Dwarf and Dwarf

"Hey, wake up!" In a daze, Donald felt a pair of hands shaking him.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a beautiful woman's face attached to a child's body. Recalling what had happened before he passed out, Donald scrambled backward on all fours. "Are you still Nina?"

"No, I am Natia Vida." The woman spoke gently, her voice pleasant to the ear.

"You're that harpy?"

"Natia, are you sure this is that clever kid? He looks like an idiot to me."

The speaker was an even stranger figure—a coarse face thick with a beard, yet like the woman beside him, he stood no taller than a seven- or eight-year-old child.

The woman shot the short man a glare, then continued addressing Donald. "I'm not a harpy. I'm a gnome from the north. When we found you, you were stumbling into the forest, looking quite out of sorts."

"Thank you for your help. I think I had a strange dream..."

"There's something wrong with this forest. Something tried to mess with my head just now, but I scared it off with my Battle Qi." The dwarf's voice was huffy.

"Did you see my companions?" Donald worried that Richard and the others might be anxious not finding him.

"I did. Don't worry, it's already daylight. They'll be fine." Natia Vida replied.

"May I ask, are you and your father here to hunt Tree Rats too?"

"Haha! Hear that, Natia? He called me her father! Haha, that's hilarious! I like this idiot!"

Natia Vida had to glare at the dwarf again. "Oh, Donald, you're mistaken. Aidaruy is a dwarf, and I am a gnome. We're not the same race. In fact, I'm older than him."

"How do you know my name?" Donald's alertness spiked.

"Of course we know your name. We rushed over from Dorn City, barely made it to your camp, and only found a hunter who knew nothing and his granddaughter left behind. If we hadn't run fast, you'd have gotten lost in the forest. Those few charred bodies on the road—that was your doing, wasn't it? Not bad moves, kid..." The dwarf Aidaruy always cut in, but from his words, Donald at least knew Nina was safe.

"Please don't misunderstand. We first heard about you from that strange patterned sword, and then half a month ago, I read your thesis—the one on synthetic metals." Natia Vida's voice was unhurried, very compelling.

"The thesis? Why would reading the thesis make you want to find me? Shouldn't you go to Professor Victor instead?"

"Donald, you were the one who proposed the experimental design, weren't you? Coupled with that Thousand-Tempered Sword, we naturally concluded that these were all your ideas."

"Then why are you in such a hurry to find me? Is it for..."

"Don't you know about the relationship between the Dwarf Kingdom and humans?" Natia Vida asked, puzzled.

Then, from the gnome woman's mouth, Donald learned geographical knowledge that resolved his long-standing confusion about the saying: Knights go north, mages go south.

"The world is a slope..." In the gentle, soothing voice, a strange map seemed to unfold before Donald's eyes.

The world is a vast slope, tilting all the way from the Southern Heaven to the Northern Hell. The Hells Continent sits right at the center of this slope. To the east and west of the Hells Continent, at the same incline, lie several much larger continents. These central continents are collectively called the Middle-earth.

South of the Hells Continent, across the Sea of Oblivion, lies the Magic Continent. There, Magic Elements are abundant, a region where elves, Magic Beasts, and humans live together, and home to the Seven Great Holy Academies of Magic. Further south of the Magic Continent is the Dragon's Lair, and beyond that, it is said, lies Heaven.

North of the Hells Continent is the Human Federation, known as the Chaotic Land. There are no kings or nobles there. Because Magic Elements are thin, mages are extremely rare, so the Human Federation in the Chaotic Land is also called the Knight Federation.

Continuing north along the slope, past the Northeastern Mountains, lies the land of dwarves and gnomes—what humans call the Filthy Land, and what dwarves call the Extreme North Country. The Extreme North Country has an extremely harsh environment, devoid of any Magic Elements. Yet, as if by some joke of gods or demons, it is the region richest in Magic Crystal resources. In fact, it is now the only place where Magic Crystals can still be mined.

It is said that tens of thousands of years ago, there was no Dwarf Kingdom. Humans enslaved dwarves, driving them all to that so-called Filthy Land to mine, because only dwarves could endure its harsh conditions. The gnomes, being as short as dwarves, were caught in the same fate. Over tens of thousands of years, dwarves and gnomes pushed deeper north, finally establishing their own kingdom in the Extreme North, where ordinary humans simply could not reach. The Extreme North Country cannot grow food, but they have Magic Crystals, which they trade for grain. Besides that, dwarves excel at forging weapons, and among the gnomes, countless engineering geniuses have emerged. Thus, in trade with humans, blades, armor, and various machines gradually replaced Magic Crystals as the Extreme North Country's key resources.

Further north of the Extreme North Country lies the legendary training ground of Holy Knights—the Courage Wasteland. Only Holy Rank knights can reach it. In tens of thousands of years, no more than ten people have ever set foot in that mysterious place.

As for what lies beyond the Courage Wasteland further north, that should be the legendary hell where demons roam. No one has ever reached it, and no one knows what demons look like.

"The world is a slope? Then why doesn't the seawater flow north along the slope?"

"No one knows why. Some say it's because the Middle-earth blocks it."

"Is Middle-earth one single continent? Aren't the east and west of the Hells Continent seas?"

"Why do you have so many questions, kid? What seas? Between the Sork Continent, the Fermont Continent, and the Dolon Continent, it's all marshland!" The dwarf Aidaruy was getting impatient on the side. He couldn't quite understand why Natia Vida was wasting so many words on this kid.

"Alright. So, you found me to stop me from producing superior weapons and machines in Middle-earth?"

"Hey, Natia, this kid's not dumb!"

"Yes, Donald. I'm glad you understand our position."

"You want me to betray the human race?" Donald's tone was calm, revealing no emotion.

"Donald, millions of years ago, during the Day and Night Chaos and the Great Flood Period, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves were all equal. It was through the cooperation of all our races that we survived in that environment..."

"I think we're still equal now." Donald said without hesitation. In his view, racial equality was a given.

"Good! Good! I'm so glad you think that way! I think we can have a proper talk." Natia's tone changed, rare for her.

The dwarf Aidaruy also dropped his impatient expression, looking at Donald with a different light in his eyes.

(The pit in the Whispering Forest will be filled in later in the book; it's not just for show. A small hint: there really is a mysterious Magic Academy in the forest... Keep asking for recommendations and collections, thank you all!)