The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Going to the Umbral Realm and looking for the road signs to the Star of Creation…

Hao Ren had never expected to find the road signs in this place under such circumstances.

The goddess of creation had not only foreseen her own death but even planned ahead. She set everything up in this remote galaxy and left the key to the future generations even though the goal of the key was to completely destroy herself, which was the most shocking part of her plan.

Aside from shock, Hao Ren was even more awe of the fight underway on the causal level.

The Mad Lord was rooted in the laws of the universe, and the goddess removed the laws to counter the Mad Lord. The resistance of the will of the world had led to the appearance of loopholes in the plan of the demise of the divine era. The goddess left a set of signs to ensure that the Creation’s Engine would work as intended. And all the confrontations had happened before the actual event itself.

The goddess of creation and the Mad Lord seemed to have been in a fiery match even before the chess game started.

Hao Ren could not help but shake his head “But the goddess of creation seemed to have overshot the mark in the battle between causality and fate. While she might have left the road signs to patch up the loophole, but the other aspect of her plan had also gone wrong. She did not manage to complete the Creation’s Engine before she died, and it was most likely the result of the resistance of the will of the universe.”

“No, Hao Ren,” Vivian said suddenly. “Have you forgotten? The Creation’s Engine project has been restarted right after you come to this universe.”

“What?” Hao Ren’s mouth was agape with cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

She had even planned this?

“Holy moly, the game that the true god played was frighteningly unpredictable.” Hao Ren wiped the sweat off his forehead. “I would not want to get involved in such a thing had I been able to quit the job. My life, my way; I would have told fate ‘go to hell,’ resigned, and blown the Creation’s Engine in pieces—only if I can.”

“Cut the cackle and try to tell that to Raven 12345.” Vivian shot him a stare. “You are working for the Administration, not yourself. Those who shout ‘my life, my way’ have never signed any contract. People like you in employment with a year-end bonus cannot do that.”

Hao Ren’s brows knitted together and clapped his hands suddenly. “Damn it! Now I realize what is wrong; Raven 12345 did not pay out year-end bonus last year!”

Vivian was struck dumb.

Salaman had no clue of what the two were talking about. He could not help but interrupt. “What are you two talking about?”

“Oh, nothing, just about some problem with the withholding of employee perks by some foreign god.” Hao Ren waved his hand and then stared eagerly at the giant general. “Can the three crystals lead us to the Star of Creation? I mean even if when the planet has dropped outside the universe.”

“I am confident of it.” Salaman nodded. “The road signs that my mother has left behind after the causal postulation transcend causality and spacetime, naturally. As you mentioned earlier, the Star of Creation and the divine realm had plunged into the Umbral Realm. This proves that the prediction of our mother is accurate. So, the accuracy of the road signs is something worth looking forward to.”

Salaman lamented, “I felt helpless once. It was 3,000 years ago when Naqdal was torn apart by the sudden attack of the rebels. The Naqdal crystal, as part of the road sign, has fallen into space turbulence. Now, we lack one of the three.”

Salaman continued. “But we firmly believe that the Naqdal crystal still exists. It has plunged into turbulence but not destroyed by the festered freaks. With Mother’s blessings and protection, the Naqdal crystal must still be safe. Now, we have two of the three crystals with us. The only thing we need to consider is how to recapture the crystals on Amantir without damaging them.”

“My drone army would crush those monsters head-on on the battlefield.” Hao Ren frowned, as he found that there was a tricky problem. “But as you said, those monsters may blow the fortress up when in desperation. They would surely do it if they felt threatened.”

“How many drones do you have?” Salaman asked casually.

“Twenty million in this galaxy,” Hao Ren replied. But a thought came to mind, he quickly corrected, “Oh, just 30 million. But the number is meaningless. The main force of my drone army is still outside the galaxy, and they kept multiplying while on the way here. The total number of armed units is over 90 billion and quickly approaching 100 billion. All in all, we have more than what we need; more of them have become meaningless as those monsters will blow themselves up if they decide to do so. They will not congratulate us with a GG for winning with a smile and then surrender. I am afraid they will self-destruct immediately when they see a billion drones appeared before them.”

