Mage Manual

Chapter 1682 - 1239: Changes and Gifts

Ash returned from Hell this time, and the world has changed a lot.

The first point is that the ’concept’ of the Level Six of Hell has almost completely disappeared.

Previously, people didn’t know about the Level Six of Hell, meaning they didn’t know that "the fifth layer of the Void Realm is the Level Six of Hell," but as a literary concept, Hell was still somewhat understood by everyone. In fact, there were some Technique Spirits that relied on the concept of Hell, such as the extremely rare Flame Technique Spirit "Hellfire," the Weak Technique Spirit "Hell Transformation," the Soul Technique Spirit "Hell’s Joy." Works inspired by Hell were also countless, after all, when people are full, they always ponder three questions: who am I, where do I come from, where am I going - seeking the fate after death is an inevitable contemplation for intelligent beings.

But now everything about ’Hell’ has disappeared. If the civilization of mages were condensed into a book, the current situation would be that someone has completely torn out the page on ’Hell,’ erasing the concept of Hell from everyone’s mind.

When Ash tried to tell Sonia and the others what Hell was, he had to start teaching from the very word. However, when he introduced the setting of Hell, Weiser and Vishi’s first reaction was, ’Using this as a religious core idea definitely has potential’/’I can’t believe I didn’t come up with such a great idea,’ which made Ash feel the joy of a plagiarist.

He talked for a long time to get them to accept the setting of Hell, a difficulty not any less than when he tried to get them to accept that ’the trio of Ash, Igula, and Harvey actually exist.’ Fortunately, the focus of the team’s work for the past half year has revolved around Hell, so when Ash mentioned it, everyone felt a strong sense of dissonance, like a complete puzzle missing the very middle piece.

Perhaps they don’t really understand what Hell is, they just defined the ’blank piece’ as Hell.

Apart from this major issue of Hell, another change can only be considered trivial—a petty matter—memories of Igula and Harvey finally returned. Diya, Weiser, and Vishi who had interacted with them needed no words, and even Sonia remembered Ash constantly complaining about those two idiotic cellmates he had to look after.

"So,"

In the game room of the Yisu Imperial Palace, Sonia, biting a straw in her juice, asked with a complex expression: "Do they like you?"

"Even if we’re close, you can’t make such gross jokes." Ash made a disgusted face, "One’s a necrophiliac with a dark skin fetish, and the other’s a narcissistic Meiwa. If they liked me, what would I even become? A corpse of a Meiwa?"

"It’s understandable that Sword Maiden hasn’t interacted with Aunt Bojin and Uncle Harvey and might misunderstand," Diya said: "Those of us who have met them wouldn’t think like that."

"That’s good," Ash breathed a sigh of relief, "I really don’t know why that misunderstanding occurred—"

"We think you like them too," Weiser replied.

"Didn’t think you’d still be an unlimited garbage bin," Vishi clapped expressionlessly, "Worthy of being my master."

"So you’re suggesting we are well-matched in love?" Ash’s mouth twitched, "You can slander me, but if you’re going to slander them, at least don’t slander me!"

"Apart from that reason, it’s really hard to explain why they’re so good to you," Sonia handed him the juice, "You really didn’t sell your body?"

Ash took a sip and realized the straw was blocked by pulp—Sonia wanted him to unclog it, he mumbled, "Can’t they respect me like a father?"

Actually, Sonia and the others were half-teasing, but a part of them was indeed puzzled—Irgula and Harvey’s gifts to Ash were too generous.

The space ring Igula gave Ash naturally returned to earth with Ash. If Diya hadn’t curiously asked which Meiwa gave you a ring this time, Ash would have almost forgotten about it.

And Diya hit the nail on the head: only two people had given him rings, one was Freyja, and the other was Igula, both indeed Meiwa.

The contents of the space ring exceeded everyone’s expectations, leaving them stunned for several minutes.

"Let me try!"

Vishi picked up a giant bottle of Knowledge Essence from the table and gulped it down. Sonia and Weiser, without hesitation, covered Ash’s eyes and ears to block his visual and auditory senses. Back when they first drank Knowledge Essence in the bathroom, it had agitated them into revealing their most awkward and alluring states, a shared black history they wouldn’t let Ash witness.

