Chapter 1069: A Gift from the Divine

An eerie silence settled over the hall.

The metal case had been fully opened by the mechanical apparatus, revealing its contents to everyone present. The faint golden orb inside immediately dispelled the thought that had crossed Highlord’s mind moments ago—“This My Little Pony thing must be mocking me.” No, at the very least, one thing was certain: this was truly a dragon egg.

The dragons—the survivors of the great cataclysm in Talrond, who had sent envoys across the frozen northern seas and countless mountain ranges to establish contact after their devastating losses—had gone to great lengths to send him a dragon egg.

By all logic, if Melita’s mind hadn’t been shattered in the previous wars, she surely wouldn’t joke about the origin of this egg.

After two full minutes of silence, Highlord finally broke it. “…The goddess you mentioned—is that Enya?”

Melita’s expression grew complex, a sigh escaping her lips as she spoke softly, “Yes—the goddess who both sheltered and sealed Talrond, Enya… I can now call Her by name directly.”

“So what exactly does this egg mean?” For the first time, Highlord felt his mind struggling to keep up. His eye twitched slightly as he forced his tone to remain calm. “Why would your goddess leave a final wish for you to entrust this egg to me? No, more importantly—why does such an egg even exist?”

The moment he finished speaking, Amber shot him a strange look. The half-elf abruptly turned her head, eyes fixed intently on Highlord’s face, her expression full of hesitation—as if she was brewing a bold speech of about eight hundred words but was still holding back, her survival instincts keeping her from speaking out.

No joke, Amber was confident in her own strength. She knew that if she voiced those daring thoughts, Highlord could easily swat her away like a fly—she had experience with that.

But not everyone shared Amber’s caution. Rebecca, who had been intently examining the dragon egg nearby, suddenly turned and casually blurted out, “Ancestor! Didn’t you say you’d spoken with that Dragon God a few times? Could it be that the egg was accidentally left behind then—”

Before she could finish, Hetty placed a hand firmly on Rebecca’s shoulder. The reflexes drilled into her since childhood kicked in instantly, and Rebecca visibly shuddered, swallowing the rest of her words.

Highlord glanced silently at Rebecca, then at Hetty, whose face had darkened. A gentle smile appeared on his lips. “Forget it. There are outsiders present.”

Rebecca: “…”

Melita stood quietly to the side, watching the interaction between Highlord and his family with curiosity. It was a strange feeling—she had never imagined that someone as serious and haloed as Highlord could be so relaxed and playful in private with his family. On the other hand, as a “professional employee” custom-made by a biotech corporation, she had never experienced anything resembling family life.

For countless years, enhancers, work schedules, and the Omega system had dictated nearly every aspect of her existence. She had never thought anything was wrong with that—until now, in this moment, she found herself… a little envious.

But she quickly shook off the strange emotion and cleared her throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I need to clarify a few things about this dragon egg.

“First, I don’t actually know how this egg came to be. Even our leader hasn’t figured it out yet. All we know is that it’s a remnant left behind after our goddess departed, but the mechanism remains unclear.

“Second, when the goddess left the order entrusting you with the egg, She also left some words—words of great significance. I hope you’ll listen carefully.”

Seeing Melita’s unusually serious expression, Highlord immediately sensed the gravity of the matter. His attention sharpened, and he looked her in the eye. “What words?”

Clearing her throat, Melita spoke solemnly, “The first: ‘A “god,” as a natural phenomenon, never truly perishes…’”

She recited the words Karador had relayed to her before departing, word for word, crystal clear. Highlord’s expression shifted the moment he heard the first line. From then on, his tense face never relaxed, not even for a moment. Two seconds after Melita finished, his eyes flicked to the pale golden dragon egg, still resting quietly on the pedestal at the bottom of the metal case, emitting a steady, faint glow. It ignored all gazes, as if sealed within were infinite secrets.

At that instant, the first line echoed in Highlord’s mind: gods, as natural phenomena, never truly perish…

The Dragon God—nominally the guardian deity of the dragon race—was in essence a composite of all divine symbols dragons had revered since their mortal inception: fire, frost, lightning, life, death, even nature itself. All these forces converged in the Dragon God. As dragons broke free from the shackles of maturity, these “reverences” faded away. So, as a kind of “aggregate,” would the Dragon God ultimately dissolve back into the primal concepts and return to the “deep sea,” or would some residue remain, shaped by humanity?

“The necessary element for the third story…” Highlord murmured, eyes fixed on the egg. Suddenly curious, he looked at Melita. “Is this element the egg itself, or those four summarizing conclusions?”

“We don’t know… The will of the gods is always vague. Maybe it’s both,” Melita shook her head. “Ultimately, our understanding of the gods is still limited. In this regard, you seem to have a special gift—you grasp many divine metaphors with ease.”

She lifted her eyelids, locking eyes with Highlord. “So, do you know what the ‘third story’ the gods refer to actually is? Our leader asked me to inquire: do mortals truly have any other choice?”

