Mage Manual

"So basically, because of your special relationship with Filly, Dazzling Star ended up with overwhelming combat power. If she hadn’t spared you, you might’ve already died on the seventh layer of the Void Realm?" Weiser summed up Ash’s shameful situation in a few crisp words. Ash thought it over for a long time and really couldn’t refute her, so he could only nod gloomily.

"Doesn’t sharing Void Wings require lover-level Bonds? If we make Ash lose his memory, won’t that sever his Bond with Filly?" Diya, full of wicked ideas, immediately said, "Let’s go tamper with Ash’s memories!"

Weiser’s eyes lit up, and even Sonia felt a stir of Heartbeat—after all, it’d be their first time altering memories. If they weren’t practiced and made a small mistake, deleting a few more people by accident was perfectly reasonable, right?

Only Vishi, biting Ash’s finger, snorted and sneered. "If losing his memory were enough for him to let go of his feelings, I’d have run away ages ago and be living my best life. If you dare wipe his memories, Dazzling Star will dare turn into Filly on the seventh layer of the Void Realm and fall in love with him all over again."

"No." Ash shook his head and, after thinking seriously, said, "I actually think that’s a pretty good method. Dazzling Star ultimately isn’t Filly, and on top of that she and I are mortal enemies who can’t coexist... How could I possibly fall in love with her again?"

"You won’t like her just because she’s not the same person?" Sonia narrowed her eyes.

"You can stay rational just because she’s your mortal enemy?" Weiser chuckled.

"Then we’d better not tamper with his memories," Diya said with a solemn face. "I keep feeling that once Ash loses his memory, he might end up liking Dazzling Star as well."

"Is there a chance Dazzling Star would turn from enemy to friend because of it?"

"Very likely. Getting into a relationship with Ash lowers your IQ. I always feel like he’s sacrificing his own intelligence to drag down the IQ of everyone around him."

"No wonder. I used to be really smart. Ever since I met him, all my sisters say I’ve gotten dumber!"

Seeing them about to talk him up into some kind of causality weapon, Ash’s mouth twitched. He dragged the topic back on track: "Actually, there’s an even more thorough way to sever Bonds. I just tried it earlier, trying to cut off my Bond with Vishi."

Everyone looked toward Vishi, who was currently throwing a tantrum by biting Ash’s finger. Vishi still didn’t feel vented enough; she opened her mouth wide, wanting to swallow Ash’s whole hand, but her mouth was too small and she could only fit four fingers.

"When Dazzling Star let me go, she suddenly threw a tantrum and heavily wounded me, leaving a brand on my soul." Ash pulled open his collar to reveal his neck, where there was a cross-shaped mark like an eye scored with vertical scratches. "When I left the seventh layer of the Void Realm, I activated ’Illusory Promise’. Even if it couldn’t heal me, it should’ve at least put me into an illusory state, temporarily immune to all effects. But that mark actually pierced through the absolute protection of the Void Realm promise. There’s only one possibility for something like that—this is a Wonder of Fate!"

"Illusory Promise" is the only Wonder of Fate, with an almost crushing advantage at the Demigod Rank, and at the Divine Lord level it’s no worse than a Secret Realm. Only at the Supreme Rank does it start feeling a bit stretched—not because it can’t withstand the time-space annihilation of Supreme wars, but because the cost-effectiveness is terrible. After all, what it consumes is the foundation of Ash’s Heavenly Kingdom of Souls; just taking one strike from Dazzling Star might burn away a few thousand palaces’ worth of land.

But using it afterward for treatment is just right, since it can put the mage into an illusory protection state, delaying all effects by ten seconds. Yet the brand actually pierced through that illusory protection; only a Wonder of Fate could possibly penetrate a Wonder of Fate.

"And on top of that it didn’t cause any negative effects. I tried touching it with my Consciousness, and discovered I could use it to sense ripples of Fate." Ash paused. "There’s a word that really fits to describe what it does..."

"Tactile sense," Weiser immediately followed up.

"Dazzling Star sparing me once was already her limit; she wouldn’t hand me one of her key techniques. It can only be one of Filly’s little schemes," Ash said. "And in fact, it really did complete our final piece of the puzzle—I can finally see the Bonds between us."

"What do they look like?" Diya’s attention had completely shifted to this topic. "Are we all tied together by a dense tangle of threads?"

"It’s actually hard to describe, because what I see isn’t just simple ’threads’." Ash closed his eyes; at this moment everyone could see the cross mark on his neck faintly glowing. "My Bond with the Sword Maiden looks like... blades tangled together? Like a pair of scissors—sharp, tight, and bright."

"My Bond with Silver Lamp is a beam of light, extremely dazzling, enveloping us both within it."

"My Bond with the Witch is... cream. We’re like two cakes, densely decorated with dollops of cream."

"My Bond with Vishi, you can all guess—it’s chains that lock us tightly together, but the chains are red and blue."

They pictured the scene Ash was seeing and all felt it fit pretty well. Only the Witch lowered her head in thought, then asked, "Ash, you really saw cream between us?"

"I think so?" Ash sounded a bit unsure. "What’s wrong? I feel like the relationship between us really is like cream—lazy and sweet."

"Nothing," Diya spread her hands. "It’s just that we like lava Puffs so much, I was wondering if maybe—"

"Save that kind of thing for the bed." Weiser hurriedly covered her mouth. "Ash, didn’t you say you can sever Bonds? Then just sever the Bond with Dazzling Star directly, and you can punish her for the heinous crime of daring to enjoy lover treatment without actually dating you."

"Why does that sound so weird..." Ash complained, then went on, "Bonds as tight as ours can’t be cut easily. I have to take something out from inside you for our Bond to be completely severed."

Weiser blinked. "And then you used Vishi as your test subject? Even though Vishi always looks like she despises you, Ash, isn’t that a bit too—"

Vishi’s expression grew even more aggrieved as she listened, practically gnawing on Ash’s paw like it was a phoenix claw. Ash hurriedly said, "No, I didn’t know at the time. I only realized it would break our Bond after I took it out, so I immediately put it back!"

"So what was it exactly?" Diya asked with curiosity. "What did you see that made you want to pull it out right away?"

"This."

Ash reached into his chest and pulled out a purple-blue book.

"After I put it back inside Vishi, a corresponding copy appeared in my soul as well," Ash said. "And it was at that moment that I finally understood the Final Observer’s true purpose in creating the Bonds System."

Everyone focused on the book Ash had set on the table, and saw its title clearly written as:

"Maid’s Handbook"!

"The Master of Bond can directly take an operator’s Mage’s Handbook, permanently strip the operator of their Void Wings, Wonders, Technique Spirits and everything else, and stack them onto themselves without any loss."

Ash rested his hand on the Maid’s Handbook and gazed into the Void, as if staring back at that nonexistent man. "The Bonds System is just the most superficial layer. The Final Observer was actually imitating the World Snake that devours worlds, creating a Supreme Technique that lets mages devour the Void Realm as well!"

"Final Observer, Final Observer... he wants to replace the World Snake, devour the Void Realm, and reach the end of all things!"