The Record of Unusual Creatures

Knowledge did not equate to wisdom, and education did not equate to savvy. Whether it was Y’zaks or Ymir, both of them were experts in the field of soul and mind; their theoretical knowledge of rebirth and memory inheritance were second to none, at least on Earth. But when it came to things that happened to Lily, they had not been able to gain an insight, which was as good as Hao Ren’s.

Lily’s memory loss had nothing to do with the reincarnation of her soul. Instead, it was purely because the First Sage had accidentally chosen the wrong body—a dog, the brain of which was too small for her reincarnation and in the process, the soul of the First Sage had been diluted.

Hao Ren could have described the formula to explain the dilution process during the reincarnation: (genius + idiot) ÷ 2 = Lily.

However, it was obvious that the person in question was not convinced of this sophistry—Lily bit Hao Ren on his arm and made a threatening growl in her throat. She would not let go even though it was setting off sparks in her mouth.

“You know the limit, don’t you?” Hao Ren said, knocking her on the head. “You can’t change the past. Besides, you have accepted the fact that you’re a husky, why can’t you accept the reincarnation?”

Lily let off her bite but still gnashed her teeth. “I accept the reincarnation but just don’t like how you say it! You ask for it!”

Hao Ren scratched his hair and said in his mind, “Who could have thought of a more euphemistic way to say that ‘the First Sage reincarnated as a dog and lost his memory’?”

“Okay, we have now probably figured out the process,” Vivian said, trying to smooth things out. But she was just as unsettled as others and could not help looking at Lily. “Doggie, have you recovered more memories of your previous life?” she asked.

Hao Ren was a little anxious. He could not help but stare at Lily’s eyes, worrying about what would happen if Lily were to regain all the memories of her previous life.

She lived life as the First Sage longer than she did as a husky. The sheer volume of her inherited memory was enough to completely change her in this life. If the memory of the First Sage was restored, would Lily still be Lily? Would she still be the canine maiden whose only concern was eating, who would flinch the moment the cat growled at her?

It was a weird feeling to think of Lily changing from a happy-go-lucky person to becoming the leader of the demon hunters who was bogged down in hatred.

Lily’s brows were knitted together. A moment later, she was frivolous again. “I have a lot of thoughts in my head but it was all fragmented. It is just like watching other’s experiences, I don’t feel like I have changed. Yeah, I don’t feel it. I don’t feel it at all.”

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief though he was still not convinced that those additional memories had not affected her.

“It seems that the process of rebirth has changed her soul structure. As the inheritance is incomplete, she could not identify herself with those additional memories,” Ymir said, his eyes shimmering as he observed the changes in Lily’s brainwaves. “The soul fragments in the Netherrealm Clock Tower have returned to her, but it seems that nothing has changed except the recovery of some bits and pieces of memory.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, Y’zaks suddenly received a message from Lanina.

“What’s wrong?” Hao Ren asked as he noticed that Y’zaks was fiddling with the magic stone, which the demon king used as a communication device.

Y’zaks smiled wryly and waved his magic comm in his hand. “It’s Lanina. The distortion in the Netherrealm Clock Tower is dissipating. Hasse has regained his consciousness.”

As Hao Ren had expected, the Godslayer was the root of all the strange phenomena in the Netherrealm Clock Tower—the weird time lapse, the demon hunters who behaved like walking dead, and the misalignment of the dimensional structure of the tower. The dark energy was the culprit. Now, as the Godslayer had been sealed, the Netherrealm Clock Tower was returning to normal.

It was expected that the captured soldiers of the Council of Elders would gradually wake up in the next few days.

Y’zaks tucked his magic stone device and clapped his hands. “There are a lot of things to deal with. Why not we join Lanina first?” he said.

Hao Ren nodded. But he was bothered by the trouble that awaited him: the civil war in Coldpath had completely deviated from the expected trajectory, the ancient secrets found and the collected information were enough to cause a headache for a long time. Though he could first collect samples of the artifacts of the goddess of creation, he was unsure about what he could do with the demon hunters.

He glanced at Lily and Vivian. The two “sages” immediately looked back at him. Both maidens had a pair of big eyes; one was as calm as water, and the other was shining in frivolousness.

Lily was frivolous. But she was the most important one.

Hao Ren had no idea how to break the truth of the First Sage to the demon hunters. It would be a suicide for him to introduce the werewolf to the leaders of the demon hunters as their ancestor.

“What is in your mind, Mr. Landlord?” Lily did not know the dilemma Hao Ren was facing. The truth had not even affected her emotionally. “The mess is over. Now I’m wondering if the one-eyed old man would be shocked when he finally learned the truth,” she said.

“You do know that these things can be scary, eh?” Hao Ren said, squinted at Lily. “I’m still beating my brains out as to how to wrap things up. The sages are now all dead, the Council of Elders had been crushed, and the entire demon hunter organization is in disarray. So I guess it is not the right time to break the news of you to them.”

“It is breakdown therapy,” Lily said, wagging her tail, her face indifferent as if she did not realize that she was the crux of the problem. “Whatever decision you make, I will support you,” she said.

Hao Ren thought for a moment, feeling that he had better not to discuss this hard question with the husky.

Everyone except Hao Ren and Vivian headed to the ballroom to meet Lanina.

“Is there anything else I can help you?” Ymir said in a flat voice while he looked at Hao Ren and Vivian.

Hao Ren had noticed that after telling everyone about what happened in the past, the skull of the giant appeared a lot older as if the spiritual goal that had been keeping him alive had suddenly gone. He could no longer hide the weariness and turbidity in his eyes.

“Thank you,” Vivian said to Ymir, breaking the silence and thanking this old friend whom she could not remember. “Thank you for telling us this, and thank you for your perseverance over the years. It was not easy to hold up in the face of the whisper from the sword,” she said.

“You’re welcome, old friend,” Ymir said, closing his eyes slightly. “I’m just doing what I want to do. I am not interested in all the conflicts in this world, whether it was Odin in the past, the demon hunters, or whoever is in charge of the world today — they are not important to me. I just want to live a peaceful life. Since Wisdom Spring has dried up, I’d make the Netherrealm Clock Tower my new home. Hope that this place would not be destroyed again.”

Ymir paused for a moment. He opened his eyes and look at Vivian. “Of course, I am very happy to see you. I didn’t expect you to come here and save the day, because I was not convinced of the unreliable predictions of Beetholis. But here you are. This is probably the only good news since the last thousands of years,” he said.

“He is the one who has saved the day,” Vivian said, shaking her head and pushing Hao Ren forward. “I am helping out him now. He is a friend, a very good friend.”

Ymir was surprised and finally showing some animation on his face.

Ymir had always thought that Vivian was the lead personality and Hao Ren was just her helper in the whole incident. But it turned that it was the other way round.

“Old friend, this is unlike your style,” Ymir said, his eyes wide. “When have you submitted to people? Is he filthy rich or dirt poor?” he asked.

The old giant could only think of these two types of person who could withstand Vivian’s contagious bad luck.

“It’s complicated,” Vivian said, arcing her mouth. “We are not here for this. Hao Ren, please.”

Hao Ren nodded. He then looked at Ymir and said, “Giant, do you know where you’re from?”