Chapter 28: The Gaze of All Realms 8000
Ancient dragons, the primordial lifeforms crystallized from Steel Force after the birth of the world, are the common ancestors of all beings in the world, the source of bloodlines. The purpose of their birth is to sow the seeds of life, filling barren, empty worlds with vitality.
In different worlds, the primordial ones have different names—World Tree, World-Bearing Turtle, Ring World Serpent, and so on. The reason they are called ancient dragons is that on the Mycroft Continent, their most numerous descendants are known as Primordial Realm Dragons, so beings with similar forms are also called ancient dragons.
The strength of ancient dragons varies, their numbers are unknown, and their specific ecological conditions are unclear—everything is a mystery. They are born with the ability to move freely within the void and are not bound by the barriers of the world. Because of this, there is a hypothesis in the field of ancient dragon studies: the ancient dragons once observed within the Mycroft World may not all be native; a very large portion may be wandering ancient dragons from other worlds.
This hypothesis is actually quite convincing. Although human bloodlines have some connection to Primordial Realm Dragons in the ancient past beyond ancient times, they are fundamentally different creatures. This proves that at least one of the two—humans and Primordial Realm Dragons—was born from an ancient dragon, a primordial lifeform from a different world. In fact, considering that dragon-shaped lifeforms and humanoid beings are widespread throughout the multiverse, it is likely that either the ancestors of both are not native to the Mycroft Continent, or the ancient dragons of the Mycroft World left this world that nurtured them long ago, wandering the multiverse and spreading the seeds of life.
The multiverse is vast and boundless, but worlds with life are actually extremely rare. It must be understood that due to differences in Steel Force concentration, not every world can give birth to its own primordial lifeforms and create an initial ecosystem. The reason ancient dragons love to wander the multiverse is precisely because their mission at birth is to bring vitality to worlds. They help worlds that cannot independently give birth to life create suitable ecosystems. From this perspective, ancient dragons play the role of de facto creators.
Some follow the footsteps of ancient dragons because of their immense power; some seek the mysteries of ancient dragons because they want to know the perfect form of life; some chase the traces of ancient dragons because they want to know the origin of all things... Because of their powerful, perfect, and beautiful forms, no matter what world it is, there are always those who wish to find ancient dragons. But unfortunately, once a civilization develops to a certain level and the ecosystem stabilizes to the point of self-circulation and repair, the ancient dragons will vanish. They either go into slumber or leave, but no matter what, they always disappear from human sight, leaving only a few traces of legend in ancient texts.
But even so, some people still refuse to give up, for the sake of that power and perfection, for their curiosity and desires... Of course, the most important thing is the primordial force capable of creating all things and reshaping ecosystems—the original life force that most civilizations cannot grasp no matter how far they advance.
Countless civilizations and worlds yearn for it, to repair the damage caused by war, to restore shattered ecosystems, to bring new green back to continents turned to scorched earth. There are countless reasons, but their desires are equally intense. They urgently want to find ancient dragons and obtain the power they seek from these lifeforms.
When the roar of the ancient dragon shook the universe, causing even the void of the entire abyss to ripple with tiny waves, it was not only the ancient dragon chasers of the Mycroft Continent who felt the tremor. Other demons in the abyss, the Five-Colored Dragon Clan, and civilizations from countless unknown worlds all sensed that at the distant end of time and space, a primordial dragon had awakened from its ancient slumber, reappearing in the world.
—And so, the gates of all realms opened.
Transboundary legions prepared for battle, void warships set sail from port, armies of transcendent beings swore oaths in capital squares. Under the tide of the Great Magic Tide, many anxious but still capable worlds and civilizations opened their long-closed doors, leaving their homes once again to journey to the distant reaches of time and space.
For the first and final hope.
Chronos World, Chronos Mountains, Dragonman primitive unnamed calendar, year 419, rainy season.
In the warm Chronos Mountains, suitable for dragonman survival, snow only existed on certain higher peaks. "Ah, it seems Mr. Syndicate must have been very strong before, after all, falling from the sky, your body could turn into meteor iron!"
"You know it!"
The Flame Demon, after all, was not a creature with complex thoughts. After a few praises from Lisa, it immediately cast aside its previous anger. It returned to the dragonman girl's hand, transforming into a pendant hanging around her neck. Syndicate said in a calm tone: "Earlier, I cooperated with you, converging both our powers and unleashing them all at once, which allowed us to kill this monster while it was sleeping... For this, we lurked for over ten hours and used my power to block its perception. But it won't be this troublesome in the future. Later, I will help you enhance your power through the contract. That way, next time we hunt, we just need to find the right moment to 'transform' and quickly achieve a one-hit kill."
The so-called transformation was the name of a certain cooperation between Lisa and Syndicate. Since Syndicate currently had no real body, only its core as an energy storage unit, to unleash its full power, it had to cooperate with Lisa. The Flame Demon would temporarily transport its power to the dragonman girl, allowing her to use that power to fight, while it merely assisted the girl in channeling the energy. Because this cooperation caused Lisa's black hair to turn into a lightning-like cyan-blue, it was colloquially named transformation.
