The Record of Unusual Creatures

Perhaps Raven 12345’s explanation was not clear enough, or there were too many things in her sentence, so Hao Ren had no idea what the goddess meant. “Their energies are inconsistent? What do you mean?”

Hao Ren reached into his Dimensional Pocket and took out the Godslayer. He then placed it on the table so that Raven 12345 could inspect it.

“Literally,” Raven 12345 pointed at both swords, “they are all created by the goddess of creation using the same material and technology. They’re tainted with the same breath, but they are very different in their energy characteristics. There is only one possibility: one of the two swords has been changed.”

“Someone modified one of the swords?” Hao Ren was wide-eyed. “Which one?”

“There is no clear way to tell, but we can analyze it. First of all, the Worldbreaker has been in Lockmarton’s hands since the beginning, sealed in the prison of Collow and isolated from the external universe. If what you said is anything to go by, no one in that prison would be capable of modifying the sword. Even if there was someone, the modification seems meaningless as Lockmarton did not escape, and no one used the modified sword to kill Lockmarton,” said Raven 12345 as her fingers slid across both swords. “The Godslayer was left out in the outside world and had been missing for a long time. Even the Denizens of the Stars had no information about its whereabouts. It went under the radar for a long time, became the weapon that killed the goddess of creation, led the deicidal race to fall from grace, and altered the entire history of the Plane of Dreams.”

Hao Ren scratched his jaw as he nodded slightly. “So the Godslayer is the biggest suspect.”

Under the divine influence of Raven 12345, the mind of the Godslayer woke up and could communicate to the outside world. It began to emit a buzzing sound. “What have I done again? Why are you guys looking at me like this? You want to melt and re-forge me? Is this a farewell ceremony?”

“None of your business,” Hao Ren snorted and knocked on the hilt. “It’s time to sleep.”

“How do you usually communicate with this sword?” Raven 12345 looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression on her face. “It gives me the feeling that this guy has a character of its own.”

“How do I know? You were the one who blessed it.” Hao Ren laughed in embarrassment.

Raven 12345 thought for a moment and realized that Hao Ren was right.

Hao Ren pushed the Godslayer a little with his finger. “Can you remember what has happened in the past? Do you still have a memory of the time before the deicide awakened you?”

“I knew you guys had something.” the Godslayer buzzed. “I couldn’t remember anything in the past. The only thing that I could recall was when the deicidal race used me to stab people. Earlier than that, my memory is a blank. Don’t you guys know that I’m the Echo Wall; I will only have thoughts and memory when other intelligent beings come into contact with me. So how could I have a memory of the past?”

Raven 12345 nodded. “The special Echo Wall attribute of the Godslayer makes it like a microscopic world in a quantum state. Only after another conscious observer intervenes will it ‘collapse’ to a clear state of mind and respond accordingly. It couldn’t actively wake up and remember what is happening around it. The person who can modify the sword could certainly control this collapse process. If the person wanted to hide, then it wouldn’t leave behind any traces.”

Hao Ren spread out his hand. “But there are not many people who can modify the Godslayer in the Plane of Dreams. Was it the goddess of creation, the Mad Lord, or some other person?”

“Some of the ancients you mentioned might possess that ability. They may be mortals, but their forms of life are exceptionally unique, closely related to the origin of the universe. The ancients could harness the power of the Mad Lord to some extent. More importantly, they had been in contact with the goddess of creation, who was as naive and innocent as Snow White at that time. So some ancients might have stolen the forging technique of the Twin Blades of Apocalypse without the knowledge of the Denizens of the Stars. Of course, I am only guessing. You should not be influenced by these speculations.”

Hao Ren replied with a nod of understanding. He had been suspecting those races that the Denizens of the Stars had mentioned since the beginning. When the goddess of creation led an army to attack the Mad Lord, she had reached out to the primordial creatures in the Plane of Dreams and urged them to fight for their freedom. But only the Denizens of the Stars responded to her call. The same happened during and after the war. What had the ancients done? What happened to them?

