novelraw Chapter 551: Life Completion Manual (Two)
Chapter 551: Life Completion Manual (Two)
Reading carefully, every word and every phrase of this long poem seemed to contain countless profound meanings, ready to completely overwhelm his brain.
However, currently immersed within it, he felt nothing at all. His gaze merely shifted bit by bit, looking at the annotation-like handwriting left by Erwind beside it. It was filled with this former Lord of Life's insights into this long poem.
In Erwind's view, the first poem actually already contained the secret of the concept of [Rank]. If an individual wanted to increase their Rank, they must scale the high mountain just like that mountaineer.
"The name of the first high mountain is [Humanoid]. The journey the mountaineer traversed actually represents the inward exploration and mastery of the physical body. The path he walked step by step is a renewed understanding of his own body, until completely comprehending it and reaching the limit of life attainable by humans."
"The name of the second high mountain is [Transcendent]. It symbolizes immense power unimaginable to ordinary people, surpassing usual human rules, which also means distancing from human nature."
"The name of the third high mountain is [Mythic]. Those places that are overly powerful, unobservable, and hide secrets are all shelved by humans with 'imagination'; even gazing is hard to reach. Angels transcending the mortal world guard this place, conveying rejection to the mountaineer who arrives here."
"Ordinary methods cannot pass through the Mythic gate. God refuses humans from the mountain's base to arrive here. The only way to pass is to [bribe] the Angel. This rule-breaking method is extremely similar to the power contained within this Completion Handbook, namely 'Chaos'. The only way for humans to reach the Mythic is by relying on [Chaos], but the specific concept it demands, [Treasure], is worth pondering deeply."
The annotations by Erwind beside it were cold and detached, peeling away the danger of tens of thousands of tons of Chaos hidden within those words from Fisher's eyes bit by bit. It was as if he was walking on a convenient path trodden by predecessors, stepping on the hidden answers one by one.
The meaning of the mountain peaks was special; they represented a part of one's own body. Therefore, the mountain found by that mountaineer wasn't at some place in the world, but in his dreams at night.
Through the mouth of the Angel, Erwind and the original contributor of the Life Completion Manual were actually discussing a problem here. If human nature is a species living at the mountain's base, then after continuously crossing the second mountain peak, if he doesn't even have a humanoid form, and his structure has also changed, can he still be called "human"?Further into the second half of this long poem, as the risk of climbing grew greater, the mountaineer's appearance also underwent more changes.
Unknowingly, this mountaineer's thoughts and ideas also began to change.
"The physical structure of humans determines their thoughts and cognition; the physical structure of Demi-human Races also determines their culture and connotation. A Mythical Species with a sufficiently high Rank of life inevitably perceives the world differently from low-tier creatures. When a human climbs to higher Tiers, when this human undergoes various morphological changes to adapt to the Tier, his cognitive structure inevitably changes as well."
"If they are as powerful as gods, those unknown creators of this world hidden in unknown corners—from what perspective do They view this world, and view us living beings?"
"Perhaps the perspective from which They view the world far exceeds the imagination of ordinary life, but it doesn't prevent Them from establishing the rules of life's operation in this world. Just like humans rearing ants, ants perhaps cannot imagine from what perspective humans view them, but it doesn't prevent humans from sending down punishments on them, or easily building nests for them, providing materials, or changing the rules of the ant nest's operation..."
"By the same reasoning, if humans ascend to become gods, then the sufferings of the mortal world can be easily resolved."
Through these words left by the other party, Fisher finally caught a glimpse of a corner of what that Erwind was thinking.
He actually didn't want to change the nature of humans being humans. He only wanted to climb, from ant to human, and then look back to solve the various difficulties encountered by ants using the mighty power of humans.
This was a very idealistic matter. From Fisher's objective perspective, he also couldn't guarantee he would definitely succeed. Or rather, even if he ultimately succeeded and advanced to become an existence like a god, how could he guarantee he could still think what ants think, worry about what ants worry about, just like an ant?
