The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 419

Chapter 419: Returning to the Human Realm

 

As Hao Ren heard Y’zaks, something sprang to mind. He looked at the obsidian outcrops around him as asked, “Is it the type where you put a few obsidian in the center and light it up?”

“What are you even on about?” Y’zaks wasa genuinely confused.

Lily headbutted Hao Ren away as she chirped, “Oh ignore him. He’s derping out again. Say, big guy, how are you going to create a portal towards the human realm? Didn’t you say that it’s difficult for demons go into the human domain? There’s like many obstacles and sensors…”

“Humans have set up a very tight network of spatial surveillance as the first line of defence against teleportation magics by the demons. That aside, the demonic plane is also in the deepest depths of the spatial bubble, and made things very difficult for demons to head towards the human realms.” Y’zaks laughed, “But I had visited there long time ago, and have left some ‘pathways’.”

A smirk appeared on his face as he finished, “I’m not just a brute a few hundred years ago. I’m a learned demon after all. Knowledge is power.”

“A venture of hundreds of years, overthrown within ten.” Lily did not mince her words. “Such a pity.”

Y’zaks expression was conflicted and he let out a deep sigh. “Hmmm…. it may be fated. It was going all smoothly for a few hundred years until the last ten years. Not sure how heroes were popping out left right center all over the human realms. Their crusading armies were almost immunerable, and it had reached a point where there was a hero from every village; and they are the type that just won’t die. One of my generals, the Demon Lord of the East was vanquished by a hero hailing from Eastbridge Hovel of the Darian Kingdom…What a way to die…”

Hao Ren tried to put himself in the late demon lord’s shoes and felt that being vanquished so suddenly by a hero from Eastbridge Hovel would have been embarassing…”

Then again, Hao Ren could understand why Y’zaks would have been met by such a torrent of resistance towards the end of his reign. As a demon, he did not understand human nature well enough. He did not notice human’s potentials hidden under their frail disposition. A moral tyrant was still a tyrant; regardless how noble his goals are, it did not resonate with human nature. And when a race is pushed to the edge, a surge of counter-attacking armies would be following. When every person has a death wish, who isn’t a hero?

To be fair, all heroes were created by circumstances as they fought to survive. Even a mere bandit who drew blade against an evil dragon would be called a hero…

Well, that being said, the place sure wasn’t short of obsidian, in fact the damned place was smothered with it. The towering outcrops, some as big as a hill were the world’s purest obsidian ore. The obsidian over here only shares the same name with their Earth counterpart, and it is a type of ore that is native to the demonic plane and it’s surrounding areas. They are formed after the lava underground had seeped through a rich mineral layer before jutting out from the surface. The ores are very tough and has very good magical resonance; thus it was processed to be used as enchanted weapons or armor. They also can act as reagents for rituals or teleportation spells. But the obsidian would require quenching within a special lava type that is unique to the demonic plane to rid it of it’s brittleness, else they are simply a tough yet brittle ore. For that reason, it’s usage within the human realm is limited.

Obsidian products is common place throughout the demonic plane.

Lily was the husky with a penchant for shiny rocks, and she got excited the moment she heard about excavating some of the obsidian. The werehusky ran towards one of the outcrops and started mining. Her tools was naturally Frostmourne, and Flame-effing-joy (The latter was the upgraded Flamejoy quenched in helish lava).

Vivian had already thought of the names for the doggie’s upgraded weapons. If she managed to upgrade them again, one will be called Flame-effing-whut-joy and the other Frostmourne

Hao Ren decided that he could not longer keep up with the two’s nonsense any more.

Lily, in her excitement had dug up at least a few tonnes of obsidian. Y’zaks then threw the whole lot into the nearby lava flow, and used magic to control the obsidian as it quenched within the molten flow.

Under the effects of the demonic runes and the lava’s temperature, the brittle obsidian soon lost their rocky texture and became almost metallic as it started forming into shape under the intense heat.

Lily squatted by the side as she started stuffing remnant of the obsidian that looked nice into her pocket. By the time she was done, both her pockets were choke full of rocks as it rattles when she took a step. “You sure didn’t hold back didn’t you?”

“No insulting my hobby!” Lily jumped as she sneered at Vivian. “Collecting rocks is an elegent hobby! In those days, Wu Peifu…”

Vivian shoved Lily back, “Stop jumping, they’re falling out. And Wu Peifu did not play with rocks, you think you’re the only one who knows him?”

By then Y’zaks had molded the obsidian into a ball of superheated metal and started infusing it with his own demonic energies. The metal ball was then made into a round, altar-like item. A series of green demonic runes danced around the obsidian altar. Hao Ren felt as the runes started forming into words, a mysterious energy started churning the space around the altar. Before him, the ball shaped mirror formed above the altar.

“This teleportation gate is one-use.” Y’zaks said as he set the last few runes around the altar. The magical runes formed into a thirteen rows of runic script that encircled the altar. “The landing point is a cave in Cadeceus. It was a hideout I made during one of my excusions a few hundred years back. No one else knows about it aside from me, so it’s safe.”

Hao Ren pulled the MDT out of his pocket. “Go scout ahead.”

The MDT protested. “Why does a PDA need to….”

Hao Ren did not afford the MDT the chance to finish and lobbed it through the portal.

A few seconds later, the MDT’s voice rang in his head. “It’s safe here. I need to speak to you about the usage of a high-tech product….”

Y’zaks placed a dark red rune around the portal. “It’ll self-destruct after 10 minutes. I hope that the Allied army come looking for this.”

Hao Ren nodded and stepped into the swirling mirror-like portal.

A slight spatial distortion and a minor disorientation later, Hao Ren found himself standing in a very unfamiliar cave.

