Chapter 331: The Secrets of Derivative Species (Combined)
“Old friend? Is that the reason? Has your brain malfunctioned to the point where you would do such a rude act in front of others? It’s hard to imagine you as a gentleman from Nali, truly shameless, laying hands on a lady.”
In the room, watching Koryan and others move farther away, Fisher’s expression was not relaxed. He understood Elizabeth better than anyone; if she were someone who could easily give up, she wouldn’t have been able to strategize for so long, manipulating the entire Nali in her grasp. There must be obstacles waiting for her.
Elizabeth knows her own strength, yet she sent these Nali agents, whose abilities cannot exceed fifth rank, to confront him. He didn’t sense any high-tier magical fluctuations from them either; they might possess other means, such as those high-level relics hidden in the Golden Palace’s treasury.
It’s unclear which relic was brought, but he needs to be cautious moving forward. However, the first person he must face is not Elizabeth, but her superior, Miss Valentina Turan, who had just become furious after he foolishly touched Elizabeth’s shoulder thinking to provoke her.
Fisher heard the young girl’s voice behind him; initially, she seemed to have understood his purpose, but after he perfunctorily referred to Elizabeth as an “old friend,” Valentina’s frustration exploded, sitting in her wheelchair and fussing, leaving Fisher momentarily dumbfounded with amusement.
Indeed, he had been somewhat inconsiderate earlier; in fact, he could have conversed directly with Elizabeth. After all, he had noticed that Koryan’s eyes were attached with a remote synchronized communication magic. There was no need to use such provocations to elicit a flaw from Elizabeth.
Elizabeth wouldn’t allow anyone else to focus on her matters; she would handle it herself. They both deeply understood each other, but sadly, Fisher could only use this mutual understanding to wound her and make her retreat momentarily.
Fisher’s thoughts were swirling in his mind, yet when he turned his head, his face bore no excess expression; he simply raised his hands in surrender and addressed the fuming Valentina in her wheelchair.
“Although I have already explained the reason before, I do think I was in the wrong, and I’m truly sorry. How about this? Consider it a debt I owe you; besides my main duties, if there’s anything you need me to do, I will certainly do my best to help you.”
Upon hearing this, Valentina intended to ask what trouble he had caused in Nali that warranted such a grand pursuit to the Northern Region, but the sharp-minded Valentina clearly sensed that this guy seemed to want to provoke another woman by acting intimate with her, which left Valentina, treated as a mere tool, quite displeased. She increasingly felt that Fisher was just a jerk.
With this in mind, Valentina resentfully put down her fingers that were rubbing a ring and coldly looked at Fisher, saying,
“Heh, I originally wanted to ask about your troubles in Nali, but upon reflection, it might be closely related to the ladies scorned by your deceit, and asking would only yield stories about a scoundrel who enjoys deceiving ladies.”
“While I feel Lady Valentina has some misunderstandings about me, your choice not to inquire about the past is indeed a clear one. Apart from that, is there anything I can do for you?”
For some reason, Valentina felt an odd itch in her heart upon hearing the cheerful tone from Fisher. She suddenly wanted to know more about his secrets in Nali, but since the words had come out, it was unwise to backtrack. She could only grasp her chin, ponder for a moment, then cautiously look up and say,
“Drinks and candies.”
“Drinks and candies? Is this some new lady’s riddle from the Northern Region?”
Valentina shot Fisher a glare upon hearing this, then turned her head to look towards the room’s entrance. After Heidi Lin sent the Nali individuals away, she should have other matters to attend to, so she wouldn’t be around. Valentina sighed in relief; although her expression relaxed slightly, her voice was much quieter.
“Yes, please go buy me some Cold Water Candies and drinks from outside Miya. Not too much, just a bag of Cold Water Candies and some red wine; preferably something not too intoxicating. I haven’t drunk before, but if you bring it back, I won’t hold you accountable for your earlier beastly rudeness.”
“Is that all?”
Valentina nodded, placing her hands back on her lap and adding, “But you mustn’t let Heidi Lin know; if she finds out that I’m eating these things carelessly, she will definitely be angry. You know I have a hereditary condition, and these hereditary diseases make my body weaker than normal people. To live longer, my diet must be very healthy, hence I avoid simple sweets that others find normal.”
