Chapter 1314 No Longer Strangers

Although there was a slight problem with the communicator's size, contact with Mimir was successfully established. The old giant was at the Athenian Sanctuary, overseeing the initial operations of the Shadow Council, and when the communication connected, he seemed quite busy. Hao Ren saw a large number of documents floating around Mimir's head, along with several pens scratching on paper, and even a laptop being rapidly updated. The computer's keyboard seemed to be controlled by an invisible hand, with the keys clattering crisply, indicating that Mimir's work was also keeping up with the times.

"Ah, Hao Ren, I apologize for showing you such a chaotic scene. Even as a nominal chairman, I can't seem to find a moment of peace..." Mimir's voice came through after the communication connected, but he stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw three enormous figures appear on the holographic image in front of him.

Well, the figures didn't seem so enormous in the eyes of the Guardian Giants. It was just that Hao Ren and his companions appeared too small next to Muuru and the others. Mimir stared at the scene, seemingly realizing something, and he let out a series of muffled sounds: "Oh, oh... these are..."

"Your kin," Hao Ren said, stepping forward so Mimir could see him; otherwise, his figure would be completely obscured by Muuru. "I've returned to the Dream Plane. They are the 'survivors' I mentioned to you: Muuru, Lementusa, and Sif."

Lementusa took a deep breath, his face filled with excitement. "To see another surviving member of our kind, and a wise and respected elder at that, is truly a day to celebrate! Greetings to you, wise guardian Mimir!"

A look of confusion crossed Mimir's face. "Do you know me?"

Hao Ren reminded the three giants, "I told you earlier, he's lost his memory."

A shadow of sadness flickered across Muuru's face. "You are a venerable figure among us. In the days before the collapse of the God Domain, you were a highly respected leader among the guardians, and a respected elder brother to us three."

The Guardian Giant race was born in a way very different from ordinary creatures. Although they had genders, they did not rely on them to reproduce. They were creatures born directly from the Source Blood. The endless Source Blood Sea on the Founding Star was the breeding ground for their race. This granted them unprecedented power and a rank closest to the gods, and also gave them a unique social structure. Guardian Giants did not have conventional family structures like parents and children. Instead, the entire race treated each other as siblings—they used this term to refer to the "eldest sons" born from the Seeds of Life.

Therefore, Muuru and the others regarded Mimir as their "elder brother," even though this elder brother might have been born millions of years before them.

Mimir's expression was somewhat confused. Clearly, to someone who had lost his memory, these three suddenly appearing "younger siblings" made him feel at a loss. But the blood connection of close kin still allowed him to feel a sense of unprecedented kinship, even across two universes. He blinked—using this gesture to replace a nod. "Although I no longer know anything about that world, I am also very happy to see my kin. Are only you three left over there?"

"There's also Zohm," Sif said. "Oh, that's an 'eldest son,' we gave him a name. Now there are only four of us Guardian Giants surviving in this universe, at least as far as we know."

Mimir's initial conversation with the three giants didn't go too deep. Although it was clear that they were all very happy to see their kin, Mimir's amnesia hindered the discussion. Muuru spoke a lot about the ancient past of the Dream Plane and the age of the Founding Goddess, also mentioning the Great Cataclysm and the ecological circle reshaping, while Mimir spoke of his ten thousand years of experience on Earth. Although they tried to bring the topics together, it was undeniable—

They were strangers now, at least in Mimir's eyes.

After the communication ended, Hao Ren felt he should say something. "It will get better. He's different from other anomalies; he still retains some vague memories. Maybe more contact with you will help him remember."

"It doesn't matter, we have one more surviving member of our kind, in any case," Lementusa said softly. "Now let's talk about the core you mentioned earlier. I was fortunate enough to see the unfinished Creation Engine, and perhaps I can offer some help."

Hao Ren had come for this very reason. He immediately summoned the Petrified World Turtle and released the Engine Core. The huge golden sphere floated in the Petrified World Turtle's gravitational field. Maggie had already initialized the core, so now it had returned to that state of wondrous and complex change. Hao Ren pointed to the sphere: "This is it. We've determined that it's only part of the core. There are some orbit-like structures outside this sphere that haven't been completed. The database in this thing records the blueprints for those orbits, and my next step is to build them."

The three Guardian Giants were immediately drawn to the golden sphere the moment they saw it. They couldn't help but stand up and gaze in fascination at the mysterious and unpredictable surface of the sphere. In fact, they had never seen this thing—the Creation Engine located near the Founding Star had never been completed. They had only seen the empty shell of the engine, while this core seemed to have been hidden away long ago.

But even so, Lementusa was very certain that this was indeed part of the Creation Engine: its design style and operation were completely consistent with the Creation Engine in the giants' memories.

"You should complete it!" Muuru said seriously. "Everything Mother did was to protect this world, we must complete her work!"

"I can help," Lementusa said as well. "I used to supervise the manufacturing of Creation Engine parts at the Sulun Gate factory, and I know some of the specific requirements for certain parts. As long as you give me the blueprints, I can help you."

Hao Ren had originally thought that the information-to-entity conversion device at the Crystal Nucleus Research Station should be able to process the things in the blueprint library, but since Lementusa had offered his help, of course, he would choose to let the giant help: the information-to-entity conversion device was omnipotent, but after all, it only rigidly synthesized matter according to the blueprints. It might not be one hundred percent reliable for the Creation Engine, which was a super-mysterious thing. After all, the Founding Goddess was a self-taught deity, and the blueprints she left behind were definitely not made according to the standards of the Three Divine Systems. Inputting her blueprints into the Crystal Nucleus Research Station would first face the problem of compatibility—rather than that, Lementusa, the original engineer who had supervised the engine's manufacturing, was more reliable.

Thus, the construction project of the Creation Engine—or rather, the construction of its core—was decided, and Hao Ren quickly selected the location for the manufacturing factory.

He decided to return to the Sulun Gate to complete this great artifact.

The Sulun Gate, the former key point of the Founding Goddess's God Domain, had now been completely destroyed by the flames of the Godslaying War. This star sector had once fallen into the dark domain along with the Founding Star's explosion, but for some unknown reason, it had suddenly reappeared in the main material world not long ago. Lementusa and Sif were rescued by Hao Ren from the first star of this sector.

Now this star sector had no vitality left, only chunks of continents burned into charcoal, torn planets, celestial debris scattered throughout the universe, and radiation clouds filled with a desolate and deathly atmosphere. Even the starlight shooting from afar would be deflected near the Sulun Gate: the space here was still unstable, and the cracks in the nebula's boundaries were like dangerous cliffs that would devour everything that entered them.

But Hao Ren still chose this place as the location for the factory to build the Engine Core, because this was the location in the main material world closest to the "Dark Domain." Theoretically speaking, it was also closest to the unfinished Engine body. Although he had not yet found any path to the Dark Domain, he felt that if he put more effort into the Sulun Gate, there might be some progress.

Moreover, he had another important reason for choosing this place: according to Lementusa, some key parts of the Creation Engine needed to be cast in the core of a dead star. Although Hao Ren felt that he could simulate the same environment with the factory in the Crystal Nucleus Research Station, he decided to let the entire construction project strictly follow the standards set by the Founding Goddess for the sake of stability.

After all, an "artifact" was a very mysterious thing. The parts required to be built in the core of a dead star probably required more than just the high-temperature and high-pressure environment of fusion. The dying star itself might have some symbolic meaning.

The Sulun Gate lacked everything now, except for dying stars.