Chapter 225: 1. Chaos Race
It was a pleasant afternoon, and on the deck of the Iceberg Queen, Fisher was holding a pen and continuously writing something in a book.
Beside his shoulder, a floating book kept chattering incessantly into the gentleman’s ear.
“No, no, it can’t look like this! Your drawing skills can only be described as hideous, it makes me itch to grow hands and help you draw. Clearly, you Dragon Race subhumans draw quite well, so why can’t you depict the Chaos Race?”
Fisher glanced at the floating Emhart with exasperation and restrained himself from tearing out a few pages from his book.
If there really was a painter in this world who could perfectly depict an image exactly according to Emhart’s description, he would sincerely admire him—not for his superb painting skills but to praise his understanding that surpasses humanity by hundreds of times.
Swallowing his frustration, Fisher rubbed his temples and said to Emhart, “You, repeat the characteristics of the Chaos Race.”
“Oh dear, you anthropologist, even though it’s my first time collaborating with others, I can confidently say your IQ is in the lower half of the world.”
Seeing Fisher’s grim expression, Emhart’s latter sentence halted abruptly. He quickly coughed a few times, stopping his critique of Fisher’s drawing skills and focusing on describing the appearance of the Chaos Race.
“Ahem, let me explain the situation of the Chaos Race again. They are a very dangerous subhuman race, and if you don’t recognize them and suffer the consequences, don’t blame me. You should know that in the past, many humans died because of the Chaos Race; if it weren’t for magic, you would have gone extinct long ago.”
“First of all, the Chaos Race is a very bizarre subhuman. Their essence is not a substance recognized by the real world and is very close to what you understand as the soul. When they arrive in the real world, they are forced to generate a corresponding real ‘vessel,’ which is what we often refer to as the ‘Chaos Race’ subhuman.”
Even after hearing Emhart’s explanation again, Fisher still found the Chaos Race to be a completely vague concept, but that didn’t mean he gained nothing.
Listening closely, he soon raised an eyebrow, connecting it to a known piece of knowledge, and said, “You’re saying the essence of the Chaos Race actually comes from the Spirit Realm?”
“Ah, that’s right, it comes from the Spirit Realm. Now you know that the Spirit Realm completely overlaps with the real world, but you definitely know nothing about the situation there. Although I know very little, fortunately, Baemon isn’t useless; I learned a bit of knowledge about the Spirit Realm from her.”
“Baemon describes the Spirit Realm as a ‘massive furnace of consciousness,’ filled with chaotic consciousness and knowledge, with those contents constantly mixing and moving together. Meanwhile, the Spirit Realm is closely related to reality, something you humans understand best. Your magic employs a very strange means to pry into the Spirit Realm’s feedback, and I don’t know who taught you this, but the one who designed this method is definitely a genius. Conversely, events in the real world also feedback into the Spirit Realm.”
“The countless thoughts swirling among living beings and the soul fluctuations arising from the cycle of life and death increasingly stir the consciousness of the Spirit Realm into chaos. This is beneficial for the world, as it allows it to support a more complex real world better and makes the beings within it smarter. Otherwise, where do you think all the new souls of your kind come from?”
“And precisely because the environment of the Spirit Realm is very chaotic and dangerous, the awakened intelligences born within it are exceptionally dangerous and high-ranking existences. The Chaos Race is one such type and indeed the most numerous. While other intelligences disregard them, they quickly occupied the Spirit Realm due to their numerical advantage.”
“So that’s how it is. If the essence of the Chaos Race originates from the Spirit Realm, then are those eyes that look like stars, which I saw when I entered the boundary between the Spirit Realm and reality, actually the essence of the Chaos Race?”
“But one day, when the Chaos Race grew tired of the darkness and loneliness of the Spirit Realm and began to attempt to break into the real world, their massive and resilient souls were forced to adapt under the distortion of rules, resulting in the generation of real ‘vessels,’ which simultaneously possessed all characteristics of reality, including gender, lifespan, and dietary needs. This is the origin of the ‘Chaos Race’ subhuman we can see and touch.”
“Hmm?”
When Emhart said this, Fisher suddenly thought of that girl, Renee.
He remembered that when her magic overflowed, that magic would automatically materialize into a substance outside her body—that was the Hart Bird.
So, could the principle behind Renee producing Hart Birds be similar or even the same as the Chaos Race?
Previously, Fisher had always thought this was a special trait resulting from excessive magic power, but now it seems that may not be the case. However, he did not have any evidence to conclude.
“And the external appearance of these Chaos Race beings is as twisted as the essence of their will. They are hard to describe, but they probably have a humanoid form, along with tentacles, black hair, and pale skin. Now can you draw that?”
