The Record of Unusual Creatures

It was a divine artifact.

Before Raven 12345 finished, Hao Ren had realized that the thick and solemn Bible before him was divine and certified to be so. It was just dazzlingly bright. If you were to write its name down, the word itself would glow with an orange aura.

As Raven 12345 had mentioned, it was a counterfeit of the original, and there was a vast difference in the level of power between the two. But even so, it made no difference when it came to the Plane of Dreams. It originated directly from a sovereign god, which meant it was akin to dealing with a group of local gangsters with a star-blasting spaceship and a tsar bomb. In all fairness, you would not feel the difference between the two if they were blasted right next to your house.

Hao Ren was instantly over the moon after receiving this literally god-sent divine thing. He took the book out of the box while listening to Raven 12345’s babbling, “It may be a backwater here, but the giving of this thing shows our superior is concerned. There are more powerful things than this, but you will not be able to control it. So, be contented.”

“It is good enough. I feel much more confident by having this thing. But then, what the eight rams on the Bible are all about?”

“Oh, that is a physical enchantment, which enhances your combat power.”

“Then, for what is the iron chain on the side?”

“You can coil it around your hand and then swing the book on its end.”

Hao Ren thought for a long while and finally figured out what the physical enchantment meant; it was a meteor hammer.

“Wait a minute! You mean the correct way to use this book is to throw it out like a meteor hammer?”

“That is one way of using it. But you can also take a gander of the contents inside if you a free. But there is nothing much to see; it is just a YY novel, a typical middle-schooler’s writing that the Dark Valkyrie produced when she was young. I threw up before I could finish three chapters. It is hard to believe that mortals in some universes still regard this Bible as the original. The trouble is that the fundamentalists will make a mountain out of a molehill when gods like us try to update our autobiographies.”

Everyone on the scene was like you got to be kidding me.

Lily poked Hao Ren’s arm and said, “Mr. Landlord, there are too many things not right about this thing. What should we do?”

“What can I do? I cannot do anything about it too.”

“Something is really not right about this thing.” Even Y’zaks could not help but mutter in a low voice. But even at this voice volume, it was audible to everyone. “True gods like you all are really a bunch of weird fellows.”

Raven 12345 rolled her eyes. Hao Ren looked at the meteor-hammer Bible with eight rams and a chain thoughtfully. He finally understood why Anthony J. Alfonso had that kind of combat style. A mage with a physical BUFF and a spiked club was a perfect match for the Goddess of Light who installed eight rams on the Bible. But whether it was because of the matched personality that prompted Anthony to follow the Dark Valkyrie, or because of after Anthony following the Dark Valkyrie that he only changed from a great magician to become a berserk remained unknown.

When thinking of the last scenario, Hao Ren could not help but be shocked. He stared at Raven 12345 with a strange look.

Holy moly, will I become a neurotic as well one day? Hao Ren thought to himself. It is very likely as every time when I talk to this female neurotic, I feel like my mind is going crazy.

Raven 12345 instantly noticed Hao Ren’s stare. She looked at him and asked, “What is that stare about?”

Hao Ren bit his lip and choked back his ‘why can’t I stare?’.

“I feel more confident with this thing.” Hao Ren sighed and tucked the Bible and the box of training materials away. There had been a mixed feeling, but his confidence was genuine. It was just that it came unexpectedly. “Is there anything else to tell me?”

“That is all about it. But I have a few words to say to Vivian.”

“Me?” Vivian pointed at herself.

Both Hao Ren and Lily listened with their ears stood erect. Hao Ren was genuinely concerned about Vivian while Lily’s reaction was more habitual when she heard something interesting.

Raven 12345 did not answer directly. Instead, she looked up and down at Vivian before saying curiously, “How do you feel after the hibernation?”

Vivian’s brows knitted together, her eyes vaguely glinting in red. She carefully felt her own strength and spiritual world and then unsurely, she said, “I can feel many powers in my body. I could not control them, but I am sure they belong to me. Besides, I also feel that my spiritual world has become stronger. My lost memories have come back, but not all.”

“Hmm, just as I have expected.” Raven 12345 nodded lightly. “It seems that you still need some time to ‘digest’ these things.”

Hao Ren did not sense anything wrong in what Raven 12345 said, but he just asked out of concern. “Is there something wrong?”

