A Dragon's Curiosity

“The planes situated above the Abyss are often called endless, and no one has discovered a limit to them so far, so the myriad dust worlds, infinite planes and similar nicknames paint a fairly accurate description.

Consequently, planar wars are not a rarity, or only fought about resources.

If you can plunder someone else to increase your own gain, that’s a practice most cultivators have come across before.

Would that not condemn all lives among them to never ending war?

No, there are different organizations that can protect their members through treaties, absolute authority brought by strength, or deep fear for retaliation.

Humanity is often divided by their racial views, religious affiliation or similar factors.

But when they come under threat, they can unite far more closely than many beast clans and put their common interest above all else.

Similarly, peak powers like the ancient dragon clan have a lot of prestige and are not afraid to pay a steep price to allow one of their experts to descend on the countless planes if their bottom line is challenged.

At the time, I sought to exchange the resources of our plane in exchange for protection from the clans, albeit Yfnera disagreed with me and wanted to fight to the bitter end or until our powers increased sufficiently to ward off everyone.

Raiders are often not out for a total war or dare to instigate a hatred akin to murdering another’s whole family.

If they can return at a later time to plunder more high level resources, it is wiser to leave some wealth and potential behind, lest it ends with mutual destruction regardless of the cost.

It does not require a god level expert for the invaders to oversee their invasions either, as long as the foot soldiers have no knowledge regarding the position of their home plane, it’s hard to retaliate and there have been incidents of gods perishing on foreign worlds due to the ambush of a group lower realm fighters.

With different planes specialized in raiding new worlds and turning those plundered resources into more war power, Ator faced a tough situation back then.

War always polished talents more than training during peacetime, however the incursions became much too frequent and the few experts that emerged through much bloodshed either turned crippled or outright died before passing down their skills and techniques.

If there had been no major change, eventually a big power would no longer be satisfied with the results of their raids and quietly change their goal to complete subjugation instead.

And so, I left for the Abyss. Paying a price to the dragon clan would be much better than losing the plane and fleeing for our lives.”

Rasenth’s explanation continued to enlighten Gabriel on questions that occurred to the Twin Goddesses before.

Since they had ascended to the ranks of godhood, obtaining their own plane would not pose an impossible challenge, although they agreed to stay on Ator for the time being.

For one, Bael and herself still had the potential to grow to a higher rank without the need for many resources, making it less of a priority.

Second, the process of administering and nurturing a world from scratch would take up a lot of initial investment, care and shaping, which would hinder their cultivation process.

Just keeping their Garden residence carefully brought up to their standards served as a very time consuming hobby, and that area was countless times smaller than an entire plane.

“Yfnera did not agree with me and did not see me off either, nonetheless I made good way during my journey and travelled through a fairly remote place to avoid being stalled by another organization, it was the same route I had used before to return from the [Ancient Dragon World], when the place had transformed dramatically.

The sphere of influence there belonged to a rather reclusive force, with some resources open to the public, though it was not a popular place by all means since it was hard to get stronger without a force recruiting members.

Imagine my surprise when the entire world had transformed into rubble and ruins.

Not a single living soul seemed to remain there, the core laws of the world already on the verge of dissipating and returning to primal chaos.

From my initial investigation, apparently a horde of Abyssal Fiends emerged there and rampaged until nothing remained intact.

Since there was a prospect of encountering loose and mindless creatures driven by madness and an instinctive urge to destroy everything, I had already made up my mind to retreat from that world and seek another path to the clan.

If I met with a regular fiend, I could preserve my life at most as a newly promoted deity, not to mention that any high ranked fiend could easily crush me like a bug.

As it happened, right when I prepared to leave, some traces of dragon race members having perished here entered my sight.

Furthermore, it was not just any dragon clan branch, but rather guardians dispatched from the headquarters, the [Ancient Dragon World].

Since information about this incident might have served as a good connection to make a deal regarding the protection of Ator, I steeled myself and entered deep into the wasteland to collect all the necessary proof and confirmation, before the world collapsed and swept everything back into nothingness and chaos.”

The old man at her side sighed and showed his helplessness, and Gabriel had to agree with him.

[Abyssal Fiends] counted as one of the native species from the Abyss, not many creatures had the right to be named like that.

As a common feature, all [Abyssal] monsters were counted as insane and only driven by instinct. They desired nothing more than to destroy everything in sight and return the worlds to a state before their formation, where the [Abyssal] thrived and bred like a pest.

Sometimes, big powers that controlled their own planets in the Abyss recruited a large number of independent powerhouses to campaign against a nest of [Abyssals] that had been discovered in their territory, as it would threaten their entire foundation if those nests could grow unhindered.

Paying a price to invite experts and foot soldiers to deal with the problem ahead of time was cheap compared to that.

Honestly, Gabriel more likely than not would not have had the courage to invade a world that was on the brink of destruction due to [Abyssal Fiends] razing it to the ground.

“On the surface it appeared just like an undetected nest of [Abyssals] erupted and everyone perished as a result, not even the bodies remaining intact.

