Chapter 1061: A Small Mistake

The weather in the Northern Hemisphere was warming up, and even the frozen lands of Talrond in the polar regions felt a faint touch of warmth in this season. When the wind blew in from the endless ocean, gentle waves rippled along the jagged edges of the shattered continent. Icebergs drifted slowly across the distant sea, carried by the currents. Fish and deep-sea creatures returning with the warm currents became the most precious resource for the dragons struggling to survive.

At the southeastern edge of Talrond, Melita Pernea folded her massive wings and made a somewhat precarious landing on a huge reef jutting out of the sea.

Facing the ocean breeze, the blue dragon lifted her head and gazed into the distance. The border between land and sea was a terrifying sight—once-solid rock and steel coastlines now broken into jagged, sawtooth fragments. A thick wall that once supported the shield generators along the continental edge had collapsed, with massive, twisted steel structures leaning and plunging into the water, extending down to the seabed.

Above this shattered coastline, even more surreal scenes unfolded: boulders and small islands had broken free from the earth and floated hundreds, even thousands of meters in the air. Some islands hovered steadily, while smaller rocks slowly tumbled in the wind. Between these seemingly weightless masses, near-transparent vortex-like rifts in space occasionally appeared. From these rifts, rare ethereal and elemental beings—creatures almost like spirits—swam out as if through water, drifting slowly among the floating islands before gradually fading away over time.

“…Gravity storms,” Melita murmured softly, “and all kinds of space-time rifts…”

The sound of beating wings came from nearby. A massive white dragon flew over and landed beside her, also looking up at the sky. “Elder Dukemore said these anomalies along the coast could last thousands, even tens of thousands of years,” the white dragon said. “This is the main battlefield. The gods’ power has altered the very fabric of space-time and gravity here. The residual forces still act slowly on several major floating islands. They might even create entirely new ecosystems between these islands. In fact, some of our kin have already gone to investigate. Strange energy creatures and radiation-mutated plants have begun to appear.”

“…The gods’ lingering power is really that strong?” Melita said with a hint of awe. “What about thousands or tens of thousands of years from now? Will these floating rocks and islands just fall?”

“No one knows,” Noretta shook her head. “Maybe they’ll slowly come down? The power won’t just vanish instantly…”

Melita didn’t respond to her friend’s speculation, only exhaling softly through her nose. Then she turned her gaze toward the nearby sea, where several dragons circled low over the water. Occasionally, one would suddenly dive and release some kind of magic toward the sea, while another nearby would assist, using swift ice spells or gravity magic to haul things from the water. It was clear they didn’t always succeed—often their efforts ended in vain.

They were fishing—clumsily, but making progress.

After the situation at the Agondor camp stabilized and their wounds healed, Melita and Noretta had volunteered to join the team expanding toward the coast. They built a small outpost on this shattered beach, turning the nearby sea into a fishing ground. To be honest, their efforts hadn’t been easy at first. The environment near the shore was harsher than expected. The gravity storms left behind by the gods had torn the land apart and created far more rifts here than elsewhere. Swarms of elemental creatures and dark, twisted monsters surged like tides, nearly pushing Melita and her comrades back inland. But after several successful raids, Melita’s team sealed off the largest stable elemental rifts, significantly reducing hostile creatures and allowing the team to hold their ground on this terrifying coast.

Thanks to their efforts, the forward camp was beginning to bear fruit. Search parties found several warehouses buried in the ruins, recovering supplies that eased the strain on the main Agondor base. The nearby fishing provided valuable food—though the young dragons raised in the “Cradle” weren’t skilled hunters, their powerful bodies and magical talents meant they could at least catch something from the sea. After a few days of adjustment, the camp was producing a steady, if small, food supply.

That was enough to convince the main base to hatch a few more dragon eggs.

“I never thought we’d have to resort to such primitive, brutal methods to get food from nature,” Noretta said, following Melita’s gaze to the sea. After a long pause, she sighed, “What’s more ironic is… we’re still not as good at it as human fishermen.”

“The dragons have degenerated after too long in extreme comfort,” Melita shook her head. “But it’s no one’s fault. The lower Talrond dragons used to spend their days eating, sleeping, and immersing themselves in virtual entertainment. Even those with jobs in the upper levels—except for people like me who often go on missions—never had to think about survival skills beyond the shield. At the end of the day, we’re just a bunch of ‘big hatchlings’ who rely on machines to open cans for us. For us to find food in such a harsh wilderness now is already a big deal.”

“Big hatchlings…” Noretta murmured softly. Then, as if after a moment’s thought, she looked up at her friend. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about something lately. Want to hear it?”

Melita blinked in surprise. “Huh? If you have an idea, just say it.”

“I want to apply for a dragon egg,” Noretta said seriously, her huge, crystal-clear eyes reflecting the glow on the distant horizon. “I asked Chief Heragor. Our camp has five slots…”

“You want to apply for a dragon egg?” Melita’s eyes widened. Then she suddenly remembered something and warned, “But I think you can’t apply alone… at least two dragons have to claim it together, or the camp has to raise it collectively. It’s to avoid affecting labor.”

“That’s why I want to talk to you,” Noretta said, looking Melita in the eye. “Do you want to apply with me? I think we can handle it.”

“Ah?!” Melita was so surprised she didn’t respond right away. Only when Noretta repeated herself did she realize she’d heard correctly. “You want me to apply with you… but I’ve never even thought about that…”

She hesitated, about to answer, when suddenly the sound of wings beating nearby interrupted her. Then a voice called out from the air: “Captain! We’ve found some unusual small water elementals near the beach!”

