Rhode’s concerns were grounded in reality because at that moment, the forces of the main plane had largely been tapped into by him. From elves to dark elves, dwarves to half-beasts, there was basically no race that he hadn’t touched on. That was the reason why he had no other choice left. Because this time, Chaos attacked on all fronts, so it was impossible for him to summon beings from other planes for help. Although Christie and Gillian mentioned that they could ask the Seven Fantasy Boundaries and elemental planes to help out the main plane, he considered the proposal over and over, but eventually refused. The two previous experiences in Erin’s trials and his subsequent trip to the water elemental plane taught him that the other planes also weren’t in safe hands. Every place needed sufficient strength to defend against the influence of Chaos. If they mobilized forces from other planes, even if the main plane was defended, other places would still collapse. It was especially so for the four main elemental planes that were crucial for the continent.
But now, Rhode was stunned that Gaya actually said she found a group of forces that were strong enough to go against the skeletal dragon. However, facing his question, Gaya didn’t explain further, but stated that she needed to make some preparations and left. In this situation, apart from exchanging looks with each other, Rhode and Lydia had nothing else to comment.
But come to think of it…
“Your Highness Lydia, do you know where Gaya has gone to?”
Rhode put down the teacup and gazed curiously at the archangel. After the battle ended, Rhode stayed at the front lines by the border of the Country of Light temporarily. After all, this defensive line was weaker than others and the soldiers were the most worrisome. Rhode could do something that Lydia couldn’t do here: if one were to flee in battle, he could slaughter one… And he wouldn’t feel any pressure doing it at all.
Another thing worthy of a mention was that most of the soldiers who couldn’t withstand the pressure and fled were caught and stationed at the forefront under the supervision of the players. Meanwhile, those who fought until the end were transferred to the second defensive line instead. If the soldiers dared to escape once more, they wouldn’t be the only ones killed. Their whole families would also be annihilated. Rhode couldn’t be bothered to console those fools. Since they were that afraid, he might as well let them be more terrified. If they resisted, Rhode also had a choice to not kill them all. He wasn’t sure about Lapis, but he knew that Sara needed a lot of experimental products for her undead spells. If those soldiers were really that naive, they would all be forcefully converted into specters, which would be more obedient than humans.
In order to stop Chaos and make his plan work, Rhode couldn’t care less about how much blood they spilled. As long as he could succeed, he would do it at all cost.
This was the kind of thing that Lydia and the battle angel army couldn’t achieve. And while Lydia was a ruthless person, she only targeted and punished those who sinned severely. Angels had different values from humans and viewed ‘sinfulness’ from a different perspective. That was why there was a misconception of Lydia as a cruel person.
But Rhode was different. He adopted a collective punishment system similar to the army. Whenever one person made a mistake, the whole squad would go down together. In a critical situation like this, as soon as one did something wrong, everyone associated with one was out of luck, whether they had something to do with one’s action or not. Rhode also knew that this wasn’t a permanent solution, but he wasn’t going to make it one either. As long as the defensive line could hold strong, it was enough. That was the difference between him and Lydia. While Lydia didn’t really agree with his doings, looking at the bigger picture, she didn’t comment much. After all, she also knew very well that things wouldn’t work if they continued this way. And if she couldn’t do this sort of thing herself, she could only rely upon Rhode.
“I’m not very sure either, Your Majesty Rhode. To be honest, I’ve never cared much about the Eastern Plains.”
In response to Rhode’s question, Lydia revealed a helpless, bitter smile and gave her response. As she stated, the Eastern Plains was enclosed and pretty much trouble-free, which explained her lack of meddling with their affairs. Besides, there were also many secrets in that place. Although she had been in power in the Munn Kingdom for several years, she knew very little about the secrets of the Eastern Plains. In fact, even Rhode didn’t dare say that he knew all their secrets because it was simply too mysterious.
Moreover, the mysteriousness wasn’t the kind that made players even more curious. On the other hand, it was the kind that was unintentionally hidden in everyday life, where some players couldn’t guess at all. In some cases, unless they said it themselves, players would be foolish enough to think it was just part of their daily activities… Rhode, however, remembered clearly that in the Eastern Plains, there was a ritual around the mountain named the ‘Path of Discovery’. Players had to walk from the foot of the mountain to the top with a handful of incense. Basically, all players saw this as a boring daily task in the game. In the end, due to a random mistake, that was when they found out that the incense was used to seal the ghosts of the nearby ancient battlefield…
That was why even though Gaya said there might be a way in the Eastern Plains that could solve this problem, Rhode didn’t know what she was referring to. For now, the fighters in the Eastern Plains had been mobilized. As the Munn Kingdom was unlikely to be attacked by Chaos due to its safe location between the Country of Light, Country of Darkness, Country of Law, and the Void Territory, Lydia gathered all fighters of the Munn Kingdom and sent them to the border of the Country of Light to help defend with Rhode and the players. Logically speaking, there shouldn’t be anything special hidden in the Eastern Plains.
