Mage Manual
Chapter 678 - 536: The Favor of The Gods of Four Pillars

Chapter 678: Chapter 536: The Favor of The Gods of Four Pillars

"O great Gods of The Four Pillars, hear my command!"

As soon as Ash spoke, the Mercury Wooden Horse’s plaster-like face without features stiffened for a moment.

Harvey remained calm, not noticing anything amiss. After all, for a buffet-style horror like him, facing mating partners, corpses, ordinary people, and the like, he employed the same set of social graces, such as "You’ve become very stiff," "I’ll be gentle with you," and "You have such a big reaction." Therefore, he found Ash’s words quite natural; since a mage could command a corpse, of course, he could also command The Gods of Four Pillars.

Tamasi turned her head and gave Ash a thumbs-up.

Only Igula had complicated feelings.

Although he often cursed Ash as a fool, Ash couldn’t possibly be unaware of the situation at hand, and yet he still made such a blunder—this wasn’t his first encounter with the Four Pillars God Sect. It was like delivering food to a demon and spilling it on them three times in a row; there was no other explanation except doing it on purpose.

Why would he do such a thing? To such a boring question, the child hidden in the deepest, darkest room of the Swindler’s heart, who could only sleep in a cluttered cabinet, sneered with an answer: "He’s trying to trick you."

"Just profane the prayer, and thus incur the displeasure of The Gods of Four Pillars. Then, it logically follows he would lose the qualifications to become the Tactile. Unlike you and Harvey, he’s a flawless Holy Sanctuary Mage, with prospects to become a Legendary Mage and perhaps even a Demigod Angel. For him, becoming the Tactile of The Gods of Four Pillars is a burden, a surplus, a curse."

"You think he doesn’t know he’s the first choice? The Mercury Wooden Horse was eyeing him from the start; there’s no way he could refuse. His grandiose talk of sacrifice is just to garner your favor and gratitude. And now, he’s deliberately botched it, leaving you as the only choice, right?"

"For its own benefit, the Mercury Wooden Horse will inevitably help you become the Tactile, and he can escape all calamities without losing anything, making you the cost."

"Watch, he’ll play dumb next and come up with a perfect excuse, claiming it was just a careless mistake."

"Speaking with ostensible fairness, but selfish at heart. Letting others die for his gain, reaping the benefits. Exploiting the situation, shifting disasters..."

"Isn’t this the very mask we’ve always worn?"

A deep, dark current flowed quietly in the heart, that familiar atmosphere returning. Perhaps he had never escaped Blood Moon; a person like him was Blood Moon wherever he went.

Igula looked at Ash, who also turned to look at them, confusion plastered across his face.

"I didn’t mean to say that," the Cult Leader said blankly. "Even though I truly don’t submit to The Gods of Four Pillars in my heart, but... could it be I’ve become so honest I can’t even lie?"

Such a lousy excuse, only a fool would believe it.

Igula put a hand to his forehead, sighed helplessly, and shook his head.

"Fool."

Ash, too, seemed struck by a state of life’s predicaments; he really hadn’t meant to say that, had he just really misspoken?

Suddenly, the Mercury Wooden Horse said, "I see, that Tactile has been wary of you vying for favor."

"Ah?"

"The Eternal Damnation you met before left a ’surprise’ in the mark she gave you," said the Mercury Wooden Horse. "The moment you try to pray to The Gods of Four Pillars, your luck will plummet to the lowest level. In short, you could never complete a loyal prayer, getting distracted, nauseous, daydreaming, feeling drowsy... your praises will all turn into insults amid various accidents."

"She may not see the truth as I can, but she knows your value, so she wanted to use this method to prevent you from gaining favor."

"Very childish tricks, as playful as a child’s idea, but I have to admit, very effective."

Ash was startled: "Just because I posed a bit higher, The Gods of The Four Pillars will ignore me? Shouldn’t The Gods of The Four Pillars be magnanimous, not sweating the small stuff, unbothered by mortal disrespect, and able to laugh off any insult—a great being indeed?"

That pose wasn’t just a bit higher, and besides, you were just in the cell saying The Gods of Four Pillars are like four lingering pyramid scheme crooks... Igula and the others thought to themselves.

"Indeed, The Gods of Four Pillars do not care about mortal disrespect, but the problem is, you’re not competing for a mortal’s position," said the Mercury Wooden Horse. "Could you tolerate your eyeball speaking rudely to you? Plus, you’re not the only eyeball."

