The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

As the kingdom of the mortals rose and fell into chaos, and a thicker force of dark vortex swallowed the whole continent, the lands that drifted freely away from the main continent could no longer remain peaceful. The dark side of Carnos was affecting every land floating in the void. The twisting force and negative magic energy were spreading out from the depths of the world, invading the material world, layer after layer. The world was now twisting a lot faster than any of the tides of Chaos recorded in history. The changes that took place in Collow had become apparent to the extent that even the local villagers noticed it, not to mention the scholars of the sanctum who had been guarding the land of the Order and monitoring the chaotic boundaries for thousands of years, protecting the order.

A group of investigators from the Theocracy set off a few days ago. As they were now crossing the dark realm of Chaos, the scenery at the southern end of the Ansu Continent was reflected in the eyes of the high-ranking monk, Calaxus.

The Ansu Continent and the Kingdom of Fimbulvinter were two separate continents that faced each other and floated in the void. Aside from the darkness and chaos that separated them, there were only pieces of islands drifting in between the mainlands. There were only two ways to travel from one continent to another since ancient times. One was the expensive teleportation—highly efficient and safe but costly and not always available. When the interference from the Chaos was terrible, the teleporting service must be shut down. Two was a variety of flying tools: wind boat of the elves, the magic-powered ship of the humans, and the domesticated blue monster magic whales trained by the orcs and trolls. These vehicles were the product of the wisdom of the people in Collow. Navigating in the Sea of Carnos was extremely dangerous, and Chaos attack was common, but these means of transportation were still indispensable. Without them, the darkness would have swallowed the mortals, who would most likely fight alone on their continents.

Calaxus stood on the upper deck of the Hammer of Order, watching as the energy exhaust from the magic-powered warships blew apart the clouds on both sides. He was thinking about the connection between the mainlands, the process of civilization, and technological sustenance. Cold wind past the cheeks of this high-ranking monk, his gray curly hair and the gold-edged white robe were fluttering in the air, producing a whistling sound behind him.

Calaxus did not notice all that as he was deep in his thoughts. The continental cliffs in the distance formed a vague shadow in his unfocused eyes as it drew closer. The monk was enjoying the moment of meditation like this. Back in Theocracy, few people understood his quirky ideas, even the most brilliant scholars just concentrated on the immediate crisis, or in memorizing the ancient books. Few would seriously think about the future of this world, or worry about the declining state of Collow.

This often made him feel that the clouds over the world were getting thicker and thicker.

A shudder came from under the feet, and the Sacred Hammer began to slow down. This great battleship was making creaking sound from the inside, and a layer of magic runes appeared around the sleek white hull. The magic-paneled wings on both sides of the hull slowly open as to increase the efficiency of capturing the free magic in the air. In the rear half of the hull, two parallel-arranged magic furnaces released a large amount of waste heat, leaving behind two dark-red trails in the clouds. The magic-powered battleship could capture a vast amount of free magic energy when sailing at high speed in the Sea of Carnos, but once it decelerated, the efficiency of the magic system in the ship would drop to the minimal, and this would be the biggest trial for the ship.

Calaxus looked back and saw that the shipbound furnace installation had fired up. The forces of Chaos were ravaging the Ansu Continent. The ship had to activate the Light of Order before it reached the continent.

The high-ranking monk let out a deep sigh.

“Venerable one, why are you sighing?” A follower, draped in a blue-rimmed white robe asked respectfully in a whisper beside him.

“This is the most powerful magic-powered battleship of the sanctum, or even of the entire Collow.” Calaxus’ reply was inexplicable.

“Yes, it is the pride of the sanctum,” the follower said with a proud-looking face. “It is above all the other combat strengths of Collow.”

Calaxus faintly said, “Two hundred years ago, this ship was also the most powerful magic-powered warship; and it also was, three hundred years ago. Five hundred years ago, the Sacred Hammer had not been commissioned yet, but the most powerful battleship at that time was at the same class as it was. Going further back in time a thousand years ago, the most powerful mortal weapon of Collow was the Sky Fortress of the Zelorand Assembly. One fortress could accommodate six Sacred Hammers.”

The follower looked stunned and did not know how to reply to be respectful enough. At last, he bowed his head, “Your knowledge is extensive.”

The monk looked at the follower humbly. He knew that this follower had only a shadow knowledge and he should not expect the follower to understand what he said. The monk let out a sigh and then continued to enjoy the view outside.

The Sacred Hammer began to rise. Far ahead was the floating islands in the south of Ansu Continent where rocks were floating in the air, and flying beasts from the floating islands emerged out of the clouds. So the ship should avoid this height to reduce unnecessary risks.

When the ship broke through the clouds, Calaxus went up to the front and looked down. Suddenly, strange colors caught his eyes.

The Sacred Hammer was now flying over a giant floating island, where vast jungles and hills dominated the landscape. It was the size of a small kingdom. But it was not the size of the floating island but a large patch of cleared jungle that surprised him. He saw on the edge of the most massive forest on the floating island, a half-moon shaped area had been cleared away with many rudimentary structures on the cleared land. There were wooden scaffolding, grass shed, furnace made of stone and earth, and some large pits. Besides the holes were several blue ellipsoidal objects, the shape of which looked like an egg. They glistened in their oily surfaces which were bundled with grid lines on the surface. These ellipsoidal objects were arranged side by side in pair with thick rope tucked in between them.

“When did people begin to appear on those floating islands?” Calaxus asked as he pointed to the scene under the clouds.

The follow poked his head and took a glance and was confused. “I haven’t heard of it. I just heard a few Ansu crew on the ship talking about the beasts on the floating islands. It must be the beast.”

Calaxus’ brows knit together. The structure on the floating island was rudimentary. Even if humans were in exile on the island, they would not have built things like that. While he was thinking, the thought of the intelligent behaviors of the beasts crossed his mind. But soon he shook his head again as he was not convinced of his guess.

Just then, something that happened surprised him even more than ever.

He saw the blue balls, which initially looked a little crumpled, began to swell like the backs of the vesicle fish unique to the Radiant Continent. Below the balls were many ropes and hooks. Now he could see some small figures were moving around the balls. It seemed to be the native humanoid beasts.

The blue balls swelled bigger and bigger, and soon, Galaxus realized that the balls were not just expanding; they looked bigger because they were rising!

That primitive stuff turned out to be flying tools!

Calaxus was not the only discovered what was happening down on the floating island; the observers of the Sacred Hammer also saw the flying balloons rising under the ship. The trained military personnel immediately bounced to their feet. Driven by their professional intuitions, they saw those balloons as threats. Rushed to their respective posts, they were ready but did not act because there was no order to attack.

A member of the Theocratic soldiers dressed in mithril armor ran up from the lower deck to Calaxus. “Venerable one, should we attack those… those big balloons?”

Calaxus seemed to have not heard the soldier as a louder sound was echoing in his mind.

The beasts in the primitive world have invented an aircraft! The beasts in the primitive world have invented an aircraft!

When the self-proclaimed higher-life-form races on the mainland were declining, the beasts had not only strengthened themselves internally but had even evolved to be able to build aircraft!

The soldier did not get any reply, so he repeated. “Venerable one, do you want us to attack?”

“Do not attack!” Calaxus suddenly cried out as if he was screaming. But he instantly realized his gaffe, and quickly calmed down and said, “We will go around them.”

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