# Chapter 35: Black and Dragon Eggs
The Abyss, a world composed of countless broken and twisted small planes, is regarded in countless legends and myths as the gathering place of all evil and aberrations, the root of all despair and suffering.
There are many speculations about its origin. A demon scholar who had personally traveled through the Abyss once made a bold inference after decades of research—
The Abyss is actually the graveyard of the multiverse. Those twisted small planes are nothing more than fragments left behind after countless worlds were destroyed.
The Abyss Gate is the channel connecting it to other worlds.
During the Era of Radiance, the first Abyss invasion—perhaps the largest Abyss Gate since the birth of the entire multiverse—opened in the outer void of the Mycroft World.
It was unprecedented, a super-massive space-time gate connecting all planes of the entire Abyss. Although many channels collapsed instantly upon opening, hundreds of large channels remained, and a nearly endless army of demons poured forth, nearly destroying the Mycroft World.
During the Era of Falling Stars, the space-time gates opened during the second Abyss invasion were not as terrifying as the first. Dozens of small space-time gates were scattered across the entire continent, giving the various races led by humans a chance to counterattack.
After years of arduous battle, most of the small Abyss Gates were destroyed by the multi-racial allied forces, but three large Abyss Gates remained like poisonous spikes, firmly embedded in the Mycroft Continent.
The [Burning Eye] in the Ashen Ruins, the [Ice Prison Gap] in the Extreme Cold Wasteland—both were endgame-level apocalyptic dungeons in the previous life's game. Joshua had always been stationed with his war group at the Naya Fortress in the Ashen Ruins, fighting against the demons pouring out of the Burning Eye.
As for the [Abyssal Vortex] located in the southern Far Sea, compared to these two Abyss Gates on the continent, its presence was slightly less prominent, but its danger level was equal if not greater. This was because the Abyss plane it connected to contained countless deep-sea behemoths, combined with the corrupted local marine life of the Mycroft World. Fighting these monsters in the ocean was even more dangerous than fighting demons.
Based on the information Loranda had provided earlier, Joshua could be one hundred percent certain that the Abyss of Anos was clearly the predecessor of the later Abyssal Vortex. Currently, it was still just a small Abyss fissure, not well-known, but many years later, it would gradually expand and transform into a great maelstrom capable of easily allowing kilometer-sized monsters to pass through.
Originally, the Church of the Seven Gods had already discovered it but hadn't found the exact location of the fissure. The impact of the Dragon Calamity forced the church to withdraw the knight order stationed there. It seemed this had given it an opportunity to grow.
"What? Is that all?"
Joshua had been waiting for Loranda to continue explaining the situation regarding the Abyss of Anos, but he noticed that the other had suddenly fallen silent. The warrior looked up, somewhat puzzled, and observed the situation. Then he realized that the paladin seemed rather disinterested.
"That's about it."
Forcing a bitter smile, Loranda sighed, smoothed his hair, and then looked southward. There was some hesitation in his blue eyes, as if he didn't know how to say it: "Joshua, you're indeed a good comrade, but this matter really has nothing to do with you. Consider what I said earlier as venting. Thank you for telling me this news."
"...If that's how you feel, then it's fine."
Raising an eyebrow, since the other didn't want to continue, Joshua—who had been inexplicably given a "good person" card—wouldn't force it. He shrugged and said, "Regardless, I should thank you for helping me interrogate those cultists."
The warrior wasn't particularly surprised by the paladin's sudden silence.
He was a noble from the Northern Lands, while Loranda was a paladin of the Church of the Seven Gods. If not for their personal friendship, the other had no reason to tell him this information.
One must understand that on the Mycroft Continent, information about the Abyss and Evil Gods had always been strictly sealed from the outside world. Before the demon invasion in his previous life, many ordinary people had no idea what the word "Abyss" even meant. In truth, Joshua knew that in such an environment, the paladin's willingness to share so much information about the Abyss of Anos was already a sign of great trust in him.
Atanis didn't speak. Like Ying and Lin, he just sat quietly listening. The old bishop was a clever man; otherwise, he wouldn't have become the bishop. He was still digesting the information about the Abyss of Anos. As for Loranda's unusual behavior...
—Been away from home too long, just homesick.
Shrugging slightly, Atanis's rich life experience had long allowed him to see through this.
