It was still early, and Mo Tan planned to travel overnight to Karan City. Cole and Little Ai should have already arrived ahead of him, and there might also be a Wanderer's Inn there. He felt it was time to slightly quicken his pace…
But as the saying goes, ‘the sky has unpredictable winds, and people have unforeseen misfortunes.’ Just as he was about to concentrate and speed up his journey, the expected happened.
【You have been disconnected. Please choose whether to reconnect】
...
A few minutes later, Mo Tan sat beside the game pod, looking quite lost, his mood very complex.
“What was I thinking? When can’t I travel…?” He shook his head, leaning against the game pod and closing his eyes, muttering softly, “Now is not the time to relax. The Marshall Family behind Bannai will never let this go easily. Everyone’s bodies are still out in the wild. Shuang Ye should have logged off, but she might have left traces… If there’s a large-scale search… No, I must go back in and confirm.”
Concentrating as much as possible, Mo Tan, who had just suddenly switched to the lawful good state, prepared to actively switch personalities again. He had already completed the previous analysis while playing as ‘Tan Mo,’ but that didn’t mean the matter was over. He had to act before the Marshall Family confirmed Bannai’s death!
Whether it was cleaning up the battlefield or retrieving clues, this was the perfect time. And if Shuang Ye had left any obvious traces before logging off, he could help deal with them. Most importantly, he needed to at least bury Ned and the others.
Although they were just NPCs in the game, Mo Tan absolutely could not tolerate his companions’ bodies being exposed in the wilderness. He had to at least ensure everyone was properly buried.
However…
“Can’t do it?” Mo Tan opened his eyes after trying for a while. He was very sure he was still his ‘original self.’ His normally successful active personality switch had failed, and the multiple attempts just now had left him mentally exhausted, making a switch impossible in the short term.
Getting up from the ground, somewhat fatigued, Mo Tan clenched his fists tightly. Although it wasn't always 100% successful, this time it was too coincidental, so coincidental it was infuriating!
“Damn it, why now of all times!” He complained irritably, then turned and lay in the game pod, preparing to log into Innocent World.
He wanted to re-examine Mag’s journal, hoping to find some information about the Marshall Family in it. Although he didn’t recall the journal containing much detailed information about the Southeast Continent, it was still better than doing nothing!
...
【Your mental connection has been detected. Personal information is being synchronized…】
【Connection complete. Character information is being read.】
【Welcome back, lawful good Mo. Innocent World is loading. Good night.】
Northwest of Innocent Continent, the ruins of Ondhill.
Mo Tan, who hadn't properly observed his surroundings during his last visit due to successively experiencing a dragon crash, a plane crash, a misunderstanding, a beating, and a disconnection, was stunned the moment he logged in.
Countless ancient ruins, weathered by time, appeared particularly desolate under the moonlight. As far as the eye could see, towering buildings crisscrossed the landscape. Not far away, a stone base stood tall and resilient, but the bell tower that should have been atop it lay in scattered rubble, covering the main road adorned with decorative carvings…
The ruins of a certain plaza where Mo Tan had logged off were covered with numerous stone carvings and seven or eight stone pillars. The former seemed to be sculptures of various races from the Innocent Continent, each as magnificent as the two stone statues in front of the adventurer guild. The latter were carved with totems and emblems, and even countless enchanted patterns that had disintegrated over thousands of years. They lay silently in these ruins, no longer glorious or magnificent, but transformed into ubiquitous fragments of this ruined city, mourning past glory in a different form…
The perpetual north wind kept the area free of dust, yet made it feel even more sorrowful.
Everywhere had magnificent scenery; even Patto City had its equally grand Holy Church Cathedral. But when countless majestic and magnificent ruins covered this land, all becoming an ubiquitous part of this ruined city, this shock was enough to make anyone who set foot here for the first time tremble.
Mo did not tremble, but merely let out a long sigh with a complex expression. He was not a sentimental person, yet he still felt a pang of regret for this ruined city, once known as the ‘Unfallen City.’
