Mage Manual
Chapter 486 - 400: Why is Sword Maiden Angry?

Chapter 486: Chapter 400: Why is Sword Maiden Angry?

"Observer, why don’t you just apologize?"

During the battle at the large mercury resource point, while there was a brief lull in the fight with the dominant Fox Lamp Dragon, Diya retreated next to Ash and whispered.

"Even if I’m willing to apologize, I need to know what I did wrong," Ash replied helplessly.

"But if you didn’t do anything wrong, why would she be so angry?"

As a mournful cry rang out, the Fox Lamp Dragon exploded into three Technique Spirits and an Experience Treasure Orb. One of the Technique Spirits was a Two-winged ’Circulation,’ which could replace Ash’s One-winged ’Circulation.’ Both the Two-winged ’Silken Moon’ Technique Spirit and the Light Magic Treasure Bead were suitable for Sonia to use for sword cultivation.

When Ash handed the Technique Spirits and the Treasure Bead over, Sonia snatched them from his hands instantaneously, as if she refused to have any physical contact with him beyond a brief moment.

Diya, watching from the side, shook her head repeatedly, her expression saying, ’You see what I told you,’ cover her mouth with glee until the Sword Maiden looked over, at which point she turned to scavenge resources.

Ash was also helpless—he had no idea what had happened!

Tonight, the Sword Maiden was off, treating him terribly, worse than when they first met. But Ash pondered; he hadn’t offended her, had he? He hadn’t even succeeded in scolding her the night before last, and they didn’t log on at all last night, so why had the Sword Maiden suddenly turned into a ’Supreme Swordswoman Tyrant’ tonight?

Ash thought hard and recently, he hadn’t set up any special events for the Sword Maiden through card draws, so it definitely wasn’t his problem. That left only the possibility that the Sword Maiden encountered issues in her own storyline.

Could it be that the film she starred in received abysmal reviews, her character blasted to smithereens by critics?

Or had the Sword Maiden lost a match, becoming the laughing stock of the Anti-Swordswoman Alliance?

Perhaps she was backstabbed by a classmate, and the Claw Club had a traitor?

It could even be the effects of her menstrual cycle...

With too many possibilities, Ash had no clue. He thought about it and, under Diya’s awed gaze, approached Sonia: "Sword Maiden, I need to talk to you about something."

"Speak," Sonia said, looking down as she searched for mercury materials.

"Though I don’t know why you’re in a bad mood, taking it out on others isn’t good, you know."

Sonia looked up at him: "Taking it out on others, you mean, venting anger on unrelated individuals?"

"Right."

"Well, I’m not doing that."

Diya struggled mightily to suppress her laughter, while Ash, with a crestfallen face, went to collect Mercury Essence.

They were currently in the Star Hall round, and Ash had previously obtained a Star Hall Map from Demilo, so they were effectively exploring the Time Continent with full map access. Normally, Commander maps couldn’t be saved, which meant they could only be used on the night they defeated a Commander. However, the ’Void Realm Map’ had a memory function, turning a one-time item into an infinite one, and allowed Ash and company to finally enjoy a planned sightseeing expedition.

Ash didn’t blindly choose those special mechanism-laden Void Realm locations. The distribution of those places was wide, and the benefits varied greatly. For instance, the Amnesia Cottage – even without the issue of the Empress’ Soul, they didn’t earn much; or the Legendary Library, where Ash profited but didn’t even pick up a witch’s hair – mainly because the witch was too greedy.

By comparison, scouring for resources to upgrade the Alchemy King’s throne was the priority. Concentrating Magic Power was always a surefire gain, not to mention that scavenging resources sometimes also resulted in Technique Spirits and Experience Treasure Orbs exploding forth. Thus, Ash planned a route that would lead them past many rare resource points, and if nothing went awry, tonight they could upgrade the Alchemy King’s throne by several levels.

As they tirelessly scoured the fifth resource point, Ash saw the Heroic Soul Army approaching their location on the map.

It was their Star Hall round, and the Spider Tower Army should be the ones on the move. No matter what, the Empress’ army couldn’t possibly come to hunt them down, so Ash didn’t pay it any mind and simply drove around to the next resource point.

But as soon as they finished scavenging and came out, they found the Heroic Soul Army had nearly caught up to them!

Several thousand-feathered Bird Dragons kept attacking the car’s ’Refraction Curtain’ from a distance, and Ash quickly took off in the car. The Heroic Soul Army didn’t seem to have many troops and didn’t come in for melee, so their escape was relatively easy.

But the problem was already serious—why could the Star Hall’s Heroic Soul Army precisely locate and pursue them?

"Crazy in love, aren’t they..." Ash gritted his teeth: "Did she actually leak our coordinates to all the forces!?"

That was the only explanation—realizing she couldn’t kill Ash and his group, the Empress made their coordinates known to all the forces, maybe even revealing that they had ’Secret Avatars,’ enticing other forces to join in hunting Ash down!

As for why the Empress would take the risk of losing her ’Secret Avatars’ to do this, the reason was simple—she knew she couldn’t catch them anymore!

The Empress didn’t know that even their journey through the Flowing Gold River was fraught with peril, but just possessing the ability to cross the Flowing Gold River put Ash and his companions on an invincible footing. The most powerful Heroic Soul Army could only sigh helplessly in response to the Flowing Gold River.

If she couldn’t have it, then no one else would!

Releasing the information, so all forces would hunt Ash and company down, the worst-case scenario was the destruction of ’Secret Avatars,’ but the best outcome was Ash and his group being drained of Soul Power in other regions, arriving in the Spider Tower region powerless to cross the Flowing Gold River, and easily captured by the Empress’ Soul.

