Chapter 1 Bringing Back a Delegation

Bringing a nearly hundred-person "remnant delegation" from another world was not just Hao Ren's affair; it involved many aspects, and its significance was far beyond what ordinary people could imagine. For the supernatural community on Earth, it was a journey of tracing roots, an opportunity to unveil the origins, an action to approach the truth, contemplate the future, and even lay the foundation for returning to their homeland. And for the native planet of the Dream Plane—mainly referring to Holletta—this matter had even more practical implications.

A group of remnants who had left their homeland ten thousand years ago and were sent to another world by the goddess had been completely forgotten by this planet. Even the oldest historical records could not find their names. This group of remnants had developed for ten thousand years in a place called Earth and already possessed completely different cultures and values. And now, this group of remnants had returned—although they would not immediately return, they had the possibility of returning. How could this be a small matter?

To put it more trivially, this matter was enough to keep the King of Holletta awake for two weeks.

Becky could not think of these things for the moment, but that did not mean that Marshal Ofra could not. Although she was a military commander, she had stood in Holletta's political arena for many years and had some strategic insight. Becky quickly notified the female marshal and invited her over.

Ofra was still as valiant as ever, and her close-fitting women's light armor seemed to never leave her body. Compared with Becky, who was a half-way "Royal Military Officer," this true veteran marshal had a military temperament that radiated from the inside out. She was a little surprised to see Hao Ren and his party, and recalling the epic events she had experienced with these "foreigners," even the female marshal became nervous for a moment.

She thought there were still remnants of the Progenitor organization deep beneath this planet.

After listening to Hao Ren's explanation of what had happened, Marshal Ofra took a little time to digest this somewhat "out-of-bounds" content for her, but fortunately, she had acted with Hao Ren and his party and had some understanding of other worlds, alien civilizations, and space-time navigation, so she quickly understood the ins and outs of the matter. Her first question was very practical: "Are they going to return to this world?"

"That's a matter for the future, and even when that day comes, it is estimated that only some people will choose to return to their 'hometown'," Hao Ren replied. "The Wall of Reality is far from stable enough to allow all the aliens on Earth to return to their homeland, so this time I can only organize a team of a hundred people to come over. In which, the group originating from Holletta is actually only a part—more people come from other planets in the universe, those that have been completely destroyed or have evolved and changed to no longer be suitable for their survival."

"Then about those who decide to return to their homeland," Marshal Ofra put her hands under her chin and looked directly into Hao Ren's eyes, "In what form will they return in the future? Will they rebuild their kingdom? Restore the society of the Magic Empire era? Take back their ancestral land? Or integrate into our current world and become citizens of this continent? I know these are things for the future, but I am very curious about them now—and I believe His Majesty the King will be even more curious about them. I need something that I can report to him."

Hao Ren smiled. He understood what the other party was worried about very well: "I think you're overthinking it… Of course, it would be even stranger if you didn't think about these things. Actually, there's no need to worry too much. The number of 'remnants' who have fallen to my side is far less than you think, and they have experienced a long civil war called the 'Mythological War', and the remaining survivors are even fewer today. Moreover, they have lost their cultural heritage and historical records. I believe that even if someone is willing to return to the Dream Plane, they won't think of rebuilding the empire of ten thousand years ago. After all, they don't even know what the magic empire of ten thousand years ago was like. Of course, I don't deny that the return of these remnants will have an impact on you, and this is also in my consideration. In the spirit of responsibility, I will ensure that their return will be carried out on the premise of mutual consensus and will be under control throughout the process—if anyone is really willing to come back."

After Hao Ren finished speaking, Lily interjected, "And don't be so repulsive to them, after all, they are compatriots from ten thousand years ago. Now that they finally have a chance to go home, it wouldn't be nice if you put on a cold face."

Marshal Ofra smiled slightly, "As an individual, I am of course happy to see compatriots who have been stranded abroad return, but as a guardian of the kingdom, I have to consider something more practical."

This was a little explanation of her attitude just now.

"In short, these things that will happen in the future can be discussed. The key now is the upcoming 'inspection team'. A hundred people, a temporary 'stopover'. I believe this is not a pressure for a kingdom, but this matter still requires your national-level cooperation," Hao Ren knocked on the table, "Your planet is the only one I have found so far that has survived the disaster of the end of the world more completely and retains its original ecosystem. Holletta will be our most important stop. I need to let those 'tourists' know all aspects of this world in a short period of time. I need information on all races, all cultures, and all historical periods. I need your star records and the legends about those 'ancient disasters' of ten thousand years ago. Werewolves, bloodkin, dwarves, elves, it would be best if all races could send a representative team..."

