Chapter 356 The First Day of Su Zhou's Arrival (6800)

The Kerber Empire, Maya Main City in the North. An inconspicuous caravan slowly entered the city. The high heat from the magic engine evaporated the surrounding snowflakes, causing white steam to spread like mist to both sides of the road.

Maya City is an ancient city with a history of over six hundred years, founded by the Maya family who migrated from the western part of the empire. During the magic revolution more than a hundred years ago, the Maya family took the lead in supporting magicization, and in one fell swoop became the industrial base of the northern region of the Kerber Empire.

In this city, towering chimneys and factories can be seen everywhere, as well as colorful magic slag and dust. These are discarded miniature magic crystals produced by the operation of magic engines, which can damage human health and cause various lung diseases. Although the empire has repeatedly ordered rectification, and even required work stoppages to check the degree of pollution, the industrial zone is the economic lifeline of the entire northern region. Not only the factory owners, but even the workers themselves, for the sake of their jobs, disagree with the empire's requirements.

Due to the rich economy brought about by early magicization, and the independence of being in the remote north, the Maya Territory and the imperial government have always been at odds, almost a country within a country. As the local lord and the largest factory owner, facing the increasingly aggressive imperial government that intends to integrate the great nobles everywhere to complete central centralization, the Maya lord will naturally have the idea of 'independence'.

However, in this world, in addition to magic technology, there is also transcendent power... and the Kerber Empire's royal family, which possesses the power of the Divine Dragon, is the greatest deterrent.

The Maya lord believes that if he shows the slightest sign of independence, the imperial royal family will directly burn him to death in his own bed, even at the risk of arousing dissatisfaction among all the nobles—of course, such a result is likely to lead to wars everywhere, and even if the Kerber Empire does not split, it will suffer a great decline in vitality.

But so what? He would already be dead by then.

——It is necessary to have power.

——But it is also important not to let the empire notice.

The Maya lord, walking on a tightrope, cannot even afford to sleep peacefully. He fears that the construction achievements of his family over the years will be seized by the imperial royal family, and that the glorious Maya family will eventually become an inglorious footnote in history... Outsiders can only see his prestige, like a little emperor in the north, but they cannot see that he has been so fearful for decades.

Until twelve years ago, a mysterious man holding a Dragon Ball appeared in a small mountain village on the edge of the Maya Territory.

——Dragon Ball.

This ancient term immediately reminded the Maya lord of distant myths and legends... Yes, if he wants to fight against the Kerber Empire's royal family, which holds the power of the Divine Dragon, he can only rely on the Dragon Ball. Only by making a wish to the Ancestral Dragon and obtaining the power of the Divine Dragon himself can he fight against the winner of the last Dragon Ball ritual!

Since then, the Maya family has been secretly searching for the whereabouts of the Dragon Ball holder who disappeared in the north. But unfortunately, he seems to have disappeared out of thin air, almost completely disappearing. If it weren't for the fact that hunters in the mountains still occasionally said that they had seen traces of a giant divine dragon in the Cobol Mountains, perhaps everyone would have thought that he had already left the north.

Precisely because of this, all those in the world who have ideas about the Dragon Ball... even other Dragon Ball holders, seem to be attracted by gravity, and gather towards the north.

Leading the lord's team, disguised as a merchant caravan, back to his private residence, the Maya lord, whose complexion had returned to normal, invited the scholars to their respective rooms and placed them under house arrest with the best conditions. Then he returned to his own study, used a magic imprint to open a secret door, and entered a hidden underground chamber.

The underground chamber was simple, just an ordinary room covered by a layer of camouflage runes. In the center of the room was a mercury mirror.

Without any hesitation, after entering the secret room, the Maya lord directly connected his magic power to the mercury mirror, initiated a response to the other side of the mercury mirror, and then entered information.

"The Divine Dragon was successfully summoned, but the one who answered the call was not 'Nidhogg' but 'Zhuzhou'... Because the summoning was successful, I was momentarily arrogant and offended the other party. Zhuzhou has a perverse personality and can resist the control of the Dragon Ball. Although he didn't kill us, he took the Dragon Ball and the artificial human together and disappeared into the wilderness."

