"Kite! Kite!!" Little Baobao, holding onto a string, began to chase Orelia ecstatically in circles. A glowing figure and a glowing control started running around the crowd at a speed of over ten laps per minute. Qianqian happily nudged my arm, "Ah Jun, Ah Jun! Little Baobao has learned a new word! Shall we celebrate?"
Little Baobao’s language expression has always been a headache. While she gained an unprecedented "hatch promotion" ability, she also lost her normal speaking and language learning talent. To this day, the little girl still uses her own "Baobao language" to communicate. At school, no one dares to make her recite texts except for the brainless teacher. Therefore, whenever she learns a new word, we celebrate as if it’s a holiday. However, this ti I thought, vaguely rembering that Little Baobao had previously learned to say "kite," but the only kite she recognized was Orelia, so she never had a chance to say it...
I feel that besides Lilina, Little Baobao might also need a re-adjustnt of worldview at ho.
"Emperor! Do sothing!" While I was daydreaming leisurely, Orelia finally couldn’t stand it and began to call for help. As fast as she flies, Little Baobao follows just as quickly, occasionally using her special ability to suddenly appear in front of Orelia, startling the poor Angel Kite. Even with Orelia’s calmness, she couldn’t handle it now.
I acknowledged with a sound, aiming for a long ti, and when Little Baobao finally darted past , I swiftly grabbed the little girl’s collar. Instantly, Baobao let out an "Owuah," flailing her arms and legs as she hung in the air. She looked around in confusion and then turned to with her signature silly smile, holding out a string in one hand and pointing at the still sowhat shaken Orelia not far away, "Daddy! Kite! Kite!"
"Your Majesty, please think twice!" Orelia instantly dropped from the air, her enormous wings wrapping around herself like a dumpling, with only her head exposed, "I haven’t been a kite for several months!"
Holding Little Baobao by the collar, I set her on the ground, then handed her a crystal ball, pointing to Orelia, "Call her Sister Orelia; she’s not a kite."
Little Baobao licked the crystal ball, discovering it wasn’t edible, then nodded with a bit of puzzled regret, putting away the string. Watching this from the side was particularly amusing: to see soone as serious and thodical as Orelia being chased up and down by a naughty kid is always a source of considerable joy. Honestly, I felt a bit sorry for Orelia: the first one to tie a string on her was when she was a Thought Body Angel who couldn’t speak. Without tying a string, I really couldn’t have brought her back. Just a few months have passed, and the Angel Kite has beco my chief deputy (by the way, isn’t it okay to treat Alaya’s deputy as my deputy? That Dull Cat Angel didn’t seem to mind), actively and integrally involved in the reconstruction work of the whole world as the Heavenly Realm City’s chief engineer and street director. Back then, I never imagined this would happen.
We were leading a group of joyous little ones to wander around the mysterious structures of the Heavenly Realm City, and their enthusiasm was no less than when we first visited the Divine Realm. Qianqian and Miss Lin were under strict supervision, and I had to constantly prevent her from habitually scribbling "I was here" all over the place. Every ti Lilina reached a new location, she’d try to coax Little Light into crawling into those suspicious looking conduits and windows. Little Light had been tricked by that mischievous Archbishop using similar thods more than once, so how could she be fooled again after just one attempt? Thus, she’s only tricked into crawling in after Lilina persuades her twice...
Then we have to continuously rescue Little Doll, who gets stuck in so corner, repeatedly going through the cycle—this Doll girl’s intelligence is becoming more worriso recently, possibly related to her lazy lifestyle of having everything served to her without thinking. I fear that if this continues, one day, she’ll be tricked by Lilina until she’s sold in the SD section on Taobao...
Hey, I’ve found a way to make money. Anyway, after selling herself as an SD doll, she can take a taxi back herself...
I was quite inspired by this sudden idea, and the Little Doll looked up at for a while, mumbling, "I feel like you’re starting to think of sothing improper again."
I chuckled dully and shifted my gaze. We were now on a platform that seed to have special functions. This platform was roughly octagonal overall, but its edges were not neat. Many jagged crystal clusters projected from its sides—no doubt, the angels who descended here must have strong nerves. The material of the platform was like other Mysterious Side buildings, a special substance between white crystal and tal, emitting a very dim glow. The platform’s radius was about a hundred ters, quite spacious, with nearly two-thirds of its area taken up by a powerful energy "pool". This "pool" was a circular facility located in the center of the platform, protruding less than a ter above the ground, its edges adorned with golden demon runes and complex, obscure magic texts. It looked like a giant pool, but contained not water inside, but sothing like vast cloud mist, which should be the condensed state of energy. When gathered, the mist assud a liquid-like texture yet retained a gaseous buoyancy, flowing slowly in the "pool". The center of the cloud mist was distinctly bulging upwards, constantly rolling, emitting a low rumble like a real fountain—if it weren’t composed of gas and light.
