The Record of Unusual Creatures

Divine Blessing was the most common technique for the people in the system of the true God. Unlike magic that needed years of learning and practice to master, Divine Blessing did not take a Herculean effort. The caller only required a close relationship with the divine god and had faith in its power. For these two reasons, the popes serving in the name of the real god usually had the most potent divine intervention magic. They could even call upon the name of the true God to seek strength. Such was the Divine Blessing.

Hao Ren had never used Divine Blessing before—in fact, he had never used any form of magic. Though Raven 12345 had given him some instruction and introduction manuals and personally told him how to draw power in the name of the Goddess in an emergency, he had never thought about using it. His standard issue equipment was always sufficient to deal with most kinds of problems in the past. Though sounding incredible, Divine Blessing did not work as good as it sounded. It was only a supplementary weapon for inspectors and most of the time it was less practical than the psionic gun or orbital bombardment.

There was a more critical reason why Hao Ren was so reluctant to use this move; he knew that his boss was a neurotic goddess and he had witnessed it once. So he could not bear to see himself using the hilarious trick. The sheer thinking of it would give him a painfully awkward feeling.

No matter how awkward it was though, he still had to accept the fact that he was working for a neurotic goddess, and not having the luxury of hesitation in the current situation. So he put on a brave face, followed the instructions in the manual, and then established a connection deep in his mind with the divine power.

He began to call upon the name of but not Raven 12345 herself so that the divine energy carried by the title would enter this dimension.

He was doing it the first time, but everything seemed to be going well. He soon felt the power, and following the tutorial, he fixed the power in his mind and chanted the phrase, “Let’s give it a try, it’s free after all.”

He chanted the phrase like the way he usually spoke, but it reverberated in the space before a beam of light descended from the above.

The light immediately dispelled the fog from the Calamity Cloister and even completely isolated the destructive infestation. Hasse, Y’zaks, and Vivian had their jaws dropped to the ground, especially Vivian and Y’zaks who were seeing it for the first time.

Hao Ren was standing in the light, and he seemed to have turned into a crystal figure flickering from reality to illusion as if he was going to transcend out of this world. A sacred power was using Hao Ren as a medium and radiating in all directions. The power was so holy that people had even forgotten the incongruence of the anachronistic “Let’s give it a try, it’s free after all” catchphrase.

A sacred figure began to descend in the light. It was the image of Raven 12345, her concept in this universe, not her in person. She was the origin and essence of the world, so when the pope called upon the name of the goddess, her name appeared in the form of an avatar.

The goddess in the light placed her hand on Hao Ren’s shoulder and blessed him. Then she made a thumbs-up sign with light reflecting off her teeth before announcing with her divine voice, “I’ve got you covered!”

Hao Ren opened his eyes and pointed to the other three. “Boss, if you have time, please bless them too.”

Vivian’s eyes affixed on the ritual, which was indescribable in every way. When she noticed Raven 12345 was casting eyes on her, she waved her hands and stepped back. “Oh, wait a second, I will not—”

She was too late; the image of Raven 12345 had split in three and come before her, Y’zaks and Hasse. The divine splits, whose face looked just as compassionate, blessed them. Thumbs up and flash in the teeth, the three splits said to three of them respectively, “I’ve got you covered too!”

After all the blessings, Hao Ren could not keep ritual running anymore. The white light slowly faded away and soon everything was back to the dark atmosphere. Unlike just now, they were now surrounded by a faint glow that was powerful enough to dispel all shadows and negative forces. The destructive forces coming out from the door was no longer affecting them.

Hao Ren exhaled and raised his thumb. “Yeah!” he said with a poker face.

Vivian felt a chill running down her spine. “Could you please stop doing that? It reminds me of what happened just now,” she said.

Hasse’s jaw was still on the ground. It took him a long while before he came to his senses and asked, “What the hell was it just now?”

Looking awkward, Hao Ren said, “Will you believe it if I told you it was divine intervention?”

“Huh?”

“So don’t ask me about the details.” Hao Ren sighed. “Now everyone has already received the blessing of the divine power. The things behind the door shouldn’t be able to affect us.”

Y’zaks looked at his hands; a divine glow was shrouding him. He laughed, self-deprecatingly. “Oh… I’ve never thought that a demon could receive this kind of blessing. Or should I say, this is truly the power of the true Goddess, who doesn’t make chalk of one and cheese of the other, demon included.”

Hao Ren shrugged, turned and walked deeper into the passageway.

The four of them moved along the dark passageway with their shields on. The negative forces were still lingering around them but stopped by their shields. Hasse could not wrap his brain around of what Hao Ren had done just now. He had witnessed the power of this incredible shield; he respected it but could not make head or tail of one thing. “Are the words on the shield necessary?” Hasse asked.

Hao Ren looked at him with a blank expression. There was a line of text scrolling around the divine shield like an electronic message board. That text was not runes but a heavenly phrase: I’ve got you covered too.

Hao Ren pointed to himself, and there was a line of words ‘I’ve got you covered’ floating around him too.

“I have it too. So stop bitching about it, what’s most important is the shield.”

Hasse felt like he was standing in front of a new world, hesitating for a long time and did not dare to open the door. So he shut up, which was a wise move that at least saved his perception of the world.

Probably, barely.

It was why Hao Ren had never been willing to use Divine Blessing of Raven 12345. The power of the true goddess was unquestionable, but he could not say the same for her neuropathic brain and the manifest weirdness of her style. Hao Ren could not imagine how embarrassed the real fanatic followers of Raven 12345 were when doing missionary works in the field. Their Bible must be full of “don’t f*cking freak out” (God’s courage), “f*ck you” (divine interference), “I’m the f*cking best” (praise), “you don’t f*cking run” (the prohibitions), which were bordering profanity.

The shield shrouding him now was known as ‘I-F*cking-Cover-You Shield’ in Raven 12345 Bible. Some people called it the ‘Goddess’ protection,’ but it did not work because it was deemed a nickname.

With this in mind, the pope, Hao Ren, could only sigh repeatedly. He walked in the passageway with a great sense of physical and mental exhaustion after the Divine Blessing.

He was suddenly interrupted by a golden light coming from the front.

He had come to the end of the passageway. After crossing the murky darkness, the place opened up in front of them.

The place was completely different from the dark rock passageway behind them. For a while, Hao Ren even thought that it was an illusion from the power of Raven 12345. It was a glorious place, and a hundred meters in length on each side of the square hall, filled with various mysterious and colorful decorative murals and reliefs that looked like they were newly put up just a while ago. Huge columns supported the dome on the roof, and the structure of this place resembled that of a church. Apart from that, there was an altar made of crystal in the center, where something was floating above it.

That was what they were looking for, the glorious Solar Roulette.

Hao Ren’s eyes affixed on the Solar Roulette, wide-eyed.

The Solar Roulette looked precisely the same as the Gilded Disc that the Goddess of Creation made.

No, they did not just look the same, they were mainly the same thing.

The Solar Roulette was about ten meters in diameter, had a hole in the center, and engraved with mysterious runes. It had the same features as the Gilded Disc that Hao Ren found on the planet Solenne. Without a doubt, this was the divine artifact left behind by the Goddess of Creation.

However, the Solar Roulette appeared to be very strange.