The Record of Unusual Creatures

Truthfully, Hao Ren did not have much interest in the origins of the Ebon Blades or the ritual itself. He went there because the MDT had detected a signal.

There was a rhythmic pulse inside the Sacred Armory. The signal was short and repetitive, but it was slightly different than another pulse they detected—the pulse Nolan detected in the core of the planet.

After entering the Sacred Armory, the signal that the MDT had detected was getting stronger, and the MDT was now starting to lock on to the source of the signal.

The most obvious feeling the abandoned Sacred Armory gave off was vastness. Most of the equipment and the 770,000 swords had already been moved south. The only thing left was a massive empty cavern, and countless of arrayed platforms as well as support structures. At the heart of the Sacred Armory, the elevator was connected to a cross-shaped bridge, which pointed out into four directions. In two of the directions were neat rows of sword mounts, while the other two sides were the server area and the “infusion chamber” where the spirits were infused respectively. After the MDT’s detailed scans, it confirmed that the signal was coming from the direction of the chamber.

Hao Ren pointed to that direction. “Can we go over there to have a look?”

“Of course, feel free.” Constance nodded. “But most of the facilities here have already been moved, so there are not many valuable items left.”

Hao Ren smiled without a word, and with the MDT as his guide, he approached the infusion chamber. That area was probably the most dismantled of all the places there, as almost 99% percent of the equipment had already been moved, leaving only an empty space used to store machines, and a few odd devices. However, the signal was not coming from any of the devices, rather a black obelisk in the middle of the chamber.

“What is this?” Hao Ren pointed curiously at the black obelisk. The latter was at least the size of a person and had a smooth surface. Powered by magic, there were some words and symbols appearing on its smooth black surface, seemingly without any proper meaning.

Constance had a weird look on her face. “That is the Foundation Stone… Do you not know it?”

Hao Ren tensed up a little. Was it something all heritors should know?

In spite of that, he did not show any nervousness on his face, and he just nodded naturally. “We aren’t too clear about it. Pardon us, what we know of this area is very limited.”

Perhaps the memory loss among heritors in that era was rather critical, so Constance did not doubt him. She simply explained, “It is something that reappears with every restart of the era. We also do not know where it comes from, but every time a new era commences, rocks much like this one are littered near the origin point of the new era, literally next to the heritors. So after a while, we used these black stones as a catalyst for the Turn of the Eras and leave a ‘mark’ in the process of the world’s destruction and rebirth. So even if these rocks are practically useless, we do think that they bear a special meaning…”

As she said that, she held her hand out to touch the surface of the Foundation Stone. “There will be one of these Foundation Stones in every important facility the heritors build. It is a sign of the world’s continuation, and even if the facility is abandoned, the stones will not be taken away.”

A stone that appears during the process of the Turn? Or in other words… even with the Turn of the Eras, these stones would not be destroyed alongside the world?

Hao Ren was suddenly intrigued by the Foundation Stones. He followed Constance as he placed his hand on the stone. At the same time, he ordered the MDT to approach the obelisk’s surface.

“I’ve read all of its data, partner!” the MDT’s excited voice rang in his mind simultaneously. “So, that’s how it works… This thing has set itself as a ‘concept’ and only releases its internal data when touched!”

Hao Ren closed his eyes to hide his glowing eyes. “What’s in the data?”

“It is a very complex encryption key… and a decoding database…” the MDT said before it was surprised again. “It matches the signal that Nolan read at the heart of the planet! Buddy, the records inside the Foundation Stones are the decoding cipher for the ‘thing’ at the heart of the planet!”

“Send it to Nolan, now.”

“Understood. The cipher has been sent. Nolan’s decoding it right now.”

Hao Ren retracted his hand from the surface of the Foundation Stone, and the MDT flew up as well, landing quietly on his shoulder.

“We have a rough idea of what the Ebon Blade transformation ritual is,” Rheia said. “From my perspective, it is not suitable for Duke Owen. Even if you use the cybernetic implants to strengthen his biological body and use the chainswords to aid his cognitive process, fusing his spirit into the sword and controlling his body remotely is not a solution for his damaged spirit. Leave it to me, I have every confidence that I will totally cure him.”

Rheia was supremely confident, and it did not look like she was flipping through a reference book at all.

Constance’s usually cold and emotionless expression finally changed a little. She turned to Rheia and bowed in gratitude. “Then, I thank you on Howard’s behalf. You are not just saving a duke.”

