The Record of Unusual Creatures

She deserved it. Had Lily told Raven 12345 that she was neurotic, the goddess would not have struck her with lightning. She should have thought twice before she opened her mouth, and not question the intelligence of the goddess—though Hao Ren totally agreed with what she said.

But the critical question was not about the setting of Raven 12345 or the unexpected complexity of the situation. The vital crystal core was lost, but it was of secondary importance. What was most pertinent was that it shed light on one critical clue:

The Great Fissure of the Scarred Nebula could lead to the ruins of the goddess of creations.

“Can you build another core?” Hao Ren asked in anticipation. Judging from the words of the goddess, she had only spent two hours making it, not a very complicated thing after all.

But Raven 12345 shook her head. “That is the one and only.”

“Can’t you make a new one?” Hao Ren was surprised. “Don’t you say that it took you only two hours to make?”

“The making is simple, but there is no more ingredient left.” Raven 12345 shot Hao Ren a sideways look. “Do you know what made the crystal?”

Hao Ren shook his head.

“The stuff that fell out of the Scarred Nebula,” Raven 12345 said, pointing her finger at the spinning hollow in space. “More than two thousand years ago, the Wall of Reality collapsed, and the entire galaxy was torn apart, spurting out tons of matters from the Plane of Dreams. Those matters were all converted into energy by the destructive forces when the laws of both universes clashed. Only one thing survived, and that was a huge crystal. No one could tell what it was originally because it had gone through extreme distortion when it passed through the Wall of Reality. Its external form and even essence had changed. It might have been a natural stone, a light, or even a person. But whatever it was, it had been transformed in the annihilation process, becoming a ‘medium’ between the Plane of Dreams and the surface world. The crystal core I gave you was carved out of that crystal, added with my mark and some cutting-edge runic technique. Now, do you understand? The technology itself is straightforward, but the material could not be replicated as it has the imprint of the Plane of Dreams, which is something I can’t interfere with.”

Never did Hao Ren expect that the ugly crystal had such a background. He knew that his hope of finding a second core was dashed.

“Looks like the only way is for you to find it in the Plane of Dreams,” Lily said with her burned hair as she poked Hao Ren’s arm with her claw. “The thing is so tough, it will not break so easily… maybe.”

Raven 12345 left without leaving a ‘blessing’ to Hao Ren or giving Hao Ren an earful. But she had left him an instruction: find the crystal core in the Plane of Dreams, and then open the gate from the other side of the Wall of Reality.

Hao Ren was struggling.

The three inspectors discussed and came out with a general idea.

Since the crystal core had not been activated correctly, it was still in ‘silent mode’ just like it was before the launch. Thus it was impossible to track it by its signal. The only clue was the short feedback signal Anthony Alfonso had captured.

When the crystal core passed through the Great Fissure, the passage opened briefly and the signal from the Plane of Dreams leaked through the gate. Tracing this signal might lead them to the location where the core fell.

Just hope that it did not fall too far away; otherwise, out of the signal range of the drone cluster, finding it would be a mission impossible.

“We couldn’t help when it comes to the Plane of Dreams.” Galazur sounded a little sorry. “Only you have the right to cross the Wall of Reality.”

“You two have already of great help. And I am very thankful.” Hao Ren said. “Moving forward, I will have to go it alone, but I can do it.”

Anthony Alfonso appeared on the other monitor. “Galazur and I will leave the construction units here. They will keep working to build the frame of the gate until you find the core. Until then, you can open the gate directly from the other side.”

Lily thought for a moment and chimed in. “Do you need to set catch net on this side when you open the gate there?”

“What is the catch net for?” Hao Ren was confused.

“Just in case you use too force again and throw the core straight through into here again.” The thinking of the husky was naive but pretty logical. “The net will catch the core in time, and then you can do it again.”

“You think this is sandbags?” Hao Ren’s face darkened.

Hao Ren’s ambitious plan to “open the gate” was suspended. Ymir’s reunion with his brothers and Whitey’s research were likewise put on hold. It was frustrating.

