Mage Manual-Chapter 1312 - 957: You Look Extra Strange

December 31, the last day of 1688.

Ash tapped twice, directly snapping open the lock on the rooftop door, and skillfully pulled out a can of spray paint and a stencil from his backpack. The stencil featured silhouettes of Ash’s twin swords, Harvey’s coffin, Igula’s eye, Heath’s warhammer, Filly’s rapier, Nia’s straight knife, and Rose’s Hexagram Snowflake.

According to Vishi, they needed to spread Ash’s soul mark all over the country, but without a professional Technique Spirit to depict the soul mark, they had to make do with Ash’s weapons.

To enhance the effect of the soul mark, Vishi threw in everyone’s weapons, optimistically saying ’the power of unity can even transcend light,’ while the harsh truth was ’maybe it’ll be effective.’

With a serious lack of internal Technique Spirits and the constant threat of external Mysterious Chains, and the goal being to instantly manifest the Heavenly Kingdom of Souls, an ’unheard-of’ grand project, if Vishi claimed she was confident, it must be to lure Ash into bed.

Whether it be a temple or a heavenly kingdom, they are the core of cores for a mage, their very life tied to them. Bear in mind that Vishi would rather die than become an angel, simply because she didn’t want to hand over her temple and be controlled by the Divine Lord for life.

Trying to smash someone with a temple or heavenly kingdom is like a nation air-dropping its weapons factory and congress into the enemy camp — who would research how to better, faster, and stronger court death!?

Even Vishi, relying only on her Demigod Level Soul Faction intuition, judged that theoretically manifesting the Heavenly Kingdom of Souls was feasible, but as for how to actually achieve it, she can only take it one step at a time.

Forget about the soul marks of others, even Ash’s own soul mark might not be effective, but at this point, they could only try everything. Moreover, spreading the soul mark required everyone to join forces and race through the City, leaving them no time for anxiety.

Ash even suspected that the soul mark might really be useless, just something Vishi conjured up to keep everyone busy.

At this point, even if it’s fruitless, it’s better than sitting around waiting for doom.

It’s worth mentioning that since Rose had never entered the battle Sequence, they initially considered using tools like ’phones’ to replace Rose’s soul mark, but once Rose learned of this, she drew a simple Hexagram Snowflake pattern for them.

Yet, would the Kingdom of Allstars really snow...

Ash placed the stencil on the wall and sprayed, the seven patterns naturally graffitiing onto the wall. He opened his phone to check his roster of tasks and found they were all done, and it was already ten in the evening, time to catch a ride to the bell tower square for the countdown.

Though Vishi spoke as if it was something like ’unforgettable memories,’ suggesting Ash needed to leave deep memories in every city, in reality, there were many clever ways to do so — like engaging in activities he wouldn’t normally do.

They had visited four cities already, and Ash participated in activities like diving, a competitive eating contest, tide watching, and rock climbing.

It wasn’t just him having fun; everyone had to join in, so Ash found it quite memorable, especially when Harvey accidentally headbutted his lungs in the water, Igula threw up all over him midway through the eating contest, and when the tide came in, Vishi propped him up so he got drenched, these events were indeed hard to forget...

Now they found themselves in Linguang City, coinciding with New Year’s Eve, and their planned group activity was to join the New Year countdown at the biggest bell tower square.

It’s New Year...

Ash gazed at the city lights and neon signs, lost in a trance.

After a while, he gathered his things and headed to the nearby subway station to catch the subway.

Though they could hail a taxi, Vishi insisted that using public transportation better imprints the memory of the city, as the fleeting views seen from a taxi could be forgotten, but the experience of being squashed like sardines in public transportation is hard to forget.

Watching from above only gives you the city’s appearance; stepping into the crowds lets you feel the city’s heartbeat.

Upon exiting and transferring, Ash took a glance and saw Rose ahead, playfully decided to tap her right shoulder and then move to the left.

He hadn’t tried messing with Rose before and was curious about how the perfect assistant would react.

Hence Ash saw Rose stop and look to the right, seeming bewildered at who tapped her shoulder. She stood silently there, as nondescript in the crowd as a lily, as if waiting for an invisible person to suddenly appear.

After about ten seconds, Ash had to speak up, "Rose."

"Hmm." Rose turned and glanced at him, asking, "Did you see anyone else? Someone just tapped my right shoulder."

"...Sorry, that was me."

"Why are you apologizing?" Rose tilted her head slightly, though she seemed uninterested, pulling on his sleeve as she walked into the subway car.

With no seats available, Rose leaned into the corner while Ash stood on the outside. As the warning chimes sounded, the subway doors closed slowly, and an announcement was heard, "Next stop, Tianhou, doors open on the right in the direction of travel..."

