Mage Manual

Chapter 1656 - 1217: A Life as Thin as a Card

Sonia flicked the Space Ring and took out a pale white music card. Ash vaguely remembered this item as it might have appeared in Dedarose’s classic drama "Actually I Care," though that was an urban light comedy from ten years ago.

She pinched open the sides of the card, gently rubbed it, and it expanded into two earphones, one hanging on Ash’s ear and the other on hers. She then pressed the button on the card, selecting songs through the LCD screen on it—this was actually a multimedia player that included functions for placement, charging, and playing songs.

Dedarose’s youthful voice with a hint of a Dazzling Star accent echoed from the earphones, a touch of helpless affection in its melancholy:

"I like you with a hundred flaws"

"Who can be compared with you"

...

"Yet to appreciate me"

"Doing everything for you, loyal to only one"

"I don’t know if it’s debts from a previous life"

"Unable to grasp you"

"Discovering past wrongs for you, willing to swallow pride"

"My self-esteem is willingly set aside for loving you too deep"

This is the theme song for "Actually I Care," originally a duet, but this was Dedarose’s special solo version. As she listened, Sonia hummed along softly, her voice ethereal and full of vitality, not at all matching the tone of the song, more like a simple little girl singing along with whatever song she liked.

Thinking about it, the world of children is truly simple; they sing whatever song sounds nice, like any color that looks good, and when hurt or upset, they put on a gloomy face to tell the world they are unhappy. By contrast, when we grow up, not only do we lose favorite colors, but we can’t even express our mood directly; we can only loop sorrowful songs deep into the night, indirectly letting the world know that today’s day and I are feeling a bit down.

Sonia hummed and stood up, stepping to the edge of the cliff. As a Demigod Mage, even if Sonia fell hard, the mountain would be smashed into human-shaped pits by her, but for some reason, Ash was very nervous, gripping her slender fingers with defined knuckles.

"Do you find this thing a bit outdated?" Sonia asked with a smile.

Ash thought for a moment and nodded. The Miracle Bracelets owned by everyone in Dazzling Star were multimedia devices that integrated all common features, not only playing music but also watching dramas, and were portable and waterproof, virtually impossible to lose; by comparison, music cards seemed quite redundant.

"Ten years ago, a sudden fashion trend arose, and the guild producing music cards heavily sponsored a drama for Dedarose just to bring the fashion of music cards nationwide," Sonia said. "At that time, I saw Dedarose by the window on the light screen, with the city’s neon and the night sky’s starlight lighting up her disappointed face, as she took out a music card to wear earphones and listen to a song only she could hear... How could a little girl endure this, I was instantly struck by consumerism."

"Thinking back now, music card producers really seized the business opportunity well. Back then, Miracle Bracelets hadn’t invented ’directional sound,’ so everyone watched videos with public sound in places, and surely many hated this noisy environment; items like music cards catering to privacy, style, and uniqueness naturally attracted lots of audience. Especially Dedarose was the idol young people adored; even her hairstyle and clothes could create a craze, let alone film merchandise that was stylish and full of personality."

"As far as I remember, various music cards were popular for a year or two until Miracle Bracelets incorporated ’directional sound’ functionality, which, although it still leaked some sound, under normal circumstances no longer created noise, rapidly phasing out music cards."

She held the pale white card with a trace of gentle warmth on her face: "I rarely asked Mom for anything... Not sure if you’ve seen ’Fate/Stay Night’; that film sparked a trend back then, many dramas had ’omnipotent yet evil Wish Machines’ as themes. While watching, I wondered if there’s a less omnipotent but earnest Wish Machine that fulfills wishes?"

"Sage’s Miracle?" Ash first thought of this.

Sonia shook her head, smiling, twirling the card in her hand: "Maybe it’s Mom."

"That year, I was about to save enough money for new machinery, but I couldn’t resist wanting a music card; I wanted to differentiate myself from peers wasting their lives like pigs... Mom indeed bought it back, although at the cost of delaying the machinery purchase for a year, I had to stay in the fields for an extra year. Such small items trending in Jiale City are dreams only attainable by little town girls standing on their tiptoes."

"While brands popular in Jiale City don’t have distribution here, though not a pirated copy, what Mom bought was a cheap imitation by a small guild,—listen, isn’t the sound quality even worse than Miracle Bracelets?" Sonia said: "But back then I didn’t care; I listened when tired from studying then also before sleeping, I was the only one who had it amongst peers in town. Wearing earphones while walking with wind in the streets, this small vanity brought me joy for a long time."

"Even now I think this music card was very worth it... Though I’ve always felt unique, before I entered university and left hometown, what was I different from others? I needed this tiny vanity to satisfy myself."

Ash’s heart stirred, suddenly realizing it’s the first time Sonia proactively mentioned her youth to him. It’s not that Sonia had any obligation to confess; Ash also never talked about his youth, but he knew Sonia held a sense of shame in her heart... During her most sensitive and vain adolescent time, she happened to be in the most materially scarce environment, like a butterfly needing to endure the caterpillar’s appearance inside the cocoon... Who would want to mention their past as a caterpillar?

She was unwilling to introduce Ash to her mother for similar reasons.

Now Sonia could calmly talk about her past, even dissecting those overwhelming emotions with a surgical knife, because she had grown strong enough that no one dared laugh at her past but perhaps admired how such a mundane cocoon managed to transform into such a beautiful butterfly.

"Ash."

Sonia held the music card between her fingers, and the sunlight after rain brightened her face, those ruby eyes unprecedentedly bright.

"My life was only as thin as a card," she said: "You brought it to write so many adventure stories, turning it into an exciting Mage’s Handbook."

Ash seemed to want to argue something, but Sonia placed her finger on his lips and shook her head, elegantly sitting beside him, taking out three hair ties from her pocket: "Help me tie my hair."