"Mm-hmm, but what about the test prey?"
Lisa's mind was also simple. Besides responding to Syndicate, she raised another question: "The test will be over soon, but we've spent almost all our time hunting the Mist Lord. If we fail the test, Dad will be very disappointed!"
This time, Syndicate and Lisa were able to leave the village and hunt in the forest outside because they had joined the village's newly awakened apprentice demon hunters on their first hunting test. Adult demon hunters would mark out a forest, drive away the powerful monsters inside, and then let the newly awakened dragonman youths enter to hunt their first prey.
How could Lisa and Syndicate pass up a reasonable opportunity to go out? After all, the Flame Demon was a former Ultimate-rank. With its relatively strong mental power, the two easily evaded the surveillance of the adult demon hunters and arrived at the habitat of the most powerful monster Syndicate could sense: the Mist Forest. They found the lair of the Mist Lord, used Syndicate's power to conceal their forms, and then, when the opponent was weakest during its slumber, they used their strongest abilities to kill it in one blow.
"Just find a weak monster and kill it. With our current strength, ordinary adult demon hunters are definitely no match for you, let alone weak monsters."
Syndicate's tone was confident, but this was not just random talk.
After all, Lisa was a pure-blood dragonman rarely seen in a century. Although her awakening was incomplete and she couldn't unleash powerful strength, her potential was truly astonishing. Thanks to the high metabolism and intense training caused by the Flame Demon, after more than ten days, Lisa's physical condition had approached, or even surpassed, that of some adult dragonmen. The only cost was that she might not grow tall in the future.
In addition, Lisa possessed a bloodline power far beyond that of ordinary dragonmen: the power of lightning. And this already powerful lightning power, combined with the inheritance of electric current propulsion at the level of a Demon Lord, along with the power Syndicate could unleash, was enough to instantly kill the Mist Lord, which even an entire demon hunter squad might not be able to handle. Now, Syndicate had recovered a bit of strength by absorbing the blood and energy essence of the monster. This power, combined with the knowledge and combat experience of a Greater Demon, indeed allowed it to boast of being invincible in this forest.
"Ugh, it hurts... but I can walk normally now."
After a moment of recovery, Lisa stood up again, and one could hear the crisp sound of bones vibrating inside the dragonman girl's body. Thanks to the Flame Demon's careful teaching over many days, she had already learned most of the low-level applications of the electric current propulsion technique—such as controlling electric current to paralyze enemies from a distance, stimulating muscles to unleash strength far beyond normal, accelerating or decelerating metal weapon attacks through magnetic fields, and even detecting monsters lurking in the surrounding forest through electromagnetic fields.
It could even stimulate nerves and muscle tissue to accelerate the body's regenerative abilities.
Ability, strength, speed, defense, regeneration, and observation—all-round improvement. This was the inheritance from a high-level transcendent civilization, containing techniques far beyond the primitive experience of dragonmen. The girl did not know that what she was using was an experimental high-level inheritance that most ordinary knights and mages on the Mycroft Continent couldn't even access—a summary and conclusion derived by the legendary expert Joshua van Radcliffe through analyzing his own immense magnetic field power. Having such a level of skill in the Chronos Mountains was like having a spaceship in a primitive tribal era. Becoming the number one demon hunter was only a matter of time.
"Don't delay. Our time is tight... To be honest, I really don't want you to go back with those demon hunters now. We should seize the time to hunt more monsters and restore more of my power. Otherwise, when the time comes..."
Unlike the girl's ease, Syndicate was very anxious. It knew what this world was about to face. The power of the ancient dragon was indeed formidable, enough to block even the army of an Abyss Lord. The apocalyptic war that once occurred was likely a description of the ancient dragon repelling an attack by some Abyss Lord. But even so, the destruction caused by the demon army invasion had turned the entire world into a desert.
At this moment, it had no real body. Even if it had powerful energy, it could only be unleashed through 'transformation' in cooperation with Lisa. To avoid dying itself and to prevent the girl it had contracted with from dying, it had to become stronger as quickly as possible.
Protecting Lisa was just incidental—protecting the contract partner, nothing more.
"That's not impossible... Although it will make Dad worry, this is my first time being so far from home, and I don't want to go back so early either."
Lisa had no objection. She didn't understand Syndicate's anxiety, but she would instinctively avoid making things difficult for it. So she said cheerfully: "Then, shall we continue hunting powerful monsters? But first, let me eat something. I'm so hungry..."
High regeneration and consumption indeed make one feel hungry quickly. Syndicate didn't object either. As a pendant, it said: "Then find a place and catch a weak monster to eat. After eating, we'll go north. There's another powerful monster there that should restore about 0.5% of my power."
"Mm-hmm!"