Hao Ren talked about his series of ideas and emphasized at the end: "This is also a good opportunity for you to show your strength and cultural charm. You don't want your compatriots who have been stranded abroad to look down on their hometown, do you?"

Ofra was actually a little dismissive of the things Hao Ren mentioned at first: In her opinion, the return of the remnants was significant in the overall sense, but specifically, the reception and arrangement of this small inspection team was a small matter and should not be raised to the extent that the king needs to pay attention to it himself. But after a while, she found that Hao Ren's expression was unexpectedly serious, so she interjected and asked, "This matter... shouldn't be as simple as it seems on the surface, right?"

Hao Ren looked into Ofra's eyes for a few seconds before saying, "This is a test—related to the sleeping of the Creation Goddess. You are all children of the goddess, don't forget that."

"I understand," Marshal Ofra nodded slowly, "I will report this matter to His Majesty and try to get him to take it seriously."

"He will take it seriously," Vivian laughed, "Your old king is not confused, he knows what a group of 'tourists' running over from another world means."

Marshal Ofra was noncommittal: "Perhaps."

"In addition, there is also the favor I mentioned just now that I need you to help with personally," Hao Ren continued, "I need your help to summon your 'Ancient Race' clansmen. You are the original ecological 'Demon Hunters' who have not been affected by the Wall of Reality. Perhaps the key to solving many ancient mysteries lies in you."

"That's not a problem," Marshal Ofra agreed very readily, "Although the Ancient Race within Holletta are distributed all over the place, we have our own information channels within the clan. It is easy for me to contact the clansmen, and I believe they won't mind helping you, the 'Savior', with such a small favor."

This topic was settled, Hao Ren handed over the various materials that he had prepared to Ofra and asked her to pass them on to the old King Morón, then he looked at Becky and asked about the Dark Mountains.

"Dark Mountains?" Becky raised her eyebrows, "Yeah, I was escorting a group of experts and scholars to that place, and there have been a few strange things happening in the mountains recently."

"Strange things?" Hao Ren leaned forward, "Can you tell me about them? I asked your butler before, but he wasn't very clear."

"It's quite strange," Becky blinked, "You should have inquired about the situation in the Dark Mountains, right? That's also a place where many ancient magic empire legacies are buried. Although it's not as famous as the Dragon Spine Mountains, there are many ruins and the like, and there are also many ancient creatures that have mutated in the rich energy environment, so the degree of danger is very high. Usually only experienced adventurers and knight investigation teams organized by the kingdom will go deep into it. However, since the mountains as a whole are shrouded in an ancient energy vortex called the 'Wall of Lorissa', the dangerous radiation and magical creatures inside will not run out, so there are still some human villages near the mountains."

Becky's explanation and description of the Dark Mountains were much more detailed than the butler's. She had obviously carefully investigated the information in this regard, and it seemed that this period as a Royal Knight was also a training for her.

After talking about a series of backgrounds of the Dark Mountains, she then mentioned the "strange things" she mentioned earlier.

"...Originally, the supernatural power of the Dark Mountains was bound by the energy field near the mountains, but not long ago, there was a sudden powerful energy fluctuation in the mountains. This energy fluctuation even interfered with the operation of the Astrology Tower located in the capital. Subsequently, a large number of eyewitness reports of bizarre events came from the villages near the mountains—some villagers said that they saw large swaths of light pillars appearing on the mountains at night, like the Tower of Babel of the legendary ancient magic empire, but no one in another village only a few kilometers away saw those light pillars; some hunters active at the foot of the mountain said they heard rumbling sounds coming from the ground; some explorers and mercenaries who ventured into the mountains reported seeing groups of figures in the forest, and they were still wearing the standard armor of some unknown country, but the figures disappeared in an instant. In addition, there were many strange reports, basically pointing to hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, etc. Due to the impact of the 'Progenitor' incident, His Majesty the King paid unusual attention to the changes in the Dark Mountains and ordered the Royal Magician Association to organize an investigation team composed of high-level or above mages to check the situation."

"Are those investigation teams still in the mountains?"

"Still there," Becky nodded, "They have established observation camps in the mountains, and there is also a guard team composed of a high-level knight order left to protect them."

"Do you think this matter is related to the 'Progenitor'?" Seeing that Hao Ren didn't speak, Marshal Ofra couldn't help but ask with some worry.

"Probably not," Hao Ren shook his head, "The Progenitor has been completely eradicated, and the monitoring equipment I left behind has not found any remaining Progenitor organizations underground, so this matter is probably not related to the Progenitor. By the way, when was the earliest energy burst specifically?"

Becky thought for a while and said a date.

Hao Ren immediately compared it in his mind.

It was the day that Lockmarton was destroyed and the Koroll world returned to the main material universe.