The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren looked at the scene before him in surprise.

Crystals and manmade materials, which were similar to metal but had strange textures, made up the place. Rock cavities with mysterious halos, crystal devices of unknown uses, dim-but-still-running holographic images, as well as embedded displays were everywhere in the corridor and hall. Some old but sophisticated equipment were still humming, and at the center of the chamber was a large crystal column. It looked like a central computer with holograms displaying various charts and data floating around.

That was the interior of Asurmen.

However, it was not just as simple as a crystal sacred mountain.

Calaxus and the church knights he brought had no clue what those things were. To them, the mysterious structures inside the holy mountain were sacred. Lily’s barbarian soldiers could not have cared less about those things. But not Hao Ren. From the moment he stepped inside, he had been using a translation system to interpret every holographic image, text, and logo he saw. As a result, he gradually learned about the place.

“This is the Astral Chamber.” Lady Gloom was walking in front of them. She had taken off her cloak to appear in her translucent phantom body. After many years, she was now back at her birthplace and still performing her duty as a gatekeeper well. “We must first go to the will hub to restart Asurmen’s defense system. Otherwise, even if we defeat the intruders, Lockmarton will enter the real world through the crack of Asurmen.”

“Where are the intruders currently?” Calaxus was most concerned about this matter.

Lady Gloom paused, seemingly checking for the information. “In the Final Protocol Zone; they have broken into the area. But Number One has left behind 13 barriers to keep them from reaching the Ark of the Sacred Covenant. We still have an hour to complete the system reboot and find the intruders. No worries. As long as the system restarts, I will have the authorization to use the teleportation facility of Asurmen and you will be in the Final Protocol Zone in no time. So we must first reboot the system. Lockmarton is trying to break through the seal from the other side while the intruders are waiting inside. Only by rebooting the system can we reinforce the shield and return stability to the dimension where Lockmarton is.”

“What exactly is Asurmen?” Hao Ren suddenly asked.

“It’s difficult to explain it to you. It’s a vessel that the goddess uses. You wouldn’t understand—” Lady Gloom hesitated.

“Is it a spaceship? A spacecraft that can travel at superluminal speed with warp-jump capabilities?” Hao Ren interrupted.

This time, Lady Gloom, who had always been calm, was visibly shocked.

She looked at Hao Ren. “You show that you have more advanced knowledge than you should have.”

Hao Ren did not say a thing, but he now knew why Lady Gloom did not reveal who she was and her connection to Asurmen. The truth was simple: she did not think Calaxus and the others could understand these things.

Interstellar spaceships, shipboard AI, database backup—all these things were completely beyond what the people in Collow could understand. If Lady Gloom were to reveal her true identity, she would have to first teach Calaxus and the others, tons of basic knowledge about interstellar spacecraft and artificial intelligence. Not to mention, such information may not be enough to convince them, and could instead, arouse their suspicion. As an AI, Lady Gloom did not habitually lie as humans did. After calculating and deriving a logical solution, she just chose not to tell them more. Since she had achieved her target of “going to the Sanctum”, she would not do anything more than that.

As intelligent as an AI was, Lady Gloom was bound by the data and logic in her system, hence she would never be able to carry out anything beyond that. As such, she never thought of Hao Ren as an extraterrestrial being. She had probably been treating Hao Ren’s unusual knowledge as a bug in the system.

After a few seconds of silence, Hao Ren shrugged. “As I’ve said before, I may be able to fix Asurmen. Lady Gloom, I don’t care if you understand me but I know what a spaceship is and I know how to operate as well as maintain a spacecraft. Now, tell me, is rebooting the will hub the only solution?”

Knowing the truth of Asurmen, Hao Ren had made up his mind; he would do it his way because he knew he was better than anyone else on the scene when it came to spaceships. At least, he had a spacecraft-flying license.

Lady Gloom’s light was blinking as if she had encountered a syntax error; the nature of the conversation had exceeded her parameters of understanding. “New information has been found. Recalculating an optimal solution. Hao Ren, for the time being, you are a technician who can understand the advanced interstellar vessel, and I will tell you about the situation of Asurmen.

“The spacecraft is seriously damaged. Its power reactor is leaking and on the verge of shutting down. The will hub is in sleep mode due to insufficient power. The standby energy level stands at 20.3%. Both the primary and backup systems are intact. But the primary system’s memory is corrupted and under quarantine. The backup system’s memory is intact. The previous plan was to use the backup power to reboot the will hub, which will then allow Asurmen to resume function for 24 hours. However, this will damage the controllers in the primary system and the will hub. After that, the spaceship’s system will only run partially, and the prison’s security will drop to a critical level. This is the last resort,” Lady Gloom said.