Those ancients seemed to have disappeared. Asurmen had been ambiguous too when he talked about the ancients. He had only said that some ancients had chosen to remain on the sideline during the war, and some had been controlled and puppets of the Mad Lord. But Asurmen did not tell of the ending of these ancients. In the words of Asurmen, those ancients ‘gradually disappeared after the old era and became the symbol of the last era. They would not appear again since there was no place for them in the new era.’

Were they dead? In exile? Living in seclusion? Did they transform their life forms to blend into some other indigenous race?

Hao Ren did not think of this matter at first, and so he did not ask about these questions. But talking with Raven 12345 had made him realize that the fate of other ancient races might be a question worth exploring.

“All in all, there seems to be the third mastermind.” Hao Ren shook his head and put the matter at the back of his mind for the time being. “It was neither the Mad Lord nor Lockmarton. This mysterious person got its hands on the Godslayer, and modified to give it the power to enchant people’s minds, and delivered it into the hands of the deicidal race.”

Lily felt bored after listening to the conversation for a long time. Conspiracy and history did not interest her at all. She suddenly found the opportunity to interject. “Could the second sword talk?” she asked.

“From a structural basis, it should also be able to speak.” Raven 12345 laughed. “I have just communicated with this sword in spirit after the purification. But it appears more confused than the Godslayer, probably because of the time it has spent with the crazy Lockmarton and the mental trauma from the war. The Worldbreaker is almost clueless about what happens around him, and the thinking process is also different from the Echo Wall—it doesn’t react too strongly to external stimuli. It is because of this difference between the two swords that I am dead sure that an external force has modified one of the two swords.”

“So it could really talk?” Hao Ren was a little surprised. “But how come it keeps silent all this while?”

While saying, Hao Ren looked at the Worldbreaker on the table, staring at it for a few seconds. The Worldbreaker began to utter, “Lazy.”

Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian were stunned.

The Godslayer was instantly excited as if it had discovered something new. “Oh, damn it, bro, you really could talk. Then why didn’t say something earlier on? I thought you were suffering from hypoplasia, mute and deaf! It was a good fight earlier. Don’t get me wrong, I love peace. But occasionally workout isn’t a bad thing, especially when were are from the same ancestor. Speaking of which, it seems that we both are created by the same god. Do you still remember what happened in the past? I have forgotten everything about it, but it sounds like both of us have been very awesome back then. A goddess wielded us both and went from the Star of Creation and fought to the dark abyss, slicing the Mad Lord into hundreds of pieces. Yeah, she used us to slain the Mad Lord. Unfortunately, things went wrong after that. I have no idea what has happened. What I know is that I have become a murderer and done nothing good. Suck, isn’t it? Weapons like us have no personal rights. It is wielder who decides who to and not to cut. You know what; the wielder was a goddess. The problem is that it was also the goddess who created us. But why is it such a difference since it is the same goddess?”

The Godslayer instantly spewed a truckload of nonsense. After it shut up, HaO Ren suddenly heard the Worldbreaker shook and uttered an ‘Oh.’

Vivian could not help herself but laugh out loud. Hao Ren’s mouth twitched. “Well, this annoying thing has met its match.”

Hao Ren tried to communicate with the Worldbreaker, trying to get information about some key events. But as Raven 12345 said, the silent sword knew even lesser than the Godslayer.

“I don’t remember anything.”

It was the longest sentence the Worldbreaker had ever uttered.

“Lockmarton was obviously unable to talk to people. Perhaps, the Worldbreaker has been sealed for too long a time. After the Cult of Armageddon broke the prison, Lockmarton found the Worldbreaker and gave it to the cultists.”

“Whatever the case, you have one more weapon in your arsenal now.” Vivian looked at Hao Ren. “And this one is much quieter than the Godslayer.”

“The Twin Blades of Apocalypse were not only used to defeat the Mad Lord, but also the personification of the power of the Goddess of Creation. It would come in handy someday,” Raven 12345 said with a serious face.

Hao Ren solemnly put the two cosmic swords away. He then pointed at Lily. “Now, let’s talk about her. Can you check what her Doggoblast is all about?”