The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 508

Chapter 508: The Legendary Mercenary

 

The Seed of Origin, the first life form created by the Goddess could be called the progenitor of life in the Plane of Dreams. At least from what information they have at hand for now. Hao Ren had seen something similar to the Seed of Origin in his dreams before. It was a bloody orb and once it comes into contact with a habitable planet it will explosively grow into something like the First Born, creating a whole new ecosystem. The primal blood that flowed from the Seed of Origin carried within it all the required nutrients to sustain the early stages of the ecosystem. The blood of the First Born was probably the closest thing to the primal blood.

Hao Ren had assumed that the Holletta’s Seed of Origin had already fully withered and all its primal energy had became the First Born and the second ecosystem sphere. He never thought that there were remains of the seed. It was found by the first Pope of the Disciples of Glory, and he used these primal blood to create the first holy warriors of the church and a series of divine abilities.

“We are still investigating the matter.” Cardinal Orben chose his words carefully. “We had found only recently found out where the church’s teaching were slightly.. problematic, and trying to get a full picture of the primal blood from those tattered tomes had proved to be rather difficult. But all in all we can confirm that the holy blood is the primal blood of the Seed of Origin… strictly speaking though, it is just a reproduction of it.

“Reproduction?” Vivian’s eyebrow rose.

“There were precious little left of the primal blood when it was found.” Cardinal Orben explained. “By the time His Excellency the First Pope found the blood, it had almost dried up. But he had managed to figure out a way to maintain the production of the blood. Using external stimuli, the primal blood could recreate itself endlessly. Only that ensured the growth of the church for many more years to come. Otherwise we would have run out of the blood within years.

“I can probably guess what is the external stimuli that you are referring to.” Hao Ren rubbed his chin. “It is probably to mimic the planet’s most primal state. That misled the blood into thinking that there was a reset of the ecosystem, and it started producing again to sustain the ecosystem.”

Cardinal Orben kept silent, the reproduced blood was one of the church’s most vital secrets. Even for a foreigner who had obtained the nod from the Pope and the King themselves, these secrets were too vital to let out. But his silence was a tacit acknowledgement of the fact.

“What’s the difference between the reproduction and the real thing?” Vivian was the expert on matters of ‘blood’ and her questions were pointed.

“No difference at all.” Cardinal Orben replied. “The primal blood is a great creation of the Goddess. It can replicate itself in totality, thus the reproduction is the real thing. Truth be told, the original blood found had already been used up and the ones we have preserved are reproductions of countless of times. But it still remained pure and powerful, and it’s effects the same as the initial samples.”

“I wish to have a sample.” Hao Ren went straight to the point. “To study more about the First Born’s connection to the blood.”

It was only a half-truth. Hao Ren’s real intention was to study the connection between the primal blood and the Goddess herself!

The life spawned from the Seed of Origin was like an ever-spreading ink on top of water. With the every change of the ecosystem, new life were formed as they grew more distant from their primal form and progenitor. Following this unique backward-push growth of the Plane of Dream’s Tree of Life. Only the most ancient, most primal of lifeforms are the closest to their creator. So the Seed of Origin was arguably even closer to the Goddess than the First Born was. It was probably the closest thing to the Goddess Hao Ren could ever find for now!

To date all that Hao Ren and his little entourage had managed to find were fossils of all kinds, and yet the Disciples of Glory had managed to preserve a living sample of the Seed of Origin!

Cardinal Orben had only brought them to see how the ritual branding took place, but he had no plans to hand over the primal blood to a group of outlanders. He demurred upon hearing Hao Ren’s request. “The primal blood is a sacred relic, it’s the church’s most prized relic, even if they are reproductions…”

“You just said it.” Nangong Wuyue retorted without much thought. “Since it can be reproduced, and you guys probably have tonnes of those, just a small phial wouldn’t hurt….”

“The sanctity of a sacred relic is not determined by it’s amount.” Cardinal Orben’s face tightened, but given how rigid his face already was, there was no difference. “The most important thing is that the primal blood had never been handed to an outsider before.”

“And two months ago, the First Born hadn’t appeared.” Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. “This is a time of extraordinary events, so you need to be adaptable to survive. Your blood could probably get you a new army, but I can probably find a way to safely neutralise the First Born. After all, the First Born originated from the blood.”

Cardinal Orben kept silent, and Hao Ren simply shrugged. “Just so you know, Eight hours ago I had just performed a funeral ceremony for a civilisation. Their history was six times of yours, and their knowledge surpassed even that of your mage-emperors, but yet they had perished. Perished by the hands of the First Born that there was nothing left of them. What was left of their civilisation was just a data vault that’s about a few kilogrammes heavy, and could just be placed in a safe. Before a power beyond your comprehension, your traditions and rules are nothing. I do not wish to comeback here a year later just to put you lot into another data crate.”

