Because of the strong vitality of the guardian, Heve had slightly recovered her strength after resting for some time. She stood up with the help of Lemendusa and carried out a series of complex operations beside the stone platform of about thirty meters in diameter. The stone platform looked nothing special. It was just a huge work surface, made of obsidian material. There was a ring of obscure patterns and green crystals around the stone platform, and a tall crystal pillar of several meters high beside the stone platform. Heve knocked on the top of the crystal pillar briskly and made a series of clear and melodious sounds, and then the stone platform suddenly trembled.
Lemendusa came to the other side of the stone platform and tapped on another crystal pillar, releasing a string of complicated musical notes. When the second instruction was entered, all the patterns on the surface of the stone platform were lit at the same time, followed by the sound of come mechanical movement. The stone platform slowly sank down and opened in all directions. A series of extremely complex and sophisticated locking devices were exposed, as well as several layers of glowing red protective light films. This kind of setup made them feel that there must be some kind of extremely important treasure keeping in it.
Layers of security devices were lifted automatically, and then a huge glittering Gilded Disc emerged from the treasury.
Hao Ren and Lily were attracted by the Gilded Disc instantly. It was something totally different from the surrounding. It was about ten meters in diameter and was round in shape, showing a curved surface slightly. In the center of the disc, there was a hole in the size of a human head, and the hole was surrounded by a number of intricate patterns and symbols. The edge of the disc was inlaid with crystals that seemed to be arranged according to some rule. When it rose from the treasury, these pale green crystals were almost glimmering at the same time that seemed to be sensing the surroundings.
For a moment, all of Hao Ren"s attention was drawn to the disc. He felt as if his brain had been completely immersed in the brilliance of the golden disc uncontrollably. He seemed to have seen all the truth of the universe since its birth and the future of the universe after a certain point in time. Some sort of grand message was conveyed to his mind through the Gilded Disc. After a moment, however, these illusions vanished.
"It"s a divine creation." The voice of the data terminal awakened Hao Ren from the trance state. "And it"s a highly correlated one. You"ll be affected by it if looking directly at this thing. The more divinity one has, the greater the impact. You must have been hallucinating, because you"re a demiG.o.d, enough to read part of G.o.d"s thoughts."
Hao Ren put his hand on his chest and muttered in surprise while calming his pounding heart, "A demiG.o.d? How can I be so powerful?"
The data terminal slapped him on the head and yelled, "Why is your mind always on the wrong track?"
Hao Ren dragged the data terminal aside, looked up at the Gilded Disc floating in the air and asked, "So this is the Creation"s Engine you"re talking about?"
"Just a part," Lemendusa corrected, "a very small part. I have seen a half-a.s.sembled Creation"s Engine. It was… something as big as a whole planet, and its structure was so complex that it"s difficult to understand. It contained the truth of the universe, and just looking straight at it was enough to make mortals crazy. But it was only 3/4 completed. Mother said it would take her at least 1000 years to finish building that thing. The Gilded Disc in front of you is supposed to be placed near the core of the Creation"s Engine, and I have seen several discs similar to it in the middle of the engine."
"My intuition is warning me... I"m afraid it"s a powerful thing…" Hao Ren muttered. "The G.o.ddess never said what the Engine of Creation was for? Not even mentioned once?" he asked.
"We will not ask what the mother does not tell us. The truth of the universe is a powerful and dangerous existence. Sometimes just "listening" to it can lead to unintended consequences. So the mother only told us the necessary things. She built the Creation"s Engine and did not let us involve in it, then she must have her reason. The only time she mentioned the Creation"s Engine was when that thing was half a.s.sembled. She said... It"s a device that can regain the balance. It will change the orbit of the entire universe," answered Muru.
"Regain the balance…" Y"zaks rubbed his chin and pondered, creating some sparks under his chin. "If the G.o.ddess wants to regain the balance, it means something has broken the balance. What happened before the G.o.ddess built the Creation"s Engine?"
The three guardians looked at each other, did not know what Y"zaks meant. They just shook their heads together and said, "No."
Lemendusa asked, somewhat doubtfully, "Why do you care so much about the Creation"s Engine? This should have nothing to do with you."
"You don"t know much about the nature of my work," Hao Ren said and shook his head with a smile. "Anything that has a lot of background stories was basically related my job. The war of killing G.o.ds occurred at the critical moment when the Creation"s Engine was almost completed, and those rebels seemed to know the existence of these sacred things... Were their actions related to this? They just want to be G.o.d, but will they also want to take over the Engine of Creation? Does this engine have a greater role? How much does it appeal to the rebels? I want to know all of this. "
In other words, Hao Ren was interested in anything related to the G.o.ddess of Creation. Even if the G.o.ddess sneezed before she "fell", he wanted to measure the wind speed as well—not to mention the Creation"s Engine that the G.o.ddess had spent thousands of years to a.s.semble but failed to complete before the war. But there was too little information about the Creation"s Engine, even the closest guardians of the G.o.ddess had little idea of the principles and functions of this thing. Hao Ren could only guess blindly.
Lily was circling around the Gilded Disc. The glittering thing totally aroused the husky girl"s curiosity. She stopped circling around the Gilded Disc and sniffed it but the cold disc made her sneeze loudly.
Hao Ren rolled his eyes and asked, "What do you think?"
He thought that, even though Lily was quite unreliable, sometimes she could make some deep judgments. And Lily did have something to say. She pointed to the disc with her nose and began to express her opinion, "Whoo hoo, Awwwwoo…"
Hao Ren kicked Lily"s paw and then pulled her clothes out of his dimensional pocket and threw it at her. "All right, you might as well go and find a place to transform back. Who can understand what you"re saying?"
Lily took her clothes and trotted off the hall, and a moment later she turned into a human and ran back. "I mean, let"s not talk about the disc. We can take it back to the station and study it. The priority now is to find the clues of the Umbral Realm."
Hao Ren agreed. He pointed to the Gilded Disc and asked Lemendusa, "Can I take it back?"
The expression of Lemendusa and Heve suddenly turned complicated because they instinctively felt that something was wrong. The Gilded Disc was the holy thing created by the G.o.ddess of Creation, and the reason they stayed on the planet was to keep it from falling into someone else"s hands. When they entered the hall, Heve was putting her hand on a crystal beside the stone platform. The crystal was the self-destruct device of the entire temple. If Lemendusa failed to destroy the rebels, Heve would reverse the energy well of the temple and turn the whole city into molten lava. They risked their lives to protect this holy object, but they were not ready to give it to anyone.
He certainly knew that 10000 years had pa.s.sed and the world had changed. He also knew that it would be meaningless to continue guarding this temple. However, knowing it was one thing and whether it could be accepted was another.
In the end, Muru talked to Lemendusa. The temple guard sighed heavily and said, "Well, you can take it. After all, it"s useless here. But I have a condition."
Hao Ren nodded and said, "Okay."
"I must know what you are going to do with this disc," Lemendusa said and looked at Hao Ren with glowing eyes, "I have to protect it all the time before I fully understand your background."
Hao Ren laughed and said, "Of course, no problem. In fact, even if you don"t say anything, I"ll have to take you away. Tannagost is short of manpower. "
Then he waved to the Gilded Disc in the air, and the holy object was in his dimensional pocket.
"Now let"s talk about the Umbral Realm."