Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 746 - 745: Dragon and Dragon

The icy sea of the north still bites with cold winds, but the great barrier of the Eternal Talronde continues as always to maintain the warmth and comfort of the dragon’s home.

Merita Ponia awoke from the wide and soft bed, her lavender eyes reflecting the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. She stared blankly for a few minutes, then blinked and took a deep breath, stretching her body with a long lazy movement.

”It’s been so long since I last slept at home...”

The blue dragon lady murmured to herself, lazily lying in bed and waving her hand aside. The sensor device in the room immediately received the command, and the sloping roof on one side of the bedroom quietly opened. Sunlight poured in through the transparent polymer shell, dispelling the dim redness of the room, and various devices around the bedroom started one by one, a low buzzing sound coming from all directions.

A transparent polymer curtain hung down on the wall facing the bed, on which appeared a faintly glowing ring image. The edge of the image vibrated, emitting a pleasant mechanical synthesized voice, ”Good afternoon, Merita Ponia.”

”Good afternoon, Omega...” Merita mumbled in response with a yawn, rubbing her eyes, only to suddenly realize, ”Huh? Afternoon?!”

”Yes, you have been sleeping for eighteen hours—please rest assured, this is normal, your body needs to recover, especially the nervous system, and more sleep ensures your nervous system heals quickly.”

”But I had an appointment to meet Speaker Andar today,” Merita exclaimed, ”He will kill me!!”

”Please don’t worry, he won’t. Speaker Andar will only deduct your second-class field allowance for this month—there’s no need to be anxious, it has been deducted already.”

”...Damn it, I should have set an alarm! Like an arcane bullet and Flame Burst to the face!” Merita tugged at her hair, then dejectedly jumped out of bed, ”Alright, since it’s come to this... help me draft an apology letter, and reschedule the appointment. Besides these bad news, is there any good news?”

”Your heart has been recalibrated, and the spinal implant is ready for installation at any time.”

”Okay, at least that’s some good news,” Merita shook her head and walked to the door of the bedroom in her nightgown, ”Take me to the workshop... and prepare two units of ’Dream’ Enhancer for me.”

”Happy to serve you, Merita.”

The transport elevator installed in the Dragon’s Lair operated quickly and silently, delivering Merita from her ”humanoid dwelling” to her lair atop the peak within half a minute.

Stepping out of the elevator, Merita found herself in a vast, enormous hemispherical hall. This massive indoor space was modified from a natural mountain structure, with the lower half featuring an extensive rock barrier, uniformly excavated. The barriers were affixed with numerous polymer frames and cable conduits, while the upper half was a tightly sealed alloy dome.

The hall was wide and empty, but its periphery was lined with numerous mechanical devices and golden pillars intricately and beautifully adorned with patterns. Three of these pillars were already activated, shimmering with flowing light on their surfaces, hinting at hidden objects within.

This was Merita’s ”Dragon’s Nest,” a lair she meticulously built over millennia. Unlike the ”extremely luxurious, richly ornate” style favored by most dragons of the era, her lair appeared somewhat modest, although it wasn’t always styled this way—

She had once installed a splendid dome full of relief sculptures, used palace-style arch beams and pillars, filled the space with gold and silver treasures (though some were glass and imitation polymers), and slept atop giant treasure chests. She even once filled the place with bookshelves towering to the ceiling, stocked with model books scavenged from flea markets...

Now, she redecorated it into a ”classical workshop” style popular in Talronde ten thousand years ago.

She was a dragon who enjoyed changes and had a passion for independent styles.

Merita walked to the center of the circular hall, spread her arms, and was immediately engulfed in a brilliant magic aura. Her body rapidly enlarged, transforming into the form of a dragon, while the three glowing ornate pillars at the hall’s edge silently moved closer to her, their alloy shells gradually opening with a soft hiss of depressurization.

Inside were large cylindrical crystal containers filled with a faintly colored liquid. Two contained enormous hearts, composed of biological tissue, bionic turrets, polymer conduits, and complex mechanical pumps, while another container housed a segment of a spinal column with metallic sheen, with numerous cable interfaces and glowing magic symbols on its ends.

Bubbles floated up in the container with a gurgling sound, the metallic spine turned half a circle, revealing two lines of sharply defined stamped letters on its back plate—

”The soul in the machine remains free”

”Patented design infringement to be prosecuted by Gomodo Implant Corp”

The magical glow gradually dissipated, and Merita opened her eyes in the fading light—she had transformed into a dragon.

Regarding the two massive hearts in the containers, the giant blue dragon twisted her neck with a rumbling sound, ”I heard Barkbato Company launched a new auxiliary heart, beautiful and handsome...”

”Pursuing such things won’t improve your financial situation,” Omega’s voice resonated throughout the hall, ”Moreover, the performance of the new and old auxiliary hearts is essentially the same—the aesthetics of the bionic turrets are meaningless for internal implants. Perhaps... you’re planning to replace the scales near your chest with transparent polymers?”

”Forget it, I’m broke,” Merita sighed, ”Start the implant process, cheer me up...”

The mechanical devices stationed around the hall immediately began operating, numerous mechanical arms worked seamlessly beside the blue dragon Merita, starting to disassemble the scales and built-in protective layers of mechanical structures. Her chest cavity opened, revealing a space filled with temporary buffer fluid, and her spine exposed, revealing temporary neural couplers and fluid circulation pumps...

The heart was repositioned, the spine restored to its original state, and the prepared Enhancer was injected into the circulation pumps, enlivening the organ components that had been activated from a dormant state in a short time.

The Enhancer began affecting the nervous system, Merita felt her thoughts gradually spreading, and she started to have uncontrollable ideas, her large eyes gazing into the air, seemingly visualizing the virtual image of Omega’s interface in her line of sight focus.