The cardinal was rather conservative, but that was only because he followed the scripture to the word. A fool however, he was not, and after considering the fact that the primal blood indeed were in abundance, he nodded after some deliberation signalling to a serf boy to bring the alembic over.

“Take it. I pray that the Goddess will can be done through your hands.”

Hao Ren smiled as he took the alembic and stored it into his Dimensional Pocket. “I’ll make good use of it.”

“This is the first time since the founding on the church that the primal blood was given to an unbeliever.” Cardinal Orben said, a hint of lament in his voice. “But it is true that the primal blood isn’t something we are short of… but they had never been given outside of the church. This was a tradition that we had held for thousand of yearsa

“The Disciples of Glory may have a history spanning thousand of years, but in the grand scheme of things, this is but a blink of an eye.” Hao Ren grinned. “We are facing a living being that had lived for millions of years. Lets not bother too much about tradition in the face of such a foe.”

Vivian shrugged as she cleared her throat. “Time is a cruel master. It can make many traditions and cultures worthless with the passing of time. So do not use your traditions to fight against something that is even more ancient than you are. Of course, I get the feeling that the Disciples of Glory are not a religion that is stuck in the past, you lot are much more intelligent than most of the religions I had come across.”

Hao Ren had now obtained what he wanted. The primal blood sample was undoubtedly an important and valuable find. After this, he planned to inspect the situation of the other two First Born.

Before that however, Hao Ren and his gang had to stay in the royal city for two days as Becky had finally obtained what she had been dreaming for. The lass was so darn excited that she would not let Hao Ren go…

Hao Ren did not know how General Ophra had explained to King Mhoren on the question of ‘even a world-saving hero requires recompense and it won’t come cheap’ but the king had graciously approved a huge sum of reward. The amount was enough to knock Becky out in joy. It was beyond the reward that she would receive for finding the Sacred Orb of the Holy Synod. This lady here had turned into one of the richest mercenary overnight, and at the same time became the world’s most famous mercenary. Indeed, the legendary mercenary. Her counterparts could only obtain such a title after slaying some evil dragon or sealing a demon king, and by the time they had obtained the title, most of them were already dead. Yet, Becky, a wee lass just 23 summers had attained this glorious title.

It goes to say, being hard carried a really wonderful thing.

The royal court had awarded her a manor near the royal city, and a castle on the west side of the border. The former was to be her permanent abode while the latter, the symbol of her nobility and power. Becky was now a ranking nobility in a promotion never seen before. She was now a viscountess, and the viscountcy soon gained prominence as her exploits at the Dragonspine Ridge reached the wider public. The incident at the Beinz region had rattled everyone, and even the Pope and the King required something, someone to calm the citizens’ nerves. Mere miracles were not going to suffice, they require a heroic figure, a real living one, and seems like Becky was their answer to that.

Soon, the story of the legendary mercenary surviving the encounter at Beinz will spread, and Becky will undoubtedly be the focal point of attention.

But she didn’t seem to pay it much thought, the naïve-to-the-point-of-silliness lass had still not recovered from her shock. She was deep in her euphoric stupor for a good two hours after being knighted, and finally let this slip:

“So much money…. I think I won’t regret anything if I were to die now…”

These were the first words of Viscount Becky after being knighted.

Chapter 509: Build in the North Facing South

 

For a country, the cost of creating a hero is never too high, especially when the hero is a real thing. The contribution of the hero and the raise in morale outweighs any cost. King Mhoren had obviously gave this due considerations, and the moment he found that Becky was in Holletta he immediately set out on a plan of action, and first, was to reward her handsomely.

Becky had finally obtained the lavish manor and knighthood of her dreams, and it was located on the west wing of the royal city where all the nobles congregate. Now everything was real, the manor was refurbished upon received the royal command and was delivered to Becky in its most glorious state. The mercenary lass happily invited Hao Ren and his group to her new place as guests. General Ophra too was invited. The general came as a ‘comrade in arms’ to congratulate Becky on her new found fame and wealth.

Before the splendid Holletta-styled manor , Becky excitedly pointed towards the fountain and the gardens around here. “Look at that! And THAT…. I always dreamt of staying at a house with a garden! And all of this are MINEEE!!”

Hao Ren knew that it was impossible to calm Becky down in her current state, and just simply smiled as the watch her spazzing out, nodding as he congratulated her. “So congrats! Now fame and wealth are all yours, any plans?”

“Didn’t His Majesty said it? I’m the legendary mercenary from now on!” Becky raised her head in glee. “Eat sleep and repeat, then dress up nice to brag to a group of people. This is my speciality. There was this time when I bragged about my exploits and gotten myself a night’s stay by just buying half a mug of malt beer! Even if it’s all hogwash I can still spin a convincing story….”

