Just Like the Stars

People often said that dragons possessed long lifespans, lives nearly imperishable, even eternal.

That impression was hardly strange. Dragons truly did live far longer than mortals. If a True Dragon occupied a region, a dozen generations of people might coexist with it.

But that was, in truth, an illusion.

Everything that lived would perish; everything that existed would fade. Mountains could collapse, oceans could dry up, and even stars had an end, becoming black stars of Terminus.

Let alone dragons.

Although Thorstner, the Rust-Steel Dragon, possessed a lifespan that could be called long compared to the little people on this planet, without special assistance, he would complete an entire life cycle within five hundred years, from birth to decline and death.

Neither too long nor too short.

That span was just right. It allowed them to witness one cycle of civilization, yet was not so long that their mentality changed, their passion and love vanished, and they became indifferent and numb, unable to observe all things objectively and truly.

It allowed them to better fulfill their tasks.

As a third-generation True Dragon, Thorstner had once heard his second-generation True Dragon mentor speculate about the origins of their kind. They were not ashamed to admit that they might very well be artificial lifeforms created by some advanced civilization. On the contrary, they believed that having been created by an advanced civilization gave their existence some lofty meaning.

Observing civilizations might have been one of their innate missions... and once their five-hundred-year life cycle ended, dragons as observers should return to their creators.

Then, they would undergo a complete transformation, ascending from dragons into a higher form of life.

A truly eternal lifeform.

That was his mentor's speculation.

But other mentors had other theories. Perhaps dragons were combat lifeforms and simply did not require such long service lives. Perhaps dragons were merely obedient pets created by their makers, replaced when disliked and granted longer lifespans when favored. Or perhaps dragons were vessels through which their creators walked the world, except their creators were no longer in this world, so the vessels had bred souls anew, giving rise to them.

There were countless opinions, each with its own evidence and logic.

Yet no dragon could convince another.

Dragons differed far too greatly in personality, ecology, and ability. No dragon could fully understand another. They were creatures that appeared alike, yet were utterly different.

Dragons were such contradictory beings. Their essential cores were completely identical, and even their outer shells were mostly similar, yet the flesh and souls beneath those shells differed entirely, even standing in stark opposition.

And so contradictions emerged. As third-generation dragons were born one after another, dragonkind completely fractured and even descended into civil war.

Thorstner had not experienced the Dragon War said to be capable of destroying stars, but his mentor had.

He and his mentor were dragons who shared some "common ground," so they could understand each other's thoughts. This was the only relationship through which dragons could reach even a little mutual understanding.

Of course, once fourth-generation True Dragons capable of bearing offspring emerged, the barriers between True Dragons gradually began to shrink... but in a sense, this was also the process by which True Dragons began transforming into genuine mortal creatures.

And his mentor firmly believed that the maximum lifespan of True Dragons was absolutely not limited to a mere five hundred years. Their creators had artificially restricted their "service period" only to keep their work processes manageable.

There had to be some device, somewhere, that could remove the restrictions placed upon dragons... allowing them to become truly immortal beings who could stand alongside their creators.

Could their creators truly be so great?

Thorstner sometimes thought this. When he was young, he had always dismissed it. If they truly were creations of some powerful civilization, why would their creators grant eternal life to powerful tools like them?

Tools were meant to be replaced once used up. Why add the extra provision of allowing them to live forever?

But immortality was not a bad thing either.

In any case, he would try to find it.

That was his mission.

And so the dragon spread his wings and set sail through the darkness.

He flew toward the bright stars, soaring onward.

At last, he arrived upon a flourishing land.

Ian felt the memories of Thorstner, the Rust-Steel Dragon.

They were memories from an age unimaginably ancient and distant.

At that time, the Rust-Steel Dragon had not yet encountered humans, had not yet become a Dragon God, had not yet protected the Mountain Folk for centuries, nor had he discovered the Sky-Fall Starship fragments within the Bison Mountains.

Carrying his mentor's hopes, he had departed from some unknown land of darkness, crossed the void, and arrived on Terra, seeking things related to True Dragons and immortality.

This was the true beginning of Thorstner's life.

Ian was thinking.

