Mage Manual
Chapter 675 - 534: Three Crises

Chapter 675: Chapter 534: Three Crises

Tactile sense.

This wasn’t the first time Ash had heard this term, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. Since he came to this world, whether in any kingdom, the surveillance of The Gods of Four Pillars was always like a shadow, both like a stalker you could encounter with every move and like the welcoming texts from service providers you receive in every place you travel to.

From the bottom of his heart, Ash asked a question common among cancer patients, "Why me?"

Mercury Wooden Horse: "You have the scent of tactile sense on you."

"That’s the Eternal Damnation, the little gift from the Cult Leader in the Gospel region." Speaking of which, Ash was also full of complaints, "This little gift has played no small part in my current plight."

It is worth mentioning that as time went on, the profession of ’Eternal Damnation Walker’ not only didn’t weaken, but it became stronger with each version update. When Ash was a Two-winged Mage, its effect was a normal status luck check of +5, but at critical moments, a luck check of -50; after Ash climbed to the status of Distant Realm, it enhanced to a normal status luck check of +10, and at critical moments, a luck check of -100.

There was no doubt Ash had suffered the -100, and as for the +10, it probably went into when Ash was drawing cards—the good luck was all used up drawing "Moon Phase Swimsuit · Sword Maiden" and "Rainy Empress · Witch."

"It’s not her." Mercury Wooden Horse squatted down, stretched out a finger to touch Ash, but Tamasi grabbed her wrist. She didn’t mind and said, "The difference between her scent and your own is as vast as this bonfire is to the night—the fire may be bright, but the night is much deeper."

Ash sniffed the back of his own hand suspiciously, then stretched it out before Igula in the middle: "I don’t smell it, do you think I have a scent on me?"

Igula couldn’t be bothered with him and stared at Mercury Wooden Horse, asking, "You glanced at me just now, do I also have the scent of tactile sense?"

"You don’t, but you have the potential to become tactile sense." Mercury Wooden Horse said: "Each Technique Spirit perceives the world differently. The Eternal Damnation you just mentioned can probably perceive the threads of Fate, which is why she was able to leave such a curse behind. What I can perceive is reality."

"Everything in the world cannot hide from me. I can discover everyone’s Talent, activate everyone’s ability, and guide everyone’s path. That’s why the Four Pillars God Sect could crush and assimilate countless factions in just a few years, becoming the leading power of Senluo."

Upon hearing this, both Harvey and Igula couldn’t help but glance at Ash—the Eternal Damnation of the Gospel, although eventually eradicated by Red Hat, had managed to escape scot-free from the Hell difficulty of running a cult in Gospel, and even managed to drag Ash down with her; Senluo’s Mercury Wooden Horse turned the Four Pillars God Sect into the strongest faction, becoming the ace distributor of the sect.

Among the three cult leaders they had met, the Talent of Eternal Damnation and Mercury Wooden Horse were hard to compare, as the environment played a huge role, but there was no doubt Ash was the weakest link—they even suspected that Ash was the worst-performing cult leader in all the kingdoms!

The Cult Leader, disgraced, was very dissatisfied with their pity-filled gaze: "What are you looking at me for! I’ll hit you, you know!"

Igula retracted his gaze, looking at Mercury Wooden Horse and smiling, "Besides being able to activate the Talent of others, you can also parasitize other people, can’t you?"

"It’s just a precaution." Mercury Wooden Horse touched her neck covered in mercury, "The high-level talents that I value, I always leave a bit of mercury in their bodies. If they encounter harm they can’t resist, the mercury will repair their bodies and I’ll take control to help them escape from crisis—"

Snap!

As Tamasi threw a punch at Mercury Wooden Horse, Alice immediately grabbed his wrist. The fighter’s glove stopped an inch from Mercury Wooden Horse’s face, emitting a thunderous sound out of thin air.

Mercury Wooden Horse grunted, took a step back, and blood seeped from her nostrils, eyes, ears, and mouth. However, she didn’t care and, wiping the blood away, smiled: "You see, unless one is a Holy Sanctuary Mage, no matter how Talented, one can easily lose their Life. Death is the strictest of tradesmen. The mercury I leave behind allows them to bargain with Death."

"You’re lying!" Tamasi’s dissonant voice was almost a scream, "You’re the Evil Crow that betrayed everyone, a Monster of greedy and Evil power! You just want to control everyone, manipulate everything! You deceitful animal, how dare you act so innocent? If it wasn’t for you, if it wasn’t for you..."