Hao Ren was dumbstruck, while Nangong Wuyue pinches her forehead and sighed. “Why do I feel that Becky is going to the dogs…”

Hao Ren thought for a while and felt that the possibility of Becky could totally go to the dogs with the endless banquets and typical decadence of the nobility was very real. He quickly reminded her. “Don’t take it too easy that you end up being a basket case. That aside, don’t let anyone sell you out. The royal court is using you as a propaganda material, so you need to be sure of your own standing. If you ever get bullied let me know.”

General Ophra looked back at Hao Ren. “Is it right for you to say that in front of me? I’m here in the name of the King to guide you.”

“It IS because you’re here in the name of the King.” Hao Ren laughed. “We are more than acquaintance now and you know how Becky is. You also know quite a lot about us so I’m hoping that you’ll help out. This dumb lass over here is about the same as the husky there aside from her ability to earn money, if she were to….”

Lily howled and pounced on Hao Ren before he could finish his sentence. The husky gnawed at Hao Ren’s arm and sparks shot out of his Steel Membrane Shield. Becky wanted to add a punch or two for good measure but soon decided that it was probably futile and just left it as it is. Vivian looking on, hugged her arms and mumbled. “That mouth of his will be his death some day.”

The dumb husky gnawed on Hao Ren’s arm for a good half of a minute before she was satisfied. After releasing her bite she held her jaw that was hurting. Gnashing her teeth as if she held the advantage, “Mr Landlord I’ll really get mad if you do this a…AHHH that hurts….”

Vivian rolled her eyes. “Not only you failed to get a bite, you even chipped your fang doing it and you’re now trying to talk big? Do you even know shame?”

“Actually I was shocked to hear that we were paraded as martyrs.” Becky chuckled as she looked at the beautiful garden and the three storey manor not too far away. “I was afraid that His Majesty had already planned everything out, and turned my manor into a scenic tomb that was built in the north facing south*…. Thank goodness he had not finalise anything or I’ll need to claim the deed to a tomb…”

General Ophra was confused by the foreign terminologies that were used but she still managed to get the gist of things. “It’s because none of you had left any ‘bodies’ that the royal court decided to build a cenotaph for you. Oh, it’s just north of your manor too. There were visitors bringing flowers everyday for the past two months.”

Becky’s face immediately turned green, and Hao Ren and the rest were no better too…

“Of course Becky you can ‘resurrect’ soon enough.” General Ophra did not notice the change in their expression and continued. “The narrative had already been sent. You survived the massive explosion at Beinz and was recovering in a small sanctuary by the Dragonspine Ridge. Three days ago you had returned to the capital and was summoned by the king. You will be given the title of the Legendary Mercenary that is both recognised by the royal court and the church. Your title of ‘Martyr’ will be revoked, and the church will come up with another holy name for you… probably something along the lines of The Blessed Warrior or the Bastion of the Church…. if going by past traditions you probably can choose one out of the two.”

Everyone understood what that meant. It was to calm the nerves of the rattled populace because of the First Born incident (It was publicized as an attack by a evil god). Becky demurred for a while, “So… that means my tomb will be removed soon as well?”

Hao Ren facepalmed. “And ours are already completed….”

“Well, you guys wouldn’t show your faces.” Becky snickered as she patted Hao Ren’s shoulder. “No worries my buddies, I will remember to visit your graves often. Say… you like malt beer or honey liqour better? We usually use honey liquor for paying our respects, but mercenaries usually use malt beer…”

Hao Ren and the rest all rolled their eyes at Becky, and the thoroughly confused Nangong Sanba, who had witnessed everything finally sighed. “It only take a few days for my world view to be thoroughly demolished… do you guys live on day to day like this?”

“Which dimension traveller nowadays have an intact world view anyway? Plus I’m licensed for interdimensional travel.” Hao Ren patted his chest as he sniggered. “I’m known as Aran-Anor, the Sun King in another planet and they had sculpted me a statue that looked like I was ordering an assault. My statue was alright by any standards, Lily is depicted as a guardian beast over there, and her wolf visage is used as a protective ward on each and every house.”

“Awooo?”

Nangong Sanba was swimming in cold sweat now. What he saw in the past two days were enough to totally ruin his world view, and after learning even more of the truth he started doubting his decision to join the group was a good idea. But he did not had time to speak his part because his sister had dragged the rest to see the cenotaph that the Holletaen royal court had built for them…

There are very few people who could pay respects to their own graves… Uh alright, such a scenario is improbable normally, but Hao Ren had managed to pull it off, his entourage had managed to pull that off.

The newly built war memorial and cemetary for the martyrs at Beinz was on the north side of the capital. It was solemn yet grand, and the obsidian plaques and cenotaph stood in neat rows across the memorial. On it were the engravings of the dead’s brief biography and their greatest accomplishment, fighting an evil god. And like how General Ophra had assured them, Hao Ren and his party’s cenotaph and statues were at the front row… That was the first thing Hao Ren and the rest saw when they arrived at the cemetery was that. Oh how mixed their feelings were…

Becky also quickly found her own cenotaph and happily patted the thick obsidian stele. “Look, look! Built in the north facing south, a scenic grave. Heh!”

