Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 578 The Journey of All Beings
Life is an ever-expanding wilderness and an ever-vigorous spirit.

This was the first impression Alena, the angelic descendant, had upon seeing the Golden Empire.

In the world of Ekania, no mage dares to directly set up a magical portal within the territory of the Golden Empire.

Even the angelic descendants who descended from Mount Paradise wouldn't dare to do that.

The powerful domain that covers all the territories of the Golden Empire is a naked manifestation of the will of billions of people. Under the dominion and control of the empire's Dragon Emperor and various Dragon Kings, it stands out even more blatantly across the northern continent of Aikania.

Those in lower positions cannot see these invisible forces so clearly, but for those in higher positions, this is a manifestation of the will of an empire's destiny.

Even in the eyes of the divine angel Alena, the will of destiny of this empire, whose power and influence were gradually spreading, had transformed into a real dragon, lying on the clouds, head bowed and eyes closed, its wings covering the entire empire.

"It's unimaginable that a nation could unite such a will,"

Alena's eight wings spread out horizontally across the sky, and her openwork golden armor with sacred runes shone brightly in the sunlight at the top of the sky.

With each gentle flap of its wings, the angelic offspring's openwork golden armor was imbued with living holy runes that flowed along the path of the reflected light.

The energy of the sun in the sky was also absorbed by these flowing sacred texts at this moment, transforming into the power source of this angelic armor.

"It seems that the matter His Majesty Asoda entrusted to me is more than just a little troublesome. Such a concentrated collective of wills is comparable to a miracle that only the fanatical believers and supplicants of gods could create."

Alena furrowed her golden eyebrows slightly. Most of the angelic warriors under the throne of the sun god have golden hair and pale golden skin, and even the wings on their backs are all burning gold. Alena was no exception.

The angelic descendant's gaze fell upon the mountains tens of thousands of miles below, where the morning light brought life to the peaks. The warm glow of the sky reflected on the towering trees in the distance, scattering countless rays of life.

Alena's gaze swept over the enormous Tree of Life, over the majestic cities towering on the distant plains, and over the entire land radiating vitality.

Then I looked at the rafts and sailboats floating on the sea in the rain, and at the fireworks town located beside the Frosty Plains Ice Lake.

It seems that every place in the Golden Empire could become a vacation spot.

This made Alena hesitate.

Although she had other purposes for coming to the Golden Empire, Alena's primary concern was her vacation experience.

Moreover, Asouda, the newly appointed sun god who has reigned for three thousand years, has a significantly different style from his predecessor.

The former sun god incurred the displeasure of many gods due to his increasingly paranoid style and domineering attitude.

Therefore, after the previous sun god was killed and split by Asoda, no other righteous gods interfered much.

Moreover, the struggle between the two sun gods was a dispute over rules and paths, not a struggle between justice and evil.

Every path and every rule is occupied by others. If a newcomer wants to succeed or achieve greater success, they must break through the suppression and constraints imposed by those who came before.

The rules that Asoda possessed were once part of the rules of the former Sun God, because the former Sun God occupied the highest point of this path.

Therefore, no matter how hard Asoda tries, the paths and achievements he expands are all part of the former sun god.

This is also the reason why there is a saying in the universe that a legend that cannot create its own rules cannot reach the end of its legend.

The path of one's own rules is an extremely independent cognitive principle that interprets the rules of the world through one's own logical cognitive system. This also means that no matter what kind of god or legend there is in the world, no one can have truly perfect and flawless rules.

The divine authority of each deity and the core rule domain of each legend contain only the deconstruction, annotation, and responsibility of the individual deity and legend for the true rules of the world.

Therefore, every deity will continue to tirelessly pursue merging similar entities and constantly strengthen its own power.

In this respect, the path of the gods is a hundred or a thousand times more brutal than the path of legends.

Because the core rules of a deity are entirely tied to divinity and divine authority, one can easily absorb and occupy the achievements of another deity simply by plundering the divine power and divine authority of another similar deity.

