Mage Manual

Chapter 1736: Chapter 1284: Team Fracture

In the restaurant bathroom, Sonia finished washing her hands and noticed that she seemed a bit haggard in the mirror, so she took off her hair tie and put her hair up in a sprightly high ponytail.

The Witch doesn’t like me, she thought.

She truly didn’t care about Vishi’s Soul Refining plan. As Vishi mentioned, it wasn’t people she knew who died, so why should she care? Although a bit reluctant, compared to the position of the Divine Lord, it was still too insignificant.

Now patching up the loophole with death row inmates, she didn’t even need to feel guilty. However, Sonia knew a significant loophole existed here: Vishi never mentioned how many souls it took to refine a Concept. If there weren’t enough death row inmates, they’d have to move on to those with heavy sentences, then light sentences...

On the scales, one side was the chance of taking the reins of Heaven, the other, tens of thousands of lives. Wasn’t it easy to weigh which was heavier?

I always had a Cruelty talent, she thought. The world used to protect me so well.

After finishing her high ponytail, she felt a bit better, but Sonia always felt something was missing, as if her high ponytail wasn’t perfect. She glanced at the bathroom, saw no no-smoking signs, took out a cigarette from her pack, lit it against the wall, and quietly exhaled clouds of smoke.

At this moment, Vishi pushed the door open, glanced at Sonia, and walked straight into a stall, with the sound of flushing echoing shortly after. Sonia watched as she came out, washed her hands, dried them, extinguished her cigarette, and tossed it into the water ashtray above the trash can. Following behind her, she placed her hand on the door, turned the maid to face her, and pressed her against the door.

"Any instructions?" Vishi calmly asked.

Sonia was slightly taller than Vishi. It seemed she was always so close when facing Vishi directly. Their eyes met, and she slowly moved closer, her cherry pink lips gently pressing against those crystalline thin lips, tongues entwined, like glue, and even after their lips parted, they didn’t stop, turning to sensitive spots like earlobes and neck. Before long, their skin turned a soft, rosy pink, and their warm breaths intermingled.

"So, any instructions?" Vishi asked again, wrapping her arms around Sonia’s waist.

"How about behaving?" Sonia poked her cheek: "Everyone’s not been in a good state these past two days. If you have any suggestions, tell me first."

"As you wish," Vishi lazily replied, turning to open the door handle, leaving a message before leaving: "Also, I don’t like the smell of smoke either."

Either?

Sonia leaned back against the door, exhaling gently.

Does this count as serving with charm? It turned out maintaining team cohesion required the captain to sell out beauty... She extracted another cigarette from the pack, watching the smoke rise, somewhat incredulous that she used to live like this.

But why, during these past two days, did the intimacy lack the previous heartbeat?

...

...

Returning to her seat, Sonia cut her steak into a neat square piece, dripping with sauce, and forked it towards Diya: "Ah——"

Diya, busy with the blazing rock, glanced at Sonia, a look of ’I see right through you’, snorted, but didn’t open her mouth. Sonia stretched over, using the cube of beef to apply sauce onto Diya’s lips. Diya held back for three seconds before giving in and taking a bite.

But she chewed viciously, glaring at Sonia with a look conveying the central idea of ’I haven’t forgiven you’. Sonia had to continue slicing steak to feed her, and before long, Diya’s expression softened, blissfully enjoying two dinners.

Seeing this, the Red-haired Swordswoman finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Settling Vishi and soothing Diya, the team atmosphere should stabilize now. Strange, was it always this tiring to lead the team?

"How’s Freyja?" Sonia looked at Felix: "Is it still serious?"

"Miss Siflin said it’s stabilized, but she probably can’t go out these days and still needs further observation." Felix opened a Light Screen and glanced at the information: "Oh, she just sent a message..."

"What’s it about?"

"She said the commotion you caused today was a bit much," Felix chose his words carefully: "Her statement is that she’s conducting a Miracle experiment on that land, but now someone may start suspecting. If it continues, she worries about interruptions... or shall I say, bringing unnecessary attention to you."

"Time to head to Senluo," Vishi calmly stated: "Only a deserted Senluo can bear our Magic cultivation."

"Ah——" Diya’s expression instantly fell: "I don’t want to camp——"

"Next time, when you attend the elementary school entrance exam, stay in a suite, okay?" Vishi coaxed in a child’s tone: "For this entrance to Heaven, let’s camp and endure a bit."

Though the Witch had a child’s nature, Vishi was a rare talent to pinpoint the Witch’s anger every time... Sonia saw Diya’s face quickly turn red and said hurriedly: "How about this, we camp at Senluo for five days and return to Gospel for two days of rest and communication? All small-scale cultivation that doesn’t require specific locations will move to those two days in Gospel."

The moment she heard they could return to Gospel, Diya’s heart leaped, and she quietly tackled the blazing rock. Sonia signaled Felix to bring another plate of roasted chicken; as long as Diya’s mouth was occupied, she wouldn’t have time to get angry!

"Endure a little now, and in the future, we can live in Heavenly Kingdom," the Swordswoman said with a smile while spoon-feeding: "Witch, how many Chefs do you think Heavenly Kingdom needs to always have on hand?"

