The Record of Unusual Creatures

Since they did not know where Yggdrasil was yet, Ymir continued to work as the “Speaker” in Athens Sanctuary after the call, leaving Hao Ren to consider the new information he had just been offered.

When he heard Ymir’s description of Yggdrasil, Hao Ren thought of a few things, such as how “Yggdrasil” the First Born came to be, and its role during the Mythological Era.

Yggdrasil was powerful — that was undeniable. It could bring the Nine Realms with it and travel through spacetime, covering millions of light-years in just a few seconds. That would required a tremendous amount of energy. Even if the First Born had used some kind of trick to achieve this miraculous feat, it was still a demonstration of great control over power. It begged the question of why Yggdrasil did nothing during the Twilight of the Gods, instigated by the demon hunters.

Ymir suggested that Yggdrasil’s odd way of thinking led it to believe that the attack from the demon hunters was no threat to the World Tree itself, and so it did not respond to the attack. Nevertheless, Ymir had said that back in the Mythological Era, he could tell from his connection with Yggrasil that its mind was sluggish and muddled up. The old giant did not find it strange, since he did not know of other World Trees. However, Hao Ren knew for a fact that it was very unusual. He knew how a normal First Born was like, and Zorm was anything but slow in the mind.

“After crossing the Wall of Reality, the First Born will also be affected by Sin of the Divine Blood. This is probably why Yggdrasil had no memories about the Plane of Dreams, and why its mind seems to be affected.” Hao Ren shared his conjecture. “The First Born’s mind is very different from that of a normal human. Its memory and cognition are more closely bound to each other, that’s why damages to the memory also affects cognition. I think Yggdrasil was probably in a semi-conscious state throughout the Mythological Era, and Ymir was only communicating with it through its dream. In that state, the World Tree was of course, incapable of reacting against the demon hunter, since it was too heavily affected by the Sin of the Divine Blood.

Hao Ren had good reason to speculate all that. Back when he was at the Crapple Research Station, he spent a lot of time studying the First Born’s physical and mental structure. He had two specimens of the FIrst Born to dissect, and a Zorm who was willing to cooperate in undergoing medical tests. Hence, he now had a good understanding of the powerful demigod. Since he knew that the being’s memories and cognition were closely tied to each other, he could make a guess about the effects of the Sin of the Divine Blood on the First Born.

Hao Ren did not have much before speaking to Ymir, but now that he knew more about Yggdrasil, he could more or less figure out why the First Born reacted as it did today.

“It is obviously fully awake now,” Y’zaks added. ‘It ran away just as we appeared.”

Lily scratched her head in confusion. “How did it suddenly wake up?”

“That’s because the Sin of the Divine Blood has already ended.” Hao Ren smiled. He remembered something that cleared up the mystery. “Have you forgotten? We have cleansed the source of the Sin of the Divine Blood, which is Ancattero’s gilded disc. One the Sin of the Divine Blood has ended, all the affected species became free of the ‘curse’. For normal species, breaking free of the curse meant their innate hostility is gone. For the First Born, breaking free of the curse meant having a clearer mind.”

Hao Ren felt quite certain now that the Sin of the Divine Blood had different effects on each species. The difference between normal species was not obvious, in that the innate hostility could be manifested at various intensities. For demigods, however, the effect was stark—Ymir lost his memories, but did not show hostility to other species; Yggdrasil went into a state of mental confusion, and did not show any signs of innate hostility (else it would never have allowed Odin and his family to live alongside it). The Sin of the Divine Blood had markedly different effects on them!

The closer a being was to the goddess’ bloodline, the stronger their immunity to innate hostility!

Of course, the sirens were an exception — their bloodline was probably the furthest away from the goddess, but since they came into existence from the process of natural evolution, they seemed to have an inborn immunity to the Sin of the Divine Blood as well.

