The Record of Unusual Creatures

Raven 12580, Raven 23333, Raven 10086, Raven’s mobile number… So many “mass-produced” goddesses! If he had not seen them in person, Hao Ren would not have believed that goddesses in heaven worked in shifts sometimes. His own boss was the flakiest one among all the goddesses. This neurotic woman had gone missing lately. Most of the time it was her substitutes who handled her post in heaven. Counting his fingers, Hao Ren was surprised to find that he had not seen his boss for a long time.

He was actually quite surprised to find Raven 12345 back in office.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Raven 12345 said. Her sharp six senses had noticed the strange expression on Hao Ren’s face. She glared at him. “Am I not back in the office now? What is so surprising?” she asked.

It looked like the goddess was aware of her long absence.

“Yeah, long time no sees,” said Hao Ren who quickly forced a smile. He knew that this was a female neurotic, he had better not to take her words seriously. “Where did you go all this while?”

Raven 12345 squinted, her face looked as if she was thinking. “I was reporting back to the divine realm and meeting some old foes of mine. Guess what, I have made a name for myself again in these few days.”

“Just a few days? It sounds like more than a few days,” Hao Ren said.

“I was lying in the repair shop after that,” Raven 12345 replied matter-of-coursely.

Hao Ren was speechless.

“Well, let’s leave the topic of my brilliant achievement until next time. How about your work?” Raven 12345 asked, treating the dumbstruck face of Hao Ren as admiration. “Looks like you’ve got some findings in the demon-hunter headquarters.”

“It’s not as simple as just some findings,” Hao Ren said. His face turned solemn. “In fact, I have found…”

He told the goddess about his experience in the Coldpath dimension, the situation of the unusual creatures, particularly on the formation of the Shadow Council. Raven 12345 did not comment about the last point, as if this nitty-gritty was not worthy of her attention. To her, as long as the earth’s civilization was still going on regularly, she was not going to interfere in Hao Ren’s actions. What she was more concerned about was what happened in Coldpath.

The verbal report was just about his personal experience. The MDT had compiled the scanning result of Coldpath into technical documents and submitted them to Raven 12345 as part of the report. Though the goddess appeared flaky most of the time, she was unquestionably professional in her work, definitely the smartest and erudite neurotic in this universe.

This super-smart female neurotic read the entire technical report with great interest. Then she said, “Hmmm, that’s interesting. Is this the knowledge system of the goddess of creation? Look at the temples she built using the original and primitive energy-supply structure. These runes are very simple and straightforward to use, although efficiency is a problem. And the structure of these energy nodes still has room for improvement despite being pretty well-designed.”

Listening for a long while, Hao Ren could not make head or tail about what she said. “So what does this mean?” he asked.

“It means that this goddess really has no background. I couldn’t know her origins by just looking at the ruins,” Raven 12345 said, sweeping the hologram to the side with her hand. “But it doesn’t matter. We knew this from the beginning anyway. The key is the other thing that you have found,” she said.

Hao people nodded. He opened his dimensional pocket and took out a large metal container. The surface of the metal container floated with a blue halo that looked as if it had texture. A powerful isolation field suppressed the dangerous energy inside the container. Psionic energy called the Power of God formed the most secured seal. No matter what the content was, it was impossible to get out.

Even if it was a weapon that had once slain a god.

“It’s the Godslayer,” Hao Ren said, placing his hand on a switch of a secured container, which was used specifically to store dangerous stuff. Before switching off the energy shield, he glanced at Raven 12345 and said, “I’m going to open it.”

With a wave of her hand, Raven 12345 had formed a layer of magic shield around herself. “This shield should be tough enough. With the ability I have, should I worry about a little Godslayer?” she said.

Hao Ren nodded and switched off all the security mechanisms of the container. With a slight burst of energy and a buzzing sound like an air valve, the metal container slowly opened. Surrounded by the blue halo, the black sword in the box floated up silently.

This sword was alive. Though no detectors could detect the consciousness within the blade and the MDT had also concluded that the sword did not have intellectual activity, it was undoubtedly alive. After leaving the restraint of the security container, the black sword trembled and the darkness of the blade became deeper and deeper. The floating starlight in the dark on the blade also shook along with the sword. At first, Hao Ren was a little nervous; he thought that the thing was trying to break free. Soon after, he realized that the sword was actually trembling in fear.

It was because Raven 12345 was staring at it with a curious look.

A blue light flashed across the goddess’ eyes. The shaking black sword instantly calmed down before she grasped the hilt with her hand.

“Be careful,” Hao Ren spontaneously reminded her.

“I am. This thing is not a threat to me,” Raven 12345 said carelessly while wielding the sword. Hao Ren watched in amazement. Though he was a total swordsmanship idiot, he was as sure as hell that the goddess had a very high level of skill. He could not help but think of what the goddess once said: the Raven pantheon was a pure magic-caster profession. They did not use any cold weapons in battle. But seeing the way Raven 12345 wielding the sword, her skill in cold weapons was absolutely extraordinary!

But there was something that Hao Ren did not know though: she actually derived her skill from her painful experience of being attacked by a broadsword.

Of course, she started practicing swordsmanship after being beaten by the broadsword and suffering from brain damage.

“The material of this sword is the world,” the goddess said after wielding it for a while.

Hao Ren thought it was a grammar mistake. “What?”

“The world, literally,” Raven 12345 said as she glided her fingers on the blade of the black sword. Radiating lines of cracks appeared on wherever her finger touched. A terrifying air was leaking out of those cracks as if space had been torn apart. “Of course, for the sake of understanding, you can call it cosmic fragment. But in reality, it is something of higher-end. It is not just a broken piece of dimension but also a fully functional world fragment.”

Hao Ren, blinded with science, quickly asked, “What is the difference?”

“Let me categorize them into three different types of fragment: dimensional fragment, cosmic fragment, and world fragment,” said Raven 12345. She was always very patient when explaining things to Hao Ren. “Dimensional fragment is the most basic thing you have ever come into contact with; it is a four-dimensional space and time that has been split. In other worlds, it could be five-dimensional or six-dimensional; it is a fragment of space and time, nothing else. The cosmic fragment is one step up, a microcosm of a part of the cosmos, containing all the dimensions and material in the universe. On the other hand, the world fragment does not only contain all the dimensions but also contains the rules of the world, which not only of its own but also those that it used to belong to.”

As if Lily’s soul had possessed him, Hao Ren’s eyes started to spin with spirals.

“You can think of it as a piece of land that has been annexed from a kingdom,” Raven 12345 said, smiling as she looked at Hao Ren. “You only get a wasteland. This is the dimensional fragment. If there are buildings and farms on this wasteland, it is a cosmic fragment. If there are sufficient, skilled and loyal people in the land, complete with government institutions, rules, and regulations, then it can be regarded as a miniature version of the country, it is the world fragment.”

Hao Ren looked at the black sword; he was stunned beyond words.

What surprised him, even more, was a question that suddenly crossed his mind: Since it was a world fragment, which world was it from?

Was it the Plane of Dreams?