The Record of Unusual Creatures

Even if the crystal that had fallen into the planet’s core was ancient and warped by its surroundings, Hao Ren was very sure that the crystals were the very same ones he saw in that illusion.

It was not too long after Vivian managed to control the power of the Crimson Moon either. Hao Ren had embarked on a search on the moon itself and found an enormous stash of mysterious crystals at the bottom of the Crimson Moon ocean. After he came into contact with the crystal, he fell into another illusion left behind by the goddess of creation. In that world, Hao Ren saw a mysterious planet covered in a storm of lightning, and the planet’s surface was filled with a bluish-white crystal…

Lily was the first to react to what Hao Ren said. “Whoaaa!! Mr. Landlord, you sure it’s the same thing?”

“Pretty sure it is.” Hao Ren nodded strongly as his gaze fell upon the damaged organs at the center of the grotto. “This crystal has a very unique property. The moment one of it changes, every crystal within its area will resonate using some very complicated method. The crystals were probably activated by the Petrachelys’ approach, and they started to flicker rhythmically. This matches what I remember. I never realized this earlier as they were buried within the rocks and rather smashed up too, but this…”

He pointed at the crystal sliver that had punctured the First Born’s brain structure. “This is much bigger, and I have seen similar crystals in that illusion.”

“Why are they here then…” Lily ruffled her hair before catching onto something, “AH! Could that planet you saw in the illusion is actually in this star sector?”

“Very possible but too early to conclude it.” Hao Ren nodded. “Based on N-4’s report, the crystals had suddenly teleported above the planet, so it came here via hyperspace travel, and that makes it determining its origins a little difficult.”

“Nevertheless, if we could find that planet you saw in the illusion, that will be a massive find.” Vivian, the ever calm was also agitated by the turn of events. She looked at Hao Ren in the eye. “Perhaps we can even find that throne you saw at the end of it!”

Hao Ren’s emotions too were in flux but he forcefully turned his attention away for the moment. “Of course, of course. But that’s for later. For now, we need to find out what’s up with the First Born here. MD…”

Without even needing Hao Ren to finish, the MDT had already started a scan on the withering brain core as it reported its findings. “The death of the brain is caused by loss of nutrients and extended exposure to radiation. It’s obvious that this was caused by the crystal impacting against it, and the powerful self-recovery ability could not even do anything. The crystal seems to be radiating some sort of energy that is impeding the recovery process…

“At the same time, the crystal’s energies have also affected the tissue fluid around the brain and the mutation caused it to produce toxins, and this is many times stronger than the one we had stuck into the First Born back on Holletta.”

Hao Ren nodded slightly, “If it is those crystals, then it’s easier to explain the death of the First Born’s brain. Based on what I saw in revelation, the crystals definitely have something to do with the Goddess of Creation, and the First Born is one of her creation too, as something from the same origin, the crystal breaking through the First Born’s defense isn’t all that inexplicable now.”

“And based on what we see, the crystal is on a higher hierarchy than the First Born.” Vivian seemed to have some ideas. “The First Born was practically defenseless against these crystals, and got smacked silly by it.”

Hao Ren looked at the MDT asking, “If we pull out that crystal, will be First Born’s brain recover?”

“Probably when it was first wounded yes, but now, clearly not.” the MDT shook about. “The brain is totally dead, and the toxin and the crystal’s energies have also completely killed off the nervous system around the area. And I believe the other brains within the area are about the same. These toxins and energy radiation had permanently neutered the First Born’s nervous system’s self-recovery ability. So even if we pluck the crystal out, the brain will neither recover nor will new nerves form in the brain.”

“Then lets extract the crystal.” Hao Ren nodded. “It’s so rare that we have such a perfect sample. Bring it back to the lab for analysis. Y’zaks, need to trouble you on this.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Y’zaks voice came thundering from above as the five-meter-tall demon king stepped forward and wadded through the inert lifeblood lake as he grabbed the thin crystal sliver and pulled it out with a grunt.

The First Born’s nervous system shuddered a couple of times when the sliver was pulled out, but aside from that, there were no other reactions: Just as the MDT had said, it was beyond recovery now.

