Mage Manual-Chapter 597 - 482: Only Leftovers Remain on the Table in the Void Realm

Chapter 597: Chapter 482: Only Leftovers Remain on the Table in the Void Realm

No mage would ever question the existence of the inverse flowing golden rain, just as Ash wouldn’t question why Technique Spirits and Bling existed in this world—these were just fundamental settings of the worldview, and those living in it could only choose to accept.

Moreover, the Void Realm was filled with too many bizarre things: the eternal mist of the Sea of Knowledge, the Vortex that traveled thousands of miles in an instant, the great navigation route that never sank...and within the Time Continent, there even existed the Flowing Gold River that affected time itself. Compared to these special landscapes, rain that flowed in reverse seemed very ordinary.

This month, aside from training, Sonia spent her days at Sen Hall’s flower gallery flipping through works about the Time Continent. There were many studies on the Seven-colored Tail, the Flowing Gold River, Fate Q&A, and knowledge creatures, and there were even those researching the Heroic Soul Army, but very few had ever explored the direction of the rain.

Just like no one would wonder why apples fell from trees.

Perhaps someone had studied it, but since there were no results, it wasn’t recorded.

Therefore, when Ash mentioned it, Sonia’s first reaction was denial, "How is that possible... What about the White Bull? Don’t tell me the White Bull is also inverted?"

"It is inverted!" Ash said with certainty: "We’re not at the feet of the White Bull, but on its belly."

"That’s preposterous—"

"But has anyone actually seen the belly of the White Bull?" Diya suddenly said: "A few owners of the Mage’s Handbook tried to fly up in search of the Seven-colored Tail. Although they were killed by knowledge creatures in the sky, when they looked up while flying, they only saw a golden sky, not the belly of the White Bull."

"In fairy tale picture books, such upside-down tricks are not rare." The Witch quickly accepted Ash’s conjecture: "Think about it, is the Flowing Gold River really the river of time extending from the four hooves of the White Bull? But if we were truly on the belly of the White Bull, then the Flowing Gold River would have nothing to do with the hooves; it’s fixed on the belly, which moves along the Time Continent, and with the hooves also moving, therefore creating the illusion that the Flowing Gold River and the hooves are connected."

"What do you mean?" Sonia’s eyes widened: "Could it be that the White Bull’s body overlaps with the Time Continent? Does it not have a physical form?"

"Sword Maiden." Ash smiled: "Does the golden fish have a physical form? Is the golden fish really a fish?"

Sonia was stunned.

"The White Bull indeed walks on the Time Continent, but it’s not walking upright, it’s walking upside down!" Ash’s thought process became clearer as he spoke: "As for what’s beneath the White Bull... Damn, why haven’t I noticed this before!?"

Ash cursed, hitting himself on the head: "I’ve seen the golden fish with my own eyes, so why didn’t I make the connection? Sword Maiden, you remember what the true form of the golden fish is, right?"

"The true form of the golden fish is a golden sea. It looks like a golden fish because it reflects the feathers of our Void Wings, appearing at first glance like fish scales, making the vast golden sea look like the belly of a golden fish—" Sonia also realized: "The golden sea!?"

"Others haven’t seen it, but we have seen it with our own eyes!"

Ash, holding his forehead, went on: "The golden sea, the golden rain! The inverse flowing golden rain all converges into the golden sea, so right above us is the golden fish, the Sea of Knowledge!"

"If someone from the Sea of Knowledge looks up, and if their gaze could penetrate through the mist, the Golden Sea, and the golden rain, then they would see us hanging upside down above the Time Continent. The Time Continent and the Sea of Knowledge are not two separate floors, but the ceiling and floor of the same space, with only a golden fish in between, and the White Bull treads on the golden fish, moving upside down on the Time Continent!"

"I remember now." Sonia murmured: "When we crossed the golden fish, the sensation was not ’emerging from below,’ but ’falling from above’... but I was too excited at the time and didn’t pay attention."

"We’ve overlooked too much," murmured Ash: "Many clues have always been in front of us, like the inverse rain, like the golden fish, like... But the Time Continent has too many novel attractions that distract our attention, the Heroic Soul Army, the Legendary Museum, Miracle Park, the four hooves of the White Bull. We prefer to pay attention to these rare wonders, and we end up overlooking the miracles that are always in front of us."

"In that case," Diya spoke: "the so-called Seven-colored Tail is not above, but below?"

"The Flowing Gold River."

Ash nodded: "The only way downwards on the Time Continent is through the Flowing Gold River."

The Sword Maiden and the Witch thought about it, and indeed, they couldn’t refute it. Besides, the Flowing Gold River also matched what Ash had said earlier: omnipresent, with no geographical threshold, even an ordinary mage merely had to walk straight in a certain direction, and they would soon find a wild Flowing Gold River.

But no one had ever attempted to explore the Flowing Gold River.

Not just for fear of death, but also for fear of aging.

Life, old age, sickness, and death naturally harbor great terror, but ordinary mages have basically transcended "birth," "aging," and "disease", the only thing they could not escape was death. Yet, the Flowing Gold River could, in mere seconds, give a mage the feeling of the thickness of time, slow responses, rusty thinking, parched souls, silent consciousness... Those who had not experienced it would find it hard to understand the mages’ fear of the Flowing Gold River, and that was why Ash and the others never went to the river to pick up Technique Spirits, not only because the cost-performance ratio was low, but more because they dared not and were unwilling to go.

That sense of helplessness crushed by time, was like turning into withered twigs and fallen leaves, powerless, crumbling at the slightest touch. Unless it was those mages trying to delve into the Time Faction, no one would take a bath in the Flowing Gold River, let alone dive into it — typically, mages dissolved in the Flowing Gold River, disintegrating completely after soaking in it for a few seconds.