Hao Ren could not even look straight. “You could still laugh at this… Right, your tomb will be removed soon. F*ck me, why do I always encounter such bloody weird things.”

Vivian was rather nonchalant about it though. “Actually, once you had lived long enough you’d be immune to this. I slept in coffins all the time, and even slept in a crypt before.”

Lily circled her own cenotaph and was mumbling incoherently. She suddenly squatted down to dig a hole. Wuyue was curious, “What are you doing?”

“Digging a hole. Burn some joss money. To keep me from being poor.”

Vivian whispered softly in Hao Ren’s ear,” That’s why I never tried to understand Doggie’s thought process.”

Barely a few seconds later though, something seems to struck Vivian and she went to towards the husky. “Eh, burn some for me as well. It may actually work!”

“….”

Hao Ren sighed. “That’s why I never tried to understand the thought process of anyone around me.”

Chapter 510: Substation: Holletta

 

Hao Ren and his family happily paid respects to their own graves (no mistake about that) and everyone treated it like some bizarre experience – at least in the books for Lily and Nangong Wuyue. As Hao Ren looked at the majestic, yet solemn obsidian cenotaph, he said to General Ophra, “I actually don’t think we should be placed beside these people. It’s just not right.”

General Ophra took it the wrong way. “But, this is the highest honour that is available according to our traditions. This is only second to the Pope and the king…”

“I didn’t mean that.” Hao Ren pointed to the statues close to his cenotaph, the closest to him was Bishop Gelton’s statue. “These, are the real heroes that gave their lives in the Battle of Beinz. They deserve all the praise that you can shower on them, but us… We are still living. I don’t think we have the right to be placed together with them. It just makes me… guilty.”

General Ophra gave Hao Ren a surprised look, it took her a while before she led out a shred of smile. “I never thought you would say this. It’s rare to find people like you. Isn’t it a good thing to be feted as a hero?”

“I’m not short of that.” Hao Ren shrugged. “I just feel that this propaganda is just… weird…”

“You’d saved many people, the whole world even. Maybe you think that this is part of your duty, and it is just a small matter. But those who survive cannot be allowed to take it lightly, and everyone should convey their gratitude.” General Ophra smiled. “This has probably nothing to do with you at all, it’s the matter for us who were lucky to have survived. Regardless… the people must learn to remember heroes. We remember not the truth of a hero, but the ideals and image of one.”

Hao Ren pursed his lips as he looked at Lily and Vivian burning some joss paper for themselves. “Well, not that our heroic image is up to snuff anyway.”

General Ophra gave a stiff nod and turned away. “Let us not dawdle here too long. New visitors are coming.”

A group of brown robed civilians came from behind. They have Hao Ren and the rest a curious glance, and left flowers on Bishop Gelton and Nangong Wuyue’s statue before lowering their heads to pray. A young boy pulled the sleeve of the priest beside him. “Mister, mister, have all these people gone to the Goddess’ side?”

“Yes, they had received her summons, and now enjoy eternal peace in heaven.” The leading priest bend down and pointed towards Hao Ren’s statue. “All of them are heroes, while nothing were left of them in their fight against the evil god, their spirit will endure long after their bodies had perished…”

Hao Ren’s face had turned green and he quickly grabbed Lily and Vivian by the collar. “Lets go. I might get depressed if I stay a moment longer.”

The group had returned to Becky’s manor and the servants directly from the royal court were cleaning the long walkway before the manor. General Ophra nodded at Becky. “These servants are directly under the royal court’s payroll, and there will be a chamberlain to manage your estate as well. You just need to sit and enjoy life. His Majesty too understand your situation. Being a proper noble is a tiresome thing, and you probably won’t get use to it any time soon, so just leave it to the chamberlains and advisors that the court had assigned you. You can ask them anything, or come directly to me. I’m ever glad to speak more with my comrade, on the caveat that I have time.”

Becky had scant reaction when she heard the first part of the sentence, but when she heard the last part she immediately leaped in joy, “Really?! Oh how could I ever thank you… I’m sure someone of your station is bu…. Say are you free today? Tomorrow? Or the day after? If not….”

Hao Ren immediately pulled the general’s fangirl away. Her fangirling could make one doubt where she actually swings. “Oh stop that. Now that you have the time, use it to read that nobility handbook that they gave you. I heard that you need to learn how to attend a noble banquet within a month, and with your current form you will probably take a year. Attending a royal banquet and boasting there is not the same as you doing it in a inn hugging a barrel of beer…”

Becky immediately calmed down after hearing the biggest headache of a question that she had now. Swimming in cold sweat, and then turning towards her manor and the rows upon rows of smartly dressed servants, she scratched her head, embarrassed. “Why does this feel so unreal?”

