On the northern edge of the Loren continent, the brand-new port city "Beigang" has begun to take shape. Although it will take time to become a truly prosperous transportation hub, this is an important place that gathers the most advanced technology of the empire and receives a lot of resources and manpower support. The city can now show some of its brilliant scale in the future.
Next to the long coastline, a straight and wide port avenue runs from east to west. A trestle bridge made of reinforced concrete and enchanted with permanent magic extends northward from the dock area, straight into the sea all the way, and large-scale wave prevention facilities rely on shallow offshore waters. The area is built, and the port is shaped as a wide folding levee, and there are a large number of minarets with runes on the tops protruding from the sea on both sides of the dam. Wherever the runes shine, the sea in the port has been Further calm.
These are all techniques from the Kraken or the Naga-if humans study it by themselves, I don't know how long it will take for the wizards and craftsmen responsible for building Beigang to explore from scratch.
On the other side of the port, there is the urban complex of Beigang. In addition to the roads extending in all directions and wider and straighter than ordinary cities, the biggest feature of this "border city" located in the northernmost human country is its distribution. Towers all over the city. These high towers stand between the buildings. In addition to the shimmering rune coverings, there are a large number of metal pipes extending from the tower. The upper ends of these pipes are connected with huge magic devices, and the lower ends extend towards The surrounding urban area, and the heat source factory set up on the base of the high tower-these ubiquitous towers and pipes together constitute the ingenious and huge heat network of Beigang City, and it is also the most advanced and complex in the Cecil Empire so far. Heating system.
It is precisely because of the existence of these thermal networks that human beings can gain a firm foothold in this cold land.
"The Duke of Ice and Snow" Victoria Wilde stood at the end of a wide trestle bridge, facing the sea breeze watching the direction of the waves, several naga and siren stood beside her, one of whom had long black hair and corners of eyes The beautiful siren with a mole of tears propped up his body with a long snake tail, looked back at the direction of the city, and said with some emotion: "The development is so fast... The prosperous business is indeed the source of vitality for a city..."
"Ms. Cassandra, aren't the commercial activities of your Kraken Kingdom prosperous?" Victoria turned her head and looked at the black-haired Kraken with some curiosity. "I don't seem to hear you talk about that piece of "Io" continent. Happening."
"The Sea-Monster Kingdom... The situation in the Sea-Monster Kingdom is different from that on the mainland," the black-haired siren known as Kassandra thought for a while, and said with a smile, "Of course we also have business activities, but our social rhythm Slowly, business is not as active as on land-as you know, we came to this planet in a large spacecraft, and in the long years, most of our social activities have revolved The ship and the few satellite cities around the emergency landing site are unfolding. Of course, this situation has changed a bit recently. After Naga became part of the Kraken Kingdom, our society has gained new vitality, but as a whole, We are still a slow-paced ethnic group.
"There is another point I need to correct you, Ms. Victoria-although our territory includes the continent of'Io', in fact, more than 90% of the sea monsters live on the seabed around the continent. Our interest in land is only because There are still some mineral deposits on it, but compared with the rich and generous ocean, it is still very unattractive. So if you are interested in krakens, you should not inquire about the mainland, but about our deep sea."
"A rich and generous ocean..." Victoria whispered thoughtfully, "Our Majesty once described the sea like this..."
A gust of sea breeze brought the calls of seabirds in the distance. The deep sea witch Viola with blue medium and long hair looked up at the sky and interrupted the conversation between Victoria and Cassandra: "It’s almost time. Yes, Cassandra."
The black-haired Kraken returned to his senses and glanced at the undulating waves outside the breakwater. The long snake tail slowly curled and stretched behind him: "Eternal storm... I'm really curious about what's going on there."
Several naga who were going to accompany by the side began to check the weapons and equipment they needed to carry, and Victoria nodded to Cassandra: "All in all, thank you very much for your willingness to help this-to be honest, if you don't do it, we want to It is indeed very difficult to detect the eternal storm."
"We are friends, it's nothing more than a hand," the black-haired Siren waved his hand with a smile, "And to be honest, we are also very interested in the sea, but that place has been shrouded in a powerful energy field for many years. Even we can’t swim past. Now that the storm has finally dissipated, this is a good opportunity to satisfy curiosity."