“Unusual water elementals?” Melita frowned, exchanging a glance with Noretta. They nodded in silent agreement. Under the current circumstances, the camp’s safety clearly took priority over personal matters.

…

Moments later, Noretta and Melita arrived at the camp near the beach.

The camp was built from materials scavenged from the ruins, with simple shelters and a relatively clean, level ground. In the southeast corner of the camp’s open area, several dragons in humanoid form stood nearby. Melita, who had just landed and shifted into humanoid shape, immediately spotted the small water elementals darting quickly in circles on the open ground.

Roughly etched runes covered the ground—constructed directly by the dragons’ claws and spoken magic. The runic matrix was limited in power but enough to trap weak, small water elementals. Three pale blue, droplet-shaped elementals about a dozen centimeters tall ran frantically within the rune’s boundary, emitting faint, sharp cries that were hard to understand.

Such tiny water elementals… and they even had language?

Melita had never seen anything like it. As far as she knew, low-level elemental creatures had almost no intelligence and didn’t speak—they acted like blind, dumb animals. Elementals capable of speech were at least as large as their voices suggested. What was going on with these chirping little “water drops”?

Driven by curiosity, she stepped forward and bent down to listen closely to one of the elementals. After a long moment, she finally made out the repeated phrase: “Always catching one to suck, always catching one to suck…”

Noretta heard it too and made a puzzled face. “‘Always catching one to suck’… what does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I’m not familiar with elemental customs. I’ve only dealt with them when collecting debts,” Melita shrugged. “Besides, it’s already strange enough that such tiny elementals can speak…”

The dragons around them were equally confused. Melita’s words echoed their own thoughts. Just then, more dragons flew in from the coast. Before they even got close, one shouted loudly, “Captain! We caught some strange ‘fish’ offshore, and… and one more thing…”

“One more thing?” Melita frowned at the hesitant tone. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Noretta’s arm. “Forget it, let’s go check it out.”

So many strange things happened on this god-ravaged beach. It was normal for dragons out here to encounter phenomena they couldn’t understand. As the camp leader, Melita felt it was best to handle these situations personally.

With that in mind, she soon arrived at a clearing outside the camp. From a distance, she saw several dragons in their true forms gathered near the rocky shore. She recognized them as the ones who had gone fishing today. Among them, faintly visible, were figures that shouldn’t exist on Talrond’s land.

Melita approached, and the dragons parted to let her through. The figures surrounded in the center came into clearer view. About ten tall, wary half-human creatures with unmistakable deep-sea features stood there. Their yellow-brown eyes and dense scales covered their bodies. Their dark blue or teal skin shimmered with a watery sheen. Their lower halves were thick sea serpents—or strange fish tails—while their upper bodies resembled humans, with webbing visible between their fingers.

These strange half-human creatures gripped metal tridents and wore unfamiliar gear—Talrond’s dragons didn’t recognize them at all. This was because the beings, as a race, had only recently emerged from the deep sea. Yet Melita recognized them immediately.

They were Naga, originally inhabitants of distant ocean depths, who had only recently established contact with the northern lands of Loren. Melita had come across scant information about this race during her assignments outside the Cecile Empire.

So these were the so-called “strange fish”?

Her eyes widened in surprise, puzzled as to why she was seeing Naga here. Then, just moments later, she spotted another figure among the Naga cluster: a black-haired sea witch.

In that instant, she understood why the dragon she’d spoken to earlier had suddenly faltered mid-sentence. Ordinary dragons didn’t know the Naga, but sea witches did. Though this race was shrouded in mystery and rarely communicated beyond the deep sea, and dragons themselves were bound by old “taboos” that prevented dealings with these starship-wielding “extraterrestrial visitors,” the Naga were nonetheless an ancient species on this planet. At least, information about them had once been readily available in the Omega Network archives.

So… the fishing party had just “caught” a group of Naga—and a sea witch?

Melita’s expression twisted oddly. Her lips twitched, and her steps stiffened as she cautiously approached the unexpected visitors. The sea witch, protected by the Naga, noticed the movement and turned to look in her direction.

Only then did Melita notice something wrapped around the sea witch’s coiled tail. Looking closer, she realized that the long tail’s tip was entangled with a struggling water elemental!

The unfamiliar sea witch smiled at Melita, her tail curling and moving as she brought the captured elemental closer to her lips. That’s when Melita saw the elemental wasn’t just caught—it even had a straw stuck into it.

The next moment, the sea witch sucked hard on the straw. The water elemental immediately let out an angry, sharp shriek: “Always catching a sucker! Always catching a sucker!”

Melita blinked in confusion.

An awkward silence fell—until one of the Naga finally broke it. He glanced at the black-haired sea witch beside him. “Lady Cassandra, weren’t we supposed to be near the Eternal Storm? How did we end up… here?”

“I was just thinking,” Cassandra—the sea witch—discarded the now nearly drained water elemental, which was only about a dozen centimeters tall. She looked thoughtfully at the bewildered dragons around them. “Here…”

The elemental wobbled on the ground twice, then darted off angrily into the distance, shrieking, “Always catching a sucker! Always catching a sucker!!”

“I didn’t exactly catch a sucker…” Cassandra shook her head. “Never mind. That’s not important. What matters is, I think we’ve swum past…”

(End of chapter)