"So True Dragons have been speculating about their origins too?"

At that moment, Ian withdrew himself from the True Dragon's memories and considered the information within them from an observer's perspective. The more he watched, the more certain he became of his own conjecture. "As expected, True Dragons are some kind of unnatural super-lifeform. From beginning to end, they have been excessively perfect, yet they also possess many flaws that ordinary creatures would not have."

"But a cosmic lifeform... if True Dragons truly were created lifeforms, then what kind of mission required them to carry it out?"

"And this memory contains no scene of Thorstner's birth. It is more like it was deliberately extracted to tell someone like me, someone able to view Inheritances, why he came to Terra."

"There must be more."

His consciousness continued to delve deeper. Retrospective Vision and the Silver Chip worked together as Ian excavated the Dragon God's past stored within the Holy Mountain.

Soon, a new scene emerged. Yet this time, it was not a memory of the Rust-Steel Dragon's arrival on Terra.

It was the scene of his final days, as death approached.

Several centuries ago, at the summit of Rust-Steel Mountain.

Winter clouds lingered along the distant horizon. An exceptionally savage blizzard swept across the entire mountain range. Only Holy Rust-Steel Mountain, owing to its height and the Dragon God's protection, still enjoyed warm sunlight.

Beneath the golden radiance, a silver-gray giant dragon lay prone at the very center of the Holy Mountain's summit.

He was already extremely old. Though the armor and crystal plates across his body remained sturdy, they no longer gleamed as brightly as they had in his youth. Perhaps because his eyelids drooped, his once-brilliant silver dragon eyes now appeared dim and lifeless.

He could have made himself appear younger, but there was no need. Thorstner had no fear of death. His life had been full and perfect. Some loved him, some feared him, some worshipped him, and some respected him.

Even a dragon could find satisfaction in such things. Although he had not completed his mission, he had lived a life that belonged wholly to himself.

Basking in the warmth of sunlight, the aged Bison Dragon God sensed someone approach him.

It was a tall Mountain Folk man with brown hair and light violet eyes. Thunderlight flowed across his body, and a greatsword crackling with electric arcs rested upon his back.

He humbly knelt on one knee before the old dragon and deeply lowered his head.

"Your Majesty, an anomaly has appeared to the northeast. Canaanmore has suffered a cold disaster, and the air on this side of the mountains is also growing colder... The blizzard has already swept through the settlements of hundreds of large and small tribes. We must now devote ourselves to disaster relief, so there may be fewer people available to serve you..."

Even the leader of Dragon God's Kingdom was a child in his eyes. Thorstner remembered the man's name: Mingshan Xuanfeng. He was the current leader of the Xuanfeng Tribe. These little people always grew unusually tall and had booming voices, so they were selected to report important affairs of the realm to him.

But in truth, the old dragon could clearly hear even the friction of an ant's antennae. Why did he need such a loud voice? Still, it was ultimately the little people's goodwill. Thorstner had listened to reports from more than a dozen generations of the Xuanfeng family and had long grown accustomed to such voices.

Over his long life compared to humans, the dragon could not say that he particularly liked humans, but neither did he dislike these energetic creatures.

He had personally watched this man's ancestors follow in his footsteps and open the first patch of wasteland in the mountains. To keep up with his trail, to match the speed of his flight, they had done everything they could to hunt Thunderlight magical beasts.

And not only them... there had been so many, many others...

Countless figures suddenly surfaced in Thorstner's mind. He remembered the ancestors of the Mountain Folk's many tribes. The ancestor of the Xuanfeng Tribe had been a tall, taciturn man skilled with his hands, who had carved the first wooden statue of him. The chief of the Avude Tribe had been a gentle woman, yet she was skilled with dual blades. Whether shredding enemies' flesh or chopping vegetables, she had been peerless, the dream lover of every Mountain Folk person of that era.

He also remembered the chiefs of the Snake Rock Tribe and the Strict Stone Tribe: that long pointed nose and those large, fleshy ears. Old Boka and Bofu had been good brothers. They began following him relatively late, but they had worked the hardest and been the cleverest when helping him search for anomalies. One had consumed the Steel Rock Snake Magic Potion, the other the Crouching Rock Bear Lizard Magic Potion, all so they could travel through the mountains and investigate clues in overlooked places for him.