Salaman found it hard to keep up with the foreign jargon that Hao Ren uttered. But with his level of wisdom, the old giant could still vaguely guess what Hao Ren meant and agreed with what he said.

“We once considered taking advantage of the chaos by sending a team of commandos to land on Amantir and retrieve the crystal,” said General Salaman. “But there are many obstacles. Let’s ignore the Amantir’s heavily defended surface for a while, the manpower shortage of the Guardian Legion is the biggest problem. We simply do not have enough strength to push the battlefront right up to Amantir.”

“I have taken care of the problem,” Hao Ren had the same train of thought. “We have enough firepower from the drones. By the way, is there any spatial limitation to the Amantir? For example, the problem with bringing it into alien dimension and passing through space fissure.”

“There are no such limitations. Do you have a plan already?”

“If you can send me to the Amantir crystal, I can bring it back,” Hao Ren said. “But you have just said; the place is heavily defended. It is not easy to go into the enemy’s base camp.”

Salaman thought for a moment. “It may work considering how tiny you guys are. Everything on Amantir is designed around the guardian giants; they are huge. Those freaks have long been used to opponents like us, the giants, which are more than ten meters tall. They have no experience and awareness in guarding against small humanoid creatures like you two. I have a detailed structural diagram of the core area of Amantir, where there are many trails that you guys could use to your advantage.”

Hao Ren’s eyes lit up instantly. “It may work.”

“But there is still a problem.” Salaman looked at Hao Ren awkwardly. “Other than the drones, there are only two of you? This little fish does not fight, right? Even with the Lord of the Throne of Destiny, it is still too great a risk for two of you to go behind enemy lines.”

Something that Hao Ren was always concerned about suddenly came to mind. “Allow me to ask you a question: what is the divine blockade in Star Cluster X all about? How does its detection mechanism work?”

Sure enough, Salaman knew the matter well. He pondered for a moment and said, “Well, there is no need to keep it a secret from you. The divine blockade is one of the protective measures Mother has laid out to defend the sacred land against foreign invasion. It will block and attack any non-native life forms that attempt to pass through it. But the rebellion of three thousand years ago has defeated it from within, so the blockade has never really useful in this case. As for its detection mechanism…”

Speaking of which, the general suddenly looked a little perplexed. “I am wondering if there is a problem with it. It is based on the life sequence, and only the original life form that is life closest to God can pass the detector. But you brought in a fish!”

Hao Ren was startled and then feeling it amusing. “No wonder, it turns out that it has nothing to do with divinity but everything to do with life sequence. General, please don’t be surprised that this ‘fish’ is on the higher life sequence than you and me.”

This mystery had finally been solved. The detection mechanism of the divine blockade was indeed based on the life sequence. Vivian was directed created from the divine blood, and thus she was on the higher position of the life sequence. Lil Pea is the End of Life of this universe, which meant she also occupied a relatively high position in the life sequence. Meanwhile, Hao Ren was used to be a human, but he had become a demigod after signing the labor contract with Raven 12345. It was a conceptual change, which also elevated his position in the life sequence.

All the rest of Hao Ren’s buddies at home did not pass this standard.

Vivian was curious about this detection mechanism. “Why is it based on life sequence? Is it not more convenient based on divinity?”

“The reason is simple. The firing up of the Creation’s Engine will invalidate the divine sequence of the universe,” Salaman answered. “The true God will disappear, so too the corresponding divinity. Divine creatures like us may be able to survive, but we will become the mortals. By then, if we still want to continue the mission in the sacred land, the security system here can only be based on the life sequence. Not only that, the divine storm that shields Star Cluster X will also turn into a powerful energy storm without any divinity in it. The divine resonance used in the Weaves of Destiny will eventually degrade, completing the so-called divine regression. It is a complicated process that is hard to explain.”

“It must rely on divine power for starting up but divine regression while in operation?” Hao Ren scratched his chin. “Now, I understand. Then do you have a way to shut down the detection mechanism or create a few backdoors?”

Salaman hesitated. “We cannot turn it off because it is one of the highest security measures. But if you want a few ‘security passes,’ then it is easy.”

Hao Ren smiled. “I have a few helpers, who have been dawdling about in the base for long enough time.”