www.biquge.info The sunset slowly crosses the edge of the sky, the golden light looks so beautiful and lazy through the clouds, and occasionally a flock of birds in a hurry to return home chirps and spreads their wings high over the smoky villages around the city, which is more relaxed and comfortable to embellish the natural beauty in front of you

But at such a time, there were still hundreds of people standing in the dark outside the gates of Stormwind City, including nobles of noble status, fearless generals, and prime ministers with swords......

But at this moment, without exception, they bowed slightly, habitually lowered their usually high heads, and waited quietly, waiting for the last words of the old man who was about to die not far in front of them......

Even if they had been standing here for more than half a day, no one showed any dissatisfaction or reluctance, after all, the old man in front of them had almost done what no ruler or emperor had done since the birth of the mainland

Under Leo's leadership, the empire showed true prosperity and prosperity in all aspects, and after more than a decade of wars and expansion, the territory of the Pander Empire expanded from the original to a terrifying range, and the once inaccessible wastelands, snow-capped mountains, rainforests, and capes are now full of human cities

The commoners, who had been exploited by the aristocracy and were barely able to survive, now had access to far more means of production than before, seeds from the earth's finest crops were widely spread and cultivated, and advances in equipment and technology combined with advances in animal husbandry had at least allowed the hard-working people to have enough to eat, but the added value of this was the rapid growth of the population of the entire empire

After finally defeating the demons, the Imperial Army has also developed further under Leo's attention, in addition to the dozens of Punishment Knights who are the most powerful in the primordial, the Punishment Knights directly under the Empire have now expanded to a terrifying number of 25,000 people, and in addition, the number of Imperial Defense Forces reorganized with the backbone of Champion Swordsmen, Storm Wings, and Savage Force has reached as many as one million, and they are suppressing the national fortunes of the entire Empire together with several other legendary knights

In the face of such a strong and united country, this is perhaps the saddest age for all ambitions......

In addition to these, Léo also carried out drastic changes in his rule, first abolishing the aristocratic senate system, which occupied the most important position in the central decision-making level, and re-establishing and improving the cabinet system, so that the king could get rid of cumbersome affairs and strengthen the efficiency of administration

At the same time, Leo invested a lot of money in spite of his opposition, and established countless academies and military academies in the Empire, and the soul from Earth made him know better than everyone what the ultimate outcome of the policy of blindly ignoring the people was, and the consequences of the education of a large number of civilians made the foundation of the empire of the pyramid structure more solid

On the social front, Leo abolished most of the disgusting privileges of the nobility, reclaimed the judicial, tax, and levy rights of the nobles' fiefdoms, and while strengthening the centralization of power, he unified weights and measures, writing, and language, and reclassified all the books that had ever existed on the continent

And so on and so forth, but in general this is an exciting time, an era in which humanity begins to change radically, begins to reassert itself, begins to open up outward, and all kinds of ideas begin to sprout

The first few decades of the Pender Empire, affectionately referred to the first decades of Pande's rule as the "Golden Age" in gratitude to their king, and among the bards, the worship of Leo was on par with that of the legendary ancient gods

********************

Some affection, even some jealousy, let go of Alex's youthful and energetic arm, and Leo waved his hand to signal the second prince, who had not yet recovered from his unnatural will, to return to his mother

Turning slowly, his rickety back could no longer see the spirit of the past, and with the careful support of Keith, Leo staggered towards his high-spirited statue

"Case ......"

"Yes, I'm listening to my lord"

"Are you scared and regretful? Soon you and everyone else will follow me to the end of your life? It's been twenty years...... I still can't forget the look of fear and despair in the eyes of those Noldor elves as they slowly disappeared into the void after Ardalian's death......"

"No, on the contrary, my lord, I'm glad we can finally see those old friends again, whether it's Finn, Anthony, or that arrogant and obnoxious elf, who has kept me awake every night all these years."

……

After being silent for a long time, standing quietly under the statue, Leo seemed to have a thousand words but finally only spit out a simple sentence

"I'm sorry my friend, but I've made you pay too much over the years......"

"It's my pleasure, ...... my lordship"

As if sensing that something was about to happen, Keith reluctantly let go of the palm he was holding, and knelt down on one knee facing Leo with one hand holding the helmet extremely solemnly, and the once strong and cheerful man couldn't even suppress the tremor of his body at this moment

Raising his head, facing the sunset that was about to fall into darkness, Leo used all his strength to open his arms, just as he had when he first landed in Stormwind City, his withered white hair rising high with the breeze, as unyielding and high-spirited as ever

"I did it, I did it! I choose to stay here, I choose not to return to Earth, I break free from all the shackles you have imposed on me, and at the end of your game, even in the face of your terrifying godlike power, I am still the victor! ”

A dull thunder swept across the dim sky with Leo's almost frantic roar, and an unpredictable sigh seemed faintly heard from the distant and untouchable sky

With this sigh, the sunset, which struggled to fall, finally disappeared under the horizon, and darkness descended......

One minute, two minutes, ten minutes......

When Elena was the first to notice that something was wrong with Leo, who was still maintaining this movement, the remaining fifty or so punishment knights had already dismounted and knelt down on one knee at the same time

Keith, who had begun to be covered in tiny golden particles and his body was gathered apart, hugged Leo's already cold and stiff legs tightly with his arms, and roared with a trembling cry

"Adult !!!!"

The sound was like thunder on the ground, so that the crowd not far away could no longer be suppressed, and the desperate cry instantly occupied the entire sky, and Elena, whose face was pale and without a trace of blood, could no longer support it, and fainted softly in the arms of the eldest prince

In the chaos and screaming, something that made people feel even more terrible happened, dozens of knights of the Punishment Knights led by Keith began to disappear at the same time, their bodies were like lenses broken to the extreme, constantly turning into golden dust, slowly dissipating in the air, beautiful and intoxicating, beautiful as a summer flower......

In the 57th year of the new calendar of the Pende Empire, His Majesty Léo Chang I, the founding emperor of the empire and the great ruler and powerful knight, collapsed in Stormwind City at the age of 87

His Majesty's life is full of legends, full of countless secrets that will be worth exploring for posterity, and he and his companions are enough to become eternal legends......

At the same time, somewhere across countless star systems, a being sighed heavily, muttering to himself

"The Chosen One, your stubbornness makes me hate...... But...... But it also made me admire, and for the first time I wanted to do something for the sake of a small human being......"

It seemed that after a long period of hard thinking, the being retracted its hesitation and opened its starry eyes

"In that case, for the sake of your pride, and to make up for my mistakes in the game, let me give this land a chance to go to a higher level......"

He opened his palm and pressed it down gently

"It's just a chance, human, to see if you can seize this amazing race, maybe this is what I'm most looking forward to after 10,000 years of sleep in the future......"