This in itself was a difficult problem with no standard answer. Regardless of how one looked at it, there would be rebuttals and debates. But ultimately, Erwind put it into practice. Although from his standpoint Fisher had to stop him, this didn't prevent Fisher from respecting his ideals one bit.
Erwind was indeed worthy of being a genius who ended a disaster a hundred years ago. Fisher at this moment was like a student guided by a hall-of-fame master. With the records and thoughts accumulated by Erwind, his progress was rapid, following step by step the path the other had walked back then.
This long poem actually provided the method to scale Life Tiers for the person reading the Completion Handbook. Moreover, unlike the cheat-like, direct bestowment method of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, it was less constrained by rule changes, brimming with Chaos.
Although the Demi-Human Completion Handbook granted Fisher a stronger physique, Fisher's external appearance had always maintained a human look. This species living at the "mountain's base" was theoretically not designed for higher Tiers. Therefore, even though Fisher theoretically had a very high Tier, he hadn't exhibited the limit represented by this Tier.
It was like a luxuriously extravagant horse carriage pulled by an old mule; no matter how nice it looked, it couldn't run fast.
If he really wanted to exhibit power matching his Life Tier's strength, then he must inevitably change his form like Erwind and the mountaineer in the poem.
His gaze continued reading forward. An intense thirst for knowledge made him unable to wait to open the next few poems.
The next poem, "Left Hand," narrated a very interesting story. It told of a bodybuilding genius who took pride in his extremely prominent and aesthetic muscles. But due to a congenital defect, the biceps of his left hand was much smaller than the right, which bothered him greatly.
Thus, he began to exercise his left hand day after day, wanting to make it as aesthetic as the right side.
Until one day, the battle-hardened left hand actually gained consciousness and began to question its owner's idea of excessively exercising his body.
This bodybuilding genius and his highly developed left hand engaged in fierce debates, ranging from initial topics related to exercise... to later history, science, and profound philosophy...
At first, the left hand was sluggish and couldn't refute anything the bodybuilding genius said, so it could only follow his instructions to exercise.
But as it became more and more developed, to the point of surpassing humans, comparable to steel, comparable to the sun, the left hand's thoughts became increasingly profound. It gradually left its master speechless with its rebuttals, even making him start feeling life was meaningless. Until finally, instigated by the left hand, he decided to drink a bullet and commit suicide.
After the bodybuilding genius died, his still-living left hand continued to clamor that his method of suicide was wrong and not the optimal solution for suicide.
An absurd long poem ended just like that, leaving behind an aftertaste like a black hole.
The third poem, "Daughter," also told a story. It was about a mother who placed great hopes on her daughter. She wanted her daughter to become excellent, so she desperately instilled knowledge into her daughter.
Along with long-term study, her daughter also became more and more excellent, but she still wasn't satisfied enough.
She felt her daughter wasn't pretty enough, her eyes weren't good enough, she wasn't tall enough, didn't jump far enough, didn't run fast enough...
She didn't even know how she gave birth to such an embarrassing daughter, who was good at nothing except having a fairly smart brain.
Thus, she replaced her daughter's face with her own, gave her eagle eyes, a giraffe's neck, kangaroo legs, and cheetah hind limbs...
And then, such a perfect daughter was born.
Countless indescribable thoughts shuttled through Fisher's brain as the long poems entered his eyes, but before he had time to discern their specific meanings, he eagerly flipped forward, wanting to read the next poem. However, what met his eyes wasn't the final poem, but massive blocks of Erwind's annotations and thoughts.
"I have completely digested and applied all previous knowledge. I have walked to the end of the second mountain range. But what puzzles me is that, despite being a Completion Handbook titled [Life], it makes me struggle to move forward in matters of Life's tier. I can never take a step further, cannot bribe the Angel to finally reach the mountain peak of Mythic."
