Mage Manual

Chapter 1683 - 1240: Granting You Freedom

Seeing that he was really about to be designated as an unrestricted trash can, Ash suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered one thing: "Wait, both Igula and Harvey’s lovers have appeared in the Weaving Festival! The Divine Being of the Gospel can vouch for me!"

"I get it now!" Felix suddenly realized: "You guys aren’t lovers; you’re friends with benefits!"

Thud!

Felix got a smack on the head from Dedarose, who dragged her out of the game room, politely saying, "We’ll go prepare the afternoon tea."

Although Ash was almost cleared of suspicion at this point, everyone still had doubts. If Igula and Harvey had only sent five or six bottles of Essence of Knowledge, no one would think much of it. The problem was that these were enough resources to raise them all to six levels of Prison Wings, making the Sword Maiden and others feel something was off. In hindsight, they could only think Ash had traded on his looks again—at least it was the most reasonable explanation.

"Have you ever thought of a possibility," Ash said, "that they really embezzled from Hell, but once they moved to Heaven, they were under the control of the Supreme God, and no matter how many resources they had, they had to hand them over. Maybe they thought if they were going to benefit the Divine Lord, they might as well benefit me, their dear friend, so they handed it to me."

"That’s indeed a possibility," Vishi pondered, "but their level of corruption is quite massive..."

"What’s so strange about it? They’re the type who would taste anything even if a manure truck passed by," Ash shrugged, "We’ll ask them once we step into Heaven. We can’t let their good intentions go to waste; rescuing them from the Divine Lord will be sufficient payback."

No one objected; in truth, everyone was just too shocked by the extravagant gift. Ash sighed secretly in relief.

Even though Ash had seen with his own eyes that it was Igula who sent the Space Ring, he knew in his heart that even draining the fourth and fifth levels of Hell wouldn’t yield so much Essence of Knowledge.

Moreover, he vividly remembered that both Igula and Harvey’s Prison Wings were only at four levels. Although that was impressive for demigods who had been in Hell for less than half a year, if they really handled so much Essence of Knowledge, why didn’t they elevate themselves to Six-winged Ancient King Prison Wings first?

So, whose vast amount of Essence of Knowledge in the Space Ring was it?

When Ash fell unconscious, besides Igula and Harvey, there was another person present.

Or rather, a Supreme of Magic.

"Now there’s no reason to stop you from rescuing Igula and Harvey," Weiser said with a smile, resting her chin on her hand, "It feels like just rescuing them from Heaven alone can’t repay this gift."

"It’s also possible someone feels they owe me too much, and this is a way to repay a debt," Ash said calmly, holding a bottle of Essence of Knowledge and gently tapping its wall, "Let’s just enjoy it."

"Besides these, they also found a special gift."

Ash took out a cluster of dim purple light from the Space Ring. The light was hazy and dreamy, flowing with shifting shadows. Everyone present felt a tremor in their hearts, sensing a tug on their souls. Vishi abruptly stood up, staring blankly at the light cluster, her expression lost, with eyes more drawn to it than filled with greed.

As the familiar yet pure evil aura emanated from the dim purple light, everyone began to faintly guess what it was. After a long moment, Vishi sighed and sat down softly, asking, "Go on."

"Say what?"

"What humiliation do you want me to suffer this time before you return my soul to me?" the maid said, accepting her fate, "Do you want me to do a thousand good deeds? Help ten thousand elderly ladies cross the street or do thousands of hours of volunteer work?"

"You seem like the type to help the same old lady cross the street ten thousand times," Ash quipped, as he pushed the dim purple light toward her. Everyone watched as the light slowly approached Vishi, and no one spoke until the light was in front of her. But even then, Vishi didn’t reach out; she just stared at Ash.

This was the soul fragment of the Ghost Prophet in Hell, the final piece for her complete resurrection. As a demigod of the soul, no one knew better than Vishi about the importance of having a complete soul. Though she had basically awakened all her past-life memories, the soul fragments remained crucial to her.

A soul is like a whiteboard, with the information written on it as the words. While constantly erased, updated, and modified, the information on the board grows more and more, and the writing deeper and deeper. When Vishi revived, she merely transferred all the words on top, but she couldn’t take the inscriptions on the board with her.

Information has no owner, memory can be illusory, but the deep engravings are her proof of having lived.

The benefits of merging soul fragments are immense. For example, Vishi’s current memory is like a library; she must use a catalog to find a specific section step by step. After merging the soul fragments, her memory would become a chaotic room, but she could retrieve the corresponding items by intuition without any thinking.

Soul fragments are so vital that Vishi was prepared to be blackmailed by Ash. Though theoretically, Vishi herself and her soul were Ash’s possessions, compared to these ’external belongings,’ Ash was more passionate about defiling her ’interior,’ sparing no effort to twist her into a good person. Even during their occasional intimate moments, he would murmur by the pillow, trying to corrode her mind. With the soul fragments as a trump card, she was ready to accept any harsh terms proposed by Ash.

What’s happening now, not proposing any conditions whatsoever? Could it be that her counter-seduction through pillow talk succeeded?

"Take it," Ash said, "This is also a gift from Igula and Harvey for you."

"Really no conditions?" Vishi asked tentatively, "Such as asking me to take care that the power of Wonders doesn’t affect ordinary people..."

"Vishi," Ash shook his head, saying, "Previously, I was mistaken."

"Having you abide by the rules relies on coercion or voluntary compliance. It should never be about changing your character. After all, you’re a demigod who’s lived over a thousand years. The time I’ve walked is not even a fraction of yours; your character is already set. How could I possibly change it?"

"I can’t smooth out your evil nature, and you can’t fulfill my expectations. Continuing like this just becomes awkward. I won’t try to test and change your character anymore... You’re not my Demon Maid; you are the Ghost Prophet."

Vishi instinctively stepped back, moving further from her soul fragment. She stared blankly at Ash and said, "But wasn’t I first your prisoner?"

"But I no longer wish to be your Prison Director." Ash flicked his fingers, sending the soul fragment into Vishi’s body. The dim purple light merged into Vishi’s soul body, quickly integrating with her, and she lit up with radiance, though her expression remained intensely anxious.

"I’ve always wanted to trust you, but was never brave enough. From the Six-winged Trial, I’ve removed all your restrictions, and up until now, I’ve added none. Let’s take this opportunity to try," Ash stated, "I won’t impose any limitations on you. You’re free to do anything, but if you violate my principles even once, I’ll bring you back. Any damages you cause, I’ll manage, even if it means bringing back the dead."

"As long as you don’t touch my bottom line, I’ll never bind you again," Ash said, "Except for the fine chain of trust."

"Haven’t you heard one saying, ’Don’t test human nature’?" Vishi remarked, "Especially with my evil nature?"

"But haven’t you always wanted freedom?" Ash chuckled softly, "I won’t promise you forever, only a single chance at freedom—"

Whoosh!

As the maid moved, the Sword Maiden, Witch, and Silver Lamp all sprang into action as well. Vishi suddenly lunged at Ash, but Sonia grabbed Vishi’s wrist, Weiser pressed on Vishi’s shoulder, and Diya embraced Vishi’s waist. Still, Vishi disregarded them as she straddled Ash, holding his shoulders, gazing into his eyes, and asking:

"What are you hiding from us?"