Fisher furrowed his brows as he drew a dark stick figure in his notebook, adding a few random strands of hair and tentacles on their heads. It looked as abstract as a cartoon character buying squid tentacles in Saint Nali, but unexpectedly, Emhart said it was the best he had ever drawn.
It seems it’s not that I can’t draw, but that there’s a difference in aesthetics.
After all, a book is not like a person, and Fisher quickly realized that this guy had never seen the essence of the Chaos Race; he was just boasting to make himself look knowledgeable.
“Although I don’t know what you want the Chaos Race for, I must remind you that their rank as real vessels is unimaginably high by human standards, let alone their essence in the Spirit Realm. If you encounter them, run quickly, or prepare for an untimely demise. But the good news is that nearly all Chaos Race vessels died in the real world due to war, so there’s a good chance you won’t run into them.”
Emhart finally stated that when the Chaos Race began entering the real world, they inevitably clashed with many races of the time, and the outcome was quite clear—ultimately, the Chaos Race was defeated and perished, their consciousness sent back to the Spirit Realm.
In fact, Fisher inquired about these matters with Emhart purely to understand the situation regarding the first tag he was almost ready to gather for the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans: the ‘Choice of Royalty.’
There are only five races in total, which is incredibly friendly compared to the dozens or hundreds of others, and three of these races have already been recorded in his Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans. Only the ‘Phoenix Race’ and the ‘Chaos Race’ are still unclear to him.
Emhart mentioned that the Phoenix Race has long disappeared in the Northern Region and is likely completely extinct now. There are very few surviving documents about them.
The demon Baemon only recorded their most glorious time when the entire Northern Region was the territory of the Phoenix, worshiping them as deities.
However, she had no knowledge of how this once powerful subhuman race met its demise, as all demons were driven into the Abyss at that time and could not witness it.
And if the Chaos Race is as dangerous as Emhart said, Fisher cannot blindly seek them out for research, but must look for other subhuman race tags that require less effort to gather.
“Drink up!”
“Drink up!”
At this moment, just beside Fisher, under a blue sky and white clouds, countless crew members dressed in short shirts were lined up neatly on the deck for training. They ran laps around the deck and practiced combat techniques, resembling a regular military training rhythm.
And indeed, when Alagina rebelled against the Sardinia Kingdom, those who rebelled with her were her most loyal subordinates, also regular troops serving in the Sardinia Navy at the time.
Thus, the Iceberg Queen, this pirate ship, is essentially a warship of the Sardinia Kingdom, incomparable in firepower and quality to other ordinary pirates.
Following this rebellion, they practically cruised the seas freely, able to rob anyone they wished, no wonder it soon became legendary as one of the ‘Four Great Pirates.’
And that unassuming, rotund first mate Paz was not simple either; she was once the commanding officer of this troop and was granted a knight’s title in the Sardinia Kingdom, meaning she belonged to the noble class with a feather engraved on her armor.
The key point is that she was also assigned as a military instructor for Alagina by her own mother, who was killed by Alagina.
It sounds complicated, but the situation of the Iceberg Queen is generally such.
Hmm, this was something Fisher learned last night when he drank with these rough women. They opened up to him because of Alagina, and these women showed special respect for Fisher.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
“Don’t run!”
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“You fool… fool!”
And in the distance, one could see Kalma and her two little companions wielding clubs and small shovels, chasing a group of mice that were pursuing the flying Steel Knife Parrot, running while shouting. Their adorable appearance made the atmosphere on the ship much more lively.
In just a few days, Kalma and her companions had already gathered all the local mice on the ship. They washed them up and split them into three mouse legions, each led by the three sisters and named accordingly.
Hmm, this hopeful team’s ultimate goal is to defeat that nasty Steel Knife Parrot Demon King. This foul bird often opposes the three sisters, and usually loves to wake them up at six or seven in the morning, quite literally scolding them awake, and that’s how the grudge started.
The two groups now fight every day, creating what resembles a large ongoing drama, making Paz and a bunch of crew members feel like they could just sit on small stools to watch the two sides clash.
After these few days, the once somewhat tense Old Jack had relaxed significantly. Recently, he had been running to the kitchen on board every day, neglecting even those three little brats.
Fisher scanned around the invigorating Iceberg Queen, looking up at the central mast, and as expected, he saw the second mate Aoxi, completely covered up.
She was the only person Fisher found strange after spending these few days together.
Now, she was completely wrapped in a wide, heavy robe, sitting at the top of the mast like a dumpling. According to Fisher’s observations over the past few days, she basically stays there all day, only coming down to eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom. At other times, if you want to find her, you just need to look up at the mast.