While talking, this lady Siren was wagging her long tail, meandering towards the edge of the breakwater, several naga followed closely behind, and Victoria stood behind and watched this one prepare to go to the northern waters. The special investigative team that was investigating the situation until they watched them leaping off the edge of the breakwater, disappearing into the boundless undulating waves.
"May everything go well for them," Viola, who stayed on the embankment, retracted her gaze towards the sea, and then slightly swayed her long tail behind her, and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, we are all starting to formally Investigating the situation of the eternal storm, will General Byron and the Bitter Winter not return?"
"Bitter Winter is still performing cruise missions in the eastern waters, and it is expected to last until the end of the recovery month," Victoria shook his head. "For a ship designed to perform long-distance and long-term maritime operations, this The long-term mission is a very necessary means of inspection, and we can also take this opportunity to verify the effectiveness of the navy’s training and collect a lot of ocean-going experience."
Listening to Victoria’s explanation, Viola the Deep Sea Witch showed a thoughtful expression, while Naga Rudolf, who was once a high-ranking storm priest, couldn’t help but muttered: “It’s just a training and testing mission. Huh?"
There was no expression on Victoria's face: "...At least that ship and our sailors really need to perform training and testing tasks."
...
At the edge of the Tarrond continent during the extreme day, only the cycle of dusk and day alternates. The huge sun rises and falls on the horizon, making it difficult to distinguish the exact time of the day. Melita stands on a high platform on the edge of the camp, looking out Looking at the magnificent crown of the sun on the horizon, it took a long time to distinguish it before vaguely judging that it should be "midnight" of the day.
From waking up to the present, she rarely has time to rest, but even so, she is still not sleepy-the difficult situation and countless compatriots in need are her biggest motivation at this moment, and compared with Carador who has almost no rest , She felt that she had recuperated long enough.
The sound of footsteps came from behind, and Melita turned her head and saw Noretta, who was transformed into a human form, walking up the high platform.
"You are really here," Bai Long Nuoretta said with an expression that he had expected, "you can almost see the entire camp here-I like to come here too."
Noting that Melita didn't speak for a while, and her face was full of thoughts, Noretta sighed slightly: "Are you still thinking about what was discussed during the meeting? What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about building more shelters and going to the coast to open up fishing grounds," Melita said, "And in the process, I can't help but think of humans... On the continent of Loren, the humans I am responsible for contacting ."
"Cecile?" Noreta raised an eyebrow. "It's true. The situation we are now really makes you think of them back then. Everything is rebuilt in the same ruins, the same refugee situation... But today's Tal Lund is far more sinister than the Dark Mountains, and the survival challenges we have to face far exceed those of humans."
"Correspondingly, we are far stronger than those humans, don't we?" Melita looked at her friend, "Although we lost the implant, the synergist, and the factory and The entire social system...but only with fangs and claws, dragons are still quite powerful creatures."
Hearing these words, Noretta fell silent, and only spoke a moment later, her tone seemed very complicated: "Yes, only with fangs and claws, the dragons are still quite powerful... So before we find you, Kara and I Dole and Elder Duke Moore discussed this before. Do you know what my worst association is?"
"Your worst association?" Melita asked curiously, "What is it?"
"Remember those stories?" Noretta looked in the direction of the camp, focusing on the dragons who were using recycled waste materials to repair equipment and melting steel with dragon's breath to weld the separation wall. "Those old-fashioned hero adventures Stories, poems and poems called the'classical dark side system'."
"...Dragons wreak havoc in the human world, occupying castles and towers, plundering treasures, kidnapping princesses and princes, accepting offerings from the king... something?" Some pictures appeared in Melita's mind, she realized What Noretta said, the expression on her face suddenly became weird, "Are you thinking too much?"
"Now it seems that I am thinking too much. The first thing that everyone thinks of after waking up in this wasteland is to rebuild their homes and rescue compatriots, but whenever it calms down, I still can't help but think about it." Noretta smiled and shook her head with a laugh, "This wasteland is so huge, and there are many survivors blocked by the ruins on the vast ground, and they...maybe not as hopeful as here. When they Hungry enough, when they realize that the temple agency and the panel that used to approve departure permits no longer exist... How long do you think it will take them to think that the warmer human world has much richer food than here? There is no radiation, cold wind, or wandering elementals."
