Chapter 147: The Surprised Isadoro

George deliberately spoke in a goofy tone, “Chaos Great Peng? I don’t know what this name means, but it sounds really power ful just hearing it.”

“Uh! It looks similar in shape, but it seems not to be the same. At least there are big differences in color and size. The so-called Chaos Great Peng looks like a large eagle, covered from head to tail with brilliant feathers that shine with a rainbow-like light. This creature is 90 feet long from beak to tail, and its wingspan can reach 240 feet. Chaos Great Peng likes to attack while flying, but before trying to snatch prey into the air, they often use their rainbow light spray ability to blind their targets. The other damage effects from this spray just make their snatching process easier.” Isadoro immediately told George some detailed information. There was no hesitation at all, and even his speaking style became very formal.

“Why is your way of speaking so fast? Are you just reading from some source material?” George asked back, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

George’s words made the other person start a long lecture: “If you want to find that book, I advise you not to waste your time and energy. This is information I got from the Druidic Order of the Druids’ Forest Watchers. The content inside is all recorded on special leaves treated with Magic, and they are not bound into a book. Otherwise, even though I met a few Chaos Great Pengs during my travels, do you think I could get such detailed information in such a short time?”

George, feeling overwhelmed by the other’s words, immediately changed the topic: “The size difference is way too big! How can they be the same kind of creature?”

“There are quite a few subspecies similar to the Chaos Great Peng in the Multiverse! This one seems to be a subspecies created in a derivative Plane where the Air Element Plane and Water Element Plane meet.” Isadoro’s words carried a very proud tone, as if he had won a battle.

It seemed like a switch had been flipped in George’s mind, and before the other person finished speaking, he interrupted: “Don’t you group all creatures that look alike into one category, and then divide them into different subspecies based on their characteristics?”

“What’s wrong with that? Human Mage scholars also classify them this way. Didn’t you know about this before?” Isadoro answered with a very strong questioning tone, as if he thought George should have known this by default.

If possible, George really wanted to knock on the other person’s head. He could imagine that if the other person had a physical body here, they would definitely be rolling their eyes at him! This made him speak angrily: “This is knowledge that has nothing to do with my work or life. Is there a problem if I don’t know it? But it’s such a simple and rough classification standard! They can even put creatures with ten times the size difference and almost no shared abilities into the same species.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but this is not my achievement. Although I don’t know which race first proposed this classification method, isn’t it very convenient to use?” Hearing George’s words, the other person actually seemed a bit embarrassed.

This feeling of punching cotton made George feel very uncomfortable. It made his words carry a slight hint of emotion: “Where exactly did you think my words just now were a compliment?”

However, George immediately changed his tone and acted like he was willing to learn: “Then please explain the knowledge about species classification in detail! I have never found systematic books on this topic!”

“Explaining this content will take a long time. Young man, you seem to be very busy, right?” Isadoro said hesitantly.

George spoke very casually: “Time? Although my schedule is full, at least today I don’t lack time.”

As if he had received a promise, Isadoro seemed to change into a different person and started talking: “Okay, I don’t lack time either! Although I am not a Brass Dragon, it feels nice to chat with humans sometimes. Unlike those Shamans and Druids, you don’t kick people away after every transaction is done…”

Under Isadoro’s explanation, George finally gained a relatively deep and systematic understanding of the world’s biological classification system. Before George transmigrated, the most popular system for classifying creatures was the Five Kingdom System. First, based on the presence or absence of a nuclear membrane, creatures were divided into Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes. Prokaryotes formed one kingdom. Eukaryotes were further divided based on the number of cells. Some organisms made of single cells or multicellular structures were classified into the Protist Kingdom. The remaining multicellular Eukaryotes were divided into the Plant Kingdom, Fungi Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom based on their nutrition types.

However, although this Five Kingdom System reflected three stages of biological evolution and three branches of the multicellular stage, making it a classification with both vertical and horizontal dimensions, it did not include viruses, which are non-cellular forms. Also, the Protist Kingdom was very complex, including all protozoa and all eukaryotic algae except red algae, brown algae, and green algae, covering different animals and plants. But in this world, some of these were not classified into two categories! In this world, lichens were still considered plants. Fortunately, the discovery of corals more than 50 years ago made them ‘evolve’ from animals to plants.

