Mage Manual-Chapter 89 - 82: Draw Cards! (Ninth Update)

Chapter 89: Chapter 82: Draw Cards! (Ninth Update)

Watching the 9 Technique Spirits before him, Ash couldn’t help but perform a set of broadcast calisthenics right there to ease his excitement.

Last night’s Void Realm Exploration had yielded them a whopping 12 Technique Spirits!

Among them, three were said to fetch a good price, so they had been taken by the Sword Maiden, but even so, Ash’s haul from last night almost surpassed the total gains of the past few days!

Not to mention, they also obtained two Experience Treasure Orbs!

Ash felt that unless he drew another Void Realm Exploration Divine Artifact, it would be very difficult for him to replicate last night’s achievements before the Silver Wings were fully deployed.

Moreover, last night’s experiences deeply confirmed the life lessons he summed up while at work, “Working is inferior to slacking off, slacking off is inferior to exploiting, and exploiting is inferior to picking peaches…”

...

When they discovered a wild Mage nearby on the Void Realm Map, Ash and his team’s first reaction was to quickly distance themselves—not because they had a conscientious objection to robbery or a desire to be kind to a stranger they hadn’t met, but because they were afraid that both of them together wouldn’t be a match for just one of the opponent’s hands!

That’s right, Ash was certain that the two of them couldn’t defeat one person together!

They were very clear about their own strength: whether it was the Sword Maiden or himself, both had artificially accelerated their power growth, knew only a few Miracles, and had virtually no combat system.

The Sword Maiden was slightly better off because her Talent meant she could catch up given some time, while Ash was purely clinging to her coattails, with nothing but standard attacks and summoning Substitutes to throw into the fray, being described as ‘the weakest among peers among Combat Mages’ would not be an exaggeration.

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Bullying the Mage projections on Inheritance Island and beating up Knowledge Creatures were already their limits, even a bit beyond their grasp—especially after the Silver Wings were more than half-congealed, they found the intensity of battles they encountered had increased by a notch, nearly exhausting their Magic Power every time and only barely managing to defeat their enemies.

As such, Mages like Ash and his colleague were undoubtedly outliers on the Sea of Knowledge; after all, they had only been Mages for a mere seven days, still at the stage where they haven’t even left the Newbie Village and were getting accustomed to the game mechanics!

The Mage who could appear near them had no doubt also congealed more than half of his Silver Wings and had been in the Void Realm for over a month or even half a year, or maybe a year!

The advantage of time was enough to create a significant gap. To use a gaming analogy, Ash and his colleague were like players who cheated to level up but hadn’t completed any Profession, Main, or Side Tasks, and didn’t even know any combo moves.

Moreover, because they had leveled up, the Gate of Truth would only teleport them to areas with high-level creatures!

Luckily the two of them were in a bound team. If other solo Mages had experienced what they had encountered, they would have long been killed to an early grave by high-level Knowledge Creatures.

Whereas normal Mages would definitely need to gradually congeal their Silver Wings and would far surpass Ash and his team in every aspect like faction realm, combat system, and Miracle mastery, not to mention the opponent was likely to have experience combatting Mages; they might find out as soon as they engaged that Ash was an easily targeted soft persimmon.

Although Ash could bet the other wasn’t a Combat Mage, there really was no need—his real body was still famished in prison, and if either he or the Sword Maiden died, even if Ash cried out “I quit, give me my life back,” it would be of no use, and he would just have to obediently await the punishment of Blood Moon Judgement on the gambling fools.

So when they saw the other party seemed to approach, Ash immediately steered the boat to dodge. However, due to the mist barrier, the other party couldn’t spot a small boat at a certain distance, and it was then that the Sword Maiden suddenly bit his ear and suggested a rather thrilling bad idea.

“Wow, you’re so wicked, but I like it.”

“Please, as if you’re any better.”

Thus, the two sneakily circled around to the front of the stranger Mage and found an area that was “a bit troublesome” on the Void Realm Map, throwing pebbles to lure the stranger into it.

