Mage Manual-Chapter 276 - 239 Heroic Soul Army

Chapter 276: Chapter 239: Heroic Soul Army

Chapter 276: Chapter 239: Heroic Soul Army

The Heroic Soul Army, which was a combination of mage projections and knowledge creatures.

No one knew why the mage projections from the Time Continent were mingled with knowledge creatures.

Even the most adept Spirit Mage, who excelled at enslavement, could only control one or two knowledge creatures for a brief period. However, to dominate and command a large group of knowledge creatures was far beyond the capability of any Two-winged Mage. It’s akin to letting a child drive a heavy-duty truck; it’s physically impossible for them, and if they somehow managed to do so, it would not be due to the child’s ability but rather the truck’s compliance.

Many mages had indeed tried to unravel the secrets of how mage projections could control knowledge creatures, but they were often torn to pieces by the Monster Army the moment they encountered them. Forget about researching, they were lucky to catch a glimpse of the commanding mage projections leading the army. Many mages died without realizing that they were not interrupting a family outing of knowledge creatures but were instead being hunted down by the deceased.

“The Heroic Soul Army is invincible on the Time Continent, or rather, invincible to us,” Sonia said. “Setting aside the Heroic Soul commanding as the commander, the knowledge creatures in the army are extremely difficult to deal with. Even the most resilient, battle-crazed Weak Mages would have their magic power completely drained by the ceaseless assault.”

“A mage, no doubt, can take on hundreds, but that only applies to powerful mages defeating a hundred lesser beings. However, every creature in the Heroic Soul Army has the combat power of a Two-winged Mage. Just their sheer numbers can overwhelm any traveler of the Time Continent, and with the Heroic Soul directing them with ease… Compared to the command of the Heroic Soul, the recent backlash of the malevolent dragon wolf was merely child’s play.”

“Perhaps only a Holy Sanctuary Mage would have the power to defeat the Heroic Soul Army, but Holy Sanctuary Mages simply cannot step foot onto the Time Continent.”

“Heroic Soul?” Ash raised his eyebrows.

“In works like ‘Tales of the Time Continent’, ‘Golden Secret’, and ‘Rain Curtain’, the authors all refer to the mage projections that can command knowledge creatures as Heroic Souls, to differentiate them from regular mage projections. It seems to have become a customary term.”

Sonia looked toward the direction where the Heroic Soul Army had disappeared. “The Heroic Soul Army is a fairly rare existence on the Time Continent. Although most Two-winged Mages might witness the Heroic Soul Army once or twice, encountering this walking calamity the very next day… Is our luck good or bad?”

“And this is only the second most dangerous entity?” Ash blinked. “What’s the number one danger then? Holy Sanctuary Mages coming back to the Time Continent to fish and bully the weak?”

“The number one is, of course, the wars between Heroic Soul Armies,” Sonia said. “It is said that even the aftermath of their battles can spray through the Rain Curtain and kill a group of mages. There’s a saying on the Time Continent: never chase the sounds of battle, because you will always end up as an innocuous third party impacted by it.”

“I remember reading about the Heroic Soul Army in fairy tales,” Diya recalled. “A mage who was betrayed by an enemy and lost their lover, managed to gather the assistance of seven dragons after death. With an unresolved grudge, they formed the Heroic Soul Army to return to reality, eradicate their enemy, and finally rest in peace after bidding farewell with a kiss to their lover…”

“The structure of the story does fit a fairy tale, but the cause is too realistic…” Ash commented. “I’d give it an 8 out of 10.”

“Let’s keep the fairy tale conference at a distance and take our time with it. The Heroic Soul Army might come back,” Sonia urged. “Let’s hurry on. If we get killed by the Heroic Soul Army, it’s over for us, even with a soul elixir it would mean lying down for a month.”

Just as dying in the den of communal creatures resulted in greater soul damage, every knowledge creature in the Heroic Soul Army naturally wanted a taste of the rare delicacy of a mage’s soul. With a mage’s soul defenseless upon death, if it were to be nibbled away completely, that would mean absolute death. But since each knowledge creature could only take one bite, the more knowledge creatures around when one died, the greater the loss to the soul.

However, unless some taboo was triggered – such as driving out Secret Poison – Void Realm creatures generally wouldn’t consume a mage’s soul completely; just as one wouldn’t cut the roots when harvesting leeks, they would let the mage recover in reality for a return visit.

Yet Ash was musing, “Since no one has ever defeated the Heroic Soul Army, why believe that their commanders are mage projections? Perhaps it is some other mages who have run afoul of certain virtual realm mechanisms, thus gaining the power to command knowledge creatures.”

“There must have been Mages who have attempted to forecast intelligence, right?” Sonia wasn’t too certain either. “But if it wasn’t a Heroic Soul but a mage in control, when a mage left the Time Continent for the Distant Realm, shouldn’t they continue to enslave knowledge creatures? However, I’ve never heard the professor speak of anything like that happening in the Distant Realm.”

“Even in the Distant Realm, there are no mages like the Heroic Souls who can form knowledge creatures into conquering armies; there’s no Heroic Soul Army there… The Heroic Soul Army is a special product of the Time Continent, much like how the Vortex is a boon from the Sea of Knowledge.”

“Besides, it doesn’t really matter whether the commander is a mage or a Heroic Soul. The important thing is that we need to hurry… unless you’re getting some kind of inappropriate idea?”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m the captain plotting something against a female team member.”

Ash displayed a scheming smile, “I’m just intrigued by the challenge of higher difficulty.”

I’d rather you just flirt with the female team members…

Sonia tried her best to suppress the urge to curse and logically analyzed with Ash, “Putting aside whether we can beat the Heroic Soul Army, what about the reward?”

