Chapter 1 The Divine Artifact!!

Hao Ren realized that the heavy, solemn-looking Bible in front of him was definitely a divine artifact even before Raven 12345 finished speaking. It was a certified divine artifact, a divine artifact with special effects, a divine artifact that would glow wherever you took it! Even if you just wrote its name, the letters would be surrounded by an orange halo!

Of course, Raven 12345 also said that this thing was a "copy" made by extracting power from a certain divine artifact's main body. It was definitely far inferior to the real thing, but in the Dream Realm, was there really any difference between a genuine product and a fake when it came to this level of stuff? This thing came directly from the Main God! It was like you were going to wipe out a violent gang from a rural, urban fringe area (in short, street thugs), and the higher-ups sent down two pieces of equipment: a star destroyer and a Tsar bomb. Honestly, you wouldn't feel any difference when those two things were dropped next door to your house...

Hao Ren immediately expressed his complete satisfaction with this true divine artifact that had fallen from the sky. As he lifted the thick-skinned book from the box, he listened to Raven 12345 continue to prattle on: "...Although this place of ours is a backwater, the higher-ups still care quite a bit and specially got you this treasure. Actually, there are things even more powerful than this, but you wouldn't be able to handle them, so don't be dissatisfied..."

"Satisfied, satisfied. With this thing, I feel much more confident. But speaking of which, what are these eight corner protectors on the Bible for?"

"Oh, that's physical enchanting. It can enhance your combat power."

"Then what's this iron chain on the spine for?"

"So you can wrap it around your hand and swing the book around to smash people."

Hao Ren thought for a long time before finally realizing that what the goddess sister had just said about "physical enchanting" was actually just a meteor hammer!

He immediately jumped up: "Wait a minute! Are you saying that the correct way to use this book is to throw it out like a meteor hammer?!"

"That's one way to use it. If you're really bored, you can also read the contents, but it's nothing special. It's just a YY (romantic fantasy) novel that the Dark Valkyrie wrote when she had chuunibyou (middle-school syndrome). I threw up after reading three chapters last time—it's really embarrassing that there are still mortals in several worlds who treat this Bible as the original text. Fundamentalists are really a pain in the ass. We gods want to update our autobiographies, and they have to make a big fuss about it."

Everyone present: "..."

Lili poked Hao Ren's arm and muttered, "Landlord, there are so many things I want to complain about, I can't get them all out at once..."

"What can I do? I'm also desperate."

"I always feel like there's something wrong with the style of this thing," even Izhaks couldn't help but mutter softly, but the volume of his soft muttering was basically the same as a normal person speaking, "Your true gods really have a lot of strange people."

Raven 12345 rolled her eyes, while Hao Ren looked thoughtfully at the meteor hammer Bible with eight corner protectors and a chain: Seeing the style of this thing, he finally vaguely understood what was going on with Anthony J. Alfonso's fighting style. A mage with a full-body physical buff swinging a mace and a goddess of light who put eight corner protectors on the Bible were a match made in heaven, so he didn't know if Anthony had faith in the Dark Valkyrie because of his innate personality, or if Anthony had become a berserker from a great magician after believing in the Dark Valkyrie...

Thinking of the last possibility, Hao Ren couldn't help but feel a chill, and looked at Raven 12345 with a strange expression...

Damn it, wouldn't he become a lunatic one day? He felt that it was very possible! Every time he talked to this crazy woman, he felt that his sanity was dropping like a gushing spring, even more stimulating than looking at any indescribable thing.

Raven 12345 immediately noticed Hao Ren's gaze and turned her head: "What are you looking at?"

Hao Ren used the force of almost biting his tongue to hold back the words "What's it to you"...

"In short, with this thing... my confidence has increased a bit," he sighed, and put away the Bible and the box of divine textbooks. Although his mood was particularly complicated, the words "confidence increased" were still sincere, but the way it increased was a bit unexpected. "Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"There's nothing else I need to tell you for the time being, but I have a few words to say to Vivian."

Vivian pointed to herself curiously: "Me?"

Hao Ren and Lili perked up their ears at the same time, listening with unusual attention. The former was out of concern for Vivian herself, while the latter was because... she would perk up her ears no matter what interesting things she heard.

Raven 12345 did not answer directly, but looked Vivian up and down, and asked in an interested tone: "After this period of sleep and awakening, do you feel any changes?"

Vivian frowned, a little red light flashing in her eyes. She carefully sensed her own power and spiritual world, and said uncertainly: "I can feel a lot of power within my body... I can't mobilize them very well, but they are definitely mine. In addition, I also feel that my spiritual world has become much stronger. Some of the memories I lost before seem to have recovered a lot, but they are not complete yet."

"Well, it's about what I expected." Raven 12345 nodded gently. "It seems you need a little time to 'digest' these things."

