Mage Manual-Chapter 1444 - 1053: Clues from the Coffin Lid (Part 2)
Vishi didn’t care at all, and even felt like laughing, especially when the Witch Silver Lamp secretly devised a "Personality Analysis Model" with her, excluding the Sword Maiden... The Witch was one thing, but that the once dignified Silver Lamp Senluo turned out like this, Vishi felt more or less disdain for her.
Interestingly, Felix would feel uneasy about neglecting Vishi, often exchanging glances with her, and occasionally touching her hand for comfort.
Thinking about how Felix often avoids Ash’s gaze, it seems...
Vishi collected her thoughts, walked straight past the Witch, and as the Witch turned around, suddenly kicked her on the butt, shut the bathroom door promptly, and ignored her outburst.
With light steps, she went to the living room and saw Ash sitting next to the cabinet drinking a milk coffee, the hidden door to the basement wide open.
"You came just in time." Ash placed the drink can on the cabinet. "I was just about to look for you to help, come into the basement with me."
"Eh—" Vishi bit her nails lightly and laughed. "Master, are you finally going to take advantage of the mistress bathing to drag the female slave into the basement for play?"
"Don’t talk nonsense." Ash said while walking. "And aren’t you a maid? Changing again?"
"It depends on what services Master needs. The maid serves actively, the slave is passively ravaged..."
"Sorry, I prefer mutual consent."
"Playing like this will cost extra..." Vishi glanced back at the shrinking basement door, quickly collected the flirtatious look on her face, and said calmly, "Is it about the soul?"
"You guessed it?"
"Unless absolutely necessary, you wouldn’t look for me." Vishi said, "I’m best at souls and prophecy, but since the Witch possesses the top-tier prophecy Divine Being, Gospel, my greatest role in the team is dealing with dirty work and Soul Magic."
Ash slightly paused his steps, continued walking down without speaking.
The basement was Felix’s training ground, equipped with various training instruments. The wooden floor was polished, and the Artifact Spirit tool "Day Star" reflected the light until the basement was as bright as daylight.
"I checked the basement during the day." Vishi said, "Except for some of Felix’s blond hair, I couldn’t find any traces left by humans."
"I know." Ash said, "I’m not looking for traces of the living."
Vishi immediately understood, "Necromancy?"
"Previously, Harvey placed the coffin here, even resting in it." Ash walked to the center of the basement, "Every night, he would groom Alice, tending her nails, grooming her appearance, feeding, cleaning, organizing her aura, and finally lying in the coffin to sleep together..."
"Even among the Hagen Dazs believers I’ve met, your friend here counts as a particularly twisted necrophilia." Vishi laughed. "However, I don’t have the Necromancy Faction’s Technique Spirit at the moment, I can only simulate with the Soul Faction..."
After pondering for a moment, she suddenly spread her hands, and an eerily beautiful Divine Being of deep blue emerged behind her, countless chains appeared between the top and bottom, transforming the entire basement into a realm of chains!
Love Separation!
The deep blue traces gradually surfaced, many of them were left by their inspection of the basement today. Since Love Separation could affect traces, it naturally could manifest them!
Using her understanding of the Necromancy Faction, Vishi constantly adjusted the frequency of Love Separation until she singled out the interval containing only Necromancy Magic, then clapped her hands heavily together, all traces vanished except for a faint lingering deep blue at the center of the basement!
There really... are traces of necromancy!
"What is this?"
Ash curiously reached in, and Vishi widened her eyes, "Don’t—"
Touching the deep blue, Ash immediately retracted his hand, looking at her in confusion. Vishi glanced at the still-present deep blue, her gaze towards Ash becoming subtle.
The effect of Love Separation was still there, meaning as long as Ash didn’t harbor love in his heart, it would 100% trigger the cut-off effect of Love Separation. Conversely, as long as the traces remained, it indicated...
Noting Vishi’s gaze turning teasing, Ash raised an eyebrow, "Speak up if you have something to say."
Vishi dispelled the trigger mechanism of Love Separation, giggling, "This is the necromancy trace you’re looking for."
"What?" Ash looked down at the array of deep blue floating in the air, his fingers traced over it, his face gradually turning grim.
"What’s wrong?"
"I didn’t obtain any clues."
Ash opened "Aurora’s Mage Manual", there was no notification of any new clue acquired, and "Level Six of Hell" was still in a gray, unselectable state. But if Vishi said it was a necromancy trace, then it must have been left by Harvey; apart from him, no one would deliberately perform a necromancy Miracle in the basement of a noble’s villa.
"Why didn’t I obtain anything?" Ash wondered, "I could directly obtain Igula’s remnants through the Libra Technique Spirit, and these traces are more obvious than Libra’s."
Vishi estimated the height of the deep blue traces, suddenly said, "Do you remember if there were any particular runes on the lid of Harvey’s coffin?"
"No." Ash thought for a moment, "The lid of his coffin was very clean, we weren’t even allowed to sit on it."
"You guys actually wanted to sit on the coffin lid...?" Vishi was speechless. "Then these traces should be inside the coffin lid, left while he lay in the coffin."
"I think you might need to figure out exactly what traces he left, just like how you clearly know there’s an unmet wish left in the Libra Technique Spirit by Igula."
Ash blinked, "Why?"
"Don’t you think that your entry into a non-existent Level Six of Hell through their traces is somewhat akin to your past clandestine Void Realm travels?" Vishi analyzed, "Golden fish, seven-colored tail, faded dream, and now it’s Igula and Harvey."
Ash immediately caught on, "Secret Poison?"
"Exactly," Vishi nodded, "If Level Six of Hell were completely assimilated, I suspect their traces would transform into an actual Secret Poison—but by then, it wouldn’t matter. Currently, these traces are unformed Secret Poisons, their only effect being to connect you to Level Six of Hell. But to obtain the Secret Poison, you must understand its true nature."
Igula and Harvey being the main subjects of the Secret Poison?
Though it sounded absurd, thinking logically it made sense. Ash exhaled and chuckled, "Good thing I brought you along, only someone as knowledgeable as you, a Demigod, could draw such a connection."
"Don’t get happy yet, do you know what information he left behind?"
"I don’t know but it doesn’t matter."
Ash lay down directly, facing the deep blue information, reaching out to capture the patterns hidden amidst the chaotic traces, "I’ll try slowly... I remembered! Harvey seemed to say he wrote something inside the coffin lid!"
"What did he write?" Vishi thought for a moment, "I remember your shared memory didn’t mention this."
"I forgot." Ash stared at the deep blue traces, "It’s probably just a casual topic that slipped my mind, but it might also be... that I’m starting to forget them too."
Vishi stood beside him, arms crossed, "There’s something I’m not sure if I should say and..."
"Don’t say it."
"...Would it be better for you if the memories about them were erased?" Vishi proceeded without regard for his opinion, "You probably understand that they’re likely already dead, right?"
"If you insist on remembering them, you might end up just reliving the pain of loss." the maid said, "You can venture into hell, but taking risks for them versus for the Sword Maiden and others... is a completely different concept for the Sword Maiden and others."
Ash was silent for a moment, then said faintly, "The Silver Lamp already said something similar just now."
As expected of the two most knowledgeable and smartest in the team, even their persuasion points were identical.
"Then I won’t repeat it," Vishi said, "If you want to alter your memories, I can make it so you wouldn’t notice a thing."
Ash met Vishi’s eyes firmly shaking his head, "I might cherish my life more for your sakes, but no one is allowed to erase them from my life."
"Fine, have it your way." Vishi snorted, "After all, it’ll be you who’s heartbroken then, not me."
