The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 336: Secrets of the Derivative Species (Two-in-One)

"Old acquaintance? Just because of this? Is your brain broken, actually committing such a breach of etiquette in front of others? It's truly hard to imagine you as a gentleman from Naris. You truly have no sense of shame, getting handsy with a lady..."

Inside the room, looking at the distant figures of Corleone's group walking further away, Fisher's expression wasn't relaxed. Because he understood Elizabeth better than anyone else, if she was someone who gave up so easily, she wouldn't have planned coordinately for so long and played all of Naris in the palm of her hand. There were definitely still obstacles waiting for him ahead.

Elizabeth knew his strength, yet she still sent these Naris agents whose strength couldn't possibly exceed Rank 5. He also didn't feel high-ring magic fluctuations from the other party. They might have other means on them, such as those high-tier relics hidden in the Golden Palace's treasury.

He didn't know which one they brought, but he definitely had to be more careful later on... However, right now what he had to face wasn't Elizabeth first, but the boss whose shoulder he touched just now because he wanted to infuriate Elizabeth: Eldest Miss Valentiina Turan.

Fisher heard the young girl's voice behind him. Originally, she seemed to have understood his purpose just now, but after Fisher somewhat perfunctorily said Elizabeth was an 'old acquaintance.' Valentiina seemed to bristle, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Sitting in her wheelchair, her little mouth kept chattering, making Fisher somewhat unable to suppress a chuckle.

However, what he did earlier was indeed somewhat ill-considered. In actuality, it wasn't unacceptable even if he conversed directly with Elizabeth. After all, he had already seen that remote synchronous communication magic attached below Corleone's eyes; there was no need to use such a highly stimulating method to make Elizabeth reveal her flaws.

Regarding his affairs, Elizabeth couldn't possibly let others pay attention; it could only be her handling it personally. They both understood each other deeply. Tragically, Fisher could only use this mutual understanding to sting the other party now, forcing her to temporarily retreat.

Thoughts continuously churned in Fisher's mind, but upon turning his head, there was no superfluous expression on his face. He simply threw his hands up as if surrendering. Looking at the huffing Valentiina on the wheelchair, he said,

"Although I already explained the reason just now, I indeed also feel I was in the wrong; I am truly sorry... How about this: consider it that I owe you one. Aside from my primary duties, if there is anything you need me to accomplish, I will definitely exert my utmost to assist you."

Upon hearing this, Valentiina intended to ask him exactly what he had committed in Naris that made it worth the other party traveling ten thousand miles with such fanfare to pursue and capture him in the Northlands. But the sharp-minded Valentiina had clearly sensed that this guy seemed to have wanted to use an intimate action with herself to anger another woman just now. This made Valentiina, who was treated as a tool, quite displeased, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt this guy Fisher was purely a scumbag...Thinking of this, Valentiina hatefully lowered her fingers that were rubbing her ring. Looking at Fisher before her, she said coldly,

"Heh, originally I still wanted to ask about those messy affairs of yours in Naris. But thinking carefully, I'm afraid they are also closely related to ladies who were thoroughly deceived and flew into a rage out of shame. Asking would just be learning yet another story of a scumbag who enjoys deceiving the feelings of ladies."

"Although I feel Eldest Miss Valentiina has some misunderstandings about me, your choice to not ask about past affairs is indeed a clear-headed one. Aside from that, is there anything I can do for you?"

For some reason, hearing the smiling Fisher say this, Valentiina's heart felt itchy, as if scratched by a cat's paw. She suddenly really wanted to know the hidden complications regarding him in Naris again. But since the words had already left her mouth, going back on them was naturally inadvisable. She could only pinch her chin, ponder for a moment, and then suddenly look up, saying cautiously,

"Alcohol and candy..."

"Alcohol and candy... Is this some new type of lady's riddle in the Northlands?"

Valentiina first shot Fisher a glare upon hearing this. Then, turning her head while in her wheelchair, she looked out the room door. After seeing off those Naris people, Heidelin should have other matters to busy herself with, so she shouldn't be here. She let out a slight sigh of relief. Although her expression relaxed a bit, her voice lowered significantly.

"It's just, help me buy some cold-water candies and alcohol from outside in Mya. Not too much, just a bag of cold-water candy, and red wine is fine for the alcohol, preferably not very intoxicating. I haven't drunk before... If you buy them back, I won't hold your previous beast-like, utterly discourteous behavior against you."

"That's it?"

Valentiina nodded. Placing her hands back on her thighs, she nodded and added,

"But you absolutely must not let Heidelin know. If she finds out I'm randomly eating these things, she will definitely get angry... As you know, I have a genetic disease. This genetic disease causes my body to be much frailer than a normal person's. To let me live longer, my diet must be very healthy. And thus I stay away from the simple desserts others are accustomed to."

