The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 125

Chapter 125: A Primitive Planet

 

Boundless space; a blue and green planet floated alone in the endless darkness. A light blue spaceship, which suddenly appeared on the planet’s orbit broke the silent scene.

The spacecraft emerged from a space bubble and the curvature engine’s safety component began to stabilize the turbulence caused by superluminal velocity. The radiator grid of the spaceship emitted a glowing, white light. It looked like it needed some time to cool down before it could sail again. Three of them were sleeping in their rooms. At that moment, a broadcast announcement woke them up.

“So, this is our destination?” Hao Ren asked as he rubbed his sleepy eyes and walked out of the room. He saw the MDT floating in the living room and producing a holographic image. The image showed them a blue and green Earth-like planet. “…The biosphere there is so developed?!”

“Very much Earth-like, with complex life forms and carbon-based ecosystems which have evolved to the stage of mammalian exuberance. Intelligent species groups have not yet emerged. Temperature, atmospheric structure, gravity are suitable for short-term human survival but, the atmospheric oxygen content is higher than the earth’s, thus containing micro-toxicity. A long-term stay there will cause many physiological diseases.” The MDT was relaying the contents of the planetary bulletin downloaded from the ship’s mainframe. “Of course, it’s not a big problem for the three of you. With your current physique, you guys can ignore these effects.”

Hao Ren came forward to keep the MDT. At the same time, he heard a crew member’s voice coming from the direction of the cabin door. “Sir, we’ve arrived.”

Hao Ren opened the door and realized it was the same dark,lean young man, who led them the way before. He was still wearing a slightly restrained smile on his face. “The captain was supposed to personally take the three of you onto the landing,but, he’s in the brig, copying the traffic law. So, I’ll take you to the surface of the planet.”

Hao Ren remained silent.

Such a huge ship could not have, of course, descend directly onto the surface of the planet. Even if it could land, it would have taken too much energy to get back up. Therefore, the three of them had to switch to a small landing craft in order to land. The landing craft, which looked like a triangular plate, needed only one person to pilot. It was ideal for transporting a small number of passengers or small cargo between the planet and the mother ship. The three of them counted their carry-on baggage and followed the young crew member aboard the ‘little plane’. The moment the small craft detached from the mother ship’s garage, Hao Ren finally fulfilled his dream of experiencing the sense of weightlessness. The small craft was not equipped with an artificial gravity device. Once it left the comfortable environment of the mother ship, the occupants inside felt the real sense of being in space.

“Our technology is still primitive. There is no way to install the artificial gravity generator on this little plane,” the young man said with a smile. “It is said that the demoted military fighters and small transport aircraft of retired Imperial servants, were armed with miniature gravity generators. Our captain is trying to get some back but it’s not easy.”

“What are you guys going to do with that stuff?” The MDT floated in the cramped cabin of the landing craft and asked the question without a second thought. “After the demolition of the weapons, they will only be ordinary shuttles which can only accommodate a few people and they don’t even have a hold. Other than the fast speed and stronger shield, there’s nothing else useful. Yet, the price is damn expensive. Other than looking fashionable and trendy, the small gravity generators are useless. The value of price over performance is almost zero.”

“Oh, it is the style value.” The young man shrugged and continued, “Our captain believes that it doesn’t matter whether it’s useful or not. Just buy it. You see, this ship doesn’t even have a passenger license, but still, he’s prepared 20 sightseeing shuttles.”

Hao Ren found it odd and said, “… That uncle is quite interesting.”

The shuttle flew for a while in a weightless environment and began to approach the dense atmosphere of the planet. After a thrilling deceleration, it finally landed smoothly on the point indicated by the MDT: a rocky plateau next to the shoreline.

“So, you guys are leaving now, right?” Hao Ren carried a small suitcase and stepped on the ground of the alien planet for the first time in his life. A thought occurred to him before he could breathe in some fresh air. “How can I get back?”

“I don’t know about that.” The young cabin crew member stood on the shuttle ramp and said, “The order we received was to send you here. The return should be arranged by the Empire.” He shrugged and continued, “We are just a private company and the agent’s activity is a secret that we are not prying into.”

After saying this, the crew member walked back into the shuttle. Then, the shuttle silently lifted up into the sky in front of Hao Ren. It turned into a streamer and rapidly disappeared into the horizon.

“I have a bad feeling…” Hao Ren felt cold sweat began to seep slowly from his neck. “Do you think that the crazy woman actually won’t arrange a return trip for us…? Will she forget about it?”

Crack!

The moment he finished his sentence, a loud bang reverberated from the sky. Hao Ren was frightened by the clear sound of thunder and almost fell to the ground. “The heck, this goddess’ punishments are everywhere and never late!”

“Tsk…” When the MDT saw that the thunder just gave Hao Ren a fright and did not really strike him, he answered Hao Ren in a slightly disappointed tone. “Send a message to Chief Raven after the task is complete. She will arrange the next trip.”

“Oh.” Hao Ren was finally relieved and leisurely observed his surroundings.

The three of them were at the seaside. There was an ocean on Hao Ren”s right-hand side. The waves were rolling endlessly. The sound of rushing waves lapped the primeval coastline. There was the setting sun at the end of the sea’s horizon. The stars there were smaller than those seen on Earth but, their brightness seemed to be more intense, which formed a distinctive yet beautiful evening view. On Hao Ren’s left-hand side, there was a gravel beach with a width of up to one kilometer. The ground was littered with brown, coarse gravel. Some kind of fibrous matter that looked like dried plants could be seen between the rubble.

At the end of the gravel beach was a lush primeval jungle. They could hear the faint roar of wild beasts coming from the depths of the jungle.

