Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 958 - 957: Eternal Cradle

Gawain found himself at a loss for what expression to make.

He stood quietly before the hatching device, looking at the young dragon inside the transparent pod, observing this creature that appeared plain, even somewhat ugly to him. Watching as this newcomer to the world began to flap its tender wings and attempt to survey its surroundings—dragons truly are robust creatures, able to walk on their own upon hatching, open their eyes to inspect the world, and may even possess some magical powers already.

Gawain noticed a rune-like glow faintly emerging near the edge of the young dragon’s wings.

However, such extraordinary talents hold little significance in Talronde.

"Is he observing us?" Amber curiously asked from the side, "Hey, this little guy won’t mistake us for his parents, will he? I heard..."

"No, he won’t," Noretta shook her head, "The hatching pod is made from special materials, and the view from inside is filtered and processed. It ensures that the young dragon won’t mistakenly perceive the active machinery or other items as its parents."

"We should leave," Melita stepped back half a step, "This little fellow’s parents might already be on the landing platform, soon coming to claim him. It’s an important occasion, and we shouldn’t disrupt it."

They quickly left the "Hatching Corridor," entering a softly lit passageway, which remained devoid of humans or dragons but was occasionally broken by the swift mechanical devices skimming along the tracks on the walls or floor. As Melita said: this is a highly automated factory, where everything is controlled by Omega, and these machines... are the starting point for the dragons of Talronde.

After walking quietly for a few minutes, Amber couldn’t hold back and broke the silence, "I saw those machines cut open the skin on the back of the young dragon’s neck and seemed to implant something inside... What was that?"

"It’s an enhancement-implant composite device that gradually influences and reshapes the brain’s nervous system. It’s the foundation for surviving in Talronde society for newborn dragons, the starting point of everything, and it lays the foundation for their first official implant in dragon life," Melita explained slowly, "The composite device guides and strengthens the young dragon’s nervous system bit by bit until it can withstand the pressure from implants and ’parallax signal interaction’, which takes about ten years. When it grows into a ’slot’ at the base of the young dragon’s skull, then it can receive its first official implant in life."

Amber, struggling somewhat, repeated the unfamiliar and complex translated terms, "The first... official implant?"

"The Resonance Core, an intracranial plugin, accompanies dragons throughout their lives," Melita answered, "Only through it can we directly connect with Omega. It also includes identity recognition, location tracking, individual property protection, and various functions. You could say that only after implanting the Resonance Core does a young dragon truly become a member of Talronde, able to survive in this flourishing yet terrifyingly vast realm."

"Do all dragons need that implant?" Amber opened her eyes slightly wider, "Do you have one as well?"

"Of course, I have one as well..." Melita smiled immediately, pointing at her head but then quickly lowering her hand, "Ah, well, it’s not in this head, but I do indeed have a Resonance Core."

"Omega controls everything on this continent, and the Resonance Core is an extension of Omega reaching out to the dragons for survival in Talronde," Noretta added from the side, "Even far from Talronde, Omega can determine the dragon’s location and health through the Resonance Core, maintaining communication between Farwalkers and natives, so you can imagine how important this item is to us."

"Isn’t there—what I mean is, if a dragon’s Resonance Core gets damaged or the connection with Omega is broken for some reason, what happens?" Gawain asked curiously, "Has such a thing ever occurred? Were there dragons in Talronde that left Omega for one reason or another?"

"...We can hardly imagine what such a scenario would entail," Melita mused, her expression oddly shaking her head, "To my knowledge, no dragon has ever detached from Omega. Certainly, the ’damage’ you mentioned is possible, but Omega always provides an alert first and sends an emergency rescue team to repair the ’accidental detachment,’ bringing them back to Omega’s network. Within Talronde, this process usually takes no more than twelve hours."

At this point, Melita seemed to recall something and added with a laugh, "Though I have read some older horror novels and watched some dramas describing unlucky characters who damaged their Resonance Core accidentally and for various reasons Omega failed to detect them as ’accidental detachment’. This dragon then becomes a ’Transparent Dragon’ in Talronde society, losing identity, property cleared to zero, unable to leave, even unable to open their front door, walking the street becomes a blockage where cleaning machines wouldn’t give them way... Gosh, it’s truly frightening, and it’s a shadow in my mind thinking about it now..."

"You read too many odd old stories growing up," Noretta murmured from the side, "That’s why you are so prematurely old-fashioned now."

"It’s nothing to do with that!" Melita protested immediately, eyeing pointedly, "You’re just envious of my classical charm!"

Gawain: "..."

He wasn’t actually listening to the banter between Melita and her friend, as what he saw and heard here had plunged him into deep contemplation.

Is this what Dragon God Enya insisted he see in Talronde’s tour? Is this what that deity wanted him to notice?

In thought, Gawain exhaled lightly, then shook his head, noticing that this softly lit and extraordinarily wide passage seemed to have reached the end, with a trapezoidal door stood at the corridor’s far end.

This hatching factory tour appears to be ending, but before leaving, he couldn’t help but ask Melita, "By the way, were you hatched here?"

"I wasn’t; I was hatched in another nearby city’s hatching factory," Melita shook her head and pointed at Noretta, "However, she was hatched here."

"You hatched as a member of ’Upper Talronde’?" Gawain asked, "Are your parents members of the Five Kings Council or the Mithril Vault?"

Melita simply shrugged and delivered an unexpected answer to Gawain, "I don’t have parents, employees like me and Noretta in the Five Kings Council don’t have parents—Upper Talronde is divided into many different parts, among them the Five Kings Council, Elder Council, and Temple Cluster have rather unique members. Noretta and I weren’t claimed by ordinary dragon eggs; instead, we were directly ’ordered’ by the Council from the factory, and our genetic factors originate from laboratories linked to some large life corporations. These companies specialize in serving Upper Talronde.

