The Record of Unusual Creatures

Compared to the fascinating Netherrealm Clock Tower or the Stellar Spire, Anthony’s mage tower was more rudimentary and was only less than half the size of the Netherrealm Clocktower. The design was more “practical.” The gray exterior and the lack of lines on the spires made it look like an ordinary castle bell tower. The only place that stood out was the shape of the tower. It was forked at the top while its lower part was straight. Each fork had its own independent apex. This made it look very unstable though, in reality, it was as sturdy as an oak tree.

Except for those weird spires, there was nothing special about the mage tower. But the simple appearance did not mean that this place was simple: Anthony’s tower was built of white stones, which was held up together by a mixture of fine gold and mithril. These metals were enough to buy up a small kingdom on the continent, but the tower had stood here for a hundred years and yet no one dared to come to steal the precious metals.

There were those who had tried to steal, but these people were now buried under the Great Wooden Wall of Grandia nourishing the forest of the Elven Kingdom.

The old magician did not use the precious metals as cement for the look. In fact, these magical metals cast into the gaps of the stones were excellent magic conductors. They were extremely efficient in conducting the power of the magician while at the same time facilitated the many daily magic studies. Anthony was a powerful and knowledgeable royal court magician before he became an inspector. Studying the mysteries of magic and stars was his greatest hobby. After becoming an inspector, he certainly had the opportunity to continue his research. The old magician used different identity on a different planet in the Chattar galaxy. Sometimes he was a mysterious prophet, sometimes a royal court magician of a particular kingdom, and sometimes a quirky but revered master. But more often than not, he was an elusive hermit. No matter what identity he used, he would build a mage tower on wherever he went, just like this one.

This was his habit while still being a commoner.

The mage tower was not as creepy as people thought. In fact, other than those scary magical creatures and arcane phenomena, the tower was brightly lit. Hao Ren could see the walls of the tower were glowing in a dim light of blue or green, which was the halo effect of the magic metals in the gaps of the stones when catalyzed by the arcane environment. Anthony Alfonso was very proud of his creation. He introduced his creation while bringing them into the tower. “I spent three hundred years on improving this traditional structure. I got my inspiration from the Simulated Nervous Fiber Net technology from another world and wrapped the entire tower with a three-dimensional energy mesh. These wires and the magic energy conduit embedded in the stone wall could transmit energy like blood vessels transporting blood and nerves transmitting signals and turned the tower into a giant antenna to communicate with my bases on other planets. But I’m embarrassed to say that many basic technologies and resources were given to me by the goddess. There is a limit to what man could do. But guys like us, who neither grow old nor die, could achieve anything as long as time permits.”

“You are so much more hardworking than I am.” Hao Ren rubbed his head. “I am not a tech person.”

“Don’t belittle yourself. Many people are looking up to you. Your ability has put many inspectors to shame,” Anthony Alfonso said. “And I’m sure that your understanding of divinity is definitely better than mine. I have been an inspector for thousands of years and yet never dared to fiddle with any divine artifacts. I heard that you have a lot of supernatural stuff in your house. You even dare to dissect the demigod in the lab, which is something I would not have the guts to do in my entire life.”

Twitching his mouth, Hao Ren said to himself that he too was not really willing to deal with those dangerous things. But what choice had he got?

“Tell me about Yggdrasil.” Hao Ren steered the topic away. “How is it now?”

“I have never encountered creature like the First Born. But according to my observation, his condition is stable. Perhaps he is exhausted; he is reticent now.” Anthony Alfonso said while walking up the long spiral staircase and stroking his beard. “I have a magician’s hut in space. An apprentice in the hut had captured the footage of the arrival of that ‘thing.’ Poor kid, it must have scared the hell out of him.”

They walked up the spiral staircase and passed through a ballroom and two unknown laboratories. The upper level seemed to be more spacious. It was not known if it was just an illusion, Hao Ren found that the higher he went, the more spacious it became. It was as if the tower was an inverted cone, but it was not.

He suspected that this was the effect of a particular spatial expansion inside the tower.

At last, they came to a round hall that was almost as wide as a football field. The hall had stained glass all over and dome made of obsidian. The dark and massive dome looked depressing though. On the obsidian dome were moving light spots, which were like stars in the sky or spotlights shone on the vault. But upon careful observation, they appeared like lights that flashed from inside the obsidian. Galazur said, “This is Anthony Alfonso’s observatory.”

“I said before that I used an astral barrier to temporarily shield Yggdrasil to prevent people from being spooked by it. So this is the entrance to the astral barrier.” Anthony Alfonso’s voice reverberated in the round hall. As his voice trailed off, a dark shadow appeared at a corner of the hall before it quickly formed into a petite girl, who looked pale. The girl glanced at Hao Ren with a curious look, and then silently floated up to Anthony like a ghost.

“Teacher,” the girl greeted respectfully. “The Star Orbit Disc has been commissioned.”

“This is Aylu, a student I received more than 30 years ago. She is responsible for maintaining the star-gazing platform here,” Anthony Alfonso said. “I must say that there are not many students who can complete the studies. You have seen the runaway smatterer, so don’t underestimate Aylu. Aylu, this is Mr. Hao Ren I have mentioned to you. He is a colleague of mine. These are his friends.”

At first, Aylu was curious. When she heard Hao Ren’s name, she stepped back instinctively as if something terrible had crossed her mind.

Hao Ren was dumbfounded.

“I am sorry!” Aylu realized her rudeness and apologized immediately. But she still looked nervous. “Mr. Inspector, I just—”

“Don’t say it. I know you have heard a lot about me.” With a darkened face, Hao Ren turned to look at Galazur.

Galazur was speechless.

Let’s not forget who spread Hao Ren’s epithets of Sir. Ominous, the Demolition Man, and “Bomb Man” far and wide.

It was an awkward moment. But it did not bother Anthony Alfonso. Probably he was confident enough, or merely thick-skinned at his age, he ignored them and ordered, “Open the astral barrier. We will go to meet the big guy that we found yesterday.”

Aylu breathed a sigh of relief, and then quickly went away to open the barrier. The barrier controller was on the edge of the round hall. It was a magic sphere floating in the air. At first, Hao Ren thought that it was a light bulb.

As Aylu injected energy into the magic sphere, Hao Ren heard a strange sound in the hall, and the sound came from…

It came from the obsidian dome above them!

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, many crisscrossing cracks appeared on the obsidian dome. The cracks looked like lines connecting various stars of a constellation, forming a pattern on the vault. Soon after, the obsidian began to come apart at those lines and slowly disappeared in front of their eyes.

Real stars were twinkling in space.

The top of the Tower of Anthony Alfonso was built directly among the stars.

“I have built a hall and connected the spatial instrument given by the administration to the tower. The tower is actually divided into two parts. The lower part is on the surface, and the upper part is near the star of Chattar, which the galaxy was named after. Though it is the most inconspicuous of the hundreds of stars here, it is the birthplace of ancient civilizations. Oh, I guess you should have known this.”

That guy was no doubt a veteran employee, Hao Ren said to himself.