Nangong Wuyue looked curiously at the scene before her. The slightly cool sea breeze blowing on her face seemed to make her feel relaxed. The siren girl narrowed her eyes, enjoyed it for a while and said, “Can’t believe this is how the alien planet looks like… I thought it would look like the scene in movies where it was just barren soil and a lot of craters.”

“Most of the planets look just like that but, honestly, that’s all meaningless.” The MDT projected a hologram and showed them an expanding 3D scan image. “The universe is so vast. The number of universes are so many that you can find almost any kind of wonder you can think of or never even expect. When I was in the production line, I dreamed to be a starship host, follow the glorious general of the Empire to the battlefield and fight in various wonderful planets. Heck, I only found out that I was a PDA when the serial number was issued… Sigh, let’s not recall the sad past. You guys should set up a camp.”

Hao Ren was busy admiring the primeval scenery of the planet while waiting for the MDT to tell him the tenant’s coordinates. When he heard it, he paused and asked, “Camp? Aren’t we going to look for the tenant first?”

“Nonsense, can’t you see the sun is almost gone!” The MDT turned off the holographic projection and slipped into Hao Ren’s pocket. “The container we’re looking for seems to be out of order. It’s no longer emitting location signals. I have to slowly expand the scanning range. I can only detect its location tomorrow morning. Before that, you guys better find a place to spend the night. I have to remind you that this primitive planet may be a little dangerous. It may not be a big threat to you but, it is not fun to get chased after by primitive creatures the entire night.”

The MDT irresponsibly left them behind. Hao Ren and his two ‘assistants’ looked at each other, then asked, “Anyone know how to set up camp… No, we don’t even have a tent!”

“I can just soak in the sea.” Nangong Wuyue waved without a care. However, she turned back after just walking two steps. “Forget it. I don’t know if the fish on this planet are more powerful than the fish on Earth. As a siren, it would be a disgrace to be eaten by alien fish.”

Y’zaks looked around the terrain and said, “Actually, it’s nothing difficult. You two, step back. I’ll smash a pit and lay a circle of demon flames around it. Ordinary animals would surely not dare to come near…”

Hao Ren stopped him in a hurry and said, “Don’t. Just use those flames to make a bonfire. That’ll do. There’s really no need to smash a big hole in this beautiful scenery just to shield us from the sea breeze, especially with a meteorite…”

Chapter 126: Into the Dream, Right Here.

 

The trio found shade under a huge rock where they could camp for the night.

There was a water source just behind the rock. The rock was greyish brown in color and it stood on the rock-filled beach like a small hill. A recess in the rock formed by natural erosion was a perfect shade. It kept them from the frigid night wind. Plus, as the recess faced the jungle, they had an easy view of the situation in the jungle, even though there was actually nothing they had to worry about the jungle. Y’zaks created a fire wall using his demonic runes along the outside perimeter. The strange-looking, evil, green fire would scare off most predators.

As they finally settled in, Hao Ren realized how thoughtful the vampire maiden was. As he opened his luggage, he found PVC fabric and a blanket in every suitcase as if the vampire knew they were going to sleep out in the open. He felt so touched yet so sad: the vampire maiden probably went through an unimaginable hardship in her life which made her as considerate as she was.

Because of the frigid night wind on the planet, Y’zaks made a bonfire nearby. The three of them sat there and began filling up their stomachs as they recalled their amazing journey that day. Hao Ren was the first to speak his mind—he felt like he was an outcast.

“Honestly, I feel like I’ve been shortchanged.” His face looked sad like he was heart-broken. “Shouldn’t people who serve the goddess be entitled to some kind of privileges that come with the job? You know what, aside from traveling expenses, Raven 12345 has given me nothing. Everything else is on me. If not for Y’zaks, I would have had to learn bow drill fire starting…”

Y’zaks smiled guilelessly. “So, you mean I’m a walking lighter?”

“Stop pretending,” the MDT mumbled as it laid on Hao Ren’s lap, playing a movie. “You’ve got pretty good benefits. Look, I’m already moonlighting as your personal TV. Aren’t you satisfied? By the way, can’t you have better taste? A low-budget thriller? C’mon, this is a holographic display… Ahh, that chubby guy, he’s the villain.”

A PDA with its own sense of aesthetics, a PDA that wants a say in which movie to play and leaks spoilers —it even tagged the masterminds from the beginning to the end. It was anti-human and anti-climactic.

“How interesting is it to watch TV together with your TV?” Nangong Wuyue looked on with amusement while Hao Ren and the MDT bickered. She had lots of fun ever since she met Hao Ren. The best part of it all was, she could go on an interstellar travel. And she had made up her mind that she was going to stay at Hao Ren’s house.

“What are you doing?” Hao Ren’s curiosity was aroused when he saw Nangong Wuyue facing the fire light with something in her hand.

“It’s a kind of a conch but, it doesn’t look like this on Earth. It has valves on its shell, many of them.” Nangong Wuyue waved the white, cone-shaped object in her hand. “Let’s see if I can turn it into a musical instrument.”

In just a brief moment, Nangong Wuyue turned the conch, which she picked up from god-knows-where into a horn. She put it to her mouth and started to blow air into it. It sounded like an awful whistle. She kept fine-tuning it and it finally gave out a sweet sound.

Hao Ren was in awe of her musical sense and ability. He felt that his understanding of the siren needed some updates. He shoved the MDT back into his pocket and lay on his back to enjoy the amazingly soothing music of the siren.