“Let’s go back to the ship.” Hao Ren came to a decision. “MDT, let the droid swarm deploy another engineering troop here and build a monitoring system along the nerve centers. Remember to bring the lullaby as well, any subconscious reaction is still trouble.”

The crew returned to the Petrachelys and the ship soon took off and departed this scorching underworld, and as the ship left, a swarm of droids rushed in from the passageway as they carried engineering tools to set up a small base within the grotto as ordered by Hao Ren.

The long crystal sliver was sent to the lab and floated quietly on an anti-gravity platform. A traction beam held the six-seven meter long crystal in place before an array of instruments and under the control of the lab’s mainframe computer, the instruments were performing a series of analyses of this incredible material.

A huge group of people, including the accompanying N-4 and N-6, all gathered around to check on the finds of the search. Even the napping Rollie came over after catching wind of things. The short catgirl had to squirm through the crowd to get to Hao Ren’s side, but as she looked at the item on the platform she started grumbling in disappointed, “What is this nya… Seeing you guys so excited I thought Big Boss Cat had gone fishing…”

“I’m not that crazy to go fishing in a lava pool?” Hao Ren glared at the dumb cat before pressing her down to stop her from making a nuisance. N-6, on the other hand, was engrossed by the sight of the crystal as she murmured, “…So three thousand years ago, this crystal from the sky stopped the Devourer’s rampage?”

“Yes, but this was just an accident, and this accident allowed your civilization to survive.” Hao Ren nodded slightly before turning to the lab’s mainframe. “What are the details you have right now?”

“Divinity detection confirmed. Energy level above the First Born and the Guardians, able to determine that this is a result of the Goddess of Creation personally infusing its energies. The crystal is a natural product but the divinity has changed its properties. It is very stable and tough and can survive the temperature of a planet’s core or the sun’s surface.” the mainframe answered. “Also, have detected the crystal has an active pattern of signal transmission, and this will cause a rhythmic reaction to its surroundings. This phenomenon is also confirmed on other crystal fragments. After analysis, have confirmed that the signal has not dissipated, also…”

Hao Ren was nodding as he listened to the report before the last part sparked something in his mind. Interrupting the mainframe, he went, “Wait a minute! Stop there, what does ‘signal has not dissipated’ mean?”

“The signal created from the crystal’s resonance will not dissipate even at a distance. Unless the receiving crystal deletes or cuts off the transmission, the signal will transmit unceasingly between the crystal.”

Hao Re blinked before understanding the meaning behind this. “So, you mean that once the crystal releases a signal, unless another crystal deletes this transmission, it can be detected across the Plane of Dreams regardless of where you are?”

The mainframe gave a succinct and firm reply. “In theory, yes.”

“Ah I get it now!” Lily’s ears perked up as she wagged her tail excitedly, “Mr Landlord, that planet in the illusion!”

“Correct, that planet is full of that crystal.” Hao Ren had an excited expression on his face. “If that planet still exists, that means it will be releasing a tide of signals! And these signals do not fade, that means we can track it down!”

Nolan’s holographic projection then appeared in the lab. The ship girl was monitoring the situation there as well and interjected, “We can directly use that crystal you found in the planet’s core as a sort of antenna system. The resonance between the crystals is even more reliable than any radar or remote detection tech. It is the best signal transmitter and receiver, the original one too.”

“Any problems with the tech?” Vivian asked.”

“No issues with the tech, as we have the crystals, the key issue of receiving the transmission and the frequency synchronization is non-existent, we only need to give the system a decoder and locater function,” Nolan said as a number of screens appear around here. The screens already started deducing the structure needed for the system. “We have found a good amount of the crystal fragments and can create a massive antenna array. We can place some in space, some on planets’ surface. Since droid swarm is already here, rather than let the engineering droids collect dust, they can finish the assembly within days.”

“Very good, let the droids handle this, they can work on it right away. The core components of the antenna system should still be produced here, it’s a pretty complex component after all.”

The discovery of the crystal was probably the biggest find in this search, but everything seemed to be according to plan.

Their arrival to “Star Cluster X” was based on the map found in Vivian’s soul, and the illusion of the crystal planet… was also hidden within Vivian’s soul.

It seemed like these two things were definitely intertwined.

After taking care of the matter regarding the crystal, Hao Ren now had to shift his attention to another pressing problem: how to deal with the First Born on this planet?