Chapter 879: Crossing the Boundary

A faint blue halo steadily expanded around the detection gate. With the voice of the AI Omega announcing the process, the barrier dissolved, and the gate to Talrond stabilized before Noretta.

The pristine, elegant white dragon beat her wings and gracefully glided through the navigation light ring at the gate’s entrance. Behind her, the barrier contracted and sealed shut, cutting off the biting cold winds of the far northern ocean.

Noretta lowered her head, savoring the comfortable temperature crafted by the weather controller. Verdant mountains and rolling hills stretched out before her eyes, while the low-altitude traffic networks wove intricately between cities across the land. Breathing deeply, she let the clean, warm air fill her four biological lungs and two sets of mechanical ones.

Talrond enjoyed eternal spring—at least for the past four millennia. But long ago, this continent had been cloaked in ice and snow or scorched by rivers of molten lava. Dragons, a race trapped in a cage, had a civilization as long and dull as their lifespans. Over millennia, the Elder Council would reset the weather controller roughly every ten thousand years to change the continent’s “appearance.” In the current cycle, Talrond’s theme was spring.

This alteration was one of the few permitted “mischiefs” under the watchful eyes of the gods. It served no real purpose, but the dragons delighted in it.

Some trivial thoughts flickered through her mind as Noretta began to lower her altitude. She circled once around the external mountain barrier, then flew straight toward Agondor, nestled among the towering peaks—the headquarters of the Mithril Treasury.

Between the rugged mountains, the magnificent and ornate Agondor basked in the dimming sunlight. The long daylight was nearing its end, and the great sun, which had ruled the skies for nearly half a year, was gradually dipping toward the horizon. The white dragon soared toward a splendid palace perched atop a mountain. One side of the palace wall had already opened automatically, revealing a broad landing platform extending outward.

Noretta landed smoothly on the platform and stretched her wings, slightly fatigued from the long flight. Suddenly, a sharp voice came from beneath her feet: “Hey! You’re standing on me!”

The white dragon paused, then slowly lowered her head to look down. There, struggling to wriggle out from under one of her massive claws, was a figure clad in a pale purple dress. After a few seconds, Noretta spoke in an unsurprised tone, “Melita—why are you standing on the platform?”

“I just landed here and didn’t have time to move!” Melita finally emerged, tilting her head back to shout at her longtime friend. “Your eyesight’s fine, isn’t it? Didn’t you see me?”

Noretta kept her head lowered. “…I didn’t see you.”

“That’s just revenge! You’re way too vengeful,” Melita complained loudly. “It’s not like I meant to step on you last time, and yet you deliberately stepped back on me…”

Noretta said nothing, quietly watching her friend grumble. When Melita finally quieted down a bit, Noretta spoke slowly, “I saw a book in the human world—about knights and dragons. Some of the stories seemed oddly familiar.”

Melita’s complaints ceased immediately. After a long pause, she awkwardly looked up. “Maybe… maybe those are just stories the human bards have been making up these past couple of years?”

“No, they’re stories from hundreds of years ago, reprinted,” Noretta said, her eyes fixed on the small figure beneath her claw, which shifted slightly without concern. “And they seem quite popular.”

Melita muttered, “Damn… I thought humans had terrible memories…”

Noretta glanced down at her friend again, then shook her head. “Forget it. We’ll talk about it later. I met with Gawain Cecil and brought back some things for the council leader to review. How’s your mission going?”

“Gawain Cecil?” Melita relaxed, relieved that Noretta wasn’t pressing about the villainous dragon-slaying stories. Then her eyebrows lifted at the familiar name. “What a coincidence… In a way, what I’m reporting is related to him too.

“We found the legendary shield the Cecil family lost a hundred years ago—the very shield Gawain Cecil carried as he fought his way through the wasteland. Guess what it’s made of?”

Seeing Melita’s obvious teasing expression, Noretta shook her head calmly. “I won’t guess—are you going to tell me or not?”

Melita was momentarily speechless but shrugged as if used to it. “Aside from some crude attachments, the main body of the shield is very likely a piece that fell from the ‘Firmament.’ If our judgment is correct, it’s part of a mainframe array.”

Noretta’s calm demeanor shattered instantly. On her scaled dragon face, a look of surprise recognizable even to humans appeared. She whispered, “The Firmament… are you sure?”

“Almost certain. You know, I’m young, but the dragon who went on the mission with me, Karador, is a very learned elder.”

“This is… an extraordinary discovery. A human held a fragment of the Firmament for over a decade. It’s hard to imagine what kind of impact that had on him… No wonder he died so young. But how did he come back to life…” Noretta muttered to herself, frowning suddenly. “Wait, that can’t be right. If it’s a fragment from the Firmament, it should have fallen near the equator. It couldn’t have drifted as far as the northern continent of Loren. How did it end up in the hands of Gawain Cecil, who led the northern expeditionary force?”

