The Record of Unusual Creatures

Maggie, the little crow-goddess had gone into the golden giant ball for a long time. During the entire half an hour, strange sounds came from the side of the ball: the clinking of metal parts, the sound of energy bursts, and the occasional groan from the little crow goddess as if she had hit herself and was in pain. Hao Ren would have run if not for Raven 12345 preventing him. He was now even more convinced that whoever his neurotic boss knew, they were all weird. The only reason the giant ball hasn’t exploded yet is probably due to the author disallowing it, he thought to himself.

“How long does she have to take?” Vivian asked. The strange noises from the engine core worried her. The palm-sized goddess could have broken something. “What the hell is she doing?”

Raven 12345 squinted when she talked with Maggie telepathically. She then waved her hand, alleviating their concern. “Maggie has found the core area and is trying to disable the security shield. Rest assured, she is an expert in lock picking. She doesn’t even need to know how it works before unlocking it—”

Before Raven 12345 finished, a sudden whistle increasing in intensity came from within the golden giant ball. Something strange was happening!

The surface of the giant ball had moved again, and the golden light was shining through the gaps with a strange sound before the ball came apart.

The giant ball disintegrated, many odd-shaped metal objects blown out from the ball in all directions, hit Hao Ren directly in the face.

He instinctively raised his hand to block the fragments, to his surprise, the pieces did not actually hit him. He opened his eyes. The metal fragments flew past and through him like phantoms. The pieces rapidly changed shape and grew larger as they were blown outwards before forming a translucent image in the distance.

Vivian was surprised. “Is it a holographic projection?”

“No, it doesn’t seem like one,” Hao Ren said, glancing up. At the center of the explosion, there was a bright glow. “This core has indeed disintegrated, and those fragments—”

“They transformed from material to imaginary, as if trying to demonstrate something.” Raven 12345 was heard saying, calmer than Hao Ren and Vivian, even during the explosion. “How is my hair?”

“Err, still look great.”

“Great. Let’s continue,” Raven 12345 said, waving her hand and pointing at the loose fragments around. “Look at those things, they are components of the ball. Something never-seen-before has appeared. I guess they are the missing parts of the Creation Engine, which you can use to finish the engine. Maggie!”

The tiny crow goddess jumped out from the light and came up to them. “Croak!”

Raven 12345 grabbed the little crow goddess and said, “I know, I know. You didn’t brood it, it broke apart on its own. Well done. You’ve taken down its security shield. Now let’s see what this thing is for. Have you got the data?”

The little goddess cried in a high-pitch croak.

“Okay, let me see. Oh, yes, please don’t go first. I need you to restore this thing afterward.”

“Croak…”

Listening to their conversation, stunned. Hao Ren asked Raven 12345, “How did you even know what she said?”

The engine core had completely changed shape. It was now a group of holograms with a radius of several kilometers. The many grotesque components had turned into translucent images, flying around Hao Ren and Vivian. Vivian looked curiously, like a lost ball in high weeds. Hao Ren was a little nervous, looking at Raven 12345 and Maggie who were talking to each other rapidly. The little crow goddess jumped around and gestured with her hands before handing a small ball of light to Raven 12345 who then absorbed the ball into her body.

Raven 12345 turned to Hao Ren. “I have figured it out.”

Hao Ren was delighted. He never thought it could be so easy. “You’ve figured out the uses of this Creation Engine?”

“Yes.” Raven 12345 nodded. “I guess. This engine has powerful data recovery and world rule-bending ability. Judging from its preprogramming, I think it has the function of reconstructing the world barrier.”

“Reconstructing the world barrier?” Hao Ren was stunned.

“Have you forgotten how the Plane of Dreams and the Wall of Reality came about?” Raven 12345 arched her eyebrows. “I remember I told you this.”

Hao Ren froze and then recalled the ancient secrets in his mind. “After the two universes collided, one of the worlds was damaged more seriously than the other with the Plane of Dreams becoming the vassal universe to the surface world. The spot where the collision occurred had merged and become the unstable Wall of Reality. Reconstructing the world barrier means—”

“That’s right, fixing this unstable wall,” Raven 12345 said solemnly. “It will restore the world barrier to the state before the collision. Do you know what it means?”

The penny dropped. Even Vivian had suddenly understood it. “The Wall of Reality and the Plane of Dreams will be separated from the surface world!”

“You’re right. Maybe, this is the mission of the goddess of creation, and the true meaning of her ‘returning to the balance,'” Raven 12345 sighed. “Looks like she already knew the situation between the Plane of Dreams and the surface world. She might even know the cause of the collision, so she was trying to push the Plane of Dreams away from the surface. This is an unprecedented work. I have to give her higher regard for that.”

Though the goddess of creation did not receive formal education and license, she was better in every other way then the neurotic goddess in front of him, Hao Ren thought to himself. But he dared not say it out loud. Otherwise, the neurotic goddess might give him a dozen of her ‘blessing’ again.

“What if she succeeded?” Vivian sounded a bit nervous.

It was mind-blowing. Never had Vivian expected her creator having such a terrific plan. Changing the trajectory of the two universes, pushing the Plane of Dreams away from the shackles of the surface world, rebuilding the world barrier, and ultimately closing the Wall of Reality for good— every one of these grand plans was beyond the understanding of the mortals. Facing these problematic works, Vivian felt a little uneasy.

But her uneasy feeling was unfounded. It was purely a natural feeling of awe of a ‘mortal’ in the face of something supernatural, something beyond comprehension.

Raven 12345 thought for a moment before she spread out her hand. “This is a great project. Once realized, the impact would be far-reaching. The mapping relationship between the Plane of Dreams and the surface world will cease. There will be no more troubles caused by the overlapping of the two universes. The space fissures will disappear, and there will be no more ‘smuggling’ and ‘cross-border’ phenomena. The stability of the two worlds will be significantly improved. There are many other changes, and it is difficult to tell you all at once.”

Hao Ren blinked. “Sounds like a good thing, no?”

“But I can’t rule out the dangers, which we cannot foresee,” Raven 12345 said, shaking her head. “I just inferred based on what I knew of this Creation Engine. But the engine is unfinished, and there is not even a technical drawing for some of the critical structures. I can’t make the structure out of my imagination alone. After all, it is designed by a true god. So I am not sure if her plan is safe.”

Hao Ren was even more confused now. “Since you are not even sure, I should—”

“It is straightforward, just finish it,” Raven 12345 said. “Go to the Plane of Dreams, find a place there to complete this thing.”