On the northern edge of the Loren continent, the new port city of Northport is already taking shape, and while it will be some time before it becomes a truly thriving transportation hub, this important city with the most advanced technology of the empire, supported by vast resources and manpower, is now showing some of its future glory.

Along the long coastline, a straight and wide harbor avenue runs from east to west, a pier made of reinforced concrete with a permanent magic enchantment extends from the dock area to the north, all the way straight into the sea, and a large number of wave-proof facilities are built on the shallow offshore waters, forming a wide ruler-shaped embankment outside the harbor, and a large number of rune-topped minarets peeking out of the sea water on both sides of the embankment, and the sea in the harbor is further calmed as far as the rune shines through.

These are all techniques from the Kraken or Naga - if it were to be studied by the humans themselves, it is unknown how long it would take the magicians and craftsmen responsible for the construction of the North Harbor to explore from scratch.

On the other side of the harbor is the urban complex of the North Port, which is located in the northernmost part of the human kingdom, and in addition to the roads that extend in all directions and are wider and straighter than ordinary cities, the most important feature of this "border city" in the northernmost part of the human kingdom is the tall towers scattered throughout the city. Towering between the buildings, these towers are covered with shimmering runic cladding, a large number of metal pipes extending from the towers, connected to the massive magic devices at the top, extending to the surrounding city at the bottom, and the heat source factory at the base of the towers—these ubiquitous towers and pipes together form the city's ingenious and vast thermal network, and the most advanced and complex heating system in the Cecil Empire to date.

It is thanks to the existence of these thermal networks that human beings have been able to gain a foothold in this cold land.

Victoria Wilder, the "Duke of Ice", stood at the end of a wide trestle bridge, watching the direction of the waves in the sea breeze, and several Naga and Sirens stood beside her, one of whom was a beautiful Siren with long black hair and a tear mole in the corner of his eye, propped up his body with a long snake tail, looked back at the direction of the city, and said with some emotion: "It's developing so fast...... Thriving commerce is a source of vitality for a city......"

"Lady Kassandra, aren't your Kraken Kingdom's business activities thriving?" Victoria turned her head and looked at the black-haired Siren with some curiosity, "I don't think I hear you talk much about the Io continent. ”

"Siren Kingdom...... The situation in the Kraken Kingdom is different from that on the mainland," the black-haired Kraken known as Kassandra thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Of course we have commercial activities, but our social pace is much slower and commerce is not as active as it is on land - as you know, we came to this planet in a large spaceship, and for a long time, most of our social activities revolved around that ship and the few satellite towns around the crash landing site. Of course, this has changed a bit recently, and after the Naga became part of the Siren Realm, our society has gained a new vitality, but as a whole, we are still a slow-paced race.

"There's one more thing I need to correct you, Lady Victoria—even though our territory includes the continent of 'Io', more than ninety percent of the Krakens actually live on the seabed around the continent. We are only interested in the land because there are some mineral deposits on it, but it is still very unattractive compared to the abundance and bounty of the ocean. So if you're interested in the Krakens, you shouldn't inquire about the mainland, you should inquire about our deep sea. ”

"The abundance of the sea......," said Victoria in a thoughtful whisper, "our majesty has described the sea ...... so."

A gust of sea breeze blew, sending the chirping of distant seabirds, and Viola, the long-blue mid-sea witch with long blue hair, glanced up at the sky and interrupted the conversation between Victoria and Kassandra: "It's almost time, Kassandra. ”

The black-haired Kraken came back to his senses and glanced at the undulating waves outside the breakwater, and the long snake tail behind him slowly curled and stretched: "Eternal Storm...... I'm curious about what's going on down there. ”

Several Naga who were about to accompany them began to check the weapons and equipment they needed to carry, and Victoria nodded to Kassandra: "All in all, thank you very much for your willingness to help with this - to be honest, if you don't do it, it will be very difficult for us to investigate the situation of Eternal Storm right now." ”

"We're friends," the black-haired Kraken smiled and waved his hand, "and to be honest, we're interested in that area ourselves, but for years it's been so enveloped by a powerful energy field that we can't even swim into." Now that the storm has finally dissipated, it's a great opportunity to satisfy your curiosity. ”

As she spoke, the Siren Lady wagged her long tail and snaking towards the edge of the breakwater, followed by several Naga, and Victoria stood behind watching the special reconnaissance team that was ready to go to the northern seas to investigate the situation, until they watched them leap off the edge of the breakwater and disappear into the undulating waves.

