The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

With Constance leading the way, the group left the lord’s castle and took an elevator hidden deep within the mountains into the heart of Snowfrost City.

Their destination was the “old palace”.

“Here?” Vivian was surprised the moment she saw the building, which had already been turned into a historical attraction. “Is this where the Ebon Blades perform the transformation ritual?”

“Strictly speaking, it is beneath it.” Constance smiled. “It ‘was’ a venue for the transformation ritual.”

Hao Ren then realized something about his previous find. There was a weak energy pulse at the bottom of the palace.

He had planned to investigate the palace that day and find what sort of secrets were hidden beneath it. However, he never thought that before he could even plan anything, he would be granted a way to access the building the proper way. His plans indeed did not catch up with real-time changes.

With Constance leading them, the group could easily access the old palace, and as they passed through the ancient and magnificent front gallery, Constance told them the story of the palace, “Snowfrost City was the capital of the Dragon Empire several thousand years ago, and for the normal folks, it is something that occurred a few hundred generations ago. So even the most learned of scholars do not really understand the ancient parts of this city.

“Everyone only knows that there is an ancient palace in this old capital, but few actually know that the first Sacred Armory of the Ebon Blades is in this city and hidden under the old palace.”

Hao Ren’s ears perked up the moment he heard “Sacred Armory”. “Based on what I know, all the black chainswords came from the Sacred Armory. They were forged and stored there, so for the knights who live by the sword, the Sacred Armory is, for intents and purposes, their base and command center.”

“You are correct, but I have to add that the Sacred Armory is not only for the forging or storage of the chainswords, but it is also… a sacred mausoleum.”

Constance spoke with a solemn look. Two fully armed and armored Knights of the Broken Blade stood before her. They were guarding a rather inconspicuous gate within the old palace.

However, Hao Ren could feel the pulsing energy coming from behind the great door.

Constance was now using the body of another to move about, yet the Broken Blades seemed to have a special ability to sense their master. The two knights guarding the door immediately stood at attention and bowed. “Your Imperial Highness!”

“Open the door.” Constance nodded. “I’m bringing these guests to the Sacred Armory.”

The knights obeyed her order without any hesitation as they simultaneously activated the magical device on both sides of the door. With a clattering of mechanical sounds, the ancient doors slowly parted.

The entrance to the Sacred Armory was now in front of them.

There was a circular hall, and the ring wall around the hall was inlaid with countless neatly-arrayed metal prisms. In the middle of the great hall was an elevated metal platform, and as they followed Constance into the hall, the sensors flickered. Simultaneously, the gentle hum of magic infusion chimed and the magical lighting around the hall lit up, making it as bright as day.

Even though the place had been abandoned many thousand years ago, the interior still looked spic and span. That meant two things: there was scheduled cleaning in the place, and the materials along with the construction technique of the building were far beyond the current era.

“The real Sacred Armory was moved south in tandem with the relocation of the imperial capital. Most of the chainswords, forges, infusions, storage, and transformation facilities were moved as well. The only thing left behind was an empty husk and some old facilities, which were too difficult to dismantle and move,” Constance said while she walked toward the platform at the center of the hall. In the meantime, the knights closed the main door from the outside. “Even so, the old Sacred Armory still has many things that can be used. Plus, what the heritors pass down is knowledge, and not material wealth. So long as we have enough time, we can build many things with a blank template. I used this knowledge to build a few new facilities, and once they were connected to the old data vault… they became operational.”

Constance stepped onto the platform, and a gentle feminine voice rang across the hall, “Detecting external connection… Administrator access confirmed. All systems entering standby mode. Awaiting orders.”

Constance motioned toward Hao Ren and the rest. “Come, I’ll take you to see what has been passed down to us.”

The group stepped onto the platform, and a short shudder later, the platform slowly descended.

Lily’s eyes widened as she let out her signature elongated howl of surprise, “Waooooo…”

After descending a short distance, a vast underground space appeared before everyone. Hao Ren saw through the transparent shaft and witnessed a cavern that looked like an upside-down bowl. Parts of the cavern walls were reinforced with thick alloy, while at some places, the rocks were simply exposed. In the underground cavern, there were many designated zones because massive and nondescript facilities were installed in each zone, forming a multi-purpose… production line.

