The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 176
- Read Webnovels Online
- All Webnovels
- The Record of Unusual Creatures
- Chapter 176 - 180
Chapter 176: Dogs Have Gotten All the Good Names
He lost his bearings upon hearing about the required qualifications for a wizard. He had never thought of such a bizarre thing aside from the need to bluff about who he was in The Plane of Dreams. He now realised the stories in movies, TV and novels were not meant to be taken seriously. In the real world you need an ID to get around, he thought.
It was his inexperience. Every veteran would have known it: without an ID, you could not even move around in Warring States period, let alone in the another world…
Becky noticed the change of expression on Hao Ren’s face. She glanced at him suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you don’t have the ID with you. Or, you lot aren’t real wanderering wzards…”
“We’re not escapees!” Nangong Wuyue had vast experience as a wanderer. She had stayed near customs checkpoints as well as police stations several times (even if she wanted to get a passport she would not have been able to because of her racial identity). She knew what to say when she sensed Becky’s suspicion. “Our circumstance is a little special. But, what I can tell you is that we’re not bad guys—have you ever seen bad guys that are so happy go lucky?” said Nangong Wuyue as she pulled Lily in front. The werewolf maiden’s eyes were darting around spiritedly. She was clueless on what the others were talking about. As she was pulled ahead by Nangong Wuyue, she was a little stunned and asked, “What’s going on?”
Lily’s genuine expression of innocence was convincing. She was forever destined to not be an antagonist, thanks to her temperament. She was the kind of sunshine girl that always implied innocence and wrongful prosecution; in her positive worldview, the biggest crimes she had ever committed were evading fares and nipping small dried fish from Rollie…
However, Becky was looking at Y’zaks. “Please don’t get mad if I say this big brother—”
Y’zaks quickly tidied his shirt and smiled kindly. “Actually I’m a good—”
“Please, please don’t smile!” Becky jumped back a step. “You look more like a good person when you’re not smiling.”
Hao Ren wondered how the loose-tongued Becky had survived till this day—she would have been beaten to death before elementary year three under normal circumstances.
“It shoud be okay to register as a wandering wizard.” Becky’s glance switched between the music box and all of them as she was on the horns of a dilemma. “The mercenary population is a big melting pot. If you study it closely, you might even be able to find some prison escapees from other countries among them. After all, it’s the deadliest job. Qualification shouldn’t take priority. As for being a wandering wizard…no matter how strong you are, you can only register a basic team, and you aren’t going to get jobs from the elites—we’re talking about the loss of a great deal of money here.”
Hao Ren was completely careless about the restrictions while Lily curiously asked, “What are wandering wizards?”
“Those who were expelled from the Wizard Association and the country for various reasons. These expelled wizards won’t be getting any membership or support from all associations. They can only wander around looking for their own sorcery ingredients. Some have unortodox inheritance and banned skills, which cannot be registered, some are exiles, which resulted from accidents; all-in-all, they’re considered volatile elements no matter where they are. Of course, mercenary associations don’t care about all of this as long as they’re capable and reputable.”
After a brief discussion, they agreed to register under “wandering wizard”. At least, that way, they would have a legal identity as a mercenary, which without, would prove difficult for them to move around in this world. What’s more, Hao Ren thought, if during the registration process they were requested to perform a fire ball skill or something to prove that they were real wizards, Y’zaks would come in handy for the task.
As a town adjoining the steppe, Lamberg had a mercenary organisation. Becky led these muddleheads to a long and narrow building, Northwest of the town. This was the office of the mercenaries.
The mercenaries in this world were a loosely-organised community. They had no common creed or a recognised management system. The so-called mercenary associations were unlike what Hao Ren had imagined in terms of having binding power. They were more like a bridge between the mercenary and authority. For that matter, the associations were semi-governmental, archives offices, which were primarily responsible for mercenary registration and act as mission platforms. The military, one of the shareholders of the association in each country, had a mandatory deterrent effect on the mercenaries but, no direct control over them—after all, there was no way to exert any meaningful control.
So, one thing was obvious: each country’s mercenary association was independent from the others.
Due to their interfacial role with authority and military of the various countries, the mercenaries could not form into an international organisation—there was no concept of internationalisation in this world after all. The registered mercenaries only had semi-nationality. They were unlike anything depicted in many stories, where they could roam freely. They were restricted by where they were registered. Of course, that did not mean that these mercenaries were confined to one place; it was common for these fight-for-money mercenaries to travel worldwide, carrying out their missions with some local restrictions.
All the messy regulations were meaningless to this group of five. All they wanted to do was go to the Beinz Blood Lake and at the same time, obtain legal identity for convenience.
