From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 431 Ireke's Nursery
"Did you hear anything?" As the adventure team, completely disguised as Githyanki, entered the underground space of the Rosemary Monastery, Evil Thought suddenly frowned and asked, "The inhabitants of the Astral Prism are urging us to turn back."

“Chk (Giseyanki: tsk), laughable. Hiding cowards are not to be trusted!” Lyezal had already placed his hand on the door leading to the basement. “He is indeed using some unknown force to protect our brains, but only by completely eliminating the Mind Flayer tadpoles can we escape our controlled fate! I'm going down there no matter what, whether you follow or not!”

“We’re just one step away from victory, and we really have no reason to back down.” Asdalon straightened his cuffs and followed in Leezer’s footsteps.

Without further hesitation, the team members descended the stairs and entered the basement of the Guichen Monastery.

By this time, the sun had completely set, and the main structure of the monastery, devoid of any signs of human activity, was completely dark. However, the monastery's basement was still illuminated by firelight.

Unlike the main hall, which had suffered multiple collapses, the basement was structurally intact and had clearly been carefully maintained.

The gold paint used to decorate the pillars still reflects the light emanating from the braziers, and although the painted murals on the stone walls have faded, they still offer a glimpse into the superb skills of the craftsmen of the past.

In this basement, the first thing the adventure team saw was a long passageway, which seemed to be the only entrance into the underground space.

Several guards stood on both sides of the passageway, wearing the same silver armor as the adventure team.

When the artisans of the Guichen Monastery built this passageway, they also constructed separate side rooms on both sides to store supplies and provisions.

But now, the Gisyanki have turned the two rooms into a prison cell and a guardhouse.

"Sentries, take up your weapons!" Upon seeing the sudden appearance of a large group of Gisyanki compatriots, the wary guards, still following the prompting of a female guard with a mohawk, raised their weapons. "Istik (Gisyanki for stranger). State your purpose!"

“Put down your weapons, loyal gish (Gishyanki: skilled), Vlaakith gha'g shkath zai! (Gishyanki: For the glory of Vlaakith!)” Leezel spread his arms, releasing his goodwill, while uttering a string of words containing a lot of voiced and unvoiced consonants, which sounded similar to Ivy’s Parsley.

The Mohican guard, whom Leezel called an expert, gestured for his companions behind him to lower their guard, while glancing questioningly at the large Githyanki squad: "Shkath zai. (Githyanki: Glory of Velakis.) We haven't heard of any visitors, fellow countrymen. Why are you here?"

“We are looking for zaih'isk (Gysyanki: Zaih'isk Purifier). Lead the way.” Leezel said calmly, as if he were talking about something trivial.

However, the captain of the guard opposite her thought differently.

The guard captain took a half step back, and asked in shock, "You're infected?"

Then she shook her head: "Ghaik slaves just need to be eradicated, there's no need to reason with them!"

“Believers can be purified. This is the tenet of Vairakis,” Leezel said firmly.

Faced with the Queen's title, the captain of the guard had no choice but to compromise. After uttering a curse in the typical Githyanki language, he still pointed out the location of the treatment room in the nursery to the team: "Let ghustil (Githyanki: medical officer) help you fulfill your destiny. But be careful! The Irelia Nursery will be watching you!"

The two guards standing behind the captain of the guard helped the squad push open the next oak door. The scene behind the door was nothing special, just several passageways surrounding the pillar.

Apart from the Gisyanki people whose architecture seemed out of place with the Los Angeles church, everything here seemed too ordinary.

The Githyanki did not make many local modifications to the nursery. Apart from a few high-ranking warriors who wore silver armor from the Astral Plane, the others adopted local attire, at most adorning their chests with some silver sequins to show that their preferences were not much different from their Astral counterparts.

“This isn’t right!” Leizer whispered to Ivy. “This nursery is too lax; they didn’t even bother to check our identities further… But whatever the case, that’s not what we should be concerned about right now.”