We’ve seen several such mysterious and beautiful facilities, and every ti we see a new one, we have to ask Orelia about it. Compared to Technology Side structures, Mysterious Side facilities have the distinct characteristic of low modularity in design, represented instead by their internal demon runes and energy arrays, with a highly freeform and whimsical exterior style that differs from the imposing beauty of Technology Side architecture, which relies on strong lines and repeating units—of course, my main curiosity now is about what this pool is for, because I rember Xyrin Apostles aren’t the kind that would put a fountain in front of their door just for looks, and even if they were to create art, they’d only choose between two things: the Imperial Army Emblem or their own emperor’s portrait.
"What’s this for?" I lay beside the pool, watching the rolling light and mist, followed by a row of little girls leaning over as well, while several adults nearby held down these mischievous kids to prevent them from falling in. Just as Orelia was about to answer, I heard a faint click from my chest, followed by a vague, high-pitched scream.
"Oh, Dingdang fell in," I said expressionlessly, watching the rolling clouds in the pool, and waiting for a mont, "and hasn’t floated up yet."
"Oh no, Captain!" Yelsen was imdiately alard, and instantly pulled a bird-catching net out of his personal space, fishing around in the pool, "Captain, hold on! I’ll pull you out right away!"
Seeing Yelsen’s foolish antics, Monina was instantly furious, kicking him and the net two ters away: "Use your brain a bit! The holes in that net are too big, the Captain would fall through—Captain, hold on! I’ll get you out right away!"
Saying this, Monina took out a fine-net used for catching dragonflies and started poking around the mysterious pool. I watched in awe from the side, thinking that with such a group of jokers, there’s probably nothing to worry about regarding Dingdang’s safety...
"Uh, this is the Ao Energy Spring," Orelia, as usual, was stunned for two seconds upon witnessing our family’s antics, then whispered, "The light and mist inside are energy that would overload and kill ordinary beings with just a touch, but it shouldn’t pose much harm to Dingdang, at most just make her dizzy."
"What’s it for," I thought this "fountain" would be nice to place in Shadow City, to deal with those disc peddlers, a quick dip headfirst would surely have significant long-term effects without fatalities, "oh, I see now... So that’s how those guards are made?"
Before everyone’s eyes, a violent cloud mass suddenly boiled up from the "Ao Energy Spring," resembling bubbling boiling water. Deep groans echoed from within the light and mist that made up the spring, as if a turbulent storm brewed inside. Soon, the cloud mist began to congeal and gradually solidify, with sparking energy inside growing brighter. This process took about ten seconds, and finally, a cloud giant about four or five ters tall, with a roughly human shape but entirely made of shapeless blue and white light, appeared before us. The elental being glanced around, a bright red lightning storm flashing within its chest. As the lightning gradually subsided, it—or he—ca out of its initial daze and greeted everyone present with a bow, then strided away from the spring towards the transporter portal at the platform’s edge.
Behind this cloud giant, the activity of the Ao Energy Spring dramatically increased at a visible pace. The previously calm light mist bubbled violently like cold water poured into heated oil. Huge light masses rose from the spring, forming a new cloud giant within ten seconds. Wrapped in lightning and light, these elental beings, resembling deities from religious legends who lived among the clouds, lined up orderly as they erged from the Ao Energy Spring, heading towards their designated rendezvous points to receive orders. Then we noticed one of them was a cloud giant glowing entirely green...
Orelia quickly halted this elental soldier, took the net from Monina, and, after fishing around in the giant’s abdon for a while, finally retrieved a little one glowing green. The newly-born elental soldier made a confused, thunderous grumble, its body shifting from Dingdang’s green back to its original lightning white, and hobbled back to the main group: a portion of its abdon was missing, apparently taking a few minutes to heal.
Everyone: "..."
"There are two sources for the Elental Guard here; one is the Plastic Energy Factory, and the other is this Ao Energy Spring. The latter collects free energy drifting in the Heavenly Realm City to create Elental Soldiers. As a result, it requires a long recharge period between operations. Although this makes production efficiency relatively low, it serves as a facility for recycling dispersed energy, which is better to have than not," Orelia said, handing over Dingdang, who was talking nonsense with her eyes closed. "It seems the Life Goddess’ power had a catalytic effect, causing this Ao Energy Spring to activate one hour and thirty-seven minutes earlier than expected."
Catalytic effect... I twitched slightly at the corner of my mouth, looking at the little creature curled up with her knees in my hand. Dingdang’s role is becoming increasingly odd—she can act cute, be cooked into soup, steep in water to clear heat and detoxify, be tied to the forehead to flap her wings like a small fan. Now, she can even soak in an industrial tank as a catalyst... It seems she excels in every profession except being a goddess.
