Chapter 60
"You have such a good understanding of emotions. Here is the problem: Breastfeeding often has a lot to do with population increase. One long-standing belief is that ample breasts often mean more milk, which can nourish healthier offspring."
"And then?"
"First, humans are undoubtedly animals, living creatures. And one of the instincts of living creatures is to pass on their bloodline. This instinct is very important and can explain many things about humans. I believe it is one of the fundamental factors in understanding human behavior."
Sylas nodded, indicating that she remembered.
"Secondly, humans possess both animalistic and rational traits." Xerath suddenly recalled something and blinked her eyes, smiling at Sylas. "Animalistic usually refers to instinctual desires, like Sylas wanting to go out and play with the elements. This is Sylas's desire."
Sylas's face turned red. She shyly glanced at Xerath, lowering her head and saying, "Don't tease me."
"I'm just giving an example that you can understand." Xerath reached out and touched her head. "And rationality is about overcoming instincts to do what is necessary. For example, under the pressure of a teacher, Sylas can only sit in the library and study because it benefits her career development, although it may not be very fun."
"Well... it's also pretty fun..."
Xerath pursed her nicely shaped lips, revealing a very sincere smile. She touched Sylas's head again and said, "In short, it's something like this. When the animalistic nature of humans takes the upper hand, almost every tribe sincerely idolizes women's breasts and portrays them in an exaggerated way."
"What happened next?"
"Later, it was mainly because people felt they should control these animalistic desires, as they often involve greed and have no limits. Worshiping the chest is actually part of the overall worship of reproduction. The worship of reproduction itself is considered vulgar and promiscuous. I bet those two words didn't exist during the time of worshiping reproduction."
Sylas looked at Xerath's face with that familiar expression of disdain and contempt, and giggled foolishly twice.
"So now, if you rudely stare at someone's chest, people might think you have a great interest in reproductive behavior itself."
Xerath stared into Sylas's eyes, noticing her confusion. "Do you have a question?"
"Um... if I understand correctly, reproduction happens between two different genders, right? I remember reading the explanation of this word in the dictionary..."
Xerath couldn't help but laugh again. She now realized her huge mistake: Sylas had almost no common sense, only... only knowledge, the kind of knowledge that ordinary people never use, but for Sylas, it was almost the same as common sense. But real common sense... she could only look it up in the dictionary.
Maybe it was really time to seriously consider Virgil and Diego's suggestion, to send her into the crowd...
Of course, it wasn't very appropriate to discuss this kind of topic in such a quiet public place, so she had to lower her voice again, with her lips almost touching Sylas's ear.
"Unfortunately, when we talk about 'reproductive behavior', it doesn't always mean the purpose is to have offspring. Sometimes it is simply for the pursuit of pleasure... Don't be curious, please."
Sylas was curious, and she showed a puzzled expression. "What... what kind of pleasure? I really can't understand."
Xerath avoided her eyes and said, "Just try to memorize it. I don't know, I haven't experienced it myself, and I can't explain it further. But for certain reasons, I hope you won't be curious either, especially, don't ask Virgil, promise me."
Astonished, Sylas widened her eyes, not understanding why a simple explanation needed her promise. Xerath's expression was serious and solemn. "I... I..."
"Quickly, say you promise... darn, I shouldn't have told you all this..."
Xerath's gaze avoided Sylas, and she noticed it. She also noticed a faint blush on Xerath's face, even her ears turned slightly red. Apart from making her appear more lively, it didn't have any other effects.
She just looked more beautiful, and something restless in Sylas's chest wanted to break free, just like the phrase "extraordinary and elegant" back then.
"Teacher... I promise, I promise not to be curious about the 'reproductive behavior and pleasure' that you didn't explain clearly just now. I won't ask anyone what it means, especially not Virgil. Don't be like this... don't blame yourself... um... if you don't want to say it, I won't ask anymore..."
Xerath breathed a sigh of relief. "Good girl... thank you. There is one last thing I want to say."
The waiter approached them with a tray and quietly placed down two plates before leaving.
Sylas saw the waiter walk away and whispered, "I'm listening."
Xerath leaned closer to her ear and said, "So it's not limited to happening between opposite sexes."
This undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Sylas's still-forming worldview.
The vibrations caused by the voice continued to tickle her ears, and this time, the indistinct vibrations became much clearer, "So... don't stare at a lady's chest. Alright, my little wild thing?"
