Mage Manual-Chapter 632 - 506: The Wandering Knight Should Let Go

"Not just you, Miss Hanna, Mr. Banjee, Mr. Bokin, Mr. Harvey—you all must leave the Kingdom of Gospel."

Having just been spiritually swept out the door, Ash had not expected to physically experience expulsion as well. "Why?"

"Because I can only protect you for eighty-eight minutes," Lissdia explained. "Once I become a Soul Summoning Technique, I won’t be able to fulfill the commitment I made to Liss to take care of you. In fact, it could harm you instead."

"The harm I speak of is not direct damage through wanted notices, persecutions, or killings, but a grinding down by circumstances. Although I am not yet a true Soul Summoning Technique, I can vaguely sense how you will all be arranged—Mr. Bokin will easily establish a small intelligence organization, which will expand to a city, then stagnate, with his remainder of life spent managing the organization through intrigues; Mr. Harvey will find an ancient battlefield from the times of the Elf Dynasty, only to have it sealed off by a landslide, spending the rest of his life studying in that tomb; Miss Hanna will have a child with you, then devote her full attention to raising that child; Mr. Banjee will help you take care of the child."

Ash asked, "And what about me?"

Lissdia replied, "The Soul Summoning Technique hasn’t decided yet, but your arrangement will certainly be similar to the others: pulling your fangs and claws, eroding your ideals and spirit, filling your emptiness with mundanity, occupying your time with trivialities."

Ash couldn’t help but bitter-smile. "I don’t really have any ideals."

"Perhaps you didn’t in the past, but how about now?" Lissdia said. "Grief has five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance."

"But for someone like you, who is regarded differently by Divine Beings, once you’ve processed the hardship, you’ll enter a sixth stage: retaliation."

"If you wish to retaliate, you cannot stay in Gospel. Gospel is Heaven for the weak but Hell for the strong. Of course, if you desire a simple happiness, Gospel can certainly provide it, and most likely you would end up forming a noisy family with Hanna."

"But if you wish to cultivate magic, that’s absolutely impossible," Lissdia revealed a dark secret that would make all of Gospel tremble, "Gospel automatically restricts the development of Holy Sanctuary Mages unless they are willing to move to Nabistin to research Gospel. Otherwise, Mages will always be entangled in trivialities, unable to focus."

Ash said in surprise, "Why limit the Holy Domain?"

"This is the best result calculated by Gospel," Lissdia explained. "Rather than say it’s a restriction, it’s better to say it’s making the most out of them. Holy Sanctuary Mages are the limit for ordinary Mages; further research is unlikely to enable them to break through to become Legendary, and in terms of productivity, the difference between a Legendary Mage and a Holy Sanctuary Mage cannot justify the time consumed by a Holy Sanctuary Mage. If the Holy Domain spent that time producing, the cost-benefit ratio would be far higher than spending it on researching magic."

"Being a Legendary Mage is beneficial for the individual, but not for society. The Kingdom of Gospel only needs Holy Sanctuary Mages, and that is Gospel’s judgment. Only when Mages voluntarily settle in Nabistin and allow Gospel to directly control both production and research will Gospel lift the subtle restrictions."

Lissdia paused: "I also think this is the right approach."

Ash blinked and said nothing.

"Every Holy Sanctuary Mage does not appear out of thin air, but from a stable social environment, complete magic traditions, and attentive cultivation by Gospel," Lissdia stated. "When a Holy Sanctuary seed emerges, Gospel tailors a different cultivation plan based on the seed’s personality, giving hardships to the arrogant, companionship to the introverted, competition to the confident, despair to the greedy... and letting them narrowly escape deadly perils, allowing them as much as possible to grow."

"Every Holy Sanctuary is a masterpiece cultivated by society. As such, they have an obligation to give back to society, not to continue to plunder resources through violence and awe, to climb the Void Realm, exploiting millions for self-gain."

These words, listened to ten days ago and ten days later, fell on entirely different ears. Ten days ago, Ash had still been a Two-winged Mage, with the Holy Sanctuary far out of reach, listening to such policies would of course be applauded, wishing all Holy Sanctuary Mages were like pillars of a Space Gate, burning out their lives for society’s benefit.

Now, Ash was a Three-winged Mage, although not yet a Holy Sanctuary, his sense of identity was already strong—why should he?

Is Harmony Prohibition with Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon an easy task? And isn’t adventuring in the Void Realm dangerous?

Moreover, Ash is a Mud Species Mage. Normal mages spend at least ten years mastering magic before they might advance to the Holy Sanctuary. Their years of diligence, sweat, and focus surely bring them a strong sense of superiority. How could they possibly be content to stop there and turn to manual labor?

Keep in mind, the Holy Sanctuary isn’t just about productivity; they are tactical weapons themselves!

However, only the Kingdom of Gospel could manage this, exchanging any other kingdoms’ dare not mistreat these pillars of society, but the Gospel uniquely manages to subtly and imperceptibly coax the Holy Sanctuary. Even if reluctant, they are forced to drift along with the current and shine for the populace.

But even this kind of coercion has its limits; it can’t, after all, force the Holy Sanctuary to become human pillars for the Space Gate.

"But this reasoning, " Lissdia said, "only works for the people of the Gospel. You, Mr. Harvey, Mr. Bokin, the Gospel owes you no favors, and you have no obligation to repay the Gospel. But if you stay, it won’t be up to you any longer."