“All of this is real.” General Ophra smiled. “You’ll need to learn how to get used to this. A mercenary becoming a noble is not something easy. You have a lot of quirks to get rid of, and those nobles have mountains of rules and protocols that are as stink like dried turd. It is no easier than fighting the evil god mind you.”

Becky spat her tongue out as she mumbled towards Hao Ren. “I was hard carried in my fight against the evil god….”

General Ophra did not understand the lingo and simply just smiled. Looking up and with a snap of her finger, a servant immediately came with the reins of her horse. “I’ll be off then. Enjoy the new place for tonight, and as agreed, I will come with Cardinal Orben tomorrow, and we’ll head to the sealed grounds.

As soon as she finished, she smoothly turned her horse around and galloped away, leaving Becky fangirling as she fawned over the general’s heroic pose. “She’s just soo cool… No… I need to properly dress up once we get back. I cannot be meeting her in this patched garb anymore.”

“That’s for tomorrow.” Hao Ren patted Becky on the shoulder and woke the fangirl from her fawning. “Before that thought… lets go to a basement and find a proper place for us to set up the teleporter.”

The Kingdom of Holletta was situated on the most fertile of lands on the continent and it had a long agricultural history. The people of Holletta had a long held tradition of storing food in their cellars or basements and it influenced the kingdom’s architectural designs. Many locals have very large and intricately designed cellars and Becky’s new manor was a typical Holletaean manor, beneath the three storey manor was a two storey cellar.

Almost as if it was an small underground fortress of sorts.

Becky was still not familiar with the directions of her place and had to rely on the guidance of the servants to find her way. The grey-haired butler who exudes an aura of calm and reliability led the way to the cellar’s entrance, and he was obviously trying to make a good first impression on his new master. “Mistress, this is the entrance to the cellar, I can lead the way…”

It took Becky a moment to realise that the ‘Mistress’ was her, and she quickly waved her hands. “There’s no need. We’re off doing some private business. Oh right, just to let you know. The lowest level of the cellar is now a forbidden area. No one is to enter without my express permission.”

The butler nodded and stepped away. After seeing the butler in a distance Becky spazzed again. “Mistress hehehehehe. Mistress. I’m a rich person from today! I have no regrets!”

“Right. Just look at you.” Even Nangong Wuyue couldn’t stand her and with a snort she headed downstairs.

The cellar’s design was rather simple and it did not take long for Hao Ren and his ground to reach the wine cellar. Becky froze the moment she stepped into the room and gawked at the various barrels of liquor and wine bottles in the room. There was also a long-necked silver jars on the table, the magically infused stones within them that let out a mesmerising glow, and the smell of sweet liquor filled the room.

This was part of the reward it seems.

Becky quickly took a few deep breaths. “HNGHHHH…. THIS… THIS IS PARADISE! I never seen so much fine liquor before! MY GOD… this is the Holletta Honey Liquor! The Cressyl Flamebrew! And it is stored in a limited edition crystal bottle! Oh my goodness! The Great Southern Malt, a whole barrel of them! This is enough to buy the whole inn I usually patronise. And this silver decanters, Imperial Snow Velvet Wine! The mayor of Lamberg had only two small bottles… and I HAVE SIX BIG ONES!!! HNGGGHHHH!!!”

Becky fell backwards in a fit of euphoria as she sniffed with all her might. Her voice was so distant that she sounded like she was on the other side of River Styx. “This is paradise! I can just drop dead here!”

Hao Ren pulled out the teleportation device and ordered the automatons to install the device in on of the cellar’s corners. Looking up towards Becky, he mumbled. “I never thought you were such an alcoholic.”

“Nonsense, there’s no mercenary that doesn’t drink! Liquor makes man brave, and the first time I took a bounty to clear some bandit lair, I depended on the dwarven hot ale to beat the snot out of the sentries by the road.

Lily immediately sensed something was wrong. “Why did you beat the sentries? I thought you were fighting bandits?”

“Well f*ck, I was drunk and I whacked the wrong dude.” Becky got up, slightly embarrassed. “That got me locked up for two months.”

“Right, your glorious past aside.” Hao Ren clapped. “The teleportation device is all set up. So your place is now the Space Administration’s substation on Holletta. The direct route of this place is Alamanda on Tannagost. Look after this…. actually there’s no big deal if you don’t anyway. The device is encrypted and no one else can use it.”

Looking at the shiny device before her, Becky’s euphoria finally faded away. “Oh right, you guys are heading back to Earth after this, and I’ll be standing guard here.”

Chapter 511: The Royal Magic Association

Everybody was at Becky’s new house that night. To celebrate her dreams coming true, Becky held a grand banquet (actually, she just wanted to enjoy being rich). Hao Ren and the rest of them enjoyed wine and delicacies from Holletta. They had fun until it was almost midnight before they finally went to bed, leaving a mess behind. The next morning, Hao Ren was awakened by Lil Pea’s tail as usual. The little mermaid jumped happily on his chest and said, “Dad! Dad! There’s guests waiting outside! Guests!”

