I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 224

The reason I went after the old man and not the scroll was simple. I could always acquire the scroll later. I was more curious about the old man and where he came from, and as a result, I had an interesting experience and even learned about dark guilds. In any society, there would be those who sought out shortcuts. It appeared like the dark guilds were where people went when they didn’t strictly follow the rules as set by the provincial lord.

Well, I wasn’t one to talk, as I had also taken shortcuts in that I consumed the mana of living things to evolve myself, including people. If people realized my upbringing, would they consider me a dark paragon? Well, sage beasts seemed to get a pass from eating people to obtain mana, so perhaps I was closer to a sage beast than a dark paragon. It didn’t really matter to me, though. Ultimately, these were simply labels, and labels could be made up or changed at any time.

In biology, scientists label animals through a process called the phylogenetic tree. Most people are familiar with this breakup. Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The last two, genus and species, are what we typically use to give the scientific name of a creation. Humans, for example, are part of the species Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus and sapiens is our species. We’re currently the only living species within our genus, so the words Homo and sapiens tend to get merged.

Anyway, when phylogenetic trees were first drawn up, scientists didn’t use anything more than physical traits to distinguish between groups. They tried to order traits in a pathway they expected evolution to take. For example, we presume the shift from water to land might have occurred before we developed feet, and we might develop feet before we developed hands that could do more complex processes.

However, one can see how arbitrary some of these decisions were, and at some point, different species are decided purely on the shape of the phallus or the spread of the wing. This led to countless mistakes, which were constantly being corrected and recorrected. It wasn’t until the modern era and the advent of DNA sequencing that a lot of this got corrected. Species got rearranged into different genuses once we were able to compare their genetic differences.

Plus, how does one even define a species anyway? If it’s by the capacity to breed, then countless species can breed together to create something new, and likewise, animals within the same species that breed are incompatible with breeding. They could only count it by genetic similarity, but in countless cases, we’re talking about a fraction of a percent of difference.

Point being, I don’t think my identity truly mattered. I was something rarely seen and unrecognizable to the people of this province. This didn’t mean that on a grander scale, there might not be others like me. This was why it was still best for me to take things slowly and not act recklessly.

Speaking of which, I had wasted most of my free time. The sun was starting to set, and the headmistress would be returning to fetch me soon. If she found out I snuck out after she expressly asked me to stay, she might become less amenable to helping me. The old man had carried nothing on him other than the scroll. He had been careful when entering the academy. I even searched and couldn’t find any stash he might have left, such as a storage ring or artifacts. Either he never brought them, or I lacked the skills and techniques necessary to locate them. In the end, my search was in vain.

After taking on a last regretful look at the forest, wondering if I should have left him alive to pump for information before I killed him, I finally left the scene and then headed back to the academy. I didn’t think I made a bad decision, though. These paragons were weaker than me, but no matter how strong you are, a fly can still escape and irritate you if you’re not careful. I felt like a dark paragon might even have a whole list of irritating tricks, so it was better not to hold back and potentially regret it later.

I continued my march up the mountain after reassuring myself. This time, I made sure that I didn’t trigger any alarms and returned to the guest room undisturbed. As I rejoined with the cells I left behind, differentiating them back to their original purpose, I couldn’t help but sigh. I had failed once again to secure some techniques, all because I wanted to play around and follow Jordan. I still didn’t learn what he was doing with that scroll, and I wasn’t even able to loot the old man.

All I could do next was get ready for this so-called banquet. It was only a short time later that there was a knock on my door. The Headmistress didn’t wait for my answer before opening the door. As soon as she stepped in, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. She was dressed in a stunning qipao that clung to her curvaceous body. The fabric was a mixture of black and deep emerald green, which complemented her fair skin and dark hair, which she had up in an intricate bun tied with jewel pins. The neckline of the qipao was high, but there was a slit on the side revealing her long, delicate legs. Her face was also made up, giving her eyes a dark, smoky appearance and her lips a glossy look that tempted a man to kiss her.

She seemed just as stunned to see me dressed in a hanfu. This was a long robe that sat over the button-up shirt and pants. It was deep indigo blue and made from luxurious silk. The robe was adorned with embroidered clouds and cranes. A wide sash wrapped around my body, a deep red that was tied into an intricate knot. I had also tied back my hair, which was rather long itself, into a neat topknot with the rest falling behind. This was one of many outfits Abigail had made for me since I engaged her. I had thrown them into my luminal space, and only thought to bring them out now while I was waiting.

The pair stared at each other for several heartbeats, but I recovered first and smiled. “Headmistress, you look stunning.”

She jerked slightly, her cheeks turning pink, but then she quickly recovered and put on a small smile. “Spirit, you clean up rather well. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

I chuckled softly, “I am too pleased. Shall we go?” I offered my arm to her.

She looked at it a moment as if considering something, and then lightly wrapped her fingers around my arm. The pair of us headed outside, where she already had a carriage waiting for us. The two of us entered the carriage together. The driver, a gruff-looking older man, didn’t even look our way as we entered. It was only when the Headmistress tapped the wall that the carriage started moving.

It wasn’t a very long ride. We were leaving from the academy and heading back into the city proper, where the Blanch mansion was. I had even been inside the mansion once after being freed from the Shrodinger’s box, although at the time my focus had been on other things, and I didn’t have much of an impression of the inside. I did remember that the place wasn’t nearly as large or as impressive as the Stride or Capala estates. While the building was large and fenced, there was only one and not a lot of land around it. I presumed this was the difference between the great paragon families and those a step under them. Compared to loose paragons, they were still superior, but whether it was a lack of high-level evolved resources or techniques, they weren’t able to wield the same level of power as the great families. That wasn’t to say that the Blanches didn’t have wealth. They did manage to hire the help of a warden, after all.

The mansion was a sprawling building, with high, sloping roofs and elegant archways. It was made of white stone, with intricate carvings and statues decorating the exterior. The carriage pulled to a stop in front of the mansion, and we exited, walking up the wide steps that led to the massive wooden doors. They were open, revealing a grand entrance hall filled with people in elaborate attire. Our presence immediately attracted the attention of many of those still around the entrance.

“Is that the young lord engaged to Lady Capala?”

“What is he doing with Headmistress Damini?”

“Is he betraying the Capala family for the Damini family?”

“You’re thinking too much. Perhaps, the families are forming an alliance?”

Such speculative murmurs were occurring everywhere. I wasn’t sure if the headmistress could hear them like I could, but if she could, she seemed to be able to ignore them completely. She walked up to the attendant smoothly and gave him our names. A short moment later, he announced the names to everyone present.

“Young Lord Capala and Lady Damini have arrived!” He cried out.

If I thought we were drawing attention before, then as soon as our names were called out, everyone was looking our way. There was no going back now.