The Borderlands, southwest.
It was deep into the night. Two moons, one real and one fake, hung high in the black-velvet night sky, emitting a hazy luster and spilling it onto the land.
Whoosh!
The wind howled bitterly.
A black-Red Dragon flapped its wings, sweeping across the sky and shattering the moonlight, looking just like a comet streaking across the horizon.
Not long after, the 'comet' arrived at the Fertile Plains.
Iron Dragon Sorog, Red Dragon Samantha, White Dragon Tereshi, the three of them, along with the half-Centaur Elvie, as well as the Spellcasters and Shamans belonging to the Eye of Annihilation battle group, were all on the plains, observing something.
With the arrival of the black-Red Dragon.
They simultaneously raised their heads, looking at the Red-Iron Dragon, who appeared both strange and familiar, and far more majestic than before.
Garros tucked his wings, slowed his speed, and landed steadily on the ground.
"Garros, the three Ignas Siblings are reunited once again. Now that you have awakened, we no longer need to endure and lie low."
Iron Dragon Sorog grinned and said.
His voice was not loud, but it carried a feeling that penetrated the soul, conveying a sense of joy that could be widely understood.
Garros shifted his gaze toward Sorog.
The Iron Dragon, who was four years his senior, had grown in size compared to before; his body was several times larger, though still not a match for Garros. Every scale on his body carried a metallic luster and a hard texture. However, most peculiar of all were the Iron Dragon's eyes now, which seemed capable of seeing through the soul—bright and piercing, completely different from before.
—This was the gaze of a Psion.
Iron Dragon Sorog was now a formal Psion.
Because of their unique Bloodline, Dragonkin were well-suited to most Spellcaster professions.
Spellcasters did not need to understand the principles of spellcasting; they only needed to be able to use them. It was like a fish that didn't know why it could swim—it just swam; exploring the principles was the job of a Spellcaster.
"You should go take a look at the Sulfur Hills."
Red Dragon Samantha said, as if seeking praise: "Under your inspiration, I rebuilt the Alchemy Workshop. After these years of development, production capacity has been greatly enhanced, and this is just the beginning; it will be even more powerful in the future."
Garros nodded: "I will wait and see."
Red Dragon Samantha had also grown significantly. She had fallen into a deep sleep after Garros, and had also gone through the juvenile stage of Dragon Sleep, with both her size and Life Level having increased substantially.
Thanks to the naturally robust physique of a Red Dragon, she was the closest to Garros in terms of strength.
But there was still a large gap, difficult to bridge.
If one were to compare this using human body types, and consider the Red Dragon as someone with some success in fitness, then Garros was equivalent to the Schwarzenegger of Dragons. His hulking, majestic, and rugged physique had a powerful sense of impact even in the eyes of other Dragons.
In the eyes of other Dragons, the White Scale White Dragon was roughly considered an underdeveloped dwarf.
Garros glanced at White Dragon Tereshi.
At this moment, White Dragon Tereshi was over one hundred and ninety years old, at the Great Perfection of adulthood, approaching her prime, but her size was inferior to Garros.
Ten years had passed, and her size had barely changed, having grown only an imperceptible amount.
The White Dragon and Garros were now both sixteen meters in length, but her waist was not even as thick as Garros's arm. Standing together, she looked like a bamboo pole, gaunt and unsightly.
Garros's gaze made the White Dragon somewhat displeased.
She wanted to bare her teeth at Garros to express her dissatisfaction, but when her gaze touched Garros's rugged, steel-cast physique, the words stuck in her throat, leaving her speechless.
When they first met over a decade ago, she could still trade blows with the Red-Iron Dragon.
But now, she would likely be subdued in two or three moves.
In just ten years, he had crushed her in terms of size. What on earth did this guy eat to grow up? It was too terrifying.
Could it be that black oil could stimulate bodily growth?
The White Dragon had seen Garros drinking black oil and wondered if she should try it too.
"What happened here?"
Garros looked at the Iron Dragon and asked: "Does it have anything to do with the Four Great Tribes?"
Sorog shook his head and said: "We had a small friction with the Goblin Tribe. I didn't expect these lowly creatures to develop a powerful tribe in The Borderlands. However, it's not a major issue at the moment; it has already been resolved. The matter in the Fertile Plains is an unexpected turn of events and has nothing to do with the Four Great Tribes."
He let the Spellcasters and Shamans in the back, who were surrounding the area as if performing some mysterious ritual, disperse.
The Iron Dragon pointed to the exposed empty space and said: "Look, it's this thing."
Garros gazed over.
When he saw the target, his eyes narrowed, his pupils slightly constricted, and his heart could not remain calm.
On the ground covered by the night, a black-purple crack was imprinted there, about ten meters long in total, slender and twisted, winding and hideous, like a huge centipede, or perhaps a scar on the earth.
Thick, evil energy surged from within, making one uneasy.
Before even getting close, just by smelling the scent it emitted, a wave of violent, bloodthirsty, and cruel desires surged in Garros's heart, and bloodshot veins crawled into his eyes.
"How could this thing appear in the Fertile Plains?"
The Red-Iron Dragon's gaze was solemn. With a tenacious will, he suppressed those negative emotions, feeling a chill in his heart.
This was because the black-purple crack before him was not simply a crack in the ground.
It also had a widely known name.
—Abyssal Rift.
The appearance of the crack was merely how it manifested when it appeared in the Material Plane. In essence, it was a spatial channel connecting the Material Plane to the Abyss plane, a bridge for Abyssal demons to invade the Material Plane.