There had been many, many more. Their faces, and the faces of their descendants, flashed past the Dragon God's eyes.

They had long since died, returning to heaven, earth, and the mountains.

The long-lived dragon did not feel sorrow, for that was simply a human life. They had never regretted it, so why should he grieve?

Still, the time had come.

As he gradually aged, Thorstner felt his heart becoming indifferent. He was beginning to forget those faces.

Yes, the Mountain Folk he had once casually aided had nearly established a kingdom. Apart from the beginning, he had never truly bestowed any protection upon them afterward.

Of course, allowing those Mountain Folk to live within his territory might count as a form of protection, if one insisted... but was that not rather interesting too? Watching the little people be born and die, building their homes upon this land, sacrificing and praying at his side, praising his name and the names of the mountains.

That kind of life had been quite good.

But now, Thorstner no longer felt that inexplicable satisfaction and pride, the pride of being their Mountain Dragon God.

Now, all he felt was a faint sense of looking down from above, an indescribable alienation.

Time turned too many familiar things into indifference.

The wooden statues had rotted away. The stone idols had weathered in the wind. Even steel-forged divine dragons had taken on the rusty hue of corrosion.

Yes.

Thorstner suddenly understood something. This was a dragon's lifespan.

Five hundred years was the final limit of passion. Beyond five hundred years, dragons would gradually lose their ability to feel the subtle details of this world. If they did not quickly transform into a higher form of life and acquire a more eternal mode of thought, they would slowly lose emotion and empathy.

In the end, they would become lifeforms like machines.

So... it was time for him to leave.

Do not worry, Mingshan Xuanfeng.

At that moment, he spoke. That is not a cold disaster, but another aged dragon nearing death.

One of my kind has come for the treasure in my possession, intending one final struggle before death.

Mingshan Xuanfeng raised his head in astonishment. This was a great breach of etiquette, but the Dragon God did not care about such rituals at all. The man was instead shaken because this was the first time in decades that the Dragon God had spoken to a Mountain Folk of his own accord. "Your Majesty?! You..."

You actually remember my name?

Though he did not say it aloud, the dragon could easily guess what he was thinking. Not only him, either. If he wished, the dragon could remember the names of everyone who revered him as the Dragon God.

So he had always known.

This is not protection. I am merely protecting my property.

At that moment, the blizzard was advancing toward the Holy Mountain. Towering mountains of freezing clouds rolled in like tsunami waves, carrying piercing frost and snow as they sought to bury the dragon's nest.

And the aged dragon slowly pushed himself upright. He remained powerful, still possessing might enough to affect the world. Even though the Dragon of Steel had gradually rusted, before death, he could still unleash one hundred percent of his strength.

His wings spread wide. The Dragon God raised his head and gazed at his kin amid the endless ice and snow in the distance. He could hear roars, threats, and naked greed.

Thorstner, hand over your treasure!

The conflicts between dragons always revolved around treasure.

People often said that dragons loved gold, silver, and all valuables of high worth... That was not wrong, because what dragons desired truly was the most precious wealth upon this land, this planet, and this star region.

Just like the fragment beneath him, and the fragments within his kingdom.

As well as the people of his kingdom.

Those were the true priceless treasures, beyond all measure of value.

So it was time to spread his wings and begin his final flight—

Under Mingshan Xuanfeng's stunned gaze, in the eyes of all Mountain Folk enduring the blizzard, from the towering summit of the majestic Holy Mountain blazing with bright silver flames, the giant dragon who had endured countless years beat his wings and rose. In an instant, unimaginable power scattered every shadow and snow cloud across the mountain range.

Sunlight became a sword, piercing heaven and earth.

Then, rust-steel light rose against the sunlight, flying straight toward the very center of all the ice and snow!

The Dragon War began.

That was the end of the memory, the true end of Thorstner the Rust-Steel Dragon's life.

Ian watched it all to the end. The memory-images of fifth-energy-level True Dragons flying through the air sank deep into his soul. He let out a long breath, and rows of ancient, hastily written words appeared before his eyes.

