The Record of Unusual Creatures

Yggdrasil’s recovery had brought about enormous changes to the Midgard continent. With Niebelungen as home to Yggdrasil’s most important thinking organ, the regeneration of the tentacles of the eldest First Born son was just as spectacular as that in Midgard.

If not seeing with their own eyes, no one would have known that today’s Niebelungen was the rotten, dark, and toxin-laden land of the past. And the changes here were even more remarkable than what happened in Midgard.

The turbid cloud floating in the air had been cleared. The toxic springs all over the land had become cleaned up by the tentacles of the First Born, becoming beautiful lakes and rivers. The deep valleys had also been filled in. The roots of the World Tree had sprouted from the largest abysses and crypts, becoming the towering trees in the wilderness. The source of corruption—the lair of Nidhogg—had become the Temple of Life.

The crater around Nidhogg crater was filled with huge green vines as the roots of the World Tree spread up from the bottom of the crater, tangling on the mountainsides and forming a fantastic green curtain. The green curtain extended up into the sky, and at the height of 1,000 m, it suddenly bloomed like flowers becoming a canopy. Green lights glowed like ancient elf between the canopy and the green curtain, preventing the land under the canopy falling into the darkness.

If the Nordic people really wanted a World Tree, then no doubt, this should be the image of the World Tree.

At the foot of the World Tree, Hao Ren saw white columns covered in vines, glyph-filled stone walls with overgrown roses, and the magnificent palace that had almost blended in with the surroundings. The row upon row of buildings that popped up out of nowhere, surrounded by a mysterious yet elegant atmosphere, were obviously not of natural occurrences, Hao Ren thought.

They were all created by Yggdrasil with his own tentacles and lifeblood.

Every palace, every pillar, and every stone wall was a living thing.

This was the transformation Yggdrasil had made to his hinterland after he woke up. Hao Ren felt this was an environment far more comfortable to be in compared to the underground crypts filled with tentacles.

“Looks a little déjà vu.” Hao Ren walked towards the palace at the foot of the World Tree. Next to him, Vivian, who looked up for a long, suddenly came to her senses. “Ahh, it looks like the temple in Coldpath!”

Hao Ren had quickly realized too that these palaces were not created out of thin air but a replica of the temple of the goddess of creation!

Yggdrasil had reproduced the temple of the goddess of creation with his own flesh and blood. But as these temples were entangled with the roots of the World Tree, and they were a little deformed, Hao Ren had not recognized them at first. It felt different to walk in between the pillars of the temples now. Looking at the empty halls, Lily could not help but sigh, “Blackie must be missing his mom.”

“Whitey too,” Hao Ren added.

“Didn’t Blackie create Whitey?”

“Both Blackie and Whitey are more of a result of mitosis but a generation apart from the goddess of creation.”

“Oh… Mr. Landlord, that’s a brilliant explanation.”

The Nangong siblings, listening to the conversation, could not help but join in. “Mr. Landlord and the husky are finally on the same wavelength.”

“Oh, yes, they are.”

A green vine extended out from the palace, guiding them to the main hall of the temple of the World Tree. The interior of this magnificent building was round and empty. Two rows of white stone pillars lined up around the hall. Huge vines extending out from the hall grew and climbed up these stone pillars, forming a green dome at the top.

There was an incredible thing floating in the center of the rotunda: it was a crystal-like sphere with a diameter of more than two meters flowing with magic runes and mysterious patterns. Under the sphere was a vast pool glowing in some kind of energy.

“What is this?” Hao Ren had instantly noticed the sphere. He walked over, and curiously observed it.

“It is an astrolabe,” a gentle female voice was heard saying from across from the main hall.

Hao Ren froze. It was the voice of a stranger. He looked up and saw a girl, who he had never seen before, walking down the half-moon steps opposite the main hall. The girl, wearing a piece of plain white dress that was simple yet elegant, fair-skinned, without any makeup on her face, her long hair—even her eyebrows—was silvery white, was as white as snow. Looking at her, Hao Ren felt that she seemed to have low contrast with her surroundings, giving her a 2-D effect. He knew having this thought was weird. He could not help as it was a side effect of talking for too long with Lily.

The ultra-low contrast white girl came down from the steps and seemed to float around Hao Ren in a circle. It was an illusion, though. As her footsteps were so light that she seemed to walk on air. “It took me a while to build this place. The memory of the temple of my mother has become so blurry that I could only remember this part,” the white girl said to herself.

“Wait a second.” Hao Ren was perplexed. A thought flashed across his mind, but he could not believe it. “Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Whitey.” The white girl with a low contrast continued to float around. “Wasn’t you the one who named me?”

“It’s really you?” Hao Ren was shocked. “How did you become like this? Wait a second. You are female?”

Now, even Vivian and the others were struck dumb. This was the first time they were seeing Whitey appearing in this image. When did the First Born acquire this image? Wasn’t it neuter?

“Female? No. We are hermaphrodites,” Whitey said. “You should have known.”

“But you look like…” Hao Ren looked at Whitey with a strange expression on his face.

“Oh, it is an ability of the First Borns. As we are the guardians of all beings, when the ecosystem has developed to a certain extent, we have to communicate with various Second Borns. Mother had preprogrammed us so that we could communicate with anyone in different appearances,” Whitey said as she made a three-sixty turn. “That’s how many myths begin. You are now seeing me in human form, but in fact, we could change into anything. If you were a reptile, I would appear as a centipede.”

Before Whitey finished, Hao Ren glanced at Nangong Wuyue. “That sounds like you.”

“I’m not at that level yet,” the siren said, waving her hand. “I can only shapeshift into whatever in the water.”

“But you could transform into the Titanic, and I’m sure he couldn’t.” Lily cut in. “Oops! I mean ‘she’…”

The facts spoke for themselves. Other than feel surprise, Hao Ren could not say anything more. As much as he marveled the astonishing lifeforms like the First Born, it was not something beyond his expectation. After all, he had not even met a perfectly normal First Born so far. When he thought Zorm was the one, it turned out to be a First Born that physically crumbled as a juvenile. Only Yggdrasil could be deemed “complete.” So whatever unique ability he saw in Yggdrasil, he would consider it a “normal” phenomenon.

“Well, let’s not talk about this.” Hao Ren turned to look at the hall. “Since we’re here in the core of your mind, shouldn’t Blackie also reveal himself, or maybe, herself?”

“Then I will bring her out.”

After saying, Whitey turned around and disappeared.

After a while, a voice with a slightly higher pitch tone was heard from afar. “Bastard! Don’t rush me! Just give me a few minutes! Let me take another sip! Just one more sip! Without the sun I’m going to die.”

Hao Ren was stunned looking at Whitey dragging another girl who looked exactly like her but in black coming out from a vine. The black girl, being dragged on the ground, cursed aloud, “You son of a b*tch! I shouldn’t have created you in the first place! Let me go back there and take another sip!”

“You are full already.” Whitey threw Blackie on the ground. “We share the same senses. I know you are full.”

“What are you two talking about?” Hao Ren was dumbstruck.

At this time, Y’zaks, who had been silent all this while, spoke, “Isn’t Yggdrasil near a star sucking its energy?”

Blackie lumped into a ball on the ground, face filled with happiness. “Eating is so satisfying, especially after being starved in space for two thousand years. Just let me take another sip.”

Everyone was struck dumb.

“Is this Yggdrasil at all?” Hao Ren could not believe his eyes. “How could this possibly the behavior of the First Born?”

Lily patted Hao Ren on his shoulder as if she had seen it all. “How could you claim to be a pope if you react this way?”

Thinking for a moment, Hao Ren was speechless.