The Lothern Federation

The Ser Wilderness lay on the border of the Atlant Continent, with the Permafrost Tundra to the north and the Lothern Federation to the south. The Rust Mountains and the Boiling Sea flanked it to the west and east.

Dense forests, towering mountains, crystal-clear lakes.

All of them could be found in the Ser Wilderness.

But...

In the Ser Wilderness, where the heat lasted all year, sulfurous ravines, hills, and abandoned mines were far more common. Rich veins of magical metal lay beneath the ground, and kingdoms had once fought bitterly to seize the region's mineral wealth.

That had been roughly eight hundred years ago.

The Southern Kingdoms had waged endless war over the Ser Wilderness. Lives were devastated, calamities struck again and again, and countless sapient peoples struggled to survive. Cries of anguish rang out everywhere.

Then a human king appeared who excelled at strategy, magic, and statecraft.

He led his armies across the Southern Kingdoms, forced them to sign a peace treaty, and established the Federation with his own kingdom, Lothern, at its head. The Lothern Federation was not as powerful as an empire, but it was far stronger than an ordinary kingdom.

Only then did the struggle for the Ser Wilderness end.

Under the Lothern Kingdom's leadership, the Southern Kingdoms negotiated a division of the Ser Wilderness. After centuries of mining, its mineral resources were nowhere near as abundant as before. Many veins had been exhausted, greatly diminishing the region's importance in the kingdoms' eyes.

Even so...

Some unexhausted veins still remained in the Ser Wilderness. These sites usually had outposts and bases belonging to the various kingdoms, complete with stationed troops.

"I can't go near a Lothern Federation outpost."

"If I did, I'd be handing them magical materials. They'd either take me apart to make magical items or enslave and imprison me, leaving me to live a life of misery."

High among the drifting clouds above the wilderness, Garos raised his head and looked west. In that direction stood a Lothern Federation outpost controlling a large vein of Fire Marrow Stone.

The Iron Dragon Mother had long coveted that Fire Marrow Stone Mine. She could never get it out of her mind.

Iron Dragons were not pure Fire Dragons, but their nature was tied to fire. A steady supply of Fire Marrow Stone to eat would greatly accelerate their growth.

Yet even an adult dragon like the Iron Dragon Mother...

She could only covet it from afar. She dared not make a move.

The Lothern Federation had many Legendary Realm experts. Any one of them could skin the Iron Dragon Mother alive.

The Legendary Realm was a stage of life beyond level 20, a leap and a transformation. Level 20 marked the divide between mortals and legends.

Dragonkin who survived long enough were destined to reach the Legendary Realm. The only question was when.

Among humans, fewer than one in ten thousand reached the Legendary Realm. Only those with extraordinary gifts could do it, but humanity's vast population meant there were still plenty of them.

On the planet Bernardo, humans had more Legendary Realm experts than any other race.

Dragons, Giants, and Elves all had fewer. But at the same level, a human of the Legendary Realm who fought one of them alone might as well have been committing suicide.

Fire Marrow Stone Mine... There are plenty of veins like that in the Ser Wilderness.

Garos thought about the ore in the Iron Dragon Mother's Sinkhole Territory. It was scattered here and there, nowhere near enough to count as a vein. It was also full of impurities.

Even so...

Whenever Garos ate those ores, he could clearly feel the abundant energy within them. It did wonders for the growth of his scales, claws, fangs, and bones.

Too bad every known vein, large or small, already belongs to someone.

Even the Iron Dragon Mother couldn't claim one. For now, all I can do is dream. Better focus on what's in front of me and get some combat practice.

Garos circled the skies around the Sinkhole Territory, searching for a target.

Time passed. The sun tilted slightly westward but remained glaringly bright, pouring searing heat over the entire Ser Wilderness.

At an abandoned mine, the ground was riddled with pits and cave-ins.

Three Grey Hyenas padded along its edge, their legs moving in a steady rhythm. Their ears stood erect as they scanned their surroundings warily.

Finding no other creatures nearby, the Grey Hyenas lowered their heads and licked salt crystals seeping from cracks in the rock.

The heat-resistant spines covering their bodies bristled as the beasts took in the salt they needed.

What they did not know was...

A cruel, cunning predator had set its sights on them.

A Rock-Crushing Worm. These creatures liked to live in abandoned mines, feeding on mining waste and metal.

It resembled a worm covered in black chitinous armor. Nearly twenty meters long and as thick as a barrel, it had rings of spiraling teeth in its mouth that could grind ore to powder like a rock crusher. Tearing through flesh was even easier.

The patterns on its shell blended perfectly with the cracks in the surrounding rock.

The Rock-Crushing Worm rubbed its shell against the cavern wall, sending shockwaves through the stone. Through them, it sensed movement within a kilometer and detected the Grey Hyenas.

It burrowed through the ground, slowly closing in on its prey.

Soil and rock parted before it like tofu. The ground above bulged slightly, leaving a long trail.

A minute later...

The Grey Hyenas had nearly finished licking up the salt and were preparing to leave.

The strongest Grey Hyena suddenly turned its head. It spotted the raised trail racing toward them and instinctively sensed danger.

Awooo!

It howled a warning to its companions and leaped sideways.

Too late.

The Rock-Crushing Worm's tail drove forward, and the rock and ground cracked like brittle biscuits.

Its massive body burst from the earth. Its shadow swallowed the rocks below as it lunged and bit with lightning speed.

Bzzzt!

Its rock-crusher maw caught two Grey Hyenas. The spiraling teeth inside whirled, shredding fur and bone almost instantly. It swallowed them amid a spreading mist of blood.

The remaining Grey Hyena, the strongest of the three, whimpered and fled without a moment's hesitation.

The Rock-Crushing Worm reared up and sprayed a fan-shaped web of acid from its mouth. It struck the fleeing Grey Hyena and ate through its fur and flesh in an instant, hissing as it burned.

The Rock-Crushing Worm crawled up to the Grey Hyena at an unhurried pace and swallowed it into its abyss-like maw.

After eating all three Grey Hyenas...

The Rock-Crushing Worm did not burrow back underground. Instead, it wriggled onto a flat rock and basked lazily in the sun.

The creatures lived mostly underground.

But now and then, they needed to come to the surface. Sunlight stimulated their shells, helping them shed damaged sections and grow new, tougher armor.

Under the sunlight, the Rock-Crushing Worm rolled over lazily.

Unfortunately, it did not know...

An even crueler, more cunning predator had set its sights on it.