Chapter 1684: A Historic Meeting
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren had no idea what sort of weapon the goddess of creation would be creating, and he had little interest in the matter. The two blades of cosmic shards were more than enough for him, and seeking a stronger weapon would mean going beyond his own capability. That would have a negative effect on his combat abilities instead. Plus, he was still a proper inspector. If he ran into a problem that his own combat prowess could not solve, there was always the reinforcement button, no? Besides, not every other universe was as problematic as the Plane of Dreams…
After he left the Plane of Dreams, Hao Ren immediately teleported over to Raven 12345’s divine mansion.
A whiff of fragrance hit him the moment he stepped into the goddess’ office. The fragrance lingered around as if trying to trigger the instincts deep within the human soul. Images of the past were flying by, accompanying the fragrance. At the same time, there was a hint of sourness. After taking a deep breath, he did not even need to look to know that it was the smell of Laotan pickled cabbage…
“Can you actually eat something befitting your status?” Hao Ren laughed as he looked at the goddess behind the desk. The latter was busy slurping her cup noodles. “You have billions upon billions of worshipers in this universe, and I don’t believe the offerings they give you don’t consist of any food. As a proper goddess, at least have some proper table manners, yeh?”
Raven 12345 wiped her mouth and gave Hao Ren a scornful glare. “I need proper table manners? What about it, huh? Let me tell you, great people are ones who can’t be bothered with any pretension. Living the way they want is a show of ability. You’re still inexperienced. If you were a proper pope, you would have been able to uncover all sorts of revelations from my cup noodles…”
Hao Ren pursed his lips as he dragged a chair like he was in his own place to the side of the desk. “Just admit that you don’t know how to cook… Thousand and one excuses.”
“…Are you here just to pick a fight with me?” Raven 12345 asked as she casually tossed a small lightning bolt at Hao Ren. “Down to business!”
“F*ck, you actually zapped me!” Hao Ren immediately recoiled from the shock. Half of his body went numb. Shaking his hand with force, he said, “I’m here to tell you that the material projection generator has already been given to Rheia, and just like you wanted, I’ve arranged for her to meet you.”
“Oh, oh, all right.” Raven 12345’s expression turned happy. “When is she coming?”
Hao Ren looked down at his watch. “She’s coming online in another three minutes.”
Raven 12345 smiled and froze before she bounced up from her chair. “Three minutes?! Can you actually tell me earlier?!”
Once she finished grumbling, she started tidying her office as quickly as possible. Her half-finished bowl of noodles was thrown directly into another dimension while she began to keep the packets of ham, sausages, and her mini-steamboat. She rambled on as she tidied her room up, “F*ck, f*ck, f*ck… Tell me earlier, won’t you! How can I not be prepared for such an important meeting?”
Hao Ren had already anticipated this scene, but he still acted all serious. “Didn’t you ask me to arrange it as soon as possible. Besides, it’s just a short meeting anyway, it’s not all that important…”
“What do you know?” Raven 12345 glared at Hao Ren. “I’m a certified goddess in charge of a universe-level meeting with a wild goddess. I need to show off how glorious our system is, right? And this is the first time the goddess of creation is making contact with the Xi Ling Celestials, you know how important first impressions are? I may be screwed in the head, but I still fight for the glory of the Empire!”
Hao Ren was stunned by the Raven 12345’s tirade and never thought that the crazy goddess still had some self-awareness. It did seem like he had underestimated her most of the time, and she would, in limited circumstances, be very prudent…
Soon, the prudent goddess had tidied up her office, and with a wave of her hand, plates of peanuts, dates, and hazelnuts appeared out of thin air on the table. She then pulled a new cup of noodles out as well. “I also need to make a fresh one for her…”
Hao Ren immediately snatched the cup noodles away and stashed it in his Dimensional Pocket. “I’m an idiot for having confidence in you!”
Raven 12345 was stunned for a while, and just as she was about to react, the metal bracelet on Hao Ren’s wrist started to flicker…
“She’s here.” Hao Ren threw Raven 12345 a victorious glance. “Now’s the time to be mindful of your image.”
Raven 12345 glared at Hao Ren, shrugging. “I can’t be bothered to argue with you. Bring her in.”
As the words left her mouth, Hao Ren connected to the projection signal from the goddess of creation.
The connection was immediately established between the two bracelets, and through a series of complex data conversions and filtrations, the goddess of creation’s divinity was screened off by the projection. The signal was miniaturized to the point that she could pass through the Wall of Reality without causing any tremors. A light orb soon formed and vibrated in the air, and a few seconds later, the light settled down, taking Rheia’s form.
