In the Kerba Empire, the main city of Maia, an inconspicuous caravan slowly drove into the city. The high heat brought by the magic engine evaporated the snow around it, causing white steam to spread towards both sides of the road like fog.

Maia City is an ancient city with a history of more than 600 years. It was founded by the Maia family that moved here from the western part of the empire. In the magic revolution more than 100 years ago, the Maia family took the lead in supporting magical energy transformation and became an industrial base in the northern part of the Kerba Empire.

In this city, towering chimneys and factories, as well as colorful magic slag smoke and dust can be seen everywhere. They are abandoned miniature magic crystals produced by the operation of magic engines, which will damage human health and cause various lung diseases. Although the empire has repeatedly ordered rectification and even required work to be suspended to check the degree of pollution, the industrial zone is the lifeblood of the entire northern region. It is not just factory owners, but even for their own work, the workers do not agree with the empire's requirements.

Because of the rich economy brought by the first magical energy, and the independence of being in the remote north, the Maiya Territory and the Empire have always been in harmony with each other and are close to the country. As the local lord, the largest factory owner, facing the increasingly aggressive and intending to integrate the great nobles from all over the country and complete the centralized empire, the Maiya Territory will naturally have the idea of ​​"independence".

However, in addition to magical technology, this world also has extraordinary power... and the royal family of the Kerba Empire, which possesses the power of the dragon, is the greatest deterrent.

Lord Maia believed that if he showed a slight sensation of independence, then even if the imperial royal family risked to arouse dissatisfaction among all nobles, they would directly burn him to death on his own bed. Of course, such a result is likely to be smoke everywhere, and even if the Kerba Empire is not divided, it will decline.

But so what? He was dead by that time.

——We must have strength.

——But the empire cannot be noticed.

The Lord Maia walking on the tightrope was a luxury to fall asleep even if he fell asleep peacefully. He was afraid of the construction achievements of his family over the years and was forced to rob him by the imperial royal family. The glorious Maia family eventually became a footnote in history... Outsiders can only see his power as if he was a little emperor in the north, but they cannot see it. He has been so scared for decades.

Until twelve years ago, a mysterious man holding a dragon ball appeared in a small mountain village on the edge of the Maia Territory.

——Dragon Ball.

This ancient word immediately made Lord Maia recall the distant myths and legends... Yes, if you want to fight against the Kerba Empire royal family who holds the power of the divine dragon, you can only rely on the Dragon Ball. You can only make a wish from the ancestor dragon and gain the power of the divine dragon. In this way, you can fight against the winner of the last Dragon Ball ceremony!

Since then, the Maia family has been secretly searching for the traces of the Dragon Ball holder who disappeared in the North, but unfortunately, he seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, almost completely disappeared. If it weren't for the hunters in the mountains from time to time that they had seen huge traces of dragons in the Kobor Mountains, everyone would probably think he had left the North.

It is precisely because of this that all the people in the world who have ideas about dragon balls...even other people holding dragon balls seem to be attracted by gravity and gather towards the north.

Leading the lords disguised as caravans, returning to their private residence, the Maiya Lord, whose face had returned to normal, put the scholars in their respective rooms and put them under house arrest under the best conditions. Then he returned to his own study, opened the secret door with the magic mark, and entered the hidden underground secret room.

The underground secret room is very simple, it is just an ordinary room covered with a layer of camouflage runes, and a mercury mirror is placed in the center of the room.

Without any hesitation, after entering the secret room, Lord Maia directly connected his magic power to the mercury mirror, echoed the other mercury mirror at the other end, and then entered the information.

"The dragon was summoned successfully, but it was not 'Nidhog' but 'Zhuzhou'... Because of the successful summoning, I was arrogant and offended the other party. Zhuzhou was erratic in personality and could resist the control of Dragon Ball. Although he did not kill us, he took the Dragon Ball and the artificial man away and disappeared into the wilderness."

Lord Maia did not add fuel to the fire, but just objectively described his failure: "I'm sorry, I think I can't fulfill the agreement. This is the responsibility of our Maia family."

After more than ten seconds, the mercury mirror began to fluctuate, and strings of text appeared on the mirror.

[Can you resist the power of the dragon ball? Zhuzhou actually has such a strong power, and it is not shown in myths and legends... I already know.]

Also neat, without any nonsense, a large number of words began to appear on the mercury mirror: [You are not incompetent to simply admit your failure in a timely manner instead of choosing to hide it from me. Well, my expectations for you were just fish that messed up the water. But now, a divine dragon that is powerful enough to resist the power of the ancestor dragon is more useful than the expected "Desperate Black Dragon". Leaving from you is a good thing.]

Facing the entire empire, the attitude behind the Mercury Mirror is still very casual, but Lord Maia has no opinion on this - it is not that he does not feel angry and shame, but that he knows deeply that the other party is not an existence that they can use their power to suppress.