Fisher glanced at her petite form in the wheelchair and gestured towards the door, making Valentina think Heidi Lin was right behind her. She quickly turned around, only to find no one there, and her nerves jangled in irritation, her forehead vein popping as she glared at this annoying man.
“Fisher! If you joke again, I will really be angry!”
“I’m sorry, I’m only slightly confused. Are you really afraid of Heidi Lin? Because she manages you like a parent?”
Valentina’s angry expression paused slightly upon hearing Fisher’s words, then she shook her head and pouted, replying,
“.I’m not afraid of Heidi Lin. After all, she is my servant; how could I be scared of her? In reality, her words do not constrain me; if I really want to do something, she can’t stop me. But I feel she genuinely wants the best for me; she wants me to live longer, and I don’t want to disappoint her.”
“However, no matter how hard I try, my life cannot be prolonged. Both Heidi Lin and I have done our utmost to extend my life. Once the Snow Fox Tribe arrives, I’ll likely be busy, and I probably won’t have time to secretly buy these things anymore. I just wanted to try them, which is why I sought your help.”
“Hey, considering the severity of what you did to me earlier, asking you to do this little thing is already generous. Will you accept or not?”
In reality, Valentina asking Fisher for a small favor was merely giving him a way out. Although he said to make a request, she didn’t actually want him to do anything particularly special. Valentina might indeed want to taste Cold Water Candies or fine wine, but for someone who had never tasted them, it seemed somewhat dispensable.
Fisher understood Valentina’s half-hearted approach. Even now, she still bore that adorable expression of “If you don’t agree, I’ll be mad right here,” so he nodded and agreed,
“Of course, no problem. This is just a small favor. But don’t be so pessimistic; I have a feeling your life won’t end so easily; you still have a long way to go.”
Valentina paused slightly, but she didn’t feel encouraged. Her gaze lowered slightly, but that downcast expression was dismissed in just a second, and her face immediately morphed into a displeased grimace as she looked at Fisher and said,
“You wouldn’t say something disgusting like ‘beautiful women live longer,’ would you?”
“.How did you know?”
“Disgusting! Pervert!”
Although there was a playful tone to it, Fisher was not lying. Based on what he had seen in his earlier dream, the mysterious curse of the Frost Parasol Tree was likely searching for the last phoenix, and this curse’s creation must have been related to the turmoil within the tree, leading to the demise of all the phoenixes.
Most crucially, before the phoenix race disappeared entirely, the Moon Princess, one of the phoenix offspring, issued two commands to the outside of the parasol tree.
First, she instructed the loyal humans to deliver the scroll bearing the location of the Frost Parasol Tree overseas, far from the Northern Region; this was the place where Fisher and Valentina first met. Second, she commanded one of the six races, the Trolls, to strictly guard the parasol tree. Although the Slime King said they prohibited any beings from entering, Fisher could discern a hint of clue from that.
The Slime King likely discovered evidence related to the phoenix within him. Otherwise, a calculative entity like the Slime race would have never rashly given him the emblem of loyalty; he expressed an extraordinary trust in the Turan family behind him.
Thus, Fisher was certain that the Trolls guarding the parasol tree did not prevent everyone from entering but only those who were not phoenixes. The Moon Princess seemed to have performed these actions to ensure someone could access the Frost Parasol Tree a thousand years later, indicating that this person’s entrance would be crucial to resolving the curse within the tree.
If it were from other races, Fisher might still hesitate to speculate, but the phoenix race was different. They could see the future and make corresponding preparations based on it, which was their secret to overcoming the Chaos race. In the parasol tree, the Moon Princess must have foreseen the future, which is precisely why she issued these two commands a millennium ago that remain obscure.
And a thousand years later, Valentina, who shared such a capability, had already arrived below Sema Snow Mountain, which perhaps indicates that, in a sense, she is the person the Moon Princess has been waiting for a thousand years.
The Turan family’s hereditary condition should be related to the curse within the parasol tree. Half-bloods cannot carry such outrageous hereditary diseases. If Valentina can successfully resolve the curse, the shadow that has hovered over the Turan family for a thousand years will dissipate, and by that time, she certainly wouldn’t die.