“Because other people came to the nursery,” Ivy glanced at the two Gisyanke youths who were whispering at the other end of the corridor, “I heard the word ‘Inquisitor’.”

“The Inquisitor?” Leezel’s breath hitched, then a fanatical expression appeared on his face. “The great Queen of Vairakis has projected her own will into this tiny incubator! But I still have Ghaik larvae in my brain, otherwise I would have volunteered to join the Inquisitor’s ranks!”

Leizer continued walking towards the treatment room, but after a few steps, she turned back and looked at Ivy with an inquisitive expression: "You can understand our language? How is that possible?"

“Not only can I understand it, I can speak it too,” Ivy answered Lyezal’s question in Gisyanki. “You guys go to the treatment room. I need to wander around and figure out why your queen sent an inquisitor. Is a red dragon knight like Voss really not enough to complete her mission?”

“I…” Lyezal hesitated for a moment. Hearing Ivy’s words, she realized that the inquisitors sent by Vyrakis were very likely after the Astral Prism in the hands of the evil spirit. If she had gained mental freedom in the treatment room of the Irek Orphanage, then there was clearly no reason for her to continue traveling with the team.

From birth until now, she has been taught to be loyal to any order of the Queen. Acting with a group of foreigners can be considered a stopgap measure when there are mind flayer tadpoles in her mind, but if this common threat disappears, the alliance between the squads will obviously become extremely fragile.

“After we’ve cleared the Mind Flayer tadpoles from our minds, I will personally demonstrate to the Inquisitors and Queen Vairakis that the Church of the Supreme God, which is using Mind Flayer tadpoles to control even more people, is the most pressing threat right now.” Leezel stared intently into Ivy’s eyes. “Our alliance will not end here, I assure you.”

“As far as I know, the Gith Yankees have no allies other than Tiamat’s red dragon,” Ivy chuckled. “But I’m willing to trust you, Lyezal, and to trust the honor of a Gith Yankee warrior.”

“I fight only for the glory of Queen Verakis… I would have said that before… but the air and sunlight of Faerûn are making me weak…” Lyezal’s expression was indescribable, perhaps because the weak facial muscles of a Githyanki weren’t strong enough to support such complex emotions. She turned her head and strode towards the door leading to the treatment room. “Chk (Githyanki: tsk). Anyway, I won’t betray you until you betray me…”

A Giese Yankee exuding unnecessary elegance stopped in front of Ivy as he passed by. It was Asdalon in disguise: "Leezel... Is she shy? God... If I weren't so uninterested in her type, I'd ask you how you did it. Anyway, it seems our team has avoided a loss. See you later, Ivy, and remember to tell me what new fun you've had in this nursery."

After the rest of the adventure team turned into the left-hand passage, Ivy stopped at the fork in the road.

Behind the semi-circular steps is a space deliberately left by the monks, which was originally intended to hang a portrait of Losanda himself, or a portrait of his Dawn Ruler.

But now, a portrait of Vilakis is hanging on the wall.

The painter did his best to show Vairakis's strength as a warrior, as well as her imperial demeanor.

Ivy saw all of this, but she despised her behavior even more.

Because Ivy knew perfectly well that Vellakis wasn't a warrior at all, but an ambitious usurper. The Githyanki's potential was undeniable, but under her leadership, they were reduced to a bunch of unproductive astral pirates. Her methods of rule were utterly laughable.

After examining it closely for a few moments, Ivy discovered a subtle symbol in the corner of the painting. It depicted the shape of a comet, with the head and tail outlined in simple strokes.

"Orpheus, the Prince of Comets." Ivy couldn't think of anyone else who would use this symbol besides the name of this Githyanki prisoner.

“Even if the judges of Vellakis were to personally convey her will, it would be difficult to guarantee that the nursery would be filled with her own supporters.” Thinking of this, Ivy’s opinion of Vellakis dropped even further.