In fact, the dragon ball that summoned Zhuzhou was given to the Maiya family by the other party. Faced with the powerful unknown existence that could take out a dragon ball at will to give it to others, it would not be an exaggeration to be cautious.

It seemed that I thought about it for a while, and after a while, after the old words disappeared, texts appeared again on the flattened mercury mirror: [Can you determine the direction of that dragon?]

"The human body has the tracking beacon we set."

[Well, that's fine. Pay attention to the other party's position and report it to me whenever there is a big change - this is related to the fate of your family. If I don't need to urge me, you should also understand the importance of this matter.]

"Yes." After a brief reply, the Mercury Mirror returned to calm, and could even reflect the already aged face of Lord Maia.

Lord Maia, who has always maintained the most basic, calm and rationality, showed a hideous expression when facing himself reflected in this mercury mirror.

"Damn it!" He roared in a low voice, trying to swing it out, hitting the mercury mirror, but just as his fist was raised, he slowly put it down.

But in this way, the anger on his face became even more: "Damn it!"

Just when Lord Maia was gritting his teeth and wondering who he was cursing.

"I didn't expect that you actually have a sender."

In the north, the wilderness area, a windless area in the hilly jungle, Su Zhou, who lit the bonfire, stretched out his hand in surprise and pointed at the eyebrows of Ola who was sitting in front of the bonfire and still moving: "That group of people is quite cautious, but fortunately I have always been careful and observe it in detail."

With the power of the mindless heart, Su Zhou could clearly hear that there was a very active voice node in Oran's mind that was almost like the void... There was no need to guess, there must be a ghost!

So, the young man's index finger was a little bit, and the blue-purple inspiration flashed.

Immediately, the huge power shook from the air, directly turning a delicate spiritual node powder hidden in the forehead of the artificial girl into pure spiritual energy and returning it to heaven and earth.

During this process, Aola, who was wearing a coat, did not move, and even her eyes did not blink. The leaping bonfire reflected in her red eyes, as if she was in a daze.

Su Zhou didn't find it strange. After all, he had learned from Lord Maia before that Ora was just an artificial human who was only three days old, and was a tool specially prepared to compete for dragon balls instead of the Maia family and summon the dragon.

In her mind, besides the basic general knowledge of artificial humans, there is only the ceremony of summoning the dragon. If no one else had ordered her, then Aura would not have any unnecessary actions.

"Although I came out with this little guy in order to avoid trouble, what should I do with her..."

Su Zhou was actually quite troubled about the existence of Ora - he was not a visitor from another world who was summoned by Dragon Ball. Even if Ora, as the summoner, died, Su Zhou felt that he would not be excluded by the world. But even so, his itinerary in the Yara World would definitely have a great impact, not to mention that he was very interested in the Dragon Ball Vow Ceremony.

Therefore, ensuring the safety of Ora is one of Su Zhou's current tasks. According to Su Zhou's guess, it is definitely not like the elves of the earth's elves x dreams, but the dragons are fighting around. Everyone's primary task must be to kill the other party's summoner first. No matter how powerful the dragon is, it will be rejected by the world.

In this case, as an artificial human, Aola, who does not have the fear and reaction ability of ordinary people, has the lowest survival rate. Even Su Zhou cannot guarantee that he can protect the other party.

After all, now, seven Dragon Ball holders are all in this area of ​​the Northland - the first time in this eight hundred years that all members gather, means that the war for Dragon Ball is almost about to break out, and no matter where or when in the Northland, a battle may break out at any time.

Just now, Su Zhou flew to the sky and looked down at this area. Looking from the sky, the most conspicuous thing is the city built by the river, with the main city of Maia as the source point, the major satellite cities and scattered villages and towns, and then the snow-white wilderness in the north and the mountainous areas further north.

"If the battle is about to happen, it should be in these places. Then patrol around and see if you can find any clues."

Thinking of this, Su Zhou took out the "Dragon Ball" he had obtained from Aola's hand from his arms.

The dragon ball was originally a pure light golden ball with a hard texture, like crystal, but after Su Zhou was summoned, there was an extremely simple white dragon divided by ancient totems, with wings of light like flames behind it.

The bonfire's fire is reflected on it, and there is even a vague illusion that light wings are vibrating.

After tsk twice, Su Zhou looked at his dragon ball and totem. He couldn't help but sigh: "How long has it been, the earth has only been three years, why do I even have totem in other worlds? Look at this style, the original flavor, at least a thousand years ago... "

"What's strange about this."

In response to this, Yara sighed: "Three years on Earth, other worlds may have passed a thousand years... One day in the sky, not the year on the earth? There are all times faster than this time comparison."