It was a large cavern, and the air was cool. Not too far away was the light of the exit. Hao Ren took a deep breath, and he took all of the fresh air in. “AHHHH… it’s still more comfortable in human land!”

Wuyue was the last to come out of the portal, having changed back to her human form and changed her clothes. Upon taking in the fresh, damp air, the Siren was excited like a child. “I’m ALIVE!!!!”

Hao Ren wanted to see how the world besides the demonic plane look like. He quickened his steps into a jog towards the exit and the breathtaking scene blasted away the oppressive feeling from the demonic plane!

Before him was a series of verdant mountains and the cave was hidden within the range. Above him was a clear azure sky with thin silky clouds. Almost as if you could touch them. Hao Ren looked towards the yonder and saw between the range a city in the far corner. The city was on the plain beside the mountain. It did seem like a good distance away from where he stood, and from a distance, it was surrounded by mystique.

“WOAH! THIS IS WAY BETTER THAN THE DEMONIC PLANE!” Lily exclaimed as she behold the scene before her.

“It’s mind boggling how the structure of this world work. One place was filled with lava, another verdant rolling hills, almost as if they are on a different planet altogether and are connedcting by teleportation portals,” Vivian too was suprised by the scene that greeted her. After leaving the almost hellish demonic plane, the greenery here felt very out of place. “I take it that you guys never got to the bottom on how this structure was formed?”

“The old man was investigating this, even until his passing he was not able to explain how the dimensional bubble had formed naturally.” Y’zaks shook his head. “Come, we need to head towards the city. This place is much safer than the demonic plane. As long as we are outside town, we can freely use teleportation magics.”

Chapter 420: Cadessar

 

Cadeceus is not the biggest realm dominated by men, but it was the most prosperous amongst all. There were about dozens of portals to other realms that dotted the place. Based on the scholar’s speculative dimensional bubble map, Cadeceus was in the middle of all. Around it was ten of the inhabited worlds. (‘Worlds’ being the local terminology and not referring to the universe)

Due to this unique structure, the dimension had became the most important traffic route. Aside from humans who make up fifty percent of the populace, other races had also set up outposts and towns in Cadeceus. Thus when there were conflicts between men, Cadeceus would be bound by absolute neutrality based on some ancient accords, and play the role of a sanctuary.

Many scholars even believed that the reason that humans were able to be the most prolific and prosperous race, aside from their ability to learn and expand, was the fact that they had the luck to discover Cadeceus several thousand years ago. That allowed them to control the throat of the world.

Cadessar, the main human settlement towards the west side on the Cadeceus mainland. It was surrounded on three sides by the mountains while the other faced the wide laterite plains. This city was built by the explorers who had discovered the Cadeceus Plane. It was originally a campsite, but had over the years expanded to become the greatest, the most prosperous of cities. The main populace of the city were humans, a third of the populace are civilians of other races. Many envoys from races from other planes had also build embassies and offices in the city. Cadessar is infamous for the sedantary lifestyle her inhibitants lived.

Cadeceus was indeed an rich and important place, that was the common consensus. It was not only the ‘center of the world’ but it was also the first city that the army of the crazed demon king could not breach. The seven most famous heroes of the Ten Year War too had gathered here and led the campaign against the demon king that is now a saga itself.

After teleporting and covering some ground on foot, Hao Ren and the rest had arrived at the historic city of renown.

Hao Ren wore the caster robes that he had secretly ‘borrowed’ from the Allied Army camp, leading the rest who were dressed as wandering mercenaries towards the towering walls of Cadessar. Looking up, he was graced by the grey stone wall that rose hundred of meters into the air. The scars of war was still apparent. Hao Ren felt that Y’zaks was a tad bit overly positive about the whole thing. “This was the first place you tasted defeat? You sure is positive about this… why here?”

Y’zaks looked nostalgically at the scarred walls. The blackened wall and the destroyed tower on east side on the wall was his handiwork. Or at least his underlings’ handiwork. “This was the closest town, Velessa is two hundred kilometers away, and you need to go through a mountain range. Not worth the hassle.”

The demon king was dressed in a rough leather hauberk. His bulging muscle straining against the armor. On his back was a big battle axe that he had nicely relieved from it’s former owner in the camp. He was your typical highland berserker. Well, that would work in deflecting any attention towards that horrifying face of his.

“You sure you’re fine here?” Wuyue asked skittishly. She was thinking along the lines of a normal human and felt that even if she was to change her way of seeing things, it would just be nothing but bitter memories. Thus she was afraid he might get depressed half way through.

“No matter.” Y’zaks shrugged. “War, is something you cannot explain, so it’s best not to. Lets get somewhere to rest. Cadeceus has a very short day cycle. A warlock with a succubus would attract a lot of attention at night.”

The party then headed towards the city gate. Lily suddenly realised something, “EH! Do we have any cash?”

Hao Ren slapped his head as he too belatedly realise the matter of money. Well, it was not his fault that the heroic sagas omitted the fact that the main character had to go scrapping for toll money. Y’zaks however was prepared. “No worries, I have plenty.”

The demon king patted his pouch and a jingle of coins was heard. “I suppose the currency they use are still the same.”

“Where did you get them from?”

Y’zaks laughed.

“My savings that I dug out from the gave earlier. When I came over the other time I wanted to visit the city to see how things were. But I had to forgo that due to some other things. So the money stayed buried until now.”

Well, life is way more dramatic than dramas themselves it seems. There was finally something of use from his past reign!

With their monetary issue resolved, the party continued on towards the gate. Two rows of knights in full armor stood guard. Even as an outsider Hao Ren could tell that this men in tincans were the real deal. The holy light that radiated around them had almost triggered Hao Ren’s shields.

