Mage Manual

Chapter 41: Chapter 41 Recommendation Guide

In the Void Realm, on a small island within the Sea of Knowledge, the battle was coming to its final climax.

“The difference between swordsmanship and slaughter lies in precision.”

Professor Trozan’s teachings seemed to echo in her ears. Sonia tried her best to maintain steady breathing to prevent distortion in her movements. She quietly held the wooden sword in her hand, channeling her magic power until it boiled over and thrust with all her might!

The wooden sword pierced into Ash’s back, running through his chest!

“Ugh!”

Ash grunted, the intense pain nearly causing him to lose his grip. The Void Realm didn’t block the mages’ sensation of pain. In fact, due to direct contact with the naked soul, the sensation of pain was generally 10% to 20% higher than in reality. Therefore, it was possible for a mage to suffer from so much pain in the Void Realm that they could actually die from it in reality!

From the wooden sword that impaled Ash’s body, a faint purple glow emanated. Then—

“Inner Wave Blade!”

With Sonia’s sharp cry, the Wave Motion Sword Energy erupted from the wooden sword!

The green-skinned beastman, whose shoulders were grabbed by Ash and waist was stabbed by Sonia’s sword tip, let out a hysterical roar. Its towering and robust body burst open like a punctured balloon, with the lower half flying off completely.

However, the fierce light in its eyes intensified. Its hands clutched tightly around Ash’s throat, nearly wringing his neck like a wet towel—

Sonia decisively pulled out the wooden sword and made a swift slash, cutting open what had been the beastman’s nearly impenetrable neck as if it were cake. As the beastman’s head flew off, Ash also collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

“You okay?”

“Other than briefly reliving my life in my consciousness and hearing what sounded like the calls of loved ones, nothing much.”

Ash coughed twice and looked down at the part that Sonia had stabbed. Naturally, even the windbreaker was undamaged and the wound healed in an instant.

He had learned from his first battle that any injury suffered in the Void Realm was illusory and that mages could recover almost instantly unless they died on the spot.

Of course, all miracles come at a cost. Ash saw that the opacity of his palm had decreased significantly, indicating a substantial consumption of his soul energy.

If he were to suffer such a severe injury again, he might really give up his ‘first blood’ in the Void Realm.

He looked toward the dissipating head of the beastman with some lingering fear.

This green-skinned beastman was the strongest opponent they had encountered in the Void Realm. If Ash hadn’t volunteered to sacrifice himself as a Taunting Companion, and Sonia hadn’t seized the opportunity to attack, the outcome of who would win or lose would have remained uncertain.

Honestly, in terms of combat power, this green-skinned beastman was not much different from the gunner they faced before, both being low-level mages with very superficial combat modes.

That’s why “Void Realm Exploration” defined it as an adventure worth undertaking, giving Ash a false sense of security.

Then the Void Realm immediately taught Ash a lesson: Everything in the Void Realm carried risks. The waters of the Sea of Knowledge ran deep. You can’t grasp hold of it, kid.

Even among low-level mages, the gap between them might be greater than between races.

Ash and Sonia could easily defeat the gunner but were crushed by the green-skinned beastman because the beastman’s specialized faction was precisely the Weak Faction, which countered their abilities the most! The greenish skin shone with the color of tree bark, tough as if equipped with natural armor!

Not just Ash, even Sonia could hardly make a dent in it, unable to truly harm it.

More importantly, the beastman’s combat experience was abundant. It seemed to have also learned some sort of boxing art. Every time Sonia tried to inflict heavy damage with the Wave Motion Sword, the beastman was either entangled with Ash or charged straight at Sonia, causing her to hold back her attacks and fight cautiously. @@novelbin@@

As the prolonged battle wore on, they were increasingly drained, but the beastman grew ever fiercer, naturally making them anxious. After a quick discussion, they decided that Ash would engage it, block its vision, and create an opportunity for Sonia to strike.

Their tactic was a success; the beastman died, Sonia’s skills improved, and Ash experienced a rare life flashing before his eyes. Everyone gained growth.

Naturally, after the battle was the time to search for spoils, and the beastman left behind two fang ornaments, each containing a Technique Spirit:

“Oak Skin”

“One-winged Technique Spirit”

“Restriction: The mage must possess skin that wraps the muscles.”

“Basic Effect: Transforms the skin into a material like tree bark. When on the ground, it can transfer 10% of the kinetic impact sustained by the skin to the earth.”

“Passive Effect: The skin can be trained through daily exercise to transform into tree bark.”

“Note: Frost, sunburn, deep cold—all the hardships bestowed by nature will make you even more indestructible.”

Both Technique Spirits were “Oak Skin.” Ash found it strange, “Why does it have two identical Technique Spirits?”

Sonia explained, “Because the Weak Faction values the passive effects of Technique Spirits more than their active effects, and passive effects can be stacked. Therefore, to quickly train their bodies to the limit, Weak Mages often try to obtain multiple identical Technique Spirits to accelerate their cultivation.”

“Do you need it?”

“No, Oak Skin is worthless and not suitable for me. Even if I wanted to enhance my physique with a Weak Technique Spirit, there are better options. Besides, Oak Skin is too ugly.”

It’s mainly about being too ugly… Ash recalled the beastman’s skin that looked like a piece of paper crumpled hundreds of times before being unfolded, and he felt a bit repulsed.

