Chapter 229: 5. Learning
In Fisher’s view, Aoxi raised the steel knife in such a way that it was parallel to her face, leading Fisher to feel that the steel knife’s opening was equivalent to Aoxi speaking as well.
So, was it the steel knife greeting him or Aoxi herself?
“Hello.”
After a second of silence, Fisher returned the greeting.
Upon hearing Fisher’s words, the steel knife remained still while Aoxi nodded slightly and then gently brought the steel knife back to her chest, stroking its body.
Hmm, it seemed that was Aoxi’s greeting after all; she just used the steel knife to express it.
However, Fisher clearly remembered that she was the first to discover the giant object underwater yesterday, and she even leaped down from the mast to tell Captain Alagina about it.
That meant she could actually speak.
“…”
After Fisher’s greeting, it was Aoxi’s turn to speak again, but she held the parrot and didn’t continue the conversation. She even sneaked a glance at the path behind Fisher, shifting her feet a bit and then stopping in place.
Aoxi had a strong desire to end the conversation and leave, nearly to the point of being too obvious.
Fisher’s keen observation allowed him to notice this little movement of Aoxi, and of course, he guessed she wanted to leave. However, he felt it was necessary to say something to conclude the conversation, so he was currently pondering the right words to end it.
“You—”
To avoid her embarrassment, Fisher, after waiting a couple of seconds, decided to take the initiative to conclude the topic, but before he could open his mouth, Aoxi had already moved.
Out from her wide cloak, she suddenly extended a “hand” toward Fisher. Looking down, Fisher saw that the “hand” was far from a human palm; there were no clearly defined five fingers, only thick, wide, grayish-blue feathers.
Compared to an arm, this looked more like a huge wing.
The feathers of the Northern Cangbird species are typically blue and gray. Little Jack’s thesis mentioned that the subspecies of the Cangbird on the Southern Continent has orange-yellow individuals, but Fisher had never seen one himself.
Every feather on the Northern Cangbird’s wings has different shaped white patterns in the center. Each Cangbird is unique, but Aoxi’s looked beautiful, with the patterns on her grayish-blue feathers being continuous and symmetrical, resembling flowers blooming on her feathers.
“Fool. Fool.”
As Aoxi extended her hand, the steel knife in her arms shouted at Fisher again, interrupting his observation of her feathers. However, its call was still as unpleasant as ever, no wonder Kalma and the others fought with this bird every day.
Aoxi squeezed the steel knife once more, causing it to change its tune again.
“Candy.”
Candy?
Upon hearing the steel knife’s words, Fisher finally realized that Aoxi wanted to give him something. He placed his hand under Aoxi’s wing, and the next moment, she gently shook her wing, causing a translucent candy wrapped in paper to fall from her feathers into Fisher’s palm.
After a quick examination, he found that the candy she gave him was a traditional sweet from the North, called Cold Water Candy.
This candy has a long history and tastes quite good. It was sold in Saint Nali before, but when Fisher bought it, he discovered it tasted terrible, due to the difference in ingredients.
The authentic Northern Cold Water Candy would include a fruit that only grows in the icy waters of the North; the juice extracted from this fruit makes the candy taste sweet and refreshing, very similar to mint, and has a refreshing and vision-clearing effect.
“Thank you.”
Fisher grasped the candy Aoxi had handed over. Although he didn’t understand why she suddenly gave him a piece of candy, he instinctively thanked her.
After receiving his response, a noticeable sense of relief appeared in Aoxi’s beautiful eyes.
Once again, she glanced at the path behind Fisher as if she had completed a task.
That was the direction to leave.
Before Fisher could respond, she immediately nodded, indicating to Fisher that it was “not necessary to thank her,” and then she quickly escaped towards the deck with her parrot.
This seemingly ordinary conversation felt quite strange when it came to Aoxi, and even Fisher didn’t expect it to end this way.
Fisher blankly turned his head to follow her with his eyes, only to see her stop at the entrance to the captain’s room, then gently toss the steel knife away.
“Fool. Fool.”
Without Aoxi squeezing it, the steel knife began to freely scold in mid-air, flapping its wings and landing steadily on the railing, tilting its head to tidy its feathers.
The next moment, Aoxi suddenly unfolded the wings she had hidden under her clothing. The fully extended wings were enormous, causing the cloak to fly backward, making her appearance visually expand significantly and showcasing the suppression of the Northern Cangbird species.
“Whoosh!”
With a gentle flap of her wings, Aoxi was instantly propelled off the ground, flying up to the mast where she usually perched.
Due to the immense force of her flight and the fluidity of her movement, onlookers would instinctively feel that she had jumped up rather than flown.
In a flash, she quickly sat at the top of the mast, her exclusive seat.
Seeing this scene, Fisher suddenly recalled that the naming conventions for various subhumans differ from those in Western academic circles. The local residents refer to the Northern Cangbird species as the “Snowstorm Makers.”
Hmm, this is a paraphrase, so it seems a bit simplistic.
However, at this moment, witnessing Aoxi soaring into the sky, Fisher couldn’t help but imagine the magnificent sight of this subhuman freely gliding through the snow in the North, where the terrifying force generated during flight is rarely matched by other species. It’s no wonder the people of the North believe that the wind and snow are stirred by the wings of the Cangbird species.
Fisher’s gaze remained fixed on Aoxi, but the next moment, she suddenly tucked her wings back in and expertly wrapped herself once again in her heavy robe, forming a ball.