Melita really never thought about this, and after listening to Noreta's words, she fell silent soon after she was shocked. She was silent for half a minute before suddenly saying: "...We cannot degenerate into Beasts-we are a civilized and rational race, how can we..."
"Our civilization is gone, and'decent' and'prudence' will eventually give way to reality-even if we are dragons," Noretta said word by word, "Of course, most of us will choose Facing this wasteland with pride, there may be a few... even if it is a very small part, they may choose the despicable path."
"...They will not be greeted by the swords and bows of the adventurers, but more likely are the Arcane Missile Anti-aircraft Cannon of Cecil Northern Frontier and the laser array of the Typhons," Melita shook her head, "Those The old-fashioned stories are just stories, and human beings are not as weak and deceptive as the stories. They used to be far weaker than Talrond, but today... not necessarily."
"But it is undeniable that the desperate dragon clan after losing the social **** is still a very big hidden danger. Our innate strength is too strong, and the starting point of most mortals in this season of civilization is too weak," Noreta sighed. " That’s why we have to find a way-we can’t let the proud race fall into such a dark and contemptible state, and the most urgent thing we can do at the moment is to bring something to other survivors who may exist in the wilderness. hope."
"Bring a little hope?" Melita repeated subconsciously.
"The idea you put forward is really great," Noretta laughed suddenly in the dim light of the evening. "Perhaps you don't even realize how great it is."
"My idea?" Melita was taken aback for a moment before reacting, "Oh, you mean lighting a flame? In fact, I was just a whim... After all, I have been active in the human world for so long."
Noretta still kept smiling, and looked back at the tallest abandoned tower post in the southwest corner of the camp: "Master Balogall is about to light the flames-it is said that he repaired a pressurized dug out of the ruins. Device, the fire that that thing spit out is enough to span the entire plain..."
Melita also subconsciously cast her gaze over, in the dim sky, in the most primitive and natural vision without any additional filters and visual enhancement systems, she saw the tall tower, the top of the tower There was a vague shadow trembling on the platform, and there was an occasional sparkle.
She blinked, trying to see more clearly, and at this moment, the skyrocketing fire suddenly tore the dim dusk with a burst of pressurized roar!
A huge pillar of flame rose up, piercing the turbid and dim sky above the ruins of Argundor as if penetrating through the world, and the bright light could be seen across the plain as Noretta said.
Many dragons in the camp were taken aback by the fire, and raised their heads to look in the direction of the tower post. Even the dragons who were already somewhat delirious who were being tortured by the synergist backlash. Attracted attention for a while.
Melita's lavender eyes reflected the flames rising from the camp, she was a little surprised, and it took a few seconds to remove her eyes.
She looked outside the camp, her gaze sweeping across the dim plain covered by foul clouds.
The undulating scorched earth, the ferocious torn city ruins, the molten and twisted steel remains, everything is shrouded in tranquility and darkness.
What rose from the Ruins of Agundor was actually the only light in the world.
Melita stood on a high platform and looked into the distance. After looking at it for a long time, she didn't find anything. She finally sighed with regret, and Noretta said softly, "Perhaps they haven't seen it yet, or they The signal was sent but we can’t..."
A faint fireball suddenly appeared in the sights of Merita and Noreta. It rose from the end of the horizon and disappeared in the sky after only a short time, but a few seconds later, there was another same group. Flames rose in the same place.
Noretta could not say the rest of her words. She and Melita opened their eyes together, and just a few seconds later, a new light appeared in their vision-the light came from another direction, yes A bolt of lightning, obviously made by magic.
Immediately afterwards, there are the third and fourth signals.
Either the faint breath of dragon flame, or a bright lightning, or just a smoke that suddenly rose from the ruins, they seemed to respond to the flames of Agundor, rising from all over the barren and scorched plain. Get up, big and small, far and near.
One of the most recent signals was even near the camp.
Melita's eyes opened wide--
In the gloomy sky, these faint rays of light shone like stars.