There was much to say about Yggdrasil, but Hao Ren ended the discussion to focus on finding it. Everyone else went back to their own business while Hao Ren drafted an assistance request to the inspectors and sent it out:

“Unencrypted message — local galaxy channel. Message origin — First Galaxy’s Kuiper Station. General message to all inspectors within the galaxy. I am investigating an alternate dimension system that has been cut off from the Material Plane. This dimension is relevant to the grand mission of the Plane of Dreams. Since it is most likely that the dimension has moved to other areas of the galaxy, I am now requesting for assistance from all inspectors within the galaxy. Attached are the instructions on how to search for the alternate dimension. I am also including a resonant frequency in the attachment to be used in your search. Note that there is a powerful being living within the alternate dimension that is capable of making hyperspace jumps. It is cautious and may react unpredictably to external stimuli. Please do not attempt to approach it. If you find it, observe from a distance and wait for my arrival. Message ended.”

When the message was being sent out, Hao Ren decided to make another round of broadcasts to all known civilizations in the galaxy . ” Unencrypted message—local galaxy channel . Message directed to all civilizations in the First Galaxy. Issued and signed by Inspector Hao Ren ******. I am searching for an alternate dimension in the galaxy. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. The characteristics of the dimension are as follows…”

When all the documents were sent out and double-checked by the IDT, Hao Ren laid back on his sofa and rubbed his eyes. “That should do it.”

The IDT flew over and knocked him on his head. “Partner, how’s it like? That’s a message issued with a ****** to the entire galaxy. Does it feel good?”

Hao Ren considered that for a moment and nodded honestly. “It feels amazing.”

“…Can’t you be a little f*cking modest?”

“Dude, I thought you asked!”

“Tsk tsk… As long as you remember that this kind of message shouldn’t be used too often. It has to be at least as urgent as our current situation to warrant it.”

Hao Ren poked the IDT’s shell repeatedly, flipping it over and over in somersaults. “Yeah, yeah, quit the nagging…”

If it was only the Nine Realms that had gone missing, Hao Ren would not have been so enthusiastic in sending out his message. After all, the alternate dimension itself was not particularly large when compared to the entire universe. However, since a mature First Born was living in the Nine Realms, the matter had escalated to become one that could affect the balance between the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World. Without further hesitation, Hao Ren sent out his first large scale ****** message as an inspector. He must find Yggdrasil as soon as possible, even it if meant involving everyone in the entire galaxy!

An inspector’s ****** and request for assistance in the universe channel were treated with the highest priority. Hao Ren’s brief and succinct message reached every corner of the galaxy in just a few moments, alerting the IDTs of other inspectors and leaders of all civilizations within the galaxy. Qualified and capable personnel would soon receive orders from their superiors to conduct the search. Countless antenna arrays would be mobilized. The resonant frequency from Gungnir’s pieces would be replicated and broadcast from all these antennas in the entire galaxy. This was a truly large scale searching mission. However, for civilizations that were living in the age of cosmic exploration, the search would not be particularly burdening.

After all, if even the “border terminal” Kuiper Station could perform the simple job of sweeping its surroundings with its antenna, the other larger space stations would surely be up to task, and equipped with better facilities.

Hao Ren’s attention was soon drawn to the inspectors’ internal channel since many of his colleagues had already been notified of his message. The ludicrously idle demigods were storming the public channel within minutes.

…

Master of Nature—Fander Pothelm: “F*ck! What did I just read?! He’s looking for something in this universe, right?”

Celestial Singer—Model: “What? Dear Ominous has come for us?”

Stellar Artiste—Aviana: “Holy motherf*king sh*t, I’m terrified, is there anything highly explosive around me?”

The Great Sage—Anthony: “Don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m gathering information in Chattar. The assistants here are all horrified, and one of the young ladies is already crying… Who was the one spreading rumors about ‘Sir Ominous’?”

Holy Light Personified—Loken: “Dragon Queen, someone up there’s looking for you.”

Dragon Queen—Galazur: “… Wasn’t me, I heard it first from Fander!”

Songstress—Tunalar: “Do you think Hao Ren the Bomb is listening in right now?”

Sir Ominous—Hao Ren: “… …”

Songstress—Tunalar: “F*ck he really is! Goddess, come quick! Someone’s lurking around and scaring people! Take your eyes off your dinner for a sec, boss!”

System notice: Admin Raven 12345 has muted the channel for five minutes.

System notice: Songstress—Tunalar is barred from the channel for the rest of the day by Admin Raven 12345.

…

What was said before was definitely worth repeating—this working environment was f*cking toxic!