Unlike legendary beings who require personal experience, they don't need to learn and integrate these concepts on their own.

You have mastered this rule, and I, as a god, also mastered this rule. So if you don't become my follower, then you will die at my hands.

However, the chief god controls the subordinate gods and becomes a big capitalist, but the subordinate gods are not necessarily willing to work for him.

Thus, the root of rebellion among gods in many pantheons originated from this.

You can become the supreme god because you were born early and died early, but if you can become the supreme god, why can't I?

Ambitious gods will gradually find opportunities over countless years to compete with their master god through various schemes and plots, vying for victory or death.

In the struggle between the new sun god Asuda and the former sun god, the former subordinate god Asuda ultimately emerged victorious.

After killing the previous sun god, Asuda devoured his divine authority and gradually seized most of the authority over the sun. Dawn, afternoon, and dusk became the symbolic emblems of the sun god Asuda.

Alena, the angelic descendant who had once served the former sun god, knew all too well that the relationships between deities could not be represented by simple factionalism.

If it weren't for the cosmic crystal walls separating countless universes, which prevented many gods from invading between universes, and the fact that gods who broke through other cosmic crystal walls to reach other universes would also face the danger of complete fragmentation.

Furthermore, they need to make various disguises to conceal their purpose of plundering divine power and their own origins in order to integrate into the pantheons of other universes.

Alena even believed that the wars of the gods, like those of the mortal kingdoms and civilizations in the material world, would be constantly ignited and never cease.

Because the divine authority held by the gods of many races is merely a branch of the highest point of the rules, far from being the end of the path of rules, and cannot be an existence that is close to the pinnacle of the rules like the former sun god.

Therefore, the gods of those races are the ones who most desire to wage war, such as the powerful gods of the orc pantheon.

This angelic descendant thus developed a certain amount of respect for the true dragon emperor of the Golden Empire, who ruled over all directions and bestowed blessings upon the surrounding material world.

It is precisely the struggles within the universe for growth paths, resources for survival, space, and even power that have led to countless disputes and hatreds in the world.

Without a certain background, even if one is powerful enough to become a god, one still needs to bow one's head and be willing to be a servant.

With the exception of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon King, almost all the dragon gods of the dragon race do not want to see another dragon god in the world.

This red dragon, born and raised in the mortal realm, is willing to protect all dragons as they grow.

"Hey, the gods aren't like gods at all, but the dragons in the mortal realm are like gods,"

Alena sighed, and her body began to shift and sink.

The angel's concealed figure swept past the floating mage tower amidst the layers of clouds.

The interconnected detection network formed by the mage towers that roamed the high heavens of the Golden Empire was extremely sensitive. Fortunately, Alena possessed magic that made her blend into the light, and her own energy appeared to the detection brain of the floating mage tower as nothing more than beams of warm sunlight.

Besides these floating mage towers that operate daily, Alena also encountered enormous ships floating in the sea of ​​clouds. These were not steel warships like astral battleships, but rather sailing wooden ships enhanced with magic. These floating sailing ships moved slowly, and their massive hulls, decks, and sails were faintly covered with flowing magical runes.

Alena concealed herself and followed these enormous, imposing airships for some time, using magic to eavesdrop on the conversations of the many people on board, thus uncovering the origins of these ships.

It turns out that this batch of magical sailboats originated from another material world, the Milo Great World.

The Milo World is extremely close to the Ekania World; their material world coordinates are only 45.68 million kilometers apart.

But the most powerful legend in the world of Milo is a powerful mage belonging to the Liponos Alliance within the Star Alliance.

This mage advocates for communication and exchange between the civilizations of the two material worlds and strongly supports the Lipunos Grand Alliance. Therefore, the first trade mission dispatched by him has already arrived in the world of Ekania, the homeland of the Golden Empire.

"Tsk tsk, what a powerful and prosperous nation! Although it is still confined to a limited global scope, it possesses a unique and extraordinary aura."

