Chapter Thirty-Four: Manami Mizuhara

Seated behind the bookstore counter, Xi Gu quietly sipped his tea, watching as the girls on the other side of the glass door drifted out one by one. He shook his head in boredom. Since he had opened this bookstore, scenes like the one just now had become anything but rare.

In the thousands of days since his abilities awakened, his physical qualities had steadily improved. Quite naturally, Xi Gu had developed many traits that set him apart from ordinary humans. Outwardly, he still appeared human—no extra limbs, no monstrous features—but his body was now utterly free of parasites, his skin’s pores seemingly smoothed away to a flawless sheen. Inside, all microbial life, whether beneficial or harmful, had been expelled. From head to toe, nothing existed within him but his own will, his own life system.

This, of course, defied the laws of biology. But since Xi Gu had already ground the laws of physics into dust, overturning biology seemed a trivial matter.

It was precisely because his body had strayed so far from the realm of ordinary humanity that, without realizing it, his appearance had become the sort that drew relentless attention in human society.

—Handsome yet not imposing, beautiful yet not effeminate, enigmatic, immaculate, untouched by filth or dust...

All the phrases used to describe someone like a banished immortal in the mortal world could be applied to him.

So...

“This must be a byproduct of evolution, I suppose?”

Xi Gu idly toyed with his teacup.

“But what’s the point? All I want is to sit here in peace, to seek the next possibility of the extraordinary, to create ever more varied supernatural abilities in this world, feeding back into myself and making the world more interesting.

“...Why would I ever want to fall in love with an ordinary human woman, every pore brimming with parasites, her skin crawling with mites, her intestines forever writhing with excrement?”

He shook his head, casting aside these tedious thoughts, and turned his mind instead to his recent experiences.

“In the past ten-odd days sitting in this bookstore, I’ve encountered a total of three hundred and fifty-one ordinary humans... But so far, none seem to possess any special aptitude for transformation. Even if I chose one at random and bestowed upon them the blood of evolution, I doubt the result would surprise me.

“Granted, human nature shifts with experience, status, and circumstance, but innate talent still plays a crucial role. If someone is merely a user of supernatural power, unable to coalesce their soul or purify their spirit, and after becoming extraordinary has no further drive to ascend, what interest can I possibly take in that?”

Yang Luo’s existence had already spoiled Xi Gu’s taste.

At least for now, before he decided to go for mass expansion, to upend society and turn all into the extraordinary, Xi Gu preferred his “boutique strategy.”

“If it comes to it, I’ll select someone from those I’ve seen who shows a trace of potential, and see just how far they can take the power of the extraordinary.”

With this thought, his gaze shifted to the glass door, where he suddenly noticed a girl hesitating at the entrance.

That was...

The girl stood outside, peering in through the glass, her eyes fixed on the side of a bookshelf. When she noticed Xi Gu’s gaze, her wandering eyes shrank back, her face flushing red.

Xi Gu walked directly over and opened the door.

“Ah…”

The girl stood at the threshold, shrinking back timidly, clearly ill at ease.

He looked at her and said directly, “I remember—you’re the companion of that girl called ‘Lucia’ from earlier, aren’t you? Can I help you with something?”

Mana Mizuhara twisted her fingers shyly.

“My name is Mana Mizuhara… um, I… When I left just now, I saw a book on the shelf…”

Oh?

“Which book?”

A smile of genuine interest curved Xi Gu’s lips.

“On the third row of shelves, the one on the far right… it’s…”

She stammered, struggling to point toward the shelf with her right hand.

“Come in and tell me,” Xi Gu said, opening the door wide for her.

The girl bowed, murmured a soft “Excuse me,” then walked into the store. Barely able to contain her excitement, she moved in small, eager steps to the bookshelf—

“Wow…”

Mana Mizuhara picked up the book with a voice as if she’d won the lottery. But the moment her finger touched the spine, she turned back to Xi Gu, apologizing:

“Um… may I touch it?”

Xi Gu nodded.

“It’s fine, you can take it down.”

She let out a long sigh of relief, barely able to suppress her excitement, and thanked him earnestly before grabbing the book off the shelf. She opened the preface and table of contents, letting out a muffled cry:

“I knew it, I knew it—I can’t believe it’s really Kolodin Casvenny’s ‘The Hermetic Sayings’… Oh, ‘The Emerald Tablet Explained,’ ‘The Triple Great Alchemical Soul,’ ‘Astral Signs and Runes,’ ‘Portraits of the Saints’... It’s exactly the same as the table of contents circulating online…”

“You know this book?” Xi Gu, standing nearby, watched her with a smile.

“Of course I do!”

By now, Mana Mizuhara had shed all her previous shyness and nervousness. She had never seemed so animated, her voice ringing out:

“This is Casvenny’s ‘The Hermetic Sayings’—the work most widely acknowledged in the field of occult studies as offering the deepest understanding of the preface to the ‘Emerald Tablet.’ In order to truly approach the prototype of ‘Hermes Trismegistus,’ Casvenny analyzed each line of the ‘Emerald Tablet’s’ preface in Ancient Greek, Latin, and Ancient Egyptian, linking Thoth, Hermes, and Mercury as the ‘Triple Great’ through esoteric study.

“Casvenny is also one of the most renowned alchemists in history. It’s said that in this very book, he unified his lifetime of alchemical research with his mystical studies of Hermes, and achieved the ‘Eternal Spirit of the Philosopher’s Stone.’ Because of its immense legacy, this book has long been considered the highest masterpiece in the occult, but sadly, it was published during the height of the church’s witch hunts, so it could only be printed in secret. Fewer than five copies survive today, and the contents can’t be found online, so many believe it to be a legend. And yet, today, I actually get to see it in person…”

Mana Mizuhara poured out her words in a torrent, thrilled to finally have a chance to share her occult knowledge with someone outside of the internet. The excitement was so overwhelming she felt she might soar. And to be holding in her hands a legendary work she’d only ever heard rumors of—the joy was almost too much to bear. Her eyes sparkled brilliantly, her skin flushed, her breath quickened, and her body grew warm.

In her surge of enthusiasm, Mana Mizuhara edged closer to Xi Gu, even more so than Ryoko had earlier; the faint fragrance from her skin drifted into Xi Gu’s nostrils.

“Um… Manager, where did you get this book? Do you have any other books on the occult? Why did you collect ‘The Hermetic Sayings’ in particular? Are you interested in the occult as well? Just like me? Manager? Manager?”

Her eyes were wide with anticipation; even behind her thick, bottle-bottom glasses, one could see the clear, lively excitement in her gaze.

But faced with this girl who had nearly pressed herself against him, Xi Gu’s response was—

“Sorry… you’re standing a little too close.”

“Ah—”

Mana Mizuhara froze, only then realizing she was mere centimeters from Xi Gu, almost bumping into his chest. She flushed scarlet and hurriedly stepped back several paces, bowing repeatedly in panic.

“S-sorry… When I get excited, I always do this—gomen nasai, I lost my composure!”

She bent deeply, nearly ninety degrees, her hands pressed together around the book, apologizing with utmost sincerity.

Watching her, Xi Gu’s expression grew thoughtful, and he smiled faintly.

“Miss Mizuhara, you seem to be very fond of the occult, aren’t you?”