"May they all the best," Viola, who remained on the embankment, withdrew her gaze to the sea, then waved her long tail slightly, and asked with some curiosity, "Then again, we've all started to officially investigate the situation of Eternal Storm, aren't General Byron and the 'Winter' returning yet?" ”

"The Bitter Winter is still on a cruise mission in the eastern seas, which is expected to last at least until the end of the recovery period," Victoria shook her head, "This kind of long-term mission is a very necessary test for a ship designed to carry out long-distance, long-term sea operations, and it is also an opportunity to verify the effectiveness of the Navy's training and gather a lot of experience in ocean voyages." ”

Listening to Victoria's explanation, Viola, the witch of the deep sea, showed a thoughtful expression, while Naga Rudolph, who was once a high-level storm priest on the side, couldn't help but mutter, "Is it just a training and testing mission?" ”

Victoria had no expression on her face: "...... At least that ship and our sailors really need to carry out training and testing tasks. ”

……

At the edge of the continent of Tallund during the polar day, only the cycle of dusk and day alternates, and the giant sun rises and falls on the horizon, making it difficult to tell the exact time of the day, Melita stands on a high platform on the edge of the camp, looking at the magnificent crown of the giant sun on the horizon, and it took a long time to vaguely judge that it should be "midnight" of the day.

She had rarely had time to rest since she woke up, but even then she wasn't much sleepy - the difficult situation and the countless compatriots in need were her biggest motivation at the moment, and compared to Calador, who had barely rested, she felt that she had recuperated long enough.

Footsteps came from behind her, and Melita looked back to see Noretta in human form walking up the platform.

"You're here," Noreta the White Dragon looked expectant, "and you can see pretty much the whole camp here - I love coming here too." ”

Noticing that Melita didn't speak for a while, and her face was full of preoccupation, Noretta sighed softly: "Are you still thinking about what was discussed in the meeting just now?" What exactly are you thinking? ”

"When you're thinking about building more shelters and going to the coast to open up fishing grounds," Melita said, "and you can't help but think of humans in the process...... On the continent of Loren, I am in charge of the humans I contact. ”

"Cecil?" Noretta raised her eyebrows, "That's right, our current situation is indeed very reminiscent of them back then. Rebuilding everything from the same ruins, the same refugee situation...... But Talrond is now far more hostile than the Dark Mountains, and we face far more challenges to survive than the humans. ”

"Correspondingly, we're far more powerful than those humans, aren't we?" Melita looked at her friend, "Although we have lost the implant, we have lost the synergist, we have lost the factory and the whole social system...... But with their fangs and claws alone, dragons are still quite formidable creatures. ”

Hearing this, Norreta suddenly fell silent, and only spoke after a while, and her tone seemed to be very complicated: "Yes, with only fangs and claws, the dragon clan is still quite powerful...... So before I found you, I discussed this with Elder Calador and Elder Dukemore. Do you know what my worst association is? ”

"Your worst association?" Melita asked with some curiosity, "What is it?" ”

"Remember those stories?" Noretta looked in the direction of the camp and her gaze fell on the dragons who were using recycled waste materials to repair equipment and weld the wall with dragon's breath melting steel, "Those cliché heroic adventures, those that have been called the 'classical Darkside System' and poetry. ”

“…… Dragons wreak havoc on the human world, occupying castles and towers, plundering treasures, kidnapping princesses and princes, and receiving offerings from kings...... Something like that? Some images came to Melita's mind, and she realized what Noretta meant's words meant, and the expression on her face suddenly became strange, "Are you thinking too much?" ”

"Now it seems that I am thinking too much, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind after waking up in this wasteland is to rebuild their homes and save their compatriots, but whenever it is quiet, I still can't help but think about it," Noretta shook her head with a self-deprecating laugh, "This wasteland is so huge, and there are many survivors who are blocked by the ruins on the vast land, and they ...... Maybe it's not as promising as it is here. When they were hungry enough, when they realized that the temple bodies and the council that had been responsible for approving their departure permits were gone...... How long do you think it will take them to think that the warmer human world has much more abundant food than here? And there were no radiation, cold winds, or wandering elemental creatures. ”

Melita really didn't think about this, and after listening to Noretta's words, she quickly fell silent in shock, and remained silent for half a minute before suddenly saying, "...... We can't degenerate into beasts - we're a civilized and sane race, how can we ......"