“The Sun Dynasty almost unified the Northwest Continent back then.” A voice, also tinged with a hint of melancholy, echoed in Mo Tan’s ear: “Initially, it was just a small faction of a few thousand exiles who stubbornly survived in this most chaotic Northwest barbarian region, and it took them nearly two thousand years to establish a kingdom. Their original encampment was the land beneath your feet, Ondhill Wilderness… which later became the Unfallen City Ondhill, and is now the Anderhill Ruins.”
A line of blue system prompts drifted across his vision somewhat abruptly…
【Civilization Attribute: Lore +1】
Mo Tan had recognized who the voice belonged to the moment it spoke. He quickly flipped through Mag’s journal in his hand while smiling and asking softly, “Feimigeer?”
Although there was no living creature visible in his sight, Mo Tan believed that a giant dragon capable of speaking into someone’s ear from a distance could hear him.
Indeed, after he closed the journal with a hint of disappointment, the deep, resonant voice spoke again: “The Orcs and I are camped not far to your south. Would you like to come over and chat?”
But Mo Tan didn’t move. He just looked up at the sky, lost in thought.
“Many people are like you when they first come here, but sometimes thinking too much only adds to one’s troubles.”
Feimigeer’s gentle voice sounded in Mo Tan’s ear. The latter felt a sense of closeness to this humble and upright Half-Dragon.
However…
“I do have some troubles.” Mo Tan awkwardly scratched his hair: “Excuse me, which way is south?”
Feimigeer: “…”
Five minutes later.
After repeatedly assuring the giant dragon that he truly wasn’t playing a trick on him, Mo Tan arrived at a small camp under its guidance.
It was near a few tents on a relatively flat area of the ruins.
The intermittent snores were deafening. It seemed the Orc warriors they had encountered earlier had excellent sleep quality. Although only Mundu the Great Priest, Huo Yan Yang, and two Orc warriors were present at the time, there were actually some accompanying personnel who hadn’t gone ahead, as only those three needed to undergo trials along the way.
Speaking of which, if Feimigeer hadn’t happened to fly here at that time, Mundu, who was very confident in letting his ‘children’ undergo their trials, wouldn’t have intervened.
Perhaps due to a lack of tents, Mo Tan also saw a few dark Orcs sleeping a little further out, without even a blanket. They were so dark that Mo Tan wouldn't have even noticed them if it weren't for their faint breathing and occasional murmurs in their sleep.
Feimigeer was lying about ten meters behind the tents, craning his neck to look this way.
“Sorry to keep you waiting~” Mo Tan quickly greeted the giant dragon: “My sense of direction is a bit poor…”
“No, my friend.” Feimigeer, however, shook his head, his face twitching (which was a very difficult expression for a dragon to make), and his huge ice-blue eyes blinked twice: “You see, having a poor sense of direction is different from having no sense of direction at all.”
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh and quickly changed the subject: “When did you discover me?”
“Just call me Feimi. You also have the bloodline of the dragon race, so you could say you are my kin.” Feimigeer slightly reined in the dragon’s might he was unconsciously emitting, allowing Mo Tan to get a little closer, and whispered: “When I first discovered you, I had intended to come over, but I ultimately decided to greet you with the more convenient Dragon Tongue first~”
Mo Tan was slightly stunned, then used his snapshot-like instant memory to recall Feimigeer’s mouth shape from a few seconds ago, and immediately reacted: “You’ve been speaking Dragon Tongue?”
“That’s right~” The other party grinned: “Although I also know the common tongue, I’d have to make a very loud sound, and ordinary people usually can’t hear Dragon Tongue~ I hope I didn’t scare you.”
Mo Tan immediately shook his head: “I understand. After all, if you were to wander over to my side, you might disturb others.”
“Uh, no, that’s not it.” Feimigeer mumbled: “Mainly, my wings are still a bit cramped. I flapped them a bit too hard earlier.”
Mo Tan immediately didn’t know what to say…
“Let’s talk about this land.” Feimigeer lay flat on the ground, like a lazy Corgi, saying, “Do you know its history?”
Mo Tan sat on a cracked stone slab nearby and shook his head: “What I know is not as much as what Feimi told me earlier.”
“The Sun Dynasty was destroyed seventeen hundred years ago.” Feimigeer said softly: “But they are not worthy of sympathy.”