“If we let our imaginations run wild, the possibilities are endless. Maybe the fragment did fall near the equator but somehow made its way north—perhaps into the hands of elves, who then traveled north with it. Or it could be related to the impact three thousand years ago. That collision… wow, the fragments really scattered everywhere…”

“The impact three thousand years ago…” Melita’s words seemed to stir something in Noretta’s mind. She looked thoughtful and shook her head softly. “We still don’t understand why the nature god acted that way back then… It disturbed too many supernatural beings, even our own gods were alarmed…”

Melita was about to speak when a vague sensation of being watched and a deep unease rose from all directions. She shook her head. “Noretta, maybe we shouldn’t discuss this any further.”

“You’re right,” Noretta agreed, closing her mouth. At the same time, a shifting curtain of light began to envelop her from head to toe. “Let’s go see Council Leader Andal. This world… might finally be getting interesting.”

…

Inside the circular hall surrounded by ornate pillars and relief-covered walls, lights flickered on one by one. Crystal-clear light curtains descended from the air, illuminating the massive, implant-marked form of Andal, the ancient dragon council leader. Stirring from a light sleep, he looked toward the hall’s entrance, where Noretta and Melita—now in human form—approached his psychic throne.

“Ah… two talented young dragons,” Andal’s aged, gentle voice echoed through the hall, tinged with a smile. “You’ve arrived.”

Noretta stepped forward and bowed slightly. “Council Leader, we have completed our respective field missions and have urgent matters to report directly to you.”

“Speak. I’m listening.”

Noretta and Melita exchanged a glance. Melita nodded, signaling Noretta to begin.

Noretta raised her head and looked at the ancient dragon on the psychic throne. “The human world’s Cecil Empire has built a large-scale, magic-based communication system. Their highest-powered antenna recently captured a set of mysterious signals. I believe these signals warrant attention.”

“Mysterious signals?” Andal’s mechanical eye turned toward Noretta. “Are they from those elemental creatures in the eastern offshore? They’ve been trying to repair that spaceship and often cause strange… disturbances.”

“Unlikely,” Noretta shook her head. “I’ve recorded a copy of the signals. With your authorization, I hope Omega’s advanced intellect can analyze them directly.”

Andal considered briefly, then nodded. “Very well.”

As he spoke, a section of the floor before the psychic throne shifted. Metal coverings retracted with a faint scraping sound, and a pale gold alloy pillar, its surface flickering with tiny lights, rose from the opening. The pillar’s top was embedded with various ports, chips, and glowing runes.

Noretta stepped forward and felt behind her neck. With a soft click, she opened a hidden bionic skin panel and pulled out a slender cable. The cable’s end shimmered faintly before she connected it seamlessly to the alloy pillar.

Within a millisecond, Noretta uploaded the signal sample stored in her auxiliary electronic brain to Omega.

Melita watched this and frowned deeply. “Even the humanoid form has these modifications… I just can’t accept it…”

“It helps with support tasks,” Noretta glanced at her. “You’re a young dragon, but your thinking is so old-fashioned. Even your implants are more conservative than most dragons’.”

Melita was about to retort when Andal cleared his throat gently from the throne, silencing her.

“Now, let us listen to the original rhythm of the signal—”

As Andal’s words fell, a low, gentle hum filled the vast circular hall. Simultaneously, trembling rings and flickering curves appeared on the crystal curtains surrounding the psychic throne. Amid the hum, a voice grew clearer—

It sounded like a rhythmic drone, interspersed with deep echoes like a heartbeat, as if an invisible singer was humming a song beyond mortal comprehension. After playing for over ten seconds, it began to repeat, cycling endlessly.

Suddenly, the sound ceased. Andal’s voice returned. “Nothing discernible from the audio alone—it could be some kind of psychic chant, or merely the human antenna resonating with atmospheric magic. We need further conversion and interpretation. Omega, begin.”

Omega’s voice echoed through the hall: “Commencing translation of raw signals into digital sequences, geometric patterns, standard spectra, and multibase codes… Testing all possible combinations…”

As Omega began its analysis, Chairman Andal’s calm voice reached Melita and Noretta’s ears simultaneously: “No matter what pattern or encryption this signal uses, mathematics must be its universal language. The key lies hidden within the numbers—unless, of course, the signal comes from a being of pure chaos, or a mind beyond mortal comprehension…”

Melita and Noretta nodded as they listened, absorbing the wisdom in his words. But then, suddenly, an indescribable feeling—a profound awe and a sense of being watched deep within their souls—gripped every dragon present. Both Melita and Noretta’s expressions shifted at once, and the implant lights on Andal’s body flickered erratically—

“Omega, stop the analysis,” the chairman ordered immediately.

“Understood, Omega halting analysis. Task suspended.”

“That just now…” Melita struggled to lift her head, cold sweat beading on her brow as she whispered.

“God is watching us. A warning…” Chairman Andal’s face darkened with unease. “We cannot go on.”

He took a few slow breaths before finishing, his voice heavy with gravity:

“This is not something we are meant to hear.”

(End of chapter)