As the night went on, the sound of splashing waves on the shore was the only thing filling the air—it was hypnotizing. The roar and howl of foreign animals during the day had gone completely. There were only sounds of fluttering leaves as they swung in the night wind, and the singing of strange insects occasionally. Amid all these, the unknown yet captivating music played by Nangong Wuyue became even clearer and distinguished. Hao Ren felt everything else had subsided into the background. He was immersed in the enchanting music of the siren, every sense of his body drowned in its mesmerizing lure.

The world had come to a stop. Everything seemed so eternal. Nothing existed except the sound of the conch filling the air.

A sudden sense of weightlessness jolted Hao Ren awake.

He opened his eyes. The conch music was gone. The only thing left was the screaming wind in his ears. The sense of weightlessness coupled with the wind’s howling suddenly struck him: he was falling, fast!

“Holy moly!” Hao Ren was horrified to see the steppe beneath him was closing up toward him quickly―he was falling mid air. All he could utter was, “What’s happening…”

Then, he hit the ground. No-one could have survived falling from that height and at that speed. But, he did. Not a single scratch on his body except the illusion of his skeleton falling apart. He was proud of himself. He lay face down, playing possum on the grassland for a while with a cheesy grin on his face. Spitting out the straw in his mouth, he scanned his surroundings wondering, “Am I in… The Plane of Dreams again?”

Before his eyes was the all familiar steppe where the soft and wild grass was so different from that of the earth. He rolled himself over and stood up, staring blankly into the distance.

He was certain he was in the steppe of The Plane of Dreams. It was morning. It was the first time he saw daylight in The Plane of Dreams.

“Looks like you’ve entered The Plane of Dreams by accident,” the MDT spoke. The familiar voice made Hao Ren less nervous: although this little partner was a pain in a** most of the time, it was now his only company in an alien place.”

“How is this possible?” Hao Ren gazed around in disbelief. “Doesn’t it take a special kind of self-suggestion and spiritual guidance to come here?”

“The flute. The music of the siren.” The MDT hovered in front of him. “Although I know little about the siren species, the music the little girl played created a spiritual resonance and you were then pulled over to the other side. I guess she didn’t do it on purpose. She was still playing enthusiastically not noticing at all that you had fallen asleep.”

Hao Ren did not care whether Nangong Wuyue did it on purpose or not. He was only interested to know one thing. “Why did I fall from the sky?”

“Do you still remember how you left The Plane of Dreams the last time?”

Hao Ren tried to recall. “Okay, I remember. I was blown and carried by a typhoon into the air.”

“That’s it. You were still in the air when you got out last time. So, when you re-entered you emerged from the same spot where you got out the last time.” The MDT shook its body and said, “Hmmm, that’s good. We’ve again figured out yet another law of The Plane of Dreams.”

“Good, my foot!” Hao Ren wished he could smash the big mouthed device into pieces. But right after he said so, he heard the brisk pounding of hooves behind him.

“Look, it’s really a human!”

A young voice was heard from the distance. He quickly shoved the MDT back into his pocket. As he looked over his shoulder, he saw a very young girl riding a ‘horse’. She was staring at him curiously.

It was a human. A human who lived in The Plane of Dreams!

Hao Ren was overwhelmed with his excitement at meeting the first native of The Plane of Dreams. He did not exactly see how the girl looked like. Dear psycho woman, this was the second surprise he received following his first encounter with the wolf pack.

Chapter 127: A Companion in The Plane of Dreams

 

Hao Ren finally ran into a living, breathing human in the The Plane of Dreams that he almost gave out a joyous yelp. The elation was so obvious on his face that the girl on the horse not far from him raised an eyebrow. “I guess he’s really done his head in with that fall..”

“Uh, no, no, no. It’s just that I’ve never seen any humans in these barren plains before so, I got a little bit excited…” Hao Ren waved things off as he quickly recovered. He also took the chance to have a look at the first human he met in The Plane of Dreams.

She looked about 20 years old, perhaps even younger. She donned a brown waistcoat on top of her white shirt and a skirt-pants of sorts for easy movement. She had a long sword hanging from her waist. She was fair with bright eyes; her skin, a light hue of brown. She had a rather energetic air about her made more so by her tidy hair, which flowed down to her back. The ‘horse’ that she was riding on the other hand, was a weird one. While it looked the part of the four legged animal, its legs were much bigger than your usual horse breeds. There were bone-like appendages protruding out from the front legs of the creature, forming a plate on the upper torso and neck region. Its tail was a big, bushy one and there was no mane along its neck. Basically, the basic structure looked like that of a horse but, it clearly was not one. Perhaps, an animal unique to The Plane of Dreams.

“What are you staring at?” The girl frowned again. “Have you really done your head in with the fall?”

It suddenly dawned upon him that staring at a girl he just met was rather rude. He laughed dryly and waved his hands again. “It’s not that. I got lost in the plains here and it’s a rather pleasant surprise to see someone here.”

“Oh…” The girl nodded as she took a measure of Hao Ren. “Weird clothing,no luggage to boot and lost in a grass plain… It’s quite obvious that you’re broke as hell. Not even worth robbing… What a drag. I’ll be going now.”

Hao Ren was stunned when he heard the word ‘robbing’ and did not know how to respond. When he realized that the girl was leaving, he ran up to the front of her in a panic. “Wait! Can… you take me along with you?”

“Bloody thick-skinned.” The MDT rang out in his head and was promptly ignored by Hao Ren.

“Take you along?” she raised another eyebrow. “Why should I? I don’t even know you and you look really suspicious all right.”

Hao Ren was again stunned at how quickly things went south. This was not according to your usual novel script at all. Hao Ren imagined that by now he would have gained the trust of the lady knight and go on an adventure together. Things were clearly not in his favor.