Following the mainstream system from that world, the next level of classification was the Taxonomic Hierarchy, usually including seven main levels: Species, Genus, Family, Order, Class, Phylum, and Kingdom. Species is the basic unit. Closely related species are grouped into a Genus. Closely related Genera are grouped into a Family. Families belong to an Order. Orders belong to a Class. Classes belong to a Phylum. Phyla belong to a Kingdom.

As research progressed, the classification levels increased. Secondary units could be added above or below the main units, such as Superclass, Subclass, Infraclass, Superorder, Suborder, Infraorder, Superfamily, Subfamily, etc. Additionally, new units could be added, such as Division, Group, Tribe, Series, etc., with Tribe being the most common, located between Subfamily and Genus.

In terms of the complexity and detail of classification, the world before George transmigrated was far superior to this current world by more than two streets. However, regarding the explanation of subspecies, the two seemed to have a similar effect.

Taxonomy uses facts to show that every species has its own unique characteristics, and no two species are exactly the same. Each species also maintains a series of inherited characteristics, which determine its classification status in Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, and Genus, and reflect its evolutionary history. The basic content of classification work is to distinguish species and group species. The former is species-level and infraspecific classification, while the latter is supraspecific classification. The concept of population improved species-level classification and refined infraspecific classification. Its key point was to replace varieties with subspecies. Subspecies generally refer to geographical subspecies, which are geographical differentiations of populations, having certain distinguishing characteristics and distribution ranges. Subspecies classification reflects species differentiation and highlights the spatial concept of species.

In this world, the classification of subspecies was actually mostly about geographical differentiation as well, but their regional differences were even more obvious and the differentiation was more thorough. Just like the difference between Fire Naga and normal Naga. If we used Earth’s terminology, these two creatures had nothing in common except their appearance. But in this world, the more they belonged to the same species, the more this was true not only in the common people’s perception but also in their own minds.

‘I wonder why those books always felt weird and off before. It turns out the problem was right here! The whole system is different, so it’s no wonder the text descriptions and explanations felt awkward to me!’ George explained some of his past confusion in his mind.

After a long time of speaking without any response from George, Isadoro made a sound that seemed a bit angry: “Did you really listen to me just now? Were you spacing out or daydreaming?”

“Of course! I listened carefully to everything you said before. But after you stopped, I couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.” This time, George honestly gave the other person the complete truth.

Having understood the situation, Isadoro couldn’t help but complain: “This behavior makes you feel more like a Mage than a Knight.”

George couldn’t help but retort: “This is just a matter of personal personality. So, can you give me the specific information about the Chaos Great Peng that is left?”

“Actually, for many people, it is a giant predatory bird so large that it is almost unbelievable. As far as I know, they mainly prey on large animals such as cows, horses, or even rhinos and elephants. This huge bird lives in giant nests woven from whole trees. They prefer to build nests high on mountain peaks to stay away from other large creatures, such as Giant Eagles, Dragons, and even other Chaos Great Pengs. This lifestyle ensures that there is no too fierce competition for predators in a certain area. Usually, Chaos Great Pengs hunt within 10 miles of their own nests. However, this area is a bit too far north, so they shouldn’t exist here. After all, Chaos Great Pengs are not very adaptable to cold weather.” Isadoro once again showed his talkative nature in front of George.

After listening to all the introductions about the other creature, George directly came to this conclusion: “In fact, if such a creature appeared in our country, the Lords would definitely organize people to hunt it. Just based on its size, its appetite would definitely be a huge threat. No matter whose Territory it is, it would cause heavy losses to the Lord, even assuming that the creature doesn’t eat humans.”

“Is that so? Records of Chaos Great Pengs eating humans seem to be very few. In fact, unless they have no other choice, few carnivores put humans on their menu. After all, in terms of meat quantity, humans are very poor, and I haven’t heard that their taste is good. Moreover, the risk of hunting your kind of social, intelligent creatures is also very high. Unless it is truly unavoidable, no Magical Beast or Fey Creature would do such a thing. We are all very smart and won’t do something that is hard work with no reward.” Isadoro actually talked about the topic of eating humans enthusiastically in front of George.

Although this was a connection in the spiritual world, George’s real physical face probably turned quite ugly: “Can you not talk about this topic in front of a Human?”

