novelraw Chapter 259: Walls Have Ears
Chapter 259: Walls Have Ears
[Cangniao-kin social research progress: 48%]
[Bonus multiplier obtained from researching Snow Mountain Familiars: 20%]
[Cangniao-kin biological research progress has reached 20%, unlocking the first stage rewards:]
[Constitution +3.6, Spirit World Contamination Resistance +1.2, Highlight the position of the Six Races Seal: Cangniao-kin Sigil]
After completing the biological research on Aoxi, Fisher leaned by the window of the room, planning to check the progress of the biological research. As a result, the moment he opened the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, his eyes were dazzled by the illusory golden text that poured out. Subsequently, his gaze unavoidably landed on that 48% Cangniao-kin social research progress, as if that number was particularly an eyesore.
And no wonder: it was only 2% short of unlocking the second stage reward. But no matter what else he asked Eimhart and Aoxi, he couldn't advance even a single step, as if the Demi-Human Completion Handbook was intentionally bottlenecking the progress, making him feel somewhat frustrated.
However, the other rewards were fairly generous. Last time when he researched the composition of Aoxi's Cangniao-kin body, the Demi-Human Completion Handbook had given a prompt: researching the Snow Mountain Familiars would grant a bonus multiplier. This made him look forward even more to what would happen when he collected all the races of the Snow Mountain Familiars.
At the same time, in the prompts from the Completion Handbook this time, there were two pieces of information that particularly warranted Fisher's attention.
The first was that, for some unknown reason, after researching the Cangniao-kin, it gave what appeared to be a somewhat abrupt [Spirit World Contamination Resistance] bonus. As Fisher's consciousness touched that illusory term, just like when he had previously obtained Depravity Resistance, it similarly popped up a new page like an explanatory glossary entry, which read:
[Spirit World Contamination: Within the Spirit World, which is like a forge of consciousness, an unknown entity has brought severe soul contamination. Even powerful Chaos-kin would choose to flee the Spirit World because they could not endure such painful torment.][Note: Probing the source of the Spirit World contamination requires you to possess a higher life rank hierarchy. Any currently known Spirit World contaminant will bring you lethal danger; please be absolutely careful and cautious.]
Seeing the highlighted prompt from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, Fisher's vigilance instantly spiked to the maximum. Because he suddenly thought of the True Ice scroll he saw on that small island last time. That scroll seemed to carry some sort of curse from the Spirit World dimension; he didn't know if that was the Spirit World contamination the Completion Handbook mentioned.
If so, could the vanished Phoenix King be the unknown Spirit World entity the handbook mentioned? If not, was the disappearance of the Phoenix-kin connected to that unknown entity?
Moreover, the Demi-Human Completion Handbook presented an argument completely contrary to what Eimhart had stated previously. In Eimhart's recounting, the Chaos-kin actively left the Spirit World to invade reality. But in reality, they were forced to leave because of the "mysterious Spirit World entity" mentioned in the Completion Handbook...
But there were truly too few known clues right now, just like handing Fisher only a single puzzle piece for an entire puzzle. This way, no matter what, he couldn't arrive at the correct conclusion. And his past research experience told Fisher that letting his imagination run wild without conclusive evidence would only be a hundred times detrimental and zero percent beneficial towards discovering the truth of an incident.
Having no choice but to temporarily skip over this matter, Fisher turned his gaze to the other reward this time: [Highlight the position of the Six Races Seal].
As his consciousness lingered on that term, the entire world slowed down once again just like last time. In his perspective that gradually faded to black and white, Fisher abruptly saw a tiny sigil flickering with golden light in the center of Patlusion Island in the distance.
The Cangniao-kin Sigil among the Six Races Seal was right here on this island!
Fisher abruptly withdrew from that highlighted perspective. Combining the intelligence he previously obtained from Captain Jesse with the current situation, he deduced that the Cangniao-kin Sigil must definitely be among the pile of treasures the Naris Nazarene Development Company commissioned middlemen to dig out from the tomb in the northern part of the Sema Mountains.
However, aside from himself and Valentiina's group who obtained the information about the Wutong Tree entrance on that island, others shouldn't know the function of that sigil. Therefore, no matter which group it was, what they ultimately wanted were the other items among the treasure; the Cangniao-kin Sigil could only be considered an incidental prize dug out along with them.
What exactly could that thing be, to entice the Naris people to travel ten thousand miles to search for it...
Now, besides the Cloud Cat-kin from the Northern Border, the temptations laid before Fisher had gained another addition. That Six Races Seal was an item Valentiina needed; if he could obtain it, he would inevitably be able to gain the help of the Turan Family. Given their powerful influence in the Northern Border, this would be highly convenient for his subsequent journey.
Fisher walked away from the window edge and back into the room, skipping past Aoxi who was sitting on the bed in a daze. He placed the magic materials he had just purchased from the magic market on the table. Extending his hand, he had Aoxi fetch him a clean plate. He needed to use the Fluid Sword to grind these things into a powder-like form before they could be used for engraving magic.