Fisher cast a glance at her petite body in the wheelchair and gestured with a nod towards the door. This made Valentiina mistakenly think Heidelin was right behind her. Startled, she hurriedly turned her head, only to find the space completely empty. Consequently, she was angered to the point that veins bulged on her forehead. Turning back, she looked at that bad man with a malevolent expression,

"Fisher! If you joke around again, I will really get angry!"

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just a bit troubled. Are you very afraid of Heidelin? Because she manages you like a parent?"

Valentiina's angry expression froze slightly upon hearing Fisher's words. Then, she shook her head and replied with a pout,

"...I am not afraid of Heidelin. No matter what, Heidelin is still my servant. How could I possibly be afraid of her? In actuality, her words have no binding force on me; if I really want to do something, she cannot stop me. But, I can feel that she genuinely does it for my own good. She wants me to live longer. I don't want to let her down and make her disappointed."

"It's just that, no matter how hard we try, my life cannot last long. Heidelin and I have already tried our absolute best to extend my life... Afterwards, when the Snow Fox-kin people arrive, we will probably get busy, and I'm afraid there won't be time to secretly buy these things outside either. I also only wanted to try them out, which is why I asked for your help."

"Hey, considering the severity of what you just did to me, having you do this bit of simple stuff is already letting you off cheap. Are you agreeing or not?"

Actually, Valentiina asking Fisher for a small favor was merely giving Fisher a way to step down gracefully. Although he said to let Valentiina make a request, she wasn't truly going to make him do anything special. Valentiina might indeed want to eat cold-water candy or drink fine wine, but to someone who had never tried them before, the desire to try was actually dispensable.

Fisher read Valentiina's intention to stop after a brief attempt. Even if her face still wore an adorable "If you don't agree, I'll get angry right now!" expression, he nodded and agreed.

"Of course, it's no problem; it's just a small favor... But you don't have to be so pessimistic. I have a premonition that your life won't end so easily. You still have a very long road ahead of you."

Valentiina staggered slightly, but didn't feel encouraged. Her gaze lowered slightly, but after just a second, that depressed expression was shaken off. Her expression instantly became vividly disgusted again. Looking at Fisher, she said,

"You... you're not going to say some disgusting line like beautiful women live long lives, are you?"

"...How did you know?"

"Disgusting! Pervert!"

Although it held some playful undercurrents, Fisher wasn't lying. According to the scenes Fisher saw in the dream earlier, the bizarre curse of the Frostwood Sycamore Tree should be searching for the final Phoenix. The creation of this curse must be related to the anomaly that occurred within the Sycamore Tree, causing all Phoenixes to perish as a result.

And the most critical point was that before the Phoenix-kin completely disappeared from history without a trace, the Moon Princess, who was one of the Children of the Phoenix, issued two directives outside the Sycamore Tree.

First, she instructed loyal humans to deliver the scroll carrying the location of the Frostwood Sycamore Tree overseas, far away from the Northlands, which was also the place where Fisher and Valentiina met for the first time. Second, she instructed the Giant Troll-kin, one of the six clans, to strictly guard the Sycamore Tree. Although the Slime King said they forbade any living creature from entering, Fisher saw a hint of a clue in this.

The Slime King very likely discovered evidence related to the Phoenix on him; otherwise, the calculating Slime-kin couldn't have rashly handed over the sigil symbolizing loyalty to him. He also expressed unimaginable trust in the Turan family behind Valentiina.

Therefore, Fisher was certain that the Giant Troll-kin guarding the Sycamore Tree wasn't forbidding everyone from entering, but was only allowing a Phoenix to enter. The purpose of the Moon Princess's actions seemingly was all to allow a certain person to enter the Frostwood Sycamore Tree a thousand years later. This definitely indicated that this person's entry was crucial to resolving the curse within the Sycamore Tree.

If it were other races, Fisher might not dare to deduce things this way. Yet only the Phoenix-kin was different; they could see the future and make corresponding preparations based on that future. This was the secret to their victory over the Chaos-kin. The Moon Princess must have seen the future within the Sycamore Tree to have issued these two baffling commands a thousand years ago...

And a thousand years later, Valentiina, who also possessed this ability, had already followed the path set down by the Moon Princess and arrived at the foot of the Sema Mountains. Did this mean, in a certain sense, that she was the person the Moon Princess had been waiting for over a thousand years?

The genetic disease of the Turan family should be related to the curse within the Sycamore Tree; Mixed-Blood Species couldn't possibly carry such a ridiculous genetic disease. If Valentiina could successfully resolve the curse, the shadow that had coiled over the Turan family's heads for a thousand years would dissipate, and when that time came, she naturally wouldn't die either.

