Chapter 1 The First Time the Guardians Left the Defensive Line

For the first time in millennia, the Guardian Legion stood outside its defensive line.

Black starships crisscrossed through space, rapidly clearing the battlefield of lethal corrosion and harmful debris. Temporary outposts and defensive platforms were erected, reinforcing the barely stable position layer upon layer. Spellcasters among the Guardian Giants set up Eyes of Vigilance at the edge of the formation to guard against a sudden counterattack by the Corrupted—everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the shockingly massive drone legion was reorganizing and withdrawing from the defensive line in an orderly manner. They were establishing bunkers and drone storage depots further away from the Nexus, a gesture that effectively reduced the Guardians' wariness towards these terrifying machines.

The Nakodar Fortress slowly floated to the area where the Guardian and drone legion lines intersected, anchoring itself at this balance point. The new fortress hadn't had a chance to display its full capabilities throughout the battle, but it had intercepted the Corrupted Legion with its anti-aircraft fire in the last few minutes, which could be considered a baptism of war. Above the Nakodar Fortress, the Petrified Great Tortoise and the Guardians' flagship, the "Aier," were slowly approaching and establishing a connecting passage.

Considering the Guardian Giants' height of over ten meters made it difficult for them to move around in many parts of the Petrified Great Tortoise, Hao Ren and Vivian agreed to Salaman's invitation and boarded the majestic ship, which resembled a black mountain. The Guardian Legion Commander personally and enthusiastically greeted them.

This wasn't Hao Ren's first time on a Guardian ship, but it was his first time on a fully functional Guardian warship. The interior of this massive war machine was fitted with facilities that matched the Giants' size, and everything looked astonishingly huge, leaving a deep impression on Hao Ren and Vivian—but that was all. They had dealt with the Muru trio for a long time and had become somewhat accustomed to the things used by these Giants.

This allowed Hao Ren to quickly shift his attention away from the colossal objects around him and focus on his conversation with Salaman.

The Guardian Legion Commander had clearly considered the significant difference in size between the two sides, so he had prepared platforms that floated in mid-air for Hao Ren and Vivian, allowing them to converse at the same height—this courtesy and thoughtfulness pleased Vivian.

The bridge of the Guardian starship was much more bustling than that of the Petrified Great Tortoise. This giant ship clearly required many controllers to operate, and Hao Ren curiously looked around the bridge, while the Guardian Giants who served as operators and instructors also looked at him with curiosity. For both sides, this was an equally novel moment.

The Guardian Giants were encountering a force (or individual) that called itself "Observers" for the first time. They were quite interested in this man who looked no different from humans but possessed great power, while Hao Ren's curiosity was even simpler:

It was his first time seeing so many Guardian Giants! And they were all breathing!

These were all the compatriots of Muru and Layman Douesa! There were at least two platoons of Giants standing on the bridge alone! Every one of them was lively! If he brought them back to show the three gardeners of Tanagous, those three might have a myocardial infarction on the spot, right?

"Ahem, Hao Ren, pay attention, your eyes are glazed over," Vivian noticed that Hao Ren was wandering off again, and reminded him softly with a hint of helplessness, "Salaman is greeting you."

"Uh, cough." Hao Ren quickly brought his wandering thoughts back and looked at the giant head in front of him.

Salaman was a Guardian Giant with obvious signs of age—although the Guardians possessed near-infinite lifespan, they were a standard long-lived species, some of them would still allow their bodies to show signs of aging over time, and the old Giant in front of him was clearly one of them. He had thick hair and a beard, and his white beard and hair almost covered most of his face, while the exposed skin had obvious looseness and wrinkles, but his eyes were still full of divine light, filled with wisdom.

"Legion Commander Salaman, first of all, I'm very glad to be able to talk to you face to face here," Hao Ren said with a smile, "Regarding the escaped Amantir... there are many questions I don't understand."

"It is my responsibility. I did not expect the drone legion brought by Your Excellency to be... so powerful that it directly defeated those freaks on the front battlefield," Salaman said, his voice booming like thunder, "What I originally thought was to advance the battle line, the Guardian Legion and the drone legion would complete their convergence, and then we would discuss the next step."

He first explained why he hadn't informed them about Amantir in advance, but in fact, what he said was indeed the agreed-upon operation process. The actual results of the drones were beyond even Hao Ren's expectations, and it was in this link that the communication between the two sides went wrong.

Next, the Legion Commander explained in detail: "Amantir is indeed the nest of those Corrupted, but it... was once an important asset of the Guardian Legion. There are some crucial things on that planetary warship that cannot be damaged no matter what."

Hao Ren instantly thought of something, the most special item on the entire planetary warship: "Is it the crystal that serves as the 'navigation computer'?"

"How did you..." Salaman was a little surprised for a moment, but then he understood, "That's right, Nakodar is currently in Your Excellency's hands. I saw its control center still standing on the surface, so you must have come into contact with the 'Nakodar Crystal' located underground in the control center."