The Maya lord did not exaggerate, but objectively narrated his failure: "I'm sorry, I don't think I can fulfill the agreement. This is the responsibility of our Maya family."

After a dozen seconds passed, the mercury mirror began to fluctuate, and a series of texts appeared on the mirror surface.

[Can resist the power of the Dragon Ball? Zhuzhou actually has such strong power, which is not shown in mythology... I already know.]

Equally crisp and without any nonsense, a large number of texts began to appear on the mercury mirror: [Admitting your failure frankly and promptly, instead of choosing to hide it from me, you can't be considered incompetent. Well, my expectations for you were just fish to muddy the waters, and now, a divine dragon powerful enough to resist the power of the Ancestral Dragon is more useful than the expected 'Desperate Black Dragon'. Leaving from your hands is actually a good thing.]

Facing the great nobles who are among the best in the entire empire, the attitude of the existence behind the mercury mirror is still very casual, but the Maya lord has no objection to this—not because he doesn't feel anger and shame, but because he deeply knows that the other party is not an existence that they can use power and influence to pressure.

In fact, the Dragon Ball that summoned Zhuzhou was given to the Maya family by the other party, and facing a powerful unknown existence that can casually take out a Dragon Ball and give it away, it is not an exaggeration to be as careful as possible.

After thinking for a while, after the old text disappeared, a series of texts reappeared on the flat mercury mirror: [Can you determine the location of that divine dragon?]

"There are tracking beacons set up in the artificial human's body."

[Well, that's fine. Pay attention to the other party's location, and report to me as soon as there is a major change—this concerns the fate of your family, and you should understand the importance of this matter without me urging you.]

"Yes." After a brief reply, the mercury mirror returned to calm, even reflecting the Maya lord's already slightly old face.

The Maya lord, who has always maintained the most basic calm and rationality, showed a hideous expression when facing himself reflected in this mercury mirror.

"Damn it!" he roared in a low voice, wanting to swing out a punch and hit the mercury mirror, but just as his fist was raised, he slowly put it down again.

But in this way, the anger on his face was even greater: "Damn it!"

Just as the Maya lord was gnashing his teeth, wondering who he was cursing.

"Unexpectedly, you actually have a transmitter on you."

In the wilderness of the north, in a windless area in a hilly jungle, Su Zhou, who had lit a bonfire, stretched out his hand in surprise and pointed to Aura's brow, who was sitting motionless in front of the bonfire: "Those people are quite cautious, but fortunately, I have always been careful and observant."

With the power of Mushin, Su Zhou could clearly hear that in Aura's almost empty mind, there was actually a rather active mental node... Without guessing, there must be something wrong!

Therefore, the young man pointed his index finger, and a cyan-purple aura flashed.

Immediately, a huge force shook the air, directly shattering a delicate spiritual node hidden in the artificial human girl's eyebrows, turning it into pure spiritual energy and returning it to the world.

In this process, Aura, who was wearing a coat, did not move at all, not even blinking her eyes. The red eyes reflected the dancing bonfire, as if in a daze.

Su Zhou was not surprised by this, after all, he had previously learned from the Maya lord that Aura was just an artificial human who was only three days old, a tool specially prepared to replace the Maya family in the Dragon Ball competition and summon the Divine Dragon.

In her mind, in addition to the basic general knowledge of artificial humans, there was only the ritual to summon the Divine Dragon. If no one else ordered her, Aura herself would not take any extra action.

"Although I brought this little girl out to avoid trouble, what should I do with her..."

Su Zhou was actually quite troubled by Aura's existence—he was not purely a visitor from another world summoned by the Dragon Ball. Even if Aura, as the summoner, died, Su Zhou felt that he would not be rejected and leave the world, but even so, his trip to the Yala world would definitely be greatly affected, not to mention that he was originally very interested in the Dragon Ball wishing ritual.