Fisher's thoughts temporarily paused. He didn't know if his conjectures were correct, but carefully combing through the clues buried by the Moon Princess in the past, he felt this was the only possibility.

But this also simultaneously implied an immense risk. He still clearly remembered the low murmurs of that unseen entity sitting upon the throne in the dreamscape provided by the Soul Completion Handbook...

It too was searching for "the final Phoenix."

After agreeing to Valentiina's little request, he wasn't in a hurry to go buy them. Anyhow, it would still take a few days before the Snow Fox-kin arrived.

Emerging from the room downstairs, Fisher hurriedly rushed towards the room upstairs without stopping. The research on the Slime-kin and Owl-kin could just about conclude for the time being. The biological progress for the Owl-kin was gratifying, and the Slime-kin wasn't bad either. He had to start making preparations for future matters.

Magic was a necessity. He had to study the Source Magic Book the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook had given him, test the strength of the Soul Completion Handbook's boost to the soul, and also continue reading the Soul Completion Handbook.

At the door of their assigned room, Fisher bumped into Balzac, whose complexion didn't look too good. Holding a steaming cup of coffee, his face was somewhat pale, and he had extremely obvious dark circles under his eyes. Upon seeing Fisher, he even greeted him,

"Mr. Fisher."

"...Your complexion doesn't look too good. Are you sick?"

Fisher evaluated his pale complexion, which had exceeded what "didn't rest well last night" could explain. Looking like this, he seemed anemic, quite frightening.

"Ah, a little bit. After all, Mya is the northernmost end of the Northlands, so it's much colder than other places. Running all over the world these past few months, the temperature difference is extremely vast, and I'm a native Western Continental through and through, my body simply can't take it... Coupled with the fact that I researched all night last night on where to find the Slime-kin, I felt a bit unwell this morning..."

Fisher's expression was somewhat strange. He glanced at Balzac, then at the room of Filis behind him. After hesitating for a second, he finally opened his mouth and said,

"Last night Miss Valentiina and I encountered a few members of the Slime-kin. From their mouths, we learned the living situation of the Slime-kin. They have all moved out of the Northlands. Fortunately, their leader is reasonable and has already handed the sigil over to Miss Valentiina... Didn't she have Filis notify you this morning?"

The expression on Balzac's pale face froze slightly. Subsequently, he turned furiously to look at Filis's tightly shut room door. Angered to the point of coughing, he hurled curses in that direction,

"That damn fat cat is not only brainless but also holds a grudge against me. She wishes I would research to death in my lab! Cough cough... Fuck, I'm going to rip her tail off! I read documents and news records for an entire night, and even took notes! Cough cough... Damn it, Filis, get the hell out here!"

Filis's room was completely silent. Instead, a maid cleaning in the corridor behind them suddenly spoke to them cautiously,

"Mr. Balzac, that demi-human miss just went out. She said she was going out to buy something, so she isn't in her room right now."

"Fuck!"

Balzac was already physically unwell from reading documents and records all night, and now fury rushed to his brain even more. Fisher was afraid he might pass out from anger, so he hurriedly patted his shoulder and persuaded,

"Last night Miss Valentiina also practically didn't sleep all night, which is why there was an oversight regarding notifying Filis this morning. She should have sent Heidelin to tell you... Alright, Mr. Balzac, your current physical condition isn't too good. Hurry back and get some rest. There's no need to consider the Slime-kin matter anymore. There are still a few days before the Snow Fox-kin comes. Take a good rest and adjust your condition."

Balzac hatefully glared at Filis's room so hard his teeth itched. But he also felt Fisher made sense, so he handed the books he was holding to the maid, thanked Fisher, and returned to his room to rest.

Fisher didn't stay long in the corridor and quickly walked back to his room. After locking the door, he quickly took out Eimhart, who was still dozing in his embrace, as well as those ancient pages of the Source Magic Book.

It seemed the knowledge in the Completion Handbook truly had extremely severe harmful effects. Eimhart only tried recording a bit of content and ended up like this, sleeping half the day away. Without him causing a ruckus on the side, Fisher was truly a bit unaccustomed. But Eimhart said he was gradually recovering, so Fisher could only believe him.

He placed Eimhart on the pillow to lie down properly. Then, holding those ancient pages, he came to the desk in the room and spread them out one by one. Observably, quite a lot of text was densely written on them. One look at this text made Fisher's head ache, because what was written was 'Ancient Human Text', which was the oldest formally acknowledged writing of humans currently in existence. It was renowned for its obscurity and difficulty to understand, somewhat similar to the Ancient Kadu language.

But fortunately, Fisher could read Ancient Kadu. In contrast, he wasn't very familiar with modern Kadu, because intrinsically, these two weren't the same language.

