novelraw Chapter 257: Attempt
Chapter 257: Attempt
Actually, in the past, there were generally three steps when Fisher conducted individual biological research using the Demi-Human Completion Handbook.
First was the basic description of their appearance. In ordinary academic research, one usually needed to repeat this step on many specimens of the species, and only then could the general range of their physical attributes be determined.
Originally, for the species of the Southern Continent, Fisher had his own experience in this regard, plus the help of Little Jack's thesis, so this process of repeatedly sampling specimens was generally omitted. However, this couldn't be done for marine demi-humans and Northern Border demi-humans. This was also the reason why the progress of biological research on these demi-humans would be relatively slow.
It's worth mentioning that Demon-kin... or rather, Mythical Species, seemed to have a special characteristic. The process of researching them could be said to be closer to researching an individual rather than researching a race. Even though according to Eimhart, the characteristics of the seventy-two true Demon-kin were worlds apart and completely different from each other, Fisher had raised the biological research progress to over 50% just by researching Eliog alone.
Then, after conducting research on the external data, the second step was to conduct further research on their physiological characteristics. Some demi-humans would have aspects distinct from humans, while also having aspects similar to humans.
For the differences, greater attention was needed, while for the similarities, they could be skimmed over slightly.
For example, when researching Raphaela, Fisher's focus was on her scales, tail, horns, and why steam spewed from within her body. When researching Jasmine, Fisher focused more on how she utilized blessings and curses, and how they fed back to her body.
And the final step required synthesizing and summarizing their biological and social characteristics. Sometimes, one could obtain quite a bit of extra knowledge regarding their culture and social structure, greatly boosting the progress of the two researches in the Completion Handbook...
Mhm, leaving aside that extra, strange in-depth research, the general research process was just this simple.
"This is eel rice... I didn't know what you wanted to eat, so..."Not long after, there was a knock on the door. Fisher went over and opened it, revealing Aoxi outside holding a plate with one hand.
"From earlier, I've always been very curious about how your wings pick up these things; I truly can't imagine it."
Compared to what to eat for lunch, Fisher obviously cared more about how this fellow used her wings to pick up these two items. But Aoxi appeared quite confused upon hearing Fisher's question. She walked inside the room, placed the two plates on the table, and gently lifted her cloak toward Fisher.
"The wings have two parts. I just use this top segment, and moreover, I can control the feathers."
As a Cangniao-kin, Aoxi didn't have the arm structure of a human. Her hands were a pair of massive wings covered in slender, azure feathers. When normally unused, like right now, she would fold her wings, and the folded upper half could be used as arms; there was a claw-like structure there.
With some admiration, Fisher reached out and stroked her feathers—which had grown somewhat warm from being covered in the cloak—and discovered that the closer they were to her body, the finer and harder the feathers were. Conversely, the feathers on the expanded part at the back of the wings were broad and soft. This made the wing structure of the Cangniao-kin extremely convenient; when folded, they could be used as arms, and when expanded, they could act as wings.
And apart from her wings, her body clad in a sailor uniform appeared fragrant and soft. The broad expanse of softness was no different from a normal human's; you couldn't even see any feather parts within it. It wasn't until Fisher withdrew his gaze from the wings on her body, to click his tongue in wonder, that he unavoidably caught sight of her body's features.
After his gaze lingered for several seconds, an extremely stimulating scorching heat began flashing within Fisher's body again, enticing him to reach out and pull the woman before him into a tight embrace.
But Aoxi didn't notice anything, because at this very moment, her gaze was still lingering on the eel rice placed on the table behind Fisher.
"Can I eat now?"
Hearing her voice, Fisher exhaled a breath, distanced himself from her slightly, nodded, and said.
"Eat first..."
Upon receiving Fisher's permission, her eyes lit up slightly. She hurriedly walked to the desk, grasped the fork and spoon with the claws at the tips of her wings, and beautifully enjoyed today's lunch.
Behind her, Fisher wasn't in a hurry to eat. Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed the space between his eyebrows.
It seemed that ever since he obtained the renewed boost to his reproductive ability from researching the Lion-kin Filis, his body was becoming increasingly hot and bothered. Just as Fisher had deduced, the Completion Handbook's boost to constitution would diminish as one's rank increased, but the reproduction ability uniquely would not.
If he maintained such a strong offensive desire while researching Aoxi, he was truly afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself and would do something excessive. And what if, just as he lost his mind, Alajina happened to return?
That sort of development would simply be too bizarre.
"Fisher... aren't you eating?"
"No, you eat first. I'm going to wash my face; I'm not hungry yet."
Fisher didn't look at Aoxi eating. Right now, he was like a powder keg; just a tiny spark could set him off. So, he simply stood up directly and walked toward the en-suite restroom of the room. He caught some water in front of the mirror and splashed it on his face. When drops of icy water fell from his face, which had already grown quite a bit of stubble, his inner self slowly quieted down.
At this very moment, he suddenly realized the meaning behind the words Eliog had said previously.
The Demi-Human Completion Handbook had bestowed upon him abilities surpassing ordinary humans, whether it was constitution or reproduction ability. These things wouldn't grant him benefits according to human reasoning. Relying excessively on human reasoning would lead to his current various unaccustomed feelings. That was why Eliog had suggested he abandon the human lifestyle to better adapt to his body.
But Fisher had faintly noticed a problem. If he completely abandoned the human way of thinking to adapt to his bodily changes, was that truly viable?
Placed on the bonuses of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, this problem might not be obvious yet. But what if it was swapped with the Soul Completion Handbook, the Life Completion Handbook, or other unknown Completion Handbooks?
In front of the mirror, he gently extended his hand. Along with the lighting up of his Mana Circuit, the Mana Circuit—influenced by the Soul Completion Handbook and gradually beginning to undergo changes—interrogated Fisher with this question.