Ash pulled out his phone to watch some videos but noticed Rose’s gaze was level and she was quietly standing, doing nothing to pass the time. He hesitated briefly before asking, "Aren’t you bored?"

"No."

Ash thought for a moment, then put the phone back in his pocket, and asked, "You don’t have to push yourself, you know."

"Hmm?" Rose lifted her eyes, puzzled, and glanced at him.

"You don’t have to join all our activities, like the eating contest and rock climbing, it’s okay if you don’t want to," Ash said, "like Filly and the others didn’t participate in every event."

In the eating competition, even though Ash, the big eater, managed to finish, the fastest was actually Rose. They were also the only two victors in the competition. Not just Igula, who embarrassed himself by throwing up all over Ash, but even Vishi and Harvey couldn’t complete the competition due to their frail mortal bodies.

"Do you want me to participate in the event?" Rose asked in return.

"Of course I do, but I don’t want you to force yourself," Ash replied.

"I understand then," Rose calmly said, "I’m not forcing myself."

Ash’s lips moved slightly, he sighed and shook his head helplessly.

He looked at Rose, his expression suddenly becoming conflicted. After hesitating for a moment, he mustered the courage to ask, "Though it might seem a bit arrogant, but... Rose, do you like me?"

Faced with this question, Rose didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she seemed a bit puzzled, "What is liking someone?"

"Uh..." Ash thought for a bit, "It’s like if I didn’t pay you, would you still be willing to work for me?"

"Then I definitely don’t like you," Rose said emphatically, "I will never work for anyone for free."

"True, neither would I. The very thought makes me want to hang myself from a street lamp," Ash pondered. "Let me put it another way, would you want to... breed with me? Not via test tubes, but completely bare and tangled together..."

Rose thought for a moment, and then her doll-like delicate face gradually revealed disdain and disgust. Ash had known her for months, but it was the first time he’d seen her with such an expressive face.

"...Alright, I completely understand now," Ash took a deep breath. Although the result was good, Rose’s expression still slightly hurt his pride. "But if that’s the case, why don’t you take this time to do what you like, and instead keep following us? You’re not one of those who feels obligated to save the world, are you?"

"Why do you keep asking the same question?"

"Same?"

"What exactly is liking someone?" Rose questioned. "What are the people you like, and what are the things you like doing?"

"It’s the people you want to see, the things you want to do."

"The person I want to see is you, and the thing I want to do is work."

"So why do you work?"

"Labor is the essence of humanity. Labor distinguishes humans from animals and elevates them from nature," Rose said. "I work not for anything; I work for the sake of working."

"That’s what the textbooks say. Did I do something wrong?" she seemed puzzled, "It’s my first time being a person; I don’t really know what to do."

Ash stared blankly at her, then suddenly smiled lightly and changed the topic, "I wasn’t in a good condition during the eating contest. Next time, I’ll definitely eat faster than you."

"Impossible," Rose said seriously. "I’m very aware of your capacity for food; you can’t eat more than me."

Ash laughed, "What if I ask you to deliberately lose to me?"

Rose frowned, "Then that’s not a fair competition, no way."

Ash brushed aside Rose’s bangs with his hand, thinking to himself that this was fine. He had no intention of probing what was wrong with Rose, since everyone he knew was somewhat out of touch, himself included, and Rose was already on the milder side.

Moreover, he wasn’t too worried. Even though Rose seemed indifferent to everything, she did care about things, even if she wasn’t aware of it herself. She was like a little monster just stepping into society, a bit bewildered by her awakened humanity.

"But why do you insist on working for me? Why do you want to see me?" Ash gently guided, "Is it because we grew up together, and I’m a very important friend of yours?"

"We grew up together," Rose acknowledged the first part, "But you’re not an important friend to me."

"If it’s not because of friendship, why would you work for me?" Ash asked, "There must be many people willing to hire you at a high salary, right?"

Rose thought for a moment and gave a peculiar answer, "You’re special."

"Special?" Ash blinked, "Do you mean in your impression of me?"

"No, my impression of you is violent, cunning, lazy, and indulgent."

"...You’re talking about the old Heath, aren’t you? It’s definitely him!?" Ash’s mouth twitched, "Apart from laziness, I don’t match any of those descriptions, do I? If you say I’m cunning, Igula would cry!"

"In any case, you’re special," Rose said, "You’re different from everyone else, because in my eyes, everyone looks odd."

Ash felt a bit flattered, "So in your eyes..."

"That’s right," Rose nodded, "You look particularly odd."