Moreover, this time, it seemed even tighter than before, as if she was very afraid of the cold.
“…”
Fisher glanced at Aoxi curled up on the mast, then looked down at the Cold Water Candy in his hand.
He suddenly realized that this second lieutenant of the Iceberg Queen was seemingly very poor at socializing, or even one could say she had some social anxiety.
It turned out she had been hiding up there not for the safety of the Iceberg Queen, but purely to avoid direct interactions with others.
Once she had to communicate directly with someone, she would struggle, just like when she spoke with Fisher.
Just now, she not only used the steel knife to speak the entire time but also tossed Fisher a candy after a few exchanges to quickly end the conversation.
If Aoxi had such a personality, then Fisher’s research plan would likely have difficulty progressing. If they couldn’t even establish a conversation, how could he make her cooperate with his research?
But before that, he wanted to try out his earlier idea to see if he could convert the knowledge obtained from Emhart into the research progress of the Supplement Handbook.
Emhart knows a lot. If he could get the knowledge about subhumans recognized by the Supplement Handbook, then Fisher was confident he could break through the 50% barrier in biological research progress without having to engage deeply in physiological exchanges.
“Chirp chirp chirp.”
“Let’s go find Fisher! Ah, Fisher, look quickly, the book seems to have died!”
While Fisher was still deep in thought, a commotion suddenly erupted in the corridor in front of the captain’s room.
It turned out that three mischievous Mouse Daughters were running toward Fisher with a small group of mice, looking anxious. The leader, Kalma, was holding an open, motionless book in her hands, while the mice behind them were all panting, as if they had empathized with the three of them.
Interestingly, Fisher noticed that even ordinary mice seemed to become much smarter after spending time with Kalma and the others.
When they first boarded the ship, Fisher had seen them lure out the mice hidden in the Iceberg Queen’s cabin. At that time, those mice were no different from the dirty and smelly ones he had seen before.
However, just a few days later, the mice on the ship began to exhibit a noticeable shift toward the behavior and expressions of those few brought out by them.
Fisher hadn’t figured out the exact principles behind this and planned to study it later, but not right now.
“Dead?”
He glanced at Emhart, who was sprawled out in Kalma’s hands and not moving, lightly raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah! He must have been scared by the mice! He might be scared to death or fainted, but he has no nose and doesn’t breathe, so we don’t know what happened! I just wanted him to play the bed for the little mice, and suddenly he died. I’m sorry, Fisher; it’s my fault.”
Dingding’s expression looked the most remorseful, and it seemed she was the one who had originated this bad idea.
Fisher glanced at the book and then casually said,
“It’s okay. You guys go play; I’ll heal him.”
“Really?”
“Fisher must heal him! We won’t bully him again next time.”
“Dingding promises!”
Fisher smiled as he took the “dead” book from their hands, watching the worried expressions of Kalma and the other two as they looked back repeatedly, and he couldn’t help but wave his hand, signaling it was okay.
Once they finally disappeared from view, Fisher turned around and carried Emhart back to his room while saying,
“Still pretending?”
“Oh, Fisher? Thank heavens it’s you; otherwise, the great Emhart would really be scared to death.”
Fisher had long since realized that this guy wasn’t dead; he was just pretending.
His state was exactly like when he had seen Eil; he would instantly go limp and turn into a harmless book whenever he encountered a strong enemy or someone he didn’t want to engage with, thus evading danger.
“You don’t understand; those little creatures are loud and disgusting! They actually want those things to lie on me! I am the highest-ranking holy artifact under the Holy Spawn! They dare to treat me like this! I will make them pay one day!”
Once back in Fisher’s room, Emhart sprang up as if the book lying down pretending to be dead wasn’t him but rather a weaker version of himself.
Now he was floating in the air, constantly crashing into the void, as if he were severely knocking the heads of those three little brats.
Fisher didn’t respond to him because he felt that this guy enjoyed it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have happily followed Kalma and the others when they came to play with him this morning.
It was unclear whether he had a special patience for children or if a book had felt lonely for too long. In any case, Fisher thought he got along quite well with Kalma and the others—if they didn’t throw mice at his face.
Fisher didn’t acknowledge his insincere words and directly got to the point.
“Emhart, tell me everything you know about the Cangbird species. I need to use it…”
As Emhart hovered in the air, he halted his movements. After hearing Fisher’s words, he blinked in surprise at the solemn-faced Fisher, and his mouth began to quiver.
Then he glanced nervously out of the room to confirm that no one was eavesdropping before flying to Fisher’s ear and instinctively lowered his voice by an octave as he spoke,
“Are you crazy? You haven’t even captured the captain of Sardinia on this ship, and you’re already considering her guard? Fisher, I have to say something to you; if you keep eating from the bowl while looking at the pot, you’ll be—ahhhh!”
“…”
His words were only half-finished when a disgruntled Fisher suddenly reached out and grabbed him tightly in his palm, while his other hand abruptly twisted, excessively pinching the exposed page of the book.
Seeing that Fisher was about to act, Emhart hurriedly changed his words of “death without burial” to sincere admiration,
“Ah, ah, ah! I mean, you’re going to become a very knowledgeable scholar of subhumans! Quickly, let me go! I…I can’t wait to start learning about Northern subhuman knowledge with you! Let me go, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
After hearing his response, Fisher gently loosened his grip on the fragile book page, allowing him to float back into the air.
“Cut the nonsense; I have great use for you.”
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(End of Chapter)
