Chapter 8

Chapter 8

For the past few million years, I got really into ammonite collecting. I felt deeply moved by being able to see the sight of swimming ammonites, which were only able to be viewed as fossils in my distant memory of being human. In fact, I became so enthusiastic about them that the mermaids and dwarves collaborated to create a special ammonite aquarium inside of Mt. Dragonends.

If I had to say what exactly was fun about the ammonite aquarium, it would be that there was a crazy variety of ammonites. There was a large difference between ammonites found in the deep sea and those found in the shallows. The colour of their shell differed depending on the area of ocean they lived in and the number of feelers was also different. The shell could be clockwise or counterclockwise, and there were also triplet ammonites which had their three shells stuck together.

Of course, watching the palm-sized ammonites, that come to mind when ammonites are mentioned, form swarms as they drifted about was fun. I became so knowledgeable about ammonites that I could tell which era and period an ammonite was from just by looking at it.

And Sahela, who was dragged along for the ride, naturally became an ammonite expert.

Well, I must admit that even if I was told to give the ammonites food or clean their aquarium, I lacked the hands and legs to do so. I had no choice but to leave it to Sahela.

For a period of time, an ill-thought plan to surround Mt. Dragonends with ammonite aquariums started to advance, and Sahela gave a brain-dead OK to it without even trying to rebuke me. She worked to hasten its progress and it became a huge wreck. In the end, there was an error in how strong the aquarium was designed to be and the entire thing shattered, causing all the water to flow into the dwarven towns built in Mt. Dragonends underground. This led to a scandal where a large number of people almost drowned to death, and since then, the number of aquariums was narrowed down to twenty through careful selection, and particular attention was paid towards their maintenance.

Ever since that incident, heavy floods led to the mention of the gigantic ammonite aquarium disintegration case amongst the dwarves. Ive seen this sort of foolish story, over the course of many years, turn into myths millions of times before. How embarrassing.

In any case, because of that I wanted to make the few carefully selected elite ammonites that I kept into rare ammonites. As the ammonites that lived in the ocean tended to only inhabit brackish waters, I offered rewards for freshwater ammonites.

What that led to was the discovery of the dragon crystal.

The land was already covered in forests, and as elves could exist anywhere as long as there were forests, they boasted the highest population amongst the five races. After hearing that there was a reward for it, there were a large number of elves that searched for ammonites.

One of those elves was diving along the riverbed of a waterfall basin, searching for any hidden ammonites underneath the stones, when he found what appeared to be a large red crystal.

The dwarves had succeeded in manufacturing coloured glass since quite a long time ago, and it was exhibited in the public museum under the direct management of Mt. Dragonends, so they wouldve seen it as long as they had travelled to Mt. Dragonends at least once.

However, he managed to see through the fact that the red crystal that he found was not glass. Nor was it a large ruby or garnet. The elfs aesthetic sense was certain.

He sent the red crystal to the elves head, Alvin, who sensed a similar power to the Creators from it. And then, after Alvin delivered it to me, its existence came to light.

I knew from a single glance.

The red crystal was a mere ruins of what remained of a dragonit was a dragon crystal, so to speak.

The corpse mountain of dragons who once covered the entire world had been weathered down over the long course of time. Through pressure from the bedrock underground, they had turned into a mineral vein, and the changes in the Earths crust led to the vein appearing on the mountains surface of the rising mountain range. Then, it was whittled away by the water current and swept away to the riverbed.

We sent an investigation team and as expected, upstream of where the first dragon crystal was discovered, we found a large deposit of dragon crystals.

The dragon crystal was a beautiful, nostalgic, powerful, and somewhat sad jewel. Under the light of the sun it was a simple red gem, but when placed in the darkness the inside of the jewel appeared to flicker like a flame.

Then, since Haru was smart, she was wary of Sahela trying something out of curiosity, and thus came to flaunt Anemoi while Sahela was absent.

The weapon for the elfs head, Alvin, was a red wooden staff, [Aaron].

Finely ground dragon crystals were used as fertilizer to raise a large tree for 1000 years, which was then whittled into a staff. The tip of it had a polished, rare light pink dragon crystal that was nearly transparent fastened to it.

If you struck the ground with Aarons gem, even a barren desert can instantly change into a grassland overflowing with greenery, and if you hoist it up and give the order, plants will start to move obediently.

Thus, the symbols of the five races were decided.

The dwarfs hammer.

The mermaids spear.

The werewolfs claw.

The harpys harp.

The elfs staff.

Once the heads weapon was completed, naturally, the entire race started to carry things with the same design. Of course, they werent as refined as the heads weapons, but the design was the same.

There were elves walking around with hammers, and harpies swinging around spears, but that fundamentally did not change.

From what Ive heard, it appears that they were happy carrying the same objects as support, and found enjoyment in wearing matching clothing. Somehow, I understood. In the dwarven towns underneath Mt. Dragonends, the most popular thing in the souvenir shops was the [1/100000 scale Mt. Dragonends-kun figure] after all. In order to match my growth and the changes on my mountain face, about once every ten years they would update the figure, so there were many repeat buyers seeking out the new version of it.

Unexpectedly, even after the creation of special weapons using the dragon crystals spread, there were few people interested in putting the dragon crystals base pseudo-life creation ability to practical use.

Because it disappears, right? Its a counterfeit, right? -is the reason why.

Although I think its quite handy and interesting. While they are my children, I dont quite understand them.

A vast amount of dragon crystals was buried, so investigations of the deposits with the dwarves at the heart of it, were occurring.

During the process of the investigation, it was established that there was something occurring deep underground. Through the collision of continents, a portion of the bedrock had sunk into a collection of lava. Due to the recoil from that, it seems that a catastrophic eruption was due to occur.

And that would be the harbinger of yet another sudden change in Earths environment.