Those who come after, whoever you may be, dragon or human. Whoever comes here, passes the verification, restarts the Cradle, and receives my Inheritance—

You shall receive my greatest wealth.

My treasure, my technology, my kingdom, my mountains, my dream... and my people.

This was the final message left by the Rust-Steel Dragon before departing his Dragon Nest to wage that final Dragon War of his life against the Ice-Mist Dragon.

He had come to Terra guided by his mission, entered death for his own wish, lived a full and satisfying life, and ended everything in the battle he had desired.

Thorstner, the Rust-Steel Dragon, the Bison Dragon God. These were all his names.

Until death, he never discovered the truth behind the secret of True Dragons, nor did he fully uncover the secrets of the Sky-Fall Starship's legacy.

But it was not because he had not worked hard. It was simply because he had not obtained the Silver Chip.

And now, four hundred years later, the holder of the Silver Chip had come to this ancient mountain range and stood atop the towering Holy Mountain.

Once again taking up an unfinished dream.

Ian opened his eyes in reality, silver-cyan radiance gleaming within them.

He could feel power filling his body. It was not an external boost of Origin Matter, but the force released by a physique that had been stabilized and brought closer to perfection after purification and treatment, more powerful and harmonious than before.

And information concerning the Glimmer Cradle, along with the results of Thorstner the Rust-Steel Dragon's research into it, surfaced one by one in Ian's mind.

Just as Ian had learned through the Silver Chip, the Glimmer Cradle was the Sky-Fall Starship's "Spark Preservation Device." Whether psionics, lifeforms, computer hard drives, or any other form of stored information containing the essence of civilization, it could preserve them through its internal Stasis Storage Device.

It did not stop time. Instead, it used Origin Matter to create an ether vacuum, immobilizing the movement of every molecule and maintaining the interior at nearly absolute zero. This was the most reliable preservation method.

However, because the Sky-Fall Starship had crashed and its energy system had been damaged, the most heavily defended Cradle System had detached, fallen into the Bison Mountains, and embedded itself within the mountain.

The Rust-Steel Dragon had used his own power to stabilize the mountain and reshape the entirety of Rust-Steel Mountain, using the natural Nature Psionics of the range to charge it.

But regrettably, many of the "Sparks" stored within the Glimmer Cradle had already been lost. Even the Rust-Steel Dragon had failed to find any trace of them.

Ian found this deeply regrettable as well. In a sense, every Spark contained the ecological information of an entire civilization, perhaps even an entire planet. Terra's present-day richness of ecology and environment might be a mixed product caused by Sparks leaking from multiple Glimmer Cradles.

If one had to put it another way, Terra's current ecology might well fit a hypothesis called the Gaia Planet... a planet capable of perfectly accommodating the ecological needs of any species, or helping any species find a suitable habitat within itself.

However, the Glimmer Cradle System possessed another extremely important function.

It could analyze the information contained in any Spark, regardless of whether it came from carbon-based, ammonia-based, sulfur-based, iron-based, psionic, phantom, Void Realm, sub-material, gaseous, or light-form life.

Whether it was a hive cluster, a mechanical gestalt, a psionic collective, a true social lifeform, or a society based on division of labor and cooperation...

No matter what kind of life it was, no matter what civilization had left the Spark behind, no matter how bizarre it was or how many times it had been encrypted, the Glimmer Cradle System could analyze it, extract its information, and store it.

This function had clearly been designed by the civilization behind the Sky-Fall Starship in order to better preserve civilizational information. It was a universal decryptor.

After all, some civilizations' Sparks might not have been preserved properly. They could only be handed over to the Sky-Fall Starship to absorb, so it could create a stable replacement itself.

The instant Ian saw this function, his heart stirred slightly.

Others might regret the loss of the Sparks and find this function somewhat amusing. If there were no Sparks left, what was the point of a function for extracting their information?

That was because they had no Sparks in their hands, nor would they obtain any in the future, so they could only sigh over it.

But Ian knew that within the South Sea Grand Labyrinth, there were at least several Spark ships!

