The Record of Unusual Creatures

The firepower upgrade met the curious and playful nature of the husky. If it had not been for the high energy exhaustion in using the armored suit, Lily would have plunged into crazy play mode for the whole day. Even so, she was not far from it, because she simpered and continuously asked all kinds of questions for the rest of the day.

“Aside from improving her personal strength, this set of gear can play a great role in team support.” Hao Ren took the opportunity to explain to the others while Lily was not badgering him. “Many of the tactical modules of this suit can be connected to the life-support collar, and the armor itself can temporarily provide a powerful protective force field. Lily can be a battlefield fortress, providing support for the entire team if needed. There is a built-in emergency medical system, which others can use if Wuyue is not available.”

Lily suddenly scampered over and said, “Mr. Landlord! I read in the instructions manual that there’s an emergency escape mode. What is that for? I didn’t manage to try it earlier.”

“You better not.” Hao Ren smacked his forehead; he had forgotten to explain that function to her earlier. “It allows you to get out of the suit during an emergency. The armored suit can continue the battle independently under the control of AI for some time before it self destructs. It buys you time to escape.”

“What? Only for single-use? I don’t think I would ever want to activate that function,” Lily said.

“I bet you will when you have to choose between life and death.” Nangong Wuyue rolled her eyes at Lily. “This thing looks good. I am now a little envious. Mr. Landlord, will you give each of us a set of this equipment?”

“I don’t need it,” Y’zaks said immediately. “I’ve been using the same combat style for tens of thousands of years. This battlesuit will only clip my wings. Simple equipment with simple functions would be more useful to me.”

“I don’t need it either.” Vivian shook her head. “I just absorbed the power of the Malevolence. It takes a long time to adapt to it. I’m too busy to learn the functions of such a high-tech gadget.”

Both Y’zaks and Vivian deserved their reputation as the most mature teammates. They were well-traveled and had a broad perspective. Unlike Nangong Wuyue, who was easily dazzled by a gorgeous set of equipment, they could see the pros and cons of the combat armor, and they knew what was right for them.

This equipment, which was more suitable for Lily, whose beast-mode combat style was not in shape yet, meant little to Y’zaks and Vivian.

Hao Ren smiled. “I’ve thought about giving each of you an equipment upgrade. But come to think of it, just like what Vivian and Y’zaks said, this equipment might not be suitable for everyone. As high-tech as it is, the suit may not be as handy as Raven 12345’s divine blessings. Moreover, Lily’s Doggoblast is still the most powerful skill compared with all of the functions of the armored suit. So, it’s better to receive a benediction from Raven 12345 again.”

No one blinked an eye even when Hao Ren the pope discussed his own goddess openly. Perhaps it only happened to Raven 12345.

As soon as Hao Ren finished, a thought came to Vivian’s mind. “Did the goddess not say that she would complete the Amantir crystal analysis in half a month? It’s been half a month now. Is there any news from her?”

It only crossed Hao Ren’s mind right then. He had been busy working on the heavy combat armor for Lily for the past two days and totally forgotten that Raven 12345 had promised him the moon and yet delivered it. He quickly asked the MDT, “Is there news from the boss?”

“Not yet,” the MDT, shaking its body. “I guess she has not finished yet. Otherwise, Ma’am Raven would have advertised her little achievement long ago.”

Hao Ren’s mouth twitched. That neurotic goddess had indeed bluffed him, he thought, and he actually believed that she had suddenly become dependable at that time. Perhaps he had yet to recover from mental exhaustion and hallucinations after battling the brain of dreams.

Just then, the exultant voice of Raven 12345 was heard in his mind. “Yoo-hoo! Hao Ren! Come to the divine realm right away. I have figured out the road sign after half a month of hard work and calculations.”

Hao Ren’s heart skipped a beat. Just as he was questioning the dependability of the goddess, the news came. He felt a little bad about it and quickly replied in his mind, “Err, I will go over right away.”

“You sound reluctant.” Raven 12345 had captured the tone of his voice. “Are you slacking off?”

Hao Ren quickly explained, “Oh no, I was just thinking about why we haven’t been hearing from you. I thought you had drawn a long bow and begged around for help.”

“Cough, cough… How… how could I do such a shameless thing? I am a proper goddess in name and substance. Stop the crap and hurry up!”

The goddess rudely hung up, leaving Hao Ren in confusion. The goddess sounded guilty.

Meanwhile, Vivian knew that Hao Ren was talking to Raven 12345. So, she waited silently. When Hao Ren began to blink his eyes, Vivian asked, “What happened?”

“What a coincidence!” Hao Ren shrugged. “The goddess asked me to go to see her immediately; she has cracked the secret of the Amantir crystal. You all go home first while I head over to the divine realm. Leave me something to eat tonight; I bet the goddess will not bother to offer dinner—I have offended her just now, it seems.”

After speaking, Hao Ren left for the divine realm with the MDT.

In the divine realm, Hao Ren was surprised to find that the goddess had not blown up the mansion. Perhaps Raven 12345 was too busy fiddling with the crystal road signs.

Whatever the case, Raven 12345 beamed and took something out from the dimensional fissure and tossed it to Hao Ren. “Here you go.”

Hao Ren scrambled to catch the thing. “Holy moly, be careful with that. You should know how important this thing is!”

Raven 12345 rolled her eyes. “Come on, do you think such a divine-blessed thing could break so easily?”

Hao Ren thought for a moment and nodded. “Well, you are right. Err, is this the road sign? It is not the same as I imagined. How this thing works?”

He looked at the strange object in his hand. It was a light sphere with three diamond-shaped blue crystals inside. Each of the crystals, only the size of a finger, floated in the closed sphere that was only slightly larger than a fist. The thing looked fragile and felt soft and pleasant to the touch. Hao Ren pinched the sphere in his hand; it turned out to be harder than the battleship armor plate under stress.

Raising the light sphere and shook it before his eyes, Hao Ren noticed that the three small crystals fluttered accordingly, but their relative positions from each other remained unchanged.

“Should I use this sphere together with the three road-sign crystals that I have found earlier?”

Raven 12345 seemed to have fallen in thought and only came out of her daze upon hearing what Hao Ren said. “That will not be necessary. Don’t underestimate my ability. Let me tell you that I have placed the road-sign data in a virtual universe snapshot so that it mimics the operation of the Plane of Dreams. From where do you think these fundamental parameters come? Of course, from the data that you extracted from the Throne of Destiny. The road-map data combined themselves in the virtual machine. After a series of complicated calculations, the final product is the sphere you are holding now.”

The goddess skipped the most important technical details of the whole process and jumped directly to the conclusion. “What you have now is the reconstructed road sign that contains all the data and changes. So, it does not require a crystal like the Amantir crystal to work. More importantly, it is packaged using Xi Ling encryption technology, which means you can plug it into the Petrachelys, and it will work seamlessly with the navigation computer. So, have I solved your problem?”

Although Raven 12345 sounded strange, Hao Ren had to admit that she had indeed saved him a lot of hassle. The fact that he could connect the road sign directly to the navigation system of the Petrachelys meant that he could also fly to the divine domain of the goddess of creation.

“That is how it works.” Raven 12345 reaffirmed with a rare serious expression. “Get ready, Hao Ren. This could be the biggest challenge you have faced so far.”