As the rather conspicuous group approached, a few of the paladins came to them. One of them eyed Y’zaks first before turning his sight towards Lanina. A gruff and dignified voice burred from the behind the armet. “Demon? Under servitude?”

Lanina looked unblinkingly at the knights. As the demon king’s right hand, this scenario was nothing to her. “I came with my master to visit the town. My soul has already been bound.”

While Lanina played her part well, a demon entering a town – even if it was one summoned by a warlock – had to undergo strigent checks. The supposed captain of the paladins turned towards his subordinate and pointed towards one, “Jessen, put this succubus to the test.”

The paladin named Jessen took off his helm, and seemed like a feisty youngster, quite handsome in fact. He looked at Lanina in the eyes for a moment and nodded. “Hmm… Yes. She’s totally under control. Go on in.”

Hao Ren could not process how quick the check was and pointed confusedly at Lanina. “Ugh.. .this… uh.. just like that?”

“As a succubus, being so stern faced in the presence of someone good looking, the mentao control is almost excessive I’d say.” The captain of the paladin goodheartedly patted Hao Ren on the shoulders. “Mr Warlock, while being strict with your demon is laudable but you’d turn her into a mere fool like this…”

“…”

Well, since the inspection was done, the party was sent on their way by the sentries. Cadeceus was the ‘throat of the world’ and Cadessar was the biggest gathering point on the continent and the amount of traffic was heavy. Thus the knights too did not had the time to bother Hao Ren even if they wanted to.

Hao Ren had yet to recover from his confusion as they entered the city. “That inspection… was it reliable?”

Y’zaks took a glance at Lanina. “That was actually the most reliable of methods. At least against Succubi. Any succubi without a soul contract would start seducing any males they see. This was their nature and even high level succubi could barely hold their instincts back. Most professional paladins would be able to sense any mental assault immediately. Only summoned succubi that are fully under their master’s control could fully discard their demonic instincts, so it is very effective.”

The then pointed towards Lanina, “She on the other hand, is history’s first succubus to not be interested in men… There’s nothing like her before too.”

Hao Ren was deeply suspicious on how Y’zaks had educated that foster daughter of his…

After passing through the first outer ring wall, the rambunctious cacophony of Cadessar’s outer city area hit them. Before them was a wide main trunk road and it was skirted by shops along the whole stretch of road and it was a hive of activity. All the buildings along the road are of stone masonry with white outer walls with rigid shape while a quadrangular roof jutted towards the sky. It seems like an architecture unique to Cadeceus. At the end of the trunk road was a rather quiet plaza. A stone statue stood heroically in the middle.

Y’zaks looked at his foot and suddenly started laughing. “The last time around I couldn’t enter the city even with hundred thousand men.”

He then lifted his leg, and took a big step forward.

Hao Ren felt something was off. “The big guy isn’t planning to torch the city is he?”

Lanina laughed. “No, my Lord will never do that. Even in vengeance, he would transform into his original form and challenge the Cadecean Paladins to a fight. Otherwise, he deems himself unfit to bear the title of King.”

Hao Ren demurred as he rubbed his chin. “….Stubborn.”

Chapter 421: Hero

 

This was the first time Hao Ren and his party was in the city. Y’zaks too had never truly set foot into Cadessar before. His initial foray to the city was derailed by something else. Thus it was a new experience for all of the members, even though they were aware that they were here on a mission, they couldn’t help but get swept up with the sense of wonder and excitement.

The party did not plan to enter the inner city today, and started looking for an inn for the night. Based on their experience, inns were usually open along the main trunk road and they walked along it until they reached the plaza at the end of the road.

It was semi-circular plaza paved in polished white masonry. Along the plaza were lamp posts and decorative statues. The whole place looked almost brand new that it was apparently that the plaza was built after the Ten Year War had ended.

The most intriguing item on the plaza was a giant rock statue. The party was amazed by the grandeur and decided to have a proper look.

Differing from other heroic statues, this one was just a normal soldier. He was not adorned in capes nor military insignias, just a typical soldier’s armour. He was lunging forward, with one of his legs lifted high, his sword pointing ahead, as if he was jumping out of cover to engage the enemy. The statue was almost lifelike, and it radiated an aura that was impossible to miss – Onwards, to victory.

Beneath the status was an engraved epitaph; different from the wall of text in most heroic sagas. This one only had two lines.

Footman, Kevan Hodir. Died during the early years of the Ten Year War.

Brave comrade, thank you for giving us courage. When you leapt out of the trench, we finally knew why we were here.

Hao Ren was awed by the statue and wondered what sort of hero the person was. But he did not put much thought to it and as he was about to leave he saw Y’zaks deep in thought in front of the status.

“This man… I remember him.” Y’zaks nodded towards the statue. “This is good. His comrades did not forget him.”

Hao Ren immediately realised there were something more behind this, and the rest too expressed curiosity. Seeing that, Lanina explained what happened.

It was the start of the Ten Year War, and the end of the supremacy of the Demonic Army in the mortal realms. The battle took place on the laterite plain just outside the city.

The Demonic Army had already conquered a good half of the worlds, within, he united or subjugated all the demons under his banner, without he had virtually destroyed all the armies of the mortal realms. His was at his prime and was nigh unstoppable. Wishing to take advantage of that, Y’zaks made the fateful decision to attack Cadeceus. Controlling Cadeceus means bring the war to its final phase. Controlling the Throat of the world means all other worlds would have to submit to him.