"Alright... I have a rough understanding of the cause and effect now."
"Whether you agree or disagree with my viewpoint, you can try to explain this issue from the books in the library, to search for its answer. Things that only exist in thoughts will never violate good manners," Xerath smiled and ruffled her head. "Let's eat, it smells so good. My lasagna, would you like to taste it?"
Sylas looked up with her chubby little face, carefully and expectantly nodded. Xerath used a fork to scoop up a bit, accurately hitting a clump of meat sauce, then slid off a bit of baked cheese, lasagna, meat sauce, and cream, bringing it to Sylas's lips. She watched Sylas eat it, and saw her satisfied expression saying "It's really delicious."
"Is it tasty?"
Sylas covered her mouth and exclaimed, "It's so delicious!"
"The cook here is a local Nislan."
Sylas covered her mouth and struggled to swallow before daring to speak, "Is it human food? It's so tasty, I thought it was made by the Fire Lord!"
"No, the Fire Lord doesn't have the sense of taste like humans. The things they make are precise like experiments, and it's impossible for them to create the kind of local flavors that only 'living creatures' could have." She winked mysteriously, "You have to eat a lot to taste it."
Nislan cuisine mainly consists of stews and baked dishes, which are high in calories and have lots of soup. It's very warming to eat in winter, to the point that Sylas didn't want to wear a coat when leaving the restaurant.
"Put it on quickly, or else you'll get sick." Xerath said as she took the clothes hanging on Sylas's arm, shook them out, and draped them over her. She forced Sylas to extend her arms and helped her button up, even meticulously adjusting the thick collar until Sylas felt warm and cozy.
"But teacher..." Sylas was a bit perplexed.
Xerath glanced at her with cold gray eyes, "What's wrong?"
Sylas didn't dare to say it out loud, but their favorite bookstore was just around the corner!
The two of them going to the bookstore is similar to going to the library, but picking books in the bookstore is much more casual. With the spread of printing technology, the price of printed materials has become cheaper. There are more printed materials available now, but the books Xerath buys are still focused on theoretical research - there are books from various disciplines, such as the aspects of Gu Gaoboren's poetry that she has been recently reading. She also picked some books on vocabulary and the origin of names, and even bought a dictionary.
Sylas went off to somewhere unknown.
While waiting to pay, Xerath idly flipped through the books on the counter. Besides some picture books about nature, Sylas had mixed in a book called "Common Sentence Structures in Water Elemental Spells".
She glanced at Sylas.
"Um..."
There are no books like this at home because Xerath is like a living dictionary herself. She knows almost all the elemental spells, even spells that are not elemental. So there wouldn't be any relevant books in Aimekotes' library, and the reference books Sylas uses are mostly personally chosen by Xerath. She never thought about buying such unofficial reference manuals for Sylas.
The reason there are no reference manuals at home is because Xerath finds books that only talk about shapes and techniques without discussing their meanings to be meaningless.
"The essence of spell-driven elements is the power of meaningful language created when magic words are arranged in a precise and orderly manner. So instead of spending time memorizing incomprehensible incantations, it's better to calm down and learn how to organize this complex and difficult language." Xerath has always taught Sylas like this, while also looking down on those who only rely on reference manuals.
Of course, Sylas knows the consequences if Xerath were to find out: her teacher would leisurely sit in a chair, rest her slender wrist on her chin, and casually sweep her grey eyes over Sylas's face. Beautifully-shaped lips would utter string after string of refined vocabulary, mercilessly mocking her "truly embarrassing" behavior.
But she couldn't, she didn't have any money to secretly buy books for herself. All her money was with Xerath, she didn't have any pocket money.
Darn it, I can't believe I said to Virgil that I don't need money when he asked if I wanted help with the scroll!
At that moment, she heard the archmage hum softly.
It was a hum that wasn't even disdainful, it didn't bother her at all. Xerath hadn't even said anything yet, but she felt like crying. If Xerath had made fun of her, even in front of everyone, at least it would show that Xerath still thought highly of her, that there was hope in their friendship. That's when she would feel truly disappointed.
But she didn't, it didn't bother her at all.
"Have you read it?"
"I... I've read it," she quickly glanced at Xerath, who didn't seem angry but had a strange expression. Her lips slightly curled up with a teasing smile, like mockery, but without any hint of ridicule.
Her eyes were still very gentle, the warm shade of grey was comforting.
Xerath casually flipped through the pages and asked, "Who is the author?"
