Mage Manual-Chapter 1435 - 1046: Lord of Mirrors and Youmo
First, let’s not discuss how the witch unlocks [Madness], but when Ash saw the last character trait of the Black Demon being [Despair], he felt a sense of relief.
He couldn’t imagine what could make the witch despair, even his death might not cause this princess who jumped from the tower to lose all her belief. In a world filled with miracles like "returning to the past" and "resurrection of the dead," regrets can be mended, and losses can be recovered.
As long as a mage has desires, they will inevitably find a direction to move forward.
Even if the knight is not by her side, the princess wouldn’t lose her way.
However, like "Death Mad," the characteristic effects of the "Black Demon" are also very tempting: clone, shared skills, simultaneous casting, clearly pointing towards a route of being a one-man magic cannon. Ash recalled the dreamscape in the Nihility Dimension, remembering the enormous range of miracle storm caused by the Black Demon which almost submerged the visible area. If Death Mad is a war meat grinder, then the Black Demon is a humanoid cleaning machine.
Although he would never let the witch get close to the Black Demon, this magic cannon route could serve as a professional reference for Diya, guiding her to develop the potential abilities of other witch sisters.
Like the Sword Maiden, the demigod Time Faction of the witch is also largely inflated, yet her Fist Claw Faction and Space Faction have both advanced to the Legendary Realm, which was beyond Ash’s expectations.
The speed is absurdly fast.
The Fist Claw Faction is fine, but the Space Faction is notoriously obscure and difficult to understand; time and space have always been high-level magic alongside the mysterious three factions.
Ash thought for a moment, vaguely guessing the key: the learning speed of the witch sisters has always been the fastest, after all, everyone learns individually, but they can separate to learn and share knowledge among the sisters, making their learning speed several times that of normal mages. And in the dream of the Hell Trial, he progressed together with the witch sisters, perhaps because of this reason, the magic experience they obtained by taking shortcuts was far more than others, otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how they pushed the Space Faction to the Legendary Realm.
As for the Holy Sanctuary Level Soul Realm, this is the witch’s effort in the past half year. Now with the guidance of the "Black Demon," she can precisely develop miracles like soul clones.
But the higher the Soul Realm of the witch becomes, it also means that the day she separates from her sisters is not far off. They don’t even need to fully separate; they just need to separate Liss, leaving those who can share joys with Diya.
Ash’s feelings were quite complex, he naturally anticipated how much impact the separation of the witch sisters would bring to their already fragile interpersonal relationships, yet he sincerely hoped to see this day come soon.
Because when the secret princess no longer clings to the white queen, black butler, red cultist, and little witch, they too will be completely freed from the [Loneliness] that has pursued them at the tower, and formally... reconcile with the past and fate.
He looks forward to the day they truly grow up.
It would be better if their celebration ritual doesn’t require them to become a shared sacrifice...
"Innate Talent · Witch (Virtual Position): Easier to summon Four-winged Time Technique Spirit, possibly independently hatch a new time Divine Being, capable of actively triggering the clock sound of Bronze Dragon (unlock talent level upon power enhancement)"
Relying on the power of the chiming Bronze Dragon, the witch could transform back into a young girl within a short time. Ash was actually a bit puzzled by this, because he saw the soul body condensed by the witch in the Void Realm as a young girl form, logically the soul body should not change, but she reverted to a little girl back in reality, then it’s most likely because Diya subconsciously considers the little girl as the main form, and the young girl is just a special form, so even the soul body is affected, only restoring the young girl form in the Void Realm.
Wearing a mask for too long, it can never be removed again. Although Diya becomes more childlike because of this, it’s not a bad thing—perhaps she was childlike all along.
Next is Youlan Weiser’s report, but Ash noticed her name has changed.
"Silver Lamp of Eternal Night Growth Report 10.17~3.27"
"Bonds Level: 4 (75% experience sharing)"
"Magic Power: ???→???"
"Training Evaluation: SSS!"
"Due to obtaining SSS level evaluation, Silver Lamp of Eternal Night receives a Mage’s Handbook profession enhancement: Lord of Mirrors!"
"Lord of Mirrors · Professional characteristics: Gradually unlocks three traits as character shifts."
[Heartless: All biological units influenced by you will gradually reduce emotional impulsivity and thinking ability until losing all emotions and the capability to think. If they attempt to generate more emotions and accelerate thought processes, it prolongs the duration of Heartless.]
[Evil: Your attacks will destroy the target unit’s emotions and thoughts.]
[Absolute Love: You are determined to intensely burn emotions and thoughts, your next attacks will cause slight soul disturbances to target units, during the intervals of each soul disturbance, your emotions and thoughts will invade the target’s mind constantly erupt and transcribe, until overflowing the target’s mind sea.]
"Due to the enhancement of Magic Power, Youlan Weiser’s talent has increased!"
"Due to obtaining SSS level evaluation, Youlan Weiser receives the professional assessment task ’Lord of Mirrors’!"
"Lord of Mirrors: No time limit, unlock all traits once the character shift reaches the critical point, the professional characteristic of Lord of Mirrors can be permanently solidified. Current progress: (0/3)."
Ash blinked and rubbed his eyes again.
Progress (0/3)? Seriously? Is Weiser this considerate?