Hao Ren grabbed Lil Pea and dropped the little kid in the water bowl next to him to let her swim. As he sat up on the big, soft bed, his body bounced up from the springy bed. He paused for a moment before he realized that he was in Becky’s house. He tidied up, turned his head and looked out the window. He saw a group of people in the front yard, and he recognized several of them: Marshal Ophra, Cardinal Orben, and several of the archbishops and ministers, whom he saw during the secret meetings two days ago. The rest of them were guards.

The butler was receiving the honored guests and a servant raced to the main house to inform Becky.

Hao Ren put on his jacket, ready to go out, but found something wrong with his jacket. “Huh… Where are the buttons?”

Hao Ren heard some noises coming from the basin. He turned and found Lil curling up in the water, pretending to sleep. However, her quick-moving tail told him that she had to be guilty. The little kid could not lie at all. He took Lil Pea out of the water and found that there were a few broken buttons lying quietly on the spot where she was sleeping.

“I thought it was edible,” Lil Pea said as she swished her tail, “but it’s not delicious.”

“Of course! This is plastic! Although it looks like wood, it’s plastic!” Hao Ren stared angrily at his growing daughter. “I know you’re growing up, but if you’re hungry, can you eat something normal? You can always wake me up or wake that piece of brick up!”

The MDT immediately hit Hao Ren on the back of his head. “What do you mean? You said I was a coaster yesterday! Come on, let’s fight!”

Hao Ren was speechless.

When Hao Ren reached the living room, everybody was already there. The guests were chatting with Vivian, but Hao Ren could not find Becky. He then went up to Wuyue and asked, “Where’s the new rich girl?”

“She’s still sleeping,” Nangong Wuyue said and stretched her body and showed her perfect waist. If it were not for her petite figure, she could be a supermodel. “What’re you doing upstairs? I heard you yelling,” she asked.

“I was educating a fish and then fighting with my PDA. The good news is that I won, and the bad news is that I feel fxxking empty after I won,” Hao Ren said and covered his forehead, “Can you understand my daily life without subtitles and narration?”

“Well, I can imagine.”

And now, Becky finally appeared at the staircase and kept yawning. It looked like she was dragged out of bed by the housekeeper. She looked at the bunch of honored guests, tried to keep awake and said, “Good morning everyone. Welcome…”

Then she missed her footing and fell down the stairs. She finally stopped at Nangong Sanba’s foot, got up and continued, “… Welcome to my house. Ouch, I think I finally wake up.”

Those at the door looked at the legendary mercenary and new aristocrat with a scary look. Most of them had the same thing in their mind: there was such a person among the heroes who saved the kingdom, and she was also the recommended one. It was a disaster. Unfortunately, apart from Becky, there was no one else they could recommend: there were five local heroes in the foreign team, and the other four were said to catching wild rabbits in another world. And the ascetics were never the right person to recommend, so Becky was the only choice…

“What happened to you?” Hao Ren muttered while helped Becky up, “Didn’t sleep last night?”

“Too excited to sleep,” Becky said and stuck out her tongue and then smiled, “Now you’re staying in my house. I suddenly feel balanced inside… You should come often, don’t be shy, His Majesty is very rich.”

Ophra was walking here. She hurriedly coughed to remind Becky when she heard it. “We have a marshal, two vice ministers and four cabinet ministers here. Let’s talk about business.”

“We’re going to the seal site of the Firstborn, right?” Hao Ren nodded and said, “Where exactly? How are we going to get there?”

A poker face suddenly popped out from aside. Cardinal Orben said with an emotionless face, “I negotiated with the Pope and we decided to go to the sacred cavern in the Volcano of Dusk. There seals the Firstborn who is expected to awaken earlier. The time for the liberation of the seal is less than a year, and the situation is more serious. Those tentacles are more active. They should be more suitable for observation.”

“We can use the teleportation facility from Royal Magic Society,” a minister in a thick purple robe nodded and said, “His Majesty allow us to use various strategic facilities of the Royal Magic Society this morning. In addition to the long-distance teleportation facility, we can also bring a team of elite wizards.”

To deal with the tentacles of the Firstborn, wizards were obviously more effective than the ordinary warriors. At least wizards had a stronger mind, they were not so easy to go crazy.

Everybody got excited when they heard that they could use the local teleportation technology of Holletta. Hao Ren had been here for several times but he had never tried the teleportation facility here. So they quickly packed up and followed Ophra to the station of the Royal Magic Association.

The Royal Magic Association was a building in the northern suburbs of the capital, composed of several towering magic towers. The versatile human wizards and the mages of blood clan, who were good in magic, built this place together. As the oldest country on the continent, there were many ethnic groups in Holletta, and the blood clan was a relatively common ‘minority’ here.