She sits at the very top, like a statue, enjoying the breeze, occasionally looking at the sea, sometimes at her parrot and Kalma playing.
Yes, that Steel Knife Parrot is Aoxi’s pet.
That parrot can speak human language and is very intelligent. Although it often scolds Kalma and her friends, it is more inclined towards playful interactions.
Fisher was still quite interested in this second mate, not only because of her quirky personality but also because she was a ready-made Cangniao Tribe subhuman.
Ever since he learned that he could earn rewards by researching more subhumans from the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, Fisher had been eagerly looking to find more subhuman races to study. He didn’t know if this was a downside brought on by the Supplement Handbook, but he felt somewhat obsessed.
But in the end, it proved that it wasn’t an issue with the Handbook, but that Fisher wanted to research on his own, as staying on the ship doing nothing was exceedingly boring. If he continued idling with no research, he had planned to take apart Emhart to examine its internal structure or study Kalma and the three rat people.
In the end, after some thought, he deemed it too cruel and gave up.
As for Isabel…
Just as Fisher was engrossed in observing the surroundings with his notebook in hand, a faint scent of sea salt suddenly wafted beside him. He turned and saw Alagina, dressed in a captain’s uniform, had unknowingly walked up beside him, both of them gazing at everything on the ship.
In fact, in Alagina’s heart, she didn’t have any grand ambitions. Or rather, after she rebelled and killed her mother for revenge against her father, her goals had already been lost.
As a pirate, she only wanted to be responsible for the sisters who had rebelled with her. She wanted to earn enough money until the amount was sufficient for each of them to settle down.
Now, with the man she likes beside her, watching her sisters who have fought alongside her through life and death, this warmth was something Alagina had not experienced in many years.
She suddenly understood why the women from her hometown always dreamed of marrying a virtuous gentleman; perhaps what they had always sought was exactly what she felt at this moment.
With this thought, Alagina’s heart beat a little faster, until Fisher turned to look at her and greeted her. Then she blankly uttered some irrelevant words.
“The journey has just begun, and it seems it will take longer than expected. We’ve stored insufficient fuel to return to Pirate Port because we detoured near Saint Nali, so we’ll need to make another round to resupply before entering Eastern waters.”
Alagina had no idea why she suddenly said this. She just felt the need to say something to converse with Fisher and craved a response from him.
“That’s okay, I see that everyone else is enjoying the current time a lot.”
Even such a simple response left Alagina quite satisfied.
Beside them, Emhart had already gotten used to Fisher’s behavior. He squinted, standing on Fisher’s shoulder without saying a word, clearly having realized the fickleness of human nature and choosing to bow to reality. He didn’t want to be caught and thrown into confinement just for reminding Fisher.
There is a truth: to drive one to extinction, one must first drive them to madness.
He planned to let Fisher indulge in this gentle reverie first, and when the day truly comes when he capsizes, he would jump out to mock him well, making him regret not listening to the great Emhart’s suggestions back when.
Oh wait, but upon closer thought, if this guy dies, won’t his transactions fall through as well?
Given his terrifying pace of wooing, his demise might very well occur before he completes his transactions! What should he do about this?
Emhart’s contradictions were known only to him. Regardless, after hearing Fisher’s words, Alagina stole another glance at Fisher, and her mind started to think of the next sentence.
She pondered haphazardly: Is it okay to invite him to my room for a visit? Would that be too direct and abrupt? Should we have a meal first before visiting? Or should I present something to pave the way, hinting at my intentions? What should I give him?
In such chaotic thoughts, Alagina’s peripheral vision suddenly caught the densely scribbled notes on Fisher’s notebook. At this moment, she remembered that Fisher seemed to be a well-known scholar and had a certain interest in researching subhuman races.
She was just about to use “subhuman” as a topic to start a conversation when, in the next moment, both she and Fisher’s gaze were drawn to a golden-haired girl walking out from behind the captain’s cabin. It was Isabel, the once elegant and radiant noble lady.
However, at this moment, her demeanor appeared somewhat wilted, and her face was quite pale.
Isabel had been lifeless since boarding the ship, spending each day in her room, emerging only for lunch or dinner, and her state could not be described as anything less than lethargic.
For example, now, it was already almost afternoon, and she had only just come out of her room, clearly starving to only begrudgingly seek food.
Upon seeing Isabel, Alagina said, “I’ll go ask the chef to prepare her lunch.”
However, Fisher frowned and shook his head, refusing, “No, don’t do that. Let me talk to her first.”
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(End of Chapter)
