Chapter 311 (1/2)

Once Y’zaks began his lecture, it was not going to end in a while. Not interested in the boring yet violent “education” program, Hao Ren quickly asked Bethanos a question before Y’zaks started his lecture. “Have you read the user manual?”

Bethanos was still mentally shocked. He looked like he had lost his soul. Then again, anyone who was intelligent enough would have reacted in the same way if they encountered a similar situation. Bethanos remained stunned for a moment before he could respond to the question. “User manual?”

“…It’s such a sophisticated piece of equiment. Did you actually think that you could just press a few buttons the same way you switch a lamp on?” Hao Ren glanced over his shoulder at the device, which had returned to its normal shimmer. “Even if it’s fool-proofed, you’ve got to be careful. Especially when this thing can link two worlds together.”

Bethanos felt humiliated. He struggled in Y’zaks’ grip. “It’s not fair! It shouldn’t be this way! I’ve studied the scrolls, I’ve studied them! It’s supposed to work! Not end just like that! I’ve spent thousands of years studying the thing not to make myself look like a fool! I—”

Y’zaks became a little annoyed and he clenched his fist a little tighter. The fingers of the great demon were enough to disable a resisting half-demon. “Okay, please be quiet. The world is an unfair place after all; only the weak would dream of absolute fairness. It’s an illusion of the lucky ones. Instead, you should feel lucky that the device didn’t open the door. Or else, my landlord and I would have blown you as well as the device up into the high heavens before it could open. Now, stay calm. Let’s start with the basic concept of honour and racial rights after which, I’ll give you a pep talk on the secrets to suppressing your impulses…”

Hao Ren knew Y’aks was on to it now. He turned around and began to study the device, which was emitting a buzzing sound. “What’s this thing?”

Lily was a curious bunny. She cautiously touched the device and walked around it as her eyes examined it. “The casing is metal. It’s hot but, I can’t see any wires or tubing… What’s its power source?”

“Is this the power source?” Vivian squatted down as she touched a ring of patterns all over the floor. It seemed like the device was at the centre of these concentric circles, but she could not feel any energy flow with her hand.

Hao Ren tapped the MDT with his finger and said, “Have a look at this thing.”

The MDT hovered over it and used a light beam to connect with the Sacred Relic of Origins. After a simple scan, it found that the device could not actually open the World Gate and did not have a single function that could open doors to any dimension like they thought it did.

“This isn’t a door.” The MDT dropped itself back onto Hao Ren’s shoulder. “It looks like some sort of… synthesizer or a training device or an analyser. It’s not a dimensional door. I’ve found an empty vessel inside and some magic-based catalytic devices. But, the components aren’t complete. Something’s missing…”

The MDT activated a light beam and shone it on the top of the equipment. A hatch the size of a soccer ball opened on top. It looked like it could store stuff inside. “This is it. This should be the core plug-in or something like that. The plug-in decides the logic between the vessel and the catalytic devices.”

“Whatever it is, Bethanos wasted his time.” Hao Ren turned his head, glancing at Y’zaks’ little comprehensive class in moral, mental, physical, aesthetic and handicraft developments but, he quickly turned away because of the excessively violent scenes.

All in all, he found the incident very ironic; after all the hoo-ha, they were only after a crazy old man, who failed to read the user manual…

Becky followed Lily, moving around the device. Hao Ren asked curiously, “Does this thing exist in your world? I’m not talking about the present, I mean in the recorded history of your world. Are there any records of this thing or something like it?”

“No.” Becky shook her head. “Records of the Ancient Magic Civilisation have long been lost. What’s left are just mythical tales without solid information and religious paintings drawn out of people’s imagination. Nonetheless, this thing does look like one of our alchemical products. For example, that triangular symbol over here.”