The Arctic ice is still cold, but the eternal Great Barrier of Talrond remains as warm and comfortable as ever.

Melita Pernia awoke from her large, soft bed, her lilac eyes reflecting the familiar bedroom roof, and she froze for a few minutes before blinking, taking a deep breath, and stretching.

"I slept at home for the first time in a long time......"

Miss Lanlong muttered in a low voice, lazily lying on the bed and waving her hand to the side, the sensor device set up in the room immediately received the instruction, the sloping roof on the side of the bedroom opened silently, and the sky light spilled into the room through the transparent polymer shell, dispelling the red dimness of the room, and the various devices in the bedroom were also activated one by one, and a low humming sound came from all around.

A transparent polymer curtain hung from one of the walls facing the bed, on which a shimmering ring image emerged, the edges of which vibrated in a pleasant mechanical synthesized sound: "Good afternoon, Melita Pernia." ”

"Good afternoon, Omega......" Melita replied vaguely as she rubbed her eyes and yawned, "Huh?" Afternoon?! ”

"Yes, you've been sleeping for eighteen hours – rest assured, this is normal, your body needs to repair, especially the nervous system, and more sleep will ensure that your nervous system heals as quickly as possible."

"But I made an appointment to meet with Speaker Andal today," Melita exclaimed, "he's going to kill me!!" ”

"Rest assured, no, Speaker Andal will only deduct your second-class field allowance for this month - no need to worry, it has already been deducted."

“…… Damn, I should have you set an alarm! Arcane missiles and fireblasts are the kind of face-slapping! Melita tugged at her hair before jumping out of bed in frustration, "Well, it's time anyway...... Prepare a letter of apology for me and make a new appointment. And other than this bad news, is there nothing good? ”

"Your heart has been recalibrated and the spinal implants are ready to be installed."

"Well, that's kind of good news," Melita shook her head and walked to the bedroom door in her nightdress, "take me to the workshop...... By the way, help me prepare two units of 'Dream Synergist'. ”

"We'll be happy to serve you, Melita."

The elevator in the dragon's lair moved silently and quickly, transporting Melita from the Humanoid Abode bedroom to her lair at the top of the hill in just half a minute.

After stepping out of the elevator, Melita enters a large hemispherical hall, a large interior space that has been remodeled from a natural mountain structure, and the lower part of which can be seen with a large and evenly cut rock barrier with a large number of polymer supports and cable pipes, and the upper part is a tightly closed alloy dome.

The hall was large and empty, but it was surrounded by a large number of mechanical devices and golden columns depicting intricate and ornate patterns, three of which were now active, and the flowing light flickered on its surface, and it was faintly visible that something was hidden within the columns.

This is Melita's "Dragon's Lair", a nest that she has spent thousands of years building earnestly, and compared to the "extremely ornate and exquisite" style that most dragons of this era admire, her lair seems a little simpler, but in fact, the decoration style here is not always like this-

She has also installed ornate domes full of reliefs, used palace-style arches and pillars, piled gold and silver jewels here (though some of them are glass and artificial polymers to make up the numbers), slept on huge treasure chests, and even filled the dome-high bookshelves filled with model books from the thrift market......

Now, she has renovated it in the style of the "classical workshop" that was popular in Tallund 10,000 years ago.

She is a dragon who loves change and is keen on independent style.

Melita reached the center of the rotunda and stretched out her arms, a brilliant magical halo immediately enveloped her, her body rapidly enlarged in the light, and transformed into the form of a dragon, while the three ornate pillars at the edge of the hall that shimmered moved silently to her side, the alloy shell on the surface of the pillars slowly opening with a hissing sound.

Inside were large tubular crystal containers, filled with thinly colored liquids, two of which were soaked in huge hearts made of biological tissue, bionic skin, polymer tubes, and intricate mechanical pumps, and in the other there was a sparkling metallic vertebrae, connected by a large number of cables and glittering runes.

A string of bubbles gurgled from the container, and the metal spine spun half in a circle, revealing two lines of clear and sharp steel stamped letters on its back—

"The Soul in the Machine Is Still Free"

"Gomodo Implant Company's Design Patent Infringement Must Be Investigated"

The magical glow faded, and Melita opened her eyes in the dissipating light—she had become a dragon.

Looking at the two huge hearts soaked in the container, the huge blue dragon shook its neck and made a rumbling sound: "I heard that Bacbaatar has launched a new auxiliary heart, beautiful and handsome......"

"Pursuing these things too much won't help improve your financial situation," Omega's voice echoed through the hall, "and there is no essential difference in the performance of the old and new heart-assist models - the beautiful bionic skin doesn't make any sense on the built-in implants." Maybe...... Are you planning to swap out the scales near your chest for transparent polymers? ”

"Forget it, no money," Melita sighed, "Let's start the implant process and make me happy......"

The mechanical devices on standby throughout the hall immediately began to operate, and a large number of robots cooperated to the side of the blue dragon Melita, and began to disassemble the scales and internal protective layers that belonged to the mechanical structure, and her chest cavity was opened, revealing a cavity filled with temporary buffers, and her back was opened, revealing the temporary nerve connectors and fluid circulation pumps inside......

The heart is put back in place, the spine is repaired to its original state, and the pre-prepared synergist is injected into the circulating pump, allowing these organ parts that have been activated from dormancy to work happily in a short time.

The synergist began to have an effect on her nervous system, and Melita felt her thoughts gradually spread, and she began to have uncontrollable thoughts, her huge eyes staring into the air, and the focus of her gaze seemed to be an Omega interface phantom.

But she knew that it was just an illusion generated by her nervous system - there was no omega visual medium here, and what she saw was actually an illusion created by the nerve stimulation of the resonant core nucleus in her skull.

