The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 364: The Sycamore Tree! The Sycamore Tree!

"Oh, you're so great, Fischer! You heartless bastard! And to think I ran off to read on my own so I wouldn't interrupt your 'good deeds.' I ended up reading for a whole day and night, and nobody even came looking for me! I actually thought you had died doing that Holy Matrimony! I really didn't expect this, I never expected that a thick-browed, big-eyed guy like you completely forgot about me!"

The night winds fluttered with frost and snow, and the dark clouds in the sky hung heavy. Fischer was walking through the snow completely geared up, carrying Valentiina on his back. Several female Giant Troll-kin were leading the way ahead, ensuring the direction they were walking in matched the teleportation ritual they had set up beforehand. All the while, that square, book-shaped relic was incessantly cursing him out while simultaneously headbutting Fischer's head.

This really couldn't be blamed entirely on Eimhart. Fischer had finished the Holy Matrimony with Valentiina in the morning, came out to eat something, and then went downstairs by himself to engrave magic until the evening. In all the time in between, Eimhart had been completely forgotten in the area where the Giant Troll-kin stored their ancient texts. It was only right when they were about to leave that Fischer remembered him. How could this not make Eimhart incredibly furious?

"You absolute scumbag! You scumbag!"

Sporting a pair of dead-fish eyes, Fischer reached out to block Eimhart's headbutts. However, this matter couldn't be entirely placed on him. After all, he had continuously been pondering how to deal with Erwind earlier. He couldn't even spend time with Valentiina after completing the Holy Matrimony last night, let alone Eimhart. Luckily, Valentiina hadn't rested well last night, so she took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep during her free time in the afternoon. Naturally, she didn't quite understand Eimhart's anger.

"Stop being angry, Eimhart. Fischer accidentally forgot about you because he had official business to take care of."

She reached out and called out to Eimhart for a bit. She watched the mid-air floating Eimhart narrow his eye and turn his head to stare at her. He asked with confusion,

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was too busy being lovey-dovey with me~"

"Your mom..."Seeing that Eimhart had successfully transferred his aggro and was actually about to headbutt Valentiina—who was covering her mouth and giggling softly on his back—Fischer hurriedly reached out and grabbed him firmly in his hand. After giving a rough explanation about the situation during the afternoon, he finally managed to coax this tiny Book Viscount into curling his lips and grumbling, "Fine then," before finally settling down quietly in Fischer's embrace.

During this brief period of small talk, they finally walked out of the Giant Troll settlement and arrived completely outside. Standing right at the front, Darivuvu pointed a finger ahead. In an open clearing swept entirely free of snow, a Slime-kin Boundary Flute was stabbed into a pile of items. This pile of items consecutively included precious metals like gold, and placed squarely in the dead center was a token.

Carrying Valentiina on his back, Fischer walked up to the front of the magical formation. Upon seeing the Boundary Flute stabbed into the snow, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He turned to Darivuvu and asked,

"Wait, you're saying this teleportation is related to the Slime-kin?"

"Damn right it is. Do you actually think us Giant Trolls are smart enough to teleport people? Right before the entire Slime-kin race moved out of the Northern Border, my mother exchanged opinions with the Slime King. Our lifespans are slightly longer than those of Slimes, so my mother and the Slime King were quite good friends. They agreed to help each other out and fulfill the Moon Princess's decree to assist the Phoenix bloodline in returning to the Sycamore Tree. This teleportation magic formation activates by drawing upon the Slime King's power."

"That old bastard..."

Fischer let out an exasperated sigh, feeling rather speechless. He had previously guessed that the Slime King might have offered him such preferential treatment because he sensed the aura of Valentiina's Phoenix bloodline on him. Who could have ever expected that this guy was originally supposed to help Valentiina return to the Sycamore Tree unconditionally! In other words, he had completely exploited the gap in Fischer's information to scam him out of a favor.