“Look, I’m lost.” Hao Ren spread his hand out wide. “Can you actually see me getting out of this place alive? Wolves run wild here. Do you really have the heart to leave me here to die?”

“…Not that I mind…” The girl frowned again as she was in thought. “Well then, Lamberg is rather close by. I can bring you along. But, I need to know who you are and where you come from. And most importantly, whether you have money or not. I’m a mercenary after all and charity is not my calling.”

The barrage of questions once again left Hao Ren in a quandary, cursing his luck that the maiden in front of him was not the type who could easily be persuaded with words alone. He also rued the fact that he did not ask the leader of the wolf pack about human society in The Plane of Dreams when he was here last time. Without any background knowledge of the locals, he could not even make up a story about his identity.

“So… who do you think I am?” Hao Ren said, after much thought. “You saw me falling from the sky right? I suppose, not many people can do that.”

He really hoped that the girl would take the bait this time around and follow along his plans. A person falling from the sky is the only idea he could think off that would work.

“Oh yeah, you did fall from the sky.” She nodded. “Right.. and you are not carrying any luggage. With your current outfit, you are sure not to come to the plains by yourself…. Are you one of those crazy mages? Your teleportation spell failed?”

“It happens to be just that.” Hao Ren nodded. He finally could see some light at the end of the tunnel. But, his glee was short lived. The girl had an excited look on her face. “Then… can you cast a big fireball spell? I’m learning about magic myself!”

What the flying f*ck! You were supposed to be a warrior, not a bloody spellsword!

Real life humans were clearly much more unpredictable than your usual novel characters. This one who did not seem rather bright was already giving Hao Ren all sorts of trouble. He just waved his hands, “I can’t… Haven’t recovered from the fall earlier. Believe it if you want to or just leave it. Worse come to worse, I can make my way to the town.”

“Heh, you magicians sure have an over-inflated ego.” The mercenary girl laughed out loud. “Fine, I’ll take you along. Most mages are rich bastards anyway. Travel from here to Lamberg takes about half a day… That’ll cost you 200 Denars. I’ll let you ride my horse with me. How about that?”

The hell is a Denar? Hao Ren had not even seen how the local currency looked like. But, the girl was clearly so money-minded that there was no two ways about it. He gritted his teeth and put his hand in his pocket. As he ruffled through it, he put on a regretful expression. “You see… I went out in a hurry and I don’t have any money at hand… Can you just overlook it just this once? It’s impossible for me to teleport back to get my coin pouch….”

The girl just stared at him without a word. Her eyes fixated on what was in Hao Ren’s pocket. She knew that while magicians were usually a screw or two loose in the head, they were pretty well off. From your normal potions to your elixirs of eternal youth, such items would have easily earned them a king’s ransom. At the very least, much, much richer than your average mercenary. And there was one standing in front of her, a civilian mage that was rather chatty. She liked this sort of people; rich and exploitable, since most of their brain power had dried up from all the studying.

“Can I use this as collateral?” Hao Ren finally gave up and pulled the MDT out from his pocket, intending to use the shiny metallic device as a bargaining tool. “It’s something I made during my free time.”

“You’re really pulling me out for this?!” The MDT roared in Hao Ren’s head. “I should have known when your hand came into the pocket.”

“What’s that?” The girl’s eyes widened at the strange, metallic object. “An alchemy tool? An alloy? Some magic lamp? What’s it for?”

“It’s a very special type of toy I made. ” Hao Ren said as he shook the MDT violently. In his mind, he gave a very stern order to the latter. “Quickly, show her something that will make her think you’re worth the amount of money needed to bring us half-way across the plain!”

“Just you wait. I’ll upload your picture to those gay dating sites!” The MDT retorted vehemently. It then reluctantly floated in the air and played a recording of Wuyue’s singing.

“Wahhhh, a music box?” The girl was surprised. “And it can fly…. Music boxes are pretty common but, why did you make a flying one?”

“…Consider me too bored for my own good.” Hao Ren was too exhausted to explain.

“Right, consider it a deal. This seems rather valuable. A music box itself would have sufficed but, a flying one, wow…” The girl pointed towards the back of her mount. “Get on and don’t touch where you shouldn’t. I’ll put my blade through you if you do. Once we are at Lamberg, this is mine.”

Hao Ren was sweating. He could not tell if all the locals were such brutes or he just had the misfortune of running into one.” He clumsily climbed onto the back of the horse and stayed still. In his head, he was verbally sparring with the MDT. “Can you stop acting like you are Dou E?

“You f*cking sold me you twat! Even with my previous specs, I’m still worth at least a top-end interstellar spacecraft! And you sold me for a horse ride with a girl!”

“Stop bullsh*tting, you can fly back can’t you?”

“…. Oh yeah…”

“I just thought of something that could make me filthy rich. We could…”

“Oh, I dare you to say it out. I dare you! I have access to about 200 gay dating sites. I’ll plaster your face on every one of them if that’s the last thing I do!

Chapter 128: The Funny Wolf Pack

 

Along the journey, Hao Ren found out that the young girl, who seemed to be wandering alone in the world, was called Becky. She was a freelance mercenary in her own words.

A freelance mercenary was a military occupation that required individuals to travel the length and breadth of the country. It was quite a common group of people in this world. They had their own organization but, were loosely structured so they were hardly considered as ‘armed groups’. They were active in the society and undertook all work according to their ability. Although Becky did not reveal too much to a stranger, Hao Ren speculated that the group dabbled in everything from murder to finding an old lady’s cat, depending on what the employer paid them for.

