Mage Manual
Chapter 664 - 524 Unanimous Opinion

Chapter 664: Chapter 524 Unanimous Opinion

"Primitive and advanced coexist, the great civilization can only be recalled from paper, religious beliefs control everything, civilization built on ruins..."

Igula calmly said, "This kingdom is probably in the post-apocalyptic era."

"Doesn’t this kingdom have Divine Lords to protect it, too?" Harvey asked, somewhat puzzled. "Would a Divine Lord just watch as the apocalypse unfolds?"

"Yes," Ash said with certainty. "If there hadn’t been so many accidents, the Kingdom of Gospel would have already lost the Gospel System and entered a countdown to the apocalypse by now... For a Divine Lord, the apocalypse is just an ’interval’ of one or two hundred years. Civilization will inevitably revive, just like when you cultivate a flower and know it will bloom again, you naturally won’t care much about its temporary withering."

"People who have seen Angels narrate with such confidence, as if they’ve lived for hundreds of years too," Igula mocked Ash before continuing, "That’s precisely why we may not need to flee the Four Pillars God Sect."

"Why?" Ash was surprised. "You think people after the apocalypse are going to be particularly kind?"

"I think people after the apocalypse will be particularly greedy," the Swindler said with a smile. "Wow, the social environment here is much better than in Gospel — greed flows freely, rules are absent, there’s no oversight, only interests! Although it’s a bit desolate here, it feels more suited for hunting than big cities, right?"

"And, we also have what they desperately crave— advanced knowledge from other kingdoms!"

Ash patted the soft padding of the Invincible, hardly able to suppress the sarcasm in his words. "Advanced, are we?"

"Undoubtedly, the once-great civilization here might have been that of the Fire Cat Era, far more advanced than the Gospel of Blood Moon. But because of that, there’s such a huge gap in civilization," Igula said. "The people here are like a One-winged Mage who gets a Four-winged Technique Spirit; they can’t learn or decipher any technology trees from it, so they have to use the power of a Four-winged Technique Spirit in the crudest ways — for example, using pack animals to pull maglev trains or turning psychiatric ward mattresses into armor."

"And the resources they can’t find in the ruins leave their technology level at the dawn of civilization—they can’t even mass-produce the shackles for Mages!"

Ash and Harvey were taken aback, only then remembering that it was their first capture, yet they weren’t restricted in their magic power—such treatment was unthinkable in Blood Moon and Gospel.

Upon reflection, restraining magic power really tests the foundation of a civilization since magic power is intangible, the devices that bind magic power must be personally made by a Creation Mage, which implies a comprehensive system for Mage development and a developed creation industry.

In the post-apocalyptic era, most powers naturally struggle to meet these criteria. Those ’creation products,’ typically taken for granted in stable societies, might be a rare commodity here.

"No wonder that person kept asking me about the details of life in Gospel..." Ash murmured.

"Even if we don’t know the specific technical data, just being able to describe the evolutionary process of technology is a tremendous help to the people here," Igula said. "They’re like Mages who received a Four-winged inheritance, currently at the One-winged or Two-winged level. If we just sketch out the landscape of the Three-winged for them, prevent them from taking the wrong path, they can inherit the great legacy more quickly."

"So, there is a space for cooperation with them, or rather, with the woman who defeated Ash—she recognizes our value."

"Since they haven’t limited our magic power, we might as well wait for the situation to change before resisting. In the meantime, we can try to seek opportunities for cooperation. After all, this is a new world, and the best way to integrate here is to join one of the powers, just like we joined the Funeral Ceremony."

"More importantly," Igula paused, "both Harvey and I are Three-winged Mages, but we haven’t yet constructed a Holy Domain. Given enough time, we’ll have a better chance to assure your safe departure—"

"Ah, I’m actually a Holy Sanctuary Mage too," Ash said. "But like you, I haven’t constructed a Holy Domain either."

Igula and Harvey took several minutes to accept that Ash had climbed to the Distant Realm without any ’cheating.’ But looking at their faces, Ash always felt they might press his head into a toilet to drink water while he slept.

Ash quickly changed the topic, "So, are we really going to cooperate with the Four Pillars God Sect?"

"Why not?" Igula slightly tilted his head. "Compared to the Fire of Tribulation Holy Temple, we are more familiar with the Four Pillars God Sect, aren’t we?"

Ash understood Igula was right.

Since there were people within the Four Pillars God Sect who wanted to cooperate with them, taking this opportunity to understand this world was the best choice. Even if they didn’t want to cooperate, they could delay time, feign compliance until the three of them built their Holy Domains and become tactical weapons, then they could directly break out of the Four Pillars God Sect.