He shook his head and turned into the other direction at the fork in the road.

Pushing open the flimsy wooden door, a strong, acidic odor wafted out. This was the Gisyanki incubation ground.

The walls that originally belonged to the monastery have disappeared, replaced by rock pillars and an artificial waterfall brought in from an underground river. The area has been expanded into an artificial lake filled with strong acid.

Ivy's arcane vision swept across the lake, noticing several traps and protective measures constructed with magic.

“Watch your step, people,” a warrior standing on the bank of the acid pool said to Ivy, his tone much gentler than Leezel’s usual style.

It seems that Leezer is not the only one affected by the "weak atmosphere" of Faerûn.

“Our hatcheries have all the deadliest security measures in place—I don’t want to see you and them have any kind of sparks going on,” the soldier protecting the hatchery continued.

But aside from the acid mist floating above the pool and the horribly corroded kobold corpses in the iron cages, Ivy didn't see a single Githyanki egg in the lake.

Seemingly sensing Ivy's question, the warrior continued, "Most of the eggs have hatched, but only one hasn't yet, and our caretaker, Koku, is looking after it. You can go talk to him if you'd like. But don't go near that egg, lest we have some conflict."

Following his directions, Ivy saw a middle-aged, bald Gisyanki man squatting on a stone platform, shouting words of encouragement at the pool below.

Such as "Come out and fight for Velakis with your brothers and sisters."

If this is the method used by foster parents to help incubate their children, then publishing a few self-help books or motivational literature books would certainly be helpful as well.

No wonder the Githyanki are so loyal to Vairakis; their loyalty has been brainwashed since they were still in the eggs.

Strange to say.

The Giese Yankees, still in their egg form, can resist the corrosive effects of strong acid, even turning this dangerous acidic environment into a necessary condition for hatching. However, once they hatch, the Giese Yankees are exposed to the strong acid again.

They would even create special boots to resist the acidic surface. Ivy's arcane vision recognized the boots on the caretaker's feet as magical artifacts.

Ivy remembered that when they were setting up camp, Gale and Leezel discussed the unique reproductive methods of the Gisyanki.

That's right, the conversation started with Leizer's sexy belly button. Kara's comments on Leizer's leather underwear were also interspersed throughout.

Lyezal didn't know how this process happened, only that after the Githyanki destroyed the Mind Flayer Empire and settled in the Astral Plane, their reproductive method changed to oviparous.

In her view, this method of asexual reproduction has many advantages: it avoids the potential risks of pregnancy and allows one to fully enjoy sexual pleasure.

The cost is nothing more than inefficient family units.

Could this be considered a form of socialized parenting?

Ivy had no intention of exploring social systems, but she developed a strong interest in studying the Gisyanke eggs.

In a sense, the cloning technique he mastered can also be considered a form of asexual reproduction. Similar to parthenogenesis in the past on Earth, it creates a genetic copy of the original organism.

The Gisyanki, who also reproduce asexually, only need one egg-laying person to produce a large number of eggs waiting to hatch. These eggs, in turn, can hatch into Gisyanki people with diverse and varied characteristics.

This is something that deserves a lot of study, and Ivy even thinks it already has the characteristics of an interstellar race.

Relying on this convenient feature, the Githyanki originally had the potential to unify the astral plane, but under the leadership of Vairakis, they turned into a bunch of pirates.

If Ivy can figure out its underlying logic, it might be able to replicate it on other organisms.

Imagine, asexually reproducing unicorns, fire dragons, and thunderbirds? He could even command an army of monsters!

Without further hesitation, Ivy leaped to the side of the caretaker, Koku.

The caretaker in the Ireke nursery had already put in too much effort into this egg, and when he turned around, Ivy saw deep exhaustion on his face.

Verakis ordered all the nurseries to destroy any eggs that had taken too long to hatch, and the nursery officers, who had been resisting for some time, were about to give in.

Ivy thought this would be an easy negotiation.

(End of this chapter)