This sounded like an incredible profession. Hao Ren spent a long time trying to figure it out using human logic yet, he still could not understand how this group of people could appear openly. He also could not understand why the authorities would allow the existence of such a group. However, Becky was standing alive in front of him. He could only accept it as a fact. Perhaps the world had a special social structure which allowed the existence of free mercenaries. Anyway, this group of strong people was really active around the world.

“Although I look young, I’m a second-class mercenary. I’ve started working since I was 14 years old to make a living.” Becky was kind of casual. She was probably very confident of her strength and her occupation made her a talkative as well as broad-minded girl. She started to talk even more after confirming that Hao Ren was not a threat to her. “I’m familiar with 80% of the places in Holletta. I’ve also been to the Empire and I’ve ridden across the prairie alone. Do you believe it? Ha! I came to the prairie just for a small task. Didn’t expect to meet quite an interesting guy… What’s your name again? Hao Ren? This name is weird to me. It doesn’t sound like the names of people in Holletta.”

Hao Ren would break out in cold sweat every 15 minutes during the two hour journey with Becky. He just realized that he was indeed an honest man. He was bad at lying face to face when he was within a two-meter radius of the person (it was easier to lie on the phone or without seeing the person). Every time he talked to Becky, he was afraid that he would expose himself and be stabbed by the lady. He could not be stabbed to death. He would not be able to easily meet a free tour guide the next time or she could be gone. It was certainly not going to be so easy to deceive a local for some information again. Therefore, he was trying to listen more and not speak a word. He was disguised as an academic research talent who stayed at home all the time. This way, even if he said something wrong, he could still use bad communication as an excuse to fool the lady. It is a truth that the less you speak, the less mistakes you make.

“My name belongs to the minorities…Haha.” Hao Ren said with a hollow smile as he tried to remember the bits of information leaked in the conversation with Becky. Now, he knew about the place he was heading to. Lamberg was a small border town in the southern part of the prairie, which belonged to the Holletta Kingdom. It was also Becky’s hometown. He also knew that there was a new empire on the northern side of the prairie called the Hognar Empire and Becky knew little about it. Due to the long distance between the two countries, they were unable to attack each other. Hence, the two countries were remotely winking at each other, trying to present themselves as peace-loving countries on the international stage. However, they also beat down all the small countries around them so, the credibility of their winks was not very high.

These were all information leaked by Becky during their chat. Hao Ren was very curious as to why this girl was so talkative. It was like there was nothing in the world that she did not know. Later, Hao Ren thought about it and realized that Lily was even easier to get along with compared to Becky. That time when he and Lily took a bus to her new home, they chatted about things from local food prices to the American Civil War along the way. The husky was obviously more skillful in small talk…

“What are you, anyway?” Becky asked while she tilted her head slightly. “I have seen a lot of wizards. Even the most common wizards wear a robe to look graceful despite the hot weather. You look more like a commoner tourist. Are the wizards in your country all dressed up like this?”

Hao Ren thought that he was really here for traveling. He blamed his brain fade for promising to accept the task from the lady boss with an even bigger brain fade. He had to travel to a primitive planet which was 800 light-years away; had to stand the sea breeze for half a night and then fall into The Plane of Dreams from a height of 10 stories. This was indeed a journey that would cost him his life. However, he just smiled and said, “It’s my personal hobby. You won’t know the place where I come from even if I tell you. I actually come from the Empire.”

Becky just mentioned that she did not know much about the country across the prairie so, it made sense to relate himself to the Empire. And the statement, “come from the Empire” was literally not nonsense. The Xi Ling Empire was indeed an empire…

“Wow, you teleported from the Empire to the prairie?” Becky almost fell off the horse. “How many crystals did you smash on the teleportation array? I don’t think you are a nobleman. You dissipate all of your fortunes just to experience landing on the prairie with your face?”

Hao Ren, “… I don’t know. I fell and hurt my head. Now, I’m confused. Don’t ask too much, please…”

“Look, I said you broke your brain but you don’t believe me,” Becky said and shook her head. “I’ll take you to the border anyway. And then you have to figure out the way back on your own. Tsk, I’m a little worried about how you’re going to go back. You have to cross the prairie to reach the Empire of Hognar. You only have one flying music box which can be sold for some money and it’s mine now.”

Hao Ren could not help but feel a little sorry for her. The music box was just to cheat her. However, seeing her looking forward to it; it made him feel a twinge of regret in advance.

Just as Hao Ren speculated about how long much longer it would take to see the border town, Becky suddenly pulled the reins and stopped the horse. Then, she got Hao Ren dismounted and said, “Wait, something happened there.”

Before Hao Ren could understand what was going on, he had already been pulled down by the strong girl, who pressed his neck against the leeward side of the hill. He moved his head vigorously and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The wolves… are fighting for territory.” Becky lowered her voice and used some kind of gestures to get her horse to step aside sensibly. “Let’s see, maybe there’s a bargain… Ah, would you be a burden to me?”

Hao Ren stretched his neck, popped his head in and took a look. Indeed, he saw two packs of black wolves fighting at a concave ground in the distance. They were the kind of mighty beasts which could only exist in The Plane of Dreams.

If this situation was placed before ordinary people, anyone would have probably tried to hide far away. However, when Becky saw that two wolf packs were fighting, she actually stopped excitedly, ready to ‘take advantage of it’?!

Hao Ren did not know how strong the humans in this world could be. However, he had met the funny alpha wolf on the prairie once. He could roughly understand the combat hierarchy of humans and wolves. He knew that ordinary people were just food in front of these wolves. So, if Becky was in her right mind, then it meant one thing: This is a bizarre world where the gap of strength between an average man and a fighting professional was huge.

The setting was getting weirder.