Harvey didn’t care about the Four Pillars God Sect; he wouldn’t mind cooperating with the monsters of the Abyss either; and for Igula, the Four Pillars God Sect was like a second choice. After all, the prophecy at the Weaving Festival foretold he would become the leader ’Rusted Crow’ of the Four Pillars God Sect. Igula naturally wanted to gain some managerial experience here, maybe even try to usurp the Four Pillars God Sect.

Ash had long realized that Igula’s material desires weren’t that high; what he pursued was the pleasure of pulling off high-difficulty scams, particularly the madness of walking the line between life and death, which are the perfect stimulants for a Swindler’s pituitary gland. A post-apocalyptic society like this was essentially a huge playground for him.

Harvey too sought an ending—back in the stable societies of Blood Moon and Gospel, only by committing crimes could he have such an opportunity, but here, perhaps the next second would be the end of his Mage’s Handbook.

In this psychiatric ward, besides himself, they hadn’t locked up the wrong person.

But the other two probably thought the same.

However, Ash himself didn’t want to get involved with the Four Pillars God Sect.

Whether it was Heath or Eternal Damnation, they brought too many troubles to Ash; he even developed a notion—that getting close to the Four Pillars God Sect would only bring misfortune.

If possible, he still wanted to get away from these guys as soon as he could, even if it meant sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.

But when compared to Igula’s thorough consideration, this "timid and cowardly" reason just couldn’t be voiced. Besides, Ash had to consider their feelings too, as they had been accommodating him all this time; now it was his turn to accommodate them.

Ash took a deep breath to calm his anxious heart, sat down next to the cushion, and rotated the Gospel ring.

No response.

Indeed, once out of the Divine Being’s radiation range, the Gospel Book could no longer be summoned.

The ring was useless now... Although that’s what he thought, Ash didn’t take it off; he considered it a keepsake from the Gospel.

So what were the keepsakes he took from the Blood Moon? Igula and Harvey?

Caught up in his wild thoughts, Ash summoned "Aurora’s Mage Manual." Without the enhancement of the Gospel Book, the game interface’s graphics returned to lock photography level. Unless Ash could find better audiovisual equipment here, he couldn’t enjoy high-definition images of the Sword Maiden.

After picking up his Source Crystal sign-in reward, Ash looked at "Operator Search."

Since all he could do was wait, why not draw some cards!

"For a Pristine Azure World" limited search (Thanksgiving Feedback Event after Ten Weeks Online)"

"Limited operators ’Yooran Weiser,’ ’Violet Resentful Empress,’ ’Blood Hidden Empress’ probability increased ↑↑"

"Limited outfits ’Christmas Gift·Sword Maiden,’ ’Moon Star Swimsuit·Sword Maiden,’ ’Rain Queen·Witch,’ ’Christmas Gift·Witch’ probability increased ↑↑"

"Ends on July 10 at 00:00"

Ten weeks?

Ash did the math and realized that he really had been through ten weeks already. But this event was too much: your way of giving thanks is not by giving Source Crystals or characters, but by offering another limited event!?

Who exactly is being thankful, and who is giving back?

The operators "Bewitching Girl" and the outfit "Bride·Sword Maiden" from the last search event hadn’t appeared, replaced by three new operatives and outfits for the Sword Maiden and Witch—that’s a relief from Aurora, thank goodness no outfits of the Final Observer had appeared this time.

But this Christmas gift... Ash smirked, as there was no Christmas in this world; wasn’t this outfit completely out of place?

Wait a minute, are there brides in this world? Oh, then it’s fine.

Like before, there was no preview for the outfits, so Ash was very curious whether it was the operators giving Christmas gifts, or dressing up as the Christmas gifts themselves?

The Moon Star Swimsuit and Rain Queen also looked good, and as long as there were no Observer outfits in the pool, Ash could draw without any loss!

Additionally, what caught his attention... Ash looked at the limited operator "Yooran Weiser," feeling strange that, unlike other operatives who were referred to by their code names, she was listed directly by her name.

Could she be some main plot character?

"Here."

Ash and Harvey took the chocolate bar Igula tossed over, tore open the packaging, and bit off a piece to replenish their energy. As they ate, Harvey suddenly said, "Alice doesn’t really like staying in the Four Pillars God Sect."

Your Alice is still in the coffin, the coffin is in the Space Card, the Space Card is in your bag; how are you communicating with Alice through three thick barriers...

Igula bit off a piece with a snap, and while eating said, "In any kingdom, the dead don’t have voting rights."

"But," he paused, "it’s not as if we must cooperate with the Four Pillars God Sect."

"Just get a chance to leave this room, then we can think of ways to escape from the Four Pillars God Sect and look for a force with a better reputation to cooperate with, that’s also a good choice... What do you think?"

Noticing that Igula and Harvey were both looking at him, Ash blinked, swirled the sweetness of the chocolate in his mouth, and nodded emphatically, "I want to leave as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Igula’s tone was light, "Then it’s settled."