"We have the ’Six-colored Anchor’," said Ash, "100% anchor effect allows us to be immune to any damage, including the time corrosion from the Flowing Gold River!"

"But isn’t that a bit too difficult?" Diya felt it strange at this point, "Although it is also hard to find the golden fish, that’s a difficulty based on thinking, as long as one sees through the tricks of the golden fish, and then convinces another mage, they can easily bypass the golden fish."

"But the Six-colored Anchor is something you, Observer, plundered from the Soul Summoning Technique Spirits of six different factions, something that usually only comes as spoils after killing a Heroic Soul Commander," the Witch interjected, "Apart from us, can any other mage really meet this prerequisite? If no one has met this condition before, how did the legend of the Seven-colored Tail spread?"

"There are two possibilities," Sonia replied, "The first is that there was a period when the Heroic Soul Commanders were extremely weak, and ordinary mages had the chance to kill them... This possibility is not small, after they ended this war, their military numbers would surely hit rock bottom, and it would definitely be much easier to kill them then than it is now."

"And the second possibility," she paused, "The legend of the Seven-colored Tail may have originated long before the Heroic Soul Commanders appeared."

Ash and Diya were both perplexed, with Diya asking, "But without the Heroic Soul Commanders, how do we get the Soul Summoning Technique Spirits? Without the Soul Summoning Technique Spirits, how do we obtain the Six-colored Anchor?"

"Do you still remember the chaotic Shopping Book?" Sonia remarked, "I went back and checked the Drama Poet, and found that many mages have encountered the legacy left by the Drama Poet. After detailed studies, they believe that the Drama Poet didn’t truly create new Void Realm structures out of nothing, but rather transformed other Void Realm structures for his own use."

"Transformed?"

"The Drama Poet’s structures, were perhaps originally resource spots, Miracle Parks, windmills, Combat Arenas, amnesia cottages..." Sonia explained, "It’s precisely because the essence of the Drama Poet’s buildings are the original buildings of the Void Realm that the Void Realm maintains them spontaneously, and after the Drama Poet disappeared for so many years, his buildings still endure, as new as ever."

Ash caught on, "You’re saying, the six colors of the Six-colored Anchor..."

"Each Divine Lord monopolized one color, and on this basis, they developed their faction’s main cities and the Heroic Soul Army, so to obtain their colors, we must kill the Heroic Soul Commanders," Sonia clutched the hem of Ash’s clothes, analytically stating, "But in the distant past before the Heroic Soul faction even emerged, these six colors might have been special mechanisms readily available throughout the Time Continent."

With the Era Calendar being only 1668 years old, of course, Sonia did not think the Divine Lords had been around since time immemorial. But imagining a past even before the Divine Lords existed was still very difficult for her, a feeling of inexplicable panic like betraying her worldview.

"Ah," the Witch remarked, "I have read a fairy tale picture book before that had a very special setting. There was a Purple-Free Monument, in front of which whoever appeared, their past would be inscribed on the monument in purple text, and aside from the person themselves, everyone would forget these past events; however, they could imprint the purple text onto their own bodies, and each word could turn into golden sand of the same size..."

"In the world of mages, gold often represents Golden Technique Power," said Sonia, "If this really is a Void Realm mechanism, then the meaning of this setting is that one can exchange their past for a rapid increase in Golden Technique Power... similar to the effects of a Vortex!"

"Speaking of which, I’ve always found it strange why the Time Continent doesn’t have a mechanism similar to the Vortex," Ash said, "If we assume the Divine Lords stole these mechanisms, then it makes sense. Compared to the Divine Lords, the Drama Poet’s contributions are negligible—he merely left a legacy for posterity, whereas the Divine Lords bestowed upon the Void Realm an eternal war that could span thousands of years and possibly continue indefinitely!"

"The Flowing Gold River, the Purple-Free Monument..." He couldn’t help but laugh, a strange light shining in his eyes, "What we now see of the Time Continent is nothing but a shattered world. Right, the Void Realm is like a table covered in rare delicacies, how could it be that no one ever partook?"

"In other words, a long time ago, there existed six mechanisms on the Time Continent similar to the Flowing Gold River," concluded Diya, "Back then, mages just had to gather the six colors and jump into the Flowing Gold River to find the Seven-colored Tail. That was until the Divine Lords came along, and then the Time Continent transformed into its current state."

"This is the most logical explanation," Sonia stated, "And it’s the best explanation we have so far."

"So then..."

Ash stepped out of the car, waving to them as he looked on, "Let’s go."

They were enveloped in armor as light as gossamer, six colors that shone ever more brilliantly and beautifully. On Ash, however, the multi-colored armor looked rather bizarre, as if a Cult Leader notorious for evil deeds suddenly took a liking to a glittering, colored shawl.

The three of them passed through the Rain Curtain and approached the banks of the Flowing Gold River. The Time Technique Spirits swimming in the river curiously watched them, but seemed to be repelled by their radiant light, quietly slipping away with the current.

Ash had originally wanted to casually pick up a few Time Technique Spirits, but seeing them change their usual warmth and hospitality, he had no desire to chase after them. Without looking at his companions, he walked to the edge of the Flowing Gold River, saw that his Six-colored Armor was still circulating normally, his senses detecting nothing unusual, so he let out a light breath, his tiptoes lightly stirring ripples as he stepped into the Flowing Gold River.

As he was fully submerged, the Flowing Gold River was also ’contaminated’ by his Six-Colored Armor. As if painted by a brush, the entire river gradually became multi-colored, seemingly overnight...

It looked just like a Seven-colored Tail.

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