“One… Two… Three… A lot of… And lots of them.” Becky counted the number of enemies and said, “Well, we’ll ambush them when they’re almost done. That should settle them. They will fight to the death when fighting for territory. Hey, I’ll make a big fortune this time. The bony plates on their bodies are precious. Eh, you won’t be a drag, right?”

Hao Ren really wanted to hit his head with the grass nest. This lady seemed to always to be a little paranoid and she was also the kind of person who kept talking to herself without listening to the others’ explanation. She still insisted that Hao Ren broke his head when he fell down. However, Hao Ren did not have time to explain to her anyway because he was suddenly attracted by the two packs of black wolves in the battle.

The two groups of black wolves were not completely engaged in a melee fight. Only those in the front line were fighting. A large number of wolves lingered on the rim of the alcove, not entering the battlefield. And among those wandering wolves, there was a black wolf whose waist bone plate was broken. A few black wolves were grinning and exposing their broken teeth. There was one large head wolf that looked exceptionally familiar.

He met his acquaintance… Oh no, acquaintances! Are they not the funny pack?

Chapter 129: Another Fight

 

Two of the prairie’s black wolf packs were fighting for territory. Hao Ren found one of them to be the group of high IQ, funny wolves that could speak the human language he knew.

Probably because there was also a werehusky that was somewhat related to a wolf, he had a feeling of intimacy with this group of funny, black wolves. He noticed that Becky had already put her hand on the hilt of her sword as if she was ready to rush down to kill them. He hurriedly stopped the girl and said, “Wait a minute, there is someone I know… Err, some wolf.”

Becky frowned, looked at Hao Ren and asked, “Did you fall so badly?”

“I really didn’t freaking break my head!” Hao Ren had been driven mad by this repeating question but, he still managed to calm down and explained, “I have dealt with one of the packs. You can do it later. I’ll go up and say hello, then you wait for my order before taking action.”

Once Hao Ren finished talking, he did not wait for Becky’s response and jumped outside the little mount. Becky could merely say, “Eh” the moment he left and swallowed the second half of the sentence, “Why should I listen to you?”

At this time, Hao Ren had already rushed to the edge of the concave ground as fast as he could and he ran towards the wolf leader he knew. Of course, his high-profile movements did not escape the eyes of the wolves that had highly sensitive senses. The wolf leader and a few black wolves around him turned their heads immediately. Hao Ren heard a black wolf that could not articulate properly, screaming loudly, “B… B… Boss! The steel man is here again!”

Hao Ren almost fell onto the ground. He found the black wolves’ skill of phrasing and wording simply amazing.

“Don’t panic! I’m here to help!” Hao Ren greeted the wolf king from a distance. His thought was very simple. It was fate that led them to know each other. Although there was some misunderstandings in the beginning, the wolves still helped him after the misunderstandings were cleared up (the wolf king himself carried him around). Now they were fighting with another pack of wolves that he did not know and it was not too much to help.

“You are all right?” said the wolf king. The wolf king was very surprised to see Hao Ren. “I went to the place the next day. The hurricane destroyed the small village. I thought you were dead.”

Hao Ren was a little scared thinking of the scary hurricane. He drew his neck back and asked, “I was just about to ask, what happened to the hurricane?”

“I don’t know. Strange things often happen on this prairie. It is said that this place used to be an ancient battlefield and the dead mages are still chanting magic underground, which causes the occasional hurricane and lightning,” said the wolf king said as he shook his big head. “And that night we were almost swept away by the tail of the hurricane. Luckily we realized it early enough. We were really running for our lives. And I ate a mouthful of sand.”

“There’s such a strange thing on this prairie?” Hao Ren was startled. “Didn’t there used to be people settled on this prairie before? Can people survive here?”

“It doesn’t happen every day,” the wolf king bared his teeth and said. “Those who are lucky can stay in a place for hundreds of days and nights without encountering these strange things. Of course, those who are not as lucky would get struck by lightning every few days. And the humans who live on the prairie use their strange tools to predict these strange things. Something called a magic compass… while we rely on instinct.”

“Such a strange place,” Hao Ren said with amazement. He looked up at the wolves that were still fighting. Apparently, the opponents noticed the human. Several of the black wolves were staring at him in a menacing and threatening way. “What did you say… Primitive wolves?”

“Yes, a bunch of idiots who can’t even speak,” the wolf king growled. “And dare to fight with us to rob territory. They don’t even know what the deployment of troops is…”

Hao Ren immediately paused and asked, “… You even know about the deployment of troops? But I don’t see any tactical deployment of troop in your wolf pack.”

“Our boss got a human book two days ago and learned about this noun. And then today, he took us out ‘to protect and defend our home’. The one speaking was a black wolf who could not really articulate words properly. “In fact, this piece of land was taken up by foreign wolves last month and we were quite lazy to take action. However, our leader said he learned a sense of honor from the human book too.”

“You can even read?!” Hao Ren looked at the wolf king with his mouth opened.

“Slightly, slightly.” The wolf king nodded modestly and explained, “When I was a wolf cub, I knew a strange, old man. He taught me to read and play fetch. But then, as I slowly grew up, he found out that I was not a dog and let me go.”

Hao Ren was silent for two seconds and decided to stop chatting about another funny story with the funny wolf. He rolled up his sleeves and jumped from the ramp into the battlefield. “I’ll join the fight first. Let’s chat later!”

The wolf king was stunned, seeing Hao Ren really rushing into the battlefield. He stuck his tongue out and said, “This human is so weird… Is he really here to help us fight?”