"Fisher, are you going to... engrave magic?"
"Mhm, to keep as a backup for later."
Taking advantage of the opportunity just now, he had incidentally bought a magic engraving knife and several copper rings in the market to use as tools and mediums for engraving magic.
Actually, for Fisher, whether or not to wade into these muddy waters only required considering one issue, and that was how to prevent his identity from being exposed to the sight of the Naris Overseas Occult Bureau. Using a mask to cover his face or disguising himself was a strategy, but also the worst one.
Because Elizabeth, who understood him extremely well, definitely wished she could write every single detail about him in internally circulated Naris official documents in order to arrest him. His use of magic, the Fluid Sword, and his superhuman constitution were definitely all on the wanted poster. Who knew if she would write even more intimate information, such as having an interest in demi-humans or ladies...
Therefore, this time Fisher didn't plan on using the Fluid Sword and brute force to solve the problem. Magic should be considered the best method to solve the problem without showing his face. Moreover, the more it was something he didn't commonly use, the better; this way, the probability of being discovered by intelligence agencies would be lower.
Eimhart stood on his shoulder, watching him adeptly process various bought materials. Even though he had previously seen his performance in front of Valentiina, he still felt this fellow's magic talent was extremely formidable. At least, in all these years, this was the first time he had seen such a young master of magic engraving; usually, magicians who were this adept already had one foot in the grave.
"What kind of magic is this, why is it quite different from the magic you usually engrave?"
Although Eimhart didn't understand magic much previously, merely watching Fisher engrave a few times made him realize that the magic structure he was currently engraving was different from before. This made Fisher cast a rather surprised glance at him.
This book unexpectedly had quite the magic talent. It was a pity this fellow had no hands, no Mana Circuit, and only one eye.
"I am currently engraving magic from the Medieval period, this will prevent discovery by others."
"Medieval period, oh, that was a legendary era... This noun always reminds me of that group of religious lunatics in Kadu, the Witch Research Society... Heh, you probably don't know, their ancient texts are like bread that has gone bad for over ten days, the recording process is simply a torment. Inside is entirely filled with how to cut open young girls' bellies..."
"Stop, I'm engraving magic, don't interrupt me for now."
Eimhart's expression, which had just grown exhilarated, was rebuffed by Fisher's simple sentence, making him open his mouth and glare resentfully at that annoying Fisher. However, in this room, aside from him, there was only that Cangniao-kin demi-human who didn't like talking and that foolishly dumb smelly bird. This poured a basin of cold water on the passion he had just mustered to share knowledge.
Heh, annoying Fisher, if you don't proactively ask me later, I won't proactively tell you these secrets anymore.
The concept of Medieval Magic had already appeared once before when they were in Saint-Nazareth. Put simply, Medieval Magic was a developed version of primitive magic. The difference between it and modern magic mainly lay in the sub-ring that controlled the amplitude of the magic. The sub-rings of these magics were extremely unrefined and could only be used in conjunction with specific main rings and ring tails.
Whereas modern magic added a unique structure between the main ring and sub-ring called a [Linker] by magicians, tailored for different circle heads. This structure could drastically and stably leverage the degree of the world's echo, making the research of new magics safer and more controllable. This was also the reason why the number of magics surged drastically after entering the modern era.
However, this didn't mean modern magic was entirely superior to Medieval Magic. Without the control of the linker, the power of Medieval Magic would become exceedingly exaggerated. This characteristic could be seen from the Medieval space magic released by the Pink Pavilion during the visiting delegation in Saint-Nazareth. To this day, there were even schools attempting to replicate magics born in the modern era into a Medieval format, hoping to use this to enhance the power of the magic.
Fisher engraved quite a few Medieval magics, and also engraved several handy modern magics. The Medieval magics would be used to deal with visible enemies, while the modern magics would be used for defense and tracking.
Time in the room passed quietly. Aoxi behind him rubbed her eyes, watching the Fisher sitting at the desk focused on engraving magic. His arm, with its Mana Circuit brightly lit up, continuously carved back and forth on the ring. His soul, strengthened by the Soul Completion Handbook, became exceptionally exhilarated at this moment, dissecting the world in his eyes layer by layer, helping him better engrave the magic.
However, right at this moment, just within such a focused perspective, he suddenly felt as if a soul fluctuation very close to him was watching him...
He abruptly stopped the movement of his hand engraving magic and looked at Eimhart on his body. There was no soul fluctuation on its body, nor any corresponding Mana Circuit. And the distance of this fluctuation wasn't Aoxi behind him, but right before his eyes.
Fisher frowned, slowly looking toward the room wall right in front of his eyes.
Behind the wall, there seemed to be a soul pressing closely against the wall, listening to the sounds on this side.