A surprise?
Melita looked at the bright smile on her friend's face. Although she was now full of what she had seen and heard in the Lolun Continent, she could not help but feel curious and expectant about the "surprise" that Noretta mentioned. With this expectation, she returned to their residence in the coastal camp together with Noretta.
The temporary house built with recycled materials and boulders on the shore was still simple and crude. It was not comparable to the once magnificent palace of Tarlonde on the upper level, or even to the houses in the human kingdom of the Lolun Continent. However, these shelters built by her compatriots still gave Melita a sense of security. Passing through the now expanded camp, she returned to the door of her "home" that she had been away from for half a month. The moment she reached out and pushed the door open, the feeling of "coming home" spontaneously arose in her heart. She could not help but show a reassuring smile, and her mood also eased.
Then she saw the dragon egg standing on the largest open space in the house, and the magic runes set up around the dragon egg. Apparently, the runes had the function of maintaining temperature and storing energy. The warm breath and arcane circulation were slowly released, nourishing the egg with a pale yellow shell and lavender spots.
In the corner of the room, there was also an oval-shaped culture bag that had been opened. Obviously, the dragon egg was placed in this container before, but now it had lost its function. After the hatch was opened, it was used as a storage container for miscellaneous items, and it was filled with Noretta's personal belongings.
Melita was speechless.
"I adopted a dragon egg!" Noretta's voice suddenly came from behind at this time, startling Melita who was a little dazed. "It's a beautiful blue dragon, just like you. In fact, I wanted to adopt a white dragon at first, but after thinking about it carefully, I would rather see a small Melita grow up little by little …"
Dragon egg, a dragon egg … Melita's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Somehow, she thought of the scene when she suddenly received a message from Cecil not long ago at the Dragon's Arrival Fortress, and two sentences began to echo in her mind. "About the dragon egg sent by Tarlonde …" "It spoke …"
For the first time in her life, she found that she was allergic to "dragon egg" — not the dragon egg itself, but the word itself.
"Melita?" Noretta noticed that her friend had suddenly fallen silent. She could not help but reveal a worried expression. "What's wrong with you? Was the long-distance flight too tiring? Sorry, I just wanted to give you a surprise and forgot that you needed rest … "
"Ah, no, I'm not tired. I'm just …" Melita opened her mouth, but she did not know where to begin. She could only point at the dragon egg in the room, her lips trembling. "So this is the surprise you prepared for me?"
"Yeah." Noretta nodded, feeling a little lost. Obviously, her friend's reaction was very different from what she had expected. "Didn't we discuss adopting a dragon egg before? But at that time, before I could submit the application, you suddenly received a mission to go to Loren. During this time, the situation in the camp had improved. The food supply and everyone's survival ability had improved. Agundor had opened up more dragon egg adoption quotas, so I applied for one.
I didn't expect to pass so quickly … "
Speaking of which?
The white dragon lady looked at Melita with a worried expression. "Don't you want to adopt again? But the adoption of a dragon egg is a very serious matter. Once you apply for it, you can't … "
"Ah?
No?
Of course not. "Melita finally broke free from the two sentences that were replaying in her mind.
She knew that her reaction had caused Noretta's misunderstanding. She quickly waved her hand.
"I'm very happy?
We did say that we wanted to adopt a dragon egg before. Hatching an extra Young Dragon is also a contribution to the revival of Tarlonde. This is a good thing. I'm just a little … surprised, and a little nervous. "
"Oversensitive?" Noretta looked at Melita up and down suspiciously several times.
"What's there to be nervous about?"
Because the egg that she had just sent to Cecil a while ago had started to talk! Because the Dragon God had now become a talking egg that drank tea and read newspapers all day long!
Melita's expression changed.
In the end, all the words were swallowed back into her throat. These things could not be casually spread out before reporting to the higher-ups, even if Noretta was her good friend.
"It's nothing. Maybe it's because I experienced too many things in the Loren Continent. I haven't gotten used to it yet." The blue dragon lady twitched the corner of her mouth.
