The Record of Unusual Creatures

Duke Owen’s sudden request made Constance frown. She looked at the bed-ridden old man who was recovering from his wounds. “Duke Owen, you do not need to ‘request’ anything from me.”

“But this is not a usual request.” Duke Owen smiled, and even though his face was pale, his voice was still lively. “After all, even with our friendship, asking you to activate the Sacred Armory is probably not an easy thing to do right?”

There was a slight change in Constance’s expression. “Activate the Sacred Armory? What are you planning to do?”

“What else?” Duke Owen raised his arm and gave it a swing. “To allow these old bones to work a couple more years. Even Naaem has already joined the battle, I’m sure as hell not staying in bed, not as the Duke of the Northern Realms.”

Constance gave Duke Owen a stern glare. “Do you know what you are saying? If we were to use the power of the Sacred Armory on you, then you will no longer be human. Think carefully. You were saved from the jaws of death by a thread of your life, and you no longer have to take such risks. Besides, you have heard it yourself, your frailty is just temporary. As long as you take your time to recuperate, you can live on as a normal person.”

“But only as a normal person, correct?” the duke responded blandly. “Or perhaps, not even like a normal person… My spirit is damaged. My thoughts, memories, personality, body, everything will be weakened, and I will be a senile old man, too frail to even do anything. I… I will never get used to living like that.”

Hao Ren was totally confused as he heard that. He was compelled to ask, “Ahem, wait a minute, what are you guys on about?”

“…It’s normal if you don’t know about it.” Constance looked up at Hao Ren. “We are discussing one of the earlier methods we used once all possible treatments failed. Duke Owen wants to use the Ebon Blades’ initiation rites as one last gamble.”

Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. “To turn himself into an Ebon Blade?”

“It is a method that, theoretically, can cure the ‘corruption’,” Constance plainly said. “Through the recreation of flesh and spirit, it will allow Duke Owen to undergo a ‘rebirth’. Since we are unable to separate the contaminants from his spirit and body, we will create a new body for him, then transfer his remaining consciousness over.”

Hao Ren did not manage to grasp everything. “Aren’t all of the Ebon Blades corrupted? Additionally, they were all under the control of Emperor Berentine… Won’t this ritual cause any problems?”

“Of course not,” Constance replied. “The corruption has indeed taken hold of the knights serving my father, but not the ritual to become an Ebon Blade. The ritual itself is fine, and as long as we can control it, we can create our own Ebon Blades.”

However, right then, she shook her head. “But I have already given up on that plan… You have managed to cure the corruption within Duke Owen, and he will survive even without the transformation…”

“But he clearly does not wish to live on like that,” Vivian said. “And to be honest, I understand his reasons. If it was just normal disability, so be it, at least his mind is still working. But spiritual damage will cause problems to his mind, and for someone like the duke, it is something unacceptable.”

Duke Owen visibly brightened up when he heard someone agree with him, but it still could not mask the fatigue in his eyes.

The power of madness had infected his body, and his corrupted flesh, as well as soul, were entangled with the non-affected parts. That would have allowed him to live on somewhat normally. But now that the corrupted part had been totally cleansed, his weakness had become even more apparent.

Despite that, just as Vivian concurred with Duke Owen, she suddenly turned. “But, I do not agree with him going through that Ebon Blade ritual.”

“Why?” Duke Owen was dumbfounded. “Do you know a lot about the Ebon Blades?”

“A little, but that is not the reason.” Vivian shrugged. “The real reason is, I don’t think that the ritual is the right solution. Perhaps we have an even better way to cure you, which can avoid the pitfalls of the transformation ritual.”

Constance reacted with surprise. “You have a better solution? Something that can cure a damaged spirit?”

“Frankly speaking, spiritual damage is a rather difficult problem,” Hao Ren said as his eyes were fixed on Rheia. “But in comparison to his soul being destroyed, it still allows room for some manipulation. Rheia, are you confident?”

“Wait up,” Rheia said as she raised her hand and mumbled to herself, as though trying to memorize something. Only words like “important point”, “the first step”, “typical issues”, and “control technique” were heard. She only looked up half a minute later. “Don’t you worry, I can cure spiritual damage at this level…”

Duke Owen’s eyes widened. “But you were…”

“I did not fully understand your situation.” Rheia tried her best to puff her chest up. “But the me now is not the me earlier!”

Lily poked Vivian in the arm as she whispered, “Bloody hell, even when I was in Beijing University I wasn’t that OP…”

“That’s why she’s the goddess of creation, and she can create worlds even without an education. Meanwhile, you graduated from university four times just for the free canteen food.”