It was at this key moment that the ‘seven heroes’ appeared. Seven powerful warriors, coming from remnant of the armies of the seven main races; Human, Elves, Dwarfs, Beastmen Dark Elves, Halflings and Spectrals. Under the untiring efforts of the human pope and holy maiden, the seven heroes came together to from the Allied Army. The tattered remnants of each races’ army joined hands in the last critical moment, and went all in at the Battle of Cadeceus.

The Demonic Army and the Allied Army came face to face in the plains before Cadessar, and that decided the fate of the world.

In the initial stage of the battle, it was almost as if history was about to repeat itself, with the Demonic Army utterly crushing their foes.

“My Lord’s army had been conquering places for a few hundred years, and his momentum was nigh unstoppable.” Lanina looked towards the statue, there was a complicated glint in her eyes. “As our army approached the human defensive lines, their soldiers were cowering, not willing to give battle. Even if they were the strongest, the bravest of warriors chosen from their kind, fighting against fear incarnate was too much to ask.”

“Then, a soldier leapt up.” Y’zaks pointed towards the statue. “A normal soldier, he leapt up when everyone else was cowering. That was him.”

“While we cannot place the laurels of victory on that man alone, but his actions changed many things, at the very least, the fate of the defending army… Nay, the fate of the world itself.” Lanina sighed. “If he had not leapt forward, our army might have just smashed through their lines.. But as he charged forward, the whole line followed him.

Y’zaks nodded. “And I suffered my first defeat.”

Hao Ren did not know how to react upon heading that. Lily however wanted to know more, “So… this guy pulled a heroic feat and become someone of note?”

“No… He perished in combat not long after leaping out of the trenches. He was one of the first few casualties of the Ten Year War.” Lanina shook her head. “This man, he did not manage to kill anyone. I had him investigated. That day was his first time in the field, and his soldiering days snuffed out within ten minutes after the battle started. But that did not stop him from becoming on of the most important heroic figures of the war.”

Hao Ren could not muster a response. At the same time, the sound of footsteps came from behind.

Hao Ren turned about and saw a girl in plain dress. She looked like she was about seventeen or eighteen. Her looks was plain, and her garb suggested that she was of the peasantry. She held flowers in her head, and as she passed by Hao Ren and his group, she gave a respectful nod before placing the stalk of flower before the statue.

As she placed the flower, she placed her hands on her chest and muttered softly. Her voice was soft, but it was still audible to Hao Ren and his party. “Papa, this is the last time I’ll be visiting you this year. I’ve gotten the okay and will be following the next squad into the demonic plane…”

“You’re his daughter?” Lily exclaimed without much thought. Even Hao Ren could not stop her in time.

The young lady looked up curiously at the group of strangers and nodded slightly. “Yes. Most of the town folk knows me.”

Her voice was calm, and there was not a hint of pride that she was the ‘daughter of a hero’. She was simply stating the facts.

Hao Ren was slightly uncomfortable with the situation. Y’zaks however, after quietly looking at the first for a moment, asked. “What’s your name?”

“Vanessa Hoder.” She was respectful in her reply and did not seem to be fazed by Y’zaks vicious-looking face.

“You’re joining the army?” Y’zaks continued as if he had met someone the orphan of someone he knew. His face was expressionless, and no one could figure out what was going in his mind.

Vanessa nodded, before shaking her head. “I’m not fit to be a soldier, I’m there as a clerk. Papa said that he always wanted someone from the family to be learned.”

Y’zaks looked at the girl again, the latter had a slightly confused look on her and was about to turn and leave. Y’zaks then suddenly pulled out a small charm from one of his pouches and handed it to her. “Take this. The demonic plane is not an inviting place. Your body would not stand the strain there for more than a few months. This charm here will help you get used to the place better.”

Vanessa was flustered as she declined. Y’zaks however forcefully stuffed the charm onto her hands. “Take it. I know your father.”

Vanessa had a very perplexed look on her face as she took the charm. After bowing to thank him, she turned around to leave.”

“Girl,” Y’zaks shouted from behind. “You’re father was a good fighter!”

As the young lady left, the atmosphere was rather awkward. It was obvious that nothing could be said that wouldn’t sound weird now. Y’zaks demurred for a moment before looking at Hao Ren, pointing to himself. “So, was I wrong?”

Hao Ren shook his head.

“No.”

Y’zaks then pointed towards Kevan’s statue. “So was he wrong then?”

“No.”

“Thus is war.”

Y’zaks said as he turned away from the statue.

Hao Ren shrugged and lead the rest. The MDT’s voice suddenly rang in his head. “Thus is the life of an Inspector.”

Chapter 422: Demon King

 

Night came quick for Cadeceus. An hour ago, the sun was still high up the sky and now it was almost sunset with dusklight fading by the minute. The group had manage to find an inn before night fell. It was close toward to inner wall of the city. The place was quiet, and they did not need to worry about the locals bothering them. The establishment being clean was a plus too.

The food served was your rather standard inn fare, but as the group had been subsisting on field rations for a good part of the journey; hot, warm food was a welcomed change. Hao Ren had little to do after dinner, and went towards the terrace on the third floor to get some wind, but he found Y’zaks was already standing there.

The big man seems to have something in mind. He was standing by the edge of the terrace, his arms crossed as he looked towards the cityscape deep in thought. Hao Ren went beside him, and admired the city basked by the fading light, a shimmer of crimson gold slowly going below the horizon as the sky darkens. The row of unique houses and shoplots along the main trunk way too glimmered in a metallic glow. Y’zaks, talking to himself, muttered. “What a sight.”

It was usually very difficult to guess what Y’zaks have in mind and Hao Ren too was reminded of the young lady they met in the afternoon, and her father, Kevan the Soldier. Looking at the dimming sun beyond Cadessar, he wondered what was the scene like when Y’zaks invaded here ten years ago.