She smiled a little awkwardly, and then her attention was on the egg in the middle of the room.
After calming down, she finally had some sense of reality about what was happening in front of her.
When she looked at the dragon egg, her eyes could not help but soften. "Dragon egg … Not long ago?
I never thought that I would choose to hatch a dragon egg one day … I always felt that this kind of thing was very far away from me.
At least within 20 thousand years, it had nothing to do with me. "
Noretta looked at Melita's expression.
She seemed to feel that the other party was hiding something, but years of understanding between friends made her not pursue this issue. Instead, she nodded gently and said, "Of course I understand. After all, I'm also a high-ranking employee of the biochemical company like you. I have no parents, no siblings, no innate social relationships, and my family orientation has been weakened due to genetic adjustment. Under normal circumstances, high-ranking Dragons like us who are custom-made by the company will probably never hatch our own 'children' in our lives … But now everything has changed."
Melita smiled and suddenly looked at the dragon egg with some curiosity. "By the way, have you thought of a name?"
"Not yet. I plan to wait until the little guy hatches." Noretta shook her head. "There are two other families in the camp who have also claimed their own dragon eggs. Everyone is waiting for the Young Dragon to hatch before naming it."
"Family … is a really distant concept for custom-made employees." Melita could not help but sigh softly. Then she suddenly became a little curious. "But then again, does this mean that the Young Dragon we hatch will have two 'mothers'?"
"Is there a problem?" Noretta blinked. "The Young Dragon next door will have three fathers in the future! After all, everyone's dragon eggs are claimed. Now, there are not many conditions to form a normal family in this wasteland … "
Melita thought for a moment and suddenly felt that there was nothing wrong with this …
Then she thought of another question. "By the way, how long will it take for our dragon egg to hatch?"
"This dragon egg has reached the third stage of incubation in the incubation factory. After that, its protective capsule has been keeping the egg alive, so it looks like it will be able to hatch successfully soon. Maybe less than a month," Noretta said immediately. "Now I've set up a constant temperature environment for it and use my magic to replenish the consumption of these runes every day. If you want to help Nameless in the future, I'll be able to do it.
If you're busy, we can take turns to stay next to the egg. That way, the incubation efficiency may be higher. "
Melita imagined herself trying to hatch the egg in the near future. Her expression could not help but become strange. She could not tell if it was a kind of anticipation or nervousness. But when she saw the smile on Noretta's face and heard the sound of her compatriots building the camp outside the door, those turbulent thoughts finally gradually calmed down. Her strange expression finally converged into a smile.
"Of course, I'll come to help as soon as possible. But before that, I have to go to Agundor first. Speaker Andal and Leader Helagol are still waiting for my report."
…
Alpine City Agundor — this was the former name of this glorious place. However, with the devastating war, the majestic palaces that originally stood on the peak of the mountains had been reduced to ashes. The sacred halls and temples that the citizens were proud of had also become remnants of the Mythological Era that only existed in memory.
Now, the new Agundor was located at the edge of the ruins of the old city. It was close to the foot of the main peak of Agundor. It was once a part of "Lower Tarlonde." Before the war, it was packed with layers of densely packed buildings that covered the sky and three-dimensional traffic bridges that resembled spiderwebs. Even during the polar day, this area would be shrouded in artificial dusk for most of the day. Then, everything changed. The war destroyed everything, including the layered structure of Tarlonde. The gigantic buildings and traffic grids that covered the sky melted into a part of the land. The remaining or newly built buildings amidst the ruins were equally bathed in the sunlight of the gigantic sun.
Helagol stood on a high platform in the middle of this temporary "capital." His pale golden vertical pupils reflected the scene of the city in the distance. A group of Giant Dragons were cleaning up the ruins in the southwest corner of the city. In the absence of heavy machinery, they could only rely on their natural strength and magic to complete this arduous task. Thankfully, after such a long period of adaptation, even the Dragons who had been spoiled by the "Cradle" to the point of losing their survival skills had gradually begun to grasp the skills of manual labor. With mutual cooperation, the ruins that were mainly composed of molten metal and high-strength polymers were being cleaned up in an orderly manner.
