - "Dream Fragment Exchange."

Tonight’s Dream Expedition had already ended, and now that such a big incident had occurred – it was practically like a terrorist attack – Ash felt that their journey to Vatican Mura might have to come to an end, so it was time to settle the gains from the Senheiser Dream early.

No matter what was about to happen, the best course of action was to quickly convert idle resources into combat power!

Ash took a look, and thanks to his (Substitute’s) hard work these past few days, he had accumulated a total of 1553 Dream Fragments. Although it seemed like a lot, the moment he saw the abundance of rewards at the exchange, rich as a sea of smoke, Ash knew he had to count his pennies as carefully as he did when he was a kid with a 50-dollar bill at a snack shop, picking out treats for a spring outing.

However, Ash had nothing to do while building his game team these past few days, and he had already thought about which prizes he wanted to exchange for. Behaving like someone who thinks about what to buy with the winnings before even winning was a kind of spiritual entertainment for him.

And luckily, Ash had studied the cost-effectiveness of each prize inside and out, so he didn’t need to think too much at the moment and could directly take the best combo pack home!

First was the "Unrivalled Secret Sword ’Five Spirits’ Deluxe Random Gift Box"!

Compared to ordinary gift boxes, the deluxe one was only 100 Fragments more expensive but came with two extra gifts: an exclusive Miracle Treasure Bead for the Unrivalled Secret Sword "Five Spirits" (gain mastery over it immediately upon use), and the essential ordinary Technique Spirit needed to combine this Miracle.

Ash was different from the Sword Maiden; she could almost immediately master a new Technique Spirit of swordsmanship, but Ash needed to train for a day or two before he could barely reach a combat-ready state. Even if it could be used in combat, Ash would rather use a Miracle, unless the Technique Spirit had an exceptionally excellent Basic Effect.

Don’t forget, there’s a limit to the number of Technique Spirits a Mage can use simultaneously, like Ash could only manage four Technique Spirits at most at the same time; any more, and he would be overwhelmed.

To draw an analogy, controlling Technique Spirits is like playing an RTS (Real-Time Strategy game), where a powerful Mage can precisely control each unit for tactical micromanagement, whereas Ash could only play strategically – selecting all units and then sending them in a wave.

So, since arriving on the Time Continent, Ash’s Technique Spirit system hadn’t been updated much, still anchored by the "Sword Barrier," a ranged support style, because that’s the only Miracle he truly mastered. As for his self-created "Charge" mobility Miracle and the "Cleave Through Me" Miracle that removes negative statuses, they were scarcely useful.

As for "Heart Sword" and "Sword Trace," those were pretty much just for scratching an itch, basic attacks.

He badly needed a Miracle that could deliver burst damage, so he immediately locked onto this deluxe gift box.

Exchange!

"You have opened the ’Unrivalled Secret Sword ’Five Spirits’ Deluxe Random Gift Box’."

"You have obtained the Two-winged Technique Spirit ’Emotion Sword’."

"You have obtained the Two-winged Technique Spirit ’Favoritism’."

"You have obtained the Miracle Treasure Bead ’Favoritism’."

Although Ash was pleased that the gift box produced Technique Spirits that were most suitable for him, the names of these Technique Spirits made him feel like his dream of explosive output was falling through again.

"Emotion Sword"

"Two-winged Technique Spirit"

"Limitation: The Mage must be able to generate emotions."

"Basic Effect: Consumes current emotions to summon an Emotion Sword that can be controlled freely."

"Passive Effect: Your emotions become more vigorous, manifesting as an enhancement of your personality traits."

"’Only when you’re as happy as I am, is it sharing; only when you’re as sad as I am, is it an apology.’"

...

"Favoritism"

"Two-winged Technique Spirit"

"Restriction: The mage must be capable of generating emotions."

"Basic Effect: Transform all your current emotions into a single specified emotion, currently convertible emotions include anger, love, happiness, and sorrow."

"Passive Effect: You will become more focused on any matter, reducing the likelihood of being indecisive, as well as lowering the chance of transferring affection."

"In the world of mages, even feelings can be ’fabricated.’"

...

