Chapter 55: 54. Soul Supplement Handbook
After the steam-filled cleaning session passed, Fisher took the opportunity to return to his room to study the somewhat strange Soul Supplement Handbook.
Closing the door, he first took out the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans and placed it on the table, flipping to the classification for the Dragon Race. The golden, magical-like handwriting on the page surged wildly, recording much of Fisher’s understanding of the Dragon Race during this period. He did not need to write; it seemed that as long as he had the concept in his mind, the handbook would automatically record it.
【Dragon Race Biological Research Progress: 57%】
【Dragon Race Social Research Progress: 42%】
【Unlocked Rewards: Constitution +4, Reproductive Ability +4 (Your genetic material is more active), Dragon Court Relic Clue】
The biological research progress increased significantly after physiological classes with Raphael, huh.
Amid Fisher’s expression of frustration, a rolled leather scroll etched with Dragon language appeared out of thin air on his desk. The scroll seemed to contain a map, written in ancient Dragon Court dialect, stating, “The gate will only open with a complete imprint.”
Casually glancing at the map, it was drawn with great detail, but Fisher, unfamiliar with the geology of the Southern Continent, had no idea of its specific location. However, since it was a relic of the Dragon Court, it should be located along the southern shore of the Southern Continent, while they were currently at the completely opposite northern shore.
After hesitating for a long time, Fisher placed the scroll on the table, having thought of something.
After receiving the rewards, Fisher temporarily set aside the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans and opened the Soul Supplement Handbook given to him by Feilon.
The surface of this handbook was vastly different from his own; not only was it dark and ancient in color, but it also lacked any decorations. Only the title printed on the cover indicated that they were the same type of item.
Upon opening the first page, there were no engravings like the Apocalypse Prophecy found in the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans. The moment Fisher opened it, the illusory text instantly transformed into the language of Nali, stating,
【A traveler unable to leave this world, a small gift left for this world.】
Below that introductory text, in the bottom right corner of the page, there was a particularly small line of text. That line of text was quite special; it was the only one written in the author’s own handwriting. Although Fisher could not recognize the strange script, he could understand its meaning.
【Contributor: Caleb Woods.】
Fisher frowned, and the meaning of the text kept flashing through his mind. First, the author of this handbook referred to himself as a traveler unable to leave this world, which indicated that the author was not from this world and was an outsider unable to leave for some reason.
So, by this logic, could it be that all the supplement handbooks were not items left by people from this world? This seemed to explain why they were all so mystical.
Holding onto this question, Fisher continued to flip through the pages. Unlike his blank Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, this book was densely packed with writing. Compared to mystical items, this Soul Supplement Handbook was more like an academic book that Fisher often read.
The first chapter was titled: What is the essence of the soul?
The author seemed to be encountering the concept of the soul for the first time. He expressed his research on the souls of this world in a semi-biographical, semi-research record style.
However, some of the content piqued Fisher’s interest; for instance, the author was very unfamiliar with subhumans and magic and even felt scared the first time he saw a subhuman. Does this indicate that the author’s original world did not have these things, including the soul?
He mentioned that he first experienced prosperity in another world, where the massive Dragon Court in the south rose like the sun, casting a shadow over the safety of the entire continent with its huge wings. Many strangely-looking subhumans were filled with wisdom, exchanging a lot of knowledge about the soul with him.
Finally, he drew a conclusion: the soul is a substantive material that mutually influences and accomplishes each other with the body, is the source of magic, the source of spirit, and is drawn by certain rules independent of the world. The souls of the deceased will be【reset】until new life is born and quietly placed by some great power to merge with new bodies.
Caleb emphasized multiple times that the soul and the body are always unified, and any view of separating and researching them is foolish, including the discussion among Dragon Court scholars about which came first, the body or the soul.
Eager for knowledge, Fisher quickly became engrossed in Caleb’s records and soon discovered some issues.
First, the time Caleb spent in this world was very long ago. Secondly, the ancient Dragon Court mentioned in Dragon legends indeed existed, and he had had close interactions with the ancient dragons of the Dragon Court.
