Chapter 1 The Disaster at Baintz

Countless people witnessed the disaster that occurred in the Baintz region at the time. The earth-shattering scene and the rampaging First Born had already spread uncontrollably throughout the world. However, the truth behind this incident—including how the entire event was resolved—was only known to a small number of people, and even among this small number, only those who were present at the time knew the complete story.

Of course, this included Auvra and Elson.

Now, the Kingdom of Holletta has successfully suppressed a lot of information that is not suitable for public consumption, and carefully fabricated the parts that can be circulated, cautiously pushing them to the restless masses who are eager to know the facts through the state's propaganda machine. It must be admitted that this approach is beneficial to the vast majority of people: the royal family needs national stability, the church needs devout believers, and the common people only need someone to tell them that tomorrow will be as safe and stable as usual. Everyone only needs to know what they should know, and the world will continue to be safe. As for the catastrophic truth, there will naturally be people with enough courage to face everything to deal with it, such as great heroes or protagonist teams, or a 25-man raid team that falls from somewhere… something like that.

Elson led Hao Ren and his party along the rugged mountain road of the Dragon Spine Mountains towards the nearest Knights Templar base, while talking about the information he knew: "The incident in the Baintz parish was an invasion of an evil god. An ancient evil god bewitched some heretics, invaded the most sacred place in this world, and corrupted the Twisted Woods, turning it into a monster's lair. But the devout Grand Bishop Gelton and a group of enlightened missionaries received a revelation from the Goddess in advance and evacuated the innocent people in time. The power of the Goddess then descended personally, ending the evil god and its ugly servants. Grand Bishop Gelton and all those who died in the incident were listed as saints or martyr heroes. They bravely fought to the death under the personal command of the Goddess's voice—that's the story."

"That's the version for the public," Vivian clicked her tongue. "Sounds about the same as what those guys on Earth used to say..."

"The people need a 'truth' that can put them to sleep. Believe me, they prefer this version of the story to the real situation," the old werewolf chuckled hoarsely. "The king and the grand bishop know what really happened that day. They've been discussing the 'First Born' in the royal capital these days. Auvra's magic messages are full of complaints every day."

"I don't care about that. It's a matter for politicians to deal with anyway," Hao Ren shrugged. "How do you explain the impact crater? And the Crystal Jungle below... that several-kilometer-deep pit is definitely not a natural phenomenon."

Elson nodded. "Of course it's not a natural phenomenon. It's a 'miracle'. The Goddess praised the martyr heroes who bravely died that day, so she bestowed power to reward mortals. She used divine power to create the Crystal Jungle in an instant. The crystals in the jungle are a completely new type of magic ore—the magisters aren't quite sure if those ores are useful, but they do have many magical properties, so the church's explanation stands. Now the Tower faction and the Academy faction have sent their best magisters, and the kingdom and the church have built large laboratories at the bottom of the impact crater for them to study what those crystals can be used for. They will figure it out—they must figure it out."

"Looks like I can't just fire cannons at your planet anymore. I'm a grown man, and you're associating me with the Goddess..." Hao Ren's expression was subtle. "Seriously, those guys from the Church of Glow are really good at making up lies. How do they explain the fact that the Holy Lake was not protected, but was blasted away by the 'Goddess' herself...? Well, never mind, I know it'll be explained as a miracle."

Elson smiled silently, then pointed to the camp not far away: "This is the Knights Templar base closest to the main peak. In order to sense you as soon as possible and meet up with you, my troops and I have been stationed here. Don't talk to ordinary soldiers casually after you go in. Those people don't know about you."

"By the way, Auvra went back already? What's the situation in Holletta right now? The kingdom's knights and the church's knights have been guarding this place?" Lily also asked casually from the side. Before she could finish speaking, Becky excitedly leaned over: there was still a female marshal's fangirl here, one who could decisively change her orientation at Auvra's command.