Fisher’s thoughts temporarily halted. He wasn’t sure whether his suspicions were correct, but after sorting through the clues laid down by the Moon Princess, he felt like this was the only possibility.
But this also meant enormous risks. He vividly recalled the low murmur of the unseen entity on the throne in the “Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans” dream.
It too was searching for the “last phoenix.”
After agreeing to Valentina’s small request, he didn’t rush to buy anything—after all, the Snow Fox Tribe wouldn’t arrive for several days.
After exiting the room downstairs, he hurried to the upper room. The research on the Slime and Ice Owl races was nearing completion; the biological advancements of the Ice Owls were promising, and the Slimes were also almost ready. He needed to start preparing for upcoming matters.
Magic was essential; he needed to study the source grimoire provided by the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, experiment with the strength of the Handbook’s boost to the soul, and continue reading the Soul Supplement Handbook.
At the entrance of their allocated room, Fisher encountered a pale-looking Balzak holding a steaming cup of coffee. Balzak looked somewhat gaunt, with very evident dark circles under his eyes. Upon seeing Fisher, he greeted him.
“Mr. Fisher.”
“.You don’t look so good; are you sick?”
Fisher observed Balzak’s pale complexion, which seemed beyond what could be explained as “not resting well last night,” making him look quite alarming, almost anemic.
“Ah, a little. Miya is indeed the northern tip of the Northern Region and much colder than other places. I’ve been traveling everywhere with extreme temperature differences for the past few months; being a native of the Western Continent, my body simply can’t handle it. Plus, I researched all night last night about where to find the Slime race, so I’m feeling a bit off this morning.”
Fisher’s expression turned strange as he caught a glance at the room belonging to Felis behind Balzak. After hesitating for a second, he spoke.
“Last night, Miss Valentina and I encountered several members of the Slime race. From them, we learned that all of them have moved out of the Northern Region. Fortunately, their leader is reasonable and has already given the emblem to Miss Valentina. Didn’t she ask Felis to inform you this morning?”
Balzak’s already pale face momentarily froze, then he turned to glare furiously at the closed door of Felis’s room, coughing and scolding.
“That dead fat cat is not only brainless but also has a vendetta against me, wishing for me to work myself to death in the research lab! Damn it, I read documents and news records for a whole night and even took notes! Damn it, Felis, get out here!”
The silence in Felis’s room was engulfing, but a maid cleaning the hallway behind them suddenly spoke cautiously.
“Mr. Balzak, that subhuman lady just left, saying she was going out to buy something, so she’s not in the room right now.”
“Damn!”
Initially, Balzak felt unwell from reading documents all night; now his anger surged. Fisher was worried he might faint from fury and quickly patted his shoulder, advising him,
“Miss Valentina didn’t get much sleep last night either, so it’s likely she simply overlooked notifying Felis. She should have asked Heidi Lin to inform you instead. Mr. Balzak, your health is not in good shape; please return and rest. You don’t need to worry about the Slime issue. The Snow Fox Tribe won’t arrive for several days; spend some time adjusting your condition.”
Balzak glared angrily at Felis’s room but realized Fisher had a point. He handed the book he was holding over to the maid, then thanked Fisher before returning to his room to rest.
Fisher didn’t linger in the hallway for long and soon returned to his room, locking the door behind him. He quickly took out the sleepy Emhart and the several ancient pages of the source grimoire.
It seemed that the knowledge from the Supplement Handbook really possessed extremely severe hazards. Emhart merely attempted to record a bit of content and ended up like this, sleeping for half a day. Without Emhart to stir things up, Fisher found himself somewhat unaccustomed, but Emhart stated he was gradually recovering, so Fisher could only believe him.
He placed Emhart down comfortably on the pillow, then spread out the ancient pages of the grimoire at the table in the room. He saw many densely written text lines, and as he looked at them, his head began to ache because the text was written in “Ancient Human Script,” recognized as the oldest text by modern humans, known for its obscurity and difficulty, somewhat similar to Ancient Cardu language.
Fortunately, Fisher understood Ancient Cardu, but he wasn’t very familiar with modern Cardu, since, essentially, these two are not the same language.
