Chapter 50: Star Sea Exotic Object

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Star Sea Exotic Object

The bead was not large. It was entirely dark red with fine, dense patterns on its surface resembling neural blood vessels. However, after a brief inspection, Chen Shang determined that these were not Runes.

He went to another room and began testing the bead. He checked its density, hardness, Element composition, Energy reactions, Rune compatibility, and Spiritual Power conduction efficiency...

He tested each metric multiple times, yet the resulting data only left Chen Shang increasingly perplexed.

This bead did not belong to any known category of Materials. It did not contain any known form of Energy, nor did it react to any known Rune.

It was just a bead!

Yet, it could indeed transport someone across Planes. Marcus’s memories would not lie.

A Demon whose Soul Core was damaged and Power diminished had relied on this bead to cross countless Plane Barriers and arrive in this world ruled by Wizards.

This was no illusion; it was something that had truly happened.

Because of this, Chen Shang had preconceived it to be some sort of Space treasure.

Even though Wizards already possessed a complete set of coordinate tracking and descending technology, items with Space attributes were still quite valuable. But now, Chen Shang couldn’t find a single Space Rune inside the bead.

"How bizarre. Just what in the world is this thing?"

Chen Shang opened his Crystal Plate and began browsing the Celestial Net’s database. He ran searches using sets of keywords, then conducted detailed analyses and comparisons.

Space, spherical, difficult to decipher, unresponsive to Runes...

Three Hourglasses later, Chen Shang finally dug up a sliver of similar clues within the vast ocean of the database.

It was an ancient paper titled: *On the Classification and Naming of Phenomena Unexplainable by Rules in the Endless Star Sea*.

Chen Shang clicked open the full text and quickly skimmed through it.

The paper’s core thesis was simple: within the Endless Star Sea, there occasionally appeared things that completely defied the world’s rules.

They were not composed of any known matter, did not follow any known Energy Laws, and did not react to any known Rune.

Yet, they truly existed and possessed some sort of unimaginable function. Such things were known as "Exotic Objects."

The Golden Crow darted in from outside, hopped onto his shoulder, and tilted its head to look at the screen. "Exotic Objects? What are those?"

Chen Shang leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "Exotic Objects are things that completely defy the world’s rules. Yet, they exist in incredibly bizarre ways, almost as if the Creator played a joke."

The Golden Crow looked bewildered, clearly not having understood a single word. Chen Shang hadn’t expected it to understand anyway; he was simply agonizing over it himself.

He continued speaking, as if muttering to himself, yet also seemingly explaining it to the Golden Crow.

"The Wizard World has discovered quite a few Exotic Objects. A relatively famous one occurred during the era of Plane conquests. In a completely Magic-less world, a colossal monster appeared, which the Wizards named the ’Tattered Doll.’"

The Golden Crow tilted its head, shifting the position of its three talons. "Tattered Doll? Isn’t that name a bit too casual?"

Chen Shang didn’t respond. He pulled up that segment of history, the text on the screen emitting a faint Blue light in the dim laboratory.

"That was a completely Magic-less world under the jurisdiction of Wizards. There were no Elements, no Magic Power, and no Extraordinary Power of any kind. However, a monster appeared in that world.

"The monster was as large as a mountain. Its body was patched together from all sorts of assorted junk, and it had no fixed shape. One day it might be square, the next day round, and the day after that, it would turn into a chaotic hodgepodge.

"Yet, its destructive Power was immense. Often, a single stomp of its foot would wipe out half a city.

"The Wizards exhausted all their methods but could not destroy it. Even High Tier Wizards used their vast, Mighty Power to completely shatter it to dust. But the very next day, it would punctually reappear somewhere in that world to continue wreaking havoc."

The Golden Crow’s feathers puffed up. "An unkillable monster? Completely unkillable?"

Chen Shang nodded. "Completely unkillable. The Wizards spent a long time investigating its origins. In the end, they discovered that its beginning was connected to a child.

"He was a child from an orphanage—very frail, deeply introverted, and rarely spoke.

"The other children had toys, but he didn’t. He envied them, but he had no money, and no one would ever give him gifts.

"So, he went to the garbage dump to collect Materials: torn rags, rotting wood, dolls missing their eyes, rusted sheet metal... Then, he made a doll with his own hands.

"That doll was incredibly ugly and lopsided. One eye was big, the other small, and its stitched mouth slanted to the side.

"But the child treated the doll as his only friend. He gave it a name, talked to it every day, and poured out all his joys, sorrows, fears, and hopes to it."

The Golden Crow stopped speaking, listening quietly.

"That doll was an amalgamation of the bodies of various heroes and monsters from that world’s legends. The child had stitched all those figures from the stories into his own doll.

"He wanted it to be strong, wanted it to be brave, and wanted it to never be bullied.

"At first, this was just an Ordinary tale of a lonely child making a toy for himself. But later on, that child was bullied to death...

"Normally, in a world without Magic, the story should have ended right there."

Chen Shang took a deep breath.

"But something bizarre happened. After the child died, the doll he made was imbued with life. It began to grow, began to destroy, and began to kill everyone in its sight.

"It wasn’t consciously seeking revenge. It was merely venting all the grievances, fears, and indignation that the child had harbored in life.

"It could not be killed, because those grievances, fears, and indignations could not be killed.

"The Wizards finally came to a conclusion. It was an entity pieced together by a child using his own poverty, inferiority, sensitivity, and unfortunate childhood.

"In this world, as long as poverty and misfortune still existed, that monster would never be eradicated..."

The Golden Crow swallowed hard. "Then what happened next?"

Chen Shang replied, "In the end, a Great Wizard stepped in and sealed it at the head of his Magic Staff to act as a power source. That Magic Staff is quite famous throughout the entire Wizard World. It’s known as the ’Wish of Calamity.’"

Chen Shang continued, "Later, other Wizards also attempted to replicate it, but no one ever succeeded. That’s just the nature of Exotic Objects.

"They are not manufactured; they are ’born.’ Under a specific time, a specific place, and specific emotions, they squeeze out from the cracks in the rules.

"Therefore, they can never be replicated.

"Exotic Objects come in all sizes, and their functions vary. Some are even complete garbage, yet they still heavily attract the interest of Wizards.

"This is because Wizards consider them to be loopholes in the rules, fractures in the underlying logic of this world. To study them is to study the rules themselves."