The items that were cleaned up from the ruins were not destroyed. Instead, they were first sent to the nearest "dismantling site." Andal instructed the young Dragons to use their ancient wisdom to build a large elemental refinement pit. Balogel left behind blueprints and other information before he left. This was to help the mechanics understand how to dismantle the abandoned facilities to obtain usable basic materials.
The "trash" dug out from the ruins would gain a new identity in the dismantling site. They were extremely valuable resources in the city's reconstruction process.
Helagol looked at the buildings that were gradually taking shape in the city. Everything here was built on the foundation of the refugee camp not long ago. Although the scale had expanded several times, in essence, it was no different from an enlarged refugee camp. Crude but practical temporary houses, public facilities built on the solid framework of old factories, and simple machine stations and medical stations that were "barely adequate" were scattered throughout the city. Even if these things were arranged neatly, there was not much beauty to speak of.
Since the last "beacon" was ignited, Agundor had become the largest gathering place on the plains. More and more of his fellow refugees gathered in this refuge. Some of them were discovered by the patrol teams, while others came to seek shelter. These compatriots eased the urgent labor need, but also posed a severe test to Agundor's capacity. So, everything here was practical. No matter how it looked, at least they had to ensure that their compatriots had a roof to cover themselves.
But in Helagol's view, this hastily built refuge city may not be beautiful enough, but it had another kind of "beauty" that touched the soul. The crude and even ugly buildings were full of a certain kind of vitality. That was the "soul" of the Dragons that had been lost for 1.87 million years. In contrast, everything glorious and magnificent in the past of Tarlonde was more like a richly ornamented tomb in Helagol's view. The bones buried in it had long rotted away.
Footsteps came from beside him, waking Helagol from his thoughts. The former supreme dragon priest looked in the direction of the sound and saw Andal's figure appearing on the platform.
"The delegation led by Melita has returned from Loren," Andal said to Helagol. "They are now resting in Binhai County."
'Binhai County' was the name that the dragons had given to the forward base on the Broken Coast. Now that the scale of the base had gradually expanded, the borders of the safe zone around the Broken Coast had gradually stabilized. This slightly poetic and beautiful name was slowly becoming more and more true to its name.
Helagol nodded. "The last news they sent was the official establishment of the Theocratic Council and the first batch of supplies from the Food Committee will be gathered at Cecil North Port in the near future. Both news were enough to inspire everyone's fighting spirit, especially the second one."
"We did not expect the Loren countries to organize such a large-scale and rapid aid force," Andal said with a sigh. "According to our original plan, even if Melita could persuade the wealthiest human countries in the shortest time possible, the preparation of the aid would have to wait until the end of summer in the northern hemisphere … or even until the end of autumn. And before that, we would have to face a food shortage that may last for months."
"Gwen Cecil … This time, Tarlonde owes him a huge favor," Helagol said in a low voice.
"Before our god left, he seemed to have determined that the biggest variable in this season's civilization would focus on that human," Andal said thoughtfully. "He even handed over his legacy to him. Although we have broken free from the shackles of faith, we still have to admit that the judgment of the gods is far more far-sighted than that of mortals."
"Legacy …" Helagol listened to Andal's words, and his expression suddenly became a little strange. "In fact, until now, I am still a little uncertain. When God left, he said that he would hand over 'everything' to Gwen Cecil. Does this' everything 'include the egg? After all, there are two interpretations of this sentence.' Everything 'can also mean' everything 'in terms of knowledge and intelligence …"
"Why do you suddenly think of this?" Andal could not help but ask. "We have already sent the egg over."
"… That's true." Helagol thought for a moment and smiled. "Maybe I am just a little sensitive on this matter. Anyway, this land is not only a cage for us, but it has also bound Him for millions of years. Now His legacy can leave here and go to the distant Loren Continent. If He still knows about it, He will be happy."
"I think so too."
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