Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer

Ashton can't sit still...

After hearing a glimpse of what these races might've been doing here — a clue as to why they're stationed here, he couldn't just simply ignore it.

'Suppressing the Providence of this place...'

While this isn't much to work with, Ashton's mind buzzed consistently due to its terrifying implications.

According to what he knows, Providence represents the rich history of a place. Through the marvelous wonders of Laws and Fate, Destiny is born and the accumulation of Destiny serves as sustenance for Providence.

Hell, this is the very idea behind this Sign-in System Function! It is through this that Ashton gathered so many resources that are either unique to the area or one of a kind.

To top this off, every Human has innate Providence values. It is one of the Aptitudes that decide how smooth or how thorny a cultivator's future would be.

The idea of suppressing a Providence... freaks him out.

The fact that two races that completely abhor each other, went out of their way to station their people here to suppress this place's Providence tells him a lot and also tells him nothing.

Was it fear that pushed them to do this? What exactly is the reason why they're suppressing this area and its Providence? What does it have to do with them? Better yet...what does it have to do with this world? With Humans?

This...doesn't sit well with Ashton.

As someone who had come across such a thing, there's no way that he could simply just walk away from this and leave it all behind.

He feels responsible all of a sudden. It has come to a point where he has to know or else he'll never be at peace.

Still, that will have to wait until he has better gear...

Aria's still not done modifying his equipment. He can't go out yet. But that doesn't mean that he'll just sit still and wait.

During these past few days, Ashton had been stalking the Commanders. He was paying attention to their habits, behaviors, and schedules. His observation caused him to get a firm grasp of their personalities and find gaps that he could take advantage of.

When he's bored, he sinks his consciousness into the Simulation Zone to fight them.

Well, it went about as he expected it to be. He could put up a good fight but in the end, he loses or dies.

The 1st Sphere Angels are just that powerful.

While most of the time they appear in their humanoid form, the Commanders will immediately revert to their original form during 'office hours'. Simply put, when it's time to put on airs, they show their creepy forms for everyone to see.

The seraphim share a similar trait: their main body is a large eye with six pairs of wings, which are also lined with eyes. They also have a wide Halo. The difference between Joel and Neon is that; a pair of Joel's wings were golden while all the eyes on Neon's body are golden.

Cherubim have an animal head and a human torso. They too have six pairs of wings with the bottom pair folded inwards to hide their lower bodies. Of course, there are eyes all over their wings too. The difference between Bea and Adul is that; Adul's head in his true form is that of a Hawk and Bea's a Swan.

Thrones remind Ashton of Astrolabes for some reason. They're an amalgamation of rings on top of rings which rotate in different directions. Of course, how can we miss the eyes? Thrones have eyes lined on the rings! The weird thing about Ulver is that his body was constantly throbbing.

It's as if something was pulsing strongly under that body of his and it is frankly disturbing...

As a result of fighting them during the past few days, Ashton practically confirmed that their Title indeed has something to do with their abilities...

[Ulver]

Type: Throne

Title: Punisher of the Condemned

Celestial Bloodline Purity: 55%

Simply looking at Ulver causes Ashton to remember things that still haunt him to this day...

While it's not really his fault, somehow he still blames himself for the destruction of City M. And the fact that deep down, he still feels this way, grants Ulver more power over him.

Since Ulver's title is the Punisher of the Condemned, and Ashton still condemns himself for not trying his best despite being faultless and blameless for what happened, Ulver's attacks are more painful and more difficult for Ashton to receive or evade.

[Neon]

Type: Seraph

Title: Usher of Worth

Celestial Bloodline Purity: 60%

Neon's title just makes him perverted — combat-wise, that is. The more people that Neon 'enlightens' — converted to devout believers of their God, the more power he gets. In a sense, he's somewhat similar to a broker who receives a cut for every customer he brings in.

Judging from what Ashton saw so far, Neon is at least as strong as a Peak Sorcerer — Sorcerers who have Heroic Potential.

[Adul]

Type: Cherub

Title: Bard of Worship

Celestial Bloodline Purity: 50%

Adul is annoying. He's like an off-tune singer whose songs reach the top 10 of the Music Charts for some reason. Yes, his songs are that bad.

Yet, what makes him terrifying is specifically those songs of his. Each song he plays could literally invoke some sort of effect.

Ashton had experienced the battlefield turning into hell at one point before it turns into a silent field of desolation. Adul also managed to invoke the wrath of the elements, his hums could also be hypnotic, and so on.

Long story short, he is a pain in the ass to deal with.

[Joel]

Type: Seraph

Title: Observer of Liars

Celestial Bloodline Purity: 70%

Nothing can hide from Joel. Well, somehow one would expect that considering how many eyes angels do have but not all Angels have eyesight that is as sharp as Joel's.

It's like the Seraph can see the future itself. He just knows what Ashton would do. Granted, it's not all the time and Ashton can somehow do something that could injure the Seraph but still, it's annoying to deal with this kind of bullshit.

Plus, lying Joel can get talkative during battle. And if you respond to him with a lie, he'll turn you into a statue. That happened a couple of times to Ashton and it wasn't fun.

[Bea]

Type: Cherub

Title: Darling of Aesthetics

Celestial Bloodline Purity: 59%

Femme Fatale at its finest. Her title allows her to mesmerize those who oppose her and perceive her as the most beautiful thing they've ever laid their eyes upon.

Those with weak willpower will instantly turn into willing slaves that will do everything that she pleases, even if it means killing themselves.

Of course, her so-called beauty is ineffective against Ashton since he has a surprisingly firm Willpower. On top of that, he learned that Bea's power is ineffective to those that are already devoted to someone else.

And for Ashton, that someone else is of course none other than Aria.

But even with that said, Bea's still a tough one to crack. She's seriously skilled with that sword of hers. She's even scarier than Ulver.

Fighting them one on one was already a nightmare so Ashton didn't even dare to face them all at the same time.

Since he cannot defeat them for now, then Ashton would just bide his time until he's able to do so. He had done it before so he can do it again.

Plus, he's still undetected so far. With him practically gone on the battlefield, both the Angels and the Demons were already dropping their guard.

They're still searching for him, still on guard just in case, but since he's not appearing anymore, they're starting to think that he had gone somewhere else, probably far away from this place.

That's a good sign for Ashton. He reckoned that within a few more days or weeks, they would completely forget him altogether, and that works perfectly for him.

Aside from stalking the Commanders and fighting them in the Simulation Zone, Ashton had also been touring the Celestial Camp as he pleases.

At this point, he had already visited all corners of there are in this place, he had memorized the palace, went into the halls, infiltrated the rooms, and observed the camps.

Due to the 'routine' of both angels and demons, Ashton would always have some time to freely explore the place undetected so long as he doesn't go out.

He kept his ears open just in case he could receive some more clues from the others but so far, no such luck. All he had so far was that clue he got from Seraph Neon and nothing more.

Ashton stuck into these activities until one day, Aria barged into their room carrying his upgraded gear.

With the Cloak of Apparition now having two modes: Angelic Mode and Demonic Mode, he can freely switch them to blend in with his surroundings. And with the gloves, he can touch things out here without leaving a trace of his aura.

With this new gear in hand, Ashton's just waiting for the right opportunity to continue his investigation.