He didn’t care much about his own appearance, but that was truly too ugly—it was a blight on city aesthetics.

Therefore, those two Technique Spirits naturally entered Ash’s bag as a reserve of rechargeable funds.

Sonia picked up a scroll dropped by the Beastman, glanced at it, and threw it to Ash with a disgusted look, muttering, “Don’t tell me you can even absorb a Mage’s Handbook like this?”

Ash took it and immediately shuddered all over.

The scroll left by that Beastman was indeed a… how should I put it, if put elegantly it’s called “Anthology of Beauties,” if put formally it’s “Research Materials on Otherworldly Customs,” and if put vulgarly it’s “Erection Recommender Guide.”

The front of the scroll showed about a dozen artistic portraits of Beastmen; though their aesthetic was rather rough, Ash, who hadn’t seen any risqué images in a couple of days, could appreciate the wild beauty in them.

The middle part started to get exciting. There were humans, Elves, ogres, some with fluffy ears, some with scales, some with wings, some with horns, there were even Spiders—no wonder this Beastman was a Weak Mage, who else but them would have the ability to conduct such detailed and diverse research!

But there was one thing that Ash found dissatisfactory, and that was the Beastman’s too singular taste, which only pursued ‘size.’ Big meant good, big meant beautiful, there wasn’t a single female under two meters in the scroll, all were towering figures whom Ash could only look up to.

“If you like it, why not take it back and enjoy it at your leisure?” Sonia said with folded arms, her eyes not hiding her disdain, “Ah, men…”

“I’ll be quick, I’ll finish quickly, just wait a moment.”

Although he said that, the scroll was incredibly long, listing at least a few hundred females, more than all the females Ash knew. Indeed, some died of drought, others of flood…

When Ash reached the end of the scroll, he saw a photo of an ordinary Beastwoman who was very special—her photo was the only one with clothed attire on the entire scroll.

Based on the previous information, this probably meant that the Weak Beastman Mage hadn’t engaged in reproductive activities with her.

In the photo, she was holding two Beastman cubs, with a wooden house in the background. She was a bit short and plump but appeared very amiable. Even when she smiled, exposing ferocious fangs, she did not seem threatening at all. Dressed in a dirty apron, she looked like a Beastwoman farmer.

Because there was no written introduction, Ash could only guess: Had this Weak Beastman Mage fallen for this Beastwoman farmer? But why hadn’t he become her mate? Was it because the Beastman Mage was about to die, or because he contracted some illness from frequent health preservation activities?

What a strange Beastman Mage…

When the scroll turned into light smoke and dissipated, Ash acquired two new skills.

“Delight Secret Technique (Effective only on females over two meters)”

“Wild Intuition”

Ash looked at the “Delight Secret Technique (Effective only on females over two meters)” and was somewhat baffled.

How to say, although he had no driving experience, he had obtained a heavyweight vehicle A1-class driver’s license. From today onward, he was a licensed driver of the clouds.

But the second skill “Wild Intuition” seemed quite useful. It wasn’t a racial trait of the Beastmen but rather a combat skill honed through long years of battle by the Beastman Mage, effectively allowing one to dodge sudden attacks from outside their field of vision in close quarters combat.

After absorbing the Mage’s Handbook, this Inheritance Island was about to sink again. Sonia sat at the stern looking at him, raising her eyebrows: “So, you really could absorb that Mage’s Handbook… Looks like your values are quite broad…”

“It’s not really that, I just have more adaptable values.”

In reality, Ash also felt something was off. The Sword Maiden couldn’t absorb any Mage’s Handbook, yet he absorbed every one he saw. Clearly, the problem wasn’t with the conservative Sword Maiden but rather with Ash, who was too open, akin to a public bus.

Ash suspected it was a hidden feature of “Aurora’s Mage Manual” the game, but without any relevant prompts popping up from the game, he could only fob off the Sword Maiden.

“Let’s head to the next area. I hope we encounter an Inheritance Island of a Sword Master… or at least a lucky encounter on an island with a Technique Spirit of swordsmanship… anything but one belonging to the Weak Faction,” Sonia complained languidly as she leaned against the boat’s side.

Ash nodded, finding it hard not to support the suggestion—facing enemies that popped like shotguns was truly a terrible experience, he’d rather deal with a murky Fish Dragon that could instantly slay them.

He opened “Void Realm Exploration,” checking for hints in the surrounding areas, when suddenly he saw an unfamiliar orange indicator underneath a right-hand area—

“Wait a minute.”

Sonia waited for several seconds and noticing the boat didn’t move at all, couldn’t help but feel curious, “Why aren’t we leaving?”

“We have to wait a bit before we can go.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know.”

“…Alright, we’ll wait then.” Sonia stretched lazily, “Speaking of which, I also wanted to discuss something with you that I had forgotten about just now.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s about my daily training.” Sonia folded her arms, “Could you cancel my forced training schedule?”

Paper people these days, how they refuse to generate surplus value!

She really must be the laziest paper person I’ve ever seen.

When have I ever encountered such a thing in mobile games before?

Many thoughts raced through Ash’s mind, but outwardly he intertwined his fingers, adopting a posture of open-minded listening: “Of course, there’s no problem, I respect your wishes, Sword Maiden—but I would like to hear your reasons.”