The mercenary registration counter looked more like a bar with a few staff standing behind a long row of tables. Because this place was just an outpost, most service windows were concentrated at the bar. As the mercenary registration window and mission-handover window were close to each other, Hao Ren could clearly see the actions at the mission-handover counter while Becky was busily registering the rookies: a girl with a pimply face reported back with a cat she found on behalf of the town mayor; a burly guy reported back with a severed head, which he claimed to be of the leader of a new freedom army; a slender maiden reported back with good news of the successful suppression of conflict in the south; while a middle-aged man said he was from Red Cherry Restaurant, delivering lunch…
What a life a mercenary had.
The registration was easier than expected. With some hints and help from Becky, even the thrash fabricated by Lily passed the process—the counter staff just confirmed her name and occupation, and ignored the rest. Hao Ren curiously asked, “Won’t you suspect if the information’s fake?”
The staff was a chubby female. She glanced and rolled her eyes at Hao Ren. “How can you say that? Even if the details are fake, let it be as long as it matches what the employer pays for. We even have a big guy, a Tier Three mercenary, registered himself as Julia, and he looked just like this big dude beside you.”
As her voice trailed off, a burly guy nearby with black hair stood up and pounded the table. “My f**king name’s Julian! If you make fun of me again I’m going to smash your counter.”
Hao Ren was dumbstruck.
What a life a mercenary had.
After all personal details were completed, the chubby girl asked Hao Ren, “What type of registration is this? ‘Team’ or ‘Individual’?”
Before Hao Ren could reply, Becky shouted, “‘Team’, ‘Team’! I’m the special advisor!”
“I thought you’re a lone wolf? What a surprise to see you mingle with others.” The chubby girl gave Becky a curious glance. Becky replied with a smirk: to say she was bought over by a music box, and she was stealing a ride to the Beinz Blood Lake was too embarrassing.
“Name of the team?” The chubby girl asked as she was filling up yet another form.
Hao Ren excitedly nudged his company. “Hey, let’s quickly think of a cool group name.”
Vivian was the first to suggest. “Bloody Tooth Mercenary Group?”
The chubby girl pointed to a glowing, metal board with a metal pen. Then she said, “Name’s taken.”
Nangong Wuyue thought for moment. “Wave Breaker Mercenary Group?”
“Name’s taken.”
Y’zaks muttered. “Blade of Twilight Mercenary Group?”
He nudged Hao Ren in the arm and explained, “It was the team name of the brave ones. They nearly fought to my doorstep. They left a deep impression on me.”
But, the name was also taken.
Lily frowned as she said, “Snow Wolf Mercenary Group?”
“Name’s taken.”
“Snow Dog Mercenary Group?”
“Name’s taken.”
Lily was flabbergasted. “What? Taken?”
“Snow Wolf, Snow Dog, Snowland Wolf, Snowland Dog, even Sleigh Dog and Sled Dog have all been taken. There are too many new mercenary registrations and the old ones aren’t dead yet so, it’s hard to get a name.”
Hao Ren did not expect such a situation could happen in this foreign world. He banged the counter and said, “Damn it, dogs have gotten all the good names!”
“Aha, this name’s still available.”
Chapter 177: It’s Called Wisdom, You Idiot!
The group sat at the rest area in the Mercenary Association, despondent. They were waiting for Becky to complete the registration process. After a long period of silence, Nangong Wuyue could not stand it anymore. She nudged Hao Ren’s arm and said, “Landlord, I think we still have one last chance to change the name before it’s too late.”
Looking sadly at the documents in his hands, Hao Ren had been mentally struggling these registration forms for the last one hour. He was too exhausted to move a finger at this point. “Do it yourself. I can’t think of more names; you can’t use numbers, special characters, names of politicians in the Kingdom of Holletta, names of Royalty, names of the administrative institutions or names of any geographical locations. Even ‘Oh Sh*t What the F*ck’ is taken. What else can we name our group?”
Vivian held her head. “But, ‘Dogs Have Gotten All The Good Names’? You can’t be serious! It’s so humiliating.”
The Blood Clan maiden, who was always proud of her noble bloodline, was facing one of the greatest blemishes in her life. She was going to be the chief combat wizard of Dogs Have Gotten All The Good Names Mercenary Group. That made her want to dig a hole and bury Hao Ren alive: he was the one who made the f*cking name up.
“But amazingly, the name’s allowed.” Lily was the only one not feeling one bit of mental stress. She was even proud of the name. “I thought uncommon words would be struck out. But hey, we never thought it was possible. In fact, the name’s pretty cool. It means we’ve got a good name. I feel like I’m becoming the president…”
“Bullsh*t! You know you’re a pupper.” Vivian shot Lily a glance. “Those who are uninformed may think that the group was named after you.”