The Ancient Human language was supposed to be the ancestor of all human languages currently in existence. Although academia had not yet confirmed the connection between it and the human languages of the Southern Continent, Fisher already knew that the humans in the Southern Continent also went there from the West Continent, so the relationship between them was self-evident.

As previously mentioned, when Fisher was at the Royal Academy, he often had to study original magic texts from Kadu. The language used on them was Ancient Kadu. And this Source Magic Book was written in Ancient Human language. This indicated that the Source Magic Book in front of him was older than all the recorded magic books in existence; no wonder it was called the Source Magic Book...

Fisher inhaled deeply and concentrated his attention on the contents of the pages. Even with his superb proficiency in Ancient Kadu, reading it was quite strenuous. But somehow, he still managed to decipher the general meaning of the text.

The content on the first page of the fragment was cut off. It seemed there was content preceding it, but due to being torn, its content also appeared somewhat difficult to understand,

"The so-called 'Star Magic' does not refer to magic related to the stars in the sky. Those stars visible to the naked eye at night originate from suns at unimaginably far distances from humanity. Like the one closest to you, their energy is too immense to be levered by human power. The [Star Magic] I teach you originates from the deeper parts of the world. In the soul world completely superimposed upon the world you live in, countless consciousnesses akin to stars reside there."

"Their consciousnesses are more awake than any daytime, yet their forms are more chaotic than any night. In actuality, there is no connection between them. They are not tightly knitted tribes like yourselves. But here, I still call them [Chaos-kin] so you may better understand the profound techniques you are about to learn."

"The Chaos-kin are very friendly. Day and night, they gaze upon the world that is as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers from theirs, watching legend after legend, myth after myth, without causing the slightest disturbance. I have already informed them that when you use your souls to lever them, they will respond to you, lending their power to you, creating an existence surpassing normal humans. Although it still cannot surpass Mythic Rank, their light of wisdom will help you survive the dangerous, perilous nights, striking your enemies like true stars, allowing you to multiply and thrive."

"Chaos reveres females, the representation of the night. Therefore, the target of Star Magic must be a female of the tribe. When the gaze of Chaos descends upon that female, they will bestow their most unique power upon her. I hereby call this power [Trait]."

When he read this point, Fisher's scalp instantly went numb, because he seemed to have faintly discovered a certain earth-shattering secret buried beneath history. He couldn't wait and continued reading downward, quickly seeing more content,

"But I must remind you that Star Magic naturally has the possibility of failing. Humanity is truly too insignificant. Whether one can obtain the gaze of Chaos depends entirely on their preference. The more beautiful, outstanding, and strong a female is, the more they will admire her, and the more likely they are to lend their power to her. At the same time, this power is inheritable. Among the descendants of those females chosen by Chaos, if another existence capable of piquing their interest appears, they will still lend their power to her."

"From then on, those chosen females will gain absolutely unprecedented, powerful strength, passing it down as a Derivative Species of the high-dimensional beings, the [Chaos of Stars]. I hope you will treat them well, seeing them as the protection I bestowed upon you, and living in harmony with them. Human lives are fleeting, and one day your descendants will forget about this matter. But when they see my writing, they will definitely remember."

The narrative text came to an abrupt end. The following few pages were entirely specific implementation methods of magic, making the reading Mage Fisher almost unable to stop himself from shouting, 'You're telling me this is magic?'

That's right, Fisher suddenly discovered that what was recorded in this so-called [Source Magic Book Fragment Two] wasn't magic in the modern sense at all, but an absurd technique to create a species given to humanity by the Mother God. No wonder the Completion Handbook and other gods all called the Mother God a [False God]...

Based on the text above, it wasn't hard for Fisher to see that this so-called [Star Magic] was the origin of the creation of the [Witch Species]. This perfectly explained why Witches were all females extremely resembling humans, possessing inexplicable discontinuous generational inheritance characteristics, as well as [Traits] unique to every Witch.

The reason lay in the fact that these Witches were fundamentally humans. They possessed greater-than-average magic power and characteristics completely owing to the gaze of the high-dimensional beings, the [Chaos-kin], existing in the Spirit World!

Then review the tags provided by the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook for the Witch Species,

[West Continent Species], [One in Ten Thousand], [Beautiful Gem], [Derivative Species].

Then by analogy, if [Derivative Species] indicated this species was a derivative product of some high-dimensional being of extremely high rank... then what existence's derivative was the [Dragon-kin], who also possessed this tag?

Looking at the ancient paper in front of him, Fisher, as if his worldview had suffered a shock, sat in his chair deep in thought for a long time. For a very long time, he did not move his body, standing still like a statue.