Mage Manual
Chapter 422 - 352: Fooled!

Chapter 422: Chapter 352: Fooled!

Have the Heavenly Carriage Bull retreat by about ten days.

In the large flat’s library at Hanna’s, after completing the Contract transaction with "Liss," Igula made an inappropriate request.

"You want to study ’us’?"

"Liss" waved her hand and shook her head, giving Swindler a double refusal, "Absolutely not."

"Even if you say no, I will still keep observing you," Igula threatened. "I don’t intend to do anything excessive, just want you to answer some questions and fill out a survey. Think carefully, you might be smart and cautious, but Liss is a sweet child who wears her heart on her sleeve. It’s better for you to willingly make an ice cream that will satisfy a psychologist than for me to swindle colorful lollipops from a child."

"Liss" still shook her head, "Liss isn’t as easy to read as you think; she only acts the fool in front of fools, and becomes clever in front of the smart ones... But why are you so interested in us? Didn’t you just say that you’ve encountered many patients with multiple personalities?"

"I have seen quite a few cases of multiple personalities," Igula said, "but none as special as you... as you all."

"Generally speaking, multiple personality disorder presents in two forms: The first is multiple personalities within the same soul, wherein personalities can coexist for a long time but have difficulty communicating with each other. Severe cases may struggle even to share memories, and a personality has to ’sleep’ for another to ’awake.’ This is like a die that can only show one face at a time."

"The second is multiple souls and multiple personalities, meaning the soul splits within the body and forms multiple personalities. This is an extremely dangerous condition, where personalities can communicate or even attack each other in the mind, generally unable to coexist for long. Souls tend to devour one another, manifesting as mutual slaughter between personalities. However, it is said that some Spirit Miracles enable soul transfer, that’s the so-called ’substitutes’ and ’soul splitting’."

"As for your case, not only have I never seen it, I’ve never even heard of it." The talented but unscrupulous psychotherapist exclaimed, "Having multiple souls in one body, not only are they capable of communicating, but they also coexist harmoniously, and even share a common goal, each with clear division of labor. It’s practically the ideal form of organizational structure."

"To others, multiple personality disorder is an uncontrollable illness, but to you, multiple personality is a controllable Miracle."

"That’s why I’m curious." Igula scrutinized "Liss." "How exactly do these personalities coexist within the soul?"

...

On the 72nd floor of Senheiser, as soon as Heath lifted his restrictions, the battle instantly reached a fierce intensity. Despite everyone trying to conserve their strength, the 72nd floor was still heavily damaged, riddled with bullet holes, with the ceiling and the floor nearly being blown through.

"Speaking of which, I have a question for you clan leaders," Heath said, ducking into Cleos’s Holy Domain to reload, trying to disrupt the battle with conversation, "I can understand that you clan leaders have ’spare bodies,’ but the White Fog’s withdrawal targets all Vatican Mura people, ’spare bodies’ included, who then suffer withdrawal reactions and can’t move. How do you control the ’spare bodies’?"

"Simple, we’re not directly connected to the ’spare bodies’" the man in the coat replied loudly: "It’s just like playing a virtual game. Although we players can fully control the game characters, we are not possessing them, rather, we control them through virtual equipment."

"So even if the game characters are afflicted with blindness, Petrification, severe injury, weakness, and other negative statuses, it is only the game characters who suffer, while the players can continue to control them."

"That’s enough," the man with glasses said, "Don’t be so hasty to reveal secrets to the enemy you’re fighting."

"I still don’t understand," Heath inquired, puzzled, "Playing games requires virtual equipment, so what’s the medium for you to connect with the ’spare bodies’?"

The man in the coat seemed unable to resist the opportunity to show off his knowledge: "’Spare bodies’ own souls, of course."

Heath was taken aback, "Aren’t you controlling them through soul splitting?"

"How could that be? Each body can only house one soul. If our split souls are to remain in the ’spare bodies’ as the last resort, then we could only—"

"That’s enough, Bosch!" the man with the glasses interjected.

However, Heath had already read between the lines of their conversation.

He was, after all, a Holy Sanctuary Mage. Although he hadn’t delved deep into the Spirit Faction, his general knowledge allowed him to infer the subtleties of the Six Emblems families’ secret.

"The only existence that can hide within the soul of a Mage is just one type."

Heath surveyed the room, "You all are actually Technique Spirits."

...

