Chapter 242: 18. Run Fast
Time on the island passed quickly; it felt like just a few blinks and the sky had darkened. The starry night easily enveloped the island below, making the already uneasy daytime atmosphere even more somber.
Captain Alagina and Paz did not find any meat on the island, but they did gather a large number of fruits from the trees. They packed about five or six boats full to return, which should be enough for the Iceberg Queen to reach the next supply point.
As for meat, they would have to fish for it in the sea. It was said that the Iceberg Queen had fishing nets, so Fisher would go down to the sea to catch some when it got light tomorrow.
The lion race, Felis, had worked hard all day, pulling a lot of treasures from the beach and stacking them behind her. Meanwhile, Alagina and Paz occasionally sent some of their own finds to be stacked there, ensuring absolute fairness and that no treasure was hoarded, just waiting to sort it out together after their digging was done.
Not very bright, Felis really thought that the increasing treasures behind her were a collective result of their teamwork, when in fact most of it was her own digging. But as long as she was happy, the atmosphere here was quite harmonious.
While things were going so well for Felis and Paz, Valentina’s position had a quite different atmosphere, naturally due to that damned Phoenix Scroll.
The environment on the island was too rudimentary. Valentina had originally planned to take the scroll back to the Northern Region to open it. Her home had a massive, unmoving spatial relic that could safely extract the scroll.
But the problem now was that the scroll couldn’t be taken off the island. Extracting the scroll and reading its contents under the current rudimentary conditions was clearly challenging.
“I say, aren’t you a magician? Didn’t you say this was magic set by the Phoenix race? So, couldn’t you just cancel the magic rune on it using your magical approach?”
“Zizi. I never said this is magic, just that it is similar to the principles of magical fluctuations.”
“Then can’t you do it according to magical theory?”
“Zizi. No way.”
“Damn it.”
Balzak covered his face. Normally, with his irritable temper, he would want to curse at something, but when he turned his head and saw the large gray feathers growing again on Haldor’s body, he clamped his mouth shut.
Though Haldor didn’t know why he was entirely made of steam machinery, his temperament was relatively good. He wasn’t ignorant like Felis, so Balzak had a good relationship with him in the team, even though they hadn’t really communicated much during the trip.
“Hey, steam man, there are hardly any extra arms left for you to replace. If you grow more feathers, you can try to study using your feet; I can help you attach your feet to your hands.”
Behind them, Selti looked silently at her steam machinery, which had all turned into feather dusters. She popped her mouthful of malt lollipop out with annoyance, watching the two companions squatting on the ground studying the Phoenix Scroll.
“Let’s take a break first. It’s not too late to eat dinner before we study it.”
“Ah, thank you, Heidi Lin. What delicious food have you made for tonight?”
The big-breasted lady named Heidi Lin smiled kindly, glanced at the plate in her hand, and said, “It’s fish stew and barley bread. It tastes pretty good when dipped. Hey, why hasn’t Felis come back yet?”
“That dead lion probably got stuck looking for treasure. She might not even realize we’re gone. Don’t worry about her; she’s not hungry right now.”
“Okay, the lady has already eaten. I will save a separate portion for her later; you all enjoy your meal first.”
Valentina, sitting in her wheelchair behind them, watched this scene with a bit of a headache and sighed.
At this rate, who knows when they would be able to open the scroll and see its contents.
Valentina always liked to prepare in advance. She had made ample preparations when searching for the scroll earlier, but she didn’t expect to stumble here, not anticipating that this thing couldn’t be taken away by anyone other than the Phoenix race.
As she rubbed her temples in discomfort, she suddenly thought of something and turned to look at the jungle in the distance.
There, a gentleman from Nali was still resting one leg against a tree, scratching and marking on the trunk with a stick, presumably researching something. But Valentina could clearly sense that he was also paying attention to their progress.
More importantly, he too wanted to know the hidden content of this scroll. So, was it possible that he had some knowledge of it as well, knowing other methods to break the curse and extract the information within?
Valentina’s pale silver eyes darted a few times, and she pushed the joystick of the steam wheelchair toward the direction of the trees.
Everyone noticed their boss’s movement and followed Valentina’s direction to the jungle, catching sight of Fisher sitting amid the trees.
“That man is still spying?”
“Zizi. That person has good magical proficiency. The gravity magic I set up couldn’t trap him; he even discovered the remote casting link point. His magical level is far higher than mine, and he might have a solution for the scroll’s curse.”
Balzak glanced at Haldor beside him, skeptical. “Hey, are you serious? That guy is clearly not with those fake boys from the Sardinia Kingdom, yet you dare to ask this dubious character for help with something as mysterious as the scroll?”
“Zizi. It’s Valentina’s decision, not mine. I’m just expressing my opinion. I’m powerless against the Phoenix’s magical curse, and so are you.”
“Hmph.”
Balzak irritably sat down on the beach, crossing his arms and looking at the silent sea.
Meanwhile, Fisher up in the tree was briefly planning his imagined new rank system, listing the factors that would affect individual rank arrangements and combining them according to their importance.
Firstly, the strength of an individual certainly plays a decisive role in rank. The strength of an individual consists mainly of two parts: physical strength and special ability enhancements. If we don’t consider fallen resistance and underwater breathing abilities, the determining factor for his current rank is physical strength, which can be referenced from the rank arrangements of ancient times.
Next, consider some external factors like magic and relics, which should play a role in enhancing the basic strength of the individual. If cost and time consumed during engraving are not considered, magic should have the most obvious enhancement impact on rank, and it can also be nicely planned according to the corresponding ring levels of the ranks.
