Mage Manual
Chapter 543 - 441: We Are Family Now (Three More)

Chapter 543: Chapter 441: We Are Family Now (Three More)

Mages looked at each other in disbelief—threatening a Technique Spirit, is that even possible!?

"Sonia hesitated a bit, "The study of Technique Spirit relationships indeed mentions that Technique Spirits possess a certain level of intelligence... but if it doesn’t share its power freely without being threatened, that is really..."

"A total pain in the ass," Ash concluded.

No sooner said than done, Ash summoned the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit, and then Diya’s Aquatic Thread, Sonia’s Evil Light Slash, and Ash’s Furious Sword all entangled and aimed at it. Although they couldn’t destroy the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit due to the Contract, the rage within the ’Furious Sword’ and the killing intent in the ’Evil Light Slash’ surged toward the tricolor crystal without reservation.

Then they saw many little black shadows scurrying in panic inside the crystal, as if a small nation dwelled within. Soon, a piece of information flowed into Ash’s mind:

"Mysterious Power: You don a veil of mystery, and your true identity is known to no one. Therefore, you can be any role, gender, or identity; your existence is justified."

"Troop Special Technique·Mysterious: The units of your armed troops will be seen as neutral by all creatures in the Void Realm until they enter a warning range and then be regarded as hostile."

After sharing the new special technique with everyone, they immediately realized a problem—not only the ’Secret Avatar,’ but ’Star Cluster Avatar’ had initially concealed its real power from them and only revealed the enhancement effect for the Prayer of the Stars!

Now thinking back, why was it that commanders of equal ranks, the Empress’s Commander could annihilate the Commander of the Stars? If the latter couldn’t win, why couldn’t they escape? This must be the effect of the Mysterious Power’s disguise, allowing the Empress’s troops to launch a surprise attack at close range, leaving the Commander of the Stars powerless to resist after losing most of his followers in an instant!

To be honest, the Mysterious Power was indeed not bad, but for them, it was a bit superfluous—given their strength, unless they encountered the Heroic Soul Army, they could wreak havoc on the Time Continent without needing to disguise themselves as neutral units.

However, after inquiring about the Seven-colored Tail’s information, Ash and the others realized that Mysterious Power would soon come in handy.

The last time they asked the golden fish, Ash and Sonia racked their brains using true/false questions to find the golden fish’s location in the sea. The result was that the golden fish was in the sky, which was utterly ridiculous. Although not completely useless, it was like asking if you could take a scientific calculator to a literature exam, a meaningless question.

Therefore, they decided to go for a brute force approach this time and had Diya directly ask: "What can we do next to help us find the Seven-colored Tail?"

The Void Realm’s answer: "Obtain a full territorial map of the Time Continent."

Any other mage would have been clueless; they wouldn’t even know there was a map of the Time Continent. However, Ash and his group knew exactly how to get the map—kill the Heroic Soul Commanders of each region and loot their Commander Maps!

"Why does the Seven-colored Tail have anything to do with the full territorial map?" Sonia felt perplexed, "Could it be that the Seven-colored Tail only appears on the map?"

"Could it be the main city?" Diya speculated, "The main cities of the six nations might form something like a tail shape, and then we can find the edge of that tail?"

"Don’t forget, this is the reward for answering a question from a Witch; The Void Realm definitely didn’t answer honestly." Ash reminded her, "Getting the full map is just helpful; it might not be the decisive factor... But anyway, it gives us a direction to explore."

"But now the Heroic Soul Army has begun to pull back in defense; we can’t find them in the wild," Sonia said, "Are you suggesting we should storm into the main city areas?"

"Exactly."

"Ah?" Sonia immediately realized what Ash was thinking, "You plan to use Mysterious Power to disguise yourself and sneak into the main city areas? But if we get close to the Heroic Soul Army, we’ll still be discovered, and once a battle breaks out, the main city would surely send a large army to surround and suppress us..."

As she spoke, Sonia’s voice grew lower and lower, and Diya also began to catch on, "You want to replicate the battle of the Oasis main city?"