The old werewolf lowered his voice cautiously: "I have to state that it's not that I don't want to say many things, but the matter is sensitive, and only Auvra can decide how much trust to give you. As for Auvra... she set off back to the royal capital after that day. She, and the surviving archbishops of the parish, have to go back to report what happened here to the king and the pope. The two knight orders have sealed off the Dragon Spine Mountains since that day. Now this place is not only a holy land, but also a forbidden zone, and a dangerous area—and some wandering Stone Guardians occasionally appear on the mountain roads, and we have to clean them up from time to time. The Pope and the King jointly issued an order prohibiting ordinary mercenaries and adventurers from entering the mountains, on the one hand to protect the secrets in the mountains, and on the other hand to protect..."

Vivian interjected: "Protect the Crystal Jungle, right? I know, it might become a strategic resource soon."

Hao Ren was a little speechless when he heard this: "It's just a pile of broken glass, if you really want it, I can help. You clear out a space, I'll bomb it from the sky, and I can blast out eight million square kilometers of mines for you with a four-four beat..."

Before Hao Ren could finish speaking, the data terminal murmured leisurely in his mind: "If you really do that, you'll be shot—and blasting out a Crystal Jungle with one shot is a low-probability event, okay? It's not like it can always trigger a chain reaction without damaging the geology."

Hao Ren complained in his mind: "Hey, I know the rules, I'm just bragging a little, do you have to be so serious?"

"Who told you to argue with a pdA!"

Hao Ren: "..."

Hao Ren felt that it was a great tragedy in life to argue with his tablet computer all day long, and the most tragic thing was that he couldn't win the argument...

As for the old werewolf Wolsen, he obviously didn't take Hao Ren's words seriously. He just smiled: "It's best not to have things like that day happen again. I'm old, and I might not be able to take it a couple more times."

"That depends on whether the remaining two First Born are easy to deal with," Hao Ren curled his lips. "Have the other two First Born been found?"

"The entrance to the secret chamber has been found. The king is organizing people to find a safe way to open the inner door of the secret chamber, but there hasn't been much progress so far," Elson nodded. "Let's wait until you meet Auvra before asking about the specific situation in person. It's really not convenient for me to reveal too much."

Elson had obvious worries when he mentioned the "First Born". Obviously, an unprecedentedly powerful enemy, almost like a natural disaster, was something that even a battle-hardened old general like him was unwilling to face, and he knew that even if this group of "foreigners" were willing to help, it would come at a terrible price: the completely destroyed Baintz parish was an example.

Seeing the gloomy expression on the old werewolf's face, Hao Ren didn't say much.

He didn't dare to tell the other party that the mature First Born was actually much more terrifying than what he saw that day: the tentacle monster in the Baintz parish had been in a long sleep, and judging from its size, it hadn't grown up yet. Even at that time, it didn't even show its soul form hidden beneath the material world before it was destroyed. On the planet Tanagrus, however, there was a well-fed and completely mature First Born. It devoured the entire ecosystem and monopolized the planet Tanagrus, its spiritual power even shrouding the entire planet. If what was sleeping beneath the Holletta crust was such a First Born, then apart from asking Raven 12345 to take action personally, Hao Ren had no way to save the lives on this planet.

Elson led the group to a place to rest and briefly informed them of the next arrangements: "I will go back and tell Auvra your news through magical communication, and then how do you plan to go and meet her? Use your magical space magic... or prepare some carriages for you? Let me state in advance that it's best not to use the military's teleportation array. Before meeting Auvra, you need to keep your actions low-key."

Becky jumped up as soon as she heard "magical space magic": "Absolutely not! The landlord is clumsy!"

Hao Ren was unhappy at the time: "It's okay to say it once or twice, but do you have to keep talking about how clumsy I am all day long? And how many times have you teleported on Earth?"

Becky stuck out her tongue: "Oh, I finally came back to my hometown, so I'm reciting the classic lines to find the feeling."

"Do you have high-precision maps, with elevation and precise scales?" Hao Ren took out the data terminal from his pocket. "We can calculate the coordinates of the fuzzy teleportation based on the map. Let's discuss a place with fewer people, so that we can contact Auvra without attracting attention. We have some confidential matters to discuss."

(Going out to do errands during the day today, so I'm updating it in advance.)