The wolf king had seen a lot of humans in his life. Because he was born smart and with the ability to speak, he dealt with a lot of people. However, he had never seen anyone like Hao Ren who could communicate with a wolf like this. When other people talked to the wolves, they were obvious in a way that they were ‘talking to animals’. Even if the animal was smart, it was still just an animal. However, this incredibly hard human was totally different. The way Hao Ren talked to him was perfectly natural and equal as if two men were talking to each other. It also felt like the way the wolf king communicated with his pups.

As a wolf, the wolf king did not have complicated emotions like humans. He just felt that this guy was… quite interesting.

At this time, Hao Ren had rushed into the battlefield. His body was covered with the Steel Membrane Shield, which made him look like the God of War (he felt this way). It reminded him of the last month when he met a few wolves. He was so scared that he had a twisted stomach and could barely stand still. Thinking about his current heroic act, he also felt that he was quite incredible. The wolves around him found it even more unbelievable than him, and most of the wolves had one question: what was this man doing here?

However, the wolves were soon divided into two factions. One faction of the wolves knew Hao Ren. They knew this human was as hard as the ramparts so, they howled and ran away immediately while the other faction were the primitive wolves that did not know Hao Ren. They instinctively pounced on Hao Ren viciously.

Crack!

Bang!

A few unlucky wolves with mouthfuls of broken teeth that stood beside the wolf king heard these familiar loud noises. They could feel the pain in their mouth and every single strand of fur on their bodies stood on end. They turned their heads away in unison to avoid seeing the terrible scene.

Hao Ren jilted his arm and threw off a few unlucky wolves whose mouths were full of blood, more than 10 meters away. He then lifted his legs to kick away one in his sight but then, he heard a painful cry. “We’re on the same team. I’m just watching!”

“… Boss, will you keep these funny wolves away from me?” asked Hao Ren.

The wolf king shouted immediately, “You guys, go and help at the flank! The second squad, seal the battlefield perimeter and don’t let the enemies get away! The reserve teams, go and form a defensive formation!”

After the wolf king gave the command, the wolf pack was immediately in high spirits. “Boss, what’s a ‘flank’?”

“Boss, what’s ‘the second team’?”

“Boss, what’s the defensive formation?”

A very dignified voice came from within the pack, “Don’t ask. Boss has been obsessed with the book again these past two days. Stick to the old rule. Pick the one you don’t like and bite.”

And so the wolves agreed with a unanimous roar!

The fighting situation was cleared immediately. The hapless primal wolves were no match for the smart, super wolves. And now, a man who was harder than the ramparts was rushing in. After they had more than 10 broken teeth, they were defeated by the swarming wolves and scattered into many waves which fled in all directions.The wolf king saw this and shouted urgently, “Stop them! As many as you can! Or they’ll come back sooner or later!”

Hao Ren immediately shouted towards the direction of the distant little mound, “Becky, it’s time to make extra money!”

The moment Hao Ren finished his words, a lightning-like figure leapt out of the mound instantly. Becky drew her sword out of its sheath and rushed to the largest pack of black wolves that were fleeing. Hao Ren’s sharp eye noticed that the girl’s blade was emitting a hot red glow. The edge of the red glow was also entangled with wind pressure!

Becky swept over the battlefield as if her body was covered in a small whirlwind. The sword blade flew out of her body when she was spun. It was fierce like a metal storm that lost control. As she spun, nothing could be seen except for dirt, which covered the sky and the wolves’mutilated limbs.

The talking wolf pack exclaimed, “The steel man also brought a sword man!”

Hao Ren was speechless.

He felt like getting to know these funny wolves was a mistake from the beginning.

Chapter 130: The Legend

 

It was the first time that Hao Ren witnessed Becky making her move. To put it in another way, it was the first time he witnessed the power of a human of this world.

The burning flame and wind pressure on the blade may have been of magical power. The blade storm released by Becky’s whirling motion had obviously exceeded the physical limits of any human being. It was probably a kind of combat skill in The Plane of Dreams. Hao Ren’s jaw dropped to the ground when he saw this. He knew his three tenants had super powers too and the weakest one was a werehusky but, Becky was a human. His interest in The Plane of Dreams became even stronger.

Becky threw everyone off guard with the debut of her powerful move. Under normal circumstances, those escaping black wolves could have survived the assault but the attack was so sudden that those wolves did not stand a chance. They were slashed into pieces. The hurricane lasted for more than 30 seconds before it died down. It left behind a spiral pit of about 10 meters in radius and body pieces. Hao Ren and the alpha wolf immediately rushed to check out the scene. However, they did not expect to see this: Becky was in the pit and throwing up good.

“Are you okay?” Hao Ren asked.

“I’m fine. It’s a normal sequela.” Becky held her breath as she looked up. She waved at Hao Ren. “It’s a one-off move. Vomiting after the spin is just an after effect. I’ll be alright. Hold on a second, I’m at it again—”

“Is she your travel partner?” The black alpha wolf looked scrupulous. “She’s one of the spellswords… very powerful among the humans whom I have always tried to avoid.”

“Yes, a temporary travel partner, sort of.” Hao Ren nodded and appeared to feel awkward. Was Becky really that powerful? He was not so sure. Becky was a total wreck after spinning for just 30 seconds. A little number crunching in his head told him that any three-minute superhuman could whack her six times over. Nevertheless, her 30 seconds were unassailable, like a meat grinder in human form. Hao Ren was tempted to test the waters with his Steel Membrane Shield but he chickened out.

Becky puked her guts out for almost two minutes before she slowly regained her strength. She wiped the puke off her mouth before she staggered out of the pit, looking energetic as if nothing had happened. She stared in amazement at the cautious alpha wolf before she turned to Hao Ren. “Didn’t you say that you’re a magician from Hognar Empire? How did you come to know this alien wolf pack?”