As for relics, given there are too many and their effects are too mixed, Fisher found it difficult to calculate all at once. He vaguely felt that there were also rankings among relics, but when he inquired Emhart, he said he didn’t know, only telling Fisher that the quality difference of relics is mainly determined by materials, uses, and forging techniques.
Emhart did not know how he was created, and the holy spawn regarded the methods for forging relics as a closely guarded secret, nor did he understand how Muxi had learned this skill. As long as Emhart could clarify the differences between these holy relics, that would suffice.
The lowest tier consists of relics forged from common magic materials, roughly like Jasmine’s hairband; even combat-type relics’ strength would not exceed the extraordinary tier.
The middle tier includes relics made from rarer magic materials, requiring more profound forging techniques to create. The sword of the Son of the Phoenix belongs to this tier.
The highest level consists of sentient relics, which not only require extremely precious materials but also demand top-notch skills from the forger, needing special forging methods to produce.
According to Emhart, even the abilities of the highest-level combat-type relics would not surpass the myth rank. This was the second rule Fisher discovered.
The strength of both magic and relics does not exceed the limits of the myth rank. It sounded less like a coincidence and more like there was something very special about the creatures of the myth tier.
So far, Fisher only recognized Eil as a myth-rank subhuman. What special trait did she possess?
Fisher tried to recall for a moment.
Would being particularly hot and soft count?
Getting off track. Anyway, based on this ranking, Fisher could now roughly calculate the rank range occupied by an enemy. For example,
“Hey, Nali man.”
A light breeze brushed past, and he heard either a nightingale or a girl’s voice, abruptly stopping Fisher’s thoughts as he stood there gesturing with a branch.
He looked down to see Valentina Turan, the white-haired girl, had somehow come to sit in her wheelchair directly beneath his tree trunk, looking up at him.
Clearly, she had initiated the greeting just now.
Fisher ignored her and quickly applied the rank system he had just devised to evaluate the girl named Valentina.
By the standards of life rank, this girl was human and even disabled, thus naturally ranking zero; but she had many magical rings, which from the fluctuations in magic seemed to range from six rings to eight rings. Therefore, her rank range was 0-8; when her magic was used up, she would return to rank 0, a weakling.
Fisher sitting in the tree ignored her question. Instead, with a fixed gaze, he noticed the book on his shoulder, which seemed to be a relic, was still making faces at Valentina, making her a bit creeped out at this moment.
In fact, Emhart was not trying to scare her; his reason for winking at Valentina was roughly to remind the lady,
“The gentleman beside you is a beast with a high breeding rank, starving and insatiable—run fast!!”
Unfortunately, Valentina could not understand Emhart’s very abstract expression. She crossed her two little hands, adorned with rings, and spoke again.
“Hey.”
“I am Fisher Benavides, from Nali, a scholar researching subhuman races and magic. Don’t call me ‘hey.'”
At this point, Fisher had already calculated her rank, thus he responded.
Once Fisher broke the silence, the unnatural feeling that had arisen in Valentina’s heart dissipated significantly. However, after glancing at Fisher’s appearance, she said,
“A scholar who studies subhuman races? Is this a cover for your true intention of obtaining the Phoenix Scroll?”
No one would take seriously the words of a Nali gentleman saying he was “interested in subhumans.” Valentina regarded such statements as jokes or excuses akin to admitting a quirk in social settings, indicating that she remained on guard. But that was quite normal.
Fisher did not deny it. He pinched the facetious book that was making eyes at Valentina and shoved it back into his pocket.
“Believe it or not, I know why you came. You also know my purpose, so let’s be clear. I can help you open the scroll, but I have two requests.”
“You know how to open the scroll? I don’t believe you.”
“I have a line of thought; just haven’t put it into practice yet. But your subordinates tried all afternoon without success; letting me try once wouldn’t cost you anything.”
“What are your requests?”
Fisher sat up straight, looking serious as he raised two fingers at Valentina.
“First, I want to know the contents inside; second, I need to borrow that lion race subordinate of yours for research. It won’t take long, and I won’t do anything excessive. You can supervise beside me.”
Valentina was not surprised by the first point; she had anticipated Fisher would make that request before coming.
But aside from that, she had originally thought Fisher would ask her to share her previous research findings on the Phoenix, only to find him making this strange request.
A smokescreen?
Or does he want to pry more intelligence from that Felis character?
Valentina’s fingers tightened a bit. For a moment, she was at a loss regarding the real purpose behind his request, like suddenly seeing a bizarre move on a chessboard without knowing the opponent’s true intentions, causing immense pressure.
She glanced at Fisher in the tree, increasingly feeling that this request favored him, but… how could it be?
“What do you think? Will you agree or not?”
Just as Valentina was deep in thought, Fisher’s voice rang out again, urging her like he wanted her to make the next move.
After a second of silence, she looked up with her pale silver eyes at Fisher.
“Alright, but only after the scroll is opened will your request be fulfilled.”
“That’s a given.”
Emhart, who had shrunk in Fisher’s pocket, heard the conversation outside, and his expression fell, momentarily at a loss for words.
In his eyes, Fisher resembled a ravenous and desperate devil, always pondering such matters, and once seeing a lady—especially a subhuman lady—he couldn’t get enough!
That said, he couldn’t help but worry if Fisher would make it alive to the end of their transaction.
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(End of Chapter)