“There are not many things in the world that are absolutely right or wrong, the whole concept of it is man-made.” Hao Ren sighed. “You had a great dream, to bring the chaotic world into order, to push for a future far beyond what all races had dreamt of. You’re not wrong at that. But you see this place. So many people, humble peasants most of them. Their joy was to have three good meals a day, to live in peace. They wanted to protect their daily routine and traditions that were dear to them, that drove them to take up arms agains the Demon King, they were not wrong either.”

Vivian’s voice suddenly came from behind. No one knew when she made her way up there. “You may lead this world into the future, but most of them are not interested in that the far future holds. In their short life span, that they want is peace and prosperity for the duration of their lives. They won’t care about reaching for the stars or the truth of the world. What they do care about is growing old with their wives and children, with a roof over their heads and food to fill their stomach. If anyone where to threaten what little joy they had, they would fight with dear life. Humans on Earth too have similar lifespans, and because of that, their differences led to conflict… For this world, those who live long would have lifespans ten times of the common man. What your eyes see is but a mere flash, but for those people, it will be generations upon generations after them. Even if you were to tell them your goal, not many would accept a future that had nothing to do with them.”

Y’zaks turned back, the dusklight cast a shadow over his face. He was smiling. “But you guys still supported my argument.”

“Well, you were right.” Hao Ren shrugged. “But they were not wrong either.”

“There’s no absolute right or wrongs, that I know since the beginning. If the crazed Demon King did not even know that, I won’t be even standing here.” Y’zaks look up, gazing towards the yonder as the sun faded behind the mountains, as if to count time. Then then turned around, looking towards the laterite plains. “Look, the most magnificent vault of heaven on Cadeceus is coming right up.”

Hao Ren did not understand what that meant and simply looked at the same direction Y’zaks was looking at. Towards the far side of the horizon, a curtain of light slowly appeared. Hao Ren initially thought the moon was rising, but it didn’t take long for him to realise that the magnitude of the light curtain was beyond your usual moon!

A faint arcing glow came out from the horizon , almost as if the curtains of heaven were being pulled up. The light gentler than the sun, and it’s glow was dimmer than moonlight, but the scale of it was breathtaking. As the curtain of light rose, Hao Ren realise that the object was another celestial body, a celestial body that could cover half the skyline.

As it rose above the sky, the gentle light carassed the earth, the arcing light curtain showed the contour of a planet. It had a murky surface, lines of cloud like structure formed a ring around it, almost as if a a planet-wide storm was brewing underneath the ring of clouds.

“WHAT IS THAT?!” Hao Ren was shocked.

“Amur” Y’zaks said as he basked in the dim light of the star, with his hands crossed. “It’s also known as the Vault of Amur, a gaseous planet. I think it’s about as big as Jupiter in the Solar System, but it has a much gentler climate. Cadeceus floats on in orbit of this giant gas planet. In reality, Cadeceus is what remained of a planet that had been blown apart, similar to it. The planet was formed before it could fully take a spherical shape. As such, it is now an arcing space continent. The other parts of the planet have mostlikely been dragged into the atmospheric storm of Amur. Maybe we will find some clues in the clouds. There’s a very strong gravity well deep within Cadeceus, or perhaps its a planet-destroying high density space object. It had destroyed Cadeceus as a planet, but had created a strong enough gravity field on what remained of it, and locked in the atmosphere.”

Hao Ren blinked as he digested how imposible the land beneath him came to be. He was at awe by the amount of wonders that would show itself on this planet. Y’zaks was still explaining about the plane without much of an expression on his face. “Cadeceus is orbiting along Amur’s orbit, and is maintaing some sort of rotation along the orbit. As the sun sets on the west, Amur will appear on the east. This is a scene unique to Cadeceus. Thus, the nights here are never fully dark. Like my seventh plane, there is always one giant planet illuminating the night.”

Still awestruck by the scene before him, Hao Ren could only manage a word, “Why?”

“Yes, why?” Y’zaks looked towards the majestic clouds around Amur. “Why Cadeceus torn apart? Why did this shattered planet and incomplete star system exist? Why did this impossible, unnatural wonder exists?” Why was the dimension separated into various bubbles, isolated from one another, yet so many dimensional gates still linked the realms together? Why did the realms, separated for thousand of years, still developed the same way as others? Why couldn’t we see the stars, but we could find traces of cosmic radiation in some old ores? Why did the old man’s calculation of thesize of universe was so strange?”

Y’zaks threw out a string of whys, and almost had Hao Ren in a daze. He then crossed his arm, and looked up to the sky, “I wnat to know why. I’m the strongest being in this world. I don’t want to squirm about knot knowing anything. That’s why I want to invade the sky, to use everything in this world to push me skywards. I need, nay, have to know the truth, and those who do not wish to be earthbound, they should too pursue these truths too.”

“If I could turn back time, and have another go at this, I will raise a new army and conquer the whole world again. I know this is the only way to have the world under my grip.” Y’zaks looked down towards the city. “If they were given a chance, they would ally again, raise a new army to protect their homes and traditions. No matter how many times, it will be the same. Heroes are heroes, demon kings are demon kings. The only difference is our victories and defeats.

“I’ve seen many ageless beings,” Vivian gazed deeply at Y’zaks. “You’re the purest of them all. As you say, there’s no right or wrong. It’s all because you wanted the do it, you needed to do it. It seems like no matter how many times, there is no place in this world for you.”

“Of course.” Y’zaks smiled as he shrugged. “That’s because I’m the demon king.”

Hao Ren went back to his room, and blew the lights out. He noticed Amur’s gentle glow coming in from one of the windows of his inn room. He was fascinated by the mysteries of this world. He felt that even if they did nothing of note here, just by being here itself was an fine reward.”

