Mage Manual

"Dazzling Star is right."

Vishi suddenly said:

"The weight of a world was never something you could compare to the Eight-winged to begin with. That’s the root of Magic, the end of Truth. Not to mention this is a world doomed to perish... It’s a tragedy either way, so why not use it as a stepping stone for the Eight-winged? Getting eaten by the Snake and getting killed by people, what’s the difference?"

"Vishi, you sound kind of happy." Diya suddenly threw a teddy-bear cookie at Vishi, and Vishi just opened her mouth and caught it. She giggled. "Is it because Dazzling Star’s method is similar to your kill-for-Soul-Refining thing?"

"It’s like her own solution keeps getting rejected in our class, then the top student Dazzling Star from the next class gives the exact same solution—of course she’s going to be smug." Sonia chimed in.

"What do you mean rejected, it’s just Ash who doesn’t approve." Vishi pouted. "Back when you’d forgotten Ash, you all didn’t object much to my proposals."

"You really want to bring up our black history from the amnesia period?" Weiser said faintly. "There was that one time, Vishi, you and Sonia stayed in the bathroom for a looong, looong time—"

"Hey!" Sonia’s face flushed red. "Back then I was playing Ash’s role, so that doesn’t count!"

"Speaking of which, during the amnesia period you being captain is one thing, but why did we all default to you being our lover?" Diya crossed her arms over her chest, looking shocked. "Don’t tell me you actually have designs on us..."

"Yeah, yeah." Sonia said irritably. "Ash’s women are my women."

The taut atmosphere eased a little. Ash watched them joking and bickering without saying anything, a warm smile appearing on his face. He reached out, took a teddy-bear cookie, and said lightly, "If we can’t solve the World Snake, then at the very least we have to stop Dazzling Star from destroying the Void Realm. That way we can at least squeeze out some prep time for running away."

"Run away?" Sonia was stunned.

"If we really can’t deal with the World Snake, then we copy Death Mad and the others and find a way to flee against the timeline." Ash spread his hands and smiled. "Ten years ago, a hundred, a thousand, tens of thousands—there has to be some worldline that can take us in. Worst case, we just hide in a ring and occasionally give some pointers to the lucky kid who picks it up, see if they can help us hold off the World Snake, drifting all the way to the beginning of time... Shouldn’t we give ourselves a codename too? I’ll be the ’Observer of Origin’."

Diya flopped backward and lay lazily on the sofa, as if overcome by sloth; Vishi lowered her head and played with Ash’s hand without speaking; Weiser propped her chin in her hand and watched him, her body wrapped in a soft silver glow. Her smile was beautiful, radiant, and her eyes were full of tenderness—just like her lips were full of tenderness.

"Ash," she said, "have you ever thought about—"

"I have, actually," Ash said with complete Honesty. "But I can’t bear to."

From the moment Weiser deliberately shifted the topic, Ash knew what they wanted to say. They were far too familiar with each other; just the way someone sat down or flicked their tail was enough to know what they were thinking. Even the deep-minded Silver Lamp was transparent in Ash’s eyes.

"No one understands the World Snake’s threat better than I do. I also know that ’Only My Law’ is the last escape hatch. Even Dazzling Star tried to talk me into making up my mind. She said once I become Eight-winged there might be a chance to resurrect all beings and restore the world... Even if I can’t bring back too many, I should at least be able to revive the few people I care about, right?"

"If it were just my own Life and Death, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’m already used to squandering my own Life." He said softly, "But when it comes to your Fate, I really hesitate... Do we keep running, clinging to a lingering half-Life, or do we bet everything on charging for the Eight-winged?"

"And with the Bonds System’s hidden setting, I don’t even have to worry about your deaths dropping my Combat Power."

Ash said seriously, "I really did think about taking your power, destroying the Void Realm to achieve the Eight-winged, then turning back to save everything I care about."

"That’s also the only method the Final Observer found, after burying countless worlds."

Everyone looked at him quietly. No one spoke. Even Vishi pressed her lips together and gripped his hand tightly, feeling his warmth.

"Unfortunately, I’m not the Final Observer." Ash smiled. "I’m not even willing to lose my memories, how would I dare really lose you? Besides... I still want a perfect ending."

"’Perfection exists only in fantasy. A Mage who chases perfection is like a crying child—clearly knowing something is impossible, yet still betting all their hopes on their tears.’" Vishi calmly recited the line.

"Stop, stop," Ash’s face drooped. "I can practically hear Dazzling Star mocking me again."

"But are you really just going to take the four of us and run?" Sonia asked. "What about Freyja and the others?"

"Uh..." Ash honestly hadn’t thought that far. He stared at the Sword Maiden in surprise. "You actually support me running away?"

"Of course. It’s not like I want to die. We’ll be chased by the Snake forever, sure, but if I can cling to Life with you all the way to the source of time, I don’t have much to complain about." Sonia’s eyes softened a little. "But I hope this world can at least hold out for more than ten years... At least let me spend a quiet stretch of days with Mom. If possible, I want to take her with us when we run."

"Then let’s run." Diya said crisply. "Let’s go see the worlds of the past!"