As a research base dedicated to studying alien ecologies, Redwood Base's Sparks were preserved within its major ecological parks!

Some might have leaked already, becoming the ecology within the Great Labyrinth that differed from the outside world and creating the many metal-based lifeforms around the Bison Mountains... but the Sparks themselves had to still be inside the Great Labyrinth!

As long as he retrieved them and placed them within the Glimmer Cradle... then let the Sky-Fall Starship's technology completely extract and analyze them...

"I'll have the data for an entire metal-based planet, for every living ecology and even its civilizations?!"

Without question, this was the most precious treasure within the Cradle System!

At that thought, Ian's heart began to beat slightly faster.

Even someone as calm as him could not help imagining the future. "In that case, there will be no need to worry about technological reserves in biology... As long as I can establish the biological laboratory in Xiahui Territory, with Adalbert's assistance, everything will develop at breakneck speed... I may even be able to use this data to optimize the structures of many bloodline True Form Inheritances and Magic Potions!"

Even Immovable Fortress might not be perfect, and Hilliard admitted as much.

He had always told Ian that if Ian had the opportunity to improve Immovable Fortress in the future, then he should do so without hesitation. As an experimental Inheritance, its success was due to Hilliard's genius, but his path might not suit Ian or anyone else.

Ian agreed wholeheartedly. For example, the third-energy-level Stone Lord was, in his view, too heavily focused on defense and did not meet his requirements.

To complement the high perception and information-gathering granted by Fairy Bloodline and the Silver Chip, his Immovable Fortress had to possess sufficiently powerful firepower output and high mobility... If one had to say, the mobile fortresses he had seen in the Imperial Capital suited Ian's requirements perfectly.

An incomparably sturdy steel aerial fortress—that was the future he wanted.

It was simply that improving an Inheritance required far too many things. Even Ian could only take things one step at a time... but now, the opportunity was right before him!

This was something only Ian could accomplish.

"But..."

After calming down, Ian sighed. "First, I need to build the laboratory—and I also need to settle the rebellion among the Mountain Folk and ensure the territory's stability before I can speed up development."

"As for now..."

Slowly descending from the altar atop the mountain, Ian came to the edge of the summit platform.

On the summit platform of Holy Rust-Steel Mountain, the black altar had once been the Dragon Nest of the Bison Dragon God, while the surrounding structures were towering platforms and stone pillars used by the Mountain Folk for worship.

These ancient altars and totem pillars stood atop the high mountain, piercing the heavens. Even now, after the Mountain Folk had declined, they still flaunted their former glory to all.

Ian stood at the edge of the mountaintop, looking down over the area surrounding the Holy Mountain.

The brilliant silver sacrificial fire burned behind him, radiating pure light. Beneath the Holy Mountain, at the foot of the sheer cliffs, dense clusters of gold and crimson firelight covered the gorge entrance and the surrounding foothills.

Countless faces—thousands upon thousands of Mountain Folk—looked up at the mountain where the sacred flame had been rekindled. They shouted excitedly, their voices roaring like crashing waves.

They were Mountain Folk from the Avude Tribe. Being the closest, they had arrived first, coming face-to-face with the rekindled Holy Mountain.

Waiting for the descent of the Dragon God's Emissary.

For a moment, the memories of the Rust-Steel Dragon flashed through Ian's mind. His azure gaze lowered as he swept his eyes over everyone below. Countless faces—the faces of the Mountain Folk's ancestors and their descendants—overlapped, giving him a feeling both familiar and strange.

And from their mouths came the same cries, chants, and prayers. The boy standing atop the mountain could not hear their voices, yet for some reason, Ian knew exactly what they were saying.

"Dragon God! Emissary!"

"Dragon God! Emissary!"

"Dragon God! Emissary!"

The Dragon God's Emissary stood atop Holy Rust-Steel Mountain, like a god with the sun at his back.

Hundreds and thousands of torches gathered into an ocean, surrounding the surging sacred flame as the mountain-shaking cries rolled forth like a raging tsunami.

In the darkness, the Mountain Folk's eyes reflected the radiance of the sacrificial fire, glittering with fervent hope.

Those lights, those longings...

—They were just like stars.