Chapter 1053 The Stars of Tarrond

On the northern edge of Loren Continent, the brand-new port city "North Port" has begun to take shape. Although it will take some time before it becomes a truly prosperous transportation hub, this important city that gathers the most advanced technology of the empire and is supported by a large amount of resources and manpower The city can now reveal some of its future glory.

Next to the long coastline, a straight and wide port avenue runs through the east and west. The trestle bridge made of reinforced concrete and enchanted with permanent magic extends northward from the dock area, all the way straight into the sea. The large-scale anti-wave facilities rely on the offshore shallow water It was built in the area, forming a wide folding ruler-shaped embankment outside the port, and a large number of spiers with runes inlaid on the top protruding from the sea water on both sides of the embankment. Where the runes shine, the sea surface in the port is covered Further calm.

These are all technologies from Kraken or Naga - if it is researched by humans themselves, it is not known how long it will take for the magicians and craftsmen responsible for the construction of Beigang to explore from scratch.

On the other side of the port is the urban complex of Beigang. In addition to the wide and straight roads extending in all directions and wider and straighter than ordinary cities, the biggest feature of this "border city" located in the northernmost of the human countries is that it is distributed in Towers all over the city. These tall towers stand between the buildings. Apart from the shimmering rune panels on their surfaces, there are also a large number of metal pipes extending from the towers. The upper ends of these pipes are connected to huge magic devices, and the lower ends extend to The surrounding urban area, as well as the heat source factory set on the base of the tower - these ubiquitous towers and pipelines together constitute the ingenious and huge heat network in Beigang City, and it is also the most advanced and complex building in the Cecil Empire so far. Heating system.

It is precisely because of the existence of these thermal network channels that human beings can gain a firm foothold in this cold land.

"Ice Duke" Victoria Wilde stood at the end of a wide trestle bridge, facing the sea breeze and watching the direction of the waves, several Naga and Siren stood beside her, one of them had long black hair and corners of his eyes The beautiful sea monster with a tear mole propped up its body with its long snake tail, looked back at the direction of the city, and said with some emotion: "The development is so fast... Prosperous business is indeed the source of vitality of a city..."

"Ms. Cassandra, isn't the commercial activity of your Siren Kingdom prosperous?" Victoria turned her head and looked at the black-haired Siren curiously, "I don't seem to hear you talk about the 'Io' continent very often. Happening."

"The Siren Kingdom...the situation in the Siren Kingdom is different from that on the mainland," the black-haired Siren named Cassandra thought for a while and said with a smile, "Of course we also have commercial activities, but our social rhythm more slowly, and less commercially active than 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 The ship and the few satellite cities around the forced landing site were launched. Of course, this situation has changed a bit recently. After Naga became part of the Kraken Kingdom, our society has gained new vitality, but on the whole, We're still a slow-paced bunch.

"There is one more point I need to correct you, Ms. Victoria - although our territory includes the continent of 'Io', more than 90% of the sea monsters actually live on the seabed around the continent. Our interest in land is only because There are still some mineral deposits on it, but compared with the rich and generous ocean, it is still very unattractive. So if you are interested in sea monsters, you should not inquire about the mainland, you should inquire about our deep sea."

"A rich and generous ocean..." Victoria whispered thoughtfully, "Our Majesty once described the sea in this way..."

A gust of sea breeze blew, sending the chirping of distant seabirds. Viola, the deep sea witch with blue mid-length hair, looked up at the sky and interrupted the conversation between Victoria and Cassandra: "It's about time. Yes, Cassandra."

The black-haired sea monster came back to his senses, glanced at the undulating waves outside the breakwater,

The long snake tail behind him slowly curled and stretched: "Eternal Storm... I'm really curious about what's going on under there."

The several Naga who were preparing to accompany them began to check the weapons and equipment they needed to carry, and Victoria nodded to Cassandra: "In short, thank you very much for your willingness to help with this - to be honest, if you don't take action, we would like to It is indeed very difficult to detect the situation of the eternal storm."