But since Gaya said so… Perhaps…
“Seems like we can only wait for her findings. Let’s hope Chaos doesn’t find trouble with us anytime soon.”
Since Lydia also wasn’t sure, Rhode didn’t continue pestering her for an answer. Instead, he shrugged and poured himself another cup of tea. At that moment, he noticed her gaze felt a little abnormal.
“Is anything the issue, Your Highness Lydia?”
“Oh, it’s nothing important… Just that…” Lydia replied and winked her bright eyes at him playfully. She looked at him and the corners of her mouth perked up into a mysterious smile. “… I’m not sure if it’s an illusion, but you seem to get along really well with Erin, Your Majesty Rhode.”
“Oh…?”
Rhode raised an eyebrow and responded without moving a muscle. His relationship with Erin did, in fact, change after he used the Plane Destruction Bomb to destroy Chaos outside of the Country of Darkness and create the void storm. Thereafter, Erin mobilized most of the remaining guards of the Country of Darkness to other regions that were under attack by Chaos. Of course, with the favorable relationship between Lydia and her, they frequently contacted each other.
Due to the fact that this matter required coordination from all Creator Dragons, Erin didn’t have a lack of chances to meet Rhode. After the trials, Erin’s and Rhode’s relationship was never actually finalized as they were really busy, so naturally, they didn’t have time to even talk about love. But Erin was a young lady who was eager to get her first taste of love, after all. Moreover, facing such troubles at that moment, everyone was under a lot of stress and needed to let off steam.
That was why Erin sought Rhode out for a few ‘sessions’ in private, to which he welcomed every time. But on the surface, he didn’t show any special care for her, not because he was afraid that their relationship would be exposed and whatnot, but because he needed to consider the harmony of his harem. After all, everyone was busy right now, doing their best for his plans. While Erin certainly needed to be taken care of, the others weren’t robots either. If Rhode only treated Erin well and ignored the rest, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t leave the impression of him being bored with the old.
And if he didn’t want that to happen, he had to treat everyone equally. But the problem was that he had so many women in his harem that if he really wanted to treat them equally, perhaps he would exhaust himself to death before Chaos destroyed the Dragon Soul Continent.
Right now, his power as the Void Dragon was already scattered, leaving behind only the attributes belonging to him as a player. No matter how strong his waist was, that wasn’t the way to torment himself.
That was why he had no choice but to try to downplay his relationship with Erin, at least to the point where they weren’t in a honeymoon period and had to stick together all the time. Erin was no fool either and naturally knew that now wasn’t the time for such things. That was why she held back a lot and because of that, with the restraint from both sides, not many people actually took notice. But what Rhode didn’t expect was that Lydia seemed to be aware of their relationship?
No way. After having an intimate relationship with Erin, he clearly remembered meeting Lydia with Erin less than five times. He thought he acted normal in front of others, so how was he actually exposed? Could it be that this archangel could read minds?
However, Rhode wasn’t sure why this archangel mentioned this topic now. That was why he didn’t respond quickly, but decided to adapt to the situation instead. He observed what Lydia was building up to before commenting further. Upon hearing his response, Lydia didn’t continue speaking. She smiled and turned to look outside the window instead.
In an instant, both of them fell into silence. This tea session that Lydia invited Rhode to wasn’t held on the ground, but in their flagship instead. After all, the surface was full of devastation and was unsuitable for admiration. However, the floating magic warship was different. Even though the commander of this flagship was Gaya, the real owner was Lydia, which was apparent from its extravagant decorations. The tea table was rosewood, with a beautiful ceramic tea set, and a soft, cooling breeze blew from the outside through the open glass. The floor was covered with a soft, comfortable fur rug. As far as the eye could see, this place looked less like a captain’s room and more like a VIP lounge.
None of them said a word. He would respond right away if this question were asked by one of the women in his harem. After all, it was related to all of them. But with Lydia’s identity, it wasn’t that simple for him to respond. Even though he knew that Lydia was considered bosom friends with Erin, besties were besties, after all. Since Rhode and Lydia hadn’t been in the same bed before, he wouldn’t let her get away with it so easily when it came to his personal privacy. So in the face of the archangel’s hint, he pretended to know nothing and didn’t intend to talk more about it. After all, the more he spoke, the more wrong he would be. The less he spoke, the less wrong he was.