“The difficulty of challenging the Heroic Soul Army is higher than resource points, but the reward is less, making the cost-performance ratio too low. If you just want to challenge high difficulty for the sake of it, then next time you can join me in close combat, while the Witch takes the backup.”

“The three of us can fight in close combat too,” protested Diya, who did not echo Ash’s idea, evidently agreeing with Sonia’s rebuttal.

“Maybe the Heroic Soul will drop a more precious Technique Spirit, a more detailed Mage’s Handbook? The Void Realm is a fair and impartial judge; I believe that defeating the Heroic Soul Army will lead the Void Realm to generously offer us the rewards we deserve,” Ash continued. “Also, I always feel that there must be some great secret behind the Heroic Soul Army, maybe even related to the Seven-colored Tail.”

“My dear Sword Maiden, if you are willing to work overtime to elevate the Sword Technique Faction to Holy Sanctuary Level, I might reconsider my adventurous ideas.”

Sonia replied irritably, “We didn’t take much of a risk when we discovered the secrets of the golden fish, did we?”

“But that was based on the fact that we were lucky enough to encounter the Fate Q&A island, and we read several Mage’s Handbooks that could serve as important references,” Ash spread his hands. “Fate doesn’t always favor us—not to mention I had a little accident recently, and during crucial moments, the Goddess of Fate might secretly speak ill of me.”

“Other Mages can’t find the Seven-colored Tail, what makes us think we can? Is it because you look good, or because I’m a great driver?”

“Risks that ordinary Mages don’t dare to take, we take; opportunities that ordinary Mages don’t dare to touch, we touch; enemies that ordinary Mages don’t dare to fight, we fight. It’s only by doing this that we can earn rewards beyond those of an ordinary Mage.”

Even though it felt like the Observer was spouting nonsense, upon closer consideration, it made a lot of sense.

Sonia was not unaware of the principle “the more risks you take, the more you gain,” but she was, after all, a typical member of the Academic School, favoring stable returns and loathing high-risk investments.

Especially after she became a Two-winged Mage, this overly cautious small-town mentality did not diminish at all but grew even stronger. All she wanted to do was to maintain her current benefits.

It’s not that her greed was merely superficial; her world was too small—she was surrounded by classmates who couldn’t match up to her. The only powerful person she could contact was Professor Trozan who was also jealous of her talents. She was acknowledged by countless people as a future Sword Saint, and nobles eager to get close to her could fill a girls’ dormitory to bursting. Sword Flower Academy was gearing up to celebrate her as their pride…

She had already achieved her life goals for the next twenty years ahead of schedule. It felt like she could retire and enjoy life chasing her dreams. Speaking of which, she had sneakily switched her daytime classes to Sound Technique and performing arts courses. The time she spent practicing swordsmanship each day was indeed only the two hours arranged by the Observer.

She was progressing too quickly, and her ambition couldn’t keep up.

“I agree with the Observer’s idea.”

Diya raised her hand and said, “It’s called a fairy tale when it’s unique. If we want to become legendary, we have to take roads that others haven’t traveled. A monotonous life will only be summed up with ‘many years later.'”

Sonia asked, “Witch, do you want to become a Legendary Mage?”

“Actually, it’s Red Riding Hood and the White Queen who want it. I don’t really feel anything about power,” Diya spoke earnestly. “Red Riding Hood desires higher levels of combat, while the White Queen hopes to gain more bargaining chips through power… But we are sisters; their dreams are naturally my dreams too!”

“What’s your dream then?” Ash asked abruptly.

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“Me? I…” Diya hesitated slightly and tilted her head, saying, “Of course, it’s to live happily and forever with my sisters.”

“That seems even more difficult than becoming legendary.”

“Indeed.”

The two dirty adults ruthlessly tore apart the innocent girl’s pure dreams.

“Alright, I’ll bet my life with you,” Sonia sighed helplessly. “But here comes the second question—can we win? In open combat, I don’t think we stand a chance.”

“We can win though,” Ash looked at the Void Realm Map. “Because they’ve ventured into a narrow area—they’ve entered the cave we just scavenged.”

Sonia was startled, “Could it be they’re related to the big bad wolf dragon?”

“Maybe it’s an employment relationship, but the big bad wolf dragon was exiled here to guard a resource point; it’s probably an unstaffed temporary dispatch.”

On the Void Realm Map, icons of the Heroic Soul Army started entering the lair of the big bad wolf dragon one after another. Clearly, among the loot that Ash and his party had robbed, there was a portion that belonged to the Heroic Soul Army.

“But even in the lair, the numbers are too great,” Diya thought aloud. “Can we pull off the same trick and block the entrance to resolve them?”

Ash shook his head and waved his hands, doubly denying Diya’s idea. “It’s too risky. If something goes wrong, we can’t even run; we’ll just die in the jaws of the beasts.”

“We are up against the Heroic Soul Army, the risk is already as high as eating unknown bright mushrooms, and you still have the luxury to think about escaping?” Sonia couldn’t help but complain after seeing that Ash still maintained an ‘easy pass’ attitude. “You want credit, but also to wear a helmet? There’s no such good thing in this world.”

“There is,” Ash confidently said. “I have a way to both defeat the Heroic Soul Army and escape at any time.”

As Sonia’s snarky reply was just forming, she realized the main gist of Ash’s plan.

“The big bad wolf dragon’s home is pretty big; it should be able to accommodate a sports car as a guest. If the big bad wolf dragon knows what’s beneath it, it would be grateful to us for holding a grand memorial ritual above its grave.”

Ash brought up the upgrade blueprint for the automatic car, his gaze sweeping over all the peripherals on the activation list, “Originally, these resources were meant to upgrade the ‘Alchemy Throne,’ but when it’s time to use them, we use them, so…”

“It’s time to show off my driving skills that took me three tries for the driver’s license test!”