On his back, Valentiina saw Fischer let out a sigh. Gently poking his cheek, she teased him, saying,

"Don't tell me you got conned out of some compensation by that Slime King when you visited the Slime Borderland? You didn't even tell me about it beforehand. And now look, once you're out of the Turan Family, there's no such thing as being reimbursed. This is what you get for playing the hero~"

Although the Slime-kin would definitely be incredibly cautious with how they cashed in his favor—and at the very least wouldn't expose the 'mistakes' he had committed toward those ladies to the world for the time being—if the day ever came where the secret truly was out, things would get extremely severe...

Thinking up to this point, Fischer suddenly turned his head to the side and planted a kiss directly onto Valentiina's soft cheek in a bid to calm himself down. This caused Valentiina to clasp her cheek in utter embarrassment as she smacked Fischer's shoulder and cried out,

"Fischer!"

"This is encouragement."

"Huh? What encouragement..."

"Probably encouragement to give me more courage. Thank you, Valentiina."

"You bastard..."

Valentiina buried her flushed face into his shoulder and gently pinched his earlobe. It was unclear if she was acting coquettishly or punishing him. Only Eimhart, who was hiding out inside Fischer's pocket, stared forward with dead fish-like eyes, feeling uncomfortable in absolutely every regard.

He simply felt like he shouldn't be here, and that he should have been left behind to fend for himself in the area where the Giant Troll-kin stored their ancient texts.

"Alright, stand on top of it, Fischer. This token belongs to my mother; it will teleport you to her side. Make sure to stay extremely cautious once you reach the Sycamore Tree. Our six clans, as well as the hopes of all the other living beings, are entirely placed on you two... Oh, and by the way, say hello to my dead-beat mother for me, assuming she's even still alive."

Hearing the words Darivuvu spoke to him from outside the ritual, Fischer nodded in acknowledgment. Subsequently, exhibiting a hearty, ringing smile, Darivuvu signaled the other Giant Trolls to back away consecutively and open up some distance. She then held a long, slender horn up to her mouth, pointed it toward the sky, and vigorously blew a low, far-reaching sound.

"Woooo! Woooo! Woooo!!"

As the horn's call drifted further and further into the night sky, Fischer, who was standing in the exact center of the ritual, suddenly felt an ancient, ethereal, yet seemingly real singing voice transmitting beside his ears. It was the exact same voice Fischer had heard back in the Slime Borderland.

"Barion, Barion, Barion, Barion!!"

The bizarre sound of the flute grew increasingly louder, and the precious metals laid out completely around Fischer similarly overflowed with streaks of golden streaming light, which slowly began wrapping around their bodies.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

In the following second, the space entirely surrounding them twisted violently. Accompanied by that soaring ballad, they tunneled through the warped, complicated space wrapping them from all sides, sprinting off toward an incredibly distant direction.

But at the very same time and moment, on a mountain peak situated in an entirely different direction, a figure wearing a bird-beak mask also suddenly heard that soaring sound. He abruptly snapped his head around and looked directly toward that direction.

Although Erwind was capable of ignoring the Phoenix Bridge to enter the chaotic and complicated space situated behind it, the Giant Troll-kin settlement was entirely wrapped up inside Spatial Turbulence, leading to him failing to discover any trace of Fischer. Having wandered aimlessly this entire way, he still hadn't discovered the legendary Frostwood Sycamore Tree. Right as he began to suspect whether Fischer had already entered the Sycamore Tree, the Boundary Flute ringing out within the night sky allowed him to catch wind of his prey's trail, akin to a bloodthirsty wolf catching the scent of fresh blood.

In the pitch-black darkness, his silhouette gradually grew blurry, acting as if he was casually strolling through the Spatial Turbulence. One moment, he would pace across one mountain peak, and in the next, he would appear on top of a completely different peak, traveling incredibly quickly toward the direction where Fischer had teleported.

"Barion, Barion, Barion, Barion!!"

"Thump!"

Beneath the thick layers of clouds lay an endless, quiet expanse of snow plains. Right at that very moment, a streak of golden light plummeted from the heavens above. As the music of the Boundary Flute gradually extinguished, the silhouette of Fischer carrying Valentiina on his back steadily manifested out of the golden light.

