Soul of Burning Steel

In many worlds with underdeveloped civilizations, the ancient dragon is not regarded as the creator of all things, but as a natural disaster.

These powerful forces of primitive life can cause volcanoes to erupt and shake the earth. They can create thunder and storms in a single thought, make ocean currents change, and sea tides surge. In front of them, the cities built by civilization are as fragile as white paper, and they can be destroyed at will. For flat ground.

But this does not mean that the ancient dragons were born for destruction, just because they are too powerful.

In fact, those seemingly catastrophic forces are actually the source of life.

Volcanic eruptions provide temperature to the icy world, allowing elements from the depths of the earth to come to the surface, and new continents can be formed in the sea. Lightning and storms can promote the synthesis of material particles and increase the probability of large organic molecules, which are important conditions for the emergence of primitive life. The powerful magnetic field can not only disturb the celestial phenomena, but also resist the energy radiation projected from the high sky, and protect the fledgling microscopic organisms. The change of the earth's crust is also an important step to fully integrate the elements on the surface to form the primordial soup of life.

For the world itself, natural disasters are nothing more than ordinary natural phenomena, just like rain and snow. It is precisely because of the existence of intelligent life that natural disasters are "natural disasters", and it is precisely because of its own weakness that these orders will be destroyed. The power of the birth of life is regarded as synonymous with destruction... However, not all civilizations think so. Long, long ago, the multiverse recognized the power of ancient dragons and tried to use this power for their own use The presence.

It all started back thousands of years ago.

"When our ancestors were still herding fish in the sea, the war between the Dragon God and the darkness had already begun at the other end of the multiverse. At first, the darkness that came from nowhere could not hurt the Dragon God at all. The Dragon God God also thought it was just a small fight, and didn't take it too seriously."

"However, with the passage of time and the advancement of technology from generation to generation, the harmless children in the past have grown into adults with sharp blades, and the darkness can gradually fight the dragon god head-on."

In the central mountain range of Kronos, in the underground ruins, slight footsteps sounded. The old dragon man held the silent Lisa's hand and walked down the translucent crystal corridor towards the lower part of the earth.

He looked straight ahead, and whispered the secrets of the dragon people since ancient times, with a calm and unwavering tone: "After hundreds of thousands of years of fighting, the dragon god has been unable to drive away the opponent, because he cannot bear the harassment, the gods only You can choose to go away and enter the void, but the darkness also catches up like a gangrene, chasing to the other side of the multiverse."

What happened next, even Lisa already knew: the dark chasing dragon god came to the periphery of the world where the ancestors of the dragon people lived. Fearing the threat of darkness to him, the dragon god and the Kronos civilization worked together to completely defeat the chasing dragon god. However, the Dragon God himself was seriously injured, and the Kronos world, which accidentally exposed the position of the mother world, was completely destroyed by the destruction magic.

As a result, the Kronos civilization was destroyed, and the life race was almost extinct, leaving only the remnants of the last fleet.

"Because of guilt and gratitude, in order to repay the help of our ancestors, the Dragon God decided to connect himself with the entire world that was on the brink of destruction... It sleeps in the center of the once ocean and now in the center of the God's Desert, connecting itself with the entire world Assimilation. In this way, when the Dragon God repairs his injuries, it is equivalent to repairing the origin of our entire world—according to the Dragon God, it is the rebirth of the power of steel."

"The Kronos Mountains where we live today is the source of rebirth. When the Dragon God is completely restored, the whole world will also reshape its foundation and regain its vitality. The ancestors who lost their civilization chose to accept the Dragon God in order to wait until that day. The bloodline obtained its power to thrive in this mountain range and maintain the existence of the race."

The members of the dragon elders did not follow the old dragon to the bottom of the ruins, most of them went to other corners to maintain and adjust the ancient ruins. Only the old dragon elder still took Lisa down, walking down, as if there was no end.

The face of the dragon elder was full of wrinkles, his beard and hair were all white, even the dragon's horns were starting to turn white, and there were traces of fragments falling off at the edges, but his voice was very clear, without the ambiguity of an ordinary old man at all. The old dragon man held Lisa's hand, and while walking down, he talked to himself about ancient secrets.

"However, the rebirth of the world comes at a price... The Dragon God connects himself to the world, which is equivalent to the heart of the world - how can the heart leave the body? Before the self-healing is completely completed, the Dragon God cannot leave our world, It is bound by the agreement, it can only stay on the ground, it can never rise to the sky, and it can never fight the enemy."

At this time, Lisa didn't know how many meters she was in the ground, and even Syndicate couldn't judge. She felt that she should have crossed the thick rock layer and entered the earth's crust. On both sides of the translucent crystal tunnel, dots of golden-red lava can already be seen, flowing and spreading under the ground like blood vessels.

If she was really in the ground, the dragon girl should have been unable to survive at this time, but because of the creation of the Kronos civilization, the microscopic crystal tunnel with magical power flickered from time to time perfectly shielded the surrounding high temperature and pressure , so that Lisa can still continue to move forward steadily.

