The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-127

Chapter 127: A Companion in The Plane of Dreams

Hao Ren finally ran into a living, breathing human in the The Plane of Dreams that he almost gave out a joyous yelp. The elation was so obvious on his face that the girl on the horse not far from him raised an eyebrow. “I guess he’s really done his head in with that fall..”

“Uh, no, no, no. It’s just that I’ve never seen any humans in these barren plains before so, I got a little bit excited…” Hao Ren waved things off as he quickly recovered. He also took the chance to have a look at the first human he met in The Plane of Dreams.

She looked about 20 years old, perhaps even younger. She donned a brown waistcoat on top of her white shirt and a skirt-pants of sorts for easy movement. She had a long sword hanging from her waist. She was fair with bright eyes; her skin, a light hue of brown. She had a rather energetic air about her made more so by her tidy hair, which flowed down to her back. The ‘horse’ that she was riding on the other hand, was a weird one. While it looked the part of the four legged animal, its legs were much bigger than your usual horse breeds. There were bone-like appendages protruding out from the front legs of the creature, forming a plate on the upper torso and neck region. Its tail was a big, bushy one and there was no mane along its neck. Basically, the basic structure looked like that of a horse but, it clearly was not one. Perhaps, an animal unique to The Plane of Dreams.

“What are you staring at?” The girl frowned again. “Have you really done your head in with the fall?”

It suddenly dawned upon him that staring at a girl he just met was rather rude. He laughed dryly and waved his hands again. “It’s not that. I got lost in the plains here and it’s a rather pleasant surprise to see someone here.”

“Oh…” The girl nodded as she took a measure of Hao Ren. “Weird clothing,no luggage to boot and lost in a grass plain… It’s quite obvious that you’re broke as hell. Not even worth robbing… What a drag. I’ll be going now.”

Hao Ren was stunned when he heard the word ‘robbing’ and did not know how to respond. When he realized that the girl was leaving, he ran up to the front of her in a panic. “Wait! Can… you take me along with you?”

“Bloody thick-skinned.” The MDT rang out in his head and was promptly ignored by Hao Ren.

“Take you along?” she raised another eyebrow. “Why should I? I don’t even know you and you look really suspicious all right.”

Hao Ren was again stunned at how quickly things went south. This was not according to your usual novel script at all. Hao Ren imagined that by now he would have gained the trust of the lady knight and go on an adventure together. Things were clearly not in his favor.

“Look, I’m lost.” Hao Ren spread his hand out wide. “Can you actually see me getting out of this place alive? Wolves run wild here. Do you really have the heart to leave me here to die?”

“…Not that I mind…” The girl frowned again as she was in thought. “Well then, Lamberg is rather close by. I can bring you along. But, I need to know who you are and where you come from. And most importantly, whether you have money or not. I’m a mercenary after all and charity is not my calling.”

The barrage of questions once again left Hao Ren in a quandary, cursing his luck that the maiden in front of him was not the type who could easily be persuaded with words alone. He also rued the fact that he did not ask the leader of the wolf pack about human society in The Plane of Dreams when he was here last time. Without any background knowledge of the locals, he could not even make up a story about his identity.

“So… who do you think I am?” Hao Ren said, after much thought. “You saw me falling from the sky right? I suppose, not many people can do that.”

He really hoped that the girl would take the bait this time around and follow along his plans. A person falling from the sky is the only idea he could think off that would work.

“Oh yeah, you did fall from the sky.” She nodded. “Right.. and you are not carrying any luggage. With your current outfit, you are sure not to come to the plains by yourself…. Are you one of those crazy mages? Your teleportation spell failed?”

“It happens to be just that.” Hao Ren nodded. He finally could see some light at the end of the tunnel. But, his glee was short lived. The girl had an excited look on her face. “Then… can you cast a big fireball spell? I’m learning about magic myself!”

What the flying f*ck! You were supposed to be a warrior, not a bloody spellsword!

Real life humans were clearly much more unpredictable than your usual novel characters. This one who did not seem rather bright was already giving Hao Ren all sorts of trouble. He just waved his hands, “I can’t… Haven’t recovered from the fall earlier. Believe it if you want to or just leave it. Worse come to worse, I can make my way to the town.”

“Heh, you magicians sure have an over-inflated ego.” The mercenary girl laughed out loud. “Fine, I’ll take you along. Most mages are rich bastards anyway. Travel from here to Lamberg takes about half a day… That’ll cost you 200 Denars. I’ll let you ride my horse with me. How about that?”

The hell is a Denar? Hao Ren had not even seen how the local currency looked like. But, the girl was clearly so money-minded that there was no two ways about it. He gritted his teeth and put his hand in his pocket. As he ruffled through it, he put on a regretful expression. “You see… I went out in a hurry and I don’t have any money at hand… Can you just overlook it just this once? It’s impossible for me to teleport back to get my coin pouch….”

The girl just stared at him without a word. Her eyes fixated on what was in Hao Ren’s pocket. She knew that while magicians were usually a screw or two loose in the head, they were pretty well off. From your normal potions to your elixirs of eternal youth, such items would have easily earned them a king’s ransom. At the very least, much, much richer than your average mercenary. And there was one standing in front of her, a civilian mage that was rather chatty. She liked this sort of people; rich and exploitable, since most of their brain power had dried up from all the studying.

“Can I use this as collateral?” Hao Ren finally gave up and pulled the MDT out from his pocket, intending to use the shiny metallic device as a bargaining tool. “It’s something I made during my free time.”

“You’re really pulling me out for this?!” The MDT roared in Hao Ren’s head. “I should have known when your hand came into the pocket.”

“What’s that?” The girl’s eyes widened at the strange, metallic object. “An alchemy tool? An alloy? Some magic lamp? What’s it for?”

“It’s a very special type of toy I made. ” Hao Ren said as he shook the MDT violently. In his mind, he gave a very stern order to the latter. “Quickly, show her something that will make her think you’re worth the amount of money needed to bring us half-way across the plain!”

“Just you wait. I’ll upload your picture to those gay dating sites!” The MDT retorted vehemently. It then reluctantly floated in the air and played a recording of Wuyue’s singing.

“Wahhhh, a music box?” The girl was surprised. “And it can fly…. Music boxes are pretty common but, why did you make a flying one?”

“…Consider me too bored for my own good.” Hao Ren was too exhausted to explain.

“Right, consider it a deal. This seems rather valuable. A music box itself would have sufficed but, a flying one, wow…” The girl pointed towards the back of her mount. “Get on and don’t touch where you shouldn’t. I’ll put my blade through you if you do. Once we are at Lamberg, this is mine.”

Hao Ren was sweating. He could not tell if all the locals were such brutes or he just had the misfortune of running into one.” He clumsily climbed onto the back of the horse and stayed still. In his head, he was verbally sparring with the MDT. “Can you stop acting like you are Dou E?

“You f*cking sold me you twat! Even with my previous specs, I’m still worth at least a top-end interstellar spacecraft! And you sold me for a horse ride with a girl!”

“Stop bullsh*tting, you can fly back can’t you?”

“…. Oh yeah…”

“I just thought of something that could make me filthy rich. We could…”

“Oh, I dare you to say it out. I dare you! I have access to about 200 gay dating sites. I’ll plaster your face on every one of them if that’s the last thing I do!