Imperial City, Dragon City.
It was still that strange world poised between reality and illusion.
This time, however, the figure who stood here did not appear atop the towering pavilion at the boundary with the real world.
Instead, he slowly paced toward a special place.
The roar of surging water seemed to come from every direction.
The figure slowly walked inside, sinking beneath the water's surface, and soon arrived in a special world.
Water gurgled incessantly around him, but the figure paid it no mind, sitting straight down on one of the great seats arranged side by side in this Underwater Palace.
The next moment, an equally illusory figure coiled in an exceedingly strange posture on the other seat.
The purest water elements gathered upon its body, which seemed to merge with the underwater surroundings glowing with faint blue light.
A voice spoke from within it:
"What brings you to the Dragon Palace, Lord Sacred Dragon?"
There was an indescribably strange quality to the humming voice.
It spoke in Snake Script, which touched upon language's most ancient and direct effects.
The male figure extended his hand, and an object appeared in it.
It was an azure-blue pearl.
The pearl itself did not seem particularly rare or miraculous.
Yet it seemed to contain a trace of exceedingly unusual soul fluctuations.
"This is..."
The illusory figure fused with the water elements froze slightly at the sight of it, seemingly puzzled.
Only then did the male figure speak:
"Water Venerable came."
As his words fell, an illusory figure condensed beneath the water.
It was none other than the mermaid-like shark maiden.
Although he had spoken only in the language of the Dragon Nation, this effect of making reality follow his words was still difficult to comprehend.
"Oh? Is this the apology gift from