"You are insane! Humans? Wandering alone in the new world without the race controlling your zone or supported by a grand army? Are you out of your goddamn minds?!!"
The voice, thick with a resonant power, echoed across the plains.
John led his small group toward the cluster of protected zones he had identified on his map, their march spanning nearly twenty hours of gruelling terrain.
By the ti they drew close, the massive orange sun had once again surrendered the sky to the velvet night, and the celestial aurora had begun its rhythmic, dancing display of neon greens and deep purples.
Throughout the journey, John’s eyes never rested. He kept both Fra Recognition and Wirefra Sight active in alternating bursts, dissecting the flora and geology of the Source Code World. The vegetation was a baseline of white code, indicating standard, non-magical structures.
However, he spotted rare trees and thorny bushes pulsing with concentrated clusters of green, blue, and even volatile red code.
He didn’t need a manual to know those were the biological equivalent of landmines. He kept his friends on a tight leash, steering them clear of any pretty distractions that could end their journey before it truly began.
Finally, they reached an elevated ridge overlooking a wide basin where several zones were clustered. Like their own zone, each of these territories was encased in a shimring do of white mist. In the darkness of the night, these dos acted like giant, soft-glowing lanterns scattered across the valley floor.
The difference in scale was imdiately apparent. While John’s zone was a sprawling kingdom, these territories were tiny, barely the size of a single pocket trial territory. From their vantage point on the hill, John counted six distinct dos, each about an hour’s march from its nearest neighbour.
Excitent rippled through the group. Ricky suggested they split up to scout each zone simultaneously. John shot the idea down instantly.
"We don’t know how dangerous it is down there," John whispered, his eyes never leaving the nearest do. "We stick together. If we encounter sothing we can’t handle, I want our combined strength in one place. We play it safe, no matter how long it takes."
As they descended the hill and drew closer to the first periter, John’s enhanced vision began to pierce the hazy, shimring veil of the white mist. Behind the dos, he could make out the silhouettes of the inhabitants.
Three of the zones seed to house giants, massive, hulking forms that resembled Bulltors, though John couldn’t confirm their specific race.
Two other zones held creatures of a more humanoid build; one race was slightly taller and broader than humans, while the other was almost a mirror image of human proportions.
John knew for a fact there were no other independent human zones, which ant these were likely a subspecies or a different humanoid race entirely.
"At least it’s proven the protective do can last against any attack," John didn’t forget to use his abilities and invited his friends to attack as well.
They kept hamring everything at the white mist protecting the closest zone, with no single crack or gap appearing whatsoever. And surely they couldn’t pass through the mist no matter how hard they tried.
It was quite reassuring, especially after John watched Ricky and Cissel using their secondary abilities. Even against special abilities like these two had, the do stood mightily and tall.
They kept walking and experinting against the white mist till they arrived at the last zone. It was different. Its inhabitants weren’t hiding inside like the other five. Instead, there was a welcoming party waiting for them.
A group of winged creatures had ventured outside their protective do, mirroring the humans’ own daring act. They hadn’t strayed far, perhaps only a hundred ters from their white mist, but their presence was overwhelming.
These creatures were gargantuan, their physical builds surpassing even the largest Bulltors John had seen. Their bodies were armoured in thick scales that shifted between bone-white, deep erald, sapphire-blue, and a violent crimson.
From their backs sprouted two sets of wings: a smaller pair for stability and two massive, primary wings that looked capable of taking such giants up to the sky at will.
Their hands were terrifying, ending in four elongated claws, while their legs featured eight-clawed talons that seed capable of rending reinforced steel like wet paper.
Despite their monstrous features, they possessed a humanoid posture and a terrifyingly sharp intelligence in their fierce, reptilian eyes.
They wore ornate armour and helts that seed to be forged from the sa scales they grew, and they radiated an aura of such absolute, suffocating arrogance that it felt like the very air around them was bowing in submission.
"Dragons," John muttered under his breath, his hand instinctively clenching the hilt of his sword. He stopped a few hundred ters away from the contingent of five hundred Dragons standing guard on the plain.
"Oh, I’m flattered," a voice rang out, lodic yet vibrating with hidden power.
One of the Dragons stepped forward from the group. She was a magnificent, terrifying specin with a voluptuous, powerful build. Long, fla-red hair cascaded down a back covered in matching crimson scales. She looked at the small group of humans with a mixture of amusent and utter disbelief.
"How is it that low-born humans even know our esteed na?" she asked, her voice dripping with condescension.
"Watch your tongue!" Luke roared, his face flushing with anger. He took a heavy step forward, his hand gripping the hilt of his weapon. "We aren’t so fallen race for you to look down on anymore!"
Luke was about to continue, likely to brag about their ascension and the first-ever human zone, but John’s hand shot out, grabbing Luke’s shoulder with a grip of iron.
John had been very clear during the march: the new world was a den of vipers. If a zone owner died, their rights could be usurped. Spilling the beans about John’s sovereign status or the true nature of their zone was a death sentence.
John knew Luke’s heart was in the right place, but the youth was a creature of impulse. He was clean-hearted, but he didn’t understand that in this world, information was the most lethal weapon.
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