The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

It was a beautiful day, and Hao Ren was summoned by Raven 12345 to “heaven”.

As usual, Hao Ren expected Raven 12345 to be in some sort of trouble, either the mansion being torn a new exit or being hunted down with a massive ship-cleaver, or even the entire heaven being reduced to a wasteland. But this time around, the goddess’ place was normal. The mansion stood imposingly in the middle of the garden, surrounded by the verdant garden. Water ran from the elaborate fountain before the mansion, and Big Bluey, the arcane servant was busy amongst the rows of flowers, injecting arcane energies into the unusual plants..

It had been a while since he saw “heaven” in its normal state, and Hao Ren had a double take wondering if he had gone to the wrong place.

“Oh, you’re here,” Raven 12345’s voice roused Hao Ren from his stupor. The goddess stood by the entrance of the garden wearing a very gentle and serene smile as she waved at Hao Ren. “Come, I have something to talk to you.”

Hao Ren was bewildered and felt that heaven and the goddess before him were so vastly different from before. He followed Raven 12345 through the garden in a daze before coming into a patio surrounded by hedges. It was green all over with the pleasant scent of flowers emanating in the air. A clear stream flowed beside the hedges into the patio and along the lawn. A set of exquisite marble table and chairs were set in the middle of the lawn, and fresh, unknown fruits were on the table. Raven 12345 motioned for Hao Ren to take a seat on the long bench.

“Have a seat.” Raven 12345 smiled. “Let’s talk about your report.”

Hao Ren obeyed, still in a daze. He looked at his surroundings before setting his sights on the gentle, proper and smiling lunatic of a goddess. He could not hold back any longer, and asked, “So.. uh… Are you 12345?”

“Of course.” Raven 12345 raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

Hao Ren did not know how to put his incongruity into words and could only laugh drily. “Hehe… It’s nothing. It’s just that something about you doesn’t feel right today. I’ve never seen you this gentle before. And hell, you even tidy the whole place up.”

Raven 12345 smiled as she heard what Hao Ren had to say. “Don’t have to be so surprised. There was a spot check today.”

Hao Ren almost choked on the guesses that he was just about to verbalize. “…Uh?”

The goddess maintained her gentle, holy smile before sticking her thumb up. “I’ve cleaned the place up two days back, and even purposely put on a fixed gentle smile expression pack on my face. You can’t see any traces of it right?”

Hao Ren felt that the world had returned to normal… With that said, seeing the crazy goddess with that gentle and serene smile was still gnawing at him. But at least he could now speak normally. “Bloody hell, I thought you’d ate something wrong or something.”

Raven 12345, with her gentle smile and all, flicked her middle finger back at Hao Ren. “I’m still a goddess. Can’t you talk to me with some modicum of respect?”

“Let’s take that expression pack off your face.” Hao Ren’s incongruity literally seeped through his words. “I’m getting goosebumps just by talking to you in that face.”

“I’ve said, it’s a fixed effect. It’ll probably last a couple of days.” Raven 12345’s expression did not change, almost as if her facial nerves were all dead. She had to resort to hand gestures to get the point across. “So back to serious business. First is the Crystal Core, I need to remind you; you cannot afford to dawdle on this. Next, I’ve read your reports already.”

Hao Ren finally snapped back into attention the moment it was about official business and could at least ignore the weird atmosphere around him. He adjusted his posture. “What do you think?”

“You’re sure able to surprise me every time.” Raven 12345 shook a finger. “Seriously, I don’t praise people for no good reason. But for you to run into so much trouble, that is a first for me. How did you even get tangled up in so many issues while searching for something?”

Hao Ren had no idea what sort of praise was that, and could only thicken his skin and waved it off. “You’re being too kind. There’s no other than bad luck.”

“Seems like I was right in letting you handle the stuff in the Plane of Dreams.” Raven 12345’s fixed smile really gave off a mesmerizing look to it, and Hao Ren could not tell if she was actually praising him or being sarcastic. “Perhaps you are really fated… Ah, let’s leave that aside. I’ve already known about the Ark of Origin, and understand what’s going on with the Ultimate Absolution, and the Deicide, but now I need your help in filling in some details.”

Raven 12345 then asked a few questions based on Hao Ren’s report. All of them were normal queries to get a better understanding of this. After that, Hao Ren asked, “Say, what do you think of the ‘Ultimate Absolution’?”

