In any endeavor, the greatest fear was not hardship, but a lack of direction.
Once a direction was found, all that remained was working hard to overcome the difficulties. Anbaixiu immediately sent his request to the Kingdom of the Unholy Hymn, asking them to keep an eye out for any signs of mind flayers in the Chaos Space.
Currently, Unholy Hymn relied entirely on Anbaixiu as their liaison to maintain contact with their homeland. Naturally, they dared not be remiss, pledging full assistance and promising to notify him the instant they had any news.
Just as he finished communicating on this end, Anbaixiu received a private message from the dwarf vampire: [Brother, where are you? I need to see you.]
Anbaixiu was rather puzzled. This fellow had just claimed he couldn't help; why was he suddenly cozying up to him?
[Ultraman Tiga: What do you want with me?]
[Dislikes Humans: When you said earlier that you were going to kidnap the Kuo-toa Goddess and deliver her to Talos, were you serious?]
[Ultraman Tiga: Of course I was serious. But what does that have to do with you?]
[Dislikes Humans: I want to stay by your side, witness everything firsthand, and chronicle all your actions. Regardless of success or failure, this is a magnificent feat worthy of entering the annals of history! I am a historian, and I want to see it all with my own eyes!]
Anbaixiu hadn't expected such a reason, but it hardly mattered. If he wanted to come, let him come.
[Ultraman Tiga: No meals provided, no travel expenses covered. Come if you want.]
[Dislikes Humans: Do you suck on your own bones every day for fear that dropping a speck of rotten meat might cost you? Stingy to your degree—have you no shame?!]
[Ultraman Tiga: Take it or leave it. Not charging you is already doing you a favor. Otherwise, I could just record it with a memory crystal, find someone to write a book later, and make far more money selling it.]
After sending this message, Anbaixiu quickly produced a memory crystal and placed it on his person.
The dwarf vampire had genuinely given him an idea. It was totally feasible, and no doubt such a recording could fetch an exorbitant price!
At most, he could give the dwarf vampire a small discount during the auction, which would be fair enough to him.
Heji Stone arrived swiftly, using a teleportation array to appear right beside Anbaixiu. Behind him trailed the newly claimed orc blood thrall.
There was no telling how Heji Stone had broken him in, but this orc, who had once harbored immense resentment toward Anbaixiu, was now completely numb. He obediently followed Heji Stone, carrying a massive pile of belongings like a servant.
Anbaixiu didn't bother to look closely, merely asking Heji Stone, "Are you truly planning to follow me around? Do you historians really have to make things so troublesome?"
Cloaked in robes that wrapped his body tight, Heji Stone floated half a head higher than Anbaixiu. Hearing Anbaixiu's question, he looked down condescendingly and said, "What do you know? Only what is witnessed with one's own eyes constitutes history. Who knows how many words out of your lich mouth would be true if I interviewed you after the fact?"
Anbaixiu demanded, "Slander! As a historical scholar, coming in with such prejudice to chronicle the story's protagonist—can what you write still be called history?"
"Doesn't matter. You're not the only one with alternate identities! It's not like I don't have pen names specifically for sensationalist gossip! Have you read The Ryan Harem's Goblin Guard? I wrote that. Number-one bestseller in the Legendary Spells supplement for three consecutive years! If I hadn't gone on hiatus later, I would have won five in a row!"
Heji Stone spoke with immense pride, leaving even Anbaixiu stunned.
To think that book was written by this fellow. That truly was quite impressive; Anbaixiu himself had once stayed up night and day waiting for new updates.
Then again, this dwarf vampire had poured all his hatred for Ryan into the book—the Ryan royal family in it was cuckolded to an alarming degree.
"Wait, does that mean you came all this way specifically to write sensationalist rumors about me?! That won't do—unless you pay extra!"
Anbaixiu was rather indignant. If the dwarf vampire had come to sing his praises, fine, but writing apocryphal gossip meant he had to pay up big time—at least half the royalties upon publication!
Heji Stone retorted heatedly, "Pay extra my ass! When did I say I was going to write unofficial history about you? You're a bone-sucking lich! What juicy gossip could possibly be written about you?! Who would read it?! Even if I wanted to spice it up, there's nothing to work with!"
The two bickered over the matter of royalties for quite some time, until Isabel brought the guest a large pot of plain boiled water.
This truly reflected Anbaixiu's legacy: even if you were a vampire, you were served plain boiled water all the same.
Heji Stone took a swig, then spat it straight back into the cup. Stingy bastard of a lich. With so many pretty maidens in this castle, he wouldn't even offer a single drop of fresh blood.
Yet for the sake of his magnum opus, Heji Stone decided not to make an issue of it with this lich. Instead, he asked Anbaixiu, "So, what stage are we at now?"
Anbaixiu the idol didn't feel like arguing with Heji Stone any further either. The dwarf vampire seemed to have some prejudice against liches and genuinely had no intention of writing spiced-up content, so he let it be.
"Senior Poet reminded me that mind flayers might exist in the Lands of Chaos, the dumping ground of the gods. I've already asked the tieflings to search for me, but there's no telling how long it will take."