"Miracle of Favoritism: Through devoted emotional conversion, generate a specific single Emotion Sword. Depending on the emotion, the effects of the Emotion Sword differ—

The Anger Sword, extremely fast in attack, and exceptionally strong in armor penetration;

The Joyful Sword has healing effects on both the body and spirit;

The Sorrow Sword, with average attack speed, imparts various negative states like slowdown, blindness, tinnitus, and dizziness with each hit;

The Love Sword, enhances the target’s physical qualities in all aspects."

Well, how should I put this... Although it’s not without its bursts of power, and although it’s extremely practical and has a wide range of applications...

This Miracle is really more of a support type, isn’t it! I still have to stand in the back row and play the support role!

All I wanted was to show off in front of the witch and the Sword Maiden; is that too much to ask for!?

After buying the deluxe gift box, the number of Dream Fragments dropped from four digits to three, leaving Ash with few options. However, the "Miracle of Favoritism" really did help a lot; Ash originally intended to buy a Technique Spirit for medical emergencies, but now with the "Joyful Sword," he could save a considerable amount.

With so many Dream Fragments left, Ash couldn’t resist turning his gaze to the most expensive top prizes of the "Senheiser Dream," including:

"One-winged Technique Spirit: Secret Poison Notebook," "Random Technique Spirit Summon Card," and "Operator Possession Card."

Among them, Ash had previously drawn a "Random Technique Spirit Summon Card," a Gold Legendary functional card whose actual effects were indeed worthy of its rarity—operators would summon a Technique Spirit matching their current level of magic power within a week. When the Sword Maiden was still a One-winged Mage, she summoned a One-winged Spirit Technique Spirit, which also pushed the Spirit Faction to Silver Level.

Now they were Two-winged Mages, and naturally, using this card would summon a random Two-winged Technique Spirit, and the corresponding Magic Faction would also rise to Golden Level.

The three prizes were the same price, implying the other two were also Gold Legendary level. However, Ash initially didn’t consider these prizes, as the Empress of the Void Realm was watching them closely, ready to break apart their family of three at any moment, and these prizes wouldn’t immediately enhance their strength. It seemed more sensible to buy a Technique Spirit box and gamble on filling the gaps in Ash’s offense, defense, debilitation, and healing.

But the Emotion Sword was just too practical. Ash felt like someone planning to buy a heap of entertainment devices, only to buy a smartphone and find out it barely met all his entertainment needs. As the old saying goes, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Ash didn’t need to chase after a slight upgrade in performance and spend more money.

Among the top prizes, the "Random Technique Spirit Summon Card" was the first to be ruled out. Its practicality was well recognized, but so was its capricious nature, as also experienced by the Sword Maiden, when the summoning ritual turned out to be completely random, and she ended up with a ritual that required "speaking from the heart," which drastically changed her social relationships.

Though the outcome was pleasant, if Ash dared to try that again, the Sword Maiden would definitely fight him tooth and nail.

Since it wasn’t suitable for the Sword Maiden, it was naturally unsuitable for the witch either, whose state was in every sense more precarious than that of the Sword Maiden.

Ash himself needed it even less; the card was essentially a specialized Magic Faction training course, and while he had heard of training for employees, he had never heard of training for the boss.

The "Operator Possession Card" also had a rather subtle effect. To put it simply, Ash could temporarily summon an operator to possess his body and control his combat actions.

Since it was a spiritual possession, the operator’s Technique Spirit would also come along, allowing the operator to exert one hundred percent of their combat power in the "Ash-model fighter plane."

In principle, this card was indeed worth its Gold Legendary status, with the potential to turn the tide and upset the situation if used correctly.

The problem was, both the Sword Maiden and the witch were only slightly stronger than Ash...

If they were Four-winged Legendary Mages, with Ash as the main support, the Sword Maiden as the primary attacker, and the witch as the main controller, then the gap in their combat power would indeed be significant. An enemy Ash couldn’t resist might be vanquished by a single strike from the Sword Maiden. At that time, this Operator Possession Card could become Ash’s ultimate turnaround trump card.

But as it was, they were only Two-winged Gold Mages. The Sword Maiden indeed could defeat Ash but wasn’t so overpowering to the point of a crush. Ash could use tactics such as defense, evasion, and harassment to extend his inevitable defeat. For an enemy that Ash absolutely couldn’t beat, swapping in the Sword Maiden might not make much hope either.

The card was good, but it came too early; it simply wasn’t the right time.

Therefore, Ash chose to purchase the first top prize.