Mage Manual

Chapter 71: Chapter 67 Do not respond! Do not respond!

Kingdom of Blood Moon, Shattered Lake Prison.

“If hurt enough, use a pair of hands to swiftly slice away yesterday’s curse. Wait for daylight in the night, leaving scars…”

Igula woke up from the velvet king-size bed, yawning as he went to the bathroom to take off his pajamas and nightcap. He first tested the water with his toes before lying down in the bathtub filled with warm water on a timer, enjoying a morning bath.

To be able to take a bath at any time, Igula paid the price of 1 contribution point every 3 days to stay in this upscale dormitory. As a result, his contribution points were quite tight—in five months of stay, he would consume 50 contribution points, equivalent to the initial total contribution of a death row inmate.

However, he thought it was worth more than the cost, as taking baths was not only Igula’s hobby but seemingly also the hobby of the “Contract” Technique Spirit.

Once, while bathing, Igula fell asleep from exhaustion. Amid his groggy daze, he vaguely saw the “Contract” Technique Spirit riding a yellow duck, playing in the water in the tub.

Though the “Contract” Technique Spirit disappeared as soon as Igula opened his eyes, as if it had never been there, Igula trusted his judgment—the “Contract” Technique Spirit really liked bathing.

If discussed outside, this would merely be an interesting topic of casual conversation with no practical significance.

While Technique Spirits undeniably possess wisdom and emotional preferences, most Mages hardly ever pay attention to them. After all, as long as there is an output of Magic Power, the Technique Spirit must obey the Mage’s command, even if reluctantly.

However, in Shattered Lake Prison, this information became Igula’s life-saving trump card—in an environment where no one could output Magic Power, the death row inmates who wished to cast spells would have to rely on triggering a Resonance with the Technique Spirit. Thus, whether the Technique Spirit would cooperate became an extremely crucial factor!

Though Igula was still unsure if his almost guaranteed activation of the “Contract” Technique Spirit in prison had anything to do with his frequent pleasing baths, he adhered to the adage, “The more you do, the more mistakes; if you do nothing, you make no mistakes.” The prison was not a place for conducting research, so as long as Igula had surplus contribution points, he would not change his slightly “luxurious” lifestyle.

After taking a nap in the bathtub, Igula didn’t bother dressing and directly went to wash up after toweling off. He emptied his mind, thinking of nothing, letting himself become blank and absentminded, mechanically brushing his teeth in front of the mirror, with grand motions that flicked toothpaste foam onto the mirror.

Soon, the splattered toothpaste foam flowed along the mirror, curiously forming words.

This meant that Igula had successfully activated another one of his Technique Spirits, “Revelation.”

“Revelation” Technique Spirit was a spoil Igula found previously in the Void Realm, universally applicable—you could activate “Revelation” before doing anything and the surrounding environment would change, giving useful hints.

After entering prison, Igula had tried many methods before finding the right way to trigger the “Revelation” Technique Spirit: while brushing his teeth, he had to empty his mind but not fully; he needed to maintain a slight “I want some advice” thought to hook the Technique Spirit into a Resonance.

This balance was hard to achieve, and Igula wasn’t successful every day, but today he was lucky.

Yet, Igula merely treated this process as a minor adjustment in his prison life, as most advice from “Revelation” was trivial like “Don’t eat heavy for lunch,” “Remember to bring tissues,” “Don’t wear underwear.”

These pieces of advice were indeed useful, but only slightly.

Even if Igula didn’t follow them, it wouldn’t pose any harm.

But that was expected, as Igula hadn’t studied the Prophetic Faction, and being able to utilize “Revelation” to such an extent was already commendable.

If sometime “Revelation” gave a very stern warning, then Igula should be afraid—because that would mean that Igula had reached a critical juncture of Fate, a poignant Veil of unknown entwining fates was imminent, so much so that “Revelation” would react!

For example, now!

In Igula’s increasingly horrified eyes, the toothpaste foam left a chilling warning on the mirror:

“Do not respond! Do not respond!”

It was the first time Igula saw punctuation marks in the tips, and they were even exclamation marks!

He quickly calmed down, contemplating whether he should follow the guidance of Revelation.

Because the guidance from Revelation was not always correct.

Or rather, “right or wrong, benefit or detriment” were cultural concepts unique to human society, profoundly personal. The same issue could be viewed differently in various places, races, or even by different individuals like “sleeping in.” Some people see it as bad, while others enjoy it.

It’s one thing when it comes to minor issues like “sleeping in,” but even with major matters like “life and death,” many have their own opinions—some think to die young is to free the soul early, some believe it’s better to live poorly than die well, some fluctuate between wanting to live and die.

If humans themselves can’t discern right from wrong, how could a Technique Spirit? @@novelbin@@

Therefore, the hints given by “Revelation” were often very shortsighted. The Spirit gauges by the current state of the Mage, and any incident that could potentially change this state it would deem harmful.