Later, Joshua exchanged some thoughts with the old bishop about the Black Forest issue. Since the warrior had recently been having the knights at Black Forest Fortress explore the Great Aias Mountains, the paladin had been helping in a private capacity for some time. Now the church wanted to formally join in, willing to send some experienced priests and knights to join the exploration team.
Joshua naturally welcomed this. The Northern Lands never had enough habitable space, and the population couldn't increase. So ever since he inherited the position of lord, he had been exploring the Black Forest, preparing to open up new land. However, due to the lack of spellcasters in the exploration team, efficiency couldn't improve. Atanis's willingness to help at this time made the warrior very happy—priests were even more useful than mages in this regard.
Just as the two were beginning to discuss this issue in depth and reach preliminary conclusions, a rhythmic knock suddenly sounded from outside the door.
Ying and Lin stood up almost simultaneously. After exchanging glances, Ying sat back down, while Lin, receiving Joshua's signal, went to the door and opened it.
The visitor was a maid with a brown ponytail, wearing the uniform of the Lord's Mansion. Clearly, she was from the Lord's Mansion.
The maid's expression seemed somewhat uneasy. She held an unadorned envelope in her hand. Noticing the gazes of her lord and the church bishop, she explained somewhat flusteredly: "Good day, my lord. There's an urgent letter from Winterfell Academy. I thought you should know as soon as possible, but I couldn't find you in the Lord's Mansion..."
At this point, she couldn't help but pause. Although Joshua had restrained his pressure as much as possible, his powerful presence still made this ordinary maid's throat dry: "Miss No. 3 said you were at the church, so I..."
"Alright, it's fine. You did well."
Seeing that the other's words and actions were somewhat nervous, Joshua softened his voice slightly. He nodded slightly, signaling her to give the letter to Lin, then said softly, "Your name is Leah? You even found your way to the church—that's not easy. Take a rest for today."
Although she was already used to Joshua's approachability and lack of airs, this maid named Leah still seemed somewhat restrained. Under the warrior's pressure, after handing the letter to the black-haired youth, she didn't dare stay long in this room and immediately took her leave.
Taking the letter from Lin's hands, Joshua didn't bother to avoid Loranda and Atanis. He opened it directly.
"Establishing a professional academy is indeed a good way to strengthen the transcendent forces within the territory."
The old bishop was quite optimistic about Winterfell Academy. He recalled the past and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "The founders of the four territories in the Northern Lands were all warriors, and most of their followers were warriors and knights. So there have always been very few spellcasters in the territories, making it difficult to cultivate the next generation of transcendents. The previous old count always wanted to cultivate his own mage team, but unfortunately, he never fulfilled that wish before his death. On the other hand, you managed to build it successfully in just two years."
"But what urgent news requires an express letter? As far as I know, the academy has been running smoothly lately, and no accidents have happened to the students."
"As for the academy, it's mainly thanks to Master Nostradamus. I just provided a piece of land and did almost nothing. As for this letter..."
Joshua shook his head, indicating he didn't know the reason. He calmly pulled out the letter paper, reading as he spoke: "If it weren't something important, they shouldn't have sent an urgent letter... What?!"
Just after reading the first line, the warrior's expression changed. He frowned, then stared at the letter paper in shock: "Dragon eggs?!"
"What dragon eggs?!"
Beside him, Loranda, who had been sitting in his seat staring blankly since finishing his explanation about the Abyss of Anos, became interested. He immediately turned his head, looking at the serious-faced Joshua, and asked curiously, "Are you talking about Black?"
"Joshua's dragon-horse? She is indeed a mare."
Atanis also joined the inquiry, stroking his white beard with interest: "But as I recall, she only awakened her bloodline and transformed into a half-dragon in the past year, right? She already has dragon eggs?"
"That can't be. It hasn't been that many days since I last saw her..."
This was the silver-haired girl's slightly shocked voice. Ying couldn't help but stand up, sneaking behind the warrior, while Lin followed his sister's lead. The two of them leaned over Joshua's shoulders together, wanting to see what was written in the letter.
"Phew... It's nothing. The narrative method of this letter is problematic..."
Still with the young boy and girl pressing on his shoulders, Joshua squinted his eyes. After quickly reading the entire letter, he let out a long breath: "It's the dragon eggs I brought back from the White Dragon's nest last time. Ever since Winterfell Academy was built, I placed the dragon eggs there as samples for preservation. Recently, during routine inspections, the academy's teachers discovered that some of the dragon eggs showed signs of hatching."