"We are friends, it's just a matter of little effort," the black-haired sea monster smiled and waved his hands, "And to be honest, we are also very interested in that sea area, but that place has been shrouded by a powerful energy field for many years. Even we couldn't swim through it. Now that the storm has finally cleared, this is a good opportunity to satisfy curiosity."

While speaking, the Siren Lady swung her long tail and walked towards the edge of the breakwater in a meandering manner. Several Naga followed closely behind. Victoria stood behind and watched the team prepare to go to the northern sea. The special reconnaissance team who investigated the situation, watched them jump down from the edge of the breakwater, and their figures disappeared in the vast and undulating waves.

"I wish them all the best," Viola who stayed on the embankment withdrew her gaze towards the sea, then slightly swayed her long tail behind her, and asked curiously, "Again, we are all starting to formally We have investigated the situation of the Eternal Storm, aren't General Byron and the 'Bitter Winter' returning yet?"

"The Bitter Winter is still performing cruise missions in the eastern waters, and it is expected to last at least until the second half of the recovery month," Victoria shook her head. "For a ship designed to perform long-distance and long-term sea operations, this kind of The long-term mission is a very necessary test method, and we can also take this opportunity to verify the training effect of the navy and collect a lot of experience in ocean voyages."

Listening to Victoria's explanation, the deep sea witch Viola showed a thoughtful expression, while Naga Rudolph, who was once a high-level storm priest, couldn't help muttering: "It's just to perform training and testing tasks. Is it?"

There was no expression on Victoria's face: "...at least that ship and our sailors really need to perform training and testing missions."

...

At the edge of the Tarrond continent during extreme daylight, only dusk and day cycle alternately. The huge sun rises and falls on the horizon, making it difficult to distinguish the exact time of day. Melita stands on a high platform on the edge of the camp, overlooking the Looking at the majestic crown of the giant sun on the horizon, it took a long time to distinguish before vaguely judging that it should be "midnight" in the day.

From waking up to the present, she rarely has time to rest, but even so she is not much sleepy - the difficult situation and countless compatriots in need of help are her biggest motivation at this moment, and compared with Calador, who has almost no rest , she felt that she had recuperated long enough.

Footsteps came from behind, Melita turned her head and saw Noretta in human form walking up the platform.

"You are indeed here," the white dragon Noretta said with an expected expression, "You can almost see the entire camp from here—I like coming here too."

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

"I'm thinking about building more shelters and going to the coast to open up fishing grounds," Melita said, "and in the process, I can't help but think of humans... On the Loren Continent, the humans I was in charge of contacting .”

"Cecil?" Noretta raised her eyebrows, "It's true, our current situation is indeed easy to remind you of them back then. Everything was rebuilt in the same ruins, the same refugee situation...but today's Tal Lund is far more dangerous than the Dark Mountains, and the survival challenges we face far exceed those of humans."

"Correspondingly, we are far more powerful than those humans, aren't we?" Melita looked at her friend, "Although we have lost the implant, the booster, and the factory and The whole social system...but with their fangs and claws alone, dragons are still pretty powerful creatures."

Hearing this sentence, Noretta suddenly fell silent, and she spoke after a while, her tone seemed to be very complicated: "Yes, the Dragon Clan is still quite powerful with only fangs and claws...so before we found you, Kara and I Dole and Elder Duke Moore have discussed this. You know what my worst association is?"

"Your worst association?" Melita asked curiously, "What is it?"

"Remember those stories?" Noretta looked in the direction of the camp, and her eyes fell on those dragons who were using recycled waste materials to repair equipment, and melted steel with dragon breath to weld the separation wall, "Those old-fashioned hero adventures stories, those novels and poems called the 'classic dark system'."

"...Giant dragons are raging in the human world, occupying castles and towers, plundering treasures, kidnapping princesses and princes, accepting offerings from kings... and so on?" Some images emerged in Melita's mind, and she realized Under Noretta's words, the expression on her face suddenly became weird, "Are you thinking too much?"