“So you do have an alternative, don’t you?” Hao Ren’s eyebrows arched.

“We can try to restore Asurmen’s power supply,” Lady Gloom said as she blinked her eyes—the two light dots on her face. The image of Asumen appeared in a hologram before her. “But the maintenance requires special skills; I don’t think you can do that.”

Hao Ren knitted his brows together. “How do you know I can’t? At least tell me what’s causing the problem and let me try.”

This time, Lady Gloom was frank. After pondering the matter for a while, she said, “Asurmen’s power dropped after an impact incident a few months ago. A fragment containing powerful energy has penetrated both the spaceship’s energy as well as physical shields, and it has lodged itself in the Energy Circulation Hub of the shield generator. The energy cycle of the power core has been interrupted as a result. If the debris is removed, Asurmen will be able to resume its energy supply. The will hub will reboot normally, and the spaceship will restore 80% of its functions.”

While Hao Ren nodded, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. “Wait a minute, did you say the impact happened a few months ago?”

“The sacred mountain is sturdy, but not indestructible,” Lady Gloom replied. “The incident was a strange one. The impact force punctured the goddess’ shield and interfered with the running of a few miracles. All the visions from these past months, including what happened recently, are very much related to the impact. Of course, Lockmarton’s growing tendency to break free is still the primary cause.

As Lady Gloom spoke, her eyes slowly focused on Hao Ren. It seemed that she finally associated Hao Ren with something through some fuzzy logic. “You appear to know something,” Lady Gloom said.

Hao Ren’s heart skipped a beat, and his heart rate spiked. But he knew what the main priority was.

“Listen, it’s hard to explain. Yes, I know about the fragment. It contains powerful energy and carries a divine aura.”

Lady Gloom looked at Hao Ren, the light on her body flashed like a runaway Ferris wheel.

Calaxus glanced at Hao Ren and Lily, feeling strange. He looked like he had something on his mind but said nothing.

“So you’ve admitted it…” Hao Ren said. “I can handle this. Lady Gloom, the most important thing now is not to delve into the details, but to fix the Energy Circulation Hub first.”

“You’re right.” Lady Gloom nodded. “Fixing the Energy Circulation Hub is the priority. There is one more thing I have to tell you—I can’t guarantee your safety after you enter the Energy Circulation Hub.”

“Huh?” Hao Ren was puzzled.

“For the past 10,000 years, the Energy Circulation Hub and its surrounding compartments have been restricted areas. Even the popes of the past had no access. This is due to the Tablet of Commandments in front of the spaceship. ”

“The Tablet of Commandments?” Those words caught Calaxus’ attention. He could not help but exclaim, “That contains… the divine words in the legend?”

“Yes, it carries the thoughts of the goddess and is a potent artifact. Under the influence of this artifact, the entire upper area of Asurmen has been completely sanctified for 10,000 years. Even the dimension has been permanently changed.” Lady Gloom’s body flashed. “Mortals can’t get close to the strong divine grace, therefore the upper area of Asurmen has been a forbidden zone since ancient times. I can point you to the Energy Circulation Hub via a safe route, on which the tablet will not be able to affect you. But once you enter the center…”

As she spoke, her eyes fell on Calaxus.

“Take the senior monk for example. He can survive 90 minutes and 20 seconds before the tablet. So Plan B is that someone will have to die. He only has one chance to fix the fault and he won’t be able to come back alive. Even if he managed it, he would die in a short while anyway.”

Everyone gasped, but Calaxus stepped forward. “It’s the highest honor to sacrifice myself for my Lord.”

Hao Ren came forward. “No one’s going to die. Leave it to me.”

“You alone?” Lady Gloom was baffled.

“I’m not afraid of the divine power,” Hao Ren said. “Believe it or not, but I will not play dice with my life. When I say it’s okay, I mean it. And in theory, I’m the only one here who can fix it. Lady Gloom, didn’t you reveal all of this because of the appearance of a technician like me?”

No one could offer a better solution. Lily, the alpha, was in support of her landlord unconditionally. So everyone agreed and allowed Hao Ren to be in charge.

It was not merely because Hao Ren was the only one who could go to the upper area of Asurmen, but also because someone had to stay back in the Astral Chamber to monitor the spaceship’s system. Lady Gloom brought Hao Ren to the top of Asurmen, and he finally saw for himself the true state of the sacred crystal mountain.

His heart beat even faster than before.