The goddess of creation first looked down at her body, seemingly not used to the “sensory split” caused by the projection. She then curiously looked around, and the first person she saw was Hao Ren. She gave him a warm greeting and turned her eyes to Raven 12345 who was behind her desk.
“Welcome to my universe,” Raven 12345 said with a smile. Her frantic disheveled look from when she was arguing with Hao Ren earlier was nowhere to be seen. She stood up and warmly welcomed the neighboring goddess. “Come, come, have a seat, have a seat. Make yourself at home, we are family after all. Here, have a cup of tea. I just brewed it earlier…”
Hao Ren facepalmed and sighed audibly. That was probably the best the psychopath of a goddess could possibly manage when receiving a guest. Maybe he should recommend that Raven 12345 put on that “holy and serene smile” mask the next time?
Rheia was also stunned, perhaps not anticipating the goddess of the Surface World to be… such a warm host. The scenarios and speeches she prepared in her head seemed to be of no use, but thankfully, she was not “normal” either. So after a short stupor, she quickly recovered and replied warmly, “Thank you, thank you. This is my first time here, I don’t know what the local customs are. Please forgive me if I overstep. Ah, I forgot to bring a gift as well… Seems like the material projection cannot carry things over?”
“You’re already here now, what gifts are you talking about? We’re neighbors, such things are irrelevant.”
“Ahahaha, even if you put it that way, I’m still nervous. The mess over at my place seems to have caused you quite some trouble.”
“It’s nothing big, nothing big. Don’t worry about it. Come, have some seeds.”
Hao Ren was wondering if he should take charge and drag the awkward meeting back on track, but before he could even do anything, the two goddesses had already managed to break the ice and started chatting. The atmosphere was even harmonious with neither side lagging behind. That caused Hao Ren to gawk.
It seemed like.. the two goddesses had somehow managed to hit things off?
He immediately had the urge to send Rheia back. Even though the goddess of creation’s image may waver at times, she was still mostly the mature, calm and wise type, unlike Raven 12345 who was a certified lunatic. Coming over to get some experience is all fine, but what is she doing hitting it off with a lunatic?! And this crazy goddess here, the hell are you acting all smug for? Don’t teach the kid bad things!!
Hao Ren could only ramble on in his head as he looked helplessly at the two goddesses who were getting more and more engrossed in their chat. He was running out of room to interject.
Luckily, after the initial overly-warm ice breaking, Raven 12345 quickly switched to the issue at hand. “We are living so close by, but it sure wasn’t easy making this meeting happen. I’ve been monitoring the happenings in the universe there, and I know quite a bit about you.”
“Yet, I knew nothing about you until recently.” Rheia chuckled.
Raven 12345 shrugged. “It’s normal. I was only born not long after you fell into slumber, and I only came to this universe a couple of thousand years back.”
“..Oh?” Now, this surprised Rheia. “Wait a minute… You mean, you’re younger than me?”
“The Xi Ling Celestials are a very young pantheon, and most of us were born about 10,000 years ago.” Raven 12345 guffawed. “Based on my time of birth, I am indeed younger than you, but since our birth, we have been infused with the knowledge and experience of our seniors from the past billions of years through the Soul Network. Therefore, experience-wise, I’m still your senior.”
Hao Ren suddenly realized something. In that very instance, Raven 12345 was just a kid? The little goddess of creation was actually much older?
It appeared that for such long-lived beings, seniority was something so chaotic that only fools would take it seriously.
When Raven 12345 mentioned “seniority in terms of experience as a deity”, Hao Ren practically ignored it…
“Well, aside from understanding the three divine systems and the divine arts, I also ran into a rather finicky… problem. It’s the reason for my visit.” After all the diplomatic niceties, Rheia then went on about one of the purposes of her visit.
“Problem?” Raven 12345 raised her eyebrows. “What sort of problem?”
The one who replied was Hao Ren by her side, “The nine Gilded Discs inside the Creation’s Engine are missing, probably stolen by the goddess of annihilation, and if I’m not wrong, she plans to use the discs against Rheia.”
Raven 12345’s expression turned grim.
Hao Ren and Rheia went through everything in detail with Raven 12345. They also informed her about their prediction regarding the goddess of annihilation’s next course of action—using the power of the Mad Lord to harness “materials” from the nightmare and rapidly complete a miniaturized Creation’s Engine; even if this Creation’s Engine did not have the destructive capabilities of the original, it was still a massive threat to Rheia.
After taking all the information in patiently, Raven 12345 sank deep into thought.
Hao Ren and Rheia did not disturb her.
Three minutes later, this goddess who was capable of coming up with surprising ideas finally looked up, and she gave the goddess of creation a half-smile.
“Rheia, are you interested in registering with the Xi Ling Celestials?”