This wasn't his first time experiencing a Slime teleportation, so he felt perfectly fine. Valentiina on his back, however, felt a bit nauseous, leaning heavily against his shoulder with a pale face.

"Are you alright, Valentiina?"

"Ah... I'm fine. Is this the place where Darivuvu's mother is located? But this is just an open snow plain! I don't see any Sycamore Tree! Wait, Fischer, it seems like there's something right in front of us..."

Fischer lifted his head and looked ahead. He saw nothing but endless snow plains mixed with violently howling winds and snow. Narrowing his eyes, he spotted a solitary, thin, dark shadow sitting on the ground amidst the vast expanse of white snow ahead of them, facing their direction head-on.

Fischer took a few vigilant steps forward. It wasn't until he got closer that he suddenly saw clearly through the roaring wind and snow: that black shadow was actually a massive Giant Troll draped in a cloak, sitting squarely on the snow-covered ground! Except, the Giant Troll situated before him had long since passed away. Her entire body from head to toe was wrapped in the cloak, and beneath the cloak, armor emitting a silvery glimmer flickered faintly. It appeared to have been crafted in an extremely ancient style.

The armor's visor completely obscured her features. Fischer could only spot the cold, white bones hidden within through the tiny gaps in the armor. Stabbed into the ground behind her was an unfathomably colossal, heavy black battle axe. However, this mother of Darivuvu—who had clearly died ages ago—didn't reach out to grab her weapon. She merely sat cross-legged on the ground, permanently maintaining the final posture she possessed before her death.

Because right before Fischer's eyes, her right hand—which had long since been reduced to white bone—was pointing directly behind Fischer, seemingly pointing out the path forward for him and Valentiina.

"Behind us?"

Fischer turned his head to look behind him. Out in front, amidst the endless expanse of snow plains, and following the exact direction Darivuvu's mother was pointing toward, he finally saw it clearly. Six statues were abruptly standing tall within the snowy grounds.

He hurriedly walked forward. From left to right, six statues made entirely of some sort of black mineral depicting the six tribes were kneeling on one knee across the snow-covered earth. They lowered their heads and faced straight ahead, their hands securely holding up the posture they utilized when accepting an bestowal—yet their hands were entirely completely empty. They appeared to be waiting for Fischer to place a specific item directly into the hands of these statues.

"These statues are completely identical to the bestowal postures maintained by the six tribes shown within the Sigils. I should probably need to place the Sigils inside."

Fischer nodded. Reaching into his embrace, he pulled out the Six Races Seals he had collected throughout his entire journey. In order, they were the 【Pale Bird-kin】, 【Giant Troll-kin】, 【Moon Rabbit-kin】, 【Slime-kin】, 【Cloud Cat-kin】, and 【Snow Fox-kin】.

Very cautiously, Fischer placed the six seals he held directly into the hands of their corresponding statues. Subsequently, he backed up several steps and waited for some sort of mechanism to take effect. However, several whole seconds passed, yet the endless snow plains covered beneath the dark clouds here remained completely quiet. Absolutely nothing happened.

Fischer shot a confused glance at the statues kneeling on one knee before him. Even Eimhart poked his head out, trying to see exactly what had gone wrong. He inhaled sharply through his teeth and asked Fischer,

"Huh? Why didn't anything happen at all? Fischer, could it be you didn't secure them in place properly? Or perhaps the mechanism is just far too ancient, so it broke and didn't activate?"

Valentiina rubbed her chin, feeling similarly somewhat utterly bewildered.

"Ah, but this is a mechanism constructed by a Phoenix! Would it really break so easily?"

Right as the group of them stood rooted in place deep in thought, Fischer suddenly felt a wisp of a gentle breeze smack against his back. Following that, the gentle breeze seemingly began to intensify, eventually growing larger and larger, fiercer and fiercer! When he turned his head back to look, he instantly felt a howling gale—one that was seemingly far colder than several hundred years of Northern Border winters combined—violently violently violently slamming squarely into his face. The roaring wind was mixed heavily with accumulated snow from the ground as it pelted onto his face, forcing him to reach out a hand and shield his eyes.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!"