Right. Just as most people had expected, these substitute mercenaries ended up with a name that could only be found in the performing arts. Of course, there was another reason; aside from exhaustion, the provisional nature of the mercenary group was another factor. Besides, Hao Ren had also read from brochures he picked up from the Mercenary Association about other mercenary groups such as Pink Bunny Mercenary, which had successfully slew a dragon, and One Big Prosperous Family Mercenary which had once pursued the devil. All these further reinforced his notion that the most ordinary was the most versatile.
No one knew for sure what the dragon and the devil felt during their final moments. Perhaps they broke down completely when they heard the names of these mercenary groups.
“Sorry for the long wait!” Becky’s voice woke them up from their thoughts. The mercenary ran excitedly towards Hao Ren. “Everything’s done… What’s going on? You lot look gloomy.”
“Oh come on, don’t you feel ‘Dogs Have Gotten All the Good Names!’ isn’t right?” Nangong Wuyue looked at Becky and could not understand how Becky could still be so happy as well as be so insensitive and unapologetic.
“It’s just a name. People use all kinds of names nowadays. You’d be laughed at for your lack of creativity if you name yourself something like ‘Silver Hand’.” Becky waved as she continued. “Now, let’s head over to the task information counter to get some info about the Beinz Blood Lake. Too many accidents happened there. Only mercenary groups are allowed to go.”
It seemed the locals in this world did not really care about names of mercenary groups.
They cheered themselves up before heading over to the task information counter. Hao Ren focused his thoughts on the Beinz Blood Lake and forgot about the godd*mn name for the time being. Standing behind the task information counter was a boring female with eyes of a dead fish. She seemed to dislike talking. She looked impatient when she learned that there was yet another group coming for the Beinz Blood Lake. “Another over-optimistic bunch of fellows… Good luck on coming back in one piece, if you’re coming back at all.”
Hao Ren ignored what she just said. He passed the completed registration documents to her. However, he got a shock when he heard, “A newly registered group? No, no, you’re not going there. No pass for you.”
“Why not?” Becky shouted. “Haven’t there been many temporary mercenary groups going there for the last couple of days?”
“That’s exactly the problem. The top has ordered to halt all expeditions by beginners.” The lady with dead fish eyes spoke in a monotone voice. “Those fake mercenaries, who formed a temporary group and tried their luck, were beaten black and blue halfway to the Blood Lake. It’s for your own good. The Blood Lake’s a dangerous place. Getting across the area is nothing like a walk in the park. Without team work and experience, getting in there’s as good as being dead.”
The lady with dead fish eyes was not particularly polite. Perhaps she was frustrated from repeating the same narrative over and over for the last two days. Hao Ren knew what she said was the truth but, he was not going to give up just like that. “Then how could we—”
“You’re a Tier Five group, individual ranking notwithstanding. You’ve got to move up to Tier Four.”
In short: no professional qualification, no pass!
Hao Ren did not expect to encounter the same form of credentialism in a foreign world. “Reality” was indeed a b*tch. He muttered to Becky, “What are Tier Four and Tier Five mercenaries all about? Mind explaining everything about that to me?”
“There are two categories of gradation: individual and group. Both categories are ranked accordingly from Tier Five to Tier One—Five being the lowest while One, the highest. Above these are people with great contribution, who would be granted with honourable titles conferred by the Royals or the Church. For groups, Tier Five to Tier Four is quite easy with a requirement of only 20 missions; Tier Four to Tier Three has a higher requirement; Tier Three to Tier Two requires mission evaluations as well as vocational skills re-evaluation and a political review by governmental organisations; Tier Two to Tier One requires a test on three common foreign languages, a military strategy written examination, written test on the dogma of knighthood, as well as personal cultivation and conduct interview. All in all, apart from combat ability, you need to be top notch in looks and thinking in order to be the best of the best. Individual tests are similar with some subtle differences. I’ve passed the political review but not the tests on dogma of knighthood, and personal cultivation and conduct. So, I’m stuck at Tier Two.”
Hao Ren’s expression became stiff as he quietly thought to himself: reality’s really a b*tch, even mercenaries here require the same kind of professional examinations! Come on, it’s a foreign world, can you just tell me where and how many to kill? Even public service examinations are easier than this!
“What would happen if one goes to the Blood Lake without a pass?” Hao Ren was not inflexible. He was asking this, trying to get around things.
“You better not. Other places may be alright but not the Beinz Blood Lake—it’s a sacred land. Although it’s not yet a restricted zone, the situation is unpredictable. There are many knights from the Church as well as the Kingdom there.” Becky glanced at Hao Ren. “You’ll get yourself into trouble without a pass, especially when if they think you’re a pagan looking for trouble.”
“Twenty missions… After completing 20 mission, we’ll be rookies no more, right?” asked Hao Ren. The fish-eyed lady behind the counter replied with a resounding yes.
“What about mission issuance? What’s the process?”