She paused for a moment and continued, "But Noretta and I don’t know which laboratory we come from—that part of the information is confidential, accessible only to the chairperson and Omega. Of course, we don’t care about it."

Amber stared wide-eyed, incredulously scrutinizing Melita and Noretta, before finally blurting out, "This...this exceeds my imagination..."

Gawain cast a glance at Amber, he thought to himself that this half-elf has no right to comment on others since her birth method is even more outlandish than these "Talronde Dragons," yet the words didn’t make their way out.

Here, he encountered sights and narratives far beyond expectation, with numerous aspects worthy of consideration, rendering even casual chatter unappealing.

Several minutes later, they left the hatching factory, reaching the external landing platform area.

Noretta led Amber and Veronica to the adjacent platform, while Melita resumed her dragon form before Gawain, standing at the center of the landing platform. Watching the vast night scene outside the platform and the densely lit city foot of the mountains, Gawain couldn’t resist asking, "Where are we headed next?"

"I’ll take you to the Lower City District—there’s a street I often visit, the environment is quite nice over there," Melita said, lowering her wings, "Come on, the night is already a bit late, we’ve spent too long at the Hatching Factory."

Gawain walked towards Melita, but before stepping onto the dragonwing, he took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time, then looked up at the star-filled night sky above.

This small gesture piqued Melita’s curiosity: "What? Do you have other plans?"

"No, nothing, just checking the time," Gawain put away the mechanical watch and shook his head with a smile, "Here, not just Amber, even my sense of time has gotten a little confused."

Melita wasn’t suspicious, but waited until Gawain steadily walked onto her back, then slowly took a couple of steps off the platform before flying into the sky with the fluctuations of Magic Power—nearby, the elegant White Dragon Noreta similarly flew into the night sky from another platform.

The city lights of Talronde swept past in Gawain’s view.

It was a short flight, from the towering Hatching Factory towers to the street Melita mentioned only required a dive and glide to slow down. Gawain quickly saw a district rapidly enlarging in his view, many towering buildings of a style completely different from the human world rushing towards him.

Those were extremely sturdy and exquisite buildings, in the Loren Continent, perhaps not even kings and dukes could live in such houses. The fancy residences were densely arranged in the district, between streets and alleys lights flickered, holographic projections displaying advertisements and art shorts filled the view, it seemed as if the prosperity reached its peak, advancement to its extreme.

Yet Gawain already knew, this was actually the "Lower Talronde."

Spacious and impressive for humans, narrow and cramped for dragons.

In the district, Melita and Noreta landed directly on a space that seemed like a small plaza since there was no designated take-off and landing platform, while on the streets near the open space, many "people" were walking back and forth.

When the dragons landed, Gawain felt a slight tremor underfoot, then he took a breath, preparing to descend to the ground, but at the moment of stepping forward, he suddenly felt something.

Drawn by some sort of "intuition," he subconsciously raised his head and looked around.

Countless faint, shadowy figures like black chains floated in his line of sight!

Almost reflexively, Gawain immediately looked up, yet he didn’t see the expected enormous "Dragon of Chaos" again—he only saw the polar night sky, artificial lights from nearby and distant districts cast hues like light pollution around the edges of his view.

The indescribable "Dragon of Chaos" did not appear, However, numerous black, semi-transparent chains floated as if substantial in mid-air, along the streets and alleys of the Lower City District.

Gawain saw far more "black chains" here than in Upper Talronde, They connected the bustling "people" around the plaza, connecting the dragonkin of Lower Talronde, while the other end floated straight towards the sky, drifting to the unseen Dragon of Chaos...

...

"Master, the guests have entered Lower Talronde," Heragor said with hands lowered, "Accompanied by those two young dragonkin named Melita and Noreta, touring the streets of the Lower City."

No response came from the light-filled popes, the entire royal temple Hall seemed somewhat silent.

Dragon God Enya was quietly seated on a grand throne, seemingly lost in thought, gazing into the distance.

"Master?" Heragor curiously raised his head, couldn’t help but softly call.

The Divine in popes finally turned the gaze over, saying faintly, "I know."

"Master," Heragor hesitated for a moment, but still spoke, "Would this be inappropriate? Lower Talronde... is relatively chaotic, perhaps not suitable to show guests, in comparison, the scenery in the Upper area is better and sufficiently suitable for guest tours."

"It was my directive," Dragon God said faintly, "I instructed Andar to arrange this, to let our guests see a complete Talronde."

Heragor seemed to want to ask more questions for a moment, but ultimately lowered his head, "...I understand."

...

A seemingly kind middle-aged "person" chatted with Melita, while a somewhat shy, human-looking girl about five or six years old hid aside, curiously scanning Gawain and Amber—Veronica attempted to display a friendly, warm smile to approach the girl, but she skillfully dodged.

The "Saint Princess," known for using her smile to project an amiable disposition, appeared somewhat disappointed but soon returned to normal, rejoining Gawain.

The kind middle-aged "person" was a resident of the Lower City District, running a "Scale Polishing Boutique" at the street corner, while the girl who seemed somewhat shy was his daughter, who had just turned one hundred and twenty this year.

Still a young dragon.

This father and daughter pair were among the few friends Melita had in the Lower City District, and were acquainted with Noreta too. Their "business" was one of the few "industries" in Lower Talronde, distinctly dragon-flavored, yet none of this mattered to Gawain.

What mattered was, Gawain could clearly see a chain extending from the middle-aged "person’s" head, stretching up into the sky, even the girl who appeared to be only five or six years old had a faint chain connected to the top of her head.