Only a close investigation from my side revealed that it had not been so simple.

Dragons fought dragons on that world and the destruction that erupted from either side roused a nest nearby, which also perished in the fight.

So it was an internal conflict that wiped out an entire planet.

Hence, I was unsure whether or not I should report this incident at all to the [Ancient Dragon World], as one of the sides involved in this conflict should have come from there in the first place.

If I contacted the wrong elder, he might directly kill me to ensure silence about the truth.

Caught by indecision and doubt, I drifted through the periphery of the core area where the centre of destruction laid.

Suddenly, a small protective array caught my eye, it required the blood of a [True Dragon] to undo the bloodline lock and retrieve the contents.

Fortunately, my one tenth density reached the minimum threshold to activate the array, and I found an egg, several law decrees penned by an elder with unfathomable strength and some scattered resources with high material value inside.

To my surprise, the attendant who gifted me the cure for my wife also laid inside, slain by a grievous injury to his heart vein and head.

Most likely, just before his death he drew up the array to protect these items, the real combatants in that fight should have disdained paying close attention to him, the shockwaves alone could ravage his life.”

“Hold on, did you not say that you planned to repay his kindness in the future earlier? If he is already dead, how can you still return the favor?”

The golden haired goddess had blurted out her question purely due to the tension in the air.

Rather than being excited at learning more secrets about the ancient clans, the goddess considered running away right now before she became privy to even more intrigues and treachery among the dragon clan.

Potential threats far outweighed the gains and it did not benefit them if either Bael or Gabriel had to keep this secret too. If Rasenth someday got caught and his memory got searched through, assassins would soon aim for their lives too.

“Yes, he was among the deceased.

I still feel grateful for his pity, he allowed me to save my wife even when he would potentially receive some punishment for giving away the resources he was in charge of.

Since there was not much left after the [Abyssal Fiends] razed the planet, I took his remains with me and buried them here.

If you want to pay your respects some time in the future, below the [Buried Temple] is his grave, along with the tombs of my family line.

You see, it was those law decrees protected by him that allowed me to ignore going to the [Ancient Dragon World] and ask for protection, they are now integrated as the [Law of the Land].

With the prohibition in place, the strength of any invader on this plane gets suppressed while the descent of Saint and above class enemies is blocked off entirely.

Unless they go all out and break the law in place, they cannot deal meaningful damage to Ator anymore, and eventually I agreed to host some events to share some of the resources that this place yields, in exchange for stopping the planar wars.

If one day a deity truly ignores all decorum and descends on this plane anyway, the law decrees will trigger and summon the elder or one of his incarnations that wrote them in the first place.

Since that incident in the past my strength has indeed increased, but there has been no progress at all for me to understand the principles behind the decrees either, so I cannot understand or replicate them.

Let’s say Bael really goes against the [Law of the Land] with an offense strong enough to summon an enforcer, that would mean at least the subordinate of a supreme elder will arrive instantly.

I cannot intercept such a summon or explain the circumstances to the newcomer.

In the worst case, they will be part of the faction that instigated the internal conflict back then and realize that there is a witness living among the myriad dust worlds.

Since I’m not guaranteed to be stronger to the enforcer - or heavens forbid, that supreme elder - it’s unlikely that the information will not stay on Ator.”

Rasenth appeared to age quite a bit after finishing his story. Maybe he had kept that secret all by himself for countless turns, placing a heavy burden and deep fear on his soul.

If the ancient dragon clan ever found out what he knew, it would not just implicate him, but likely all life on the plane he ruled over, as well as his wife and family.

Gabriel understood his plight, yet she also had some questions left.

“If there is such a risk associated with the Little One and the law decrees, why did you tell me in the first place? It would have been sufficient if you told me your decision and my sister and I would have respected it.”

The golden haired goddess felt that the old dragon god looked particularly hateful at the moment.

Since he kept the confidentiality for so many turns already, why did he have to involve her now? He had to have done it on purpose to stress the twin goddesses.

“Indeed, it was not a necessity to inform you of the actual situation.

However, your sister has come very close to activating the [Law of the Land] and both of you often involve yourself with the hatchling.

If you are aware that she has extraordinary circumstances, accidents are much less likely to happen.

Furthermore, I can assure you that I have no bad intentions towards the Little One, as you call her.

Either she is related to the servant whose name I never got to learn and might be of his line, or the one he served, so I can repay his favor by taking her in, or the girl is from one of the sides involved with the destruction of that planet.

When she grows up in the future, perhaps she can return to the ancient dragon clan, it will pose much less of a risk towards our plane and herself.

And for returning the missing member, I can expect a reward as well.

If she is a descendant of a high ranking member, perhaps it will not be a one time event either, the wealth of a family with high standing in an ancient clan surpasses our understanding.”

Rasenth waved away Gabriel’s angry stare and finished his explanation.

The goddess had to admit he had some valid arguments, although the additional danger associated with Nisha added to her worries.

Furthermore, just who was the Little One in the end?