The violent gales assailed them one after another, acting like a catastrophic blizzard from hell. It didn't take long for the gale to completely blow away the corpse of Darivuvu's mother sitting on the ground, sending her flying entirely into the air, along with the massive battle axe stabbed into the snow. In a flash, they were swept away to parts unknown.

"Hold on tight, Valentiina!"

"Fischer!"

Enduring the howling gales, Fischer grit his teeth and stood rooted in place, absolutely completely motionless, allowing the winds heavily laced with freezing frost and snow to rapidly beat against him. It wasn't until several seconds passed that the knife-like gale gradually came to a halt.

Fischer heavily panted for breath as his eyes violently opened. He lowered his head and first laid eyes upon the very spot he was standing on. Never mind thick accumulated snow—what replaced it was an entirely intact, massive chunk of completely whole ore shimmering with misty haziness! That ore was even bathed in a coating of watery, clear, and cold moonlight...

Was this True Ice?!

He blanked slightly, then slowly raised his head back up. The scene directly before his eyes instantly smashed deep into the bottom of his heart through his vision, leaving an unimaginably, incredibly profound impression upon him forever.

As the violent, freezing gales brutally swept past, the dense, heavy dark clouds in the sky had been entirely blown away. A cloudless, sprawling expanse of the glittering river of stars spanning the heavens above was finally fully revealed. A bright, resplendent, yet boundlessly freezing full moon hung high within the vault of heaven. Taking that full moon as the endpoints and utilizing the sprawling starry sky as a canvas, streaks upon streaks of breathtakingly brilliant green auroras—seemingly imbued with absolute life—constantly spread outwards across the sky, vividly drawing out an absolute majestic landscape in the heavens above.

Furthermore, looking downward from exactly where Fischer and the others stood, it wasn't an ordinary mountain range at all. Instead, it was an entirely completely intact, semi-transparent mountain peak made purely of True Ice! Following the True Ice spread out across the ground—where any random piece chipped off and dug up would be worth countless fortunes—and looking straight ahead, the massive area previously covered heavily by thick layers of accumulated snow had originally been a towering, imposing True Ice mountain peak!

Amidst the dense, hazy True Ice mist, and following the gorgeous night scenery heavily mixed with moonlight and auroras, an unimaginably incomparably colossal architectural shadow began to slowly reveal itself from within that True Ice mountain range.

Magnificent, awe-inspiring, and majestically imposing plazas, towering spires, sweeping corridors, sweeping buildings, and absolute sprawling palaces were thoroughly interconnected with one another, relentlessly sprawling completely outward in absolutely every direction. Its intensely visually-appealing exterior stretched out as far as the eye could see, extending endlessly without bounds. They simply sat there quietly and peacefully within that True Ice mountain peak that had long since been sealed away by time's thick dust. It harbored a massive weight of history that humans simply could not estimate or ever truly imagine, manifesting the shadow of greatness left behind by a truly magnificent, paramount race using a power seemingly capable of rivaling the absolute miracles created by the heavens above...

Resonating and heavily contrasting against the faint glimmers of light cast down from the vault of heaven and the True Ice alike, the sprawling shadow cast by that breathtakingly beautiful architecture resembled the mighty branches and massive trunk of an unimaginably colossal tree. It was a tree that had taken the sprawling sky full of countless stars as its soil, fundamentally growing entirely completely upside-down out from the sky itself. It vigorously shook the senses of absolutely every tiny, insignificant living being fortunate enough to witness its massive, stalwart figure for the very first time...

It wasn't actually an entirely truly living tree; its "life" had been granted to it by the living beings who had once inhabited it.

And right before Fischer's eyes was exactly that—the massive, sprawling homeland of the Phoenixes that pierced the heavens and spanned the entire length of history itself.

Oh, great, mighty Phoenixes!

Open your wings capable of blotting out the sun and obscuring the skies once more!

Traversing across the immensely long river of time, and sweeping away the incredibly heavy blankets of frost and snow...

The Frostwood Sycamore Tree you reside within has finally presented itself right before our very eyes!