“Oh?” Mo Tan noticed a cold flicker of anger in the giant dragon’s eyes and couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”
The latter, however, retorted, “Do you know Dragon Soul Town?”
This time, Mo Tan nodded. Mag’s journal had indeed mentioned that place, so Mo Tan, who had almost memorized the entire journal (excluding pages 77-82), immediately replied: “I’ve heard of it. That place should be in the far Northwest of the continent. It’s said to be one of the largest gathering places for Half-Dragons, and further beyond are Dragon Breath Wilds and…”
“Giant Dragon’s End.” Feimigeer sighed: “Located at the very Northwest corner of the continent, the largest giant dragon graveyard, a burial ground where Bone Bandits and Necromancers frequently roam.”
Mo Tan frowned slightly. He did know about Giant Dragon’s End, but Mag’s journal hadn’t mentioned what Bone Bandits were or the presence of Necromancers there.
But it wasn't hard to guess…
“People who steal dragon bones and Necromancers who desecrate dragon tombs?” Mo Tan asked, not entirely sure.
“Haha, although ‘dragon tomb’ is just a pretty way of putting it, you’re generally correct.” Feimigeer gave a dry laugh, then said wistfully: “A long time ago, that was the only Dragon Peak in the world. Most giant dragons and Half-Dragons gathered there, indistinguishable from each other, inhabiting a kingdom that belonged only to dragons.”
Mo Tan had always been an excellent listener, so he simply nodded silently.
Just thinking about it, one could imagine what that place, once home to countless giant dragons and dragon kin, had become…
“The Sun Dynasty rose too quickly, especially for the giant dragons.” Feimigeer looked around at the spectacular ruins, exclaiming, “It seemed like in just the blink of an eye, they transformed from an unknown small settlement into a vast kingdom…”
Mo Tan listened quietly.
The so-called Sun Dynasty, in its very beginning, was actually just a group of pioneers sent to their deaths, or perhaps exiles. They were people dispatched by a powerful empire in the Southeast Continent to ‘expand territory.’ They included ostracized scholars, disgraced nobles, criminal commoners, bankrupt merchants, and legal slaves, from all races.
In that tumultuous era, being sent to ‘expand territory’ in the most chaotic Northwest Continent was known by everyone to be nothing less than a brutal death sentence.
But those people had no choice, because disobeying orders would surely mean death, while being sent there at least meant a few more days of life.
As the saying goes, ‘going now means death, grand plans mean death, waiting for death, or just go then…’
So they went.
No one expected those people to survive in the then most turbulent Northwest…
The disgraced nobles traveled everywhere, signing countless unequal treaties to preserve their stronghold, which wasn't even a proper stockade. To survive, they were even willing to serve the particularly dim-witted Earth Sprites and the not-so-bright Ogres.
The lowest-ranking slaves scattered, rushing into countless meat-grinder-like battlefields, salvaging anything usable to trade for the status of a ‘freeman’ again.
Even though they had already become ‘dead’ in the eyes of those in their homeland.
Bankrupt merchants washed and cleaned the broken weapons and rotten armor that were brought back, selling them for whatever price they could get. They also repackaged art books scavenged from some corpses, selling them as ‘erotic novels’ to distant barbarians who were taken advantage of but couldn’t reach them.
Frail scholars couldn’t blacksmith or build houses, but they did their best to explain the principles to younger children and quick-witted slaves.
Thus, the most difficult period passed…
Over a decade later…
With their own territory and influence, having initially established a foothold in the Northwest, the ‘pioneers’ began to be taken seriously by their increasingly bloated and weakened motherland. The latter sent several envoys, hoping these exiles would send some people back home to help, and also formulated a complete guide for tribute.
On the day the envoys were received, the Dwarf leader of the pioneers, who looked like a bandit chief—a former noble who had once been granted a viscount title for his excellent blacksmithing—uttered only one word, declaring the independence of the exile land of Ondhill, and simultaneously completing the naming of the Sun Dynasty…
【“Sun!!” — First Regent of the Sun Dynasty: Bufortry Ondihua Saintsheild】
【You have unlocked Story Illustration: “The Rise of the Sun Dynasty,” Civilization Attribute: Lore +5】
Chapter 67: End