"The connection with the world is the only way for the Dragon God to save our world, but this is tantamount to binding the Dragon God in a cage called the world... When the enemy comes, the Dragon God can't even fight back."

And the old dragonman elder seems to come here often. He took Lisa's hand indifferently and walked towards the depths of the mantle that had been completely wrapped in lava in the distance, as if he wanted to go to the center of the earth.

But this was not the case. Just when Lisa felt that she had completely entered the depths of the mantle, they arrived at their destination—a huge hall made entirely of light silver crystals.

This hall is full of mystery. It is in the shape of a dodecagon, and the walls on each side are engraved with completely different and complicated runes. On the light silver walls, light blue arcs are running like circuit boards. There are beating lines, and there are many unknown grooves and runes on the wall, shining with the brilliance of magic power.

And in the center of this hall, there is a huge, pyramid-like altar. The whole body of the altar is silver, and there are crystal patterns like blood vessels shining red light on it. On the top of the altar, there is a half-human There is a delicate tray on the tall cylinder, and a blue amorphous light group is suspended above the pyramid, like a projection.

When Lisa saw this scene, she almost took a step back in fright—it was not because the girl was timid, but because the environment was too dangerous, because on the road to the huge pyramid altar, it was covered with blood. Lava, seething metal, suffocating heat. Purple-red lightning wrapped around the uppermost cylinder and tray, releasing unparalleled coercion, as if the wrath of the gods had materialized.

When we came to this hall, the Elder Dragonman stopped in his tracks. He held my young girl's hand tightly, and said softly in an inexplicable tone full of nostalgia, unwillingness and relief: "The recognition of the earth, the promise of steel! , the trial of the atmosphere, and the contract with the gods and the world and the dragon people. This is the center of the Kronos world, where the flames once burned."

"Dragon God is indeed bound in our world, but fortunately, the ancestors had expected this, so they designed this altar and this ceremony."

—What ceremony?

Lisa just wanted to look up at the old dragon man and ask what the hall and the altar were for, but at this moment, the old dragon man let go of Lisa's hand.

He walked forward slowly and walked towards the altar, ignoring the lava, molten steel and distorted high temperature in front of him. The clothes of the elder dragon man began to burn, but the flames could not burn his body, but instead showed the old man's Aged, wrinkled and freckled everywhere, a body with bulging veins and scars.

How many battles have you experienced to leave so many scars? Lisa was shocked by this scene for a moment, and even forgot that the old man was walking on the lava at this time.

And the clear voice of the old dragon man continued to come.

"As long as a few dragonmen with the pure blood of the dragon god use the power of their own blood as a guide to condense a false illusion, they can temporarily deceive the world and temporarily make the chain no longer bind the dragon god. With the power of the pure blood In order to induce, the Dragon God can not only gain freedom temporarily, but also get the blessing of the power of our entire race and become stronger."

The shoes had been burned long ago, the old dragonman stepped barefoot on the bloody boiling lava, blue lightning protected his horns, but he could still smell the aroma of roasted meat. The old dragon man didn't care about this, he shook his head and said: "Unfortunately, the original ceremony required at least twelve pure-blooded people to stand under twelve walls, and use runes to work together to calm the restless lava, molten steel and Hot wind, embodiment of rage to appease the world's brink of destruction."

Otherwise, if the load is too large, it is likely to cause casualties, and the number of people is seriously insufficient now.

"If this is not the case, the load will be too great, and it is very likely to cause casualties. But now, the number of people is not enough, let alone twelve."

Having said that, the elder Dragonman who was still heading towards the top of the pyramid altar sighed: "Not even half of it."

Hearing this, Lisa looked at the restless electric arcs all over her body, and used it to look at the hot dragon elders around her. Lisa's lips moved slightly, and she said softly, "Because there are not enough people, so...you need me?"

"So, sacrifices are required."

Having reached the point of the pyramid altar, the old dragon man stopped in his tracks. He didn't turn around, but said with a smile: "We have failed our ancestors' expectations and lost the method of awakening blood, so this generation of naturally awakened pure There are only two blood dragon people."

"two?!"

Raising her head suddenly, looking in the direction of the old man, Lisa murmured in surprise. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she watched the elder dragonman whose hair and beard started to burn and turned into flames. With guesswork.

"That's right, it's me. Lisa, I'm the self-awakened pure-blood dragonman of the previous generation."

Still not looking back, the old dragon man has come to the front of the cylinder tray, his skin has become like charred under the surrounding purple lightning and flames, full of black burnt marks, the surrounding high temperature It has reached the bottom of a kind of horror, even if the old dragon has the blood of the ancient dragon and awakened most of the power.

But even so, the voice of the old dragon man has not fluctuated so far. He stared at the tray in front of him and the light blue light cluster suspended on the top of the tray, and said calmly: "Thank you ancestors for not letting me go so fast." die, or even the bare minimum of the ceremony will be impossible. This is so rushed that I don't even have time to explain everything to you."