“You get it done here. For simple jobs, you submit your job description and reward upfront. The lowest reward amount is one Denar, no upper limit though. For job rewards of more than 10 Denars, the association will take one-tenth as commission. Reward amounts less than 10 Denars will be paid in full to the mercenary, no fees. Of course, don’t expect there to be a taker if the pay’s too low. You’ve got to be sensible. Do you want to issue any job?”
Hao Ren turned to Becky. “Do you have one Denar?”
“One? Of course…” Becky was puzzled but, she still took out a coin and gave it to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren slammed the metal coin on the counter. “I hereby issue a job to find someone. One Denar reward. Mission target: Nangong Wuyue.”
Everyone was dumbstruck.
The staff with dead fish eyes did not know what just happened. She immediately filled up a form. Then, Hao Ren shoved Nangong Wuyue in front of the counter and said, “Dogs Have Gotten All the Good Names Mercenary accepted the job. Here’s the subject we’ve found.”
Ten minutes later, at the entrance of the Mercenary Association…
Squatting on the steps, Hao Ren and his four “bodyguards” stared at the pedestrians on the main street with a wonderful expression on their faces. Becky was in a state of half dementia for most of the day before she uttered, “…I guess they’re going to issue a new regulation by tomorrow.”
Hao Ren turned his head around and looked at the entrance of the Mercenary Association, which was shut. “Do you think they’re going to kill me the next time I go in there?”
“Absolutely.”
Chapter 178: The Blood Lake and the Orb
Regardless of the means, they got the pass and a mercenary tier upgrade, which if done the proper way, would have taken at least one or two months to get. The little-known mercenary group may have had difficulty too in chalking up 20 jobs as the competition was high.
That reminded him about Taobao on Earth: the “professional reviewers” who brushed up Taobao’s ratings would have gotten the job done in a much faster and more efficient manner. Look, the mercenaries in the foreign world only had five tiers; most websites on Earth had a minimum of nine-stars and 18 diamond rating before they would even dare claim they were in the rankings.
The main reason his trick worked was due to the careless attitude of the association. It was the rule of man that dominated even in this foreign world. In fact, the difference between Tier Five and Tier Four mercenaries was not significant. Any Tom, Dick and Harry could have chalked up 20 jobs easily by doing lost pet recovery jobs. There were many mercenaries who did not really know how to fight. Their roles were more like that of the community police. So, the 20-job requirement was just a ritual to differentiate a rookie from the rest. The association would not have cared even if people cheated their way through. What’s more, it was lunch time and the lady at the registration counter was hungry. She did not want to waste time with Hao Ren so, she let him through.
They each carried their badge—a small and rectangular metal plate, like a staff pass, with an embedded crystal chip for storing data—and walked on the streets. Armed with complete information about Beinz Blood Lake incidents, and what Becky had mentioned, Hao Ren’s knowledge of the mysterious Blood Lake was pretty comprehensive.
Beinz Blood Lake was situated in the middle of a barren land in the west of the Kingdom of Holletta. On a map, the territory of the Kingdom of Holletta looked like a horizontal, irregular trapezoid. Beinz Blood Lake formed part of the shorter western border. Beyond the border were scattered tribes of mountain people and werewolves. The Kingdom of Holletta had a long history. It was well passed its expansion and impetuous stages. The ruler of the kingdom was focusing on domestic developments and cosying up with his neighbours. The kingdom was having good relations particularly with a few tribes in the west; so, the border around the Blood Lake remained peaceful, which was a good thing to the countries on both sides of the lake. But, the vast expanse of the lake’s surrounding area was a dangerous place, which was full of hot-tempered, mutated monsters. If a war were to break out, both warring sides would have tried to drive these monsters to the enemy’s side by way of mysticism. It would have been a total disaster.
The wasteland around the Beinz Blood Lake was a natural barrier as well as a ticking time bomb. No one wanted to disturb it.
The lake was about 120km long and 40km wide. There were some scattering swamps on both North and South of the lake. These swamps were like broken pieces dropped off from a ruby, extending dozens of kilometres outwards. That made the overall size of the Blood Lake extremely wide. The most recognisable feature of the lake was the blood-like colour of its water. The water, including those of the smaller satellite lakes, remained red all year round. Interestingly, the Little Chaldan River in the south, which was just a stone’s throw away from the main Beinz Blood Lake was crystal clear. The contrast was astounding and that earned the lake its name.
Just like the story Becky told Hao Ren, about the legend of the goddess’ banishment of the world, the Blood Lake was in some way a sacred place thought to be related to the goddess. The established story entailed that the Blood Lake was created by the goddess when she smashed a glass of wine down onto this world (it was more of a pit according to Hao Ren’s understanding). The red wine flowed out of the broken glass polluted the water, signifying the wrath of the goddess towards the people. In that sense, the bloody water of the lake signified the sins of the people; as long as there was sin in the world, the lake would remain blood-red.