Hao Ren didn't hear anything wrong from the other party's tone, but he still asked worriedly: "Did something happen?"

"Don't worry, it's actually a good thing. Through this incident, all of Vivian's lost power and memories have returned to her body, and in this process, under the influence of the Sovereign Hub and Vivian's personal will, these things that were once polluted have been purified, so they are safe and controllable," Raven 12345 explained, "But Vivian can't master these things immediately—because she gradually lost control of these memories and powers over a period of ten thousand years. Now that they have suddenly returned, it will take some time to re-sort these things, perhaps a few days or a few months. During this time, her power level will continue to rise, and many memories will slowly become clearer, which may make her a little confused."

Hao Ren frowned: "Is it dangerous?"

"No, the 'symptoms' will be very mild," Raven 12345 smiled, "The pollution has been cleaned up, and all she has recovered are harmless things. It's just that from time to time a memory or something else will pop up in her head, which will cause occasional mental confusion. Just pay attention to it usually and there will be no problem."

Hao Ren and Vivian were relieved, and the latter even smiled: "I thought this matter was completely over, but I didn't expect there to be a sequel."

After Raven 12345 explained all the things that needed attention, Hao Ren talked about the final results and discoveries of his journey back in time.

"An operating system in the soul?" Hearing Hao Ren's report, not to mention Raven 12345, everyone present looked dumbfounded. Lili was the first to jump out: "Bat, your bones are so outstanding! Are you the protagonist in a novel? Are we in a system-flow novel?"

"This system is not the same as the system you understand..." Hao Ren covered his forehead, "I tested it roughly and found that it was something like a program: input, processing, output. It looked very much like it was used to control something, and it was connected to a large database—but all that could be read was an incomplete star map. I suspect the data is corrupted."

"Used to control something?" Raven 12345 raised her eyebrows. "This is interesting... and it also has a star map... Hao Ren, do you remember Vivian's identity as a 'Guide'?"

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment, then remembered the meaning of this "title."

All the Inhumans on Earth—including the Demon Hunters—were refugees sent to this universe by the Goddess of Creation when the apocalyptic disaster in the Dream Realm broke out. The Goddess of Creation had a grand plan that had not yet been fully explored. In this grand plan, she first sent a portion of the fire to the Surface World, and then offset the sins produced by the rebellious sons' slaying of gods through "final absolution" for all the survivors. She should have also designed a program to allow the Inhuman refugees to return to their homeland, and arranged everything in the Extra-Dimensional Fortress—Yggdrasil. In addition, this plan was very likely related to the Goddess of Creation's future resurrection and the ultimate decisive battle against the Lord of Madness.

And this grand plan had a key "Guide," who was the Goddess of Creation's divine avatar, namely Vivian Ansester.

However, Vivian herself knew nothing about this mission—before the divine avatar descended to Earth, it first came to the Purgatory Planet by mistake, and underwent the first split on the Purgatory Planet. The Vivian who finally arrived on Earth was only one-half of this divine avatar, and the other half... had become a completely insane demon-god-level evil thought on the Purgatory Planet.

Hao Ren's ten-thousand-year journey back in time could not touch the "Purgatory" far beyond the Sandbox World, so even now, Vivian still had some memories and powers that could not be recovered, and this part of the memories and powers had been lost forever.

Raven 12345's words reminded Hao Ren, and he immediately linked the "operating system" in Vivian's soul with her identity as a Guide: "Are you saying... that the operating system is used to execute the mission of the Guide?"

"That's what I'm guessing," Raven 12345 nodded gently, "The 'system' you mentioned is obviously not an isolated thing. Since it is set to be used to control something, then there must be a corresponding 'controlled object.' Considering Vivian's identity as a 'Guide,' this system is mostly related to her mission. You said that the system stores a star map? Then this star map should be the key... Tell me, under what circumstances would you need a star map?"

Hao Ren frowned: "When sailing in the universe?"

"That's right, it's a navigation chart, maybe it's the map that Vivian will use as a 'Guide'..."

"Are you saying that she will use this star map to bring back the Dream Realm 'refugees' who are scattered on Earth?"

"That's not necessarily the case. A star map alone can't explain anything. Perhaps it just points out a certain waypoint, and then Vivian needs to go there herself? It's also possible that it points out the ancient defense weapons left by the Goddess of Creation in the Dream Realm, and then Vivian has to activate these weapons at a specific moment and have a big fight with the Lord of Madness—everything is possible without clear instructions."

Hao Ren sucked his teeth: The star map was incomplete, it was still too damn painful.

"These things can be considered slowly in the future. We have made a lot of progress this time," Raven 12345's voice brought Hao Ren back to his senses, and the goddess sister showed a bright smile, "Everyone needs to rest. The top priority now... is to get the Earth back on track."