In the 56th-floor corridor, Liss, who was clutching the Substitute’s neck, was puzzled.

Am I a Technique Spirit?

How could I possibly be a Technique Spirit?

I am the little witch, the youngest sister that my sisters adore the most, the cutest daughter of my father, is...

"After Princess Lissdia left, we speculated countless times about the princess’s psychological state, but Her Majesty refuted each one. The princess has been growing up healthily under Her Majesty’s watchful eye, and it’s absolutely impossible for her to have thoughts of running away or to enter the Void Realm on her own."

"So, the one who left the tower is not the princess, or rather, the princess was coerced, deceived, or even murdered."

"Then who exactly entered the Void Realm? Who encountered the Bronze Dragon? Who tried every means to escape Nabistin?"

The Black Knight wrote, "It could only be a Technique Spirit born from the princess’s memories."

"You, or rather you all, have stolen the princess’s soul, controlled the princess’s body, and like despicable thieves, hastily fled the Imperial Palace with the most precious treasure of the Yisu royal family."

"How could I possibly be a Technique Spirit!" Liss tore at her hair, "Don’t bully me because I haven’t been to school. Technique Spirits are born from knowledge—"

"Summoned by the Void Realm, born from knowledge," the Black Knight wrote. "But the vessel for knowledge can be many things. Memories, emotions, will, and even the soul... Each Technique Spirit self-summoned by a mage contains a lot of information about the mage. Not to mention that when mages summon Technique Spirits, they often do so with a strong desire—wanting their punches to be stronger, their swords sharper, their guns faster and more accurate."

"The father of the Technique Spirit is knowledge, but its mother is desire. Although it’s difficult, if a mage could offer their soul willingly during the summoning, coupled with a strong desire, it could indeed turn a Technique Spirit into a living being capable of communicating with the mage."

"You are a Technique Spirit, just one that was coincidentally granted a personality, hiding in the princess’s soul and peeping at this world, even capable of controlling the princess’s soul and disguising as a human. But you have no past, no future, no life, no death."

Liss opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out from her throat.

She suddenly remembered her conversations with her sisters.

"Big sis White, how did I come into this world?"

"You were summoned by Diya."

"Summoned?"

"Yes, we needed a super cute little witch sister, so you appeared."

"Ah? Ah hehehe, I’m not that cute~"

That’s right!

Exactly!

Liss suddenly spoke with newfound conviction, "Even if that’s the case, I am loved by my sisters, loved by my father, I am the cutest—!"

"You’ve admitted it," the Black Knight tapped the Gospel Book with the tip of his pen. "Finally found you, Princess Lissdia. I thought I might have been wrong."

Liss internally uttered a swear that a child should never say.

Damn it!

It had been deceiving me all along! It hadn’t even confirmed that I am Lissdia! Damn, damn, damn, how could there be someone more shameless than my father!

"Since we couldn’t find any information on the princess at all, Her Majesty is convinced that the princess had used the blessing of the Bronze Dragon to erase all her past, but the princess is favored by the Gospel, and those with her would also attract the attention of the All-knowing Weaver. So our primary investigation target was the Resonators who appeared at the Weaving Festival."

"Secret Guards were dispatched throughout the country to search, and my investigation subject was the close associates of Ash Heath. It’s indeed hard for one to associate you with the princess in your current state, but after the mist cleared, you were one of the seven unaffected, and while I know the reasons for the other six, you are the exception."

"Princess, don’t let the Technique Spirit fool around with your body anymore, you need to go back. Nabistin needs you, the Yisu royal family needs you, the Kingdom of Gospel needs you."

As the Black Knight closed the Gospel Book, the ceiling above the path in front of Substitute and Liss collapsed, not just one layer, but several layers in succession, until the rubble completely blocked the entire corridor.

Substitute tried to open the door of the nearby room, but with a casual point from the Black Knight, the automatic door aged rapidly until it was completely broken and locked. He hadn’t used the Gospel Book this time, so Liss understood—the Black Knight’s method of attack was probably time acceleration in a specific area, most likely effective only on inanimate objects.

The Black Knight wasn’t directly causing accidents with the Gospel Book but was asking it how much time to accelerate, what the effective range should be, and when to deploy, in order to create an "accident" that would injure but not kill Liss.

Liss completely understood now.

Everything it had done was only to draw out my sisters, it deliberately said such things to trick me, provoke me, and attack me after realizing that I would not admit to death!