“I’m surprised that Erin actually became the Dark Dragon. Frankly, I never thought she would be where she is today.”
After a few moments, Lydia broke the silence. She gazed out the window quietly. Her beautiful face grew with some melancholy, while her fair, slender fingers caressed the edge of the teacup. Upon hearing her words, Rhode shrugged.
“But aren’t you the same, Your Highness Lydia? Even though you didn’t become the Light Dragon, you still hold the power of the Country of Light.”
“Yeah, this is also something that I’ve never imagined…”
Lydia said, turning around and looking straight at Rhode.
“Your Majesty Rhode, ever since I met you, you’ve given me many surprises. If it weren’t for your help, Erin wouldn’t have become the Dark Dragon. Without your support, perhaps Her Majesty Lilian wouldn’t have made such a decision…”
“I’m just trying to do what I can, Miss Lydia… But sometimes, I do want to call it quits.”
Unknowingly, Rhode addressed Lydia as ‘Miss’ instead of ‘Your Highness’. In fact, when he heard her words, he also let out an inward sigh. He recalled the days when he first transmigrated to this world. Back then, he simply wanted to live and help the Munn Kingdom change its fate of being destroyed. Then? What would it be like later? Back then, he couldn’t have thought about it at all. But now, everything was different.
Not only had he become the Void Dragon, but he also had the fate of the entire Dragon Soul Continent on his shoulders. If someone said this to him at the beginning of his journey, he would have thought that person was a psychopath. After all, even in the later stages of the game when he transmigrated to this world, their goal was to only defeat the Void Dragon and prove that Starlight was deservingly the number one guild in the Dragon Soul Continent. As for what the future of the Dragon Soul Continent was… Not even he thought about such a distant question.
But now, he had unknowingly become the leader of the entire Dragon Soul Continent. He was even going to transmigrate the entire continent to another world to find a safer and more peaceful life. Such a change in identity had never occurred to him before.
Besides, he didn’t only change his own fate, but the others’ too.
Lize didn’t die in the crash of the floating boat. Marlene was freed from her original fate, even awakening to become one of the deity wardens. Erin went from being the moon princess to the moon queen. Anne went from being an ordinary mercenary to the child of an elemental lord. The destinies of the people around him changed one by one. He had never thought about this before, but this time, after feeling rather moved by Lydia’s words, he suddenly found out that he had done so much more without realizing it…
If he treated this entire journey as a huge mission, did that mean the mission would be over after he successfully transmigrated the Dragon Soul Continent to the solar system?
But would things get easy for me after this mission is over? The threat of Chaos may be gone, but what about the future of the Dragon Soul Continent?
At this thought, Rhode felt somewhat bored all of a sudden. He could imagine that even if he transmigrated to the solar system, it didn’t mean that the Dragon Soul Continent would be able to live in peace and tranquility for the rest of its life. Maybe he would have to deal with Earth as the Void Dragon sooner or later. He felt a little unmotivated. This kind of feeling… was similar to the struggles of having to finish finals and deal with piles of holiday homework before one even had the time to relax.
“The sapling will someday grow into a towering tree, but it will also bear fruits and scatter its seeds on the ground. Mr. Rhode, I don’t think you need to be in such a hurry… Do you know what I mean?”
“Hmm?”
Upon hearing Lydia’s words, Rhode felt a little dubious. He lifted his head and looked curiously at her. Even though he was used to her poetic speaking style, this time, he realized that she actually meant something behind her words.
“Miss Lydia, I don’t really understand what you mean.”
“You will know it one day, Mr. Rhode.”
Facing his question, Lydia smiled.
“Well, no matter how big an ancient tree is, its presence can’t shroud the entire land. Its seeds, on the other hand, will drift and spread in the wind, eventually growing into a forest. So I think you might not need to worry too much about that.”
Lydia said and came to a pause. Then, she said something totally irrelevant.
“Recently Erin doesn’t seem to be feeling too well.”
“…”
Upon hearing her remarks, Rhode’s eyes glinted.
Because at that moment, he recalled something.
Even though his dragon soul powers were scattered, he was still the Void Dragon in terms of race. On the other hand, Erin, as the dragon soul heir, had the race of the Dark Dragon, to begin with…
Since we are dragons and Lydia is beating about the bush…
At this thought, Rhode was bewildered.
It can’t be…!