The actions of Pherone and Erwind appeared so terrifying right now, contradicting all existing moral and ethical order. Could it be they had become so crazed right from the start? Could it be they had completely abandoned human values right from birth?
Fisher didn't know the answer to this question, nor was he clear on how to resolve this contradiction existing on the Completion Handbooks.
He merely took out the Fluid Sword on his person, transformed it into the shape of a razor, and slowly, cleanly shaved off the prickly stubble sprouting on his face. As his gaze followed the disappearing stubble bit by bit, his inner self also gradually calmed down, as if the person entangled by desire just now wasn't him at all.
"Phew..."
He exhaled a long breath. Only after putting down the Fluid Sword in his hand and washing his face again with cold water did he step out of the restroom. The time he took to shave was neither long nor short, just enough for Aoxi to finish eating the eel rice bought from downstairs.
Having eaten her fill and drank her satisfy, she once again sat on the soft bed hugging that parrot Steel Knife, which looked somewhat asking for a beating. Right now, she appeared to be in quite a good mood, her two legs even swaying slightly at the edge of the bed; her state was simply worlds apart from before eating.
"Fisher..."
"Mhm, let's start researching."
Aoxi turned her head and cast a glance at Fisher. It was unknown what she was looking at, anyway, it wasn't until several seconds later that she nodded and scooted a bit further onto the bed. Then, she consciously untied the cloak on her body. As that normally heavy cloak fell from her body, the image of Aoxi wearing a sailor uniform was unlocked before Fisher for the first time.
He saw that Aoxi's inner clothing was extremely light and airy. What she wore was a sailor uniform, but not the style worn by the other crew members of the Iceberg Queen. It seemed to be another style from the Sardin Matriarchy, with sleeves shorter than usual to facilitate better extension of her wings.
Beneath her waist, she wore a pair of shorts. Unlike Raphaela, whose dragon scales only appeared below the knee, soft and fluffy azure feathers already began spreading from Aoxi's thighs, and further down, they were covered by her boots that almost went over her knees.
"Fisher... can I hold Steel Knife?"
Fisher, who was still sizing up Aoxi, was interrupted by her words. Looking up, she lay on the bed, silently holding up that plumply raised parrot in her hands, looking at Fisher and speaking thus.
Fisher could tell at a glance that she was getting somewhat nervous at this point. Any demi-human lady would exhibit this situation to varying degrees when being researched by him. Let alone them, if one day Fisher heard a strange demi-human say they wanted to research him, he would probably feel somewhat unnatural as well.
"Of course you can... By the way, can you take off your boots? I want to see the composition of your legs."
She hugged Steel Knife back in her arms without replying; it was still Steel Knife who spoke.
"Can... can..."
"Thank you."
Fisher smiled slightly and undid the tightly tied laces on her boots. As the boots slipped off, Fisher only realizing after the fact discovered that this pair of boots should have been specially designed for her, because there was a structure inside the shoes to secure her claws.
Aoxi's feet were somewhat similar to a goshawk's, much more slender than human feet, so ordinary boot designs were simply far too large for her. Inside, there were custom-made molds specifically for her feet, allowing her to normally use human-shaped shoes.
Just as Fisher took off her boots, her originally flat feet suddenly curled up slightly, as if subconsciously grasping onto something. If one ignored the sharp claws growing on them, it should still be quite cute.
"Right, earlier you said you grew up under the training of the Hammond Family since childhood, so you also grew up together with Alajina?"
To alleviate her nervousness, Fisher asked about her situation to start a conversation while using pen and paper to record her physical characteristics.
Hugging Steel Knife, Aoxi gently stroked its little head with her feathers, nodded, and said.
"Mhm, my mother was her mother's guard, so I was brought to her side when I was very young... But actually, when we were little, I rarely interacted with her; most of my time was spent training. Occasionally, when I went to her place, I could still see her together with her father. He was a very gentle uncle..."
"It was only after her father passed away, and my mother also lost her life in battle, that our connection became tight-knit. She didn't have many people she could trust, and I was considered one of the few. Because of her mother's surveillance, I helped her accomplish many things, always acting as her guard..."
"I don't have any goals; all along, her goal was my goal. But ever since leaving the Sardin Matriarchy, Alajina seems to have lost her goal, and I too became dispensable... Perhaps this is the reason why I've never been able to integrate with them? I don't know..."
Fisher's movements to record her data didn't pause, not even looking up. He simply said.
"For a person to have no goals is a bit too unrealistic... Even the current Alajina has her own goals; she wants to give you sisters who swore loyalty to follow her to the death a good ending and a good life. And you are no exception. You also have your own goals, such as finding your father, and building a good relationship with the crew members..."
"Any single thought, any kind of desire, is actually your goal. Think of it, do it, and complete them one by one. Without realizing it, you will have already accomplished something amazing... So, Aoxi, besides wanting to build a good relationship with the crew members and wanting to find your father right now, what else do you want to do?"
What else do I want to do... huh?
Aoxi lifted the Steel Knife in her arms and looked at it deeply, only to find it was tilting its head to look at Fisher beside her. Thus, she also turned her head to look at Fisher beside her.
After staring at his profile in silence for a while, she then placed Steel Knife back in her arms and said.
"Just... if it's just a thought, then... can I just secretly try dating you today... I want to experience the feeling Alajina experienced... because she was very happy, so I also want to try."
The fountain pen Fisher used to record the content shuddered suddenly, along with it, the handwriting was stretched out into a stiff trail that went all the way to the edge of the paper.
He gently raised his head. His gaze thereby met with the motionless Aoxi on the bed, tainting the atmosphere in the room with a bizarre hue.