"Hoo!"
The shadow of a dragon once again appeared in Stormterror's Lair, but this time it wasn't for destruction.
The giant dragon landed on a cliff at the edge of the ruins, where strong winds swirled, and several figures disembarked from Dvalin's back.
"How does it feel? You've never ridden the East Wind Dragon before, have you?" Yu Jin jumped off Dvalin's back and said to Dain, who was beside him.
"An unforgettable experience." Dain savored the feeling of soaring through the Sky just now; it was indeed more impressive than traveling underground.
Of course, it might also be that he had simply spent too long underground.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going!" Dvalin glanced at Lumine, who was rushing forward on the ground, and flapped his wings to fly away without waiting for Yu Jin's response.
He had to leave quickly to avoid Yu Jin bothering him with anything.
"Running so fast? I haven't even said if there's anything!" Yu Jin saw Dvalin's hurried appearance and didn't bother him further.
Perhaps Dvalin was truly tired from building a house by himself; after all, a dragon's house, in this world, seemed to be unique.
"Even a giant dragon that controls the east wind can forget its past duties due to the corrosion of the Abyss Order..." Dain watched Dvalin disappear into the distance, gaining a deeper understanding of the Abyss Order's danger.
From his experience in the Sky just now, Dvalin's strength was extraordinary, and even a giant dragon controlling a thousand winds could be corroded by the Abyss, which showed how dangerous it was.
"Why are there so many big footprints here?" Yu Jin ignored Dain, who was lost in thought. He squatted on the ground, pointing at the huge footprints and asking.
Why did these look so familiar?
Yu Jin deeply pressed his foot down and compared it to the large footprints on the ground.
So big, and wandering in Stormterror's Lair, there could only be one possibility.
The owner of these footprints was... "A Ruin Guard." Dain spoke first. He was very familiar with everything about Khaenri'ah, and with just a glance, Dain understood that these were marks left by a Ruin Guard.
Ignoring Yu Jin, who was still pondering something beside him, Dain followed the footprints step by step towards Lumine's position.
He looked around; the scenery was almost the same as his last visit.
"How is it? Have you found any problems? This place hasn't changed compared to when I last came." Dain walked to Lumine's side and asked indifferently.
"Dain, you've been here before?" Paimon only felt that Dain was truly knowledgeable and had been everywhere.
"That was a long time ago." Dain chuckled softly. Then he saw Yu Jin, who was measuring something with a ruler around the footprints.
"What are you doing again?" Dain saw the ruler in Yu Jin's hand, and he had already automatically ignored these things that shouldn't have appeared here.
"I'm identifying what model of Ruin Guard this is."
"You can do that too?"
Paimon was even more surprised than Dain.
No matter how she thought about it, she felt that Yu Jin was completely unrelated to such matters.
Yu Jin didn't speak; he wanted to prove himself with his strength!
"Hurry up, Alex, aren't you a mechanist? Why are you so slow at identifying a footprint?"
Yu Jin was squatting on the cliff of Stormterror's Lair while simultaneously grilling Alex in the factory building.
"Why are you in such a hurry? These models are too old; I need to look them up!"
Inside the factory building, Alex's eyes were fixed on the screen floating in front of him, and his two hands clattered on the keyboard.
On the light blue screen was a pile of mechanical blueprints that looked utterly daunting.
Yu Jin knew with just a glance that these were not things he should touch. So he decisively urged Alex from the side.
After an intense battle, Alex wiped the fine sweat from his forehead. With this, his reputation as a Khaenri'ah mechanical designer was preserved.
"This is a Khaenri'ah third-generation military cultivator, code-named: Iron Reed..." × 2
Yu Jin almost simultaneously spoke out all the data of the cultivator to which the footprints belonged, along with Alex, leaving Paimon and Dain stunned.
Paimon was confused, but Dain quickly reacted. Many of the things Yu Jin mentioned were proper nouns, almost unknown to anyone except Khaenri'ahns.
Only a godless nation needed to protect itself; The Seven Nations on the surface had the protection of gods.
People on the surface naturally didn't need to understand such obscure and complex mechanical knowledge, which, in the end, couldn't even compare to the power of a Vision wielder.
But Dain knew. As a former captain of the Royal Guard, he was naturally well aware of Khaenri'ah's armed forces.
Of course, it was limited to understanding, nowhere near as detailed as Yu Jin's.
Dain then patiently recalled Yu Jin's various details: shrouded in armor, deep knowledge of Khaenri'ah, an occasional sense of incongruity revealed in his laughter... It turned out he was also a lost citizen of Khaenri'ah!
Thinking of this, Dain stepped forward and excitedly patted Yu Jin's shoulder. He really wanted to say, "Hello, fellow countryman," but in the end, he said nothing.
The people of Khaenri'ah were Sinners under the order of the Sky and had to hide themselves carefully.
The thought that he wasn't the only survivor of Khaenri'ah made Dain feel much more relaxed.
Perhaps the burden of his fallen homeland being shared by others made him somewhat relieved.
"???"
"Did you take the wrong medicine?" Yu Jin saw the excitement Dain was trying hard to conceal on his face and was utterly bewildered.
What was going on? He just wanted to show off a bit; could it be that Dain was captivated by his profound knowledge?
"Hmph... I lost my composure." Dain also realized the impropriety of his behavior. After calming down slightly, he returned to normal.
Upon careful thought, even if Yu Jin was a Khaenri'ahn, what then? The possibility of Khaenri'ah's restoration was gone, and he couldn't hand over his duty of pursuing The Abyss Order to anyone else.
Thinking this way, it seemed to be just psychological comfort.
"Live well. Your optimism is good; don't be like me." Dain rarely smiled at Yu Jin. He spoke a few earnest words and then turned and walked towards Lumine.
Although a fellow countryman was important, the sister of an old friend was equally important.
Yu Jin watched Dain's receding figure, feeling utterly confused. Was there... some misunderstanding between them?
Yu Jin felt that he needed to explain to Dain sometime... Lumine walked along the footprints on the cliff, away from Dain, away from Yu Jin, and also away from the inseparable Paimon. Now she just wanted to walk alone.
The footprints left by the Ruin Guard were very large, with a length even longer than Lumine's forearm.
Wherever the footprints passed, the soil was sunken, and the grass growing on it had vanished, leaving only a bare patch.
The footprints exuded a familiar aura, which greatly concerned Lumine. Following the footprints, Lumine saw a touch of green suddenly appear next to one of them.
It was a trampled dandelion, and that familiar aura surged from this dandelion, rushing into Lumine's mind and awakening long-forgotten memories within her.
Meteors, collapse, angels, seals... The faded past rapidly flipped through Lumine's mind, making her feel a dizzy spell.
"Ah..."
Lumine covered her forehead with her hand, her face contorted. Among those images was her only kin, Aether. Aether's every appearance tugged at Lumine's heart.
"Relax." Warmth first spread from Lumine's shoulder, then extended throughout her entire body.
Opening her eyes, Lumine found herself surrounded by people.
"What's wrong? Did you suddenly remember the nightmare you had yesterday?" Paimon looked worried. She sometimes experienced this too, but Paimon always dismissed them as nightmares and forgot them.
"Memories, as long as they are in your mind, are not urgent. It's merely a matter of whether it takes a long or short time to recall them." Dain glanced at Lumine; he had experienced this state of falling into memories too many times.
"This dandelion has a problem. I'll pull it out for you." Yu Jin also walked over, holding the withered dandelion.
"Tha... thank you, everyone."
Seeing this scene, Lumine suddenly felt her melancholy disappear, and she was filled with confidence for her future journey.
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