"So that kind of crystal is directly named after the planetary warship..." Hao Ren mumbled, then looked up, "About that kind of crystal, can you tell us more?"

Salaman hesitated this time, and finally shook his head gently: "I'm sorry, this is a matter of the Holy Land's secrets, we cannot..."

Before the old Giant finished speaking, Hao Ren raised his hand and pointed to Vivian standing beside him: "Doesn't even she have the right to know?"

Several Guardian Giants standing nearby looked at each other, while Salaman couldn't help but ask: "She? Who is this lady..."

"If I'm not mistaken, those little fairies think I'm their queen," Vivian spread her hands, "And if I'm even less mistaken, I was created by the Creation Goddess with her own divine blood... so I'm her biological daughter, I guess."

Vivian's expression was particularly strange when she said these words, with a bit of embarrassment and guilt: This was the first time she had solemnly introduced her background to someone, and the shockingly high family status on her household register made the countess (who was now a queen) who had been poor all her life feel like she was living in a dream.

Of course, what was even more embarrassing was that she didn't think being the queen of that bunch of messed-up fairies was something to be proud of...

All the Guardian Giants had the same expression after hearing this: o-o?!

Even Salaman was stunned. After a full few seconds, the old Giant suddenly put on a serious expression and frowned at the man and woman standing on the platform: "Do you know what you're talking about? This is not something to joke about—do you really know what the Creation Goddess means?"

"How could I not know? I've been working on this for four years," Hao Ren waved his hand, "I've been running around this universe all these years looking for the Creation Goddess's relics, and I'm still trying to rebuild her creations... ah, I'm getting off topic. Let's talk about Vivian's identity. I can assure you that everything she said is true. I witnessed everything with her—while you were isolated in this ancient star cluster, the outside world has undergone changes you can't imagine, such as the weakening of the Wall of Reality, such as a large group of creatures from this universe crossing over to other worlds, such as... the Creation Goddess once created a divine avatar, and this divine avatar is the one standing next to me now. But what's giving me the biggest headache now is how to prove this to you..."

As he spoke, he looked at Vivian and lowered his voice, "Speaking of which, the biggest problem with your identity as the Creation Goddess's biological daughter is that there's no proof—why didn't the Creation Goddess leave you a function to show your identity when she created you? For example, when you see other Guardian Giants, you can activate a skill, and then holy light surrounds you and a divine decree descends, or something..."

Vivian looked at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle: "Your imagination is too... but then again, even if the Creation Goddess left me this part of the setting, what's the use? First of all, I'm only half of the divine avatar, and secondly, I have amnesia."

The two of them whispered below, but Salaman's expression became more and more serious. His first reaction was that the two people in front of him were talking nonsense, but reason told him that no one would joke about this kind of topic.

This was a discussion about gods and the survival of the world.

And there was the most important point: This matter involved the deepest secrets and was not something that just anyone could inquire about. The mortal races of this universe didn't know, so how did the "Observers" from outside the known world know?

The fact that they could talk about this matter with such certainty in itself was very telling.

"There is one thing I need to correct," Salaman suddenly said, "We are indeed locked in this star cluster, but that doesn't mean we are completely ignorant of the things you mentioned. In fact, we are precisely the informed people of all these events, at least the informed people of most of the truth. The large number of creatures you mentioned crossing over to other worlds should be the Yggdrasil Ark Project. Although I haven't experienced it personally, I know that Mother had this plan; I also know about the divine avatar you mentioned, and I even know that this divine avatar has an identity on the Yggdrasil Ark... a Pathfinder."

Now it was Hao Ren's turn to have an expression with two circles and a horizontal line: o-o?!

The Guardian Giants in front of him were witnesses to the Creation Goddess's various final plans?!

So their being stationed here was also part of this plan?

Hao Ren was in a daze for a moment, and then he realized that all of this was a matter of course:

Vivian was the Creation Goddess's divine avatar, the Pathfinder of the Yggdrasil Ark, her soul stored the star map of the X Star Cluster, and the deepest part of the X Star Cluster was the location of the Crystal Planet "Nexus." Salaman and his legion were stationed here, so of course they should know a lot...

"The fairies can prove her identity," Hao Ren said very seriously, "Vivian once activated the Nakodar Crystal. The fairies were present at the time, and they said that this was the symbol of the Queen."

A burst of exclamations and discussions immediately rang out on the bridge. The Guardian Giants' low discussions were like muffled thunder, and Salaman had to raise his voice to quiet everyone down: "Silence, silence! You just said, she can activate the Nakodar Crystal?"

"That's right," Hao Ren's heart moved, "Could this be the proof?"

"No, simply activating the Nakodar Crystal is not enough, but we have other ways to verify the identity of the Pathfinder..."