Pulling his hair, Hao Ren began to question his luck as he mumbled, “There have been many obstacles in opening the gate. It seems that the gate has something strange going on.”

“Why do you say so?” Nangong Sanba asked, perplexed.

“Just my intuition,” Hao Ren replied, smacking himself on the thigh. “I have pretty summed up my three-year experience: whatever mission I go, there is always some shady plot behind. And the shady plot is proportional to the degree of difficulty of the job.”

Everyone was speechless.

Since the project was put on hold, there would be unnecessary to stay here anymore. After setting up the automatic construction units, Galazur and Anthony Alfonso returned to their respective worlds. Meanwhile, Hao Ren and Vivian went back to Midgard.

They had to bring out Odin.

The former king of the Norse gods, Odin, was exhausted bodily and mentally. Letting him stay in this world filled with ruins was not the best option for him. After consulting with him, Hao Ren and Vivian decided to bring Odin back to Earth where at least Odin would be able to meet a few old friends, and it would help with his recovery.

As for the Valkyrie tasked with the responsibility to guard the Garden of Asgard, But Hao Ren would give Odin the privilege of enjoying a direct flight (teleportation) to the Garden of Asgard, where he could meet the Valkyrie, who was tasked with the responsibility to guard the place.

The old man was still worried about the Twilight survivors in Midgard though. But the beauty of humankind lay in their tenacious strength of survival and development. Seeing that the Twilight people were rebuilding their new homes in the wilderness, Odin knew that it was time for him to retire as ancient sage.

He had handed over the authority of the Nine Worlds to Hao Ren after all. For the rest, he chose to trust his chosen successor.

Standing on a hill in the wilderness of Midgard, Hao Ren and Odin looked at the plains in the far distance. The rumbling steam machinery was preparing the foundations around the new city, a team of explorers in scholar costumes was heading towards the black forest on the edge of the new city under the escort of the heavily armored Twilight Guards. The leader of the explorers was Wendell and behind him Hope, who once broke off with him.

Just as the world was healing gradually, the father and son seemed to begin to clear their misunderstanding.

Odin glanced up at the clear sky. The bluish-green surface of Inferno was hanging above. A thin beam of light extended from the surface of Inferno towards the Nine Worlds, but it was distorted and disappeared into a space crack. That was the First Born’s tentacle, Heavenly Tower that connected the two worlds. When Blackie was in a good mood, the tentacle would be shrouded in soft light.

“I have not seen a clear day for two thousand years,” Odin sighed softly. “And the sunshine out the outside world.”

“Yggdrasil is now in a semi-open state. Sunlight from the main material world is filtered into the Nine Worlds, giving extra energy to accelerate the recovery of the ecosystem.” Hao Ren nodded. “The bridge linking Inferno and the Nine Worlds is located in Niebelungen, but at present, Blackie has not yet opened that path. She is waiting for humans of both worlds to be ready.”

“Blackie…” Odin’s mouth twitched a little, but he did not say anything further.

A white-haired girl was floating around as if she was walking on air. When she came before Hao Ren, he said, “Whitey, stop floating around. I have a job for you. After we leave, you have to manage the ecological equilibrium of Inferno and the Nine Worlds. Don’t always delegate the work to Blackie, she is a bit bad tempered right now. Keep an eye on her.”

“You can count on me,” Whitey said, still circling Hao Ren. “Are you not coming back?”

“Of course I will,” Hao Ren said with a smile. “I am still the master of the Nine Worlds. Besides, I’ll have to come back to check on the Valkyrie. Her condition’s worrying. But I’ve installed many monitoring equipments here, so I’ll able to know what is going on here. You can call me if there’s an emergency. The radio is beside the astrolabe.”

“Roger that!” Whitey floated away.

“Let’s go,” Hao Ren said, poking Odin, who seemed to have spaced out. “It is not as if you are not coming back anymore. But if you keep looking, you will become even more reluctant.”

“Okay.”

A beam of light descended from the sky and took them away.