Chapter 1682: Losing Something Important
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren and Rheia arrived at the upper level of the Basilica of Yggdrasil. It was located deep within the canopy and its vast area was akin to a circular plaza. Ten kilometers of thick branches and layers of ma.s.sive leaves turned the area into an enclosed zone, but it was not dark and dreary in there, rather the light from Yggdrasil itself lit the entire cavity up. It was like day. Around the circular plaza, a few hundred wavy white pillars grew out of the tree trunk, holding up and parting the thick branches. They converged at the top to form a dome structure.
Glowing strands draped down from the elegant pillars, and at the end of every strand were tiny light orbs flying around. They were sprites who lived within Yggdrasil, responsible for maintaining the ma.s.sive and complex automated system. They also ensured that every change in the universe was monitored.
In order to maximize the efficiency of Yggdrasil’s system, Hao Ren had linked the CARS’ data chain to it. As such, the circular plaza was like an extension of CARS, and Asurmen could project his consciousness over and use Yggdrasil’s processing capability to greatly increase his ability to listen. It was through the use of this system that he detected the unusual activity within the Dark Abyss when it first occurred.
A star-cloud image of Asurmen appeared at the center of the plaza as his soothing voice rang in Hao Ren’s ears. “I have noticed a total of three waves of energy fluctuations; each no more than three seconds apart. The first and second waves are much weaker, but the third one is so powerful that I don’t need the help of the gain antennas to detect it. The Mad Lord has been wounded by the explosion for sure, and that will give the prison wardens some breathing room.”
“The first and second fluctuations are probably the G.o.ddess of annihilation trying to suppress her divine powers from going out of control, but how can she suppress them… It really is a miracle that she has managed to hold it in until now.” As the resident master of explosions, Hao Ren gave his professional a.s.sessment, “And the explosion… Even if she survives, she’d be half dead.”
Rheia had a different line of thought, however. “We have sent them extremely good news. The guardians there will now know they are not forgotten, and someone outside is trying to fight against the Mad Lord.”
Hao Ren nodded as he looked at Asurmen again. “Anything else?”
“There’s even better news.” While Asurmen mentioned “good news”, his tone was impa.s.sive as ever. “The data transmission relay, which the droid swarm had near the Dark Abyss, has been activated successfully. Its effects are beyond my expectation, and I have started to receive clearer cosmic murmurs. Also, for a short time, I heard a conversation between the sentries. While I have yet to establish contact, we can be sure that the sentry system in the cage is still working, and the ancient defense line has not fallen.”
Hao Ren breathed a huge sigh of relief, and their progress had him pumped up. The relay was indeed useful! Now that there was a way to bridge the information cut-off between the Dark Abyss and the world outside without compromising the seal, if they could make contact with the sentries in there… the situation would vastly improve!
“Very well, your job is very important, keep it up,” Hao Ren said in a glad tone. “I’ll get the droid swarms to quickly set up more relays and supporting infrastructures. Perhaps we can make contact with your brethren very soon.”
After the briefing of what was going on within the Dark Abyss, Hao Ren disconnected the call with Asurmen, and the projection slowly faded away. He then turned to the G.o.ddess of creation. “How’s the construction of the stable gateway to the Umbral Realm going?”
“It is almost done, but it needs some tweaking. It still needs a heck load of energy for teleportation, and there is the problem with the navigation markers going out of place,” Rheia said as she gently touched one of the crystal prisms beside her. “Based on your suggestion, I have opened the gateway here…”
As she spoke, a light hum rang across the entire plaza.
Following that, the hundreds of curving white stone pillars entered a charging state and expanded across like delicate vines as a hundred-meter-wide circle opened above the semi-hemispheric dome. A glittering screen then covered the hole with energy pulsing within it.
It was clearly a teleportation gate, one connecting directly to the Umbral Realm.
The Umbral Realm was the most special part of the Plane of Dreams. In fact, it did not belong to the Plane of Dreams proper, rather, it was an independent, almost parasitic “world” that was “glued” onto the World Barrier of the Plane of Dreams. This meant that there was an issue connecting the two places with a localized hypers.p.a.ce gateway. However, it was no longer a problem after they obtained that mysterious “marker”. Using Yggdrasil’s powerful computation abilities and energies, they could open a stable gateway into the Umbral Realm even without Nolan’s help, and the one before Hao Ren’s eyes today, was a result of that.
It was something that Hao Ren had asked Rheia to help with, and he had not interfered ever since. He never thought that in just a mere two days, Rheia would already construct a gateway that was good enough to use, but then again, it was normal. The marker into the Umbral Realm was computed by Rheia herself. Now with her academic capabilities inherited from her mother, and after going through Yggdrasil’s guidebook for two days, she had pretty much grasped what she needed as well. The next thing to do was simply to tie the marker and Yggdrasil together. For the intelligent G.o.ddess of creation… that was nothing difficult.
