The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren figured that the crystal was the same thing as those on the Asurmen judging from its external elements and energy characteristics. But the technology of the Denizens of the Stars was too weird, and everyone was reluctant to come to a final conclusion. In the end, it was still necessary to wait for Asurmen to verify in “person” before making the final conclusion.

Eva had no idea why Hao Ren and the others reacted the way they did. She was at a loss and thought that Hao Ren did not like her gift. So she went up to Hao Ren. “Gift… not like?”

Hao Ren was startled. But he quickly realized his faux pas. “Of course not, of course not. Your gift is perfect. This thing is of great importance to me! You have been of great help!”

“Help?” Eva shook her body, which was of water. “Oh, help!” she said in a cheerful voice.

“She probably means she ‘s happy to be of help.” Nangong Wuyue smiled, watching what happened. Suddenly, she rolled the water up with her tail and splashed it at Hao Ren. “It seems that Eva likes you very much, Mr. Landlord.”

“She is close to everyone,” Hao Ren said while swiftly dodging the splash. He then turned to look at the crystal that was still held up by the sea. “Let’s make some changes to the itinerary. I will take the crystal to Asurmen for identification. You guys stay back to look after the ‘tour group.’ If all goes well, I will return in a day.”

“We will stay,” Nangong Wuyue said. She held her brother, Nangong Sanba before he could say anything. “Io is my homeworld too. It is more convenient for me to stay and communicate with Eva. My brother is a demon hunter. Since almost one-third of the ‘tourists’ are demon hunters, it will be easier for him to deal with them.”

“Then I will count you both,” Hao Ren said. “Nothing is going to happen. If those guys fight, please get Hassel and Hesperides to help. They are able to keep them in check. But I guess the chances for a fight to break out is low.”

Katreina laughed and interjected. “Don’t worry, I don’t think they will fight. I don’t believe that anyone dares to pick a fight in the world of the sirens; this is the planet of water.”

Impressed by Katreina’s truculence, Hao Ren glanced at Nangong Wuyue. “Look at the siren queen. You should learn a thing or two from her. Don’t be timid the whole time.”

Nangong Wuyue was dumbfounded.

The emergence of the crystal had somewhat disrupted Hao Ren’s original plan. But family visit group would stay in Io for two days, and he had enough time to work on the side event. Hao Ren left the ‘tour group’ to the Nangong siblings before he boarded the Petrachelys and returned to the CARS in the orbit of Tannagost with the crystal.

Since the Battle of Collow, the Asurmen had been staying near CARS. This ancient starship had seriously aged and malfunctioned. It was undergoing restoration with the help of CARS facilities. The repair was nearing completion, but Asurmen wished to continue to stay here until it found the whereabouts of the goddess of creation or solved the threat from the Mad Lord.

The crystal was quickly sent to the Asurmen.

“Indeed, this crystal is the creation of my race, but I am not sure if it is part of the spaceship.” In the Will Hub, Asumen carefully examined the crystal that Hao Ren had brought. Its voice seemed to reverberate in the chamber like a wind chime. “Since it fell from outer space, the possibility of it being spaceship debris is as high as 80%.”

Hao Ren’s expression became serious. “So it’s true that hundreds of years ago there was a starship of the Denizens of the Stars passing by Io and a fight occurred near the planet’s orbit. Otherwise, there would not be such big debris fell on the planet.”

“Any more debris?” Asurman’s voice sounded with urgency.

Hao Ren shook his head and said, “Found only this one. After all, it has been hundreds of years, and the location of the fight is unknown. Maybe Io’s gravity had only captured one piece of the debris, and the remaining debris had drifted into deep space. Can you find anything such as spacecraft model or serial number in this crystal?”

He did not expect to find anything. But he was surprised by Asurmen’s reply. “I can give it a try. I can feel this piece of debris contains fragments of memory, but it has seriously dissipated. So I can’t guarantee that I can give you the answer.”

“The debris from the spacecraft contains memory? What kind of technology is this?” Hao Ren was stunned.

Asurmen in the crystal emitted a pleasant sound of vibration. Traces of translucent lines filled the crystals, forming complicated shapes in the air. “Did you know how this spacecraft was built?”

Hao Ren had never thought about this question. “Is it an extraordinary construction method?”

“Each spaceship is a Denizen of the Stars.” Asurmen’s voice was soft and gentle as if a musical rhythm. “We don’t have drawings and factories. All our knowledge is stored in our energy nodes and inscribed in the soul. When we need to make something, we will get near to a star, and our souls will tremble. Through a magnifying device, which is the crystal I am in right now, the trembling souls will turn into a spiritual skeleton, which is our ‘manufacturing blueprint and framework.’ We will then extract matters and energy from the star and materialize them on the soul skeleton, and finally form into a variety of things, such as a spaceship.”

“It is simply incredible.” The magical technology shocked Hao Ren.

“Compared to the information-material conversion technology of this space station, our technology is not so magical at all.” Asurmen’s crystal flashed. “I don’t understand how you created material out of nothing.”

“I have no idea too. It was my superior who allocated this space station to me.” Hao Ren shrugged. “So do you mean the Asurmen is the extension of your soul?”

“My spiritual power is the skeleton, the matters and energy of the stars are the fillings.” Asurmen corrected Hao Ren. “More than 90% of the structure of this spacecraft is built on this foundation. The spiritual skeleton is the technological foundation of the Denizens of the Stars.”

Hao Ren pointed to the crystal not far away. “So that crystal—”

“It contains traces of the creator’s spiritual power or set of codes. This set of codes is unique,” Asurmen replied. “Just that this crystal contains too little information. I need at least ten days to restore its information, but there is no guarantee of success.”

“Oh, it takes that long.” Hao Ren frowned. But it was better than nothing. Something suddenly crossed his mind. “Do you need to be near a star every time you want to make something?”

“Yes, and not all stars are suitable. Mostly stars at their peak during their mid-lifecycle are suitable. These stars contain the most complete sequence of matters in the universe, are full of energy and convenient for extraction.”

“So when the guardian giants saw you occasionally, you were all ‘sunbathing’ around the stars?” Hao Ren felt it interesting. “Were you taking material and energy from those stars?”

“I was already the gatekeeper in Collow when the guardian giants existed. So I don’t know what you are talking about. We usually don’t go to places where other living beings exist, because most intelligent beings are not comfortable that we extract materials and energy from the stars. In most cases, we only get a small number of materials from the stars, but many common races don’t see it that way,” Asurmen said quietly, “Of course, this is after the defeat of the Mad Lord by the goddess of creation. During the earlier era, we simply did not have the time. The Denizens of the Stars followed the goddess of creation to the battlefield. We drained thousands of stars to build our army. Our greatest flagship, the Solar Throne, was made up of the matters of an entire star. It was so huge that we had to combine one hundred soldiers to make the underlying spiritual skeleton. The glorious era is over now, and the powerful Solar Throne has crashed into the Tide of Darkness of the Mad Lord. I have no idea how many battleships of this kind still exist in the universe nowadays.”

The epic era that Asurmen mentioned knocked Hao Ren’s socks off. He began to understand how high the price the goddess of creation paid to defeat the horrible enemy. It was a war beyond the imagination of mortals!

“Leave this crystal here. I’ll finish the analysis of it as soon as possible and inform you of the outcome. Maybe it will help me connect with my own kind who are still alive in the current universe.” Asurmen’s voice echoed in the hall and interrupted Hao Ren’s train of thought. “I need to take a nap now so that I can recalibrate the frequency of my soul.

“Then I will not bother you anymore,” Hao Ren said and nodded. “I look forward to hearing good news from you.”