On the scorched coast, sunlight pierced the clouds that had only just dispersed and fell upon King Ghidorah's gilded scales, reflecting a cold, majestic sheen.
Apekus still lay limp amid the mud and scorched earth, his enormous cephalopod body slightly curled, his scarlet eyes cautiously studying the three-headed golden dragon before him, afraid that another disagreement might bring down another lightning strike. The storm that had spanned heaven and earth had finally dissipated, allowing his long-suspended heart to settle, yet that peace remained as fragile as thin ice.
King Ghidorah's three heads turned slightly, his golden slit pupils sweeping over the meek sea behemoth before him. A novel thought suddenly popped into his mind, and his mental communication, carrying a touch of idle curiosity, barged straight into Apekus's consciousness.
"By the way, can you transfer that position of world administrator?"
Apekus abruptly stiffened, all his tentacles going rigid in an instant. His newly relaxed body tensed again, and his scarlet eyes filled with astonishment. Clearly, he had not expected King Ghidorah to ask such a question out of nowhere.
He had existed since Planet Yilisei's birth, governing the tides and the balance of the world. In hundreds of thousands of years, there had never been any concept of "transferring the position of administrator." Whether ancient behemoths, gods, or the human civilizations that came afterward, all had regarded him only as the world's eternal sword-bearer. No one had ever imagined that this position could change hands.
He hesitated for a long time, gently swaying his enormous head, his tone filled with bewilderment and sincerity, concealing nothing.
"I don't know... Ever since I was born, I have been this world's administrator. No being has ever asked me such a question, nor has any living creature ever been able to take over this responsibility."
"Do you wish to... assume this position?" Apekus asked cautiously, his heart already pounding with apprehension. If this terrifying outsider before him truly wanted to seize the world administrator's authority, he had no room to resist whatsoever. He could only obediently hand it over, even though this duty had accompanied him for hundreds of thousands of years.
At those words, King Ghidorah tilted all three heads at once. A trace of disdain flashed through his golden eyes as he privately weighed the matter.
Become the world administrator? It sounds impressive enough, controlling an entire planet's rules, but think about it carefully, and it's nothing more than working for this planet's consciousness. Maintaining ecological balance, cleaning up civilizations that get out of control, suppressing ancient threats, and worrying about human conflicts and restless behemoths, day after day, year after year, like a guardian trapped in a cage, without any freedom at all.
He was King Ghidorah the King, a destruction titan who traveled the universe, an extraterrestrial being bound by no rules, not someone who had come to babysit some lousy planet.
Having figured that out, King Ghidorah shook his middle head without hesitation. His mental communication brimmed with distaste as he refused outright.
"Forget it. Keep it yourself. I'm not interested in that kind of thankless job."
Hearing this, Apekus let out a long sigh of relief. His enormous body went completely limp, and the great weight in his heart came crashing down. Even his tone grew somewhat lighter as he hurriedly replied with deference, "Very well... As you wish." As long as he did not have to surrender his position as administrator or face the unknown changes this golden dragon might bring, he would rather continue watching over this planet, passing through one era after another.
King Ghidorah paid no further attention to his relief. His gaze returned to the azure projection screen hovering in midair. It still showed the streets of the Dawn City-State, with Nuoyaji standing at the edge of the crowd, his grave expression clearly visible. King Ghidorah extended a huge claw and lightly tapped the screen, giving Apekus instructions in a tone of childlike curiosity.
"That projector-like ability of yours is pretty interesting. Can you change the viewpoint? Stop staring at this one human. I want to see other parts of this world, your buildings, and what these humans look like."
"Yes, of course..." Apekus dared not disobey in the slightest. He immediately activated his ability connected to the world's origin. The azure screen shifted at once, its images changing like flowing water, slowly expanding from the streets of the Dawn City-State to the entire Karelia Empire, then extending across the whole Yilisei Continent. Mountains, rivers, city-states, factories, and armies all appeared before King Ghidorah's eyes.
King Ghidorah brought his three heads closer, his golden eyes fixed unblinkingly on the screen as he carefully examined everything in this unfamiliar world.
Low yet sturdy stone city-states had walls covered in magical patterns, with statues of spear-wielding knights standing at their gates. Within the city-states, cast-brass steam pipes crisscrossed, releasing faint white mist, while the roar of machinery came from workshops. In the streets, humans wore old-fashioned formal clothes and workwear, the men in tailcoats and waistcoats, the women in long, corseted dresses. Vendors hawked their wares from wooden pushcarts, and there were even horse-drawn steam carriages, their iron-clad wheels clattering along the stone-paved roads.
On the distant plains, vast stretches of farmland had been destroyed by the storm, leaving only flattened crops and muddy ground. In border fortresses, heavily armored soldiers patrolled in formation. In workshops, craftsmen assembled mechanical components bearing magical patterns. In the distant mountains, steam winches in the mines ran ceaselessly, extracting magic ore that glowed blue.