"What on earth does the so-called [Treasure] in the verses refer to? Without the Treasure, I cannot read the entire content of the Completion Handbook; without the Treasure, I cannot enter the Mythic Rank, cannot find the method to scale the Mythic mountain peak."
This was the beginning, seemingly having already written out all of Erwind's doubts and perplexity.
Below this line of text, quite a distance away, another line of text he recorded was written,
"Perhaps living beings that have already entered the Mythic Rank can help with the predicament in my thoughts. That little girl named [Lord of Fate] said the only surviving Mythical Species in the world are the Demon Species sealed in the Abyss by the Mother Goddess. I should seek out the location of the Demon Abyss and study the true bodies of these Demons to discover the answer."
Another blank space, then again seeing what Erwind wrote,
"I temporarily resided in the swinging cradle of the Demon's dreams in the Abyss. The Demon Attendants and little demons residing there posed no threat to me. During this period, I sampled the true body of a Demon God sleeping within a Demon God Pillar twenty-seven times and studied it one hundred and thirty times. The power of this Demon seemed to echo with the Completion Handbook in my hand, allowing me to quickly locate her sleeping true body. Highly curious about this, I began researching this Demon God named 'Agreas'. After researching, I seemed to have found a clue to the so-called 'Treasure'..."
...
"When I decided to proceed with the final step—deciding to abandon sampling and directly dissect Agreas' true body—an accident occurred in the research. Her long-dormant consciousness gradually awakened and discovered I was researching her and stealing a portion of her body's power. Even though she was sealed, the resulting fury still made it difficult to survive in the Abyss. I had no choice but to stop, abandon further research, and leave the Abyss. But she did provide me with interesting samples and knowledge, and also revealed the key to entering the Mythic Rank for me. Perhaps I can deduce the meaning of 'Treasure' from this."
...
"Because of my actions, Agreas' consciousness in the Abyss has been completely awakened. Awakening from slumber, she seemed to fall into a violent rage and is using some method to personally hunt me down, or perhaps sent other Demon Species or Demon Attendants to pursue me. For some reason, the pursuit speed was very slow, allowing me to safely escape. However, I already know the meaning of 'Treasure'. After returning to the West Continent, I prepare to begin experimenting to create the 'Treasure' and advance to the Mythic Rank..."
...
In the middle was a large blank space. When the handwriting appeared again, the excitement Fisher could discern had already vanished, replaced by unprecedented disappointment,
"All the designed experimental samples failed. Only the state of the Saint-Nazareth sample 'Anna' is considered stable at the moment. But the other samples were also like this in the early stages; in the end, they still bred madness and instability, never producing a stable experimental subject. The estimated success rate of 'Anna' is extremely low... Honestly, I hold no hope for the experiment to succeed and have unprecedentedly begun to severely question the Life Completion Manual I possess."
"Does the Life Completion Manual contain a paradox? If even a powerful Mythic Species with power similar to the Completion Handbook like Agreas cannot perfect the 'Treasure', how can I succeed when I haven't even reached the Mythic Rank? Earlier, I discovered from the Creator's Society that perhaps every path to the Mythic Rank achieved by a Completion Handbook is different, only that they can all ultimately be termed Mythic."
"If the Life Completion Manual cannot help me, then would reading other Completion Handbooks help me cross the threshold of 'Life's Greatest Treasure', directly reach the Mythic Rank, and ultimately finish reading the Life Completion Manual entirely? Even though the President of the Creator's Society explicitly forbade members from reading more than one Completion Handbook."
The rest were massive blocks of blank space. Erwind cherished words like gold, no different from the first Lord of Life—one using poetry to preserve forbidden knowledge, while the other wrote nothing in the Completion Handbook unless there was a major discovery.
Until the text below appeared again. This time, Erwind's text looked exceptionally new, as if the ink hadn't dried yet, as if she had just written it down,
"The path of the Treasure is no longer viable. The Creator's Society is nearing falling apart after the deaths of Lord of Souls and Death Minister. With the Soul Completion Handbook now in another's hands, I have to consider whether this is my unique, solitary opportunity to enter the Mythic Rank and achieve my goal."