Something then rang in his mind, and Hao Ren opened his Dimensional pocket and placed a big fish bowl on the floor. He carefully scoop Lil Pea out of the water and brought the little one to the window.

Lil Pea excitedly looked at the outside world, and she tapped her tail happily on Hao Ren’s arm. Pointing towards Amur which by now had covered almost a third of the sky, she exclaimed. “BIG MOON! BIG MOON! I WANT TO GO TO BIG MOON!”

“If there’s a chance, Daddy will bring you to even more interesting places.” Hao Ren softly patted Lil Pea’s tail. “I’m so glad I signed up for this!”

Chapter 423: Investigation In the City

 

As the soft glow of ‘Amur’ faded away, Cadeceus would be greeted with only a few minutes of dark night in the day. Everything was dormant in the dark, watching the last ray of light leaving the sky of the gas giant, then greeted with the glorious sunrise.

Cadeceus had only 16 hours a day. It was not the one having the shortest daylight time in all planes, but it was the one having a large population but the shortest day. So when people just came here, it would take them a while to adapt to the routine here. Hao Ren was still lying on the bed in the inn, burying himself in sleep. On the cupboard next to him, a tiny mermaid was already awakened by the sun. Lil Pea climbed out of the basin and greeted the data terminal next to her, “Good morning!”

Data terminal was watching Lil Pea all night to prevent the little kid running around after waking up. And when it heard Lil Pea’s greeting, it got angry at once and said, “You little brat, don’t learn from your father!”

Lil Pea did not understand what the brat meant. She thought it was a compliment, so she laughed and accepted the compliment, and then looked at the lively market outside, staring blankly at it. After a while, the little kid felt bored and started humming a little tune that Nangong Wuyue taught her.

The little kid’s singing was completely disorganized, without any lyrics–Her teacher also could not remember the lyrics. It was good enough for her to be able to remember the melody.

Hao Ren heard a soft but very beautiful tune when he was half asleep. At first, he thought it was Wuyue humming downstairs, but opened his eyes to see it was his own fish girl humming by the window. Lil Pea was leaning against the window. Her little hands were holding the simple wooden panes, humming a ballad only she could understand with a tranquil expression on her face. The sun shone on the little kid’s tail and circles of golden red radiance were shining brightly on her tail.

A little mermaid was singing to the sky in the morning sun. Hao Ren could not help holding his breath. He found that Lil Pea really belonged to the mermaid race. Even though she was so young, there was some kind of aura in her voice, and it made him feel that a faint halo could appear around her. Hao Ren did not want to disturb this short tranquil scene, he pretended to sleep and squinted at the little girl. Lil Pea was unaware of this, and still humming some tunes she knew. She hummed for a while, took a break and gnawed at the window frame, then continued humming.

Hao Ren felt that he had to wake up now… That’s not his window!

“Dad!” Lil Pea noticed that Hao Ren got up and immediately jumped on him and slapped his face with her tail and said, “Food!”

Hao Ren looked at the broken window frame and thought that Lil Pea was growing now, and later he still had to explain this to the hotel boss… Wondering if there were mice in this world…

When they all met downstairs, Hao Ren found that Lily and Nangong Wuyue were still yawning. Apparently, the short night rest was not enough for them. However, the other three still looked energetic: Vivian was a vampire and could control her biological clock. Y’zaks and Lanina were not your ordinary creatures either. It was hard to tell if their main purpose of sleeping at night was to rest or out of boredom…

“Yawn… Landlord, I want to get more sleep…” Lily was the one who was the most badly affected by the biological clock. Now she was basically talking to Hao Ren with her eyes closed, relying on her nose to smell and locating the rest of them. She sniffed around and found a place at Hao Ren’s feet, curled up her body like a puppy and said, “Two more hours of sleep… Just put the food in my mouth as soon as the meal is ready. I’ll eat while dreaming.”

Vivian dragged Lily up and said, “This moron… Once she was lack of sleep, her intelligence fell back to the old self again!”

“Let’s go for a walk, Cadeceus’s sunshine is very uplifting.” Y’zaks loud voice suddenly woke them up. He stood in the doorway pointing out and said, “I have already checked out. Let’s take a look at the inner city today.”

Lily narrowed her eyes, looked at Y’zaks and the next second she fully awoke immediately and said, “Your face is such a pick-me-up!”

Everybody, “…”

“She had no idea what she’s doing now…” Vivian mumbled, “Is that her brain also linked up with the biological clock?”

Hao Ren thought of the window that was gnawed by Lil Pea, hurriedly dragged Vivian out of the hotel and said, “Let’s not talk about the biological clock. We still have something more important to do…”

The short day-and-night alternation of Cadeceus was difficult for the foreigners to adapt to it but the locals had already familiar with it. At the moment, the downtown area of Cadessar was now busy and lively. The merchants and travelers from all over the country formed the main stream of people in the downtown.

Except for the predominantly permanent resident population in the inner city, most of the people in the outer areas were actually foreigners like them.

The fixed stores and the various stalls and booths were the most common things on the streets. Even the elves and Ethereals who seldom appeared in public also sold their own ethnic crafts here, which was hard to see elsewhere. They walked along the broad avenue that ran through the inner and outer districts, and along the way, they frequently stopped at those stalls. On the one hand they were curious, and on the other hand, they were trying to look for more information.

After all, Y’zaks and Lanina had left this world for a long time. After the end of the war, the world had developed rapidly and they had been very much behind the current situation, it was necessary to know the situation of the different races and species in the human world. It was not realistic to ask about the allies, but there was a lot of useful news from these people from all over the world: you could always piece together the whole world from the rumors they heard on the grapevine. This was the power of gossip.