Based on their experiences over the past several days, “a bit troublesome” areas are mostly habitats for Knowledge Creatures and are usually at a growth stage; they are larger in size, formidable in power, and make strategic use of Technique Spirits. Even if a Mage could defeat them, it was impossible to retain the Knowledge Creatures.

Sure enough, Ash saw on the Void Realm Map that after some fighting, the “bit troublesome” yellow area gradually turned into a “quick, go pick it up” green area, and the green habitat was moving, clearly indicating that the Knowledge Creature was fleeing.

Ash’s little boat was stationed right on the path where the Knowledge Creature was making its escape!

Judging the direction in which the Knowledge Creature would flee was actually quite simple: unlike mages who were completely in the dark, Knowledge Creatures inevitably understood the situation surrounding their habitat, which is why they could always flee to safe areas, instead of invading the territories of other Knowledge Creatures and vying for turf.

All Ash had to do was make an observation and exclude the routes that led to areas marked as “Worth visiting” or “A bit troublesome,” and what remained were the likely escape routes the Knowledge Creatures would choose. Even with some margin of error, Ash could always consult the Void Realm Map and make timely corrections, almost ensuring that every young Knowledge Creature learned what ‘misfortunes never come singly’ and ‘fleeing is both shameful and futile’ meant.

By employing this tactic, Ash would guide unfamiliar mages to the habitat of Knowledge Creatures, then wait nearby, ready to swoop in and pluck the easy pickings after the Knowledge Creature was significantly weakened in its escape, reaping the benefits without much effort.

Not only was the harvest plentiful, but it was also safe; a Knowledge Creature’s Combat Power plummeted during the escape, making it easy to be bewildered when ambushed, just like slipping on a banana peel while being chased by a ghost—anyone would feel cornered.

When the unfamiliar mage’s soul energy was overtaxed and they couldn’t hold out any longer, needing to log off, Ash and his companion were still a bit reluctant to end their fruitful venture. Together, they had killed five Knowledge Creatures, acquiring 12 Technique Spirits and 2 Experience Treasure Orbs.

Especially those two Experience Treasure Orbs; in the Sword Maiden’s words, it was ‘We earned what a common mage would in half a year in just one night’.

Even more importantly, within the nine Technique Spirits Ash received, one was precisely the third type of Technique Spirit needed for the Miracle “Sever Me”!

It looked like a constantly spinning water ball, with a small wing made of water, trembling in one’s hands—an adorable sight.

“Flowing”

“One-winged Technique Spirit”

“Restriction: The affected object must contain a source of water.”

“Basic Effect: Transfers all effects (Instant Damage, Continuous Effect) from the first target to the second target, with transfer speed varying depending on the distance and other factors between the two targets.”

“Passive Effect: When the mage’s body contains liquid, physical impacts can be reduced.”

“‘Water flows downward.’”

Having collected the Substitute, Heart Sword, and Flowing Technique Spirits, Ash had now met all the prerequisite conditions to cast the Miracle “Sever Me”!

Next, all he needed to do was quickly master the Technique Spirit to the extent that he could provoke a resonance with the Void Realm from within the prison, and then he could attempt to cast a Miracle even in a state where magic power was forbidden!

After securing the Flowing Technique Spirit, Ash opened “Aurora’s Mage’s Handbook” and chose to recharge all of the remaining eight Technique Spirits!

One Technique Spirit was worth eight points, so eight Technique Spirits were sixty-four points in total; adding that to the existing forty points, Ash now had a total of one hundred and four points—a considerable sum that could buy ‘a bunch of Source Crystals’!

Purchase successful!

Received 20 Source Crystals!

And then, by triggering the first-time purchase reward, gained another 40 Source Crystals!

With the 4 Source Crystals from three days of check-ins, that accumulated to a total of 44 Source Crystals, enough for 14 searches!

It’s my turn, draw a card!