Countless pieces of knowledge following close behind, wanting to pour into Fisher's brain, were temporarily cast aside. He only wanted to frantically explore forward to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, wanting to clearly see the path Erwind walked over the past few centuries.
The records here came to an abrupt end. He eagerly flipped the pages looking forward, entering the section of the fourth poem, "Treasure".
But unexpectedly, nothing was written above.
Or rather, it wasn't that nothing was written, but that he couldn't see it.
The thirst for knowledge was interrupted by a sudden blank space. Fisher unconsciously felt dissatisfaction and wanted to continue exploring forward, to find the true reason for its blankness...
But right at this moment, an ice-cold hand, as if coming from hell, tightly gripped one of his shoulders. Next, Erwind's iconic, gender-neutral voice sounded emotionlessly.
She lowered her voice and said to Fisher,
"Fisher, you walked too far."
"I..."
Hearing this, Fisher's thoughts suddenly froze. The brain that was coerced by the desire for knowledge and constantly moving forward ground to a sudden halt at this moment. Exactly because of this brief clarity, the madness and forbidden knowledge of the full three long poems he had read behind him suddenly caught up to him at this moment.
Endless knowledge and content about Life surged into his brain like a tsunami, threatening to swallow him whole.
After he discovered the mystery of the Life Completion Manual, his rationality suffered an unprecedented impact.
"Oh no!"
...
...
Fisher reining in his horse at the cliff's edge was only on the conscious level. Currently, because of that chaotic forbidden knowledge, his consciousness seemed to have lost perception of his physical condition, and naturally didn't know what was happening in reality right now.
In the room, Eimhart retreated continuously in fear. No matter how he called out to Fisher, it was of no avail.
So he could only watch helplessly as his humanoid form melted bit by bit, and then expand bit by bit, changing shape into a "viscous substance" covered with various strange organs.
"F-Fisher, don't be like this... I... I'm scared..."
"Guglu, guglu..."
But the current Fisher seemed unable to respond to Eimhart. He only struggled and twisted continuously, his body constantly shifting between humanoid and non-humanoid.
"Thud!"
Predictably, even though corrupted by Chaos causing physical changes, his Rank remained the Mythic Rank.
The "Fisher" violently smashed open the door of his room and rushed out under Eimhart's terrified gaze. His body was viscous, yet possessed no secretions, sliding down the corridor like a smooth blob of jelly. Simultaneously, the hundred or eighty large eyes on his body constantly looked from all directions.
"Oh my god, what if Jasmine and Raphaela find out? How am I supposed to explain?! Say this blob is their husband?! Fisher! Wait for me!"
Eimhart, frightened out of his wits, rushed out together with "Fisher". But fortunately, as soon as he rushed out, Eimhart found he was rushing outside the Prayer and Blessing Tower, or rather, towards the edge of the Dragon Court.
As long as it's a place with few people, that's fine!
The Mythic Rank "Fisher-chan" rushed outward furiously. In the pitch-black night, he was like a bowling ball running at high speed, flying incredibly fast without touching the ground whatsoever, leaving his destination entirely unknown.
Eimhart's book covers were flapping so hard they were about to smoke, yet he almost couldn't keep up. Not only did he have to chase him, he also had to try and calm him down.
"Look, Fisher! The Demi-Human girls you like the most are on the roadside!"
"Guglulu!"
Fisher didn't stop, only flying straight ahead, drawing a sound of breaking through the air in the night sky, attracting the attention of the Dragon Court residents below. Of course, this group of ordinary people couldn't see anything clearly in the dark night.
"Raphaela and Jasmine are still in the Dragon Court, where are you going?"
"Guglulu..."
Didn't stop.
"Are you going to Valentiina and Alajina? Don't go, you're going the wrong way, they're in the north!"