Hao Ren could not stand hearing their banter any longer and coughed loudly to hide his awkwardness. “Ahem ahem! Please trust in the ability of the Basilica of the World Tree, Duke Owen. We are, after all, heritors of knowledge. Of course, before coming up with a treatment plan, I would like to find out how the Ebon Blade transformation ritual is like. Say, can it be shown to outsiders?”

Constance, while wondering what the awkwardness from the group before her was all about, realized that heritors bore scars in both their memories and psyche. Most were awkward anyway, so she did not pursue the matter further. Upon hearing Hao Ren’s question she smiled faintly. “The transformation ritual and the real nature of the Ebon Blades are state secrets, but that is for the normal folks. For heritors like you… knowledge from the previous era is, of course, open to you.”

“That will be the best.” Hao Ren smiled. “So where does the ritual takes place? And what’s the process like?”

“I will bring you there. Seeing is believing, after all,” Constance answered. “But before that, what is your understanding of the Ebon Blades?”

Hao Ren replied based on the information that he had, “I don’t know much about the Ebon Blades, but based on what I’ve gathered, there are only 770,000 of them, and this number has never increased or decreased throughout the many wars. The secret of the Ebon Blades lies in the chainswords, and the number of chainswords is fixed. Plus, all of the chainswords come from the headquarters of the Ebon Blades or the Sacred Armory close to the imperial capital. But hearing what Duke Owen said earlier… you have a Sacred Armory with you too?”

“…Seems like your knowledge inheritance on the matter is lacking,” Constance said. “Come, I will tell you about the origin of the Ebon Blades once we are there. Duke Owen, you do not have to come, rest well.”

Duke Owen seemed to have some objections to the matter, but since the transformation ritual had been totally ruled out, and Hao Ren, as well as his team, had promised an advanced treatment plan, he did not insist. He stayed in bed in the end.

After they left the room, Constance spoke softly, “If you have a way to heal one’s spirit, please be quick.”

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.

“His character is already starting to change, and his will is degenerating as well,” Constance replied. “Howard is a stubborn bull. If that had been his normal self, he would have insisted on coming along despite my order for him to rest. No one could have stopped him. But he only grumbled a little before he curled up in bed without realizing.”

Lily blinked. “You seem to know him very well.”

“Of course.” Constance smiled. “His swordsmanship, fighting skills, and historical knowledge were all imparted by me. Do not be surprised, but I have raised many with my own hands. Besides Howard Owen, a count in the south called Naaem is also one of my favorite students.”

“Uh…” Hao Ren’s mouth was agape but words failed him. He knew that Princess Constance and the Dragon Soul Emperor were immortals, but he never thought that the princess and the Duke of the North were actually master and student… It was not obvious at all!

Yet, come to think of it, when a long-lived race mingled with a short-lived one, such situations would be part of the course.

After he realized that fact, he noticed something else. “Wait a minute, does that mean… Duke Owen isn’t a heritor?”

The memories of a heritor came from the deepest recesses of his or her soul. It was something that was passed on across countless eras. Even short-lived heritors would die many times within an era, then be reborn because their spirits were eternal. Therefore, neither did a heritor need to learn to obtain knowledge nor learn to know history.

As Princess Constance was Duke Owen’s teacher, did that mean Duke Owen was just a normal layperson?

“Correct, he is not a heritor,” Constance admitted it just like that. “Everyone I have taught is not a heritor, and everything they know about the turn of the eras and the knowledge of ancient techniques has all been taught by me.”

“Is it because the heritors only number in the few?” Vivian frowned.

“That is one of the reasons.” Constance nodded. “Another reason is… the eternal spirit of the heritors is diminishing, and it is very critical in this era. Some of the heritors were totally ‘cleansed’ and turned into normal beings during the last apocalypse. Not a single speck of ancient memory is within them. If I am not wrong, Charlemagne and Awenna are prime examples of that. So I had to think of a way to ‘create’ new heritors. I do not know how to do it, and I do not know how the first heritors were born, but I do know that the first heritors held ancient knowledge. They were the last people to survive the battlefield of the Turn…”

“So you raised a large group of normal people and told them everything about the Turn of the Eras. They then studied it as if they were brainwashed with the final goal being their survival in that final battle, hoping that they’ll become the new heritors?”

Lily muttered a single word, “Renewal.”

“I do not know if this will work or not, but I had to try something.” Constance’s tone was plain. “There are not many spirits left from ancient times, and memories are diminishing. So if we are to forget who we really are… then we need to leave a few groups of people to remember our history, no?”