Chapter 548: Psychological Biologies (1) [Bonus]
"What was that?" Sylas asked.
He had already had Nosphaleen help Tasia settle down. The two of them now shared the same home in the Duke District. Considering the size of the lot, it would have been more than enough for twenty people, let alone two.
What he didn't expect was that Nosphaleen would come back on her own to speak with him. They had been here for almost a week already, but this was the first time she had done this without it being triggered by outside interference.
Sylas had already realized that she was avoiding him somewhat. But it wasn't out of subterfuge... she was scared of him.
He was just fine with that. The more apprehensive she was around him, and the more respect she held in her heart, the less likely she would be to ever betray him.
"She's odd..." Nosphaleen said again, not quite knowing how to explain further.
This time, Sylas just waited for her to sort her thoughts. Eventually, she spoke again. "As you probably know, my charm works subconsciously. I don't have to try to trigger it." Sylas nodded. The first time he met Nosphaleen, he had almost lost himself in her beauty, something he never did. He managed to snap out of it, but he was always cautious with guarding his mind around her now.
If he wasn't cautious, he could end up slipping.
That had become less of a possibility after the most recent evolution of his Will, but he still had his guard up in a lot of ways.
And yet...
"For some reason, it doesn't work on her. But that's not exactly right either. I can feel that if I was more active in my attempt to charm her, I could make her fall. But it would have to be a slow and gradual process.
"Her mind is oddly tough for someone without Levels. She's potentially dangerous."
Sylas knew some of this already. The fact the system agreement process worked with her could only mean that her Will had a more tangible form than most.
But this was still a surprise. Even Sylas couldn't fully resist Nosphaleen at the start, so how had Tasia done it?
"And you know nothing about this?"
"I have a guess, but..."
"Go on."
"The odds are just too low. If she was a descendant of my Clypsians, it would make sense. But for her to look so human, her blood must have been considerably diluted, at least four, maybe five generations removed.
"The only way for her to have such innate charm, then, would be for a mutation to trigger.
"I don't know much about Earth, but the odds one of my people would get away with copulating with one of your kind is next to zero. The child would almost certainly be killed. But for the child to not only survive, but then make it through several generations..."
Sylas fell into silence. For some reason, Archibald flashed in his mind.
'Is it related?'
His mind worked in odd ways, sometimes connecting things that even he didn't grasp immediately.
'Maybe?'
A sudden thought came to him.
Archibald spoke in a very old-timey way. It was the sort of thing Sylas would only see in ancient literature, and it didn't make sense at all for someone of the modern era to speak like that.
He had thought of all sorts of possibilities, all the way from Archibald being an alien in the facade of a human who had learned their language through the wrong means, up to thinking that maybe Archibald arrived from the past.
Neither conclusion was ridiculous given the current state of the world. Aliens were everywhere now in disguise, and he had experienced time warps several times now.
But Tasia's appearance and Nosphaleen's speculations made him think of another possibility. The Humans from the Sixth Summoning... or rather, the Eighth Summoning as he now knew it as... technically speaking, if they were still around in some shape or form, and they had managed to hide for so long, they would be the exact sort of place that Tasia's lineage could hide.
But this was too much of a leap, even for Sylas. Though he thought about it, he didn't have nearly enough proof or information. By now, it would also be far too difficult to get his hands on Archibald again.
He didn't fear Lucius. The problem was that he had to find a way to get back to the Evergreen Territory.
"Do you have any way to confirm your speculations?" Sylas asked.
Technically, Sylas could do it himself by using Extricate to check Tasia's body. But he was curious.
"If she really is a Clypsian descendant... well, she will have some problems..." Nosphaleen pointed to her head.
"She'll be mentally challenged?" Sylas asked.
"Um... not exactly. The reason my Clypsian Race is so against copulating with your Human Race is in one part due to racism, but there's also a functional reason as well.
"As you've seen already, our Clypsian Race has some very peculiar habits. Well, they are peculiar to you. I've observed how your Race works now, and I've realized that my actions with Sunniva were very off-putting to you. I apologize for that. I'll try not to do it in your presence again-."
Sylas waved a hand. "I have no issues or care about things like that so long as it's effective." Nosphaleen let out a sigh of relief when she heard this before continuing.
"To make a complicated matter simple, the mating patterns of our two Races are too different. Our Clypsian women have a period once a month where we 'pass' an egg. We do not carry our children; we allow the ocean to do so. As such, we are free to have many male
partners.
"By comparison, Human women are more selective because they have to be. Getting pregnant once consumes their vitality for up to a year between gestation and recovery.
"The clash of these two psychological biologies causes... problems."