Terra 768, June 23, twelve noon.

As the church bells rang in the city center, another drizzle fell, filling the heavens and the earth with rains like fine velvet.

The sun's brilliance did not diminish in the slightest, and the rain clouds parted and cracked, and the beams of light like a ladder of sharp swords fell down one after another on the earth and the sea, staggering and shining.

On the coastal street, in the courtyard of a single-family stone house, a little boy with white hair is squatting in the corner of the yard, watching the ants with great interest.

The boy was about three or four years old, with short, silky white shoulder-length hair, and purple eyes staring at the insects crawling on the ground, the corners of his mouth curled up, and he looked very happy.

The boy's ears are slightly pointed, which is a characteristic of elves, but if he has to say, he is a pure-blooded white people in a sense.

On the continent of Terra, there are many tribes. The people of chalk, the people of the red sand, the people of gold, the people of black iron, the elves, the dwarves, the sea and the subhumans, the halflings and the wormmen...... If you have to count them one by one, and then count the branches under each big clan, I'm afraid it's enough to produce a book.

However, no matter who it is, whether it is an orc or an elf, a worm or a golden people, all races can intermarry and give birth to offspring that can have normal children.

However, the offspring of different races cannot give birth to mixed blood in the true sense of the word, but only pure blood with some of the characteristics of another race.

Even, there will be a strange situation where the subhumans marry the people of iron and give birth to twins, the elder brother has animal ears, and the younger brother is the people of iron.

According to scholars' research, the ancestors of the tribes can even be traced back to almost the same group of ancestors, and the first ancestors called 'proto-humans' are the common ancestors of the Terra tribes and even the pre-era civilization.

The boy stared intently at the ants, even when it was raining lightly.

Grass ants in the Bison Mountains are smaller than the average land ant, less than a centimeter long, and they are generally not found in cities, where there is no leaf decay for them to 'cultivate'.

They feed on fungi, the rotten leaves of plants and trees are their natural farmland, it is said that in the underground of some deep mountains and old forests, there will be huge cities of grass ants, where there will be extremely rare spiritual fungal flora, the value is far better than royal jelly, is the best nutrition.

But even then, the occasional colony of grass ants in the city – perhaps the edge of the huge city has spread to the area, or a colony of immigrants has decided to make a home here, and in any case, it's a big enough story, a legendary epic.

It's just that ordinary people can't see it, and they won't pay attention. Adults tend to think about things that are too big and ethereal, and children are always keen to find these small pleasures.

"Ants, hardworking, cute."

Muttering in a low voice, the boy did not touch the grass ants, not because his brother had told him, but simply because he did not want to disturb the lives of these little creatures.

In this way, in the drizzle, the boy quietly watched as the ants carried the leaves and the cut weeds into the hole not far away.

Between the clouds and the light, there was the sound of slow footsteps, and then stopped.

Boom, boom, boom.

A figure stood by the courtyard, the sound of iron boots crashing against the stone path stopped, and a man looked at the young child with interest.

The man was dressed in black full-body armor, the edges of which were drawn with golden-red lines, the bright eyes of the sun were inscribed on the shoulders of both arms, and the helmet with the same emblem on his forehead was held in his arms, revealing a handsome face.

The man with pure black seaweed-like hair squinted at the boy, who was also engrossed in the ants.

"Kid."

After a while, making sure that the child was indeed engrossed in observing the ants, and did not even notice that the man who had arrived was approaching the courtyard, he crouched down and said through the wooden railing, which was indistinguishable from the non-distinguishing one, "Are you looking at the ants?" ”

"Uh-huh."

Sensing that someone was talking to him, the purple-eyed boy responded with a big smile, and he said happily, "Ant, very responsible!" Admire, cute! ”

“…… Is that so? ”

Noticing the child's peculiar way of speaking, the man lowered his eyes and said thoughtfully: "But all the actions of the ants are under the orders of the empress, and it is not so much responsibility as blind loyalty." ”

"Is it really cute to work all day long, without a mind of its own, without a dream of its own, such a purposeless creature that exists only for the continuation of the empress and the group?"

The boy obviously didn't fully understand this, but he thought about it and said seriously: "Loyal, and cute!" ”

"And ......"

Then, he looked at the ants and smiled slightly: "The ants don't have them, I do!" ”

"Haha, what are you comparing to ants?"

The man smiled dumbly: "Really...... Are you so young, do you know what thoughts and dreams are? ”

Instead of laughing, he sat down cross-legged in the rain like a very bored man, and patiently asked, "What is your dream?" ”

He just wanted to admire the child's distressed or slurred speech, but he didn't think about it, the boy actually thought about it seriously, and then gave an answer.

"Change, stutter."

The pointed ears trembled slightly, and the boy raised his fingers with a serious expression and counted them one by one: "Learn, math." ”

"Help, brother."

"Older, take care, uncle."

"Become, big shot!"

"Like, it's gone...... That's right! And also! My brother said......"

The man was just going to listen to the excitement at first, but the expression behind him became more and more serious, and the boy was still wrenching his fingers happily: "Let Nanling, peace!" ”

"Go everywhere and look at the stars!"

"Together, eat a lot, a lot of meat!"

"Build a flyable, oversized ship!"

