Mage Manual-Chapter 582 - 472: Necromancy and Gospel

Working in Nabistin was indeed a bizarre experience.

At 9 a.m., Harvey, Igula, and Hanna arrived at the Ark Square in front of the city elevator. As the name suggests, the city elevator was a lift system that operated between the lower, middle, and surface levels. Although there were elevators elsewhere, the number of elevators in Ark Square was definitely the highest, capable of moving thousands of people within half an hour.

Ark Square was the largest "talent market" in the underground city. Interestingly, there were no staff present, only a series of ’doors’.

Next to each door, there were specifications and salary listed. For instance, one doorset up by Belladett Joy World displayed the following information—

"Requirements: Work for 7 hours, height 170, appearance score above 67, physical fitness score above 70..." freēnovelkiss.com

"Salary: 30 copper per hour, totaling 210 copper. An additional Gospel Point is awarded for every 70 hours worked."

As workers who met the requirements crossed the threshold, they automatically became employees of Gospel and went to work in Belladett Joy World for seven hours. They would not return to Ark Square until seven hours later, finding their accounts credited with 210 copper.

Therefore, when Harvey and his friends reached Ark Square, they saw countless people queueing, waiting to step through the doors. These people showed no sign of the typical pre-work agitation but entered with ease, their faces calm. Once through, they moved in unison, their steps synchronized, entering the elevators to work elsewhere, like a grand concert of synchronized actions.

Meanwhile, countless people who had completed a day’s work came back through the elevators. They consciously sat on the long benches around the square, avoided the crowds, and then stood up as if waking from a dream. They opened the Gospel Book to check their balance and then left contentedly.

With people constantly coming and going, and no distinction between day and night in the underground city, the square was busy at nearly any time, with people streaming in and out. Ark Square floated in this ocean of humanity, driving the three cities towards a future woven by the Gospel.

They were free humans, as well as efficient tools; they embraced the kindness of Gospel, yet were steeped in its cruelty... In Harvey’s view, this Ark Square was almost like the Blood Moon Judgement, artistry nearly seeping out of the bricks, every individual like precise gears cleverly propelling the social machine, the whole system filled with a cold beauty that sucked marrow from bones.

However, Blood Moon’s marrow sucking was on a physical level, whereas here it was a complete replacement of free will. Though the Kingdom of Gospel was more civilized and advanced, Harvey believed that neither was superior; both were artworks created by different Divine Lords tailored to their situations.

Every time he came to Ark Square, his mind burst with more advanced inspirations. Much like he could deduce the philosophy behind Blood Moon Judgement and the Extreme Master of Blood Moon, now, observing Ark Square, Harvey seemed to vaguely grasp the ultimate Realm of the All-knowing Weaver.

"Yesterday, I wanted to ask, Harvey, how come you... seem completely unaffected?"

At 3 p.m., sitting on a bench in Ark Square and struggling with feelings of dizziness and nausea, Igula noticed Harvey’s keen interest in observing the flow of people and couldn’t help but ask, "Don’t you feel a bit suffocated in your soul after restoring your memory?"

Work was merely a momentary affair; aside from feeling slightly tired physically, Igula and the others didn’t really feel anything, not even realizing they had lost any memory.

Memory recovery was better sooner rather than later, and since Hanna also didn’t want Banjee to see her distressed expression when restoring her memory, Igula immediately used a Technique Spirit to awaken their work memories that were sealed by the contract.

Although this was the second time regaining his work memory, Igula was still overwhelmed by the suffocating rush of memories.

Cramped.

Confining.

Oppressive.

It made sense to block out work memories; when Igula regained his work memory, he felt his soul trapped in a cage named flesh. This cage was so narrow that there was no extra space for his soul to move, barely allowing him to breathe forcefully. He could only stay in this confining shell, his ears filled with the Gospel’s almost noisy high-frequency commands, watching this flesh machine drive by the Gospel, working efficiently, endlessly—

Even though the work environment was on the bright surface of Nabistin, Igula still felt so suffocated he could hardly breathe, and relying on vomiting to distract himself from the pressure was a result of his high mastery in the Spirit Faction. Next to him, Hanna, feeling terrible, bit her index finger until it bled, using the pain to forcibly divert her attention.

Compared to them, Harvey casually lit a cat grass smoke. Igula even felt that he didn’t need the cat grass smoke to relieve the suffocation and was simply in the mood to smoke something.

"Hmm?" Harvey exhaled a ring of smoke, "What suffocation?"

"Haven’t you restored your work memory?"

"I have."

"Didn’t you feel anything special? Like suffocation, oppression, despair?"

"None." Harvey glanced thoughtfully at the two, "I was wondering why your expressions were so pained... I thought you were admiring the artistic display of Ark Square like I was."

Igula had no energy left to retort, "How are you immune to the negative effects brought by memory restoration? Don’t you find the self in your work memory extremely... inhuman?"

"Oh." Harvey finally understood what he meant, "You mean the feeling of being out of control, like a puppet, as if maggots are burrowing all over your body?"

"Ugh, ugh!"

The Necromancer’s description was so vividly gruesome that Swindler couldn’t help vomiting again, weakly looking at him, "Exactly... how do you deal with that feeling?"

"I don’t handle it. I just got used to it."

"Got used to it?"

"Yes," Harvey nodded, "You remember when I merged with Alice in the fight at Belladett Manor, don’t you? When my soul merged into Alice, it felt the same as in my work memories."

"Or perhaps, necromantic bodies are always in that state; I just occasionally go in and experience it. And compared to being within a necromantic body, the negative effects from work memories are at most like the buzzing of flies attracted to rotting flesh, not yet to the level of white maggots surging."

"What about the noise of the Gospel?" Igula asked, "Doesn’t it make you feel sick and annoyed?"

"You are still thinking like a living person," Harvey shrugged, "Living people try to discern if there is any useful information in the noise, that’s why you feel annoyed and nauseated... But necromantics don’t have such advanced information gathering capabilities; to them, noise is no different from silence. As long as you consider yourself a necromantic, you will become accustomed to both work memories and the Gospel."

How can I, a living person, consider myself as a necromantic!?

Do you think everyone is as twisted as you, liking to sleep in a coffin with corpses?!

Disappointed, Igula and Hanna turned their heads away, only able to continue enduring the negative effects of work memories. After a good while and resting enough, they stood up, prepared to leave, but turned to see Harvey staring at Ark Square, his expression blank and deep in thought.

"Let’s go back, Harvey." Igula said. "Or do you want to stay here and watch for a while longer?"

"Necromantics... Gospel... Ah, I see." Harvey murmured softly, then stood up with a smile, "No, I’ve completely understood now, let’s go back."

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