The Record of Unusual Creatures

The Blueprint Gallery

From a technical point of view, the “super engine” designed and built by the Goddess of Creation was just child’s play in the eyes of Raven 12345. But Raven 12345 still needed to rely on the design of the former, because she had been facing a long-standing problem: she could not intervene with the Plane of Dreams or watch the fragile vassal universe. She could only observe the Wall of Reality from the Surface World and learn about the internal structure of the Plane of Dreams through various indirect means. As she had said herself, Hao Ren knew more than she did about the Plane of Dreams.

She was helpless when it came to the problems concerning the Wall of Reality.

The Creation Engine was a huge breakthrough to the problem: the Goddess of Creation had completed her observation and planning of the Plane of Dreams from the other side of the Wall of Reality. Plus, she designed this great divine artifact, which could fix the Wall of Reality. Although her design had many flaws, it was enough to make up for Raven 12345’s inadequacy in the Plane of Dreams. If this engine really worked as planned, it would solve most of the plane’s problems.

“I have been observing this for many years from this side of the wall, and she had been working hard on the other side as well. Though I have never met her, we were working towards the same goal; we both wanted to fix the problems between the two universes. My years of hard work is not in vain.”

Hao Ren could not help but roll his eyes. “The Goddess of Creation has spent thousands of years to create this ball. But what have you done?”

Raven 12345 patted Hao Ren on his shoulder. “I’ve found a talent like you.”

He was speechless.

“Ahem, I will take that as a compliment,” Hao Ren said. He felt that he had better not argue with the neurotic goddess. “Are you sure the problems will be solved when I finish the thing in the Plane of Dreams? To be honest, you just said that the core of the engine isn’t complete. Even if I can produce the parts as shown in the holograms, they might not be enough to form a complete engine.”

“Of course it won’t solve all problems, but it’ll still be an achievement,” Raven 12345 said, looking at Hao Ren with a solemn face. “I certainly didn’t expect you to complete the Creation Engine, but have you forgotten that the goddess of the Plane of Dreams has made most of the engine’s peripheral structure?”

While saying, Raven 12345 waved her hand, an image appeared before them. At two meters squares across, it was the miniature version of the group of holograms, which was several kilometers in radius. The huge imagery blueprints had shrunk into small images floating around her. She manipulated and spun these parts and gathered them to form a weird structure. Centered on a golden ball, the structure composed of flashing ring-shaped components woven together in a crisscrossing pattern, just like a model of a galaxy but more exaggerated proportions.

Vivian was not so sure what it was. “This is—”

“The ball in the center is the core of the engine. The outer ring structure is the blueprint that Maggie has analyzed from the core database, that is, the combination of the holograms around you,” Raven 12345 said. “This engine core is both a functional device and a blueprint gallery. Upon activation, it will display the manufacturing drawings of 12,680 components. When these components combine, they will look like what you see in front of you. Considering that the size of the engine core is only five hundred meters, the overall size of this structure would not larger than two kilometers in diameter.”

Now Hao Ren got the picture. “According to the guardian giant, the Creation Engine is a planet about the size of Earth. So even I put everything here together it would only be a small part of the whole.”

Raven 12345 nodded. “You have found the core, but it seems that even this core is an unfinished version. I suggest that you finish it, then go to the Plane of Dreams, find the Umbral Realm, and salvage the engine part that the Goddess of Creation has built. If all goes well, you only need to combine the two parts together. Though I don’t know what will happen, I think something should happen after that.”

Hao Ren thought for a moment. Sounds like the whole process made sense. But he still felt it unreal. Was it really that simple? He thought.

“It’s not really that simple,” Raven 12345 immediately waved her, knowing what was in his mind. “Now, calm down. Think about your trouble-making ability, and the Umbral Realm that has not been found until now, and the hidden hand behind the death of the Goddess of Creation. So, have you calmed down?”

Hao Ren reached to touch his chest. “As cool as a cucumber.”

“Good. Keep it on,” Raven 12345 said and patted Hao Ren on his shoulder again; much more forcefully this time, nearly planting him in the ground. “My advice to you is to take one step at a time and do whatever you can. After all, the biggest clue you have at hand now is this crippled-version of the engine core. Can you think of another way besides building it?”

Hao Ren could not argue. He knew that the deadlock in the Plane of Dreams had been going on for too long. Now, even if Raven 12345 did not say it, he would try to make things happen by starting the core.

He solemnly nodded. “I will work on it.”

He then asked shamelessly, “But you have to provide some technical support at least? Of course, I’m not talking about explosives, but real technical support. How can you expect me to finish it when I can’t even understand it?”

“In fact, it is not as difficult as you think.” Raven 12345 obviously has something in mind. Raising her right hand, a clear crystal at an inch long with blue and white lights dancing on the inside condensed in the air. “Maggie has extracted all the blueprints from the core. They’re all here. The system in CARS can handle these things, but considering the difference in technology trees, the equipment will need more time to build the Creation Engine. During that time, you could continue to look for the Umbral Realm. However, there is a problem: these blueprints only include the hardware structure of the engine frame, but not the Gilded Discs.”

Hao Ren took the crystal in his hand and arched his brows. “You mean, after building the core module, I need to find the remaining nine Gilded Discs?”

“Correct. The Gilded Discs are essential, and each Gilded Disc has different internal. You can’t copy and paste to clone the nine discs. The only way is to find them; all of them. If I’m not mistaken, most of them should be buried in the ruins of the Goddess of Creation’s divine realm. When you find the unfinished Creation Engine, you’ll be able to find them.”

After leaving Raven 12345’s “heaven,” Hao Ren still found it surreal. Suddenly coming into contact with the truth of the Goddess of Creation’s grand plan, it seemed like he had physically walked into history itself. A powerful divine artifact that could push the Plane of Dreams away from the Surface World, a drive that could change the rules of the world; this thing was truly worthy of its name: the Creation Engine. The core of the engine was now in his hand. His next step was to return to the Plane of Dreams, the engine’s place of origin, to assemble it. He still could not believe that this was real.

When this surreal feeling faded, his mind became clear. He carefully thought about the process of building the Creation Engine. Facing a powerful divine artifact that might change the trajectory of the entire Plane of Dreams, he must be careful. He was resolute in building it. Before starting the work, he realized he needed to talk to the guardians in CARS first.

He had a lot of information to share with Muru and the others.