Let's Talk, Old Niu

This was a wondrous world.

This world had battle aura and magic, along with countless strange yet powerful forces.

This world had elves and dwarves, along with all kinds of bizarre yet endlessly fascinating races.

This world had only one sun, but it had a full moons.

The Pure White Moon, which represented new life.

The Azure Moon, which represented harvest.

The Crimson Moon, which represented death.

For most of the year, the three moons appeared in the sky one after another, bringing all kinds of hopes to the creatures of this world.

Of course, the three moons had their moments of convergence as well. Every year, there was a specific period when all three moons appeared in the sky at the same time. The White Moon, Blue Moon, and Red Moon shone in harmony, creating one of the most famous sights in the world.

When all three moons appeared at once, it was far more than a beautiful sight. Their gravitational pull acted on the world simultaneously, triggering immense changes. For example, the various laws governing the wondrous powers shrouding this world would surge irregularly. This change was known as the Moon Tide.

The Moon Tide did not last long. In this world, which had months in a year, the Moon Tide lasted only about months.

During this period, because the laws governing various strange forces surged irregularly, the creatures that were closely connected to those laws also became extremely unstable.

Some creatures grew violent, some had their powers suppressed, while others entered a period of rapid growth. Of course, such rapid growth in strength was hardly a good thing. As the laws of power became irregular, the creatures' improvement also became unstable. In such a state, the slightest mistake could lead to an accident.

Thus, the Moon Tide was not a good thing for most creatures.

This situation did not occur only in the Surface World. Even the underground world, separated from it by thick layers of earth, was affected in the same way.

However, this influence was not obvious in Landen's barren territory. There were only a few kinds of creatures there, and none were greatly affected by the Moon Tide. Aside from the Rock Lizards adding more semi-cooled magma to their food, there was hardly any other change.

Still, the fact that Landen was unaffected did not mean everyone else was. Take Landen's "dear" second sister, Vivian, for example. The reason she had chosen to send out troops when the Moon Tide descended was precisely because of this consideration.

Landen's territory, the Yumaas Region, had taken on a long, narrow shape because of the Blackwater River. Only one corner of this elongated region truly lay between the two cities that were likely to go to war soon. That corner had terrible terrain and was extremely far from the fortress; even traveling normally would take more than days.

Yet even so, Vivian had still chosen to come to the fortress. This naturally meant taking a considerable detour. In wartime, such a pointless detour could practically be called idiotic, because it greatly increased the likelihood of the group being exposed to the enemy.

In the underground world, open warfare between two sides was practically nonexistent. Assassinations, ambushes, and sowing discord... those were the rules of the underground world.

Therefore, even if Vivian was sending troops, she certainly would not be doing so openly. Yet she had still chosen to take a detour, making Landen suspect that her supposed campaign against Morata City was merely a smokescreen. Coming to Landen was her true objective.

What had she come here for? Naturally, it was to make her good little brother, Landen, disappear from this world forever.

In fact, she had already begun doing so before she even arrived.

Janie was one instance, and the time Landen had nearly died after drinking Corona Ginger Juice was another. Ever since Landen had left the protection of Matriarch Isis, Vivian had grown more and more brazen in her actions. After enduring for so many years, she had become increasingly eager to kill Landen.

That was the true reason Landen had decided to take risks and accomplish so much in such a short time.

To become a true lord, the most important and fundamental thing was to stay alive!

"Woohoo~ I finally look a little like a lord." Landen leaned back in his swivel chair and looked outside through the small window, which resembled more of a lookout slit.

The underground world was still dark. Yet with the help of the scattered points of light and his infrared vision, Landen could clearly see the entire group of hobgoblins on a flat patch of ground not far from the fortress. After several days of effort, they had all been equipped with Rock Lizards, and at that moment, they were "fighting" with them.

To become knights, the first step was to build a good relationship with their mounts. What was more, they were not dealing with domesticated horses, but Rock Lizards that had merely received some basic training from the Minotaur Butler and remained full of wildness.

This had been Landen's order. He had not asked the Minotaur Butler to tame the Rock Lizards completely. Instead, he had left that step to the hobgoblins. Only by taming them personally could they better achieve unity between knight and mount. This was extremely important to a knight.

Most of the hobgoblins were still struggling to climb onto the Rock Lizards' backs. However, a very small number of them, including two hobgoblins with Black Iron strength, had already managed to sit on their backs. Following the instructions Landen had given them, they were controlling the Rock Lizards and making them move.

Not far away, Hogg was lying on the back of a Vulture Turtle and yawning. Every so often, as if bored, she would toss out a small stone, accurately striking a hobgoblin trying to slack off. Under her supervision, not a single hobgoblin dared to be lazy.

"There are less than days left, right? Whether I can rise to prominence then will depend on you." Landen sighed softly, then laughed despite himself. Anyone who heard someone placing his hopes on a group of hobgoblins would probably be unable to stop themselves from laughing.

The stone door was pushed open without a sound. A jade arm gently wound around Landen's neck, while a bewitchingly sweet voice sounded beside his ear. "Little brother, were you looking for Big Sis?"

"There's something I need Big Sis's help with." A helpless, bitter smile appeared at the corner of Landen's mouth, but his head honestly and unapologetically leaned backward. Naturally, it met nothing, and even that smooth jade arm withdrew with it.

Only after spending several days together did Landen discover that this beautiful snake demon was not as... uninhibited as he had imagined. Of course, Landen really wanted to find out what she would be like if she were uninhibited...

The Minotaur Butler was preparing the ingredients needed for dinner. As both the butler and Lord Landen's personal chef, this was part of his daily routine.

Footsteps came from behind. The Minotaur Butler turned around in surprise, then saw Landen.

The lord wore a warm smile and spoke first.

"Let's talk, Old Niu."