Looking at everything before him, King Ghidorah could not help marveling inwardly. The scene strongly resembled nineteenth-century Earth from his previous life, when the Industrial Revolution was just beginning, yet with an added touch of magic. Steam machinery and magical patterns intertwined, ancient feudal city-states coexisted with modern factories-a full-fledged magical steampunk world.
"Interesting. They even have vehicles already. Industry mixed with magic-it's a lot flashier than Earth was back then," King Ghidorah muttered to himself, his interest in this world growing a little more.
The view returned to the square at the center of the Dawn City-State in the Karelia Empire.
Nuoyaji stood at the back of the crowd, watching the white-robed figure disappear into the sea of people. His brows were tightly furrowed, and unease surged endlessly through his heart like the tide.
The Silence Society.
That was the mysterious organization's name, a codename secretly circulated only among the upper echelons of a handful of nations. In his previous life, he had learned this name from a dying tower mage only when the empire fell. This organization never took part in conflicts between nations, nor did it support any faction. Its sole activity was collecting everything related to antiquity-ancient texts, the remains of demon gods, ruins of the gods, magical totems, and even myths and legends passed down by word of mouth. They would go to every possible length to acquire them.
In his previous life, his younger self would merely have thought it a gathering formed by a group of antiquities enthusiasts, scholars obsessed with ancient legends, of no real consequence and incapable of affecting the continent's balance of power. But after living through a lifetime of destruction, hearing that white-robed woman's words, and recalling the several tenuous intersections between the organization and himself in his previous life, Nuoyaji only now abruptly realized that this organization was far more mysterious, and far more dangerous, than he had imagined.
They very likely knew truths about the world that even he, a regressor, did not understand. They knew the secret of the demon gods' awakening, knew of the terrifying existence beneath the ocean's abyss, and might even know the source of this sudden superstorm.
But as he was now, he was in no position to contend with such an organization, much less capable of finding them.
First, the Silence Society's movements were secretive. Its members hid among the nobles, mages, officials, and even commoners of various nations, with no fixed base and no clear identifying marks. With his current status as an ordinary magic apprentice, trying to find them would be like searching for a needle in the ocean. Second, he knew nothing of this organization's stance: whether they were enemies or friends, whether they wanted to protect the world or use ancient powers to overthrow civilization. Everything was unknown. Making contact rashly would only bring disaster upon himself.
Right now, what he needed most was teammates.
Not imperial officials, not tower mages, but people who, like him, knew of the crisis and were willing to give everything to protect the world, companions who could fight shoulder to shoulder with him in the coming catastrophe.
Just as Nuoyaji lowered his head in thought, the people around him suddenly began streaming toward the town center. The vendors, craftsmen, and commoners who had been scattered along the streets all stopped their work and walked toward the statue in the middle of the square, curiosity and puzzlement on their faces.
Only then did Nuoyaji come back to his senses. He hurriedly stopped a passing middle-aged woman and asked, "Ma'am, may I ask what everyone is going to do?"
"Young man, haven't you heard? An imperial official has called everyone to the square. Apparently, there's an important announcement, something to do with that huge storm just now!" the middle-aged woman said hurriedly, never stopping as she followed the crowd toward the center.
Something stirred in Nuoyaji's heart, and he quickly followed.
In the year 1164 AD of his previous life, no imperial official had ever publicly gathered the people of the Dawn City-State to make an announcement. This sudden storm had indeed already changed far too many things. The course of history he knew so well was shifting at an astonishing speed.
In the middle of the square at the town center stood a stone statue of the Karelia Empire's founding monarch. Holding a holy sword and clad in heavy armor, the statue overlooked the entire city-state. Below it, a middle-aged official dressed in dark teal official robes and a gold-trimmed official hat stood on a hastily erected wooden platform, his expression grave.
This man was Afusi, the special envoy the empire had sent to the Dawn City-State.
As Afusi watched the steadily gathering populace, his already furrowed brows drew even tighter. He tightly gripped a gilt imperial document, his fingertips whitening slightly from the force. Only when several hundred people had assembled in the square and the murmuring gradually subsided did he clear his throat, unroll the document, and begin reading aloud in a voice carrying official authority.
"People of the Karelia Empire, I am Afusi, special envoy sent by the imperial central government. I have gathered you here today to announce a matter concerning the survival of the entire empire. Just one hour ago, the entire continent was struck by an unprecedented superstorm. This storm swept in with tremendous force, its power far exceeding any natural disaster in history. Vast stretches of farmland in the western and southern regions of the empire have suffered devastating destruction. Countless villages have been destroyed by fierce winds, granaries submerged by floods, and countless livestock killed or injured. Countless compatriots have been displaced and left without enough to eat. The empire's losses have already reached a horrifying scale!"
His voice spread throughout the square through a weak amplification spell, every word carrying a heavy weight that instantly silenced the previously noisy crowd.