"Ah Jun... Dingdang is amazing... Dingdang just learned how to freestyle swim..."
The Little One turned over in my hand, muttering nonsense, seemingly feeling a bit cold and pulled my thumb over her belly.
Everyone: "..."
"Is she alright?" Even Bingdisi, with her strong nerves, couldn’t help but ask, to which Orelia imdiately waved a hand: "Don’t worry, don’t worry, being in an arcane environnt for too long does that. A little sleep will bring back her spirit to the fullest, and, to be honest, it is actually good for the body; it’s said to be whitening..."
"Splash!"
I turned my head just in ti to see Bingdisi leap into the pool without hesitation. Orelia was stunned but followed up with the second half of her sentence: "Effective only on Elental Beings..."
"Damn it, why didn’t you say so earlier," Bingdisi jumped out imdiately, completely dry as expected—after all, it wasn’t a water pool; what was I even expecting?
We spent half a day wandering around the Heavenly Realm City. According to Little Light’s assessnt, this novel place is way more fun than Shadow City. It seems that before this girl feels bored, there’s no need to worry about finding her sothing to do. Just as we were preparing to leave, Heavenly Realm City welcod two special visitors.
Shajina and Sona.
The two Half-Dragon girls suddenly appeared on the teleportation platform and t us face-to-face as we prepared to head ho, catching us almost by surprise. Qianqian imdiately greeted them happily: "Ah, Shajina and Sona, what brings you here?"
"Uh," Shajina finally reacted. Her first act was to salute Lin, then she gave us a silly grin, "Well, Sona and I are here to return the Elental Soldiers we borrowed earlier."
As she finished speaking, several tall figures began appearing one after another on the teleportation platform—it was the Elental Guards seen everywhere in Heavenly Realm City. Orelia explained on the side, "Since the Half-Dragon Kingdom was just founded, there are many areas where they need help, and a few days ago we sent them so manpower."
"Oh, I see," I nodded; indeed, such small matters don’t need reporting. However, speaking of the Half-Dragon Kingdom, I looked at Shajina and Sona with surprise, "Is the new ho for Half-Dragons already built?"
"It’s under construction," Sona couldn’t help but show excitent when speaking about this topic, "We don’t have the divine power to build a city overnight, but with God’s granted strength, the new ho is starting to take shape. Now over eighty percent of Half-Dragons on the continent have gathered in the south. We’re constructing three cities, with the largest being beside the Crow God Sacred City, which we intend to make the Half-Dragon capital..."
"Let’s go check it out?" Qianqian eagerly suggested.
Before everyone could even react, this girl had already hopped onto the teleportation platform, setting the teleportation paraters while waving us over: "Co on, didn’t we say we were going to check it out?"
Lin Xue looked a bit confused: "Uh... as proactive as ever..."
Before Shajina and Sona could say much, they were dragged by us onto the teleportation platform. I had just greeted Orelia when a flash of white light appeared in front of . As the white light dissipated, I found myself standing in the Half-Dragons’ new ho.
Before was a newborn city.
After adjustnts, the ti between the Mother Continent and the entire Shadow Space synchronized. Now it was just before dusk on the Mother Continent. The light cast from the horizon gently poured over the land, coating everything in a rich, magnificent dark golden hue. A broad road paved with massive stones stretched straight to the limit of vision. Alongside it, houses constructed with large stone slabs and thick stone beams stood in rows. These tall buildings were uncarved and lacked lavish paintwork, yet exuded a raw, robust original beauty everywhere. In front of these newly constructed houses were giant stone basins serving as street lamps, and as the sun set, the basins ignited sequentially along the stone road. Yet, there was no fuel within. The bright fla was likely the result of so mysterious power.
Half-Dragons do not use magic—but blessed by the divine, they wield powers even more awe-inspiring than magic. Since the divine bestowal, divine techniques and Dragon Language Magic, previously only legendary, appeared among the Half-Dragons. Today, they stand on this land—dignifiedly as "humans."
This shouldn’t be called a city just yet—despite the nurous buildings before us, in the distance, we could see mostly unfinished structures. Beyond the main road, scattered stones and freshly excavated foundations and trenches were still visible everywhere. This new ho was being built on a wasteland; everything was starting from scratch. All Half-Dragons have constructed thus far is nothing more than a collection of gathered residences. Yet they proudly call it their capital; this is, in their hearts, the grandest city. As the sun’s afterglow painted the burgeoning land with life, every roughly carved stone corner seed gilded, gleaming brilliantly. Sona pointed to the embryo of the city erging from the wasteland, her voice full of endless pride:
"Look, this is our new ho!" (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, please visit Qidian (qidian) to cast recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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