"And moreover, the Luminous Sovereign among The Gods of Four Pillars, the Lord of Wind, Rain, and Snow, the Spirit of Dreamy Freedom, all disdain that condescending tone the most. The Ever-Burning Heart might not care, but it’s not possible that it would respond to you just because of that—isn’t it beneath their dignity to satisfy you?"

"Are The Gods of Four Pillars really that petty?"

"The Gods of Four Pillars are all very petty," said the Mercury Wooden Horse, "Their teachings never include ’altruistic qualities’ like kindness, compassion, or forgiveness, only ’selfish qualities’ like courage, intelligence, and joy. In the Four Pillars God Sect, pettiness is considered a virtuous quality, and one of the teachings encourages us not to compromise our own feelings for the sake of others’ experiences."

"What should I do then?" Ash sounded a bit anxious. "Is there any way to gain more favor... attention from The Gods of Four Pillars? Do I need to perform some kind of talent?"

The Mercury Wooden Horse shook its head: "There’s no way. With such disrespectful words, The Gods of Four Pillars definitely won’t respond to you, unless..."

Whoosh!

The flames of the campfire suddenly surged up, the brightness as if breaking free from its reins, advancing recklessly. The night retreated in defeat, coughing up the street lamps, fire pits, and all other lighting devices it had occupied just a moment ago.

In an instant, the campsite lit up again, and the statues of The Gods of Four Pillars on the outer edge began to glow faintly.

"...They really do favor you a lot."

Ash could no longer hear the Mercury Wooden Horse’s comments. Voices, light, color, airflow... everything he perceived was disintegrating and reconfiguring as if what he had been in contact with before was only a facade, and now he was finally wiping away the dust on the glass to peek at the truth hidden behind the appearances.

Plop, with an inaudible splash, Ash felt himself plunge into the Deep Sea, the icy seawater stinging his skin, penetrating his nostrils, the sour sensation spreading to his eyeballs, dissolving his eardrums.

He seemed to have turned into a bubble.

In a trance, he saw them, eight in total.

They argued, they fought, they entangled with each other. In the end, the first one died, its body lying in a pool of blood. Then a second one died, lying atop the first corpse. It did not bleed, but a tiny white soul wriggled out from the wound beneath the corpse, pushing the second body up...

Plop.

With the inaudible sound of a bubble bursting, Ash suddenly sat up from the ground. He saw the people surrounding him and asked, "What happened?"

"Don’t you start with the question we were about to ask you." Igula said, "You suddenly fell down just now, and now you’ve suddenly woken up. You must have fainted for about ten seconds or so, what happened?"

"I seemed to have dreamed that I turned into a bubble," Ash said uncertainly. "And I saw some really strange things..."

"When you become Tactile, not only can The Gods of Four Pillars use you to touch the world, but you can also touch The Gods of Four Pillars through it," the Mercury Wooden Horse said. "But for us mortals, The Gods of Four Pillars are like dragons in a dark room. No matter how we grope, we can only touch an insignificant side of them, which is why you would receive some incomprehensible information."

"Yes, Tactile Ability!" Ash looked at his hands. "Am I Tactile now? What is my Tactile Ability? Is there any guidance for newbies—"

Snap!

In the blink of an eye, the Mercury Wooden Horse was viciously pinned to the ground by Tamasi! The ferocious Black Crow perched on the Female Gunner, pinning her still-intact other hand with a dagger, while an axe hung next to her neck, ready to cause a fountain of blood at the slightest pressure!

Ash and the others had more to say, but looking at the expression on the Mercury Wooden Horse’s face, they also grew serious.

Because the Mercury Wooden Horse was smiling.

It was the first genuine smile she had shown since her appearance. Innocent and proud, it sent shivers down one’s spine.

"Speak," Tamasi’s distorted voice was filled with hatred, "What tragedy are you plotting now?"

"Tamasi, you’ve really wronged me this time." She cheerfully said, "How could I manipulate The Gods of Four Pillars as chess pieces? I just didn’t expect that the best scenario I imagined would actually happen... Praise The Gods of Four Pillars."

She paused, then looked at Ash, "The Gods of Four Pillars do indeed favor you a lot, even though you are so irreverent, They are still willing to forgive you."

"But now, you have only become Half-Touch."