Highlord fell silent, pondering deeply. After a long moment, he spoke in a low voice, “Since the fall of the War God, I’ve been thinking about this too… Gods are born from mortal thought, but they also become mortal’s doom as those thoughts change. One path leads to surrender and a countdown to the end; another seeks survival through godslaying. As for a third path… I’ve been considering the possibility of coexistence.”

“That sounds difficult,” Melita said bluntly.

“Indeed it is. But we’ve made some progress—we’ve managed to strip gods like the ‘Overstory Narrator’ of their divinity, and to some extent ‘freed’ the bonds between the Nature God and the Magic Goddess. Now, we’re trying to sever ties with the God of the Holy Light through subtle means,” Highlord said thoughtfully. He knew the dragons were natural allies in this rebellion, and since they had already broken their chains, he needn’t hold back in front of Melita. “The only problem is, all these ‘successes’ come with harsh, non-reproducible conditions. And humans face a multitude of gods…”

“And new gods keep being born,” Melita added. “Besides, you can’t be sure all gods will cooperate with your ‘coexistence’ plan. Mortals themselves are ever-changing, and with them, their thoughts. You can’t treat the gods like mass-produced models—each one is a unique case.”

“Even unique cases share common logic. At least, ‘born from thought’ is their shared logic,” Highlord said seriously. “So I have a plan, based on uniting mortal nations into an alliance. I call it the ‘Divine Authority Council.’”

Melita blinked, quickly grasping the implications behind the term. Her eyes widened in shock. “You want to control mortal thought?”

Before Highlord could answer, she shook her head. “That’s almost total mind control… Regardless of whether it would succeed, such an act would surely provoke universal resistance. Unless you plan to build an Omega system like ours—but not all races could bear that cost…”

“So I’m not aiming to ‘control,’” Highlord smiled. “In fact, our recent research shows that overly controlled thought leads to gods becoming extremely powerful and endlessly regenerating. What we need to do… is liberate all thought, not control it.”

The room fell silent. Melita seemed taken aback by Highlord’s grand, even audacious idea. She pondered for a long time, finally noticing the natural expressions on Hetty, Amber, and even Rebecca’s faces. This made her thoughtful. “It seems… you’ve been brewing this plan for some time.”

“We’ve already tested its early results during the Holy Light Church’s reforms, and verified its theoretical feasibility through chaotic neural network models. We believe that through long-term social restructuring, education, and cultural shifts, this goal can be achieved—even short-term effects are promising,” Highlord explained. “The key issue now is that other nations on the continent may not accept this outright. That’s why we need the Divine Authority Council. I hope to first reach a basic consensus among some national leaders, then promote change gradually through economic, cultural, and technological development.”

Melita studied Highlord for a long moment, then suddenly smiled. “I think I understand what you’re trying to do. World-class education, using economic and technological progress to drive social change… Truly fitting of you, to call it ‘Divine Authority.’”

Highlord raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you’re interested?”

“I am, personally,” Melita said with a smile. “But whether the dragons are interested depends on when we see a more detailed plan. By the way, you don’t mean you don’t even have a plan written down, do you?”

“Of course I do. I have as much documentation as you want,” Highlord replied, then suddenly realized, “But do you really need it? You’ve already broken free from those chains on your own… The dragons are now the only ‘free race’ in this world besides the sea witches, aren’t they?”

“Why wouldn’t it be necessary?” Melita countered, her expression quickly turning serious. “It’s true that the dragons are free now, but anyone who understands even a little about how this world works knows that this ‘freedom’ is only temporary. The gods are immortal… and as long as mortals remain prone to ignorance and blind faith, the chains will inevitably return. Right now, the survivors of Talrond have only two concerns: how to survive in the wasteland, and how to prepare for the inevitable return of the gods. These worries keep us up at night.”

She lifted her gaze to meet Gawain’s eyes. “So maybe your ‘Divine Authority Council’ is just the kind of remedy we need. Even if it can’t cure everything, at least it’s a promising start.”

“That’s a pleasantly surprising assessment,” Gawain said earnestly. “I’ll prepare all the necessary information for you as soon as possible. But first, I need to confirm—are you speaking on behalf of all the dragons of Talrond?”

Melita met his gaze steadily, her tone solemn and deliberate. “This time, I speak with full authority for all of Talrond.”

Gawain nodded, then relaxed, a smile returning to his face. “Alright, we’ve covered enough heavy topics for now. Perhaps it’s time to talk about something else.”

As his words settled, the atmosphere lightened noticeably. Rebecca, who had been quietly listening with her shoulders hunched, finally had a chance to breathe. She blinked, reached out to touch the pale golden dragon egg, and broke the silence with a curious question: “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask… this egg is supposed to be for us, right? So what exactly are we supposed to do with it?”

“It’s not for you,” Melita quickly corrected her, “it’s for Gawain Cecil himself—that’s an important distinction.” Then, a puzzled look crossed her face. “As for what to do with the egg… honestly, I don’t know. When we set out, we were only told to deliver it. No one mentioned any next steps.”

Amber, who had been mostly silent until now, pondered for a moment, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Well… what if we try to hatch it?”

(End of chapter)