Chapter 1501 - The Possibility of the Crimson Moon (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren had guessed countless of times; what the bloody hell was actually lurking deep within Vivian’s soul? That “thing” had been causing Vivian to lose her memory, fall into deep hibernation, split apart and go berserk. It could have very well been some spiritual virus, the fragment of an evil god’s will, or even a diabolical evil version of Vivian Ancestor; of all the possibilities, Hao Ren never thought that it would be a star map…

Well, there was something not quite accurate with that explanation.

Hao Ren gawked at the star map, which was projected from the crystal. Perhaps, the more accurate description would be some unknown material deep within Vivian’s soul. However, he was sure that a star map lay within that “thing”.

Maybe there was some other stuff too.

“So many stars.” Vivian looked up at the projection, and while it had already been embedded in her soul for 10,000 years, she never realized its existence. The concept of foreign stars was also a first for her. “I suppose… this is the star map?”

Vivian, unlike Hao Ren, did not put points into interstellar navigation, and she could not tell the difference between a star map and a galactical snapshot. But after following Hao Ren around for so long, she could vaguely discern it.

“Yep, a star map, but it doesn’t look complete…” Hao Ren frowned as he ran it through a scan in his mind against all known navigational maps in the database. The maps included every known sector in the universe and those that the exploratory droids had scouted. The data was huge, but everything was imprinted deep within Hao Ren’s mind; a normal human brain would not have been able to directly read or process such enormous galactic data, but Hao Ren could easily understand the meaning of each data and the various dimensional expressions. Based on the high-speed data comparison, he noticed that the star map was off. “It’s lacking a part of its planetary system reference, and the navigation conversion data is totally missing…”

The navigation conversion data or the laws of celestial movement was a key data package. It ensured that every temporal and dimensional scale of the star map was applicable to each other. As in most worlds, the stars were never a constant. Minus stars dying each and every moment, and each star, no, each system being in a constant state of change, a fixed map was as good as useless. It needed a supplementary “decoding package”, and that was the navigation conversion data. It was a calculation based on massive amounts of celestial movement formulas and orbital movement projection. It allowed one to travel with their GPS even if their star map was 10,000 years out of date (in jest, of course).

However, it was not the end-all, and many civilizations found different ways to allow themselves to navigate the stars normally. Some monitored every star within their system and continuously updated the navigational data in their network by the minute to ensure the accuracy of the star map. Some set up celestial “lighthouses” to form a fixed navigational pathway and avoid any ships drifting off course, while others perfected hyperspace tunnel technology. Simply put, it was pretty much a mishmash of what have you…

Nevertheless, all those methods were not suitable for the star map recorded in Vivian’s soul. It was a solitary star map; that meant, Vivian’s brain was not plugged into a constantly-updating interstellar navigation channel, and the map did not have a lot of supplementary maps for course correction. Such maps would require the navigation conversion data, or else it was as good as an antique picture that was missing a portion.

Hao Ren swept his gaze across that dark aether on the map. Something was supposed to be there, and usually, it was made up of the area’s celestial make-up. The absence meant that the map was incomplete.

“Maybe it can’t be read, or the map’s broken.” Vivian had no idea about navigation, but she could understand what Hao Ren was saying. “Given that this… thing was the main cause of my spiritual corruption, it’s very possible that it’s been broken from the start.”

Vivian’s reply made Hao Ren realize something. He now reckoned that the map was not all that important for the time being. The more pressing matter was to find out what in tarnation was that “crystal pillar” all about.

It was something that Vivian had conjured out of her consciousness, and Hao Ren needed to disregard its “form” and find out the thing actually was. So, what could have storage capacity and affect Vivian’s spiritual functions, as well as corrupt?

“You mentioned that the source of the corruption is ‘dead’, and it only works on a complex and constant logic, something like a computer?” Hao Ren touched the surface of the crystal with his hand, and it felt no different than touching a rock. “Looks like it has some storage functions, and there’s at the very least, a star map in it…”

“It’s like that computer you were talking about, but yeah… I never expected that thing to look like this, but based on its appearance, it seems ‘dead’. Now that I think of it, however, it probably was never ‘alive’ to begin with. It was an inert being that suffered some from outside influence and reacted accordingly. Umm… it’s just like a computer or a program.”

Hao Ren nodded gently. “And the most important question is… you think the goddess left this behind for you?”

“That’s the only explanation.” Vivian was certain. “The Mad Lord would not have done something so complicated, and mere mortals in the Planes of Dreams would never have the ability to mess with my spirit. So I’m sure that this was left behind by the goddess of creation.”