Mage Manual

Chapter 1739: Chapter 1286: Separation (2)

"Then—"

"But if I still want to take over Heaven as soon as possible, would you be willing to keep walking with me?" Sonia stared straight at Diya, her ruby-like eyes full of anticipation.

Yet Diya didn’t face that anticipation directly. She lowered her head, nervously clasped her hands, and said in a small voice, "I still hope to stay a bit safer..."

Sonia watched her hair color further blur and grow messy, like a little fox worried and scared. She let out a soft sigh and pulled her into her arms.

"Are you going back to Gospel tomorrow?"

"Can I?"

"It’s not like we’re some evil cult, are we?" Sonia said, half crying and half laughing. "You have your own cultivation plan, how could I stop you? Every Mage has a pace that suits them best; you can’t force it."

Diya looked up at her and asked worriedly, "Then what about the plan to take over Heaven?"

"Put it on hold for now." Sonia said lightly, "After Vishi left, we really should be more cautious. There’s no right or wrong here. Seizing Heaven as soon as possible might let us get the jump on others, but waiting for the right timing to move may not be any worse for maximizing benefits."

Diya instantly perked up. "Then is everyone going back to Gospel?!"

"I’ll ask them tomorrow." Sonia smiled. "Maybe everyone wants to play a few more days under the Blood Moon; we haven’t even gone to the beach."

"Mm!" Diya nodded hard, her expression sparkling with joy and her hair color returning to a solid shade. "Then let’s go to sleep!"

"No, since we don’t have to rush to cultivate tomorrow, I want to stay up all night and catch up on shows." Sonia said with a smile. "You go back and sleep."

Watching Diya hop out of the room, Sonia sat at the dressing table to blow-dry her hair—just now she’d been blow-drying the Witch’s hair the whole time and hadn’t taken care of her own. After a few minutes, when it was more or less done, she sat in the chair spacing out, staring at the red-haired girl in the mirror, not sure what she was thinking.

She crooked her finger, and the room instantly fell into dimness, with only the blood-red moonlight shining through the window onto the exquisite carpet. Sonia took out a pack of cigarettes, looked at the few remaining inside, tapped out a stick, and fire flared at her fingertips as the tobacco crackled and burned.

In the mirror, what flared along with the firelight was not just the cigarette tip, but also the Silver Lamp.

"You’re here to say goodbye too?" Sonia asked faintly.

"Mm, there’s no need for me to stay anymore." Weiser said. "My true body has always been in Senluo; what’s here is just a projection, a single lamp flame... Rather than a farewell, it’s more like disconnecting the link."

"Go on." Sonia exhaled a ring of smoke and said calmly, "This way I can also go back and keep my mom company properly."

The room sank into a long silence. Only when the cigarette was almost finished did Sonia’s low voice sound in the Darkness. "Am I that useless?"

"You’ve already done very well."

Weiser hugged Sonia from behind and said softly, "The team falling apart isn’t your fault; you don’t need to blame yourself."

"But we were fine before."

"That’s because back then we were all fighting just to ’stay alive’." Weiser said. "To stay alive, anyone can compromise and endure; having different goals and values doesn’t matter. But now our goal is to go one step further, so conflicts have appeared."

"Vishi is the most radical ambitious one; she refuses to miss any opportunity. Even a Divine Lord can’t satisfy her appetite—her gaze is fixed on the throne of the Supreme of Magic. Lissdia is a child who just loves to have fun. She hates trouble, hates cultivation, hates adventure. Now that she has the strength to protect herself, of course she doesn’t want to toss herself around anymore."

"You’re in between them. You like to stand on tiptoe to reach the higher-tier rewards. You’re not as lofty in ambition as Vishi, but you’re not as unmotivated as Lissdia either. You’ll work hard until you touch your own ceiling, then stop and consolidate everything you’ve gained."

"Vishi wants to use a Divine Lord as a springboard to challenge the Supreme Star; Lissdia wants to stay on earth and live leisurely; and you want to stop after becoming a Divine Lord and stand guard over the Heavenly Kingdom. The three of you don’t share the same goal at all—how could you possibly remain united?"

"There’s fundamentally no basis of mutual trust between us." Weiser said. "You say you’ll help Vishi seize other Heavenly Kingdoms, but are you someone who’d risk your life for Vishi? You say you’ll co-govern the Heavenly Kingdom with Lissdia, but if you and Lissdia disagree, would you really yield to her?"

"Even if you could give an ironclad promise, Vishi is very sensitive to any delay in fulfilling promises, and Lissdia deeply loathes living under someone else’s roof. There’s nothing anyone can do about that."

"Perhaps the moment we set a common goal, the team’s collapse was already destined. Someone who can make Vishi hold back her ambition must be someone who sees Vishi’s interests as more important than their own, so that Vishi would be willing to entrust her ideals to them; someone who can make Diya muster the courage to go adventuring must give Diya unreserved pampering, so that no matter how tired or dangerous things get, she won’t be afraid."

"Could there really be someone that selfless?" Sonia said with a wry smile.

"That’s why the team falling apart is inevitable." Weiser said. "There’s no such person, and you’re not that kind of person, Sonia. We’re all selfish Mages, but only a selfless leader could build a foundation of mutual trust with us... Yet who would, for no reason at all, put our interests first?"

"Sword Maiden, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just that every Miracle fades eventually. This adventure that’s lasted more than half a year is about due to end."

"What about you?" Sonia asked. "What’s your goal?"

"My goal..." Weiser seemed slightly dazed. "I don’t even know if I have any goal. Come to think of it, my joining you was itself a Miracle... None of you justified my leaving Senluo."

"Good night, Sword Maiden."

"Goodbye, Silver Lamp."

Sonia stubbed out the cigarette and tossed it into the ashtray, then went over to open the window. Bracing both hands on the sill, she let the cool night wind lift her scarlet hair. She took out the cigarette pack and found there was only one stick left.

"If it can only end like this," she held the cigarette in her right hand and conjured a flame in her left, muttering to herself, "then let it end."

"It’s not over yet!"

Suddenly a hoarse shout came from the wind. Sonia looked up in shock and saw Freyja and Siflin flying straight at her with their Void Wings spread!

Sonia quickly dodged aside to let them crash into the room, put the cigarette back into the pack, and said, half laughing, "What’s so urgent that you had to fly over in the middle of the night?"

"The diary!"

The Meiwa who had rushed onto the bed raised a diary high, her pupils turning into heart-shapes as she cried out in wild excitement, "I still have a copy of the diary!"

PS: Buqi Shixian’s "Tower of Overturn" is finished, go read it now! After you read his book, you’ll have monthly tickets to feed me—this wave is killing two birds with one stone, the best of both worlds!