novelraw Chapter 343: Snow Fox-kin
Chapter 343: Snow Fox-kin
The next day, Fisher woke up very early. He simply cleaned up the stubble that had grown over the past few days, and in passing, he also used his Fluid Sword to cut his hair a little. This place was not Saint-Nazareth, nor were there professional barbers dedicated to serving people. He had no choice but to keep everything simple.
Fortunately, Fisher's foundation was quite good. Even with the blessing of his awkward skills, his handsomeness could still be highlighted. After cleaning up his stubble and hair, he reached out, caught a little cold water, and splashed it on his face, washing away all the fatigue from engraving magic over the past five days. He changed back into that Swift And Decisive Naris gentleman from the past.
He took the towel nearby and wiped his face. When he looked up at the mirror before him again, he saw that in the mirror, an eccentric middle-aged man with sparse hair was currently hugging his arms and looking at him expressionlessly. That man wore a sort of bizarre long robe Fisher had never seen before; it actually somewhat resembled the sacrificial robes he had previously seen on Dragon-kin. That seemed to be a tradition passed down from the distant Dragon Court era...
For some unknown reason, the instant he saw this eccentric middle-aged man before him, he recognized his identity: that Transferred Person from another world, the author of the Soul Completion Handbook, Caleb Uz.
Facing this bizarre hallucination, Fisher did not panic. He merely cast a glance at the Mediterranean hairstyle on the other party's head. For the first time, he discovered that this guy was actually bald...
"..."
Caleb Uz, who was staring at him in the mirror, did not say a single word. Fisher then continued wiping his face. As the towel brushed past his cheeks time and time again, when he raised his head again, only the Naris gentleman gripping the towel remained in the mirror.
Yes, starting from his nosebleed in front of Heidelin yesterday, he increasingly felt his body changing intensely. It wasn't to say he became weaker, but rather, stranger.
Yesterday, he could use the side effects of engraving magic as an excuse to deceive Heidelin and Eimhart, who knew nothing about magic, but no matter what, he couldn't deceive himself. That twisted and deformed Soul, the increasingly exacerbating hallucinations; they sometimes made him consider using his soul as a weapon to confront Erwind. But when this train of thought ran its course for a long time, only then would he Realizing After the Fact break out in a cold sweat...
Thinking of this, Fisher sighed. After rinsing, wringing dry, and hanging up the towel, he took out the Demi-Human Completion Handbook in his hand again. The body of the Completion Handbook heated up slightly, and series of illusory text flashing with golden light also appeared before his eyes,[Slime-kin Biological Research Progress: 50%]
[Slime-kin Societal Research Progress: 37%]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked the first and second stage rewards of biological research, and have unlocked the first stage reward of societal research progress]
[Constitution +5, Reproduction Ability +8, Personal Status Checker System x2, True Vision Ring]
[Personal Status Checker System: You will gain a deep understanding of your body's various data points. But sometimes, knowing too much isn't a good thing. You understand.]
[True Vision Ring: Legend has it that this is the proud work of the legendary Northern Border craftsman, Sedes. A far-sighted and knowledgeable merchant of the Northern Border was deceived by despicable Slime-kin to the point of Losing Everything. When he made a comeback and rose again, he took this pseudo-Relic with miraculous effects from Sedes' hands. It can help the wearer see through Slime-kin's disguises and distinguish their true bodies. He hoped to use this to see through Slime-kin's schemes. Regretfully, when he went bankrupt for the second time not long after, this ring was also sold off, its whereabouts unknown ever since.]
Really?
Adding Reproduction Ability again? If you keep acting like this, before I'm driven mad by the Soul Completion Handbook, I'll be driven mad by you first. Or perhaps, is this your Demi-Human Completion Handbook's method of inducing depravity?
With his Face Covered in Black Lines, Fisher felt his body suddenly become extremely light and powerful. Right now, he felt he could tear down this entire building with his bare hands. That deep sense of power made him let out a sigh of relief. He seemed to have refined considerably in Ranks again, giving off the feeling that he was almost reaching the Eleventh-Tier.
As for the remaining rewards...
He first wore that seemingly useless True Vision Ring on his hand. The Personal Status Checker System wasn't a physical item; it was merely noted on the illusory interface.