Mercury Wooden Horse said nothing, quietly watching Ash. Igula sighed and said, "The range of the bonfire’s light is shrinking."

The night was closing in as well.

Tamasi was not a man oblivious to the situation. He took a deep breath, turned his back, sat down cross-legged facing the campfire, and assumed a posture that resembled meditation, yet the slight trembling of his shoulders revealed that his heart had not yet calmed down.

"What exactly is ’Technique Spirit’?" Ash asked a question everyone wanted to know.

"Technique Spirit is just Technique Spirit; there’s no extended meaning to it," Mercury Wooden Horse looked at Ash somewhat strangely, "Don’t you know? Aren’t you a Technique Spirit yourself?"

Ash knew she was referring to Heath, but now clearly wasn’t the time to explain that. He said bluntly, "I forgot, can you explain it in more detail?"

Mercury Wooden Horse raised her eyebrows and said, "But I can’t explain it in more detail, because it’s not a complicated matter. Technique Spirit is the Technique Spirit of The Gods of Four Pillars."

"You mean," Harvey suddenly spoke, "The Gods of Four Pillars rely on you to perceive the world?"

"Exactly," Mercury Wooden Horse nodded, "But everyone has different aptitudes, so The Gods of Four Pillars perceive different worlds through us. For instance, they can only sense reality through me, so the world I see is clear-cut, where all information is marked out distinctly."

"I haven’t asked for your names because I know you are Ash Heath, Igula Bokin, Archibald Harvey. I know your ages, personalities, hobbies, Magic Faction, and Technique Spirit system inside out. When I gaze upon you, what I see is a résumé."

Technique Spirit, the sense The Gods of Four Pillars use to perceive the world?

Ash felt unable to comprehend, "Why would The Gods of Four Pillars go through such trouble? Aren’t They the Divine Lords?"

"They are not the Divine Lords," Mercury Wooden Horse said calmly, "Divine Lords are just a group of thieves who steal from the Void Realm. The Gods of Four Pillars are the true masters of the Void Realm. They have existed since time immemorial, long before Mages climbed to the sixth layer of the Void Realm."

Ash and the others did not speak; their eyes conveyed a sense of ’This fanatic is beyond reason, might as well humor her.’

"Now is hardly the time to discuss what kind of foul excrement hides in the brain of a heretical Evil Crow," Tamasi said coldly.

Ash asked, "Why can becoming a Technique Spirit save oneself?"

Mercury Wooden Horse said, "You now face three crises. One is your bodies being parasitized by the ’Blood Seed’ Miracle. ’Blood Seed’ corresponds with ’Blood Core,’ and the Blood Seed will continuously draw out your Life Force into the blood river. Although the Blood Core has now moved far from you, as time goes by, it’s just a matter of time before you’re drained dry."

"It’s extremely difficult for you to get rid of the Blood Seed. It is a Miracle sealed by a Legendary Mage. Unless you know the correct method, only a Legendary Mage could forcibly break it."

Although Ash and the others had never heard the term Blood Seed, the ritual gave them a strong sense of déjà vu.

"The second crisis is the strangling green in the night. However, that’s not an urgent issue because all three of you are candles capable of enduring the strangling green," Mercury Wooden Horse continued.

Before Ash and the others could breathe a sigh of relief, Mercury Wooden Horse added, "But you are not perfect candles, so surviving the night will inevitably lead to contamination. If you were to spend a night in the darkness, you each would be stained with ’debauchery,’ ’fear of corpses,’ ’cruelty,’ three negative traits. You can each only make it through 15, 30, 8 nights respectively before you burn out completely and become strangling green creatures."

Ash asked curiously, "Cruelty is also a negative trait?"

Igula pointed at Harvey, "But fear of corpses definitely is."

Ash was taken aback before he understood what Igula meant—it’s like for someone who loves to play games, ’electronic impotence’ is a negative trait, but for someone who doesn’t play games, it’s irrelevant. Traits are like that; there’s no absolute good or bad, it’s all about the different impact on different people.

"Besides these two crises, do we have a third?" Igula asked.

"Yes," Mercury Wooden Horse said, "That woman who is about to become Technique Spirit, the Blood Core that is draining your Life Force, is seeking the Divine Treasure of the Fire Cat Era."