“Do not fret it.” Rheia waved it off. “This is all for the ‘Turn of the Eras’, right?”

Hao Ren then continued, “In that case, we need to talk about the Turn of the Era now… First I would like to ascertain something. At what stage is the Turn completed? Do we need to fight until the world is destroyed… or is it once we wipe out the minions of Annihilation that the Turn is considered completed?”

“Wipe out the minions of Annihilation?” Constance had an incredulous look on her face. “How is that possible… The minions of Annihilation are endless, and as long as the war continues, the forces of Annihilation will continue to expand, spread and infect. Everything in the world will become its minion. It is only a matter of how long we need to hold fast, so the minions of Annihilation cannot be totally wiped out. In the fight against the minions, the world will be consumed bit by bit, and in the end, only a small sanctuary will be left as the final battle commences against them. Once everything is destroyed, only then is the Turn of the Era completed… The ones who manage to hold firm during the final battle will be the founders of the new era. These are the rules of this world.”

Constance spoke with conviction, but Hao Ren immediately caught something.

“That’s to say, no one has actually managed to destroy the minions of Annihilation before the world gets destroyed. The truth is that each apocalypse is forced. The heritors cannot hold against the attacks of the minions of Annihilation, and that allows the world to slowly fall into destruction. That’s the crux of it, right?”

Before Constance could respond, Vivian said, “So, whether they need to fight until the world ends before the Turn of the Era is completed is totally up for debate since no one has tried another method since the beginning!”

Constance opened her mouth but could not form an argument. With a frown, she slowly said, “When you put it that way…. it is true. But what of it… So many eras have passed, and our ancestors could not stop the Annihilation even in their prime. Besides, we are the weakest of the eras in history, with many heritors totally losing their memories. Our ancient knowledge is in tatters, so in this situation, do you think that we have a chance to wipe out all of the minions of Annihilation?”

Looking at the agitated princess, Hao Ren spoke plainly, “Who said it wasn’t possible?”

“You…”

“You may choose to not believe us, or think us naive. It doesn’t matter.” Hao Ren shrugged. “With regard to the truth of the Turn of the Eras, we will need to investigate more, but that is not important. We can finish this war first, and since this is a war against the apocalypse… the Basilica of Yggdrasil can finally go at it without restraint.”

Constance looked at Hao Ren in confusion, not understanding what he meant by that. Lily, on the other hand, was already excited. “Whoa! Mr. Landlord, you mean we can go on a rampage?”

Vivian gave the werehusky a contemptuous glance. “Look at you, don’t you dare chicken out on the field.”

“Since when have I ever chickened out before!” Lily bared her fangs. “Tactical retreat and defense do not equal to chickening out!”

Both Hao Ren and Vivian were speechless.

Concurrently, close to the temporary base at the core of the planet, Nolan was commanding a large swarm of engineering droids. They landed on an alloy platform that was hugging the planet’s core.

Once the decoding cipher, which Hao Ren sent, was recorded into the data vault, and a simple comparison later, Nolan was sure that the thing was the key to visiting that mysterious “object” in the heart of the planet.

In the subsequent days of processing the cipher, Nolan was totally helpless against the encryption barrier as its defense had far exceeded her expectations. It confounded Nolan.

She realized that the object in the planet’s core was probably created by someone with very high technological level, and once Hao Ren sent the information regarding the Turn of the Era as well as the Cycles of Annihilation to her, she had a rough idea about who that someone was.

It should have been the ancient civilization, the lost era when the civilization was at its prime.

What was it? And what did it do?”

The engineering droids had landed on the platform, and many needle arrays had been erected on it. Beneath each array was a long data needle, and the needle had been pierced into the scorching outer shell of the core, forming a constant physical connection with the mysterious barrier.

For many days, the needles were Nolan’s best bet in getting into the core, and there was no progress every time she checked back.

“Insert the decryption codes. Commence data decoding and translation.”

Nolan stood on the bridge as she looked at rows of new data, and the words “awaiting connection” on the central projection. On the side beyond the other window, the engineering droids were nervously calibrating each data needle.

A sound like a heartbeat rang across the bridge. *Thump, thump thump, thump, thump thump…*

The heartbeat from the planet’s core was growing faster and chaotic.

“Code insertion complete. Decoding and translation complete. Initiating preliminary contact pulse… Transmission completed.”

Nolan’s eyes were glued to the screen.

A few arduous seconds later, a line appeared on the central projection.

“Visitation request accepted. Data vault access open.”

It was done!