“No worries. It is a good thing. Through this incident, Vivian has regained her power and memories. During the recovery process, the sovereign hub and will of Vivian have purified things that have once been corrupted. So now, they are all safe and controllable,” Raven 12345 explained. “But Vivian has not regained total control right away. She has lost her control of these memories and powers for 10,000 years, now when she suddenly regains them, she needs time to adapt. It may take a few days or even months. And during this period, her strength will gradually increase, and her memories will become clearer. All these could make her a little confused.”

“Is it dangerous?” Hao Ren frowned.

“No. Only mild symptoms.” Raven 12345 laughed. “The pollution has been cleaned up. What she has recovered is harmless. But she will experience occasional mental disorientation due to the new memories and stuff like that. Just keep an eye on that, and she will be fine.”

Hao Ren and Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. Vivian laughed finally. “I thought this thing was over. Never expect that there is still something unresolved.”

After Raven 12345 explained everything, Hao Ren began to share his findings in his journey traveling back in time.

“An operating system in the soul?” Raven 12345 was baffled, just like everyone else. Lily was the first to ask questions. “Battie, you are full of surprises. Could it be possible that you are the protagonist in a novel? And we are in some kind of system like a character-progression novel?”

“The system I am talking about is not the same as in your understanding.” Hao Ren buried his face in his hand. “I tested it and found that it was somewhat like a program—input, process, and output, used to control something and connected to a large database. But I could only make it out to be an incomplete star chart. I suspect that the data is corrupted.”

“Used to control something?” Raven 12345’s eyebrows arched. “Interesting. And it comes with a star chart. Hao Ren, do you still remember Vivian as the Guide?”

Hao Ren was startled; of course, he knew what that epithet meant.

All otherworldlings on earth, including the demon hunters, were the refugees that the Goddess of Creation sent to this universe when an extinction-level disaster struck the Plane of Dreams. The Goddess of Creation had a grand plan, which no one had fully understood. She first sent the remnant to the surface world and pardoned the sin of deicide of the survivors through Ultimate Absolution. She must have also designed a program that let the refugees return to their homeworld and everything arranged in place in space-time fort of Yggdrasil. Besides that, the plan could also be related to the resurrection of the Goddess of Creation and the ultimate battle against the Mad Lord.

And this grand plan had a Guide, who was the divine avatar of the Goddess of Creation, that was, Vivian Ancestor.

But Vivian had absolutely no clue of this mission. Before the divine avatar arrived on Earth, it first accidentally went to the planet Inferno. It underwent a split in Inferno and Vivian who came on Earth was only one-half of the divine avatar. Meanwhile, the other half had turned into an insane demon-god Malevolence in Inferno.

Hao Ren was unable to reach Inferno during his 10,000-year time travel because Inferno was located outside the sandbox. So, there was still a part of memory and power that Vivian could not recover, and this part of memory and power had been lost forever.

From Raven 12345’s explanation, Hao Ren had immediately associated the operating system in Vivian’s soul with the identity of the Guide. “You mean the Guide will use the operating system to carry out the mission?”

“I guess so.” Raven 12345 gently nodded. “The system you mentioned is not an isolated thing. Since it is configured to control something, then that ‘something’ must exist. Considering that Vivian is the Guide, this system mostly has something to do with her mission. Did you not say that there is a star chart stored in the system? Then this star chart must be the key. When do you think the star chart will be used?”

Hao Ren frowned and then said, “When sailing in space?”

“That’s right. It is a navigation map. Maybe it is the map that Vivian the Guide uses.”

“Do you mean she will use this star chart to bring the refugees back to the Plane of Dreams?”

“That I cannot say for sure. After all, a star chart does not prove anything. Maybe it just points out the coordinates, and then Vivian will need to find a way to go the target destination. It could also be a map to find the ancient weaponry that the Goddess of Creation made in the Plane of Dreams, and Vivian needs to activate these weapons at a certain time to fight the mad Lord. There will be many possibilities if without clear instruction.”

With only an incomplete star chart, Hao Ren could only feel helpless and at a loss.

“We can leave this for another time. After all, we have made huge progress so far.” The voice of Raven 12345 jolted Hao Ren out of his thoughts. “Everyone needs a rest. Getting the earth back on track is the priority now,” the goddess said with a broad smile spreading across her face.