"Our civilization is gone, and 'decency' and 'pride' will eventually give way to reality – even if we are dragons," Noretta said word for word, "Of course, most of us will choose to face this wasteland with pride, but maybe a few will ...... Even a small part of them may choose the despicable path. ”

“…… They will not be greeted by the adventurer's swords and bows, but more likely by the arcane missile anti-aircraft cannons of Cecil's northern frontier and the laser arrays of the Typhons," Melita shook her head, "Those clichéd stories are just stories, and humans are not as weak as they are. In the past, they may have been far weaker than Tarlund, but today...... Not necessarily. ”

"But there's no denying that the dragons who have fallen into despair after losing their social shackles are still a very big danger, our innate strength is too strong, and the starting point of most mortals in this season is too weak," Noretta sighed, "so we have to find a way - we can't let the proud race fall into such a dark and contemptible state, and what we can do now, and the most urgent thing we can do right now, is to give some hope to the other survivors who may exist in the wilderness." ”

"A little hope?" Melita subconsciously repeated.

"That's a great idea," Noretta burst into laughter in the dim twilight of the day, "and maybe you didn't even realize how great it was." ”

"My idea?" Melita was stunned for a moment before she reacted, "Oh, you mean lighting the flames?" Actually, I just had a whim...... After all, I've been active in the human world for so long. ”

Norreta still smiled, and glanced back at one of the tallest abandoned tower posts in the southwest corner of the camp: "Lord Baloger is about to light a fire - it is said that he repaired a pressurized device dug out of the rubble, and it spits out enough fire to cover the entire plain......"

Melita also subconsciously cast her gaze, in the dim skylight, in the most primitive and natural vision without any additional filters or visual enhancement systems, she saw the tall tower, the platform at the top of the tower had vague shadows shaking, and a little firelight occasionally shining.

She blinked, trying to see more clearly, and at that moment, the sky-high firelight suddenly tore through the dim twilight with a pressurized roar!

A great pillar of flame rose up, piercing the cloudy and dim sky above the ruins of Argondol as if through heaven and earth, and the bright light could be seen across the plain, as Norretta had spoken.

Many of the dragons in the camp were startled by the firelight and raised their heads to look in the direction of the tower whistle, and even the dragons who were already a little delirious who were suffering from the synergist backlash were immediately attracted to attention.

Melita's lilac eyes reflected the light of the fire rising from the camp, and she was a little surprised, and it took a few seconds to look away.

She looked out of the camp, her gaze sweeping over the dim plains covered in filthy clouds.

The undulating scorched earth, the hideously torn ruins of the city, the molten and twisted wreckage of steel, everything is shrouded in silence and darkness.

What rose from the ruined camp of Argondol was the only light in the world.

Melita stood on the high platform and looked into the distance, looking for a long time without finding anything, she finally sighed regretfully, and Noretta on the side said softly: "Maybe they haven't seen it yet, or maybe they gave a signal but we can......'t see it"

A faint ball of fire suddenly appeared in Melita and Noretta's line of sight, rising from the end of the horizon and dissipating into the sky for only a short time, only to rise in the same place a few seconds later.

Norreta couldn't say the rest of the words, her eyes widened with Melita's, and a few seconds later, a new light appeared in their field of vision—a bolt of lightning coming from the other direction, apparently made by magic.

This is followed by the third and fourth signals.

Whether it was a faint breath of dragon fire, or a bright bolt of lightning, or just a sudden cloud of smoke and dust rising from the ruins, they seemed to respond to the flames of Agondor and rose from all over the barren and scorched plains, large and small, far and near.

One of the most recent signals was even near the camp.

Melita's eyes were wide open—

In the dim and gloomy skylight, these faint lights shone like stars.