Regarding that so-called Status Checker, Fisher also felt somewhat hesitant. At this moment, he was like a terminally ill patient hesitating at the hospital entrance. He actually already roughly knew in his heart whether he suffered from a severe illness or not, but after all, without confirmation, couldn't he still evade the interrogation in his heart with a fluke?
But Fisher ultimately still decided to face it. He gently touched the word "Use" with his Consciousness. The next moment, the Demi-Human Completion Handbook instantly burst forth a golden light. That light rapidly swept across his entire body. Following that, series of illusory text continuously surfaced.
[Consuming Personal Status Checker System x1]
[Reader data acquired. Your life data is as follows:]
[Life Rank: 10, Breeding Rank: 17, Soul Strength: 13]
Just as Fisher wordlessly shifted his gaze away from that extremely strange Breeding Rank, he looked somewhat surprisedly at that newly added Soul Strength. If matched one to one according to Rank System, then didn't this explain that his Soul Strength was significantly higher than his current Life Rank? Moreover, although he had a bit of an issue reading the Soul Completion Handbook, it didn't seem to be as severe as other people's, similar to Pherone's. Why was this?
[Your current status is as follows:]
[Hunger of Reproduction: 87%. Truly surprising. Your rationality can actually allow you to endure to this extent; truly admirable. But evidently, your body has already reached the limit of its endurance. What will happen next? Truly looking forward to it~]
[Chaotic Knowledge (Soul): 66%. The Soul is the essence of the self. A Soul guided towards truth by knowledge can enhance your abilities in an extremely short period, but will similarly bring side effects that cannot be adapted to by the self.]
[Chaotic Knowledge (Creation): 3%. Magical creations like Cardinals are a part of Creation, and Creation represents the self's outward exploration. Should one say fortunate or regrettable? You cannot be considered to understand this yet.]
[Madness Accumulation: 37%. You have arrived before the gates of madness and are continuing to worsen; your abilities will be significantly enhanced, yet your thoughts will silently change. The world will manifest another terrifying appearance in your eyes. It is hard to say whether this is worth it, but it can be seen you do not regret it, and your Humanity is still fairly clear (Laughs)~]
These past few days, Fisher also hadn't forgotten to read the Cardinal Chip that Lord Cardinal left for him at the end. But to his great disappointment, it merely recorded several dozens of manufacturing methods for Cardinals. Moreover, those complex blueprints and theories gave Fisher, a layman in mechanics, a major headache.
It didn't involve any complex theories inside. It gave out the manufacturing methods of Cardinals without head or tail. But after reading it comprehensively, you wouldn't know the principles of Cardinals at all; you just needed to follow the steps on it to manufacture. No wonder when inquiring Lord Cardinal, he didn't know anything; he only needed to copy the cat to draw a tiger. Regretfully, the manufacturing conditions for Cardinals were too harsh. Before manufacturing, complex instruments had to be made and materials prepared. After Fisher finished reading, he felt it was of no help to him at all.
The only thing that could be considered help was perhaps the string of handwritten symbols or letters left on the chip's blueprints. But seemingly neither he nor Lord of Fate were clear on its meaning. Fisher roughly couldn't recognize it either, merely feeling those symbols were a bit similar to Caleb Uz's writing... what it wrote was,
[Михаил (Mikhail)]
Fisher felt that Vocabulary word looked like a noun. Either it was the translation of 'Cardinal' written using the real Lord Cardinal's writing, or, that was the true Lord Cardinal's name.
"Why have you been staying in the Restroom for so long? Ee, you also went to shave your beard and do your hair... wait, you couldn't be thinking of going to hook up with Snow Fox-kin girls again, could you? I must warn you first, I've already been tolerant enough of you morally. That group of snow foxes can see the scent of your true thoughts! If you expose those impatient lustful thoughts of yours and ruin the negotiation, it'll be a disaster!"
Eimhart stood by the windowsill, narrowing his eyes and sweeping a glance up and down at Fisher, who had neatened himself up and become extremely handsome again. He thus opened his mouth quite suspiciously.
Fisher shook his head while wiping his palms. He didn't answer Eimhart's question, but instead asked,
"Did Heidelin come over just now to notify us to go down?"
