345 Magic: Dragons and Mithril (Part 1)
Led by Mirrid, Li Aoz walked for quite some time through the Qualia Rain, abandoning the road and evading the pursuit of the Kingdom Council knights, proceeding along the forest stream.
Mirrid disliked giving explanations. This woman, shrouded in mystery, always wore a flippant smile, yet spoke with impeccable tact, never revealing her destination.
He was initially a little agitated, but gradually calmed down.
Caramel Snail followed him all the way across Violet Star, experiencing its diverse cultures and landscapes, and that's probably how his personality was smoothed out.
They were now in a valley. Mirrid lit a fire to drive away the dampness, cold, snakes, insects, and rodents, while Li Aoz sat by the cave entrance, reading a book by the light.
Magic, Dragons, and Mithril
This book was given to him by Mirrid to serve as his literacy material. Since he had nothing better to do anyway, Li Aoz didn't mind reading it.
The Echoer has no head; he simply cannot learn knowledge, but that doesn't mean he can't absorb information.
Putting aside practical considerations, this book is actually quite interesting. It records a series of short stories to illustrate some interesting paths.
To make these stories easier to understand, Li Aoz localized them to make them more accessible to someone from the Star Abyss Civilization.
After all, the mainstream Worldview of Star Abyss is based on Grand Narrative theory.
This book is different; its original version takes Dragon Satellite's perspective and considers issues of Worldview.
The gist of it is that for a considerable period in history, 'environmental determinism' has been the methodology by which people explain differences in civilizations and Grand Narrative.
Initially, people explained the reasons why civilization moved towards technology or magic, and why it chose idealism or materialism, by using the local environment as an example.
For a simple example, if a planet could give birth to fire-breathing, flying, and long-lived creatures like dragons, it means that its environment must have large marine life to support its enormous size. Secondly, the land in this place is relatively small, mostly consisting of broken islands and high cliffs, with very few trees and forests, and most areas are damp desert environments.
In this way, the ancestors of dragons had to survive by flying over the sea for long periods of time. Thus, similar to Quetzalcoatlus, their radius, ulna, and humerus were extremely elongated, and they evolved complex, large, active gliding wings. At the same time, in order to briefly dive into bays, they needed plate-like scales like crocodiles to assist in swimming.
As for how the fire-breathing ability came about, it is generally believed that fire-breathing evolved actively. Initially, it may have been just a performance for dragons when courting, using the accumulated marsh gas in their bodies and the rapid friction of their molars to ignite and create a simple stream of fire.
Anyone familiar with the principles of flamethrowers knows that breathing fire is an extremely wasteful activity. However, precisely because of this, the ability to breathe fire is seen by female dragons as a sign that males possess abundant resources.
Just as people might think that "I'd rather be at odds with the whole world than not be with you" is a romantic notion, this kind of risk-taking and resource-wasting behavior is actually a way of demonstrating strength.
From this perspective, holding a military parade is also a form of romanticism.
Clearly, from the female dinosaur's perspective, living with such a strong, intelligent, and capable male would increase the chances of their offspring surviving.
Thus, through generations of Gene Filtering, the individual expression of fire-breathing was passed down.
As their intake of calories and protein gradually increased, the brains of Dragon Kind became more developed. Those individuals who were good at breathing fire and precisely controlling the flames were considered to be creatures with higher intelligence. They tended to cooperate in teams during hunts and had richer emotional expressions. As a result, females would give priority to these intelligent males who knew how to please the dragons.
The story that follows is actually not much different from human history. In order to have a larger brain capacity and the ability to breathe fire, the teeth of Dragon Kind began to differentiate, their body structure was gradually improved, their size began to increase, and their lifespan also increased.
Biological evolution is measured in millions of years, and the enormous size of dragons also made their lifespans incredibly long. Eventually, this led to the emergence of experienced but unskilled individuals such as elders, grandmothers, and seniors in the dragon colonies.
The young dragons knew the value of these elders and began to care for them. Even though they did not provide hunting resources, they could still pass on knowledge, teach ambush techniques, and point out the direction of the hunt. The cooked food roasted over flames also extended the Old Dragon ' lives, further promoted tooth differentiation, reduced pressure on the jaw, and freed up more space for the brain.
Gradually, language also developed. With the advent of language, the dragons that were originally organized into a few families instantly multiplied to settlements of dozens of family members, and hundreds of dragons could hunt together, greatly increasing their efficiency.
As language evolved, dragons realized the benefits of hunting together and began to live together, even helping each other out and caring for newborn dragon cubs whose parents had died. In this process, the social relationships of the dragon race began to take shape.
As the environment changes, genes mutate, and species evolve, dragons begin to migrate. In this process, the dragons encounter various difficulties, such as famine, plague, cold, parasites, and giant beasts, but as long as they can't kill them...
This only made them stronger. In order to deal with these problems, the dragons began to form primitive clans and tribes and began large-scale migrations.
After overcoming or coexisting with these difficulties one by one, the dragons marched into the inland environment. Through group cooperation, the mortality rate of the cubs dropped exponentially, and the population began to explode for the first time. The clans began to split outwards and marched from all directions, eventually covering the entire continent.
From this point onward, the rudiments of social division of labor began to emerge within them. The initial matriarchal society united the dragons under the leadership of their great grandmother. Female dragons began climbing up to dig for bird eggs, fishing and hunting in the shallow bays, and gathering berries from all around. They would then return to protect and raise their young.
The male dragons began to arm themselves. They noticed that the rocks on the mountain were very solid, so they consciously used their claws to throw the rocks down from the heights, causing them to collide with another rock. Then they would use their claws to grasp the two rocks and grind and finely shape them.
First came the rough stone axes, which, after being sharpened, could be used to cut trees more effectively. Then they added sharper horns to their horns, and added maces and spiked clubs to the tips of their tails. Later, they discovered an even better material—metal.
Coincidentally, they were surprised to discover that the Dragon Flame, through years of accumulated genetic evolution, had a temperature just right to melt metal. The cooled metal could not only be used to make weapons, but also to forge all sorts of practical gadgets.
For example, currency.