Therefore, ensuring Aura's safety is one of Su Zhou's current tasks. According to Su Zhou's guess, the Dragon Ball competition is definitely not like Pokémon on Earth, where divine dragons fight each other. Everyone's primary task must be to kill the other party's summoner first, so that no matter how powerful the divine dragon is, it will be rejected by the world.

In this case, as an artificial human, Aura, who does not have the fear and reaction of ordinary people, has the lowest survival rate. Even Su Zhou cannot guarantee that he can protect her.

After all, the seven Dragon Ball holders are now in this area of the north—this is the first time in eight hundred years that all members have gathered, which means that the war for the Dragon Ball is almost on the verge of breaking out. No matter where or when in the north, battles may break out at any time.

Just now, Su Zhou had flown into the sky to look down on this area. From the sky, the most conspicuous were the cities and major satellite cities and scattered villages built by the river, with Maya Main City as the source, and then the white wilderness where he was, and the mountain areas further north.

"If the battle is to happen, it should be in these places. I'll patrol around at that time to see if I can find any clues."

Thinking like this, Su Zhou took out the 'Dragon Ball' he had obtained from Aura before.

The Dragon Ball was originally a pure light golden sphere, with a hard texture like crystal, but after Su Zhou was summoned, a very simple white dragon divided by ancient totems appeared on it, with flame-like light wings behind it.

The firelight of the bonfire reflected on it, and there was even a vague illusion that the light wings were vibrating.

Tsking twice, Su Zhou stared at his Dragon Ball and totem, and couldn't help but sigh: "How long has it been, only three years on Earth, how come I already have a totem in another world? Looking at this style, it's authentic, at least a thousand-year-old design..."

"What's so strange about that."

In response, Yala sighed: "Three years on Earth, maybe a thousand years have passed in other worlds... Isn't it just like a day in heaven and a year on Earth? There are even faster time comparisons."

"You are my contractor, and your information is transmitted faster in my world, which is very normal... Moreover, information transmission is inherently unreasonable, and even substitutions and confusion may occur, just like telling your story in another way, which is very similar to Nidhogg—in some worlds, the two of you may gradually be confused and merged in legends, giving birth to a new divine dragon."

"I'm not wondering about this."

Su Zhou, who himself came to replace Nidhogg, nodded slightly, with a rather emotional expression: "I just never thought that one day, I could also fight as a 'divine dragon' in myths and legends against the legendary divine dragons I once heard about. This experience..."

Saying this, he couldn't help but laugh: "The transcendent world is really interesting."

After lamenting for a moment, Su Zhou put down the Dragon Ball and continued to turn his head to look at Aura.

The red-eyed girl has a delicate face and skin as white as snow. At this time, in addition to the white robe, she is also wearing a black coat.

"You're only wearing so little, aren't those people in the Maya family afraid you'll freeze to death?"

The black coat on Aura's body was clothing that Su Zhou kept in his personal space for changing clothes. After realizing that the girl had nothing but a white robe on her body, he put it on her, and she did not refuse.

In response to Su Zhou's direct question, Aura raised her head, looked at Su Zhou, and showed a business smile, using a gentle voice to say: "Platinum Workshop has been professionally manufacturing artificial humans for four hundred years, with guaranteed reputation. The temperature resistance is minus 53 to 85 degrees Celsius, and there will be some changes depending on the magic concentration, with an upper and lower error of no more than three degrees Celsius. Stronger, high-intensity reinforcement and modification are supported."

"Platinum Workshop, the best alchemy workshop in the Kerber Empire."

"...Is there even a built-in advertising description?"

After answering the question, Aura lowered her head again and looked at the bonfire. Su Zhou also knew very well that the other party was indeed not an ordinary human, and her body was much more resilient than that of an average ordinary human.

In this regard, Su Zhou also asked with great interest: "Aura, I remember you said that your lifespan is only less than thirty days left? Is this long or short? How many days do general artificial humans last?"

"And what is the result if an artificial human dies?"

"My usage period is set to thirty-one days, which is an extended and enhanced type. The general artificial human usage period is seven days, and the professional combat artificial human usage period is one day. My remaining usage time is 27 days, 13 hours, 49 minutes, and 21 seconds."