"Of course, a few minutes ago I think. I heard that Schwari kid named Balzac has already gone down. Don't know if that Lion-kin woke up or not. You'd best hurry up too. Heidelin said the Snow Fox-kin will arrive very soon."
Fisher nodded. He draped his suit jacket over his shoulders, and in passing, he wore the Magic Rings and jewelry he engraved previously onto his body one by one. If there was a Magician as sensitive as Fisher present, you would discover that Fisher wore a layer of high-ring magic flashing with strange fluctuations like a suit of armor upon his body.
What Eimhart said indeed made some sense. This level of magic was entirely aimed at going to war. It could easily make people associate it with the terrifying scene of Schwari and Naris bombarding each other with magic across space on the battlefield. But toward Erwind, Fisher only felt dealing with him would be even more difficult than winning a war between nations.
Eimhart watched Fisher being unable to wear all the magic on his body, then using a burlap sack to pack the other lower-ring magic, preparing to distribute them to his other companions to use. Eimhart curled his lip at Fisher's strange caution. In the next second, however, he suddenly felt something and looked out the window.
On the snow-covered road below, several carriages pulled by strange creatures resembling both deer and horses were slowly approaching the hotel. The carriage wheels stopped in front of the hotel. Following that, under the welcome of the Turan Family maids, several demi-humans wearing heavy clothing and sporting rather short statures alighted from the carriages.
Those demi-humans had inverted triangle-shaped short ears growing on their heads. That furry white tail behind them was even more slender, hanging straight down from underneath their clothing until reaching above the snow. Their height range was approximately between 1.4 to 1.6 meters. The leading one was just slightly over 1.5 meters, looking somewhat miniature.
The demi-human walking at the very front prepared to head into the interior of the hotel under the welcome of the Turan family maids. Just as he prepared to move his steps, his nose twitched. Following that, he suddenly raised his head and looked upstairs, seemingly seeing someone evaluating them through the window. But surprisingly, he only saw a square book above.
"Did I see wrongly..."
That leading demi-human took off the hat and face mask on his head, revealing that furry, fox-like head. It was just that the fur didn't look smooth; instead it was somewhat coarse. At the positions connecting between the eyebrows and the ears to the face, there were several small white dots resembling falling snow, giving the Snow Fox-kin's fox-like face a slightly demonic feeling.
"Father, what's wrong?"
Behind him, a female even shorter in height also took off her face mask and hat, similarly revealing a snow-white fox-like appearance. Beside those large cyan eyes, the white fur originally resembling falling snow turned pink, making her look quite cute.
However, the older-looking Snow Fox-kin in front merely cast a glance at the female Snow Fox-kin behind him, and scolded her somewhat seriously,
"Juna, outside you must call me Clan Chief."
The white Snow Fox-kin named "Juna" stuck out her tongue, switching the small bamboo Basket she was carrying to her other hand. A piece of cloth covered that bamboo Basket, but if you observed carefully, you would discover that beneath that cloth, several pairs of limpid eyes were very curiously evaluating outwards... Or rather, evaluating that wheelchair-bound girl who appeared at the hotel entrance.
"Miss Valentina Turan, please convey my most sincere respects to the Turan family on my behalf."
Valentina rubbed the ring on her hand, then smiled and said,
"Please also allow me to express my welcome to you all on behalf of my family. Due to special reasons, members of the Turan family cannot leave Snowflake Castle. I hope Clan Chief Dar will forgive this."
Snow Fox-kin Clan Chief Dar nodded. Just as he was about to set out and enter the hotel together with Valentina, he suddenly seemingly felt something. He turned his head and looked at Heidelin maintaining a smile behind Valentina. In Dar's eyes, a faint trace of deep purple aura wrapped around Heidelin's body, and was caught by him.
Although very faint, Dar still distinguished that it was the scent representing 'unwelcome'.
However, the next second, when Heidelin discovered the other party was staring at her, the smile on her face immediately brightened a bit, and that extremely faint unwelcome scent also vanished without a trace.
Seeing this, Valentina asked Dar with considerable puzzle,
"Is there any problem, Clan Chief Dar?"
Dar turned his head back, looking at the dense green scent transmitting from Valentiina's body. This scent represented 'friendly, sincere, and welcoming'. He shook his head, then said,
"It's nothing, let's go inside. Let's properly discuss the matters regarding the Sigil."