"So, for your sake, you must leave Gospel as soon as possible. I’ve already fixed your motorcycle, and others are waiting outside. You’ll ride through the sky-blue pathway to Modora, and twenty-three minutes later, a portal to the Void Realm will appear on the outskirts of Modora City; I’ve sent you the coordinates."

Ash stared at her in dismay. "You’ve arranged everything."

"Because Liss entrusted everything to me." Lissdia smiled. "And you are that everything."

"But what if I want to stay?"

Lissdia actually took a moment to think seriously. "Then I’ll tell Mr. Bokin and Harvey the reality and have them drag you away."

"Why?"

"Because I don’t want you to stay in Gospel either. Under the same sky as me, you’d eventually do something foolish."

Lissdia reached out and pulled Ash to his feet, then sat down herself. "Come on, they are waiting for you."

Ash clasped her hand in return. Lissdia gave a slight smile. "I know nothing I say can erase the guilt, discontent, anger, and sadness in your heart, so I won’t try to comfort you. Just carry these heavy, bittersweet burdens and continue striving in a new country and then..."

"Perhaps when you return to the Kingdom of Gospel, you might be able to mend the regrets of today."

Lissdia earnestly, bit by bit, pried Ash’s fingers open, then pushed him away.

"Go," she urged. "The amnesiac Princess has gone home, and the wandering Knight should let go too."

There was no other choice.

Reason told Ash that all he could do now was leave; emotion told him not to look back, for frequently looking back is the most futile thing in life.

Yet as Ash turned to gaze at the great doors, he couldn’t step forward.

Shame.

Humiliation.

Guilt.

Anger!

He couldn’t bear that he had been protected by a girl! He couldn’t stand why he had to suffer such misfortune! He couldn’t bear that he could only dejectedly follow the arrangements and flee!

How could he possibly sleep for the rest of his life?

How could he face the Sword Maiden in the future?

If his brother saw him being so disgraceful, he would probably call his nephew to join him in mockery!

Was he really out of options? Did he really not have a single card left? Think hard!

Ash racked his brain, constantly flipping through Yayin’s memories—Since they had to deal with the Divine Being, why not see if there were any flaws exposed when it resided within him!

"What’s wrong?" Lissdia asked, "Did you forget something? I can bring it to you directly."

Bring it over...

"...The Blessing received from the Drama Poet allows for the snatching of the target’s Technique Spirit through close contact..."

Suddenly, a strange phrase invaded Ash’s mind.

Snatching—if I had the Blessing of snatching Technique Spirits, could I snatch away the Divine Being? But the problem is, I don’t have the blessing of snatching, what I have is only—

Ash paused, looked up at the sunlight leaking in from the door.

It was morning now. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Ash suddenly turned around and knelt on the throne, firmly held Lissdia’s hand, and asked, "Are you keeping an important secret from me?"

Lissdia looked at him, pondered for a moment, "Yes, and I won’t tell you."

"Then never tell me." Ash tried to retrieve the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit hidden in his soul—of course, it was impossible; the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit couldn’t be used in reality, couldn’t appear in reality, and certainly couldn’t be traded in reality.

This was also one of the reasons the Sword Maiden had never heard of the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit before. Even if a Mage killed the Heroic Soul Commander and obtained the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit, he couldn’t take it out as evidence to boast.

At that moment, Ash used a blessing he had been saving and never used—"Gift"!

It was a blessing bestowed by the Drama Poet after enduring the curse of "no toilet paper when shitting"!

Long ago, Ash had wanted to use this blessing to simply stuff a Technique Spirit into Liss, although barely effective, it could at least offer her a bit of self-protection, but Liss had refused.

Unexpectedly, after all the twists and turns, this gift was still given.

Gift recipient→Lissdia.

Gift—

Soul Summoning Technique Spirit!

When he saw the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit leave his soul, transfer down his arm, and move into Lissdia’s body, Ash couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

His estimate was indeed not wrong; the Heavenly Carriage Bull had already stepped into the Spider Tower area, so his contract with the queen was finally beginning to be executed, and at the same time, it completely invalidated—thus he could transfer the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit!

And what came next was even more crucial!

In Ash’s anxious gaze, Lissdia’s expression was initially puzzled, then her eyebrows gradually relaxed, and her eyelids began to fight each other, as if she suddenly felt very sleepy.

"You..."

"Sister, you go back to sleep."

"I regret it now!"

Diya suddenly opened her eyes, and they stared at each other with wide eyes.

The great and sublime Gospel Divine Being still occupied her soul, its strong will shining like the morning sun in every corner of the soul, making all Technique Spirits shudder and curl up at the edges.

However, this formidable presence, which was still trying to find her and crush her even while she slept, was now lazily still, as if indifferent to the change of personnel. It held the newly acquired Soul Summoning Technique Spirit, shrouded in the intense purple light emitted by the Technique Spirit.

The little witch, White Queen, Black Butler, and Red Death Cultist also woke up one after another. Diya took a glance at Ash’s eyes and completed the communication between sisters through the reflection in a mirror.

"How is it?" Ash’s voice trembled a bit, "How do you feel?"

Ash couldn’t predict how effective it would be. The power of Secret Keeping Authority depended only on the size of your secret and your Confession Level. He could only pray that she really had a secret she wanted to speak out, so that the Secret Keeping Authority could be fully utilized.

"I’m not afraid," Diya replied. "I feel like I’m not afraid anymore."

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