Mage Manual-Chapter 175 - 156: Observer Ash

Chapter 175 -156: Observer Ash

“What touch?”

Ash felt perplexed. These mages always came up with new terms he had never heard of.

“He actually succeeded, Heath actually succeeded! How is that possible, how can this be possible!” Selin whispered hoarsely, suddenly transforming into a master of desk clearing, fiercely striking the desk. With a push, he swept everything off the desk onto the floor, where it shattered into several pieces with a snap.

Ash swallowed his saliva. “Calm down, calm down. Why don’t you explain the situation to me? Maybe I can offer you all sorts of support other than concrete help—Hmm!”

The trunk suddenly compressed inward. Ash immediately felt an overwhelming pressure from all directions, squeezing him so he could hardly catch his breath, making even breathing an extreme struggle, as if he were about to become a flattened Ash pancake!

I, I can’t breathe!

“Still not resisting?” Selin said coldly, his left hand aimed at Ash, making a ‘grasping’ gesture. “Your body is still so fragile. I might accidentally burst you. I’ll only count to three. Three, two, one—”

Is this the end for me?

If I had just killed him earlier… If I hadn’t come looking for Selin… If…

As death approached, Ash unexpectedly realized he wasn’t as strong as he thought; his heart was actually filled with regret. He’d thought he didn’t cling much to life, but it turned out this was not the case.

Or maybe, what he cherished was not life…

Ash instinctively clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, waiting for the final agonizing pain before death.

However, after the countdown ended, the trunk did not juice Ash by breaking his walls, but instead, it loosened slightly, allowing him to once again savor the freedom of breathing.

He opened his eyes to see Selin stumbling and falling next to the desk, tears streaming down his face, yet smiling. “You really aren’t Heath, you really aren’t… Hahaha! He succeeded? He actually succeeded? How could he succeed?”

Ash watched Selin cry and laugh, and after a long while, he asked, “What were you testing just now?”

Ignoring all manners, Selin sat on the carpet by the desk, and after a moment responded, “The real Heath possesses the ‘Keystone.’ No need for magic power, not even for words. As long as Heath activates the Keystone, he can control any believer—including me.”

A bone-chilling fear appeared on his face. “That’s a contamination more terrifying than death itself, complete denial of self-control! I’ve tried to commit suicide, but death is not an excuse for disobedience. A mere moment before my suicide, I lost control of my body until I completed the tasks he assigned to me. Only then, I regained the ‘right’ to ‘use’ my own body… I could no longer resist any of his commands and could only carry out his will wholeheartedly.”

“From the moment you placed the Heart Sword at my neck, I knew you weren’t Heath. But I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t dare to take the risk—maybe Heath was just acting, maybe you were just a personality split from him, or maybe…” Selin’s voice trembled, “I simply didn’t have the courage to believe Heath could disappear.”

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“I fear you are just another one of his deceptions.”

Ash looked at Selin’s right hand. “You just mentioned the ‘Eye of Awe’…”

“You didn’t inherit Heath’s memories?” Selin raised his own right hand, the hole in his palm was so round as if it was a missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, letting the moonlight pass through unobstructed.

“This is a hole Heath drilled out himself, the price for the ritual.”

“Ritual… Ritual Faction?”

“That’s right,” Selin said, looking down at his hand. “To be fair, although the price is substantial, the effects of the ‘Eye of Awe’ are also extremely powerful. Everyone whom I gaze at through the palm of my hand falls into several seconds of cognitive delay, during which they can’t take any action at all, not even a blink.”

Control!

Ash felt the terrifying extent of this mage’s control skill—the experience of cognitive delay he had just gone through was something he could not resist because at that moment, he couldn’t even muster the thought to resist.

If the thoughts of an ordinary person are like a waterfall, their splashing thoughts a torrent every second, then Ash’s thoughts at that time were like a stagnant swamp, with only a bubble born from rot emerging after a long time.

“Of course, such a powerful effect is not without its limitations.” Selin said, “The ‘Eye of Awe’ can only take effect once per person because only the first time can provide the element of ‘surprise,’ and after that, only ‘awe’ is left.”

“I just got hit by the ‘Stunning Gaze’, and you’re certain I’m not Heath…” Ash said.

“Heath has already seen my ‘Stunning Gaze’,” Selin replied calmly. “He has seen it on all the believers in the church who were bestowed with it. He would never allow a follower to have the means to counteract him.”

Even though there was no evidence, Ash was stuck in a tree at this moment. If Selin wanted him to stand on his head and have diarrhea, there wouldn’t be any problem. There was no reason for Selin to deceive him.

However, Ash still found it hard to believe—after all, Heath was nothing but a nobody who wasn’t even a Mage. Without Ash, Heath probably wouldn’t have been able to get past the new assassin, the ‘Beautiful Beast’ Igula. He would have had all his contribution points taken away and ended up at the bottom of the prison.

If Heath really was a villain with an ace up his sleeve, then… where was the ace?

I’m here to substitute for you, and you don’t even leave me the ace card!?

So, Ash still felt like Selin was messing with his intelligence. A two-hundred-year-old Two-winged Elf was being controlled by a human in his twenties who wasn’t even a Mage? If Ash were to tell this to the Sword Maiden, she would probably tell him, “You’re too young to be reading those stories of underdogs turning the tables.”

After a moment of silence, Ash asked, “Why tell me so much?”

“Because I’m thinking,” Selin looked down at the ground, “about how to deal with you.”

“After all, Heath’s last Task for me,” he continued, “was to kill you.”

Ash was stunned, “To kill me… wait, but I am Ash Heath, you mean—”

“That’s right.” Selin stood up, supporting himself with the desk, “The last task Heath gave me was to try my best to kill him. To completely obliterate the Heath that remains after the ritual.”

Ash’s mouth twitched, and his pupils contracted sharply, “So, my capture by the Blood Frenzy Hunters… Valcas… the Blood Moon Judgement… and Gerard’s visit were all…”

“All ‘your own’ will,” Selin said. “I’m merely doing my best to execute ‘your’ orders.”

It was Heath who wanted me dead?

Even though Ash tried to judge whether Selin was lying, his heart couldn’t help but beat wildly.

Endless malice and resentment drowned his thoughts like the Deep Sea, a bone-chilling coldness seeped into his entire body, and in his daze, he seemed to hear the mockery of countless people.

It turned out that from the very beginning, he had been a pawn, everything about him clearly arranged.

He couldn’t even discern who the real mastermind behind the scenes was. He felt like a child watching his backpack being tossed around by bullies, not knowing whom to hit, about to cry out of utter helplessness.

Yet, for some reason, Ash didn’t feel the fire of Anger rise to dispel the cold within him.

He calmly accepted the truth of being fooled, even managing to coldly observe his own roiling thoughts as though watching someone else’s Mage’s Handbook, enjoying a plot filled with tempestuous waves.

When you can observe pain, you liberate yourself from pain.

When you can observe yourself, you liberate yourself from Fate.

Anger, resentment, regret—none of these solve any problems. Only absolute calmness, precise judgment, and mechanical execution can penetrate all secrets, comprehend the truth of the world, and carry through one’s own will.

Don’t let the hormones secreted by your body affect your thinking; don’t let boring conventional thinking constrain your imagination; don’t let an unknown Fate destroy your composure.

Ash, you must watch yourself, you must Transcend reality, you must ponder the correct next step, execute the most beneficial strategy, utilize all the resources available to you.

Simply treat others as tools.

Treat yourself as a tool, too.

Then you can become the Observer, Ash, without a care in the world.