As he spoke, the warrior's expression softened, returning to his previous calm attitude: "They plan to place these dragon eggs next to Black, who is also of the dragon race, to see if it can accelerate the hatching process. That way, we can also cultivate newborn white dragons... The person who wrote this letter definitely failed Common Language. Based on his wording, I initially thought Black had suddenly laid eggs. That really startled me."
—See, ancient dragon bloodline isn't that easy to propagate. The warrior shook his head with some regret.
"Dragon eggs are about to hatch? Then congratulations."
"It's indeed good news."
"Are we going to have to take care of those little dragons again..."
"That's really possible, sister..."
Ignoring the divine mechanism siblings' soft complaints, compared to Loranda's congratulations, Atanis could keenly perceive the significance behind this matter: "If those dragon eggs can successfully hatch into little dragons, then we can consider forming a dragon knight regiment—although it would take about ten years to see results and a hundred years to truly take shape, this is absolutely an investment that won't lose and will benefit future generations."
"Indeed. I didn't expect they could actually hatch."
Nodding in agreement, having received this good news, Joshua seemed to be in a good mood. His tone became noticeably lighter: "Even with my casual care, they can still hatch young dragons. This proves they are exceptionally healthy and good stock."
A dragon only needs three years to rapidly grow from infant form to juvenile form. If the young dragon is healthy and nutrition is sufficient, then in five to eight years, it can advance further to become a young adult. At this stage, the dragon's combat power approaches that of an adult ground dragon, and it also possesses some spellcasting and flying abilities.
But to become a true adult dragon with Gold-rank strength requires decades of long time. For humans to cultivate a dragon knight regiment from scratch requires the hard work of several generations.
Currently, the most famous dragon knight regiments in the world are the Sea Dragon Knight Regiment of the Eastern Plains and the Azure Sky Knight Regiment of the Far South Sky Island. As for the Northern Empire, His Majesty the Emperor Israel is the most famous dragon knight in this world, but there is no organized dragon knight team.
Additionally, the Church of the Seven Gods once had a dragon knight regiment configuration, but it was inexplicably disbanded two hundred years ago. In the previous life's game, it was said that players discovered the truth, but Joshua didn't pay attention, so he doesn't remember the reason involving quite a few conspiracies.
Speaking of the Azure Sky Knight Regiment, Joshua recalled something quite amusing—as a super-large dragon knight regiment with a heritage of nearly five hundred years and over thirty adult dragons, it has always had only one knight. The entire regiment's operations and external communications are handled by humanoid dragons. The knight doesn't even need to fight; they just need to take good care of the young dragons. The Azure Sky Knight Regiment is also jokingly called the Babysitter Knight Regiment, the Zoo Knight Regiment, etc.
When the warrior learned this news in his previous life, his face was full of "that's a thing?" expression. Even now, thinking about it, he couldn't help but smile knowingly.
"Today, we'll stop here."
Standing up, Joshua prepared to return to the Lord's Mansion first. This news was indeed very urgent. He was already somewhat eager to go to Winterfell Academy to see the current state of those dragon eggs. He nodded slightly to the old bishop and paladin: "Thank you both. If you hadn't helped watch over things while I was away, this city might have been harassed beyond recognition by those cultists."
"That credit goes to Miss No. 3. She contributed far more than we did."
Loranda didn't speak, but Atanis smiled and shook his head in denial. They also stood up. This conversation had been fruitful for both sides. Even the paladin had learned news about his friend.
Loranda was still somewhat distracted. He occasionally shook his head slightly, looking southward. Although he didn't speak, as long as one wasn't blind, they could notice his abnormality.
Joshua could naturally see it too. So before leaving, he left a sentence for Loranda.
"If you want to go back, then go back."
The warrior said this. He had always been this direct: "It's not something hard to talk about. No need to hesitate so much."
With that, he took his leave, bringing Ying and Lin out of the church room. The paladin was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "Is my behavior that obvious?"
After receiving Atanis's nod of confirmation, Loranda silently thought for a while, then softly murmured to himself: "Originally, it was because of my own willfulness that I temporarily left the Holy Mountain to travel. Now I've figured things out. The Holy Mountain is also fighting against the mad dragons..."
"It's indeed time to say goodbye."