"Gugluji..."
Didn't stop.
"Elizabeth isn't in this direction either, she's also in the north, stop quickly! You're going the wrong way!"
"Lulu..."
This is useless too?
Eimhart the book was stupefied. At this moment, he hesitated for a moment, then, as if making some major decision.
No matter how unwilling or reluctant he was, he still shouted to Fisher ahead,
"Look quickly, your Helaire is there! It's Baimon, look!"
"..."
Still not stopping??!!
Eimhart truly had no choice; his tears were about to burst out.
"Hurry up and stop, Fisher! Your mom... I told you not to read it, but you just wouldn't listen. Now look what happened, you've turned into a damn ball! What am I supposed to do, wuwuwu!"
"Wuwu, stop quickly, I even forgot Renee... Renee is ahead..."
Eimhart genuinely couldn't fly anymore and was losing hope, so he shouted weak and feeble from behind, watching Fisher's figure flying further and further away.
To his surprise, after he spoke, Fisher ahead suddenly stiffened entirely. He stopped in place, wriggling and trembling continuously, and actually fell straight down toward the ocean below.
"Holy crap, it actually worked!"
Seeing this, Eimhart was immediately delighted, not even panting anymore, and hurriedly flew after him.
At this moment, they had flown out of the Dragon Court's coastal defense line, arriving at a place roughly a few kilometers from the Dragon Court coastline.
Below, there were a few scattered "small islands" measuring only a dozen square meters or so, or perhaps reefs exposed on the sea surface. This blob of "Fisher" was precisely falling towards that place.
"Boom!"
"Fisher!"
This entire eyeball-covered "Fisher ball" directly smashed onto the ocean reef. The massive impact force caused the reef to shift slightly, emitting a loud boom. Next, Fisher bounced highly elastically several times on the sea surface, accompanied by the blinking eyeballs all over his body, finally stopping barely at the edge of another reef.
"Guglulu..."
His entire body was still bubbling, emitting an extremely rich aura of Chaos from head to toe. But for some reason, Eimhart always felt he still possessed consciousness, somewhat different from that Chaos seen in mid-air at the Ideal State.
"Fisher! Wow, I didn't expect that tricking you by saying Renee was here would actually make you stop. You care about her this much... If I were Renee, honestly, I'd cry to death..."
Eimhart hurriedly flew in front of him, babbling away while looking at his entire body with intense worry, wanting to confirm if he was really alright.
"Huh, wait, what are these things? Sigils?"
As he inspected, Eimhart found something was wrong. He noticed that some sunken ∞ sigils seemed to have appeared on the "Fisher ball's" body, origin unknown...
Just as he was momentarily stunned, a massive full moon had somehow already enveloped half the sky above the gloomy firmament, illuminating the originally dark and vast ocean.
The cold moonlight spread continuously over the sea surface, completely dispelling the vague, obscure gloom.
Eimhart looked up blankly, only to suddenly discover that at the end of the reef in front of him, the silhouette of a woman wearing a black long dress stood there, faintly appearing as if emerging from another world, or perhaps the depths of the world.
Within a few seconds, that faceless humanoid shadow gradually became concrete, revealing an exquisitely beautiful woman with long black hair, like an older sister.
A wisp of delicate fragrance drifted from the sky, stilling the sea tides, as tranquil as the passage of years.
Her gaze was both anxious and worried, even more so than Eimhart's.
"Re... Renee? N-no, Lady Renee?! You... you're really here?!"
Eimhart stared foolishly at the appearing figure, his single cyclopean eye blinking. A second later, he finally realized he truly wasn't mistaken; the person appearing before him was genuinely...
"Step aside first, let me see what exactly is wrong with him."
However, Renee temporarily had no time to pay attention to Eimhart. Bathed in the cold moonlight from the firmament, she hurriedly came to Fisher's side, observing the irregularly shaped "limited edition Fisher".
"Guglulu..."