When He Ao saw this legend, his gaze paused slightly. What followed was the explorer's speculation about it.
The explorer believed the story was full of "self-glorification," a common flaw of legends:
When describing their own origins, the vast majority of city-states either claimed to be descendants of some god or said heroic blood flowed through their veins.
In his words, "Every city-state has a great ancestor."
However, although the explorer felt that Rock City's legend contained much embellishment, he still believed it was far more "real" than the far-fetched claims of other cities.
The legend directly described Rock City's origin as "the Queen's gift," while also stating that the Queen had granted Rock City a unique "freedom." This indicated that other city-states did not possess that freedom.
From this, the explorer concluded that the Northern Border Kingdom was not a loose alliance of city-states following a nominal common ruler.
Rather, it was a powerful centralized feudal kingdom where all decrees came from a single source.
The explorer believed Rock City's legend was highly valuable, and he discovered that it had nearly been lost. At the very least, he could no longer hear such stories within the city.
Moreover, Rock City's mainstream historical view held that the city was not particularly "old," having been established only after the Federation was founded as a relatively "young" city.
If the legend was true, Rock City's history could even be traced back to the Great Cataclysm Era. That would be a major historical discovery.
The explorer had even specifically visited Rock City's mayor at the time, hoping the mayor would preserve the city's history and legends, conduct deeper research into Rock City's past, and not focus entirely on mining.
But before he could even enter the mayor's residence, security threw him out.
He