“Are they famous?” Hao Ren asked without much thought.

“Kind of.” Becky shrugged. “According to legend, these speaking wolves are the descendants of experimental creatures from the Ancient Magic Civilization prior to the great disaster. Travelers bump into them in the steppe occasionally. Sometimes, they would interact with humans. So, in a sense they’re well known. The one I saw was a lone wolf. I didn’t expect you to know the whole pack.”

The alpha wolf was not very pleased at hearing its kind becoming a subject of willful discussion. It raised its thin lips and growled. “Don’t talk about us like we’re some kind of low-life!”

Sensing the tension, Hao Ren quickly stepped in between Becky and the alpha wolf, trying to defuse the situation—he knew if things went wrong, the alpha wolf would not stand a chance against Becky. He tried to explained. “I met the wolf pack a few days ago when I was here. I have been trying to teleport back for the last few days but it has not been working—that’s why I fell from the sky.”

The alpha wolf was wide-mouthed. He wanted to point out that Hao Ren was not wearing the same clothes when he first came but, it looked like there was something more than met the eye. He kept quiet. Becky threw a few suspicious stares at Hao Ren, then waved her hand and said, “Whatever. It’s none of my business. You guys carry on catching up on old times. I’m going to collect my prize.”

Becky went ahead to harvest the bone lamellae from the dead wolves which were strewn across the grassland. The bone lamella was a previous ingredient in her medicinal recipe. The alpha wolf pulled the bottom of Hao Ren’s trousers with his mouth and asked in a low voice, “Is she dangerous?”

“Don’t worry. She won’t hurt you.” Hao Ren smiled. “She wanted to go on a killing spree but I stopped her.” He told the alpha wolf everything that had just happened. But something puzzled the alpha wolf: Why was Becky so confident in beating the two wolf packs when she needed a two-minute cool-down break after a 30-second spin?

Maybe the chick had some other tricks up her sleeve.

“May I ask you something?” As Becky was busy collecting her prize, Hao Ren remembered he had a mission to accomplish—find out the truth about The Plane of Dreams. He needed to get as much information as possible before he was out of there again. He asked the alpha wolf, “Becky said you guys are the descendants of the Ancient Magic Civilization. Is that true?”

“That’s what humans say.” Unlike Becky who was incredulous, the alpha wolf pulled no punches and that made him an easy source of intel. “About seven or eight thousand or maybe 10 thousand years ago—I can’t really tell when in terms of human’s time.or convert it into our measurement of time in terms of days and nights. In short, it was a really long, long time ago—there was once a very powerful magic empire. They were omnipotent. Even the moon was under their control. The empire was so much more prosperous then. I had read somewhere that humans, elves, orcs, the Blood Clan, and demon populations were 10 times their current numbers. I think that’s just some bullsh*t though. How could the world sustain such a large population?”

Maybe some photos of the traffic rush during the spring festival could open the eyes of the alpha wolf, Hao Ren thought.

“The Ancient Magic Civilization created you?” How did it end then?” Hao Ren wanted the alpha wolf to keep talking.

The end of civilizations and the emergence of a new one in its place was a routine film theme. Scientists on Earth had speculated the existence of a prehistoric super civilization. So, Hao Ren knew the alpha wolf’s story was more than legendary. And honestly, talking wolves were not really compatible with the theory of evolution.

“We have no history.” The alpha wolf shook his head. “Unlike humans, we don’t delve on the inessential. We don’t know where we come from. But, human scholars believe that the ancient civilization had the ability to create new races. Some even went as far as to theorize that the werewolf was a hybrid of a human and wolf—of course, werewolves were enraged by this theory. I’ve no idea how the ancient civilization ended. Look, I’m just a wolf with a few years of learning to read and write from a weird old man. That’s all I’ve got. I can hardly read. If you have questions, you should ask the spellsword, errr, I mean the female.”

The alpha wolf gave Hao Ren a sincere stare as if to tell him, “Look, I’m not the brightest bulb in the box. Don’t expect too much from me.” Hao Ren was stared down. As he got to his feet, Becky spoke up from behind. “Ancient Magic Civilization? It was said that a goddess wiped it off the world because the people wanted to create artificial life.”

“Are you done?” Hao Ren turned his head around and saw Becky holding a bulky bag, which was filled to the brim. From the shapes of the bulges on the bag, Hao Ren could tell it contained bone lamellae harvested from the bodies of the dead wolves.

“Easy money. It’s my lucky day.” Becky swung the bag back and forth happily. “Normally, it isn’t easy hunting these wolves. These things are fast. Oh, by the way, you sound like you’re into the Ancient Magic Empire thingy. But, why ask, when you’re already a magician yourself?”

“There are different versions of the story. I’m interested to know them all.” Before Becky became more suspicious of him, he made up a story to cover his tracks.

“You guys are funny. What’s so interesting about that?” Becky spoke as she twitched her mouth. “My grandpa told me that the Ancient Magic Empire violated the realm of God because they were making artificial beings. The magic emperor and the elf queen colluded with each other to create some perfect life form. They gave themselves loads of deity titles—God of Arcane, God of Life, God of Creation and bla, bla, bla—you name it, they got it. This of course, enraged the real deity. The goddess threw a glass of wine into the world and the divine wine turned into a sea of fire. The civilization burned for three days and three nights before more than half of the people perished. That was how the Ancient Magic Civilization ended. My grandpa also said that The Beinz Blood Lake in the west and the red spot on the full moon were marks left behind.”

Hao Ren listened with amazement at the magical yet absurd mythical story. Then Becky added, “She was such a magnanimous goddess…”