The resonant core that accompanies every dragon throughout their lives, the neural interaction system that connects all the citizens of Tallrond, the super artificial intelligence that affects the entire dragon kingdom and controls the operation of the entire Tallrond...... Omega is here, and it's controlling every machine in this hall, controlling these nominally medical devices, but in fact ready to kill them.

It was performing the most delicate implant surgery on her, and her heart, her central nervous system, was unguarded in the hands of this artificial intelligence.

Melita shook her head, she knew it was a synergist that was affecting her judgment, but she still couldn't control her thoughts from wandering around.

"Please try not to move," Omega's emotionless voice came from all directions, the probes of those surgical machines flashing a faint red light, "I'm closing the protective layer of your spine. ”

"Omega...... Where are you? Melita let out a muffled grunt.

"I'm in Tallund, I'm in the depths of the Dragon Realm, and I'm here, in your presence, Melita Pernia." Omega's voice responds as immediately as ever, while the glowing red probes and moving manipulators are silently performing precise surgeries.

"You say...... Are you the true ruler of Tallund? I mean, the part outside of theocracy ......"

"Omega is the servant of Talrond, and the purpose of my birth is only to serve you, to govern this continent, just to fulfill the mission of service."

"yes...... "Melita, she felt like she was about to fall asleep, but muttered under her breath, "Omega, say that...... You're pretty loyal......"

"Omega is loyal to Talrond," the artificial intelligence's voice echoed calmly through the hall, burrowing into Melita's already asleep mind, "Omega is loyal to the dragons, absolutely loyal, always loyal ......"

……

The High Dragon Priestess Herager walked through the splendid and vast golden temple, and in this sacred and solemn temple, only his own footsteps echoed.

This middle-aged man "man" who was closest to God walked down the long hall, through the wide hall, to the high Holy See.

A woman in a pale golden dress, with blond hair hanging down to the ground, and a bright and graceful face, sat a little lazily on the holy seat, and glanced down at the dragon priest who came to her.

Hragor bowed his head respectfully: "My lord, what have you called me?" ”

"Lately, I've felt the dragons' hearts drift a little," the graceful blonde woman whispered, her tone gentle and her expression equally kind and kind, "Heragere, my High Priest, do you know what's going on?" ”

Hragor kept his head bowed, his expression unchanged—though he knew that he couldn't hide anything from the eyes of the god in front of him.

"The dragons seem to be rejoicing at the changing times." He said respectfully.

"Are times changing...... Oh, it turned out to refer to the continent across the Eternal Storm," the dragon god smiled slightly, looking interested, "another season of civilization...... Round after round, and again and again...... Looks like you're not bored yet. ”

"There will always be young dragons who will be curious about the outside world, my lord."

"Curiosity, and anticipation, isn't it?" The dragon god looked down at the High Priests, "Do you have the same expectations as them?" ”

"My lord, I am loyal to you," said Hragore calmly, in an unwavering tone, "absolutely loyal, always loyal." ”

The dragon god narrowed his eyes slightly: "Absolute loyalty...... Always be loyal, ah, the 'omega' you created often says that to you, doesn't it? ”

She didn't get a response from the High Priest, but she didn't seem to care about it.

The deity who had descended into the world simply slowly rose from his chair, his long skirt swaying to the ground, and strolled past Hragor.

"To be honest, sometimes I really want to get in touch with the 'omega' that you created, the creature that has no heart......

"But forget it, children's toys, leave them to the children.

"Isn't it? Hlagor. ”

Hragor prostrate himself on the ground, his forehead pressed against the ground where the dragon god walked: "Yes, my lord. ”

……

Cecil Empire, South.

Maggie sat in the warmth of her room, looking through the crystal glass windows and watching the bustling streets of Cecil City.

This is the "dormitory" assigned to her by the Magic Technology Research Institute, but it is said to be a dormitory, but it is actually a comfortable, warm, and fully functional independent house.

Compared to the old castles that have a cold and hard feel, these new houses in Cecil are extra comfortable to live in.

It was a sunny day, there was no cold wind, there were a lot of pedestrians on the street, and there were many passers-by dressed in foreign clothes who looked curious about the city, Maggie looked to the end of the street, and at the end of the line of sight, she could see the tall spires and walls of the Imperial College standing in the distance.

More and more people are coming to Cecil this winter, from all over the empire, even from the neighboring tribal states of Oguray, and from friendly city-states in the north.

This uncanny city with a new order seems to be becoming a kind of "center", and the proliferation of Cecil's merchants and the magical artifacts sold by the merchants are sparing no effort to spread the city's message everywhere, and even in the winter when it is difficult to travel long distances, the city still attracts countless outsiders - nobles who can travel far and wide, transcendents who are curious about new knowledge, and students who have received royal patronage.

Maggie had never seen anything like it, but she couldn't help but think of the legendary country that had become history, and the Gondor Empire, which was once the center of civilization on the continent - it is said that the capital of the Gondor Emperor was also a magnet for scholars from all over the continent and visitors of all races.

Maggie left the window, sat down at her desk, pulled out a piece of letterhead, and began to write a letter to a distant friend.

For a moment she thought she couldn't write to that place anymore.

"Sugina, my friend, may surprise you to receive this letter—if it reaches you exactly as far as it crosses that far and across the breathtaking cliffs of the Holy Dragon Principality, but I have decided to trust the venerable messengers and trust that they will bring my news to you, as well as to the other friends who remain in the Holy Dragon Principality.

"Sugina, do you remember your dream of flying?

"I'm in an incredible place right now......"

Wonderful Book House