"I want to meet the young Lord Senluo," Weiser showed a trace of anticipation. "There are so many things I want to ask her."

"Before we run, can we kill Dazzling Star first?" Vishi widened her eyes, pleading. "Give her Supreme Void Wings to me, pretty pleeease~"

"Running is a last resort. Before that we still have to stop Dazzling Star, and we also need time to research how to Reverse Time and drift to other worldlines." Ash hurriedly dragged the topic back. "Instead of thinking about how to run, let’s think about whether there’s any way to actually wipe out the World Snake. Any idea is fine. Dazzling Star has already decided to destroy the world—if even we give up, then there really will be no turning back."

"Me!" Diya raised her hand.

"All right, Witch, you have the floor!"

"Actually, I wanted to ask just now." Diya pointed at the Maid’s Handbook under Ash’s hand. "Ash, didn’t you already return the Mage’s Handbook to Vishi? Why is there still a copy left?"

"I can only guess. The Observer definitely didn’t expect someone to return prey they’d already gotten." Ash thought for a moment and said, "It’s probably like when you take pork out of the fridge and put it back in—your hands are going to get greasy. Even though I put Vishi’s Mage’s Handbook back, her handbook made a circuit through my body and inevitably left traces, so a duplicate of the Mage’s Handbook remained."

"Who are you calling pork!" The Elf maid glared at him, cheeks puffed, and viciously lifted the foot wrapped in white over‑knee socks to stomp on his instep.

"But Vishi isn’t dead yet. Is there anything in the Mage’s Handbook?" Weiser asked.

"Of course there is." Ash opened the Maid’s Handbook. "But there aren’t any highly personalized sections. Instead, it describes Vishi’s situation in a straightforward, detailed way—for example, what magic she’s mastered, how many Technique Spirits she has, what places she’s been to..."

Vishi tried to crane her neck to look, her pink twin spiral ponytails swaying, but Ash propped the Maid’s Handbook upright so she couldn’t see. "It also lists the things Vishi hates... Huh? Vishi, you hate wolves?"

Vishi was a little surprised too. "It even records that?"

"But why do you hate wolves?" Ash was really puzzled. "I thought you’d like cruel, bloody animals like wolves..."

"Do you think a murderer would like another murderer?" Vishi snapped. "Besides, if you’d once been hunted by a pack of wolves, you wouldn’t have any fondness for them either."

"You also hate centipedes, piranhas, hail, Beastmen, Goblins, Fishmen... your racial discrimination is pretty serious... You hate Dazzling Star, Blood Moon, and then... huh? Ash Heath?"

Vishi snorted and couldn’t help laughing. "Not bad, it really is my Mage’s Handbook. The record is very detailed!"

"Hurry up and see what she likes." Diya said eagerly. "See if you’re there."

"Let me see... Vishi likes cats, rabbits, torrential rain, burning houses..." Ash trailed off and fell silent, just quietly looking at Vishi.

Vishi suddenly felt uneasy. She crossed her arms over her chest, pouted, and said, "What? Is your name on there?"

"No."

Ash lowered the Maid’s Handbook and said softly, "My name isn’t there."

The Female Mages froze and all turned to look at Vishi.

Vishi blinked, then immediately snorted and said, "Figures. Did you really think I’d fall for you?"

"Mm..." Ash nodded. "Since the Mage’s Handbook doesn’t have it, that means it really doesn’t exist. The Mage’s Handbook doesn’t lie."

"But," Vishi’s tone got a little hurried, "people aren’t ’things’, right? Maybe there are other categories..."

Ash flipped through the Maid’s Handbook again. "There is indeed another entry: the people you like, Vishi."

Vishi let out an almost imperceptible breath of relief. "I don’t acknowledge—"

"But there’s only one name in there, and that’s yourself." Ash said softly. "I’m not there either."

Vishi’s eyes widened. She really wanted to take this chance to declare her independence as a Ghost Prophet, but when she saw the dejected look on Ash’s face, the words stuck in her throat and simply wouldn’t come out. After a few seconds, she really couldn’t hold it in anymore. She snatched the Maid’s Handbook, slapped it open on the table, and glanced down. "Maybe it just hasn’t updated yet—"

Everyone crowded around for a look, and saw that half the page was an image of Ash and Vishi having an intimate conversation in the Star Bridge Hall, while the other half said:

"Romantic partners to date: Ash Heath."

"Partners to date: Ash Heath."

"Number of kissing experiences: 298 (Ash Heath), 1 (Sonia Sevi)."

"..."

"Life goals: Obtain the Supreme Void Wings; with Ash—"

Smack!

Vishi instantly tore the Maid’s Handbook in half, and it dissolved into photons and vanished without a trace. She turned her head with a vicious glare; everyone hastily looked away, struggling not to laugh. Ash was even hugging a pillow over his face, but his trembling shoulders made it perfectly clear what state he was in.

This time, Ash got a real beating from Vishi. No one helped him; everyone felt he totally had it coming.

When Ash made it back to the table, Vishi started biting his hand again. This time she really bit down. The grief‑stricken pink‑haired maid was afraid she’d start shedding little pearl‑like tears if she didn’t vent all her anger.

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