Year 300 of the Goblin Empire Calendar

As Amigel unleashed his ambitions and the goblin armies waged campaigns in every direction, most of the known habitable lands on the Ferland Continent were subdued.

Countless races submitted beneath the goblins' banner.

As the goblins developed, the villages of the Goblin Empire expanded into barren lands.

Having inherited part of the legacy of the Human Race from the previous era, the Goblin Empire gradually improved its capabilities, particularly in mechanical technology.

Steam-powered inventions were produced in great numbers.

Although the Human Race of the Sanctuary had not handed over all their knowledge without reservation, what they had shared with the Goblins was already enough.

Goblin Emperor Amigel placed great importance on development in this field.

In his eyes, the Human Race of the previous era had dominated the entire world through steam technology and transcendent Sequences.

Now the Sequences were lost, but technology could still be developed.

He established the Royal Engineering Academy in Proadas City specifically to train goblin engineers!

These engineers enjoyed excellent benefits and education, making this the best destination available to goblins without transcendent aptitude.

Technology, art, transcendent power, and the population all flourished.

A golden age dawned upon the Goblin Empire.

The Winged People also grew and prospered in this rare period of peace.

Year 100 of the Goblin Empire calendar.

The Winged People built nine fortified passes on the lands near the eastern coast, fully protecting the vast expanse of the Eastern Sea Shore.

Publicly, they claimed these defenses were meant to repel magic beasts and incursions by other races.

With the nine great passes completed, the territory of the Winged People was practically a nation unto itself. To make it easier to govern, Jiang You named the eastern coast and the vast surrounding territories Rosendas!

In the language of the Winged People, it meant a blessed land bestowed by heaven upon those with wings.

As for Heavenly Mountain, the former seat of the Eaglemen Royal Court, and its surrounding lands, the Winged People likewise built a mountain city there, which now housed roughly thirty thousand of them.

Because Heavenly Mountain produced the spiritual treasure Wind Spirit Dew, most descendants of the Winged People living in Heavenly Mountain City followed wind-based professions.

Year 150 of the goblin calendar.

Lionheart, who had already become the de facto leader of the Human Race, broke through to the final stage of transcendent professions: the hero tier.

His professional path differed somewhat from Jiang You's, however. Following Jiang You's advice, Lionheart spent decades drawing on elements of the goblins' knight profession path, his own circumstances, and Jiang You's guidance. Building upon the Thunder Wielder profession, he developed his own path and finally advanced to Sacred Lion Knight!

This was a Hero Tier profession he had derived from Sacred Wing Walker to suit himself.

He had also conceived his legendary profession, which he named Lionheart King!

From then on, the Lionheart family had a hereditary profession path leading to the legendary tier.

Thunder Wielder-Light of Thunder-Sacred Lion Knight-Lionheart King!

Meanwhile.

Most of the Human Race from the Sanctuary had passed away. Only a few of the younger transcendent Sequence Users remained alive.

Fiona was among them, but she was no longer as youthful as she had once been. Time had left its marks on her face.

Among the Winged People, meanwhile.

The Winged People's population reached five hundred thousand.

The seven major cities gradually filled with Winged People, and the main city beneath Paradise Mountain alone had a population of one hundred thousand.

Over these years.

Jiang You sent envoys to various parts of the continent to establish diplomatic relations with the different races.

But their efforts yielded little.

Most races at this time were still far from having mature systems of government and remained organized into tribes.

The dwarves, however, had established a dwarf kingdom amid the mountains, and the envoys of the Winged People were able to establish diplomatic relations with it.

The changes in the world were also clear.

The entire world seemed to have entered winter, growing colder with each passing year.

In the north, a large troll tribe calling itself the Frost Clan was forced to move south to escape the increasingly bitter cold of the northern lands. They settled on a great northern plain named Harros.

This troll tribe was powerful. Both its chieftain and its High Priest were legendary.

After learning about the situation.

They eagerly adopted the advanced goblin culture and voluntarily joined the Goblin Empire's armies, campaigning against those who refused to submit. After decades of effort, Amigel granted their chieftain the title of count.

Frost Count became his title.

Harros became the territory of this troll clan, and years later, they founded Harros City there.

Year 190 of the Goblin Empire calendar.

The first goblin Griffin Knight order was established.

At its founding, the order had a total of six hundred and ninety-three Griffin Knights.

The establishment of the Griffin Knight order delighted the old emperor Amigel, who named this newly founded order the Royal Griffin Knight Order!

At the same time, to honor the Human Race's achievements in raising griffins, he granted Lionheart the title of imperial viscount.

He also bestowed a stretch of river valley near the Human Race settlement on the western edge of the Proadas Plains upon the Human Race as their fief.

There, Lionheart founded the Human Race's first city, Rhine City!

This fief became known as the Rhine Fief, while the river beside it was named the Rhine River.

At the same time, thanks to Lionheart's efforts, every member of the Griffin Knight order was assigned a Human Race keeper to raise and care for the goblin knights' griffins.

The goblin knights saw nothing wrong with having someone else care for their griffins. On the contrary, they thought these people of the Human Race knew their place.

After all, as far as they knew, magical creatures like griffins were extremely difficult to tend, nothing like horses or mountain deer.

If someone willingly slaved away at these grueling chores, they were more than happy to let them.

All they needed to do was enjoy the thrill of riding griffins into battle.

And so, more than six hundred people of the Human Race joined the Griffin Knight order in this manner. These people of the Human Race worked diligently and never shirked their duties.

Many years later, having people of the Human Race care for the order's griffins became a permanent institution!

What the goblins did not know was that, with a single command from Lionheart, the Human Race could make this Griffin Knight order change hands in an instant!

It was also in this year.

Lionheart requested permission to bring the Human Race Empress Consort Fiona home.

By this point, the goblins had almost fully assimilated the knowledge and technology acquired from the Human Race of the Sanctuary, and their might held Ferland in awe. The Human Race Empress Consort had become all but useless.

The Goblin Emperor had treated this woman as little more than a mascot and a trophy. Apart from having her serve for a time as a female official during the empire's founding years, when talent was scarce, he had paid her no further attention.

His harem grew by the day, and he had no interest in favoring a "monkey" who looked old to him.

With Lionheart's loyalty and obedience plain for all to see, Amigel agreed to his request.

And so, after spending one hundred and ninety years alone in the depths of the palace, the Human Race Empress Consort Fiona was finally able to return to her people!

When Fiona returned to the Human Race Tribe and saw Lionheart again, mother and son gazed at each other through their tears!

Lionheart looked at the radiant blonde girl she had once been. Although her face remained young and beautiful, many white strands had long since appeared amid her golden hair.

Once again, Lionheart etched his ambition into his heart!

He would never let his mother's sacrifice be in vain.

Year 300 of the Goblin Empire calendar.

By combining transcendent and mechanical power, drawing on the extensive experience of their predecessors and Human Race science, the Goblin Empire's brilliant engineers finally developed a great legacy uniquely their own: alchemy!

The birth of alchemy brought forth a wealth of Alchemy Tools.

The races of the continent flocked to Proadas to study alchemy! Even Jiang You sent large numbers of Winged People students there to learn.

This year.

Marked the Goblin Empire's greatest zenith.

But it was also at this time.

That a momentous event occurred within the Goblin Empire-one that could determine the course of its destiny!