Mage Manual
Chapter 414 - 344: Ash, Run Fast (Third Update)

Chapter 414: Chapter 344: Ash, Run Fast (Third Update)

"Secret Poison Diary"

"One-winged Technique Spirit"

"Restriction: Mage must possess the ability to write."

"Basic Effect: Summons a diary in which you can write freely. When you write down a complete intelligence report on a secret poison, you will become immune to all effects of the secret poison. Current recordable number of secret poisons: 0/1."

"Passive Effect: A copy of your notebook will appear in the Void Realm. When the copy has been read more than 500 times, this Technique Spirit will automatically advance to Two-winged status. Current number of readings: 0/500."

"’Writing for yourself to read is called a diary; writing for others is called a biography.’"

With surplus grain on hand, Ash found it very difficult not to purchase this diary—it was the only Technique Spirit he knew of that could resist the effects of secret poison!

For a Mage, secret poison was like pulling an all-nighter, smoking, or going to work, something you know will severely affect your physical and mental health, but because the consequences will only emerge in a distant future, you can only continue to endure it out of livelihood concerns, despite your anxiety, passively accepting the beatings.

Although the Secret Poison Diary can currently record only one type of secret poison, it at least offers a glimmer of hope for healing to someone like Ash, who suffers from several chronic illnesses.

Moreover, if Ash had not guessed wrong, he should be able to modify the recorded secret poison intelligence at any time. That is to say if the infection rate of a certain poison suddenly surged, he could promptly record the outbreak, so that as other infected individuals gradually died off, the destructive power of the secret poison would decline to a bearable normal level.

As long as several secret poisons didn’t erupt at the same time, Ash was essentially safe from any threat to his life.

Each operator would need a copy of this diary in hand, but he didn’t know when the next event that could exchange for it would be. However, this was a long-term virus prevention effort; there was no rush.

Another surprising aspect for Ash was that the ’Secret Poison Diary’ was actually a Technique Spirit, though its effects had already far exceeded the scope of a One-winged Technique Spirit, and its functional specificity was very niche.

If a Mage unaware of secret poison got hold of it, it would be basically useless.

However, such low-level Technique Spirits with comprehensive abilities and tricky functions were not unprecedented for Ash. Compared to the Zero-winged Technique Spirit ’Soul Summoning,’ the ’Secret Poison Diary’ was at least a bit more conscious of its impact, not swinging the balance too wildly.

After purchasing the ’Secret Poison Diary,’ Ash didn’t have many Dream Fragments left, but there were still many strange prizes to buy.

For example, "Technique Spirit Relationship Intelligence," which could reveal an unknown relationship between Technique Spirits. With this relationship, the Technique Spirit’s Gate of Truth would lead to a safe area in the Void Realm approximately 50 square meters in size. Simply put, this intelligence could grant a Mage a 50-square-meter mobile storage space.

That sounded good, but since only souls are allowed to enter the Void Realm, if you wanted to stash objects there for safekeeping, you would need another special artifact or an assisting Miracle. Ash lacked both of these more important items; it was like buying a wife cake with no wife to share it.

In the end, Ash chose to buy a ’Swordsmanship Treasure Bead’ and a ’Fist Claw Treasure Bead.’ Naturally, these Experience Treasure Orbs were not for his own use. To maximize the shared experience from the Bonds, the Experience Treasure Orbs had to be given to the Witch and Sword Maiden.

Just as Ash was about to close the exchange portal, he suddenly noticed a new prize at the bottom of the exchange list that he hadn’t seen before.

"Witch’s Dream: 10 Dream Fragments, used immediately upon exchange. Your Spirit Faction Realm will temporarily rise to Golden Level for 24 hours, can only be exchanged once."

Witch’s Dream? Ash blinked, wondering if the reward had appeared because he had chosen Witch as his mode of operation in the Dream Expedition.

If he had chosen Sword Maiden, would the exchange portal have offered ’Sword Maiden’s Dream,’ upgrading his Sword Technique Faction to Golden Level for 24 hours?

As Ash mused haphazardly, he exchanged for the "Witch’s Dream." After all, it was just 10 Dream Fragments; why not if it’s free?

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but after exchanging for the "Witch’s Dream," he felt as if his Spirit Faction Realm had indeed risen. If before he could only glean no more than a 140-character microessay from someone’s eyes, now Ash felt that he could complete an entire dissertation defense just by sight alone.

Closing "Aurora’s Mage Manual," Ash opened the Gospel Book and inquired, "Open the Funeral Service Office chat group."

Because there were several days of free time, Hanna spent some Gospel Points to open their exclusive chat group\, anything that needed to be addressed could be discussed there. While there were civilian alternatives, the communication services provided by the Gospel were unmatched in terms of immediacy and secrecy.

The chat group didn’t have many messages, mostly notifications from Hanna and rows of neatly typed ’received’ responses. It was only natural for the chat to be quiet with a boss in attendance; many things were better left unsaid.

However, the chat group was unusually active at this moment—

"Bokin Sir: I’m on my way to meet up with Ash, where are you guys?"

"Death Artist: I’m also heading towards Ash."

"Housekeeper: Same here."

"Housekeeper: Miss? Miss?"

"Housekeeper: Why isn’t the miss checking the group?"

"Bokin Sir: Can’t the young miss handle her craving by herself?"

"Housekeeper: Impossible."

"Bokin Sir: Why isn’t Ash checking the messages?"

"Death Artist: Ash, run."

Ash was startled, and then it dawned on him—if the enemies causing the disturbance in Vatican Mura were truly after them, their first target would inevitably be the person wanted by the Empire, suspected of causing an apocalypse in the rankings of the "Art Chart", and killing him wouldn’t even flag them—

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The windows of the game layer shattered one after another as Red Hats, the violent armed faction of the Gospel, barged in wearing imperial boots, with Cleos at the forefront holding a short gun in her left hand and a document in her right, "Cross-district search warrant, conducting a surprise search right now!"

"We’ve found him."

Leight raised his sniper rifle with one hand, aiming at Ash hidden behind the front desk, "I am Modora Red Hat Captain Leight Rex, and I suspect you are the person wanted under warrant number 69-165. Raise your hands and back against the wall for inspection immediately."

"How did you know I was here?" Ash took out a mask and put it on, "The ’Twisted Mask’ should block the Gospel Book’s tracking of me."

In the rewards for "Art Chart", the Demonic Windcoat could cause Mental Shock, while the Twisted Mask was meant to enhance focus and distort tracking efforts.

Hanna and the others had tested it; whenever they tried to determine Ash’s location by any means, the feedback from the Gospel was always absurdly distorted.

That was also why Ash hadn’t been abandoned yet; after all, he was certain to carry the Demonic Windcoat and Twisted Mask. If it was easy to pinpoint his location through special items, then Hanna keeping Ash around would be tantamount to turning themselves in.

"The Gospel indeed couldn’t give us your location," Leight laughed, "But we found your game account at Hanna’s home. Though you didn’t use that account here, using the Gospel to search for two players with the same behavioral patterns wasn’t difficult—after all, I was only searching for your game account, not you yourself. The Twisted Mask doesn’t seem that smart."

"After confirming your login address and infiltrating your gaming team, it was easy to figure out your gaming hours; naturally, we knew you’d be here at this time."

Ash was dumbfounded, "You..."

"Didn’t I tell you that I have work tonight?"

Leight aimed the sniper directly at Ash’s chest, "Captain, you should feel honored. I’m an Extreme Dungeon player, and putting up with a noob like you really was unbearable."