"Now it seems that I am thinking too much. The first thing everyone thinks of 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 wildly," Noretta shook her head with a self-deprecating smile, "This wasteland is so huge, there are still many survivors who are separated by the ruins on the vast land, and they...maybe there is no hope like here. When they Hungry enough, when they realize that the temple agencies and councils that used to approve departure permits are no more... how long do you think it takes them to realize that the warmer human world has far more food than here? And there is still No radiation, no wind, no wandering elementals."

Melita really hadn't thought about this aspect, but after listening to Noretta's words, she quickly fell silent in astonishment, and remained silent for half a minute before suddenly saying: "...we can't degenerate into Beasts—we are a civilized and rational 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 by word. "Of course, most of us will choose Proudly face this wasteland, but maybe there will be a few... even if it is a very small part, they may choose the despicable path."

"...What greets them will not be the swords and bows of adventurers, but more likely to be the arcane missile anti-aircraft guns in the northern border of Cecil and the laser arrays of the Typhons," Melita shook her head, "Those Old-fashioned stories are just stories, and humans are not as weak and deceitful as in the stories. They may have been far weaker than Tarrond in the past, but today... not necessarily."

"However, it is undeniable that the dragon race that fell into despair after losing the shackles of society is still a very big hidden danger. Our innate power is too strong, but the starting point of most mortals in this season's civilization is too weak," Noretta sighed, " That's why we have to find a way - we can't let the proud ethnic group fall into such a dark and despicable state, and the most urgent thing we can do now is to bring some survivors who may exist in the wilderness. hope."

"Bring a little hope?" Melita repeated subconsciously.

"That idea you came up with is really great," Noretta suddenly laughed in the dim light of dusk, "maybe even you don't realize how great it is."

"My idea?" Melita was stunned for a moment before she realized, "Oh, you mean to light the flame? Actually, I just had a whim... After all, I have been active in the human world for so long."

Noretta was still smiling, and glanced back at the tallest abandoned tower post in the southwestern corner of the camp: "Lord Balogar is about to light the flames - it is said that he repaired a supercharged tower dug out of the ruins. device, that thing spews enough flames to span the entire plain..."

Melita also cast her gaze over subconsciously. Under the dim skylight, in the most primitive and natural field of vision without any additional filters and visual enhancement systems, she saw the tall tower, the top of the tower. There were vague shadows swaying on the platform, and a little fire occasionally flickered.

She blinked her eyes, wanting to see more clearly, but at this moment, the flames soaring into the sky, accompanied by a burst of pressurized roar, suddenly tore apart the dim dusk!

A huge pillar of flame rose up, piercing the cloudy and dark sky above the ruins of Agondor as if piercing through the sky and the earth. The bright light, as Noretta said, could be seen on the entire plain.

Many dragons in the camp were startled by the flames, and they all raised their heads to look in the direction of the tower post. Even those dragons who were suffering from the backlash of the synergist and who were already a little delirious were also shocked. Attracted attention for a while.

Melita's lavender eyes reflected the rising flames in the camp. She was a little surprised, and it took a few seconds before she moved her eyes away.

She looked out of the camp, her eyes sweeping across the dark plains covered by filthy clouds.

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

What rose from the ruined camp of Agondor was actually the only fire in the world.

Melita stood on the high platform and looked into the distance. She didn't find anything after looking for a long time. She finally sighed regretfully. Noretta beside her said softly: "Maybe they haven't seen it yet, or they may have seen it." There was a signal but we couldn't see..."

A faint fire mass suddenly appeared in the sight of Melita and Noretta. It rose from the end of the horizon and dissipated in the sky for only a short time, but a few seconds later there was another mass of the same fire mass. Flames rose from the same place.

Noretta couldn't say the rest of the words, she and Melita's eyes widened together, and just a few seconds later, a new light appeared in their field of vision - that light came from another direction, it was A bolt of lightning, apparently magically made.

Then came the third and fourth signals.

Or a faint breath of dragon flames, or a bright lightning, or just a cloud of smoke that suddenly rises from the ruins, they seem to respond to the flames of Agondor, rising from all over the barren and scorched plain Get up, big and small, far and near.

One of the closest signals was even near the camp.

Melita's eyes widened—

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