Chapter 299 – Surviving Civilization

“It seems… there’s no scent of powerful monsters?”

Though Dolai primarily cultivated offensive and destructive skills, it had developed its own unique expertise in wilderness hunting and reconnaissance.

That was: sniffing.

Perhaps from devouring various delicious (scratched out) monsters, or maybe from frequent hunting trips with Xiliu, sometimes just a sniff was enough for Dolai to determine whether there were any tasty foo—it meant powerful monsters—in the vicinity.

Of course, this method wasn’t always reliable, as not every monster could serve as high-grade ingredients.

Dolai didn’t dare be careless. After consecutive failures, its small face scrunched up in frustration. Only when it spotted the structure bathed in faint, radiant light in the distance did it finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“An unoccupied wilderness structure! Hooray!”

「Prompt: You have discovered the class advancement site ‘Mage Tower’.」

This was a simple yet ancient stone tower standing over ten to twenty meters tall, but it remained inconspicuous, hidden among the surrounding high mountains and ancient trees.

The tower’s surface was engraved with mysterious and intricate patterns, emanating an enigmatic and profound aura.

As Dolai made contact with the stone tower, the prompt sounded.

This place was similar to their territory’s warrior advancement site, but of a higher tier.

「Qualified humans can advance to the rare one-star unit ‘Mage’ at the Mage Tower. Additionally, a few geniuses have the opportunity to advance to higher-tier magical units. Operating this miracle building requires the input of a certain amount of materials.」

「Note: Humanoid beings without human lineage still have a chance to advance to ‘Mage’, though the probability is low.」

Dolai stepped inside, looking around, and transmitted the scene back to the territory through some means.

“A legacy site for the mage class, huh.”

Mu Yuan could only say it was acceptable. While the Mage class as a rare profession was indeed good, the number of citizens qualified to advance as Mages was likely very small.

Out of a hundred people, there might not even be a few who met the requirements.

“After all, they are the noble Mage Lords. True Mages are quite scarce in our Tianyuan Territory as well. Being able to produce a batch of Mages wouldn’t be bad… At the very least, Mage professionals have an advantage in crafting spell scrolls and can serve as level-eight technical workers.”

Inside the class advancement building ‘Mage Tower’, aside from the grand statue positioned centrally, there were numerous silver-white stone pedestals standing around. These pedestals held translucent hexagonal crystals.

“These seem to be part of the legacy too?”

Dolai muttered.

Soon, it proceeded with coin insertion and inspection.

After verification, Mu Yuan understood the function of these hexagonal crystals—they contained a substantial amount of Mage knowledge.

As everyone knew, true Mages possessed profound knowledge and complex techniques. A Mage who could only cast Fireballs could hardly be called a true Mage and differed little from those barbaric shamanic races.

And this wilderness structure could cultivate genuine Mages.

“Looking at it this way, the value of this Mage Tower isn’t low.”

“Wild spellcasters like Dolai can study here… Well, Dolai probably doesn’t need to. It always believes in achieving miracles through sheer force, regardless of principles or theories—if it works, it works. But the knowledge stored here can also supplement Tianyuan Territory’s archives.”

All in all, not bad.Hearing its Lord say this, Dolai’s lips curled up slightly—it was finally no longer unlucky.

After marking this location, Dolai activated the Guiding Compass for its final use. The compass lit up with a ding, its pale golden needle pointing far into the distance.

……

Perhaps all the Wilderness Structures in the surrounding area had already been discovered, as this time the needle pointed to a rather distant location.

Dolai flew cautiously for two hours without reaching its destination.

During this time, the Stealth Potion’s duration had already worn off. Dolai hesitated for a moment but decided not to drink a second dose. It only had twenty of these potions in total, purchased from the Mystery merchant, and since it couldn’t produce them itself, each one was precious and had to be used sparingly.

It slowed its flight speed and proceeded with even greater caution.

Another half hour passed, and the golden needle finally began to flicker.

Dolai widened its eyes, scanning its surroundings inch by inch.

Good news: it didn’t seem to smell any powerful monsters.

Bad news: it couldn’t find the Wilderness Structure either.

“How strange? It should be right around here.”

It stared at the flickering golden needle and gently shook the Guiding Compass. The needle’s direction remained unchanged—it probably wasn’t broken.

It thought.

Holding the compass, it began wandering around the area.

After a few back-and-forth movements, Dolai noticed the needle firmly pointing toward a specific area. It had locked onto the range. It was so clever.