“Although I don’t want to admit, the development of civilization of human world is indeed far beyond the demons,” Lanina, pretending to be a servant behind Hao Ren, muttered, “Every time I go to the human world, I marvel at the prosperity and change… The demon world is always the same without any progress, chaotic and messy. Those guys aren’t interested in building anything until Wang built an empire that looked like the human world that brought a little change in the demon world.”

Vivian paused in front of an elf’s booth, fiddling with the wooden ornaments curiously. “What is this?” she asked.

“The amulet blessed by the forest,” explained the elf, who was so handsome that they could not tell if he was a man or woman, “It’s been blessed in the holy spring of my homeland, to exorcise the scourge and protect…”

“I’ll take it!” Vivian bought it without hesitation, and then pointed to another bead next to it and asked, “This is…”

“The amulet blessed by my ancestors,” the elf said and smiled. Apparently, living in a human city made him a lot different from his own conservative peers who never left their homes. He was obviously an experienced businessman. “Blessed and handmade by our elders, they can be worn to against evil spirits…”

Vivian’s eyes instantly shined bright just like when Lily saw meat bone and said, “I want this!! And this…”

Hao Ren hurriedly stopped this vampire and said, “OK, the two is enough–we still have to keep the money for travel expenses, okay!”

This unlucky lady had never given up using amulets to reverse his bad luck in fortune. However, those amulets were useless to her, why didn’t she accept the fact? Even Raven 12345’s hand-written couplets did not stop her from losing money in front of the house. Vivian’s bad luck in fortune was clearly the order of the universe, and she could not fight it…

They wandered around the city and did not find much important information, but at least they understood some of the changes in the world after the end of the war: After the war, the allies directly resided in the Demonic Plane and there were no signs of mass withdrawal. Among the seven heroes, except for Uruk, the Dwarf King, who was seriously injured, had come back, the other six heroes had not yet returned. It was said that the human hero, General Grigory and the elf, General Kastina were most likely the highest leaders of the next generation of their own race, and currently, the old High King was drawing up the process of abdication. Suddenly a large number of people of a few kingdoms that were completely destroyed by the demon king’s legion claimed themselves to be the pure descendants of the royal family, and they were striving for the recognition of seven of heroes to recover their lost kingdoms. Dark elves and orcs had created new friction at the border, but under the call of their respective heroes, friction was quickly eliminated. The two races may hold a special meeting. They decided to talk about the perennial problems of the two races calmly, and many were optimistic about the meeting…

After hundreds of years of invasion and domination by the demon king’s legion, there were many planes of the human world that needed to be rebuilt. The reconstruction of culture and the fading of demonic influence were also very important topics in the recent marketplace gossip.

Y’zaks heard these things and said, “It seems that the world will not stop rotating for anyone.”

Chapter 424: Big News

 

Hao Ren and the rest of them did not spend too much time in the outer city because the daytime of Cadeceus would be ended in eight hours, so they sped off to the inner town of Cadessar after they got some news.

Compared with the bustling but slightly chaotic outer city, the inner city of Cadessar appeared orderly. The buildings here were more beautiful and upscale. Most of the houses were multi-storey buildings built of white stones. The glimmering magic towers spread out between neat streets to support the giant shield that enveloped the entire city. This city had a wide variety of functional facilities. There were not only municipal facilities to maintain the functioning of the city, but also the various sectors that were unique to the ‘Throat of the World’, including the largest registry of mercenaries, the largest diplomatic building, and the largest library, ‘Court of Scholars’, which was said to have all knowledge of the entire world.

The inner city was inhabited by local residents of Cadessar. Although it was open to the outside, it would close the gate after nightfall.

“The little old man had a wish that his research manuscript could be included in the library of Cadessar,” Y’zaks said, looked at the distant golden roof of the ‘Court of Scholars’ and sighed. “Unfortunately, until he died, the theory of space bubble zone was still classified as a fallacy. Even the knowledge-opening Cadeceus also just began to study the space vesicle model based on mathematics not long ago. Before that, their understanding of space vesicles was based on fantasy and philosophy.”

“How does the world accept the theory of space bubble zone and macrocosm?” Hao Ren asked curiously.

Y’zaks gave him a sarcastic smile and said, “Because they were beaten badly. They did not believe that the ‘world’ they had always known was just a small part of the universe, so they had to deny the little old man’s claim, that was, denying that the law of teleportation between space vesicles could be calculated by mathematical formulas. Because this formula is the key to the calculation of the boundary of the bubble zone, this foolish insistence on tradition lead them to lag far behind my legions in exploring new planes. The efficiency of exploration of all realms of the human world was not as good as my empire. This is the secret of why the demon king’s legions are so strong, and this is an open secret.”

“An open secret?” Hao Ren was surprised.

“The manuscripts left by the scholars were scattered in the human world. He had many students. And those students had already passed the formula for calculating space vesicles to different countries,” Lanina explained, “but over hundreds of years no one believed in the manuscripts, even though there would be a wise man once in a while guessed that the secret reason of why the demon king’s legions were so strong was that they mastered the method of calculating space vesicles, the man would immediately be denounced as heresy, even as a dangerous man who studied the demonic knowledge. The human race has been restricting themselves in this way and beaten by us. They didn’t accept this fact until recently.”

“And they don’t completely understand it,” Y’zaks laughed and said, “There are still people believe that the power of demon king comes from something magical. Knowledge is power. How can they not understand such a simple truth?”