As for the Abyss plane, its full name was the Bottomless Abyss.
It was the plane representing chaos and evil among all planes. Even the gods did not know how deep the Abyss was, or how many terrifying demons existed within it.
On the Central Continent of Planet Bernardo, within the territory of the Holden Empire, there existed the largest Abyssal Rift.
In order to prevent the further expansion of the Abyssal Rift and to clean up the demons descending into the Material Plane from it.
The Holy Flame Arbiter, this top-tier golem, was designed with the original intention of guarding the Abyssal Rift.
In addition to the Holy Flame Arbiter, there were more than one Legendary powerhouse specifically stationed at the Abyssal Rift. It tied up a large amount of manpower and power from the Holden Empire, and it was always difficult to eradicate; it was the Holden Empire's biggest headache.
However, it also allowed the Holden Empire to obtain many Abyssal Materials that were difficult to obtain in the Material Plane.
The ten-meter-long Abyssal Rift in front of him was naturally not worth mentioning compared to the one in Holden, and any Dragon present could completely cover it up by crawling over it.
But it was equally not to be underestimated.
This thing could grow.
It would gradually grow on its own, albeit slowly. However, if one were careless and allowed demons to emerge and wreak havoc, the Abyssal energy carried by the demons would severely erode the surrounding land, causing the rift to expand and grow rapidly.
"Why is there an Abyssal Rift here?"
The Red-Iron Dragon wrinkled the skin on his forehead.
Staring intently at the location of the rift, he suddenly realized something.
The changes over the past decade or so had smoothed out the main traces of his battle with the Bloodhoof Chieftain here.
But the memory of Dragons was excellent. Garros still remembered that this area was the battlefield between himself and the Bloodhoof Chieftain, and the place where the Abyssal Rift was located was the final death place of Bahl Bloodhoof.
Thinking of Bahl Bloodhoof with his demon blood burning and demonic flames rolling.
It was not hard to infer that his death and the appearance of the Abyssal Rift were inextricably linked.
Does the death of an individual with atavistic demon blood lead to the appearance of an Abyssal Rift?
There was no clear statement in the Legacy.
There was likely another reason behind this.
However, the specific reason was unknown, and now was not the time to investigate. The Abyssal Rift in front of him was what needed the most attention.
"We have been trying to close it, but we have never succeeded."
Iron Dragon Sorog said: "Currently, no demons have emerged from it, and its scale is not large, but it is like a thorn stuck in our territory."
The Spellcasters and Shamans of the Eye of Annihilation, including several Young Dragons and White Dragon Tereshi.
They had each used their own methods, but none could eliminate the rift.
Red Dragon Samantha's Flame Dragon Breath even caused it to grow from nine meters to ten meters, like adding fuel to the fire.
There was no help for it; the Dragons and monsters present all possessed some evil attributes to varying degrees. If they were seen gathered near the Abyssal Rift, it would be lucky if they weren't mistaken for the culprits who created the Abyssal Rift.
"Has Elvie tried?"
Garros looked toward the half-Centaur.
There was a specialty for every trade. Elvie possessed the atavistic blood of a Pegasus, and the Pegasus was a Celestial creature originating from the Heavenly Mountain, naturally possessing sacred attributes capable of dispelling evil.
Theoretically speaking, she could curb, or even eliminate, the Abyssal Rift.
"My Master, I have failed your expectations; I cannot handle the Abyssal Rift."
Elvie lowered her head in shame.
She was gifted. Although she had the mixed blood of the long-lived Elves, her upgrade speed was not slow, and her Life Level had increased from level 9 to level 12 over the past ten years.
But she was not a purebred Pegasus, and the sacred attributes contained in her atavistic Bloodline were currently unable to solve this Abyssal Rift.
Elvie had tried to condense the power of the Pegasus to attack the Abyssal Rift. It had a certain effect, but it could only curb its instinctive expansion and could not disperse it.
As of now.
Dragon Valley lacked the means to eliminate the Abyssal Rift.
"A ten-meter-long rift—the demons emerging from it won't be very strong; at most, they will be some low-level demons. With our size, we can easily handle them."
The Red-Iron Dragon's tone was calm and unhurried.
"Besides, Abyssal Materials are valuable. If we can utilize them, it might not necessarily be a bad thing."
The appearance of the Abyssal Rift was beyond Garros's expectations.
If he had known this earlier, he would have been happy to throw Bahl Bloodhoof far away to the border of the Duchy of Raymond, letting the humans who had provoked him taste the bitter fruit of trouble.
But things had reached this point, and time would not flow backward.
The key now was how to properly deal with it, or even turn it into a resource in turn.
Danger and opportunity often coexist.
The danger of the Abyssal Rift was unquestionable, but it could also become a valuable resource point for farming Abyssal Materials.
Demons were the nightmare of countless creatures, but the "countless creatures" here did not include the Dragon Clan; Dragons would never fear demons.
Even within the Abyss plane, there existed powerful Planar Dragons like the Abyssal Dragon, which fed on demons and were even more formidable than Gold Dragons.
As the leader of Dragon Valley, Garros's composure quickly calmed the surrounding kin.
"That is also true."
Iron Dragon Sorog nodded in agreement: "The Holden Empire guards the giant rift alone and refuses active aid from other countries, clearly benefiting greatly from it. As long as it is controlled properly, this small rift might bring us unexpected gains."
PS: Power stones!