The Record of Unusual Creatures

Before thrusting the Godslayer into the brain, he was prepared for all sorts of consequences. It was no ordinary sword but the weapon that killed the goddess. He was now using it to poke into Yggdrasil’s brain. No one was going to believe this was surgery. Hao Ren was only able to take up the courage to do because the patient was the First Born, and Godslayer was no longer a deadly weapon.

But he never thought Yggdrasil would stop breathing the moment he pierced the sword into its brain.

Shocked by what had transpired, everyone was offering to help. Vivian suggested jump-starting the brain with her Lightning Strike move. Nangong Wuyue offered to stitch up the wound and resuscitate it with her Rejuvenation Magic. Galazur proposed to deep-freeze the place immediately to prevent the situation from getting worse. Nangong Sanba recommended that Hao Ren write his report right away and admit his mistake to Raven 12345. Lily was the most creative; she wanted to give Yggdrasil a pressure-point massage on the temples. But Vivian quickly slammed her to the ground.

“Find me the temples on this thing!” Vivian glared at Lily. “If you can’t think of any good suggestions, please keep your mouth shut!”

As they tossed their ideas around, a squeaky, low-pitched sound came from beneath the ground.

The tentacles of the First Born, which were still in a state of suspended animation, was waking up. The runes in the caves started to light up, and the red glow of the brain brightened up. The two connected minds were trembling as they quickly regained their luster. The small wound cut open by Godslayer rapidly healed. Seeing this, Hao Ren was delighted. “Yeah, it works!”

At about the same time, everyone felt a strong consciousness had awakened from the entangled tentacles. The voice of Yggdrasil sounded in their minds. “I can finally see the outside world again. Hi, everyone.”

“You just scared the hell out of me. I thought I killed you!” Hao Ren breathed a long sigh of relief. “Are you all right? You seem to have lost sign of life just now.”

“I was overly excited and passing out,” Yggdrasil said.

Speechless.

“That’s normal,” Yggdrasil said. He seemed to have no concept of embarrassment. Or rather, he did not see this as an embarrassment. “I have been weak for thousands of years. My body couldn’t adapt when the pressure suddenly went away.”

“Okay, I got it,” Hao Ren said, nodding his head. As for whether he understood it was another matter. “So how is your condition now? Are you Yggdrasil? What about the other consciousness?”

“I am here.” A soft voice was heard coming from a group of shadows in the light that suddenly appeared in the cave.

Hao Ren was shocked. After having a mental connection with Yggdrasil, he began to acquire a new understanding of this First Born. “You could even appear in this form? How did your soul come out?”

“Is it difficult?” The light danced and moved around the cave; its voice came from all directions. “Mothers designed us to be able to communicate with the world. But not all creatures could enter the dream, so communication in dreams is rather limited. So we are given the ability to venture out in the real world.”

“Interesting! And good to you that you still remember why you are born. I don’t even remember why my mother made me,” Vivian said with her arms crossed.

“Ahem, let’s talk about his later.” Hao Ren interrupted. “Yggdrasil, have you… both of you recovered? Is the corruption gone?”

As he spoke, he looked at the dark brain. The severely lesioned organ did not look like it had fully recovered after the ‘purification stab.’ It was still black though appeared more energetic. Its dehydrated skin was now showing signs of life and the brain pulsating.

“I can feel it has left my body,” Yggdrasil said. “It has completely disappeared. An external force has washed it away. I believe that your treatment has worked, but I am afraid the lesioned organs could no longer heal. Some could be reborn, but those parts connected with the brain would won’t heal. Ahh, it doesn’t matter. I can feel they are working normally. Though they may look a bit weird, I have fully recovered.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Hao Ren said, nodding his head. Everyone began to breathe a sigh of relief.

“I have a little request,” Yggdrasil said suddenly. “It’s just a little favor from you.”

Hao Ren was very curious: “What can I do for you?”

“Could you please put my brain back in the cavity? It’s a little cold out here.”

Speechless.

Looking at the two brains dangling on the outside, Nangong Wuyue suddenly felt like throwing up.

Hao Ren hurriedly ordered the autonomous robots to put the two brains of Yggdrasil back into the cavity and stitched up the wound with a welding torch. Nangong Wuyue slithered around the large organ in the center of the cave, healing it with her magic.

Yggdrasil, overdosed with almost half a ton of sedatives, was unable to self-heal.

Yggdrasil was so weak and numb that he could hardly locate where all his limbs were. The tentacles in Asgard and Vanir felt so distant away that it was as if they had disappeared. The illness of thousands of years had taken a toll on him. The World Tree was going to take a long time before he could fully recover.

The source of the debilitating contamination had been cleaned up. The Yggdrasil’s health would not deteriorate any more. The First Born was now certified sound mentally and communicable. Everything seemed to have gone so unbelievably smoothly, Hao Ren thought.

“I was in a daze and didn’t know what was going on earlier,” Yggdrasil said, surprised to learn that he had flown halfway across the galaxy. “I was so tied up with the corruption and the guy I created, and barely knowing what was happening on the outside.”

“Do you know Twilight Capital?”

Knowing that the ‘treatment’ was a success, Hao Ren finally asked the most pertinent question.

Hao Ren’s priority was to find Ymir’s spaceship and the truth about the deicidal war. He was interested in the runic body and the Great Absolution that Yggdrasil mentioned. But before that, he must first ensure the safety of Twilight Capital: Odin was still waiting on the Iron Throne.

“Ahh, Twilight Capital…” Yggdrasil said. “It’s a miracle of life. It even amazes the guardians that anyone could survive in that place. I have to thank the city; without it, I could not possibly persevere for so long.”

“Why do you say so?” Hao Ren asked.

“Mother created me with the mission to protect the world.” Yggdrasil’s voice was calm, utterly different from the delirium he had shown in the dark ocean. “That city was my spiritual support. I could barely ‘see’ it, but I knew the shelter was there and the people depended on me to survive. Knowing that I knew I couldn’t give up lest there wouldn’t be any hope left. Sometimes when I felt I could no longer keep going, I would dream. In the dream, I could hear the souls in Twilight Capital talking; I could even hear a person called Odin, who seemed to have been trapped in a chair, thinking. He was enduring all the hardship, just like me, to protect something. Since he could do it, so did I, I thought to myself. That was how I survive all these years; otherwise, I would have given up.”

“Didn’t you know that the ecosystem in Asgard survived?” Nangong Sanba asked.

“Long before the Twilight of the Gods, my bad health had affected my distal limbs, and I couldn’t sense the existence of Asgard anymore. If not for you telling me, I would have thought that both Asgard and Vanir had gone.” Yggdrasil sounded helpless.