Mage Manual

Sonia actually thought seriously about giving up.

As a demigod of the mage soul for millennia, Vishi is undoubtedly the top persuader in the world. Even if you could brush it off at the time, Vishi’s words are like fishbones in a rice ball, hard to swallow and unable to spit out. Even if you try hard not to think about it, you still get pricked.

Because Vishi is right, and they are wrong.

The most hateful people are like this, even if you know she harbors malicious intent, but she hides her selfish desires within public interests, and not only can you not refute, but the more you think about it, the more uncomfortable you feel, and the more you ponder, the more you doubt yourself.

For Ash, what he needs most isn’t a lover but a teammate who can fight alongside him; for the team, harmonious female mages are far better for facing the upcoming challenges than a group of scheming rivals; even for their own lives, magic cultivation is far more important than emotional development.

Some things were left unsaid by Vishi, but everyone could hear the mocking tone beneath her words—

What if one day Ash no longer likes them?

What if one day they no longer like Ash?

People change, emotions have a shelf life, and promises are like ripe fruits—sincere at the moment they fall, but destined to rot eventually. Perhaps they won’t even reach the stage of torturing for love; the look in each other’s eyes has lost the sparkle from the passionate beginning, once dazzling traits become as insignificant as grains of white rice, and once insignificant flaws become as glaring as mosquito blood... In the end, looking back, only self-loathing remains for their previous ignorance and impulsiveness.

Isn’t it a bit risky to bet one’s life on a trash bin of promiscuity?

Compared to destined-to-turn-bad lovers, isn’t it better to have teammates who progress together?

Either don’t listen to Vishi from the start, but once you hear it, the fishbone pain will repeatedly stab the soul, and uncontrollable thoughts will spread like vines rapidly in the mind—

Is love truly indispensable to me?

For others, Sonia doesn’t know, but her answer is definitely negative.

The education she received, the hardships she endured—all don’t allow her to become a love-addled person. If she truly becomes a man’s accessory, unable to live without relying on him like a vine clinging to a tree, how would she differ from those village girls from her hometown?

Growing up with Dedarose’s dramas, she dreamt of controlling her own destiny.

So Sonia has indeed wavered these few days. She weighs the pros and cons, knows what’s best for her. If she never liked Ash in the first place... if they’ve always just been teammates... even though Sonia would still follow Ash in rebelling against Dazzling Star, she wouldn’t have to constantly feel resentful and aggrieved over Ash.

Sometimes Sonia feels she is too lowly and insignificant. She despises the foolish women who knowingly leap into the fire pit without hesitation, always thinking they deserve their doom with bad men... But when it comes to herself, she desperately finds excuses to cover for Ash, as if Ash is some unparalleled gem, so much so that she cannot give up on him.

Perhaps fate is offering them a window to escape—a joke about abstaining from love turns into a flawless option. No need to separate from Ash, just temporarily retreat to being friends; no more scheming against the witches, everyone is a demigod team with common interests; no more turning into a jealous, suspicious version because of Ash, acting out of character.

Everyone can head towards a better future; everything can move in a better direction.

Sonia can find no reason to refuse, it’s too perfect and reasonable, everyone including Ash would agree. Even she herself feels these days have been pleasant and carefree, without the vexation and annoyance of the past half-month.

Yet, yet.

It’s as if two flames intertwined under the covers, with warm breaths being the only sound in the confined space. Sonia tightly clasped Ash’s hands, kissing his mouth, trailing down his neck. Perhaps due to the curse of the Shadow Sword, Ash’s soul body soon broke into a light sweat.

Sonia didn’t mind at all, carefully licking his collarbone, deliberately rubbing her softness against his chest and abdomen, fluttering, gently pressing. Ash felt as if his mind and soul body were melting like ice cream, unable to resist hugging Sonia for a deep kiss, while his hands secretly released the restraint, wantonly exploring and capturing as they wandered.

Sonia gently bit his lip, spat out softly at his awkwardness, but her own hands traveled down his chest, down, until they reached the hottest part of this bastard.

Yes, Vishi was right.

Yes, he is indeed a pit of fire.

Yes, love isn’t indispensable to me. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Yes, maintaining a teammate relationship is good for everyone.

But I just want to do something wrong.

I just want to jump into Ash’s fire pit and be melted by his warmth; I just want love, even if I’ll be tortured all over; I’m just not content with being teammates. Right now, I like him, so right now, I want to hug and kiss him.

I know what’s good, what’s bad, I understand all the rationales, but at the sight of him, I still fall head over heels.

If a village girl, so be it; if a fool, so be it. I’m an incurable silly girl, and he’s my little trumpet.

After some time passed, Sonia suddenly hugged Ash tightly, her soft body tensing abruptly, covering her small mouth firmly. Moments later, Sonia let out a lazy moan, the heated breaths intertwining, Ash gently called her: "Sword Maiden..."

"If I hurt you, don’t blame me..." Sonia’s light laugh carried a tinge of shyness.

After the long quenching, Sonia nestled in Ash’s arms. Ash was like a heater, his entire body burning, and hugging him really felt like melting.

"You’ve outsmarted me." Ash suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"We can’t turn on the light now." Ash sounded a bit resentful, "But I’d really like to see."

"Use your imagination! You should be able to tell by touch, right?"

"It’s different. Mainly, I want to see you blushing. Especially when you’re shy under the light, bowing your head, it must be amusing."

"Bad guy." Sonia hummed lazily, "I knew you’re a bad man with evil intentions."

"Clearly you’re the bad woman." Ash tapped her nose, chuckling, "We agreed to abstain from love together, yet you secretly indulged."

"They didn’t notice, so it’s not indulging. Besides, we’re partners in crime now. If discovered, I’ll blame everything on you, claiming you forcibly dragged me here and used various evil techniques to break my resolve." Sonia lightly hammered his chest, "I’m just an innocent, pitiable, beautiful village girl."

"Aren’t you being unreasonable?" Ash smiled wryly, "I was the one resisting the whole time!"

"Yeah, I’m just unreasonable." Sonia fiercely said, "What, you don’t like it?"

Ash gently bit his lip, rubbing his face against Sonia’s cheek, "The resolve I struggled all day to form is as fragile as paper before you."

"Can you stop being so adorable? I might truly cling to you for life."

"I can’t help it, I’m just this adorable, you’ll have to cling to me for life." Sonia softly said, "It’s all your fault, you changed me, now you have to take responsibility."

Ash softly murmured in agreement. After lingering for a while, he asked again, "Are you sure we won’t get discovered? You’ve worked hard to create a good atmosphere; I really don’t want to become the source of trouble again..."

"It feels a bit odd. Normally, this line should be said by a meddling third party." Sonia asked, "Have you been watching some romance dramas lately?"

"I just watched ’White Night’ tonight."

"No wonder... don’t worry, I can now use Shattered Lake to sever the prophecy link of the Gospel Divine Being, as long as we keep quiet and inconspicuous, they won’t notice." Sonia whispered with a chuckle, "Even if I come to you every night, it won’t affect our daytime team training."

Ash’s heart thudded with excitement, and Sonia immediately heard the jacket’s zipper being pulled, as scorching lava crawled again over the soft hills. She lightly bit her lip, partly teasing and partly shy, "Haven’t you had enough?"

Just as the heat under the blanket rose again, a clear Rainbow Silk Thread suddenly lit up the dark tent. Under their watchful eyes, the Rainbow Silk Thread formed a heart shape, and then they heard the faint zip sound—

The tent flap was being opened!