The reason why the Royal Magic Association was built outside the capital was not that ordinary people were rejecting magic, but for security. In this world, wizards were inventors and researchers. Their more important role was being a kind of technician. They liked to invent strange things, and all the hard dynamite and alchemy and engineering weapons in the world were their masterpieces. So wherever you go, big magic towers had to be built away from residential areas, because you would not know when the stuff that fell off these towers was an alchemical bomb…

Of course, occasionally, there would be some unlucky wizards falling down from the towers. But don’t investigate the cause. It was nothing weird for strange wizards doing strange stuff.

Hao Ren and his team passed through a magical curtain and saw the Royal Magic Association hidden under the optical invisible enchantment. The first thing they saw was a tall tower in a weird form. The tower seemed to be broken into a few sections and was divided into several parts, floating aslant in the air. On the whole, it looked as if one-third of the structure in the middle part was missing, but the magic tower was apparently still working. They could see some blurred shadows flashed across the fracture part, which seemed to be human figures.

“Rudolph’s Tower, created by the Vice President of the association,” Ophra explained, “Rudolph belong to an old blood clan, studying space technology, and famous for his daring experimental project. An accident turned his tower into this. The spatial distortion cuts the spatial structure of the tower, causing a part of the tower to float in a different dimension. It seems to be fragmented, but the interior is still seamless, it’s just that when you walk into… It feels weird because some windows and doors will lead to strange places, and Rudolph has not yet designed the new structure of the whole tower. I went in to visit him once, but because the doorplate was wrong, so I had to travel back from the Cressyl Province in the South… I would advise you not go there.”

Before Ophra finished her words, a large group of bats appeared in front of them and turned into a human. He was a middle-aged man in a black suit with a bright smile on his face. “It was just a little accident, lady. And I have warned you that the seventh floor of the magic tower was not very stable recently. I have an apprentice who even dug out his sister’s underwear from his closet. The space is too unstable…”

They immediately gave this unreliable vice president the side-eye. Rudolph shrugged and said, “Well, probably it’s not all because of space instability. Puberty is as mysterious as space magic.”

“He’s like this,” Ophra whispered, “I heard that part of his brain was teleported away while he was studying magic.”

“The blood clan of this world seems more cheerful than those on Earth,” Hao Ren muttered.

Vivian rolled her eyes and said, “Of course. The Earth is so sinister. It’s hard to be happy there.”

“So these are the guests who are going to use the long-distance teleportation facility today?” Rudolph said and looked at Hao Ren and his team. “Oh, I’ve heard about… But President Catherine advised me not to ask too much, so come with me quickly—the sun is not good for the skin.”

Chapter 512: The Volcano of Dusk

 

It was the first time Hao Ren had walked into a real magic tower, but the environment there was not as eerie as he had imagined. In fact, it was like a reasonably well planned and neat research facility. There were reference rooms or laboratories on each floor of the tower. The place where the apprentices live was a neat and orderly dormitory. There was even a housemaster who was an old female werewolf…

There were, of course, many things that matched the word “magic”. For example, the magic lights that floated in the air and the gold brooms that automatically swept the floor. There were also some faint arcane mutants wandered around in the air which were harmless short secondary lives that ran out of the energy wells. However, these things just made the magic tower looking fun and interesting, not looking weird and scary at all.

“I thought the wizards living in the magic tower were all looked gloomy, and the magic tower was full of cobwebs, covered in old grease, and even the floors were black,” Hao Ren muttered, “That’s what I saw in the movie.”

“Even the most traditional wizard won’t be like this,” Becky rolled her eyes and said, “and this is an academic facility, a place to do research, how do you work without bright lights?”

Ophra was walking beside Hao Ren and of course, she heard their conversation. She laughed and asked, “Do you know who has the brightest magic tower?”

“Who?” Hao Ren asked, “The one study the Holy Light?”

Ophra shook her head and said, “The Magic Tower of Master Dubai. It has been brightly lit for a century, and Master Dubai is one of the best necromancers in the world.”

“What?” Hao Ren was baffled.

Ophra shrugged and explained, “Because surgery requires a bright light, and a pair of good eyes is also needed to examine the decay of corpses and bones.”

Hao Ren felt like he had learned something that he had never heard before. But Vivian was not surprised and said, “It’s normal. Most of the necromancers on Earth are working in the hospital. Do you know how high-power the shadowless lamps there are?”

“… The fxxk it makes sense!”

Eventually, they were taken to the teleportation hall on the second floor. This was also the ‘breakpoint’ where the magic tower was drawn into another dimension. The roof of the hall was covered by a fragmented sky. The blue magic energy line was intertwined in the cracks in the sky, maintaining the energy integrity of the magical tower itself. Rudolph clapped his hands to let the guests stop chatting and said, “Thanks to that accident, it costs a lot less than anywhere else to start this teleportation device. Now please stand in the white circle, take your baggage, do not use alchemical items and walk around, there will be a slight dizziness during teleportation, but…”

As the white light flashed, they had disappeared.

Rudolph shrugged and continued, “But you all have gone, so it’s too late to complain.”