Hao Ren did not know what to say. He understood that what Y’zaks said was reasonable but how could a normal person believe that the demon king’s power really just came from exercising, eating well, reading more books…

They reached the destination of the trip. It was a square, large building with white facades and neat stained-glass windows. The three-storey wall was covered with various kinds of signboards written by different languages, most of which were the names of some offices, and some were small signboards such as ‘XX Mercenary Agency, ‘XX Real Estate Agency’ and ‘XX Marriage Counseling Center’. Hao Ren found it interesting and said, “Your world also has this kind of old office building…”

“This is the distribution hall,” Lanina said and laughed, “In the beginning, this place is actually only a place for mercenaries to exchange intelligence and for the intelligence dealers to do business, but in Cadessar this kind of special place, it greatly developed and became such a messy intelligence, personnel, and authorization distribution center. When the coalition force was established, it was also focused on supporting this facility. Here was an important platform for the early recruitment of soldiers for the seven heroes. A few of the most famous folk heroes of the ten years of war, such as Saintess of Light and Gordon, the Dragon Slayer, came out from here. The information we are looking for is readily available here: The information from the Demonic Plane is free to circulate here. The intelligence dealers are righteous only at this point.”

“You know the world very well.” Hao Ren glanced at Lanina in surprise.

“Don’t forget what I used to be,” Lanina said and wagged her tail proudly. “I heard that there’s a clever man in your world who knows everything under the sun without stepping out of the house. It’s too bad I can’t compete with him…”

Hao Ren remembered that he seemed to have said this before…

“Lanina, don’t talk much when you’re inside, just stay behind Hao Ren and pretend to be a low-level demon. There are all sorts of people inside, a magician with a low-level demon will not attract attention as long as not deliberately high-profile. But we also have to be careful not to be targeted by the Holy See,” Y’zaks reminded them and then walked into the distribution hall.

As soon as Hao Ren walked into the building, he felt a rush of blast– a real blast of ‘noise’!

The first floor of the three-storey building was a super hall supported by a few rows of square columns. The hall was strewn with small partitions that looked like counters or reception points but was mostly decorated with desks and chairs and open spaces that allowed people to communicate. Countless adventurers and businessmen made this place so noisy. There were all sorts of people there including ordinary man, military personnel, and uniformed staff.

The scene really made Hao Ren feel like the talent market on Earth. But in terms of noise and chaos, this place was a bit like a wet market—anyway, it was noisy and crowded, and it was easy to get lost by walking alone.

Although Lanina had a good knowledge of the human world, this was also her first time to visit this place. Also, she needed to pay attention to hide her identity, so she walked behind Ho Ren as soon as she went in and disguised as an obedient domestic demon as soon as she went in. She just gently poked Hao Ren’s in the back with the tip of her tail and said, “First look for those who wear uniforms …”

By this time Lily had already acted. As soon as she arrived at the lively place, she was so excited and ran to a man who looked like a staff member there and asked, “Hi! We’re mercenaries! We want to work in the Demonic Plane! Where can we find the news of the demon world?”

Hao Ren hurriedly ran to Lily to prevent this silly girl actually said the name ‘No Good Names Left’ out loud… The silly name could still be accepted in the Plane of Dreams but it was useless in this place.

The man was startled by Lily and then pointed to a corner. Lily immediately dragged Hao ren and ran. Hao Ren thought while running: One really needed some skill when walking a husky, not only one had to have the mentality of walking the dog, but also have to be mentally prepared for switching role. Lily ran like a lightning bolt while dragging Hao Ren along…

Information about the Demonic Plane was posted on a wall, arranged by date. They looked at it for a while and found that the human world did pay an extraordinary close attention to the Demonic Plane. Perhaps because the war of ten years just ended, the information about the Demonic Plane was not only detailed but also exceptionally timely.

Which place had a new demon lord; which demon lord was slain; which Demonic Plane had an abnormal multiplication; which Demonic Plane teleportation portal suddenly opened… News like these was all over the wall!

“The heck… How did they find these out?” Hao Ren looked at the information in dismay. And all of a sudden he had an illusion that the entire Demonic Plane was completely exposed to the human world.

“Most of them come from warlocks, and a small part comes from scouts,” Lanina whispered. She was not surprised by this. “Warlocks can summon demons, and they can force their consciousness into a demon on the Demonic Plane. In this way, the human world will be able to grasp the trend of the demon world. But this also applies to the human world: higher-order demons often lure warlocks, and even directly place a spy into the upper echelons of the human kingdom. And how to interfere with this kind of mutual exploration of the mind is the question that will be studied by both the human world and the demon world.”

“Oh,” Hao Ren said and read through the wall of information with Y’zaks. This information might not mean much to the people there, but for Y’zaks, it was very easy for him to find out some important new below the surface.

“It looks as if Serathon has already won the second plane…” Y’zaks said while touching his chin, “the old guy of the second plane should have secretly reached a surrender agreement with Serathon, but I reckon there will still be a big war soon. This is how things work among demons. The final form of all diplomatic mediation is to defeat each other.”

“But there’s no news about that ‘last testament’,” Vivian looked at Y’zaks and said, “and it looks like the Holy See coalition forces have blocked this intelligence.”

“Of course they did. Nobody wants this kind of rumors that will turn the world upside down spreading everywhere,” Y’zaks grinned and continued, “The seven heroes used to be close like brothers, I wonder if they feel awkward when they see each other now… Haha, you never know.”

Lily twitched her mouth with a bit of regret and said, “We have a wasted trip.”

Others were disappointed too. But just then, a soldier in light armor suddenly came up and posted a new piece of information with a church seal on the wall.

Hao Ren glanced at it and knew that something bad was going to happen.

Lily read it out, “… a phantom of the Helcrown has once appeared over the Broken Plain of the second Demonic Plane. Remnants of defeated troops of the demon king’s legion are found around the Broken Plain…”