There were other legends too. For example, it was the first drop of blood from the goddess or the first bloody tear the goddess shed when she saw sin on the land. However, these two theories were not popular because they failed to explain what caused the destruction of the ancient civilisation. The largest sect called the Disciples of Glory believed the goddess of creation to be the highest god. They subscribed to the first legend to explain the blood-lake phenomenon, and reminded the people that it was the arrogance of their ancestors that caused the destruction.
No matter what the legend, the barren land around the Blood Lake had to have something to do with the blood-red colour of the water. No natural vegetation could survive around the Blood Lake, only magic-like plants of various strange shapes grew. These plants had some magical uses; some of them were large, their leaves dark in colour. They normally had high medicinal properties or precious magical ingredients. The Church deemed these properties blessings from the goddess. But, when there is wealth, there is risk. The environment where the strange looking vegetation grew was also a cradle of a large number of weird creatures, unseen to the outside world. Most of these creatures were strong, ferocious, highly territorial and magically gifted— the herbivorous rabbit was one of them. People took the risk, looking for ingredients around the Blood Lake but, not many were brave enough to trespass into the area alone for fear of the rabbit…err, monster.
However, Hao Ren was careless. He did not give a hoot about whether the world-banishing goddess had anything to do with him. The one goddess he knew was a care-free, big lass who had never blinked an eye even if humans wanted to be God. What he cared most was the incident regarding the missing Orb of the Holy Synod.
The Disciples of Glory rooted themselves in the Kingdom of Holletta, and began almost at the same time as the kingdom itself. Before the sect spread all over the world, it was the state religion of the Kingdom of Holletta. The Orb of the Holy Synod was obtained together by the first pope and first king of the Kingdom of Holletta, from a sacred place. The orb was said to signify the last sign faith the goddess had in their world thus, it was the common piece of treasure between the Kingdom and the Church. According to the Church, the goddess used the orb to keep tabs on the world’s post-destruction affairs, and to detect any hint of the return of sin. For that matter, the Church and the royals would hold an annual ritual called Tour of the Goddess; the orb was guarded under heavy security and paraded from the Royal City of Steinne, passing through four sacred sanctuaries as well as four historical remains, and finally arriving at the Beinz Blood Lake, where the world-destructing fire was first thought to burn. People in this world believed that the ritual was a way to show their repentance.
The orb would stop at the Beinz Blood Lake for four days before departing back to the Royal City. Once the journey was completed, the pope would announce that the goddess had learned of the happenings for the past one year, and that she recognised the repentance of the humans there. A celebration would then ensue.
The celebration was the biggest event in the Kingdom of Holletta. The yearly event, which was even grander than the king’s birthday celebration and National Day, was the time when all other countries—including the not so friendly ones, sent in their greetings and tributes simply because the Disciples of Glory was recognised as a religion in that world. Although the Tour of the Orb was held within the Kingdom of Holletta, it was a global event.
But this time, the orb was missing.
According to regulations, the orb would be placed in an old church on an island in the middle of the Beinz Blood Lake during its four-day stay. Knights from the Church as well as the Kingdom would guard the place, forming an almost watertight security blanket. Bloch was responsible for the last leg of escorting the orb; he was brave, a devout holy warrior canonised by the church, and an indisputably capable as well as morally upright person. Despite all that, the orb went missing on the first night.
According to the guarding knights, they heard a muffled roar coming from the bottom of the Blood Lake. The roar lasted for more than 10 minutes and it caused a tremble at the camp site. Immediately following the roar, there was a strange glow in the water surrounding the small island. The glow flickered like a fire. An earthquake was reported on the island yet, not on the mainland. During the investigation, Bloch said a large amount of bubbles rose from beneath the lake, and he smelled burnt sulphur. The phenomena subsided after a flash of strong light swept across the entire sky. With the permission of the accompanying pope, the nervous knights pushed open the entrance of the Church and found everything inside was gone.
The benches, the tables, a layer of wall covering, part of the church ceiling, four monks, who were fasting inside the church during the entire four-day stop, plus the orb were all missing.
Hao Ren found the incident looking very similar to the opening of a large warp space—that gleam of light was a telltale.
Chapter 179: Split Up
As news of the missing orb broke out, the Holletta Royals and the Church trembled. They immediately launched a search campaign and investigations on those connected to the escort of the orb, including all knights and clergies. There were existing outposts of the church knights and the royal knights around Beinz Blood Lake. The area had been totally locked down and individual mercenaries were barred from entering. Only authorised mercenary groups and knights participating in the search operation were given an exception. It was one of the few incidents where the state required large scale mercenary service.