But she knew it was just an illusion caused by her nervous system—the neural interactions system connecting all Citizens of Talronde, influencing the entire Dragon Kingdom, controlling the entirety of Talronde’s operations... Omega was right here, controlling every machine in this hall, controlling these tools that were nominally medical devices but could be deadly at any moment.

It was performing the most precise implant surgery on her, her heart, her central nervous system, all entirely exposed to the hands of this artificial intelligence.

Merita shook her head, knowing the Enhancer was affecting her judgment, but still unable to control her thoughts from spreading around.

”Please try not to move,” Omega’s emotionless voice came from all around, the surgical probe’s dim red light flashing, ”I am closing your spinal protective layer.”

”Omega... where are you?” Merita murmured somewhat indistinctly.

”I am in Talronde, I am in the depths of the Dragon Kingdom, and I am here, in front of you, Merita Ponia.” Omega’s voice responded as usual, while the probes flashing red light and the mechanical hands moving quietly continued to perform their precise surgery.

”Do you think... could it be that you are the true ruler of Talronde? I mean, the part outside of the theocracy...”

”Omega is the servant of Talronde. The purpose of my birth is merely to serve you, manage this continent, all to fulfill the mission of service.”

”Indeed...” Merita felt she was about to drift into a deep sleep but still mumbled softly, ”Omega, saying this... you are quite loyal...”

”Omega is loyal to Talronde,” the artificial intelligence’s voice calmly echoed in the hall, gradually penetrating Merita’s mind about to fall asleep, ”Omega is loyal to the Dragonkin, absolutely loyal, eternally loyal...”

...

High-ranked Dragon Priest Helagol walked through the magnificent and spacious golden temple, where only his footsteps echoed in the sacred solemn hall.

This middle-aged ”man” closest to the gods walked down the long corridor, across the broad hall, and arrived before the lofty holy throne.

A woman dressed in a pale golden gorgeous gown, her golden hair reaching the floor, with bright features and a noble demeanor, sat somewhat languidly on that holy throne, lowering her head to glance at the Dragon Priest who had come before her.

Helagol bowed his head respectfully: ”My Lord, why have you summoned me?”

”Recently, I feel the hearts of the Dragonkin are somewhat restless,” the noble golden-haired woman spoke softly, her tone gentle, her expression equally kind and amiable, ”Helagol, my High Priest, do you know what has happened?”

Helagol maintained his bowed head, his face unchanged—despite knowing that nothing could be concealed from the eyes of the deity before him.

”The Dragonkin seem to be joyful for the changing times.” He said deferentially.

”Changing times... Oh, you mean the continent across the Eternal Storm,” the Dragon God smiled slightly, appearing intrigued, ”Another season of civilization... round after round, time and again... seems you’re not yet tired of it.”

”There will always be younger dragons curious about the outside world, my Lord.”

”Curiosity, and anticipation, isn’t it?” The Dragon God looked down at the High Priest, ”Do you hold the same anticipation as them?”

”My Lord, I am loyal to you,” Helagol calmly stated, his tone unfaltering, ”Absolutely loyal, eternally loyal.”

The Dragon God narrowed her eyes slightly: ”Absolutely loyal... eternally loyal, ah yes, that ’Omega’ you created often says the same to you, doesn’t it?”

She received no response from the High Priest, but didn’t seem to mind at all.

This deity descended into the mortal world slowly stood up from the chair, her long gown trailing, as she wandered past Helagol.

”Honestly, sometimes I really want to interact with that ’Omega’ you created, that heartless creation...

”But forget it, let children’s toys stay with children.

”Isn’t it, Helagol?”

Helagol prostrated with his forehead pressed to the ground where the Dragon God walked: ”Yes, my Lord.”

...

Cecil Empire, Southern Borders.

Maji sat in a warm room, her gaze passing through the clear crystal glass window, watching the bustling and lively streets of Cecil Castle.

This is the ”dormitory” assigned to her by the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute, but to call it a dormitory, in truth is a cozy, comfortable, well-equipped independent house.

Compared to the old-style castles with their cold rigid feeling, the new houses in Cecil Castle are especially comfortable to live in.

Today is a sunny day, with no cold wind, the streets are crowded with people, and there are many wearing foreign attire, seemingly curious about the city. Maji’s gaze stretched to the end of the street, where at the far reaches of her vision, she could see the tall spires and walls of the Imperial Academy standing in the distance.

More and more people have come to Cecil Castle this winter, from all corners of the Empire, even from the neighboring tribal country of Augari, from friendly city-states in the north.

This extraordinary city, with its new order, seems to be gradually becoming a kind of ”center”, with the widely spread Cecil merchants and the Magic Guide creations they sell tirelessly spreading the city’s information far and wide, even in the tough-to-travel winter season, the city still attracts countless outsiders—those aristocrats with the means to travel far, the Transcendents curious about new knowledge, students sponsored by the royal family, continuously flowing here.

Maji had never seen such a scene but couldn’t help but think of that legendary kingdom that has become history, thought of the Gondor Empire that once served as the center of civilization on the continent—it’s said that the imperial capital of Gondor at that time also attracted scholars from all around the continent, attracting visitors of various races.

Maji left the window and sat down by the desk, drew out a sheet of stationery, and began to write a letter to her friend from afar.

For a moment, she thought she’d never write to that place again.

”Sujina, my friend, receiving this letter might surprise you—of course, assuming this letter can cross the great distance, cross the suffocating cliffs of the Sacred Dragon Kingdom, accurately reaching your hands, but I decided to trust the honorable messengers, believe they will bring my news to you, and to other friends remaining in the Sacred Dragon Kingdom.

”Sujina, do you still remember your dream of flying?

”I am now in an incredible place...”