Mage Manual
Chapter 438 - 365: Ash Seeks Revenge, Fifty Years Is Not Too Late

Chapter 438: Chapter 365: Ash Seeks Revenge, Fifty Years Is Not Too Late

"Ash Heath was actually able to make it on the rankings consecutively... Is this the Doran family’s hidden legacy?"

Azura, sitting inside the Family Reunion Office, ’Duchess’ Anna Aldo was also looking at the real-time updates of the Gospel Book.

She did not take part in Hanna and the others’ capture operation.

She was too old.

Although a Holy Sanctuary Mage, the Duchess was also an elderly woman. A mage’s increase in strength does not directly extend life; the lifespan of a Holy Sanctuary Mage and an average person does not differ significantly. In peaceful times like now, mages could die prematurely due to excessive soul depletion while ordinary people might live out their natural lives peacefully.

Even though the Duchess’s magic power was still at its peak, her aging body not only sapped her energy but also her willpower. Compared to decades ago, the Duchess no longer possessed the fierce ambition she had when she first became a mage, nor did she harbor any curiosity or longing for the Void Realm – visiting the Upper Void Realm every night felt like visiting a grave.

She was tired of it.

Even if the Void Realm were a handsome man, after so many years the Duchess would have had her fill.

Just as a middle-aged man develops new hobbies such as fishing, power banks, virtual games, and philosophy after becoming impotent, the Duchess turned her full attention to the business of her office after growing weary of the Void Realm.

Consortiums, social exchanges, network building... the more a mage drank, the less blood they saw.

Stability, career, strength—one always has to sacrifice something for life.

In recent years, the Duchess had rarely taken on tasks herself; after all, she managed the office so that her subordinates would do the work for her. If she had to do the work herself even after setting up the office, wouldn’t that be a waste?

Moreover, this time there were two Holy Sanctuary Red Hats participating in the capture operation. If there was an emergency that even two Holy Sanctuary Mages couldn’t resolve, the addition of a third wouldn’t make a difference.

However, unlike the Red Hats, the Family Reunion Office’s top target was Hanna, and only secondary were the others. After all, it’s better to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish. If they could obtain Hanna’s method of foreseeing the future, it would be far more valuable than the Weaving Festival itself.

Yes, the Duchess was now certain that Hanna had a method to predict the future!

Initially, when she heard the news that Hanna and her companions had fled to Vatican Mura, the Duchess had a faint suspicion that the second ranking list might be related to Hanna’s family.

Just like how soaking a crab in a famous lake for a spell could double its value, by dunking her ’Tool Man’ in the family dye vat that was Vatican Mura, it was very possible that the Weaving Festival might misjudge the ratio of the bubble in the ’Tool Man’s’ value and make an impulsive purchase!

As a fellow office worker, the Duchess understood all too well the thought processes of people like them. Although Evangelism continued to evolve and improve, it was, after all, following a rigid operational mechanism, with many loopholes to exploit.

In fact, the Weaving Festival loophole wasn’t a big secret. If one were to say that the Gospel was a beautiful young woman with knowledge of all the local gossip, then Hanna’s tactic was to bring in outsiders like Ash, have them act like super-rich young masters with deep pockets and elegant demeanor, so as to deceive Evangelism with their bad boy ways.

But there was one difficulty—how did Hanna know the contents of the future rankings, to allow her ’Tool Man’ to specifically target Evangelism?

The term nearly leapt out of her own mind: foresight.

But it was impossible that Hanna had taken control of the Prophetic Faction, after all, the Weaving Festival was a Wonder granted by the All-knowing Weaver, and not even a Legendary Prophet Mage could glimpse into Evangelism’s graceful side profile, let alone her, a Two-winged Mage.

So there was only one possibility left.

"Now everyone knows that the Doran family has a handle on Evangelism’s loophole, being able to use the Gospel Book to foresee the future..." the Duchess sighed, "This means there will be more competitors now."

When the first ranking list was released, most offices were actually skeptical of Hanna’s abilities.

Only because of the distance issue, the only ones who really took action were the Family Reunion Office and the Happiness and Comfort Office.

But now it’s different—just by briefly investigating Hanna’s travel route, one could easily deduce that Hanna had the ability to foresee the rankings in advance. Now, offices from other places, corporations, and even royal houses would definitely take an interest in Hanna.

Not to mention the Family Reunion Office not being able to snatch Hanna, even if they did, they probably couldn’t keep those spoils.

It was time to exit the stage.

With thoughts of retreat, the Duchess made a call to her subordinates to withdraw, and at that moment, the Gospel Book updated with another ranking.

’Family Ranking #9: Mecha Spirit Clan – Aldo’

’Duchess’ Anna Aldo was startled—Aldo?