The stories of the goddess and ancient civilisation had aroused Vivian’s interest. As an old vampire who had lived through humans’ entire history, her hobby was to study the history of others. She posed a lot of questions, asking Becky about the ancient civilisation, so much so that the mercenary started to suspect Vivian was abnormal. Mostly because, she had spent half a day asking her the same, basic common knowledge questions. Fortunately, Becky was a typical mercenary, who cared about nothing except money and her own interests. As long as things were not detrimental to her, she would stay on the sidelines. For the same reason, if Y’zaks shapeshifted into a huge flame by any chance, and his flowing lava destroyed a city, she would not have done anything. There was no incentive to intervene…
The group had decided to head to Beinz Blood Lake. Becky tagged along; she was going to try her luck in finding the orb and claiming the rewards of a manor as well as the title of nobility. The opportunity was too attractive for her to decline. Furthermore, if she failed to find the orb, she could still pluck some precious ingredients around the Blood Lake. She figured that since there was a lockdown around the Beinz Blood Lake, and all resources were being put into the orb’s search operation, there was bound to be a shortage of magic ingredients in the market. Hao Ren needed Becky as his guide while Becky needed a group so that she could tag along to the Blood Lake—a group of rookie mercenaries was all she wanted. She was a lone wolf; she would not have been able to get along with a veteran group. Also, no veteran group would want an outsider joining its party especially during such a time. So, Hao Ren’s group and Becky were a match made in heaven.
Becky was not worried about their ability to reach Beinz. The fact that these five people were able to come all the way from the Northern Empire to Holletta empty-handed was quite telling.
As they reached a junction leading to the town, Becky waved at them and said, “Let’s split up here. I’m going home alone to prep the gear for our journey. Don’t you lot need preparation too? We’ll depart today. Any problems?”
“We’re fine. We’re free after all,” said Hao Ren as he smiled. “Of course, if you have private matters to attend to, we’ll wait till tomorrow.”
Becky thought for a moment. “I’m fine. Let’s depart today. You lot can wait for me at the town’s main entrance in the afternoon. Then, we’ll set off across the steppe towards the west. We should reach a village belonging to the mountain people. I know the village head. We can stay for the night and then head West along the mountain range on the edge of the steppe. That’s the shortest route.”
Becky kept talking about their itinerary, and she made all the arrangements, totally disregarding the fact that Hao Ren had no idea about the places she was speaking of. She then turned around and headed home.
“A true doer,” Hao Ren mumbled as he looked at Becky from behind.
Lily ran around Hao Ren. “Landlord, let’s go have some fun. Since we’re here, I’m going to buy some local specialties…”
“Then, you’ll just need money.” Nangong Wuyue clapped her two hands together. “Ahh, speaking of which, where do we get the money? We don’t even know where to have our breakfast!”
Abandoning their thoughts of a foreign world exploration, Hao Ren and Vivian realised the immediate problem they were facing: they did not have any money! Additionally, they did not know where to get it…
“Forget the hanky panky. We’ll see when we meet Becky again. Maybe we’ll borrow some from her. I’ll repay her with some gadgets next time,” said Hao Ren as he glanced at their surroundings. “There’s still some time before noon. Let’s split up here and look around the town to get more information about this world. But, keep your heads down. Vivian, pay attention to anything related to Letta runes while the others, you can do anything you like. Lily, please stick with me.”
Hao Ren began to look like a team leader during the briefing. Lily was the only one who curiously asked, “Why should I follow you?”
“Sounds like you’re not that willing.”
“No, No. I’m happy to stick around you.” Lily bobbed happily in front of Hao Ren again.
Hao Ren spread out his hands, and said, “Good. I need a bodyguard.”
He was not telling the truth. Actually, he needed to keep Lily within his sights. She had been in a state of excitement since the moment they entered The Plane Of Dreams. Judging from her current state of mind, she could wander out of range on her own. One thing every one of them had to remember was, they could stay in The Plane of Dreams so long as they were connected to Hao Ren—the dream WiFi. The MDT had earlier calculated the maximum range they could roam, and it was more or less the size of the town, maybe one size up. If Lily happened to wander out of sight, she would have had an impulse to run all the way into the steppe…
The only regret he had was not bringing along a leash.
Everyone scattered and headed wherever they were supposed to be. Vivian was headed toward the building with a steeple. Hao Ren together with the husky sauntered along a quiet street and found a place to unlid the pot so that Lil Pea could get some fresh air. The little mermaid poked her head out. The unfamiliar open space frightened her: since she was boiled and hatched, Lil Pea had been staying indoors. In her mind, the entire world constituted of four spaces—the living room, the loo, the kitchen and the bedroom. She was stunned like a vegetable staring at the wide, open sky.
The little mermaid was in a daze, looking at the outside world but, she never thought of jumping out of the pot. Hao Ren was a little surprised: the little mermaid was usually hyperactive and full of curiosity but today, she seemed obedient.