Isadoro laughed awkwardly: “It’s a habit! It’s a habit! Every time I chat with those guys, we always mention that idiot being wiped out by Humans for eating people. Where were we talking about? The strength of the Chaos Great Peng is very powerful. It is at least a Legend creature. Although the variety of its methods is pitifully small, it is not so easy to wipe out while flying in the sky.”

“A Legend? That is much stronger than you.” George finally found an opportunity to tease Isadoro.

This time Isadoro seemed a bit flustered and angry: “In this aspect, you have no qualification to talk to me. By the way, how do you know about the Chaos Great Peng if you haven’t even seen one? Especially since it is a rare hybrid subspecies of Wind and Water on the Prime Material Plane.”

It seemed that this really hit the other person’s sore spot. This natural hierarchy suppression was very clear. Especially since Isadoro had said he had briefly met a few Chaos Great Pengs. In George’s opinion, this must mean that after entering the other person’s territory, he was driven away with just a glance!

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t have summoned you. Do you think my Spiritual Power and Physical Spiritual Qi are free?” George’s words clearly showed his dissatisfaction with Isadoro. Anyone who was not a fool could hear it.

Isadoro seemed to compromise a bit, and his words became much softer: “Let me think about this situation carefully.”

After a while, the other person said: “If it is a problem with the Essence Spirits, I need to observe them carefully.”

“Okay, you can do whatever you want with this.” George agreed directly. Because he knew his defense system in his Sea of Consciousness, even a True God could not easily get information. As for safety in other aspects, there was no need to say more. If he was defeated on a spiritual level, George would have no face to call himself a cultivator.

“Three Essence Spirits! You actually have three Essence Spirits. Wait, two of them are types I have never seen or even heard of before. How did you manage to do this? This is truly a miracle.” Isadoro’s scream suddenly came into George’s mind.

George, getting a bit impatient with the other person’s sudden shock, quickly responded: “Have you figured out what’s going on? Don’t turn your attention to things unrelated to today’s goal!”

Knowing his partner seemed to be really angry, Isadoro quickly replied: “Okay! Then let me see! Uh, to be honest, the Essence Spirits I gave you have grown very well. In a way, they have grown too well.”

“What’s wrong with growing well? Essence Spirits need to be watered with Spiritual Energy and Physical Spiritual Qi. Compared to those Shamans or Druids, I think the former is not inferior to those with equal strength among them; and for the latter, I don’t think they can be compared to me, a Knight.” On this point, George still showed the confidence he should have.

“Okay, there is no precedent in this aspect. So the result shown is indeed surprising to me.” Isadoro suddenly seemed to be hit by something, stopping for five or six seconds before speaking again: “Wait! Wait! Hit me so I can confirm if my senses are wrong.”

Feeling that the other person might have really discovered something, George decided to let that guy calm down first: “Get your state clear first? You are just in a manifested state here. Without a physical body, do you want me to use a mental shock?”

“Okay, it was just a joke. You have no sense of humor at all. If you go on like this, you definitely won’t find a mate.” Isadoro started to cover up his previous loss of composure.

“Alright! This is not something you need to worry about. Tell me, what did you actually discover?” George also felt there was no need to expose him in this regard. After all, it is better to leave a little room for future meetings.

Isadoro seemed a bit stunned, repeating similar words: “This is a miracle, you know? It is a miracle.”

“Stop saying ‘miracle, miracle’ all the time. Can’t you say something specific?” George was really getting a bit impatient with the other person this time.

Isadoro also knew that his previous behavior was not quite in line with his identity: “You know? Your Essence Spirits are receiving information streams from the outside world and using them to evolve themselves.”

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem here?” George didn’t quite understand where the problem was.

“Do you think there is no problem here? I have never heard of such a situation before! The surprise you brought me today is much more than what I have received in the past year.” Isadoro’s words showed great excitement!

Although he had some guesses in his heart, George decided to ask clearly: “Be specific! What exactly is the problem?”

“Everything! I have never seen an Essence Spirit change like this.” Isadoro said very definitely.

George was stunned by the other person’s words, then he opened his mouth to respond: “Isn’t this a normal phenomenon? Otherwise, how would my Essence Spirits grow inside me?”

“Who told you this is a normal phenomenon!” Isadoro asked very urgently.