But by not releasing the information, the Empress’ troops would definitely lose track of Ash, able to traverse the Flowing Gold River!

Comparing the two, even a fool like the Empress would know how to choose, let alone she was an Empress with an extremely venomous heart!

And don’t forget, although the destruction of the Concept Avatar would lead to the collapse of all related Technique Spirits, with some time, a Concept Avatar could still be regenerated. Thus, losing the ’Secret Avatar’ was a big loss, but still recoverable; however, if the ’Secret Avatar’ was permanently taken to the third layer of the Void Realm by Ash and his group, that would be an irreplaceable gaping hole!

Even though they were far in the Static Domain, the Empress could still chase them until they were weary from running!

In fact, this tactic could be easily resolved: Ash and the others could simply avoid logging into the Void Realm until it was the Spider Tower’s turn. This would mean, however, that their growth rate would plummet. Who knows how long it would take for them to climb to the third level of the Void Realm, and the Empress’ Soul would have more opportunities to set ambushes and kill them!

Each link in the chain was ingeniously interconnected, each move better than the last!

When Ash shared his thoughts, the operators gasped in surprise. Diya asked, "So what do we do?"

"We rush our development!" Ash said, "Our sports car is faster than the Heroic Soul Army. Before the Heroic Soul Army finds us, we’ll raid all the resources and run! With a detailed map, even if we are surrounded, we can still fight for the space and time to develop!"

Despite knowing that the Observer’s plan was very sound, Sonia and Diya still felt a sense of unreality: ordinary Two-winged Mages carefully explored the Time Continent, where an encounter with a Violent Slash Dragon was considered the day’s adventure—and yet, they were supposed to grow and develop amidst the encirclement and annihilation by the cruelest existence on the Time Continent, the Heroic Soul Army?

Was this really the kind of pressure that Two-winged Mages could bear?

Nevertheless, Sonia and Diya did not show the slightest hint of fear. Having faced death several times and even overcame the Heroic Soul Army on their own, they no longer feared the Heroic Soul Army. Hearing that the Heroic Soul Army would be hunting them down, they actually felt a surge of defiance!

"We’ve arrived."

Ash suddenly stopped outside a garden enclosed by wooden railings, shrouded in white mist and shining lights, with even singing audible in bursts. Sonia was startled, "Miracle Park in the mist?"

"Quick, go grab the Technique Spirits!"

As soon as Ash finished speaking, three Mages rushed into the park with various mobility miracles to snatch Technique Spirits. The Mist Miracle Park was one of the types of Miracle Park; the Technique Spirits were hidden within layers of mist, and Mages had to rely on luck to scoop them up. Once a Mage entered the park, the mist quickly dissipated, and the Technique Spirits disappeared, needing a cycle to gather and conceal the Technique Spirits with mist again.

"Hey!"

Ash, floundering about, failed to grab a single Technique Spirit, feeling like a profligate young master chasing after beauties—moreover, the kind that was a fat otaku; the beauties easily evaded his lunging attempts.

Could it be my turn to come up empty-handed?

Ash took a deep breath and focused on the singing—the Technique Spirits here all liked to sing. So, he should capture them by the sound. Sound, sound, sound...

It’s over here!

Ash lunged precisely toward the source of the sound and thudded into someone before tumbling onto the grass together. He looked up and saw the Sword Maiden, who was in a terrible mood today, sitting on top of him, and he gasped, "Sorry, it was an accident—"

"Shh." Sonia pressed down on his mouth as she lay on top of him, "The Witch isn’t nearby, is she?"

"(⊙_⊙)?"

"Hehe," the Village Girl smiled, "How about it, I acted the part today, didn’t I?"

"What?" The Cult Leader was stunned, "Your bad mood today—"

"It was all an act!" Sonia winked at Ash, "This way, the Witch will definitely think we’re not on good terms, right?"

Why you would do this... Ash knew the answer before even asking.

Just as he could see the rift within their team, the Sword Maiden must have noticed, too. Before Ash could figure out a solution, the Sword Maiden had already presented hers: since the Witch thought their relationship was too strong to trust them, why not just make it seem as if their relationship had soured?

Though simplistic, the problem was that the Witch, too, was a naively inexperienced girl, and they had perfectly deceived her.

"Phew." Ash sighed in relief, "I thought—"

"That I suddenly started to dislike you?" Sonia widened her eyes at Ash, her gaze shimmering with starlight, her brows and eyes curved, her lips forming the sly arc of a fox making off with a steal.

"Yeah, I thought I had offended you somehow."

"You’ve offended me in many ways."

At this point, Sonia seemed to realize the awkwardness of their position, her face flushing as she moved away to sit beside him. Ash also sat up and pondered, "Should our interactions continue like today’s?"

"What do you think?"

"I think it’s quite good, it’s more relaxing for me—"

"Then tomorrow I’ll tell the Witch that I’ve forgiven you, and everything goes back to normal since the effect is already achieved."

Ash glanced at her, and Sonia tilted her head, "You’re not... angry with me, are you?"

"Why would I be angry at you?"

"If it were me, I’d definitely be angry..." Sonia looked down, her fingertips touching each other, "Actually, I couldn’t keep it up just now, I wanted to find a chance to explain to you all the way, but the Witch was always beside us."

Ash, with his arms crossed over his chest and looking quite troubled, said, "Going back to the way it was is fine, but if you want to attack me like you did just now, it’s best to wait until the Witch isn’t around—"

"I wouldn’t do that!"