“Once the gateway is fully stable, we can commence our investigation of L’Haronne.” Hao Ren went through his plans, “I’ve gone back to talk to my boss, and both of us think that the Umbral Realm has many mysteries behind it, and L’Haronne is probably the center of it all. We even think that the Mad Lord isn’t only unique to the Plane of Dreams, and the Umbral Realm may very well be his first victim…”
There was little need to hide this information so Hao Ren told the G.o.ddess of creation everything, and the latter’s eye began to widen by the second. After she heard Hao Ren’s hypothesis on the “type of being” the Mad Lord was, she finally could not help but ask, “You mean, the Mad Lord moves from one universe to another the same way a virus spreads?!”
“Whether he spreads or not is still uncertain, but the Umbral Realm proves that he has the ability to search for new prey after he destroys a world.” Hao Ren nodded. “And frankly, that pushes the danger level up a few notches.”
“Eek… that sent a chill down my spine,” Rheia said as she hugged her arms. It seemed like even the G.o.ds could have gooseb.u.mps (perhaps this was a real setting?). “He’s so dangerous… We need to get rid of him as soon as possible, and as thoroughly as possible…”
Hao Ren then remembered something else. “Oh right, I was looking for you to discuss another thing too—the Creation’s Engine.”
“The Creation’s Engine? What about it?” Rheia furrowed her brows. “Ran into some trouble with the research?”
“It’s the Gilded Discs within the engine.” Hao Ren shrugged. “We know that the discs are the key to the engine’s operations, but frankly speaking, we only found a small part of it, and the other nine pieces are missing. While we have excluded the plan to blow up the place with the Creation’s Engine, the discs, as divine computation cores are still vital. So, I wanted to ask where you hid the remaining discs?”
Upon hearing that, Rheia wore a surprised look. “What do you mean the remaining discs? Weren’t they all there within the engine core that I gave you? The one we retrieved from the Gate of Solenne…”
“You’re saying the discs are in there?” Hao Ren was even more surprised. “You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. Back then, the core area of the Creation’s Engine was the fastest to be completed, so I went ahead and fixed the frame as well as discs on it. Actually, I also planned to place the last remaining discs. Only if the war had started a few months later, I would have completed it. But plans don’t survive the first contact… but all in all, all those nine discs were personally put in by me…” As Rheia spoke, she noticed the change in Hao Ren’s expression, and she started to slow down. “Wait up, could it be…”
“Yes.” Hao Ren felt a stinging pain behind his teeth. “The discs are gone… The socket within the engine’s core is empty.”
Rheia’s eyes widened as she tensed up. “I am very sure that I remember it correctly. I had, in fact, put them in at that time!”
“Then there’s only one explanation; someone stole them…” Hao Ren put on a bitter smile.
“Someone…” Rheia blinked. “Who could have done it? After my kingdom got blown up, the engine alongside the Gate of Solenne was sent into the Umbral Realm, and the discs have always been… G.o.dd.a.m.nit!”
She seemed to have realized something, and her face darkened.
It appeared that Hao Ren was thinking of the same thing too. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Looks like our thoughts have aligned. If there’s anyone besides you who knows the secret of the Creation’s Engine, it’s the G.o.ddess of annihilation whom we just blew up…”
Rheia grabbed a strand of silver hair before her chest in irritation. “But how could she! She sank into the dream with me, and even if the Gate of Solenne was just next to us, how could she in her slumber…”
Hao Ren looked at the G.o.ddess before he reminded her, “You too were asleep then, but didn’t you recreate L’Haronne in your dream?”
Rheia fell silent.
Hao Ren then sighed again. “Even a sleeping G.o.d can do plenty of things, and that G.o.ddess of annihilation… while she’s just a contaminant, she still has the authority and powers of a real G.o.d. Seems like our troubles have just increased.”
The prime suspect capable of taking the nine Gilded Discs was none other than the G.o.ddess of annihilation. Seeing that she had put a lot of effort into taking them away, she was surely not going to use them as toys. Thus, what could she be using them for?
“The nine discs… comprise about three-fourths of the entire core system, and even with three pieces missing, the nine discs can still be used as an auxiliary system to complete most computing tasks,” Rheia said, her tone sounding dead serious. “The discs were the most complicated and time-consuming parts of the Creation’s Engine; even if the other parts were sub-standard, they could still ensure that the engine ran…”
“What do you think she plans to do with them?”
Rheia took a deep breath as she pointed at herself.