The Record of Unusual Creatures

Though Hao Ren and Anthony Alfonso were of the same rank, Hao Ren had to admit that there was still a gap between old and new employee. Just looking at the old magician’s thousands of years of work experience; his mage tower; Hall of the Aspects; and the mind-blowing, seamless high-end map switching method, the biggest impression Hao Ren had when he arrived at Anthony Alfonso’s tower was how epic it was. No matter which way he looked, it was superior to his own two-story house.

Marveling at Anthony Alfonso’s magic skills, he forgot that he had millions of drones and many outposts in deep space.

Outside the dome was vast space. A transparent magic barrier enveloping the Hall of the Aspects maintained the gravity and atmosphere where they were now standing. Anthony Alfonso apparently was very proud of his achievements. He was bragging about the mage towers he had built between the stars though no one had asked him.

“I have built thousands of mage towers in the Chattar galaxy. Some are built on planets, and some are built directly in space. These mage towers can be interconnected and, more importantly, each mage tower has a Hall of the Aspects that allows me to easily explore the universe within the Chattar galaxy. Different Halls of the Aspects are mapped with different places. The tops of some towers may be mapped on the stratosphere of planets, and some are very far from their bases. This tower belongs to the latter. I built this tower on the sixth star of Laprany, but the Hall of the Aspects is mapped near to the star of Chattar, which is almost a hundred light years away. To be honest, sometimes I feel that the spatial mapping of these towers is a bit too messy, but I don’t know how to sort it out. This is what I had achieved for the last thousands of years when I was still a hotheaded rookie who didn’t know what to do with the newfound power the goddess gave me. So I have built these mess of things, which I now have no idea how to sort them out.”

Hao Ren nodded as he listened. At first, he was in excitement. He thought that the old magician just had some random chat with him, but later he discovered something: Anthony Alfonso was using himself as an example to remind him. Hao Ren believed that Anthony Alfonso, one of the oldest inspectors in the universe, must have gone through many difficulties and challenges during his early years. He must have made all the mistakes that every rookie made. The old inspector was happy to share it with his peer.

“Inspector has the power that commoners could never have imagined. Sometimes we even think that we are no longer a mortal. But you always have to remember that you are not any higher than a mortal. If you are not mature and steady enough, then you are not smarter than a rookie when you make a mistake.” Anthony Alfonso smiled. “Of course, the goddess must have her own reason when choosing her inspectors. I am in no position to judge you. I only hope that you will not make the mistakes I have made.”

Hao Ren totally agreed with Anthony Alfonso. The only problem he had was what the goddess thought when she chose him. Everyone knew the goddess had a not very sane mind. Even this old magician was only selected because the goddess was drunk.

“Over there, Yggdrasil.” Anthony Alfonso pointed to space on the left of the Hall of the Aspects. His voice jolted Hao Ren out from his thought. “Or rather, a part of it. This thing is really huge. The dimensional chain formed by the Nine Worlds is even more incredible. I still can’t wrap my brain around its form and scale in the space-time rift. Oh, the main reason why I did not want to get too close is that he may run away.”

Hao Ren looked up into the direction where Anthony Alfonso was pointing. He saw a huge crack or a curtain-like light strip.

It was like a mirage floating in the universe. A series of uneven lights and shadows were suspended in the dark space, indistinctly revealing the scenery of another world, the realm of the Norse gods. That was the entrance to Yggdrasil. But it was clear that the door was in a semi-closed state. The First Born was absorbing the surrounding energy as he recuperated there.

“It sucks power from dead stars. I have observed the phenomenon, but I don’t know how he does that.” Anthony Alfonso pointed to a spot just right below the mirage-like light strip. There, a dying star with sporadic red spots on the dark surface was suspended in space like a burned-out huge charcoal briquette. The star still emitted a faint light but was almost filtered by the magic barrier of the Hall of the Aspects. From here, everyone could only see a dark celestial body.

“The Chattar star died very suddenly. There was a rare cosmic event at that time. I called the phenomenon the sudden death of a star.” Anthony Alfonso shrugged. “But even a dead star still contain a lot of energy. This First Born is swallowing this dead sun, which is many times larger than himself, like a greedy monster. I think it must have been as hungry as a bear after running in the universe for so long.”

A faint strip of light was connecting the Chattar star to Yggdrasil, which spanned tens of millions of kilometers in length. The First Born was sucking energy from the dying star using this light strip as straw. The scene looked weird and frightening.

Yggdrasil was demonstrating its power, which was of an entirely different level from the regular First Borns in the Plane of Dreams. Zorm could not extract energy from the sun, even if it were just a dead star.

Hao Ren took out the MDT. “Can you make contact with Yggdrasil?”

“The signal link of the Petrachelys is normal. We only need an antenna to broadcast the voice of Mimir.”

Hearing that, Anthony Alfonso quickly said, “There is a high-powered antenna here, in the Hall of the Aspects beneath us. This hall is built on a huge Hebron crystal. I usually use it to listen to the background energy of the universe and to monitor the Chattar star.”

The MDT whistled — considering that this guy did not really have a mouth, it emitted a whistle sound effect. “Hebron crystal? Whole chunk? You must be a victim of Fairy Void Consortium. Not really expecting a veteran could also fall prey to those conmen.”

Anthony Alfonso’s expression suddenly collapsed. He looked at the brick that flipped in the air. “Unbelievable! The MDT that has an attitude!”

Galazur turned her head and whispered to Anthony Alfonso, “So you suspect it too? I suspect that our goddess must have given Hao Ren an imitated version of the MDT.”

Pretending not to hear the mumbling of the two seniors behind him, Hao Ren was establishing a data link between the Petrachelys and Chattar star.

A moment later, Anthony Alfonso issued a command to a device in the Hall of the Aspects, and the Hebron crystal under their feet slowly coming online.

The dying Chattar star was suspended silently in space as the remaining heat released from its core had formed a wiggly, dark-red pattern on the surface. At tens of millions of kilometers away, dozens of crisscrossing cracks popped up as Yggdrasil extracted the remaining energy from the star. But this exhausted ancient creature did not notice that beneath him an inconspicuous little tower was gradually brightened up.

The upper part of the mage tower was in space. The tower’s solid shell fell off, revealing a shiny metal inner liner. This liner made of Mithril and magical energy bloomed like a flower, within which a giant crystal of 100 m across was glowing in a mysterious purple light. This mysterious mineral called Hebron Crystal was a natural energy amplifier and a resonant antenna. When it was charged, it could transmit a massive amount of information in superluminal speed to anywhere within its range.

The spatial rift floating in the vicinity of Chattar star suddenly responded as the crystal was charging. The fine cracks in the spatial rift flickered as if they were dissipating. Yggdrasil finally noticed that someone nearby was prying into him. Despite the exhaustion, this powerful ancient creature was prepared to run again. Just as he was about to do so, a voice suddenly came into his mind.

“Calm down, my friend! It is me,” Mimir said.