“Maybe she’s scared.” Lily squatted on the ground, staring at Lil Pea. She used her finger to poke Lil Pea’s face and said, “Landlord, it’s better if you bring her out more to look at the outside world…”
Hao Ren was indifferent. “Aren’t you afraid she’ll be sent for dissection?”
Lily moved her eyes and then, something came across her mind. “Landlord, I just remembered! When we were coming out from that junction, I think I saw a werewolf!”
Hao Ren was stunned. “Why are you only telling me this now?”
“Because I was too surprised to say anything until now.” Lily’s mouth twitched. “Isn’t the existence of werewolves in this world normal? Raven said that too. All unusual creatures came from The Plane of Dreams.”
Hao Ren felt like slapping her husky head. “The problem is you’ve seen it with your own eyes!”
Hao Ren looked dead serious but, Lily did not notice—she played with Lil Pea and mumbled, “That’s okay. There’s always another time. I heard there are more in the west.”
It had been a while since Lil Pea was exposed in the open. But, Hao Ren noticed that the little mermaid had no intention to venture beyond the pot except for poking her head around. She was instead more interested in the MDT, which was soaked in the pot. The newly hatched fish was probably intimidated by the unfamiliarity of the vast world. Hao Ren put the lid back on and they continued to stroll around the town.
Walking the streets of a foreign world with a full set of strange attire on, a clingy, beautiful maiden and a pot in hand—Hao Ren was probably the only time traveller to have done so.
By noon, everyone was back at the rendezvous point outside the town. Apart from Hao Ren who was walking the dog and his daughter, everyone seemed to have gotten something.
Chapter 180: Y’zaks’ Business Model
After half a day of gathering information, Hao Ren and the gang regrouped on the steppe outside Lamberg.
As there was still an hour to go before the supposed rendevous time, and Becky was no where in sight, the group exchanged whatever information they had managed to obtain thus far…
Vivian had gone up to the highest available point in town, and upon perching on the parapet, she found where the church lay. The Disciples of Glory was a prominent religious body across the three continents, especially in the Kingdom of Holletta where it was founded. Their church was visible in any town that was of a decent size. Posing as a visitor, Vivian took the chance to mingle with the clergy there. Her experience as a poor wanderer, and existing oral skills served her well in gleaning some information off the gaudy clergymen.
“Letta runes are no longer in use here.” Vivian’s first string of information had already shocked Hao Ren. “The people here treat is as a lost ancient language or something like hieroglpyhs… I spoke to some of the priests in church about the runes, and they don’t even have a clue on how to use it. The clergy are usually the most educated lot in a medieval society. If they don’t know how, the commoners won’t either.”
“A lost language?” Hao Ren was genuinely surprised. “Then…what were those runes in the town?”
“Prayer for good luck…” Vivian shrugged nonchalantly. “The writings itself are wrong and the structure’s all over the place. That, I managed to discern. The people this age don’t even know what or how to properly write Letta runes anymore. What they did was simply just trace the symbols from whatever source that remained, either from ruins or ancient tomes. They probably thought the characters brought auspicious meanings, and they’ve been using them since. Something like a protective charm not unlike those you can find in the houses of Chinese villages. Letta runes have pretty much degenerated into this form. I suppose the people on Earth were much, much better at preserving their knowledge. At least, the demon hunters have some knowledge of the runes.”
“Wait a minute… Letta runes… Kingdom of Holletta…” Something dawned upon Wuyue as her expression changed. “Oh, right!! When I was in town, I overheard something by the school. They were talking about the Kingdom of Holletta being a direct line of an ancient civilisation. Could it be that the Letta runes were one of the remnants of that civilisation? It’s even in the kingdom’s name.”
“Possible.” Vivian nodded. “I didn’t have the time to probe for more boring information but, from my meeting with the priests, I can tell that they hold the Kingdom of Holletta’s ‘doctrine’ and ‘ancientness’ with the utmost importance. This kingdom is probably the most ancient of kingdoms in this world. If you think back to the apocalypse a few milleniums back, it’s not beyond reason that the Kingdom of Holletta is a remnant of an ancient civilsation.
“They may have simply inherited something from the lost civilisation, rather than having remnants,” Y’zaks quipped.
“What have you heard?” Hao Ren raised at eyebrow.
“The Kingdom of Holletta has a history of about 3,000 years. That means it was established much more recently than when the apocalypse happened.” Y’zaks laughed. “The founders of the kingdom probably stumbled across something in the ruins and used it as a basis of their rule. Anyway, I’m not going to proclaim if they are indeed a remnant of the past civilisation… Those are just details. I have good news, we don’t have to worry about money for a while now.”