Under normal circumstances, Gary Watts could cast Wish multiple times, so merely locating someone shouldn't be difficult. However, it depended on whether that tentacled monster in the Lands of Chaos was willing to bear the cost to help. Casting Wish consumed material components, and how much material could the Lands of Chaos offer for him to burn through?
"Of course, I don't intend to pin my sole hope on the tieflings. Although you said mind flayers are extinct, what if a few are still lying low? I hear mind flayers have quite a long lifespan, capable of living over a century no matter how harsh the environment. Plus, they only need to consume one brain a month to survive. Such requirements are far too modest; it wouldn't be surprising if a tiny remnant survived."
Hearing Anbaixiu question his opinion, Heji Stone took no offense, instead pondering along with him.
"Your point makes sense. Back then, the Githyanki were also among the slaves of the Mind Flayer Empire. Their rebellion brought about the collapse of the Mind Flayer Empire on the Prime Material Plane, but both sides fought a prolonged tug-of-war. It is quite possible that not all mind flayers were wiped out. Still, tracking down such monsters is exceedingly difficult. Their disguises are formidable, and their method of reproduction is insidious."
The mind flayers reproduced by implanting a mind flayer tadpole into a sapient being's body. As the tadpole grew, the host's brain was devoured and replaced by the tadpole. Once the tadpole fully matured, the creature was transformed into a mind flayer.
Regardless of the original race, after ceremorphosis, they took on the bizarre guise of an octopus head, their physical body transforming entirely into that of a mind flayer without retaining their former memories or appearance.
Perhaps in the eyes of mind flayers, only their kind was perfect, while all other races—even dragons—were merely inferior creatures riddled with fatal flaws.
Furthermore, a mind flayer tadpole's incubation could last up to a decade, and mind flayers excelled in mind-control spells, making it effortless to puppet swarms of ordinary people to cover for them. Concealing themselves was child's play.
"I could attempt a divination, but I doubt it will yield good results."
Every seasoned divination wizard felt an intuition before performing a divination; this was essentially a hint from the Goddess of Fate. When one clearly sensed something was off, yet forcibly divined anyway just to quell the unease, the outcome was usually getting kicked square in the face by the goddess.
Thus, Anbaixiu preferred gathering intel slowly on his own rather than taking shortcuts with divination.
"I've heard you divination wizards have endless taboos. I really don't see the point of having such abilities."
Heji Stone grumbled as he produced a small notebook. A corner of his robe wrapped around a quill, scratching away rapidly: "Even though blaspheming deities had become second nature to Ultraman Tiga, the difficulty he faced this time still caused his brows to furrow deeply. He gazed at the yellowed ancient tome before him, tapping his temple from time to time, as though locked in fierce debate with the vast sea of knowledge deep within his soul..."
Anbaixiu had no idea what he was scribbling, still mulling over how to track down traces of mind flayers across the continent.
After much thought, Anbaixiu asked again, "Did you mention earlier that the Githyanki overthrew the Mind Flayer Empire?"
Without looking up, Heji Stone earnestly penned the next sentence: "Even Master Ultraman Tiga had dilemmas he could not resolve. In the end, he could only close the tome and consult his wisest, most erudite mentor, the greatest historian, Heji Stone..."
Only after finishing the sentence did Heji Stone look up and ask Anbaixiu, "What did you just ask?"
"I asked about the fall of the Mind Flayer Empire. You said they were overthrown by the Githyanki?"
Anbaixiu repeated himself, and Heji Stone explained, "There are numerous accounts regarding the collapse of the Mind Flayer Empire. The Githyanki rebellion is only one of them; others point to internal strife and schisms, or massive viral outbreaks. But speaking of the Githyanki, that is indeed how they got their name. That Gith was the hero who liberated all Githyanki, and the race was named after him. Furthermore, the Githyanki truly hunt mind flayers across countless planes; they are the finest mind flayer hunters in existence."
Anbaixiu nodded. That was another lead.
Heji Stone continued scribbling furiously: "Enlightened by Mentor Heji Stone, Ultraman Tiga was like one who had found a guiding star in the boundless night. Heji Stone's wisdom traversed time and space, bringing him the clue to resolve his dilemma—the Githyanki; this was the very first answer that needed to be recorded."
"Then I could have a chat with the Githyanki," Anbaixiu muttered to himself.
Compared to mind flayers, who offered zero leads, the Githyanki were quite easy to locate. Several thousand of them were still alive, and places suitable for their survival were scarce to begin with; a casual inquiry would easily turn them up.
Heji Stone sneered as he kept writing, "You, have a chat with the Githyanki? Talk with what? You just slaughtered thousands of their kin. Githyanki hold grudges worse than anyone. If you dare show your face, they'll fight you to the death."
Anbaixiu chuckled softly. "There is no business that can't be negotiated."
"Fine then. Send me a few Githyanki virgins later; their blood tastes decent."
Having said that, Heji Stone added another sentence: "Heji Stone's benevolent counsel failed to win Ultraman Tiga's approval, as the lich remained intent on extracting the desired intel through the cruelest means. Heji Stone could only feign requesting captives from Ultraman Tiga, thereby sparing the lives of a handful of Githyanki."
Chapter 457