"You are my covenant, and your information will be transmitted faster in my world. This is a normal thing... What's more, information transmission is unreasonable, and there may even be a situation of substitution and confusion. Just like your story is described in another way, it is very similar to Niedhog - in some worlds, you two may even gradually become confused and confused in legends, and a new dragon will be born."

"I'm not surprised by this kind of thing."

Su Zhou, who was replacing Niedhog, nodded slightly, and his expression was quite emotional: "I just didn't expect that one day, I can also fight with the legendary dragons I have heard of as the 'divine dragon' in mythology and legend. This kind of experience..."

He said this, and he couldn't help but smile: "The extraordinary world is really interesting."

After feeling for a moment, Su Zhou put down the dragon ball and continued to turn his head to look at Ora.

The red-eyed girl has a delicate face and pure white skin. At this time, in addition to the white robe, she was wearing a large black windbreaker.

"You just wear this little bit, aren't the people in the Maia family afraid that you will die of cold?"

The black coat on Aura was the clothes that Su Zhou put in his personal space for dressing. After he noticed that the girl had only a white robe on her body, he put it on the other party, and she did not refuse.

Regarding Su Zhou's direct inquiry, Ola raised her head, looked at Su Zhou, showed a commercial smile, and said in a gentle voice: "Polin Workshop specializes in manufacturing artificial humans for four hundred years, guaranteed reputation, can withstand temperatures of minus 53 to 85 degrees Celsius. There will be certain changes according to the magic concentration, and the error of up and down does not exceed three degrees, which can support stronger and higher-intensity enhanced modifications."

“Pein Workshop, the best alchemy workshop in the Kerba Empire.”

“…Is there any built-in advertising instructions?”

After answering the question, Ola lowered her head again and looked at the bonfire. Su Zhou also knew very well that the other party was indeed not an ordinary human, and his body was much tougher than ordinary humans.

In response to this, Su Zhou also asked with interest: "Ola, I remember you said that your life span is less than thirty days, right? Is this long or short? How many days does it mean to make an ordinary artificial human?"

"And if an artificial man dies, what will happen?"

"My usage period is set to 31 days, which is an extended reinforcement type. The general artificial human service period is seven days, and the professional combat artificial human service period is one day. My remaining usage time is 27 days, 13 hours, 49 minutes and 21 seconds."

For the question that Su Zhou could be completely rude, Ora's answer was still gentle and polite, with a clear voice and a very rhythmic sense. In the language of the Kerba Empire, it was like singing: "After the period of artificial human use ends, the magic in the body will automatically dissociate and be restored to raw materials, which can be used for brand new artificial human refining."

"Is that true... Sure enough, there is no fear at all."

After asking a question, Su Zhou used his magical powers to listen carefully to Aola's voice.

The result is naturally very simple. He did not hear any sound. Although the artificial human girl has a simple artificial soul, she almost does not have any modules for active thinking... In other words, she is essentially a moving figure, which only has human hardware and a brain, but because she has only been born for a few days, she does not know how to use it to think.

This result made him interested.

"Su Zhou, what do you want to do? Could it be..."

In this regard, Yara, who was lying on Su Zhou's head, vaguely guessed Su Zhou's idea, and the young man simply nodded: "After all, it is the little guy who summoned me. I can't let her really wait until more than twenty days before turning into dust, right? Of course, I can prepare a complete set of people for her, not for artificial humans, but the premise is that at that time, she was no longer a doll like this, but at least a 'person' with basic thinking ability."

He said so, his tone became playful: "And, don't you find it very interesting?"

"Just like, the ancient snake that was the first to deceive the original man and his wife to swallow the divine fruit, so that they could distinguish good and evil, know shame, and gain 'wisdom'."

"Of course, I don't plan to bewitch you—I just plan to teach you." Su Zhou smiled happily: "It's just right, let me test how accurate I have to understand the magical power of 'mind power' and the analysis of human souls."

"I'm talking about it, it's true." Hearing this, the snake spirit's tail raised slightly, and it nodded with a pleasant tone: "This idea is indeed good."

Aola, staring at the bonfire, did not hear Su Zhou and Yala's words without any concealment, because her thinking logic would not react to anything that had nothing to do with her task.

But soon, Su Zhou's words caught her attention again.

"Are you really not afraid of death at all?"

"I don't have this emotion, sir."

"This is not possible."

Regarding Ora's simple and straightforward answer, Su Zhou said in an extremely serious tone: "You must learn to be afraid and fear death. If you are not afraid of death, and do not hide in time when you are attacked, then you will die more easily than those who are afraid of death."

"And if you die, I will be weakened, the dragon ball may be taken away, and the mission will fail - fear of death means ensuring survival and the success of the mission."

This series of logic was forcibly stuffed into Ora's mind by Su Zhou.
To be continued...