According to Caleb’s description, the Dragon Court was a very friendly and open nation, inhabited by countless subhumans who worshipped a dragon-shaped deity known as Fei, but according to Caleb’s analysis, that was just a belief that existed when they were ancient and backward.
Establishing the premise of the unity of soul and body, Caleb began to discuss the properties of the soul individually, but Fisher quickly noticed that many of his discussions were based on the premise that the soul could be physically touched, yet he didn’t mention how this was actually achieved.
Ancient subhumans had methods to touch the soul, so did Caleb assume that readers from that era knew this method? But why was this method lost?
Fisher tapped his fingers on the table and suddenly thought of something.
Caleb lived in the country of Dragon Court! The Dragon Race’s country! The horns of the Dragon Race are an external feature formed by magical circuits, which in a sense are just protruding souls! He didn’t need to extract the soul; he could research the characteristics of the Dragon Race’s horns to infer the properties of the soul!
So all experiments only needed to be conducted on the horns of adult Dragon Race members, and touching them would naturally be simple as well. The horns of the Dragon Race could be touched, just like when Fisher previously touched her dragon horn with his staff.
Does this mean that last time he inadvertently poked Mill’s soul with his staff?
No wonder her reaction was so intense.
The content of the first chapter was quickly finished, roughly introducing the author’s background and basic views on the soul, serving as an overview. When he tried to browse further, he found that the subsequent text was blurred, only becoming readable slowly as he looked at it.
But he quickly noticed that all his magical circuits lit up, and reading those texts was consuming his magic power, and the amount was substantial!
The first line of the second chapter, the author named Caleb wrote,
“The first property of the soul is【self-restoration】. After thinking for a long time, if I could only obtain a bit of research information from this supplement handbook, it would be too regrettable, so I encrypted the text, and it needs to use the power of the soul to unlock it. This process will bring pain, which is proof that your soul’s power is being exhausted by this supplement handbook.”
“This will place a massive burden on your soul, and it may take a long time for your soul to remedy itself. But when it is fully repaired, your soul will become more robust. This is the principle behind those mages continuously engraving magic to enhance their magic power, and it is also proof of the soul’s first property of【self-restoration】.”
Just having read two lines, Fisher felt as if he had just inscribed a sixth-ring magic spell, and his vision grew somewhat dim, so he had to close his eyes to digest the information he had just acquired from the first chapter.
It seems he could only study this book slowly.
Fisher looked down at the magical circuits in his body, seeing those lit branches slowly lighting up again, this was much faster than the recovery speed he experienced after inscribing magic for the first time, perfectly corresponding to Caleb’s theory.
Only, the intensity of the training in Caleb’s Soul Supplement Handbook exceeded Fisher’s imagination. Inscribing a sixth-ring magic spell requires a long time, but this handbook can achieve the same training effect in an instant. The magic in it is quite remarkable; he couldn’t understand how it was done.
Fisher rubbed his temples; although he felt a bit discontented, he had to set it aside for now. He would continue reading after he recovered. Moreover, they were in the dangerous Southern Continent; recklessly depleting his magic circuits was quite perilous. He also needed to inscribe other spells to cope with danger, so he would likely wait until it was safe, perhaps reading again after returning to Nali.
But just at that moment, Fisher suddenly thought of something. Since Caleb left his mark in the supplement handbook, did his own【Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans】also have a mark left by the author or its previous owner?
He grabbed the nearby Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, opened the first page, but found that there was no corresponding author record below the Apocalypse Prophecy.
None? Or is it that every supplement handbook is different?
Fisher subconsciously touched that same position but, at the moment of contact and friction, it felt like he triggered some mechanism. That position burst forth with a hint of active golden light, and then a line of text, also written in a way Fisher did not recognize, appeared before his eyes, seemingly handwritten.
【Congratulations, you’ve discovered an Easter egg!】
The illusory text floated up, and at the end of the book page, the golden text appeared in a cube-like shape, distinctly different from Caleb’s handwriting, but all supplement handbooks share the same nature, allowing Fisher to understand it.
It read,
【Contributor: First of all, I am not a Subhuman Girl Enthusiast.】
Please pursue reading and voting. Thank you, everyone.
(*`*)
(End of Chapter)