He raised his hand and stopped Liza who was about to step forward. The old dragon man raised his index finger and cut the blood vessels in his wrist with his sharp nails. He pressed his wrist on the altar tray, causing purple-black blood with electric arcs to spurt out.

Until then, the old dragon turned his head slowly, looked at the young girl with loving eyes, and said with a soft smile: "Fortunately, I am still alive, so I don't need you to sacrifice... Lisa, you are so young , with this kind of power, you must be the hope of our dragon people in the future."

Therefore, it is enough for me who has no future to sacrifice.

The old dragon man turned his head and looked directly at the altar. At this moment, strange numbers began to flash on the light cluster suspended at the lower end of the altar——12.47%, 24.91%, 37.32%, 49.11%... The numbers seemed to fly The old man's blood also spewed out rapidly, and he could smell the terrifying blood power of the pure-blooded dragon man who inherited the blood of the ancient dragon burning.

Even so, the old dragon man was still dissatisfied, he took a deep breath, and then began to flash electric arcs all over his body. He closed his eyes and gave one last smile.

Goodbye, compatriots, continue to move forward, live well, and help me watch the hopeful future of the dragon people.

Bang, like the sound of something breaking, accompanied by the violent tremor of the blue electric arc, in Lisa's shocked eyes, the old man's body suddenly turned into a burst of blood mist, and then he moved towards The tray on the top of the altar surged——a huge, terrifying bloodline power that even Lisa trembled for now burst out. This power was refined by the lava along the way, sublimated by the boiling molten steel, and then The distorted high-temperature atmosphere was calcined, and after the triple trials and purifications of the earth, steel, and atmosphere, the blood mist transformed from the strength of the old dragon man could be seen turning into a streak of silver mixed with cyan thunder.

This thunder seemed to come from ancient times. It made the original materials fuse in the electromagnetic storm, and made the high molecular polymers blend under the impact of pure energy to form the original life, and the thunder poured into the depths of the altar like this, A gentle light was lit.

The ground began to shake.

The purple-red thunder seemed to fade away, and the boiling metal began to cool down, gathering around the altar, the high-temperature hot wind that scorched everything slowly subsided, and the lava also turned into black rock. It seems that the anger of the world has subsided, and it can be seen that the silver light is gathering from all directions, faintly forming a silver metal chain around the altar.

In the center of the desert of gods in the distance, the angry ancient dragon suddenly froze. It felt that the restraint that connected it to this world was gradually weakening, and the power that restrained itself was going away. It turned to look at Ke The Dragon God knows that the ancient agreement is being fulfilled in the Ronos Mountains, and the dragon people are releasing the shackles for it, so that the original dragon can ascend to the sky and fight the enemy.

In the depths of the earth, watching the silver-blue electric arc still lingering above the altar, and a trace of blood mist left behind, it is the last wreckage of the old dragon man who didn't even say his name in this world. Lisa opened her mouth wide. He wanted to say something, and she wanted to hear something, but at this moment, no one could still listen to her, and there was no one to explain the secrets of the world to her. She was alone again, at the bottom of the earth, not knowing how many meters deep in the heart of the earth.

In the final analysis, the girl is only in her early teens. For a girl of this age, whether it is death, sacrifice, or the fate of the race and the world, the possibility of civilization and the future, it is too heavy. The original plan, just want to explore the desert of God in the distance, but now, all this incomprehensible makes the girl feel hard to breathe, and the mountainous burden called responsibility will completely defeat and crush Lisa.

Thankfully, she wasn't really alone.

"Come on, Lisa."

In this silent hall deep underground, Syndicate whispered in the spiritual link with the girl: "The old man has already done the most difficult thing, now it's your turn to complete the last step."

"You have no way out, and I am the same. Don't be in a daze, wake up quickly."

"Really...it's my turn."

Hearing Balrog's words, the girl woke up from her confusion. She raised her head and looked at the pyramid altar not far away. Lisa slowly took a step forward, stepping on the rocky floor of the altar hall, and then turned to the altar. He took a step forward, with puzzlement and fear still on his face, as well as confusion and perplexity.

But Lisa is still walking forward, one step after another, without stopping.

——Yes, she was still confused.

Lisa still didn't understand what was going on, why she came here, and why she took on such a heavy responsibility... But even though she was still confused, puzzled, shy and sad, There were fears and worries, but she kept going.

Lisa stepped on the black stone road formed by the condensed lava, crossed the silver ramp formed by the condensed metal, and strode towards the top of the pyramid altar through the mild thunder and the blood fog that had not dissipated.

Even though there are heavy responsibilities and unknowns that she has never known before, Lisa still has the courage to face them all. She knows the hardships of this road, but she doesn't know whether she can complete it, but since the girl has started to take steps, she will never look back, look left and right, and never stop in place.

If she wants to move forward, she will only move forward.

Because this is the direction she has chosen from the very beginning.