’Mecha Spirit Clan: A new breed of Undead Army created by combining members of the Family Reunion Office with liquid metal. It is not entirely mechanical but neither is it completely necromantic, generally possessing basic characteristics such as [Cloud Computing Miracle], [Electric Healing], and [Automatic Operation].’

Cloud Computing Miracle: The core of a Technique Spirit is the soul chip, which can produce the most pure thinking computation power. A Mage with the highest-level authority over a Technique Spirit can have it pre-calculate Miracles, making them instantly available for use when needed.

Electric Healing: Technique Spirits can heal spiritual body injuries by absorbing a certain intensity of electrical power.

Automatic Operation: Technique Spirits are the best workers, capable of carrying out repetitive labor around the clock without rest.

"Duchess: Anna Aldo"

The screen showed a group of identical silver mechanical beings at work, orderly and efficient, their hands mechanical arms and their lower halves equipped with tracks for rapid movement, against the background of the mechanical fortifications they were building.

The Duchess was dumbfounded.

What did it mean to combine ’Family Reunion Office’ members with liquid metal to create a new type of Necromancy trooper? How did one combine with liquid metal? Did it involve bathing in molten iron?

And even if Mist Spirits had some combat power, weren’t these Technique Spirits just production workers?

But don’t get me wrong, the Duchess was quite enticed by the skills of the Technique Spirits.

The first skill was the pre-loading of Miracles. There were many Miracles that required syncing with multiple Technique Spirits, meaning that the time taken to cast a Miracle could vary significantly—some could be cast instantly, while others might need dozens of minutes to be activated!

If Mages could get Technique Spirits to pre-load Miracles, it would lead to a qualitative leap in both their combat and production capabilities. In battle, it goes without saying that all Miracles could be cast instantly, and one could even risk using some high-difficulty Composite Miracles; in production, not only could preparation time be compressed, but practice costs could also be eliminated, after all, mastery in the use of production Miracles requires wasting dozens or even hundreds of materials!

The second skill, Electric Healing, meant that Technique Spirits had no feeding costs, as electric power was the cheapest energy source in the Kingdom of Gospel, making Technique Spirits even cheaper to maintain than robots—which still incurred wear and tear costs!

The third skill, Automatic Operation, indicated that even if the entire computing power of a Technique Spirit’s soul chip was devoted to pre-loading Miracles for a Mage, they could still perform labor production, maximizing productivity!

Such a pure labor unit, who wouldn’t be moved at the sight of it!

The idea of owning such labor Technique Spirits was exhilarating!

But if you were also part of that labor force, you might not find it so pleasant.

"Anna Aldo is awarded the ’Liquid Metal Chip’."

"Liquid Metal Chip: Allows a Mage to freely switch between Technique Spirit and human state, while still being able to use Mage abilities in the Technique Spirit state."

Anna felt a slight chill on the back of her neck, as if something had been inserted. She closed her eyes for a moment, and countless mercury droplets emerged from her nape, covering her whole body.

Seconds later, a young Anna Aldo appeared in the mirror.

Like the Mist Spirit Ring, the Liquid Metal Chip also had its exclusive image—

"You have a pretty good idea there, the fusion of steel and Necromancy, the intertwining of coldness and stillness, and you even make use of the thriving Mechanical Faction... Could you tell me what inspired this idea?"

"Hmm? Because you said you were coming to Azura to create an Undead Army, it reminded me of the Family Reunion Office, and thinking of them reminded me of the times they used intelligent machinery to chase after us. They loved toying with machinery so much, let them become machinery—just a trivial act of revenge, that’s all."

"That’s a truly uninspired source of creativity."

"Thank you, I’ll take that as a compliment. Now then... Duchess Red Cicada, or should I say 001 Technique Spirit, I appoint you as the head of the Aldo Production Corps. Remember, from now on, you must work hard every second of every minute to give me a wonderful life."

"Yes," the silver robot version of Anna responded, "Your command is the Technique Spirit’s Fate."

Anna watched the scene, silent.

Just then, the call she had made earlier connected, and a subordinate’s voice came through, "Duchess, do you have any instructions?"

"Have you caught Hanna, Ash, and the others yet?"

"No, the Gospel Book hasn’t shown any traffic leaving Vatican Mura, they must have left through some other means... Should we retreat?"

"No," the Duchess stood up, "Stay where you are, I’m coming to rendezvous with you."

"What?" The subordinate was shocked, "Duchess, are you personally leading the mission?"

"Correct." The Duchess snapped her fingers, and a Floating Car flew to her balcony’s parking pad, "Since we’ve offended them, we shouldn’t have any expectations of escaping unscathed. After so many years of drinking, it’s time for others to bleed a little."