As the great demon grinned, he pulled out a bulky sack and presented it to Hao Ren and the group. In it, a whole load of various, shiny currencies could be seen. Some of it, Hao Ren recognised as the local Denars, some were thin, copper coins, and there was a piece of clearly valuable, gold currency. The sudden appearance of so much shiny metal almost blinded all who were present. Y’zaks laughed again. “I don’t know if I got scammed but, these look like they should last us for a while. That fat merchant was even grimacing when he took out his coin purse…”
Cold sweat appeared almost instantenously across Hao Ren’s forehead as he eyed the giant hulk of a demon suspiciousy. “You didn’t resort to highway robbery, did you?”
With Y’zaks’ “good guy” nature, this was obviously out of the question but, the shock from the giant coin was palpable. Aside from robbery, Hao Ren really could not figure out how a person, who had no idea about the basic functions of this society could possibly make such a huge sum of money in such a short time. Perhaps, deep down, all demons would not say no to easy money.
Displeasure immediately appeared on Y’zaks already scary looking face. “Who do you take me for? As an upstanding person, I’ll never do such a thing. This was from the sale of weapons.”
“Weapons?” Hao Ren’s eyes widened in surprise.
Y’zaks took off his bagpack (Hao Ren was indeed in charge of the luggage but, the practical demon still lugged his own by habit) and pulled out two odd-looking, short swords. “These.”
The group gathered around to have a look at the swords. The swords were short in name and shape only but, their blades were clearly not metal. The pitch black blades were almost obsidian-like, and looked to be crafted entirely out of stone. There were no scorch or folding marks on the blades. A very thin veil of blade mist swirled on the surface of the blades, and Hao Ren felt that he was being compelled to look at the blades. The plain, lightless blades almost had a magical aura to them. The longer you stared at the blades, the faster the mist swirled.
Wuyue picked up one of the blades out of curiousity and felt a surge of energy race through her body. The scared siren quickly tossed the blade back to the ground.
“Could it be…demonic stone?” Hao Ren only realised what the swords were made of after a while.
“Yes, that stone.” Y’zaks nodded. “Ever since I got back from England, I’ve been wondering what to do with it. It was a massive eyesore and a space hogger however, it was still valuable enough. Since I was unemployed and had time on my hands, I started chipping it off to make some stuff. At first, I made two kitchen knives for Vivian but, she said they were too heavy and cumbersome. So, I made two shovels instead, and found out that they weren’t half as good as the ones you can buy off the shelves. After that, I made a couple of short swords like these, thinking that we might have some use for them someday. While I’m not the best smith around, I still know my way in making demonic weaponry. The blades may look brittle but they are harder than normal steel. They’ve undergone some treatment. I’ve seen the weapons of humans in this world, no normal blacksmith here can come up with anything close to them.”
“F*ck! You sold someone a demonic sword?” Hao Ren gasped in horror.
“Of course not.” Y’zaks simply just waved him off. “I have already removed the demonic energy from the rocks. These are no more than glorified swords with enchantments. I simply went up to one of the weapons shops in town, said I found a blade that I can’t use in the ruins, and wanted to sell it. And well…the rest is history.”
Hao Ren eyed Y’zaks suspiciously. “You seem awfully familiar with this.”
The great demon smirked. “There was a time back then where a group of adventurers would come to my turf to wreak havoc. I had this old castle there and they seemed to love hauling out whatever broken metal and stuff they could find to sell. At times, if there was a whole lot of them, I could even give the groundsmen a couple of days off. Well…that’s how I learnt about human adventurers making a fortune.”
“…”
There was an awkward silence.
Now, Hao Ren was even more curious about what Y’zaks did back then at home. Aside from being the messenger of righteousness to his kind, he was a raid boss, whom people would grind for loot and reputation?
That said, the ingenuity of the great demon had solved their monetary woes for the time being. As for the way the monetary system worked here…they would find out sooner or later. By then, Lily had begun to pull on Hao Ren’s sleeves. “Mr. Landlord… Lets get something to eat.”
With that, Hao Ren realised that he indeed felt a little hungry. Perplexed, he rose the question, “Wait…why do we need to eat over here?”
“What nonsense.” The MDT, who was playing nanny to the little mermaid back home suddenly rang in his ear. “Since when did you not need to eat?”
“I thought we were in the Dream Plane no?” Hao Ren was still confused. “Our bodies are lying in the pods back home. So, why the need to eat at all?”
“Who told you that your entity in The Plane of Dreams is a purely spiritual being? Your body there is as real as the one on Earth. When you enter The Plane of Dreams, an exact copy of you is being made over there and you will need to eat and sleep as usual. And of course, anything that happens to you in the plane will affect you directly. Just that your metabolism rate is much lower, and you’ll only need a meal a day to sustain yourself. Lily was acting up because she was being Lily, hungry as always.”
Hao Ren was stunned. He found the line between The Plane of Dreams and reality was almost blurred.