For Su Zhou's question, which can be said to be impolite, Aura's answer was still gentle and polite, with a clear and rhythmic voice, which sounds like singing in the language of the Kerber Empire: "After the artificial human's usage period ends, the magic power in the body will automatically dissociate and return to the raw materials, which can be used for the refining of new artificial humans."

"Is that so... As expected, there is no fear at all."

After asking the question, Su Zhou used his divine power and listened carefully to Aura's inner voice.

The result was naturally very simple, he did not hear any sound—although the artificial human girl has a simple artificial soul, there are almost no modules for any active thinking... In other words, she is essentially a moving puppet, only possessing human hardware and a brain, but because she was only born a few days ago, she does not know how to use it to think.

This result aroused his interest instead.

"Su Zhou, what do you want to do? Could it be..."

In this regard, Yala, who was lying on top of Su Zhou's head, vaguely guessed Su Zhou's thoughts, and the young man simply nodded: "After all, she is the little girl who summoned me here. I can't just let her turn into ashes after twenty days, right? Of course, I can prepare a complete body for her that is not an artificial human, but the premise is that at that time, she is no longer the puppet she is now, but at least a 'person' with basic thinking abilities."

Saying this, his tone became playful: "And, don't you think it's very interesting?"

"It's like the ancient snake, who tempted the original human couple to swallow the divine fruit, allowing them to distinguish good from evil, and know shame... to obtain 'wisdom'."

"Of course, I don't intend to tempt—I just intend to teach." Saying this, Su Zhou smiled very happily: "Just right, I can also use this to test how accurate my understanding of 'Mind Power' supernatural powers and my analysis of the human soul are."

"To be honest, yes." Hearing this, the tail of the snake spirit slightly curled up, and it nodded in a happy tone: "This idea is indeed good."

Aura, who was staring at the bonfire, did not hear Su Zhou and Yala's undisguised words, because her thinking logic would not react to anything unrelated to her mission.

But soon, Su Zhou's words once again caught her attention.

"Are you really not afraid of death at all?"

"I don't have this emotion, sir."

"That won't do."

In response to Aura's simple and straightforward answer, Su Zhou said in an extremely serious tone: "You must learn to fear, fear death. If you are not afraid of death and do not dodge in time when encountering danger or being attacked, then you will die more easily than those who are afraid of death."

"And if you die, I will be weakened, the Dragon Ball may be taken away, and the mission will fail—fearing death is to ensure survival and ensure the success of the mission."

This series of logic was forcibly stuffed into Aura's mind by Su Zhou.

"Victory in the Dragon Ball War... highest priority. Fearing death is a condition to assist in achieving victory."

Blinking her eyes, the white-haired, red-eyed artificial human girl looked a little dazed, but soon, she repeated: "In order to ensure the success of the mission, I must protect survival, and ensuring survival is equal to fearing death."

"That's right!"

Saying this, Su Zhou, an excellent professor at the Qingxing Academy and a model for young teachers nationwide, showed a smile worthy of a teacher: "The first step to the success of the mission is to learn how to fear."

Just as Su Zhou was instilling the correct values in the artificial human girl.

Several hours ago, when Aura's summoning ritual was successful and the cyan-purple aura descended upon the world.

An invisible wave began to resonate between all the Dragon Balls.

——Around Maya City in the North, in an unremarkable small hotel.

A wandering mage dressed in rather tattered clothes, wearing glasses, and reading a magic book somewhat blankly took out a golden sphere from his arms.

This wandering mage has messy black hair, bundled into dreadlocks and draped behind his back.

"The last Dragon Ball holder to summon a divine dragon... has finally appeared."

"The war... is about to begin."

Thinking like this, the wandering mage's expression carried a trace of helplessness and fear, but also a trace of longing.

But it was useless to think too much. She took a deep breath, then slowly calmed down and began to read the book in her hand again.

A huge shadow with a head full of snakes vaguely appeared behind her.

——In the wilderness, in an unremarkable riverside house.

A strong middle-aged man with short white hair was checking his tools—a dozen bottles of various alchemical potions, a hand crossbow that could be tied to his hand, a deep red scimitar that flickered with dim magical light, and a large pile of parts that had been disassembled.