He thought everyone would at least unlock one characteristic. After all, to be honest, they are not perfect people. However, he didn’t expect Weiser to excel above all operators, and her character hadn’t shifted toward the Lord of Mirrors at all. Ash even felt like awarding her the Excellent Operator Award!
Although he was pleased that Weiser’s mental state was so healthy, Ash couldn’t help but have a bit of a conflicted thought: [Heartless] and [Evil] aren’t good, but even if [Absolute Love] were unlocked, it shouldn’t... have any drawback, right?
However, being part of the three great characteristics, this [Absolute Love] is probably not ordinary love but rather an extremely radical and pathological emotion. From its effects, [Absolute Love] would infuse one’s emotional thoughts into another’s mind, likely suggesting that the Lord of Mirrors wants to transform a lover into someone she desires. The former Yooran Weiser indeed might have done such a thing.
But after the self-sacrifice of the Silent Spiral, Weiser had already transformed and reborn; she has become more rational and composed, no longer taking extreme paths. Thinking this way, Ash no longer troubled himself over Weiser’s zero progress in characteristics.
On the other hand, the three characteristics of the "Lord of Mirrors" were very intriguing, showing entirely different offensive systems. If Death Mad was about physically crippling the enemy, the Lord of Mirrors sought to ruin the enemy’s mind.
Under the dual attack of [Heartless] and [Evil], the enemy’s brain would spin slower and slower, possibly forgetting what happened a second ago, quickly becoming as dumb as an idiot. Even if they had the power to destroy heaven and earth, they could only be easily beaten by the Lord of Mirrors.
Even if they could resist the idiotic pollution, [Absolute Love] could still implant the Lord of Mirrors’ thoughts into their mind, causing increasing chaos. Eventually, they would lose all their thoughts and emotions, leaving only the false feelings injected by the Lord of Mirrors, becoming slaves driven by them.
Inviting a beheading, taking them in as dogs. Compared to Death Mad and Black Demon, the Lord of Mirrors uses a more covert, more malicious, and more inescapable combat style.
"Innate Talent - Destiny Commander (Hollow position): Chance to attract the favor of Truth Technique Spirits, making it easier to grasp the powers of truth and fate, able to actively traverse through the mirror surfaces of the Reincarnation Illusion Dragon (Talent level can be unlocked after strength enhancement)."
Unlike others, Weiser’s current talent became ’easier to master divine powers’, as she is still a Divine Being rather than a Technique Spirit. The ability to traverse the mirror surfaces of the Reincarnation Illusion Dragon is probably why she’s able to emerge from the personal mirror.
This might have been an unforgettable reunion for Ash. In the gradually collapsing Allstars prison, before him was Dazzling Star, wielding the power to destroy heaven and earth, a descending Silver Lamp guarding him, drawing an insurmountable domain of silver light, buying him the critical time to summon the fifth Pillar God. Just like in the Silent Spiral, she also blocked the Doomsday Storm that could obliterate everything.
Clearly, it was always he who pursued Silver Lamp, but this time he was the one chased down.
Lastly, there was Vishi. Although Ash had a vague premonition, seeing it still made him unable to hold it together.
"Demon Maid’s Growth Report 10.17~3.27"
"Bonds Level: 3→4 (75% experience shared)"
"Soul Faction: Demigod→Demigod"
"Prophetic Faction: Demigod→Demigod"
"Spirit Faction: Legendary→Legendary"
"Fire Technique Faction: Legendary→Legendary"
"Dream Faction: Legendary→Legendary"
"Spear Faction: Legendary→Legendary"
"..."
"Magic Power: Legendary Zero Feather→Demigod Zero Feather"
"Training Evaluation: SSS!"
"Due to receiving an SSS-grade evaluation, the Demon Maid gains the Mage’s Handbook profession enhancement: Youmo!"
"Youmo · Professional Characteristics: Gradually unlocks three characteristics as personality shifts."
[Cruelty: Your effective attacks leave soul scars on targets, and soul scars can accumulate indefinitely. The more scars there are, the higher your damage, and the more you enhance the target’s sensitivity to pain, making even a gentle breeze feel like the soul is being sliced and torn.]
[Frenzied Desire: Each time you kill a living being, you gain an evil spirit. Evil spirits can enhance Soul Faction effects and serve as materials for summoning Technique Spirits, and they can accumulate indefinitely.]
[Immortality: You have no attachment to fleeting years, pursuing only eternal immortality. Your soul will is frightfully strong; upon death, your soul will shatter and frantically flee. If your soul contains evil spirits, your soul fragments will flee with them. Under your frenzied will, your soul fragments will actively invade mortal souls and grow in secret. Soul fragments fused with evil spirits can even invade the souls of mages. All your soul fragments possess aggregation characteristics, naturally gravitating toward more powerful entities. Once the aggregation degree of soul fragments exceeds 10%, your will gradually awakens; when it exceeds 30%, memory gradually returns; when it exceeds 50%, magic realm will be regained; when it exceeds 80%, even death allows you to trigger ’Immortality’ once again.]
"Due to the increase in magic power, Demon Maid’s talent is enhanced!"
"Due to receiving an SSS-grade evaluation, the Demon Maid receives the professional assessment task ’Youmo’!"
"Youmo: No time limit. When the personality shift reaches a critical point, unlocking all characteristics will permanently solidify the Youmo professional characteristics. Current progress: (3/3) (Completed)."
Ash practically spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Before he could do anything, Vishi had already achieved 100% resonance with Youmo!
