Mage Manual
Chapter 536 - 435 The Witch’s Abnormality

Chapter 536: Chapter 435 The Witch’s Abnormality

Void Realm, Time Continent.

"Witch!"

Along with Ash’s voice, the warm golden "Sword Barrier" arrived. Startled, Diya finally came to her senses and managed to escape the harm’s way just in time before the tail of the Violent Slash Dragon shattered the Sword Barrier.

Seemingly aware that Diya was their biggest vulnerability, the smaller Fish-Slicing Dragons charged at her in an attempt to besiege her. However, Ash had already drawn a spider’s web of traps around them with the "Heart Pen," and as soon as the Fish-Slicing Dragons burst into it, they stuck to the ink-like "aerial traces," their bodies quickly sliced up by the ink and left in pieces—an appalling sight that deterred their companions from daring to charge into the dense area of ink traces.

The "Heart Pen," a miracle from Sonia, indeed proved very practical. There was a significant issue with the combination of the "Heart Sword" and "Sword Trace" to create a trap area from afar—the Mage had to continuously expend Magic Power to maintain the existence of the Sword Traces. If Ash cut off the supply of Magic Power, those Sword Traces would immediately dissipate.

This not only consumed a lot of Magic Power but also required Ash to divert his attention to the Sword Trace area during other attacks.

At first, he found it quite amusing, but he grew tired of the hassle quickly. If the Technique Spirit is the Mage’s harem, the Sword Trace Technique Spirit belonged to those very capricious and troublesome Noble Concubines, whom Ash didn’t feel like favoring.

The Heart Pen ventured a creative change in the damaging method of the Sword Trace Technique Spirit: Normally, Sword Traces are fixed in mid-air to continuously damage moving targets. In contrast, the "Heart Pen" did not pursue sustained damage but instead treated Sword Traces as one-time-use ink, which could be taken away by moving targets. However, the ink would exhaust itself in mere seconds to inflict cutting damage on the target.

Since it was a one-time-use ink, the "Heart Pen" substantially reduced Magic Power consumption. Ash could easily draw lots of ink traps. Overall, the damage wasn’t decreased, but the process was much easier for him. Moreover, Ash could also draw "ineffective ink traces" that consumed only a tiny amount of Magic Power to confuse and intimidate Knowledge creatures!

As a high-quality miracle bought by Sonia for 15 gold coins, it even came with instructions on how to turn off friendly fire—since, in Sonia’s experience, team fights were the norm for Mages. By simply adding ink traces to his teammates in advance, they could freely move through the ink traces without disrupting their distribution!

Their recently developed strategy was for Ash to set up an ink trap area, then the Sword Maiden and Witch would lure the Knowledge creatures into it. They could then safely hunt down the creatures from within the ink traces, since Knowledge creatures, after one or two charges, dared not step into the ink trace area.

Thanks to the "Heart Pen" miracle’s new approach, the status of the Sword Trace Technique Spirit in the Technique Spirit harem had immediately risen from a Noble Concubine to a favored concubine, becoming as favored as the Heart Sword and Substitute.

When the Violent Slash Dragon’s head was finally burst open by the "Blood Moon Shattered Lake," Sonia sheathed her blade amidst the rain of blood, her murderous aura almost completely contained, the fierce look in her eyes turning into a crescent moon as she looked back, only to see Ash walk by her without a word, entering the gem mine to scavenge for resources.

Sonia glanced at his retreating figure and muttered something under her breath before pulling Diya to the side, "Witch, it’s very dangerous to be distracted in battle."

"Sorry," Diya immediately said. "It won’t happen again."

"I’m not blaming you. It’s normal for people to make mistakes. Look, Observer messes up all the time behind our backs. Don’t take it to heart."

"What mistakes has the Observer made?"

"Breathing." Sonia snorted, her expression full of irreconcilable differences with the team leader, "Witch, you’ve probably never seen the Observer in his dashing and gentle moments, right? Just so you know, I haven’t either."

"And don’t you think the Observer has been increasingly annoying lately? Let me tell you, he’s always been this annoying. Do you know what he did to me back in the Sea of Knowledge that was absolutely outrageous? Just thinking about it now makes me tremble with anger..."

There’s nothing like talking behind someone’s back to bond, especially when that person is everyone’s boss. With keen interest, Diya listened to Sonia complaining about the Observer, her tuft of hair on her head bobbing and swaying accordingly.

After Ash finished scavenging the resources, he also took a pile of aura consumables for their Technique Spirits and gestured for them not to get on the vehicle, performing another major upgrade on the Alchemy Throne. As a rose-gold halo burst forth, the top of the throne reached 11 drops of golden blood, with the surrounding Golden Rain streaming into the throne like a flood!

"Alchemy Throne·Level 11: Increases the absorption speed of Golden Technique Power by 130%.

Level 6 Special Effect: For every additional 60 minutes spent in the Void Realm, accumulate another layer of the [Golden Years] buff, with each layer increasing the absorption speed of Golden Technique Power by 10%.

Level 11 Special Effect: As the sports car’s speed increases, additionally improve the absorption speed of Golden Technique Power, up to a maximum of 100% (peak value reached at a speed of 400 km/h). For each layer of [Golden Years], the maximum speed required for this effect decreases by 50%.

Essenses required for next level—Gem Essence, Crystal Essence, Mercury Essence, Wood Essence, Ore Essence, Gold Essence: 1175."

By pouring all the resources they’ve gathered these days into it, he finally upgraded the Alchemy Throne to level 11, unlocking the second special effect. No need to mention the first special effect which was self-explanatory; the longer they stayed in the Void Realm, the faster the absorption rate. The second effect could add an extra 100% absorption rate but required the car to be driven at top speed.