Several times, the man tried to speak, 'Enough' - he already knew very well that the child might have a stutter, but he was actually very smart, and even if he didn't understand, he could say so many concepts that it was enough to prove that the other person's thinking skills were not ignorant and childish.

But he remained silent as he listened to the toddler's cheerful count to ten: "Finally! At last! ”

"Let's go together, the end of the world!"

"Hmm!" Nodding his head thoughtfully, the boy was very happy: "This is, wish." Brother, tell me! ”

“…… Very clear, very clear and very enthusiastic. ”

"Your brother is a good brother. You're nice too. ”

Standing up slowly, the man raised his head in silence and stared at the blue South China Sea in the distance.

His gaze went straight to the bottom of the distant deep sea, the deep shadows, and then shook his head slightly: "It's a pity...... I didn't dare to look forward to it. ”

Raising his head, the man looked at the clouds in the sky, then stretched out his hand, touched the white-haired boy's head, and urged: "Go back to the room quickly, the rain will become heavier soon." ”

As soon as the words fell, a bolt of lightning pulled a fork in the sky, thunder exploded, and the rain became heavier.

"Uh-huh! Brother, I also said it. ”

Seeing that the rain was heavy, the boy also got up, and he waved goodbye to the man who was also smiling and waving goodbye! "Goodbye! I don't know, big brother. ”

"Goodbye. You should call uncle. ”

The man smiled and watched as the boy trotted all the way back to his home.

He froze where he was, and the smile on the man's face slowly faded and became expressionless in the torrential rain.

Standing in silence, he thought for a long time, then crouched down and looked at the ants on the ground.

The torrential rain broke up the grass ant team.

Some returned to the cave early, some drowned, some were swept apart, and some were desperately rippling in the impact of the current.

Those ants who had been saved a long time ago naturally disappeared, and those who had long since died were washed away.

Those who can be seen are still struggling.

"Hey ......"

He stretched out his hand and pinched one from among the ants that had been submerged in the current, and the man looked at the grass ant that kept waving its antennae and forelimbs, opening and closing its mouthparts, and whispered to himself, "We are very similar, aren't we?" ”

He crushed the ant and tasted it.

"Bitter."

The man stood up, and he put his helmet back on.

The envoy of the empire stepped away, and the sound of heavy footsteps sounded again.

This time, he was heading in the city center, where Viscount Grant's Mansion was located.

"I'm back...... Elan, you didn't stupidly look at ants in the rain today, did you? ”

In the evening, after returning from Elder Pudd's make-up lessons, Ian heard a cheer and saw a white shadow rush into his arms.

Ian's body shook slightly, and he defused the strength of his brother's charge - although he was only ten years old and his body had not yet grown, under Hilliard's two years of high-intensity training, even a wild boar's charge could completely dissipate his strength, let alone a four-year-old Terra cub?

"No, I'm good!"

"Oh? Well, that's good. ”

Rubbing his head against his brother, Ellan said cheerfully, while Ian quietly reached out and touched his brother's hair and clothes. Well, it's not very wet, and it's estimated that it will only take a while to get really drenched.

Although the Terrans didn't care about the light rain, it was almost impossible for them to catch a cold...... But what if? There are no antibiotics and fever reducers in this world.

"Go play by yourself, and when you're done eating, I'll continue to teach you literacy and arithmetic."

Patting his brother on the head, Ian motioned for Ellan to continue taking care of the potted plants in his room—strange to say, Ellan liked to watch the ants and the grass sprout, and he could stare at a grass all afternoon without moving the nest.

Originally, Ian thought that this was probably a kind of sequelae of sleeping powder, but after listening to Hilliard's prompt and thinking of the 'elven bloodline', the boy couldn't help but have some understanding.

- I know everything, elves.

Although in this inexplicable Terra continent with super monsters and ether weapons, per capita genetic modifiers, he still doesn't know what the elves are, but now it seems that it is not outrageous.

Since Ellan likes it, Ian will go with him, especially after he realizes that this happy mood can more or less cure some of Elan's perceptual disorders.

Especially this little guy sings quite well, much better than him.

"The teacher has also been working hard recently, and after the camouflage work is over, he will go directly to the open sea to investigate."

After estimating for a while, Ian planned to cook, and he felt that there was a high probability that there was no need to prepare Hilliard's share today, and the other party would definitely come back the next morning after solving it outside.

But after thinking about it, he still shook his head: "Forget it, leave a few meat sandwich wheat cakes, it's a pity that you can't bake bread at home, otherwise it's really easy to make a cod castle." ”

Thinking so, Ian's eyes lit up with a watery glow.

It's a daily routine - he comes back every day and habitually uses his psionic energy to scout his surroundings, which is both cautious and practicable, and there has not been a single break in the past two years.

Ian had thought that today was the same as every day in the past, that life was like that, day after day, no different, and nothing commendable about the anomaly.

However, the boy who was about to chop the meat suddenly stopped the movement in his hand.

He frowned, turned his head sideways, and looked in his brother's direction.

Ian's eyes flashed with a warm pale cyan aura, like glowing fireflies in the not bright room.

And now, the fireflies are reflected in extraordinary colors.

"It's broken."

He muttered to himself in his heart: "I haven't seen it for two years, the blood-colored mist ......"

"And, a new dark purple mist?"