A young apprentice, who was responsible for routine maintenance of the teleportation facility came and checked the energy supply of the crystal, muttered as he heard what his mentor just said, “Sir, sometimes you should be serious. After all, you are here the most…”

Rudolph gave his apprentice the side-eye and said, “Oh, Searle, you’re right, so let’s have a serious discussion about finding your sister’s underwear from your closet and discussing your puberty.”

The young apprentice suddenly stumbled and said, “This… Sir, you knew it. This is due to the spatial mapping of the seventh-floor dormitory area! ”

“Oh, then let’s talk about spatial mapping, get your homework the day before yesterday, and the exercise books.”

“… Sir, I think my puberty needs your guidance!”

Let’s just ignore the two wizards. Hao Ren and the rest of them had come to the eastern border in seconds, which was thousands of kilometers away from the capital. One of the most disturbing ancient wonders of the world was quietly dormant at the edge of the east of the coastline.

The Volcano of Dusk, created by the werewolf mage-emperor, Sabur, was another ‘man-made miracle’ which was equally famous as the Dragonspine Ridge.

After the bright light of teleportation flashed by, everybody had reached the ‘Limestone Fortress’, just a short distance from the Mountains of Dusk, and the teleportation point was set in a watchtower in the fortress. Everybody was still feeling dizzy and giddy. It seemed that those ministers would still in the dizzy state for a few minutes, but Hao Ren and his team had already recovered. Lily was wagging her tail and readjusting her balance, muttered, “Not any better than our Mobile Data Terminal.”

The voice of the data terminal immediately appeared in their mind, “But my performance is strong and stable, a one-time teleportation of 20 million light-years is also giving you the same feel! Can the technology of the copycat be compared with the powerful technology of our empire?”

Ophra nodded to the soldiers who came to receive them and then told Hao Ren, “That’s the Volcano of Dusk, a geological spectacle created by another mage-emperor.”

There was a wide lookout on the wall of the room, allowing them to have a clear view of the Volcano of Dusk not far away.

A gigantic conical volcano stood abruptly in the flat, boulder-strewn wilderness. They did not know its size, but it looked as if it almost blotted out the sky and covered the sun from where they stood. The volcano was all dark as if it was a cool black iron, and in a farther place, they could see a vast expanse of ocean.

About one-third of the Volcano of Dusk extended to the ocean. Deep underground, part of its obsidian mountain was even integrated with the continental shelf.

And it was all crimson at the top of this huge black cone.

Hao Ren could not see the top of the volcano from where he stood, but he could see the blazing red glow burning there. The light even dyed the sky red, and it let them wonder if even the sky was about to be ignited by the red light. There was no lava flowing around the volcano. But even then, the red-hot flame alone was enough to make them feel an unbearable heat coming from the depths of the soul.

It was as if the sun had fallen into the crater. This was the origin of the name of the Volcano of Dusk.

Hao Ren did not expect that one of the sacred caverns was actually located at the Volcano of Dusk. The name sounded familiar to him. This was the giant creation created by the ancient mage-emperor, Sanur, who used powerful witchcraft to extract the power of the deep strata. The Volcano of Dusk had never extinguished, compared with the dead Giant Tree of Life and the Dragonspine Ridge that was in a state of silence for a long time. It was still burning up to this day as if it had an incredible vitality. Therefore, they could hardly see anyone here, just an impregnable fortress guarding the formidable ancient miracle.

There did not expect to see a First Born lying under it.

But now, knowing that the second sacred cavern was under the Volcano of Dusk, he seemed to know some sort of pattern.

“The third sacred cavern is located under the ‘Tree of Life’?” Hao Ren looked at Ophra and asked, “Under the Tree of Life created by, the ancient elf-queen, Lorrisa?”

“Yes,” Ophra answered while nodding slowly.

Among the many wonders that ancient mage-emperors had created by manpower, the most magnificent were the three wonders, including the Dragonspine Ridge in the western part of the kingdom, the Volcano of Dusk in the eastern part of the kingdom, and the Giant Tree of Life in the south of the kingdom. Holletta was situated on the site of the ancient magic empire, so the three remains were situated within the kingdom.

The three remains corresponded to three First Borns.

And the ancient magic empire was also the ‘main battlefield’ of the three First Borns.

All the clues are logically linked.

“We have always known the location of the sacred caverns,” said Orben with a low voice, “but we don’t know what the sacred caverns really mean. We assume that the sacred caverns are situated just below the three ‘evil ruins’ because the goddess imposed the punishment in the three places, or the mage-emperors challenged the goddess’s authority with the man-made miracle, but the truth is—they are seals used to suppress the First Borns.”

“The ancient mage-emperors are innocent. They did not have any blasphemy sins,” Hao Ren shook his head and said, “but I’ll explain to you in detail after we go back. Now let’s go and see the sleeping First Born. I hope it’s in a deep sleep now.”