In the end, Vishi’s skin just turned a soft pink, suppressing the physiological stimulus from the Knowledge Essence, not even bursting her clothes. She took a deep breath, unfolded her Void Wings, and saw her Prison Wings had significantly grown. She said calmly, "Ash, these are genuine."

"Why does this conversation sound weird..." Ash brushed off Sonia and Weiser’s hands and looked at Vishi with admiration: "Is this the will honed from completing the Six-winged Trial alone? Worthy of being the Ghost Prophet."

"Hmph." Vishi gave a self-satisfied little smile and didn’t say more. Sonia and Weiser stood solemnly, feeling that in terms of willpower they were indeed suppressed by the maid, only for Diya to catch Vishi quietly slipping her hand under her skirt, removing and storing a damp pair of panties into the space ring.

"Although Vishi only verified one bottle, I don’t think Igula and the others would deceive me, nor do I think we would fail to distinguish, so..."

Ash clapped lightly and looked at the hundreds of giant bottles of Knowledge Essence in front of him, "These Knowledge Essences are real."

"With this quantity, let alone pushing all of you to Six-winged Prison Wings, it’s more than enough even if you push everyone to Five-winged Prison Wings, plus there’ll be plenty left for me to conduct some experiments." Weiser said, "But given your previous ventures, you managed to extract dozens of bottles of Knowledge Essence from the first three layers of Hell, but they... they’ve emptied Hell?"

"If not aiming for Six-winged Prison Wings, these Knowledge Essences are enough for over ten Newly Ascended Demigods to quickly gain the Combat Power of Four-winged Prison Wings—Divine Lord’s angels do not exceed ten, with Dazzling Star having only seven Code Angels." Sonia said, "It’s like they gave you an entire angel army."

"I guess you being well-matched with them is already a very gentle approach," Vishi quipped, "I even suspect if they are your slaves too—who would hand over such immense resources?"

"I think everyone should not speculate wildly," Felix said seriously from the side, "We should use logic, eliminate possibilities one by one, and whatever remains, no matter how unlikely, must be the truth."

"First, I believe the Observer only likes women!"

"Secondly, Igula and Harvey are indeed good to the Observer!"

"So there’s only one answer," Felix raised a finger: "Igula and Harvey are actually women Ash has known the longest—"

Thud! Dedarose knocked Felix out with a powerful hammer, bowed slightly to everyone, and dragged him to rest in a corner.

Ash regretfully put down his hand and sat down, only to turn and find everyone staring at him suspiciously. He snapped, "Diya, haven’t you guys met them!?"

Weiser said wistfully, "But when you were in Black Robe Town, anyone could become a woman..."

"And quite a few Miracles can enable transformations." Vishi counted on her fingers, "Magic Girl Transformation, Divine Maiden Transformation, Demon Ninja Transformation, Frenzy Transformation... You know, it’s said that many men’s ideal opposite sex is a brother after transformation; in fact, there’s a philosophical trend that: conquering women is for the weak, conquering men is for the strong, conquering men and making them women is for the strongest of the strong."

Ash’s mouth twitched: "Seems like you guys are determined to assign me two more sweethearts today?"

"I’ve always been curious," Diya propped her chin with her hands and looked towards Ash, "What roles do Aunt Bojin and Uncle Harvey play in your life?"

Ash pursed his lips: "What roles? Shooting ghosts, swindlers, and death-defying necromancers."

"But you care about them a lot, so they must have some qualities you admire." Diya blinked, "What do you admire about them?"

"Uh..." Ash scratched his head, crossing his arms as he pondered, "Aside from killing, arson, blackmail, and desecrating graves..."

"If I had to say, it would be that they can focus on their goals. While some of their traits are pretty disgusting, the fact that they never care about what others say is something I admire, plus they’ve never let me down at critical moments."

"To sum up," Weiser said, "it’s ’focus on ideals,’ ’confident disregard for others’ opinions,’ and ’trust to live and die together.’"

Ash nodded to indicate the summary was very accurate, but as he listened he suddenly felt something amiss.

Felix, who was eavesdropping on the side, also found it odd: "Why do these three traits sound like..."

Sonia, Lissdia, Youlan Weiser, and Vishi said in unison: "Aren’t you describing me?"

The four operators were taken aback, exchanging glances before looking at Ash with increasingly subtle eyes.

Are you choosing brothers using the standard for lovers, or choosing lovers using the standard for brothers?