"Exactly," Ash said, "As long as I carry the Secret Avatar and paint over the other main city areas, it’s highly likely that Spider Tower’s army will follow and descend after us. Then we can take advantage of the chaos on the battlefield to pick up the corpses."

"Even if we fail, we’ve only wasted some Soul Power from a few troops; at worst, we just take a few laps and leave. But if we succeed..." The Cult Leader smiled, "I’ve been wanting to feed you guys using Commanders’ Manuals, those are way better than Experience Treasure Orbs."

...

...

After leaving the Void Realm and returning to reality, Ash sat up from his bed and shook his head. He opened the Gospel Book to check the time—it was a little past 4 am.

The bunk above was making some bizarre noises, like bones gnawing on each other, but as soon as Ash opened his eyes and didn’t see a cockroach, he was already feeling grateful towards Harvey and couldn’t ask for more; Igula wasn’t on the opposite bunk, and there were faint sounds of water from the bathroom outside. Ash suddenly felt like soaking in a bath and decided to ask Igula not to drain the tub later to save the trouble; Banjee on the upper bunk opposite him was leaning against the wall, writing something in a notebook. Noticing Ash’s gaze, the young butler smiled and greeted him.

Ash sneaked out of bed to grab a drink of water, and as soon as he opened the door, he ran into little Liss.

"Can’t sleep?"

"Mhm."

After a moment of thought, Ash made two cups of hot tea for himself and Liss, then they went out to the balcony. A cat was meowing outside, and those drunk goblins at the corner were going crazy with liquor again. The cool breeze was coming through the gaps of the handshake buildings, and the night in Fidel was anything but serene, it was even a bit noisy, but compared to the foggy nights in Vatican Mura and the festive nights in Mongfera, Ash actually preferred nights like these.

"Have you been happy these past few days?" Ash suddenly asked.

’Liss’ was slightly taken aback, then she nodded forcefully, "Happy!"

"I’m happy too," Ash said, "Although the room is a bit small, it’s so much more comfortable than Vatican Mura and Mongfera. Every day I just watch you study, watch the Substitute work, bask in the sun, watch some dramas. If we could just live like this until the end of the Weaving Festival, that would be nice..."

He put his teacup down on the balcony railing, crouched down, and looked at ’Liss’: "Next, we’re going to Nabistin to assassinate the Princess. You must be worried, right? And scared to the point you can’t sleep, coming to find me."

’Liss’ blinked, set down her teacup as well, and reached out to grab Ash’s hand, "Mhm."

"Don’t worry, Hanna is smart and won’t make a move without being sure, we won’t be in much danger... and even if there is danger, we have a Contract, I will definitely protect you."

Ash paused and his tone became somewhat hesitant, "Actually, I have something I’ve been meaning to ask you..."

Did he know?

What gave it away?

Or did Igula figure out something?

’Liss’ shivered, but still managed to suppress her fear and asked, "What is it?"

Ash supported her arms, looking at her seriously and asked, "After the Weaving Festival is over, will you still want to live with me?"

’Liss’ stared at him, her big eyes quickly filling with tears, tear droplets wobbling in her eyes, lips tightly pressed and face flushed red. Seeing this, Ash laughed, "Why do you make it look like I’m bullying you?"

"You ARE bullying me," ’Liss’ sniffed, then went over and hugged his neck, "That’s so unfair..."

"What are you talking about?" Ash patted her head, "I’ll take that as a yes. After the Weaving Festival, we’ll be family."

’Liss’ suddenly remembered something, wiped her tears, and said, "You have to be careful of Auntie Bokin!"

Ash’s face immediately took on a bizarre expression, "...Oh? Why is that?"

"He’s learned the Dominion Faction now, and he’ll definitely look for a chance to control you!" ’Liss’ said seriously, "If he controls you, he might turn you into a heat-crazed female beast—"

"Thank you for your concern about my work, Miss Liss. That’s a good suggestion; I’ll definitely give it a try if I get the chance."

Igula, who was toweling his hair, passed through the living room, glancing coldly at what appeared to be a father and daughter.

’Liss’ was shocked.

So was Ash.

"Hey, you can’t be serious! Answer me, you’re scaring me!"