Ancient Human language should be the ancestor of all existing human languages. Although academia hasn’t confirmed its connection with Southern Continent human languages, Fisher already knew that Southern Continent people also came from the Western Continent, making their relationship self-evident.
As mentioned before, when Fisher attended the Royal Academy, he often needed to study magical texts from Cardu, which were written in Ancient Cardu. The source grimoire before him was written in Ancient Human, indicating that this grimoire is older than any recorded magical book currently in existence. No wonder it is called a source grimoire.
Fisher took a deep breath, focusing on the contents of the ancient pages. Even with his exceptional knowledge of Ancient Cardu, this was quite challenging, but he managed to grasp the general meaning.
The content on the first page of the residual scroll was interrupted; it seemed there was more preceding content, but it was difficult to understand due to being torn apart.
“The so-called star magic does not refer to magic related to the stars in the sky; those visible stars at night come from suns located at unimaginable distances from humans, their energy is too immense to be moved by human strength. The ‘star magic’ I teach you originates from the deeper depths of the world, existing in the spirit realm fully overlapping with your living world, where countless consciousnesses live, just like stars.”
“Their consciousness is clearer than any daylight, yet their forms are more chaotic than any night. They do not possess any connection to one another; unlike your closely-knit clans, I still refer to them as the ‘Chaos Race’ here to aid your understanding of the profound techniques you are about to learn.”
“The Chaos beings are quite friendly; they gaze day and night at the clearly defined world they exist in, watching a series of legendary stories and myths without interfering. I have informed them that when you use your souls to draw their attention, they will respond, lending you their power to create existences beyond normal humans. Although you still cannot surpass myths, their light of wisdom will assist you through the dangers of your nights, striking at your enemies like true stars, allowing you to thrive.”
“The Chaos beings reverence the feminine aspect of night, thus the recipient of star magic must be of our race’s women. When the gaze of the Chaos falls upon that woman, they will bestow their most unique power upon her, which I here refer to as ‘characteristics.'”
As Fisher read this part, his scalp tingled intensely because he seemed to have discovered a seemingly buried, earth-shattering secret. He eagerly continued to read, quickly uncovering more content.
“However, it needs to be stressed that there is a possibility of failure with star magic. Humans are utterly small; whether they might attract the gaze of the Chaos beings is entirely at their whim. The more beautiful, excellent, and strong the woman is, the more they appreciate her, and the more likely they will lend their power to her. Furthermore, this power is inheritable; among the offspring of those chosen women, if they present anything that piques the Chaos’s interest, they will continue to confer their power upon them.”
“From this point onwards, those chosen women will gain unprecedented strength, as the derivative race of the high-dimensional beings known as ‘Chaos of the Stars’ passes down through them. I hope you treat them well, viewing them as the protection I bestow upon you, and living in harmony with them. Human life is short; there will come a day when your descendants forget this, but when they see my writing, they will surely remember.”
The narrative abruptly ceased, and the following pages contained specific operational methods for the magic, nearly causing Fisher to exclaim, “Are you telling me this is magic?”
Indeed, Fisher suddenly realized that the so-called “Source Grimoire Residual Scroll II” recorded not any modern concept of magic, but an absurd technique bestowed upon humanity by the Mother God that creates races. It’s no wonder the Supplement Handbook and other deities referred to the Mother God as a “false god.”
From the text, Fisher could easily infer that this so-called “star magic” is the source of creating the “Witch Race,” perfectly explaining why witches are only women who closely resemble humans, possessing inexplicable break in inheritance traits and unique “characteristics.”
The reason is that these witches essentially are humans; the extraordinary magic power and traits they possess are entirely due to the attention of the high-dimensional beings known as the “Chaos Race” existing in the Spirit Realm!
Reflecting on the labels given to the witch race in the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans,
“Western Continent Race,” “One in Ten Thousand,” “Beautiful Treasure,” “Derivative Race.”
Therefore, assuming “derivative race” indicates that such races are offspring of high-dimensional beings of some esteemed rank, then what sort of existence could the “Dragon Race,” which shares the same label, be a derivative of?
Gazing at the ancient paper before him, Fisher felt as though his world view had been impacted, sitting in the chair lost in thought for a long time, his body immobile, resembling a statue.
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(End of Chapter)