It can be seen that this strong middle-aged man should be a bounty hunter. He also has a guild badge on his chest. At this time, he seemed to sense something, but he was not affected by the resonance of the Dragon Ball. Instead, he neatly began to assemble the pile of parts in front of him.

Soon, a large-caliber armor-piercing pistol with a gray-silver body and inscribed with magnificent runes was assembled. It could be vaguely seen that an almost boiling baleful aura was spreading on this pistol, which was enough to hunt giant beasts.

"Don't make noise."

Suddenly, he opened his mouth and said to the empty river outside the window: "There will be plenty of time for you to eat later... Until then, just be patient."

Hearing the order, the extremely huge giant snake phantom revealed the crazy and ferocious light unique to monsters, but then, it still reluctantly floated in the river and then disappeared.

——On the upper reaches of the Northern Wilderness, on a luxurious yacht on the ice-free lake.

A man with long golden hair and wearing luxurious clothes looked at the Dragon Ball resonating in his hand with a reserved expression, then shook his head and said: "The rebels have gathered together. I didn't think we could gather seven people. I didn't expect that after eight hundred years, there are still people coveting the power of the Dragon Ball."

Beside him, rows of warriors wearing sturdy power armor stood in silence, motionless like standing statues.

"Well, let's just wipe them all out in one fell swoop as a gift I give to my imperial father."

The ice-free lake began to ripple slowly, and huge whirlpools began to form.

It was vaguely visible that a huge creature that was both fish and dragon was swimming in it.

——Maya Main City, Ancestral Dragon Temple.

A young priest was meditating at this time, but a strange sense interrupted his practice, forcing him to sigh helplessly.

Leaving his practice room, he came to the secret room under the temple, took out the Dragon Ball from the heavily guarded secret cabinet, and then whispered, calling the Divine Dragon sleeping in the distant treasury to return and telling it that the war had begun.

——High above the Northern Wilderness, above the clouds.

A mountain youth who was enjoying the thrill of flying, standing on the clouds, looking up at the sun, spread his hands as if to embrace the golden and warm source of all things and bathe in its glory, but soon, his expression changed slightly.

In the seemingly empty sky, a thick mental voice came: "Be careful, I sensed it, the last divine dragon has descended... If you want to survive, then you have to work hard."

"I understand." The young man, who seemed to be a hunter, nodded seriously. He clenched the longbow in his hand, looked down at the arrows in the quiver on his waist, and the long arrows made of dazzling, light-condensed feathers, and then revealed a confident smile.

——Finally, in the deepest part of the Northern Wilderness Mountains.

In the dark underground cave, the fluorescent light of the magic crystal released a little weak light, and under this light, a man who could not be identified was playing chess with a dragon man with wings.

However, when the man was about to make a move, he raised his head in confusion and looked up, his eyes seeming to penetrate the earth and rock layers, seeing beyond the cave.

"Strange... This aura, why is it so similar to yours?"

Hearing this, the dragon man with wings narrowed his eyes slightly. He sensed for a moment, then shook his head and smiled: "I thought it was your illusion, but it's really wonderful, it's indeed somewhat similar—but, this is different from your plan, right?"

"Indeed, but it doesn't matter." Shrugging his shoulders, the man said as he dropped a piece on the chessboard, his expression extremely confident, and said calmly: "Everything is still within my expectations."

Just as the youth in the jungle of the Northern Wilderness was teaching the artificial human girl what 'fear' is, and why 'fear' is needed.

All the elements are complete.

The ancient ritual that had been silent for nearly a thousand years was restarted.

Whether they are ambitious people with great interest, or ordinary people who are caught up in it, whether they are schemers with ulterior motives, or unswerving fanatics.

Everyone, every existence, is ready for the war that is bound to come.

——If the wars of ordinary people have always used the blood and lives of both sides as a bet to fight for mundane interests.

Then, this war related to 'Ancestors' and 'Wishes', its bet, is an even greater future and destiny.

And this is the first day of Su Zhou's arrival.

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