Truly worthy of this Dolai!

Yet, within this area, there was nothing.

Even when Dolai narrowed the range to one kilometer, three hundred meters, or one hundred meters, the area remained empty.

Could the Wilderness Structure be underground? But the needle wasn’t pointing downward.

Dolai was puzzled. With its limited brain capacity, it couldn’t figure it out and didn’t bother to try. But as it paced back and forth, contemplating asking its all-knowing Lord, it suddenly noticed something off about this area.

Inharmonious.

The space was inharmonious.

It didn’t know how to explain it, nor did it understand space—it had no expertise in spatial matters—but it just felt that this place was inharmonious, a bit strange. As if a black cloth were draped over it.

At this thought, it instinctively reached out and tugged, and as it did, it unconsciously channeled the power of Space Devour.

Crack—

Its hand acted like steel pliers, brutally tearing open the fragile spatial veil.

Revealing inside, a dozen figures braced for battle.

……

Yu Rongyue was a general of the Winged-People Kingdom, stationed at the Vitality Spring.

The Winged-People Kingdom had occupied this Vitality Spring for thirty to forty years. Yu Rongyue had served as the garrison commander here for over a decade, and there had been almost no incidents.

Even though several extremely powerful monster factions existed in the surrounding areas, none had discovered this Treasure Land concealed by their spatial veil.

Until today.

Their exquisite, supremely hidden spatial veil was detected by the blue-haired girl before them and torn apart with a simple reach of her hand.

Yu Rongyue was utterly terrified.

What terrifying mastery of space!

Fortunately, this girl, whose insight into space and understanding of spatial power surpassed theirs by eighty streets, had shown mercy. She had only torn a small opening and hadn’t damaged the nodes of the spatial veil.

But the sudden intrusion of the girl still put the Winged-People experts stationed here on high alert.Dolai was also greatly astonished.

What had happened?

It had merely swiped with its hand, yet it seemed as if it had just torn through something?

It simply stared wide-eyed. The winged bird-people opposite didn’t attack, and Dolai didn’t strike either.

Because these bird-people weren’t monsters.

Their aura was completely different from that of monsters; rather, it resembled that of refugees guided by waymarkers.

Were they… natives of the Eternal Continent?

After all, Dolai had attended classes at the territory’s school. Even though it failed every minor and monthly exam, through constant exposure, it had still picked up some basic common sense. It knew that deep in the wilderness, there might still be some ‘remnant people’ surviving.

Whether remnant people or hidden civilized factions, everyone stood on the same front when it came to resisting monsters.

They could potentially be allies.

When it came to non-monster groups, General Dolai naturally couldn’t strike indiscriminately without danger present. The Lord often emphasized uniting all forces that could be united. But… had it just torn something apart?

Did Dolai mess up?

At this thought, General Dolai felt somewhat guilty.

…

Yu Rongyue also felt somewhat guilty.

They had almost loosed their arrows—just a bit more, and it might have been irreparable.

This blue-haired girl riding a Slime carried none of the repulsive, filthy, or frenzied aura characteristic of monster factions.

She was clearly a true living being.

Moreover, the blue-haired girl appeared very harmless (scratched out) amiable—clearly not a bad person at first glance. How could someone like her have ill intentions? When she tore the spatial veil, she held back, obviously coming with peaceful intentions.

If they had acted out of nervousness earlier, it could have led to disaster.

Fortunately, fortunately.

Yu Rongyue sent a Winged-People expert to the city to inform the Queen, while he tentatively struck up a conversation with the blue-haired girl.

Soon,

Yu Rongyue learned that this girl before him held the title General Dolai and was a powerful human. This time, she had come representing the human Lord.

“The last time we had outsiders visit here was…”

Well, the last time.

He couldn’t remember which year it was.

In short, it was quite some time ago—back when he wasn’t married yet, still a Winged-People who could fly freely.

Yu Rongyue was willing to engage with such visitors. Their Winged-People Kingdom’s knowledge and understanding of the outside world were far too scarce.

Even though he was the main general guarding the gateway to the Winged-People Kingdom, over the past decade, he had never once stepped beyond its borders.

Other Winged-People need not be mentioned.

They only knew the outside was dangerous, overrun by monsters. They had almost come to believe theirs was the only surviving civilization in the world.

He hoped to obtain more external information through this visitor.

This way, someday, their Winged-People Kingdom could truly venture out and see the world beyond.