“What do you mean?” Raven 12345’s eyebrows twitched. That was the only part of her face that can move after her expression being locked in place. Every time her eyebrows twitched her face stayed completely the same, it was frankly unsettling.

“As a god, you think the ‘Ultimate Absolution’ is something plausible?” Hao Ren was serious. “Besides, can divine powers be weakened by causing gods to doubt themselves?”

Raven 12345 did not fool around this time. After a brief pause, she looked at Hao Ren in the eyes. “You do know that a god’s words and actions have the power to change reality right?”

“Yes, I do know that.” Hao Ren nodded. “It’s in the job manual and some reference books.”

“So when I say, “Let there be light”, the world will be lit up. When I say “The stars shall move.” and the entire star system will move. It is not because I have ‘released’ some sort of power, but as a god, I’m the ‘truth’.” Raven 12345 said as she gently tapped the white marble table, her voice steady. “If you see gods as the super administrator above the laws of the world, and then whatever the gods see ‘fit’, it will appear in the real world. So If a god thinks that he or she is no longer fit to become the god of the universe, the thought would create an effect, and his or her authority will be shaken.”

“So it can be done?” Hao Ren’s eyes widen. “So this ‘Ultimate Absolution’ is real? And the ‘mastermind’s’ plans can actually come to fruition?”

“There is an eighty percent chance for it to happen.” Raven 12345 nodded. “But it is not without question. The biggest question is how a mastermind that is not a god, have such an understanding of a god?”

“I’ve thought of it but I ran into a dead end. Don’t tell me that the mastermind actually studied and learned about the goddess’ traits and weakness?”

“The possibility of that happening is about the same as the husky at your place suddenly becoming a super genius.”

“Ahem, let’s not go there and stay on topic.”

Raven 12345 leaned back. “If the secrets of the gods can be unraveled that easily, then what sort of authority do we gods have then? So just like I told you, I can tell you everything about the powers of the gods, and their authority over the laws of the universe, but can you learn how to use it? ‘Understanding it’ and ‘Using it’ is not something that can be bridged by a couple of sentences alone.”

Hao Ren nodded, half understanding what Raven 12345 was trying to convey. A question then popped up. “So what do you think of the identity of that mastermind? I have combed through all the information I have and I cannot put a finger or what the hell it actually is… Is it a living creature?”

“The void hides countless secrets, and the existence of many cannot be described by words alone.” Raven 12345 heaved a breath. “Some cannot even be categorized. That ancient evil is as sketchy as you can get, and even the Godslayer doesn’t know how its creator looks like. So I’m inclined to believe that ancient evil does not have a form and tangible powers. It, of course, has its own will, but its cognitive ability and method differ from all intelligent life form. It could affect the minds of mortals, and even induce the ‘rot’ in the spirits of the demi-god guardians… so it does sound like it is a very powerful spiritual being.”

“So why did the goddess of creation hid such an important matter from her followers?” Hao Ren was perplexed. “If this ancient evil was that dangerous, shouldn’t she let them know? If there were sufficient preparations, the guardians would probably avoid a bloodbath. Now only special guardians like Yggdrasil knows about the ancient evil, and normal guardians like Muru and the rest had no idea that the goddess had fought with such a thing eons ago.”

“It is probably not because she didn’t say it, rather she could not say it.” Raven 12345 surmised after a short while. “For some supernatural beings, just the knowledge of its name or being mentioned alone would allow it to break out of its prison and break into the real world. Gods could do it, and some non-divine beings are capable of it as well. And the ancient evil seems to be very well versed in that. Its powers sound like ‘corruption’ as a unique trait, and the mere mention of its existence is a big enough risk. So based on what information I have, I have an idea of what sort of prison the goddess had sealed that ancient evil in. It should be deep in space, in a very quiet place. The prison probably has some sort of rare life form around it, to prevent the evil powers from escaping its prison by using normal minds as a springboard. The prison itself will also have a very important structure. It needs to be multilayered, and every layer is manned by a different sentry and outpost, and no movement between outposts is allowed because suppressing such an evil power is very difficult. There is a risk of it breaking out at any moment, and the loss of a defense layer will be commonplace enough…”

Hao Ren frowned hard as he heard that. “It does sound plausible when you put it that way, but there are too many places in the universe that fits the bill…”

Raven 12345 shrugged. “I know, I never hoped for you to look for it. I’m just analyzing it to make myself look good.”

Hao Ren was at a lost for words.

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