"Ten for each country!" Diya perked up at this topic: "I also want cultural content creators and game creators, but that might be too many people... Then I’ll heavily reward creators, allowing those who write great works and create great games to ascend to Heaven—then I’ll have endless novels, comics, movies, dramas, and games! Dedarose fits the criteria quite well!"

"The appreciation from the throne deeply honors me," Dedarose nodded in gratitude.

"As long as we enter Heaven, you can do whatever you want," Vishi said nonchalantly: "After all, how you mess with your Heavenly Kingdom, we can’t interfere."

"You can’t say that," Sonia retorted, "It’s our Heavenly Kingdom too. As for me, I’d rather have an orchestra..."

"What do you mean by ’ours’?"

Vishi sharply realized something, "Eventually, each of us will take over one of the Seven Heavens, acting independently. How can there be a shared Heavenly Kingdom?"

Sonia was taken aback and paused her feeding.

"There are six heavenly seats in the Seven Heavens now, and with the fall of Lord Senluo, a position is vacant. The simplest way for us to take over is to occupy Lord Senluo’s seat," Sonia said seriously. "As long as we can withstand the attack of the four Divine Lords, we can easily take over one of the heavens. This is the most secure approach."

"It is very secure," Vishi squinted her eyes, "But who will take the lead?"

Sonia stated calmly, "It doesn’t matter who takes the lead, because ultimately we all need to advance and retreat together to establish ourselves in Heaven. If you think you are suitable—"

"So you’re saying you want to use us to take over Heaven?" Vishi stood up with a ’bang’, "Didn’t you ever think of helping us seize other heavenly seats!?"

"Of course I did!" Sonia didn’t back down, "But we need to do it step by step, first establish ourselves in Heaven and accumulate resources, then gradually devour other Divine Lords—"

"I’ve grown tired of such pipedreams for thousands of years!" Vishi sneered, "Do you think the other Divine Lords will give you the chance then? Will Dazzling Star give you a chance? Even if Dazzling Star only leaves the seventh layer of the Void Realm after three years, what can you accumulate in Heaven in three years? Can it match the thousands of years of other Divine Lords’ accumulation?"

"By the time Dazzling Star returns, all the Divine Lords must advance and retreat together to resist the Supreme, and at that time you’ll be even less likely to deal with them!"

"Our only chance is in the initial stage of taking over Heaven, taking advantage of their advance to ambush us—bite them fiercely and seize two seats. Only then can the Witch and I have a chance to take over Heaven! Once they retract their disdain and go defensive, we simply cannot pull any Divine Lord down! Even Dazzling Star, before ascending to Supreme, couldn’t do it!"

"Can we really bite down two Divine Lords? Just with three World Secret Domains?" Sonia sincerely said, "But I will definitely help you take over Heaven, trust me."

"Why should I trust you?" Vishi leaned over the dining table, approaching her, and word by word said, "You care so much about your mother."

Sonia was stunned.

"After becoming a Divine Lord, you could bring your mother to the Heavenly Kingdom and grant her eternal life. Would you still be willing to risk your life against other Divine Lords then? No, you would only want to keep what you have." Vishi’s gaze seemed to see through the Sword Maiden’s soul, "You can speak so decisively now, but then you could find countless reasons to backtrack, because what you value most is yourself, your mother, and then perhaps us."

"You are a selfish person, and so am I. Our thinking and logic are the same. How do you expect me to trust you?"

The air around the dining table was nearly frozen. Dedarose and Felix tried their hardest to lower their presence and hide in the shadows. Luckily, it was a private room, so no one else heard them, otherwise Siflin’s workload would have been immense.

After a long while, Sonia sighed softly, "I’m not selfish, I just want to take the safer route—"

"That is the embodiment of selfishness," Vishi replied, "You’re unwilling to take risks for us, for the team. People like us are only unselfish during adventurous times."

"Have I let you down so many times in the past?" The Red-haired Swordswoman said calmly, "Do you think I would let you down in such a significant distribution of interests? Trust me, I will definitely lead us to the peak of mages."

"Why should I trust you?"

"With this!"

Sonia suddenly stood up, tugging out a chain from the void that connected to Vishi’s neck. Her ruby eyes fixed on Vishi like a ferocious beast ready to devour.

The maid looked at her coldly, but her expression soon softened, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned to reveal a charming smile:

"Then I have no problem."

Sonia released her hand, and Vishi sat back down in her seat. She slowly sat down and looked at Diya, "And you, Witch?"

Diya stared at the grilled Lüläfat on the plate, her voice drifting, "I’m...fine with anything."

"And Silver Lamp?"

"It’s no issue for me." Weiser elegantly put a piece of steak into her mouth, "It doesn’t concern me anyway."

Everyone continued dining, but apart from the clash of knives and forks on the plates, there was no other sound. The atmosphere was so heavy that Felix’s scalp tingled. She secretly peeked at the four most talented female mages of their time and, despite herself, felt a surge of immense sorrow.

Just two days ago, they were still close teammates, even going to the Amusement Park together to wear bridal dresses... How did it suddenly become like this?

...

...

At night, Vishi melted away the ruby chain and left.

PS: It’s the last day of the month, asking for a monthly ticket. Sorry for the severe writer’s block today.