It was like an ancient alien factory.

“That is the old forge.” Constance pointed at one of the zones, and there were a few pieces of intricate equipment being installed on the base. A conveyor belt was connected to the back of the base alongside a large number of tubes and cables. “The chainswords are made there, but truthfully, the physical creation of the swords is the simplest of the tasks… While it may require a few special materials, it is nothing but a mass-produced item.”

“That means, whatever it is that’s restricting the production of the chainswords is not technology per se or the scarcity of materials.” Hao Ren quickly caught on. “So the 770,000… is actually the number of souls.”

After gathering much information and seeing how Duke Owen was, in addition to the Duke’s preparation to turn himself into an Ebon Blade, Hao Ren had a pretty solid understanding of the true nature of the Ebon Blades. He was right on the money when he spoke.

“Correct, souls.” Constance nodded gently as she pointed at another area. “Seven hundred and seventy thousand eternal heroic souls… They all once lay there, waiting to be infused into the soul core of the chainswords.”

Hao Ren looked in the direction she was pointing at and saw a dozen of neatly-arranged black cubes. Each cube had been installed on a platform made out of alloy, and there were numerous glowing cables around them. There were faint glows on each of the cubes as well.

That aside, there was an even larger area around the cubes, but it consisted of empty platforms. Clearly, the remaining cubes were a small part of an originally great number, and most of them had already been moved.

“There were 770 servers here, but most of them have already been moved to the new Sacred Armory down south. The remaining ones were not moved because there was no value in moving them due to damage caused by long operations. The souls within the servers have already been moved out, and the machine itself is on standby mode. I have fixed a small part of it, but frankly speaking, the servers are pretty much pointless now.

Vivian frowned. “Because there are no souls to be used, right?”

“Where did the souls come from?” Hao Ren asked. “If I’m not wrong, they were from the last era…”

“Correct, the warriors from the last era.” Constance bobbed her head. “During the last Turn of the Era, my father led his army and was victorious against the former heroes who had become monsters. The ones who followed him to the end were those 770,000 men. Almost 90% of them were not heritors, but they could still use the Scepter of Sovereignty’s power to go through the Turn of the Era and retain their memories from that era. Once the old era ended, with the world destroyed and recreated, the 770,000 spirits followed my father into this new world. Many years later, my father perfected the soul infusion and transformation technique, allowing them to reappear in this world as the Knights of the Ebon Blade.”

Lily’s brows met as she pondered hard before she noticed something. “So, you chose the strongest and the best soldiers to become Ebon Blades. You were actually turning their bodies into a vessel, and their original spirits were being wiped out by the lot of you?!”

As Lily said that, Hao Ren, Vivian, and Rheia looked at Constance in a somber manner. The fact of the matter was indeed very grim.

“Of course not.” Constance had expected a question like that. She smiled as she shook her head. “It is a covenant.”

“A covenant?”

“To control a body, the original spirit would be the best for the task, so all Ebon Blades need to have their original spirit. The most important part of the soul infusion ritual is the soul synchronization covenant. Both an ancient spirit and a spirit of this day and age connect then share control of the body and weapon. The ancient spirit provides knowledge, technique, and experience while the spirit of the current age is in charge of control and thought. After a complex fusion and acclimatization process, the two souls are drained and infused into a chainsword, becoming complex AI. This is how the Ebon Blades are born,” Constance explained the entire process. “Obviously, not everyone succeeds, and not everyone is accepted. The transformation ritual of the Ebon Blades does not have a low mortality rate, and most of the trainee knights will have some hesitation after they learn the contents of the covenant. As even the smallest hesitation greatly increases the chances of failure, all those who refuse to accept it have their memories wiped and are released from service for all sorts of reasons. But the main reason is… failing the trials.”

“That sounds rather humane.” Hao Ren raised an eyebrow.

“Humane? No, we’ve only chosen the most efficient method,” Constance replied plainly. “Because having two souls fused together would increase the efficiency of control and come out much stronger, we chose that method. If there was no need to preserve the original souls, we would not hesitate to wipe them out as well.”