Responding cheerfully, Lisa left the dragon moss tree hollow with light steps. The girl quickly left the Mist Forest and moved north.
But just as she caught a weak monster, killed it, lit a fire, and was eating roasted meat, Syndicate suddenly used mental communication, speaking in a stern and somewhat panicked tone: "Quick! Lisa, put out the fire!"
"Immediately! Hide! I'll cover you—get into the bushes!"
"Yes!"
Although she was only half-full and wanted to continue, Lisa was confused but obediently followed Syndicate's instructions. She extinguished the fire as quickly as possible, used electric current to clean her body, and then hid in a nearby bush. Syndicate immediately added a layer of perception-blurring mental shield, completely concealing their forms.
And the next moment, before Lisa could figure out what was happening, heavy footsteps came from afar.
What appeared before the curious Lisa and the serious Syndicate was a massive creature five or six meters tall. It had bat-like wings, two large horns like a goat's, and a large mouth full of fangs. Its thick limbs were covered in developed muscles and sturdy carapace. Its eyes flickered with an eerie dark purple light, and its whole body exuded the scent of sulfur.
The ground it walked on turned to scorched earth, grass withered, leaves burned. The humid air instantly became dry the moment this behemoth appeared, and hot wind spread in all directions with the flapping of its huge wings.
"Wing Demon."
Syndicate said through mental communication, in an extremely serious tone: "An Abyss Wing Demon, only one step away from a Greater Demon!"
"The vanguard of the demons has already arrived in this world?!"
And when Lisa saw the demon's terrifying and ferocious (zhengning) face, the instinct buried in her bloodline immediately told her that this was an existence she could not fight under any circumstances—she had to stay away, flee, and run as far as possible!
—Such a huge body, such immense power... Teacher can't stop it, Father can't stop it! The entire hunting team can't stop it!
Realizing this fact in an instant, the dragonman girl's heart, which had still held a trace of curiosity, turned cold: "Such a powerful monster has come near the village. I have to go warn Father and the others!"
"Ah! The test squad is still nearby!"
Just as Lisa suddenly remembered this fact, the Abyss Wing Demon sniffed the air and muttered in Abyssal: "The smell of fire and roasted meat... Are there dragonmen around?"
It grinned, revealing a cruel smile: "I like the taste of these little ones. Their blood is strong, much better than humans or lizardmen."
But before the Wing Demon could spread its wings and fly off to search for the 'tasty little ones' it mentioned, a streak of red suddenly appeared in the high sky above the Chronos Mountains.
"Buzz——————————"
Accompanied by a faint hum that seemed to echo in the ears of all living beings, the sky suddenly changed color. The originally blue sky turned pitch black in an instant, and countless silver stars hung high in the firmament, releasing specks of light. It felt as if some barrier that had been covering the entire sky and world suddenly dissipated, revealing the reality behind the previously false sky. And among the silver stars, countless red dots were spreading. They traced red trajectories across the black sky, falling toward the entire world.
Those were meteorites—hundreds, thousands, tens of millions of them. They fell from outside the world, carrying flames that burned everything, descending upon this world.
In that instant, heaven and earth changed color, the mountains trembled. A long dragon roar came from the center of the distant desert. One could hear the anger and weakness in that roar. As countless meteorites fell to the earth, the Chronos Mountains burst into flames in an instant. One could see countless winged dragons and demons, along with many unknown creatures, flying in the sky. They fought among themselves but tried as much as possible not to destroy everything on the surface. They even actively extinguished the flames ignited by their own descent, not wanting to damage this mountain range.
Strange battles and conflicts were unfolding across the entire Chronos Mountains, leaving the monsters and dragonmen who originally lived on this land at a loss.
"The legion has finally arrived!"
The original Wing Demon immediately showed joy—though to Lisa, it still looked ugly and ferocious (zhengning). It immediately abandoned the idea of searching for nearby dragonmen, flapped its wings, and flew into the sky, engaging in a struggle with a two-legged wyvern.
And in the distance, at the center of the God's Desert.
The silver ancient dragon hid itself within a storm of iron sand, coldly watching the several powerful beings outside the world who were confronting each other and looking down upon this small world. Among them were giant dragons, demons, and experts from many strange races.
After a gap of several hundred years, the war between it and the apocalypse had begun once again.
At the other end of time and space, Mycroft World, Northern Lands Moldavia, Great Aias Mountains.
"Are you ready, Joshua?"
Baniel and William sat in the cockpit, wearing peculiar helmets as they debugged their experimental airship, which they had modified countless times, revealing excited smiles: "We're about to set off!"
"I've been waiting for over ten days, and now you ask me if I'm ready?" Behind them, the black-haired man, who stood with arms crossed, watching the gradually forming space-time passage ahead, snorted coldly.
"Of course. Let's go quickly."
The next moment, accompanied by a powerful fluctuation of space-time, a small white airship vanished into the sky above the Great Aias Mountains.