…

“The Winged-People Kingdom is a civilized faction in this region. It seems they’ve been rooted here for a long time. We need to obtain more information about nearby monster factions through them. This is far more efficient than groping blindly on our own.”

Mu Yuan said to Dolai thus in the ‘Lord·Hero’ channel.Dolai simply nodded and acted as a repeater, echoing the Lord’s words. As for the deeper meanings and details behind these words, it couldn’t be bothered to understand.

It just kept its large, sparkling eyes wide open, surveying the surroundings.

After a while,

The main commander Yu Rongyue received information relayed from the rear. He said to Dolai, “Your Excellency, please proceed. Our Queen has approved your visit request.”

The Vitality Spring Region, shrouded by a spatial veil, resembled a small world of its own.

The area covered about a dozen acres, with two- or three-story small buildings standing tall.

Further back was a winding path paved with fine stones, where light appeared distorted.

Without careful examination, Dolai knew the space here had been specially arranged. This time, it moved cautiously, not daring to touch or feel around recklessly, afraid it might accidentally tear the space open again.

The space here was indeed too fragile. Poor rating!

The winding path wasn’t long. After walking briskly for a short while, Yu Rongyue proudly announced, “We’ve arrived. This is our Featherfolk Kingdom.”

Before them, the world suddenly opened up. Clear sunlight poured vertically onto the land, bringing warmth.

Not a single wisp of drifting Crimson Mist could be seen between heaven and earth.

Surrounding the area were towering cliff walls standing perpendicular to the ground, resembling city walls. On these cliffs, on the large trees within the valley, or on the ground itself, stood numerous exquisite and beautiful white structures.

Featherfolk could be seen flying and weaving between the cliffs and trees, while others picked fruits or tended to fields, presenting a scene of peace and tranquility.

“How about it? Our Featherfolk Kingdom is quite impressive, isn’t it?”

“It’s probably decent…”

Dolai was an honest being and couldn’t bring itself to say anything contrary to its true feelings.

In its eyes, this Featherfolk Valley was indeed quite beautiful, but…

This was supposed to be a ‘kingdom.’

“Is this a frontline town of the Featherfolk Kingdom?”

It asked.

Yu Rongyue was puzzled. “This is the Featherfolk Kingdom.” What did it mean by frontline town? He didn’t understand.

Dolai: “…”

So why could this be called a ‘kingdom’? Although it hadn’t read many books, it wasn’t stupid. This Featherfolk Valley was only slightly larger than Stone Ridge Town and far inferior to Boulder City. How could it be called a kingdom?

Dolai couldn’t figure it out.

Yu Rongyue also noticed that Dolai seemed somewhat disappointed.

He asked, “What is the outside world like?”

“Very, very big.” Dolai tried to think of words to describe it, but as an academic underachiever, its vocabulary was limited, and it couldn’t come up with a suitable adjective.

After a while, it said, “Do you know about the Taixuan Alliance? It has many, many cities and territories.”

Yu Rongyue: No, we don’t know.

He genuinely hadn’t heard of it.

Lord Mu behind Dolai pondered, “They haven’t even heard of the Taixuan Alliance? Just which remote corner is this place? Logically, even with spatial dislocation, my Tianyuan Territory shouldn’t have been thrown to a very distant location.”

“Or perhaps this Featherfolk is simply ignorant? I must find an opportunity to meet that Featherfolk Queen. I heard she has lived for over a hundred years—surely she must be knowledgeable?”

Dolai followed the Featherfolk commander deeper into the Featherfolk Kingdom.

Its girl body walked in front, while its slime body followed closely behind, hopping and bouncing, as if they were two completely separate entities.

Which they essentially were.Under the effect of Perfect Mimicry, the girl Dolai’s body was completely identical to that of a human, and the aura it emanated was also entirely human. The only aura it could not mimic was that of a monster.

In this mode, even if danger were encountered, enemies would target ‘the girl Dolai’ while overlooking ‘the Slime Dolai.’

This was naturally required by Mu Yuan—Dolai had no such sense of security awareness.

In the eyes of Lord Mu, even if the environment was 99.8% safe, the remaining 0.02% of unstable factors could not be taken lightly.

Taking a few precautionary measures was never a loss.

After walking for a while, Dolai, acting as his mouthpiece, asked, “Your Winged-People Kingdom has been operating here for so long—you must be very familiar with the monster factions nearby, right?”

(End of Chapter)