Chapter 425 – Elves or Merfolk

Mo Lan said she wasn’t very interested in finding a partner anymore, but she still joined her companions in thoroughly appreciating the illustrations of handsome men from various races in the 《Anatomical Appreciation Atlases》.

While they were at it, she took the opportunity to explain the advantages and disadvantages of these different races’ physical attributes from the perspective of how witches reproduce with each one, lecturing Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph on the subject.

The three of them clearly still very much wanted to find a partner willing to sign a Wilds Covenant, just like their mothers had, and bear little witches together.

“I prefer someone like an Elf — fair skin, delicate features, a slender and tall figure, elegant and gentle in temperament. Someone just like my father would be perfect,” Sylph said. “Merfolk aren’t bad either. I’ve heard that Merfolk are very gentle with their partners too.”

“Elves are primarily about spiritual love — they don’t care much about physical pleasures. You need to think that through carefully,” Mo Lan said.

“What do you mean they don’t care about physical pleasures?” Lilith asked curiously.

“Well, Elves are a humanoid race, and their anatomy is quite similar to humans. You all know that, right?”

Mo Lan waited until she saw them nod before continuing:

“Whether male or female, Elves have all the reproductive organs they should have.

But because they’ve relied on the Tree of Life to bear offspring for so long, and many of them have a cleanliness obsession about their bodies and dislike deep physical contact, their reproductive organs have atrophied.

Female Elves have already lost the ability to carry little Elves in their wombs.

Male Elves still retain some reproductive capability, but they can only possibly impregnate human women and witches.

And that’s merely impregnation — male Elves cannot provide the physical pleasures that come with the rest of the reproductive process.”

“So basically they can’t perform?” Lilith shook her head repeatedly. “Sylph, listen to me — let’s not find an Elf as a partner! Just hearing about it, they sound anemic and lacking in vitality — not a shred of masculine charm!”

Sylph felt like her entire worldview had just been shattered. “Then what about Merfolk? Moira, how are the Merfolk?”

“Merfolk are the opposite of Elves. Merfolk have human upper bodies and fish tails, and they don’t need much spiritual resonance with their partners — they value physical compatibility above all else.

That’s why Merfolk are all about appearances. Love at first sight is something that constantly happens among Merfolk.

However, Merfolk aesthetics are actually quite different from ours. Traditional Merfolk judge beauty by the lower body — that is, the tail. Races like us who have no tail, no scales, and walk on two legs are considered very ugly in their eyes.

Only a minority of Merfolk have aesthetic preferences focused on the upper body, and they’re the ones who might fall in love with humans, witches, Elves, and other races whose upper bodies resemble theirs.

But even these aesthetic outliers among Merfolk still place great importance on physical pleasures with their partners.

If you found a Merfolk partner, he would probably be extremely clingy, wanting to reproduce with you every waking moment…” Mo Lan said.

This time it was Sylph who felt she couldn’t accept it. “Absolutely not! Physical pleasures are fleeting — spiritual compatibility is what matters most!”

“I think that sounds pretty good, actually! They sound like they’ve got plenty of vigor and stamina!” Lilith said, stroking her chin.

The more Mo Lan listened, the more something felt off. “Lilith, are you researching partners or researching blood-drawing subjects? Since when is ‘vigor’ an important criterion?”

“Of course it’s important! How can my partner not provide me with blood for my research?” Lilith declared with absolute conviction.

“Drawing a bit of blood isn’t that hard. With Moira around, once she’s collected enough blood samples, if you want blood from other races, you can just buy cards from the Card Shop, can’t you? If you ask me, rather than worrying about whether they have enough vigor or can provide blood materials, what matters most is whether they can be a competent assistant.”

Vasida said, “I think undead servants are quite good. You can customize whatever build and appearance you want, and the key thing is that undead servants will truly put their lives on the line when it counts! Raise them into Corpse Clan and once they develop a soul, they become even smarter and can take care of our daily needs!”

“You two are the pot calling the kettle black — your ideas are both equally outrageous!” Mo Lan said irritably.

She suddenly felt there was no need for her to take this so seriously!

Her companions were quite rational about love, but their views on partners were still an utter mess — they understood nothing.

They were supposed to be discussing which race was most suitable as a witch’s partner. Only Sylph’s description actually sounded like she was talking about a partner. What on earth were Lilith and Vasida going on about? One was evaluating partners by the standards of a blood thrall, and the other by the standards of a servant. What was the point?

“Moira, do you know how witches and the Corpse Clan produce the next generation? Was I made from my father’s bones and my mother’s blood and flesh?” Vasida asked curiously. “I noticed this book doesn’t even have anatomical diagrams or descriptions for the Corpse Clan!”

Mo Lan actually did know this — she’d been curious about it too and had specifically looked into it.

“Remember this well, all of you: every little witch is carried in her witch mother’s womb for ten months and then born. The pregnancy process is basically the same as for human women.

The only difference is that during pregnancy, a witch’s magical power suddenly decreases, but her physical constitution temporarily strengthens.

This is true no matter what race the father belongs to!”

Mo Lan continued:

“As for Corpse Clan partners, there’s currently only the single case of Lady Ginia, so very few books on reproduction mention it. But your mother’s copy of 《How to Raise an Undead Servant Companion》 does cover it.

When a zombie’s spiritual nature grows strong enough for it to develop a soul and become Corpse Clan, it undergoes a death-to-‘life’ transition — its reproductive organs also gain vitality, giving it reproductive capability from that point on.

Whatever reproductive organs you craft for it will determine how you produce the next generation.

Humanoid reproductive organs are recommended, as they result in less pain and more pleasure during the reproductive process.

Actually, in my opinion, if you’re considering reproductive pleasure, the human body is the most compatible with witches — after all, we witches originate from human women whose bloodline awakened.”

“Then I’ll just use human corpse materials to make the reproductive organs!” Vasida said. “Oh right, I wonder if Mama made reproductive organs for egg fried rice! Let me check…”

Seeing Vasida reach into her Spatial Card to pull out egg fried rice’s coffin, Mo Lan hurriedly said, “Wait — let’s set up camp first, and then you can look!”

“The Black Forest is saturated with Death Force everywhere. Burrowing Mushrooms can’t adapt to it either! How are we supposed to set up camp?” Sylph asked.

For the past few days, the group had been relying on meditation to restore their energy, without ever setting up camp to rest properly.

Mo Lan first had Lilith fly their flying carpet up to a higher, safer altitude, then took out her own flying carpet.

After placing the two flying carpets side by side, there was enough space to set up a tent, with just enough room left for the four of them to squeeze together standing.

Mo Lan took out her tent and set it up. “See? This works just fine! Though for now, we’ll all have to share one tent.”