Alena is well-traveled and has experienced more than dozens of great worlds. As a messenger of a powerful god, she sometimes needs to step into the material world to fulfill certain requirements of the god, carrying the god's will.

So she wasn't surprised by such a thing, but it was the first time she had ever seen such a scene in the kingdom created by the dragons.

In a distant era, there once existed a powerful dragon kingdom in the starry sky, whose leader was known as the Dragon Pharaoh.

Every time that dragon kingdom launches a war, hundreds of dragons march out simultaneously, a vast and mighty force with unparalleled power.

Few civilizations in the mortal world can rival it.

However, that powerful dragon kingdom was far inferior to the current Golden Empire in terms of organizational capacity, cohesion, and system.

They ruled the country with mere violence and power, which led to the decline of national strength after prolonged warfare, the deaths of countless dragons, and their eventual disappearance into history.

But within the Golden Empire, Alena witnessed the true trajectory of civilization.

"It seems my vacation spot is quite interesting; I haven't seen such a civilization in the material world for a long time,"

Alena landed in a small town near the Frost Plains on the Great Plains, standing beside an icy blue lake.

The town was named after the lake, and its residents called it Blue Lake Town. This name was also officially adopted and registered by the Empire.

Therefore, when Alena stood outside the town, the first thing she saw was the plaque hanging on the town's huge gate.

And the rising smoke from the houses on both sides of the town, and the occasional sounds of the male head of the household swearing and the crowing of chickens and barking of dogs.

Alena took a deep breath and sighed softly, somewhat raptly, "This is what the mortal world is like. It's perfect for retirement!"

In this town, the majority of people are gnolls, frost giants, and hybrid giants, while humanoid races such as northern humans and elves only make up one-fifth of the population.

Even the most irritable giants had to obediently lower their heads and listen to the goblin mayor's reprimands.

"Did you shove your head up your ass?"

"No matter how good relations are between the two countries, the border issue needs to be clear and unambiguous. Even though you hunted the prey, once it escapes into the Frost Giants' territory, it cannot cross the border at will and must obtain the Frost Giants' consent!"

The old goblin rode on the back of a gray-furred hyena. He was still not as tall as the giant in front of him, but he was extremely imposing.

Because this goblin was a veteran who had retired from the Wolf Rider Legion, in the Empire's official system, retired soldiers with corresponding abilities would receive certain political advantages.

"Do not act recklessly just because the empire is powerful. Imperial prestige is our pride, but it is not a means to coerce others."

"Go, return the prey you snatched from the frost giants, and you'll have to apologize honestly."

Alena was initially amused by the stark contrast in their body shapes, but her expression turned serious as she listened.

"Why the serious expression? Do you have some ulterior motive for coming to the Empire, hmm?"

A cheerful female voice rang out, startling the angelic descendant.

Alena quickly turned her head toward the source of the sound, only to see a dashing female warrior leaning casually against the doorpost of the town's tavern, her face revealed beneath a black hood, looking at her with deep, penetrating eyes.

"Can you see me?"

Alena frowned as she walked over to the female warrior and asked, "Then you must be a very powerful warrior, with a reputation that is known throughout this country. What is your name?"

The female warrior said lazily, "Me?"

“I used to be called Winona Coria, but now I should be called Winona, well, Winona!”

“Winona?” Alena pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ve never heard of your name among those people. What exactly is your identity?”

Winona looked up and smiled, "Magic isn't omnipotent, and even the Empire's defense system isn't foolproof. There are always some wondrous beings, and some beings with magical abilities, that can bypass the Empire's defense and surveillance systems."

"That's why we need someone like me to specifically take charge of this kind of thing,"

The female warrior lightly tapped her scaly leg against the tavern threshold, laughing as she said, "My job is called 'Walking Among All Beings'."

"You can also understand it this way: within the Empire, there are people like me who are specifically responsible for monitoring most races of beings in the universe."

Winona casually lifted her black robe, revealing her battle armor, with jagged bone spikes and overlapping scales, making her look like a humanoid dragon.

"Alright, I've told you everything you wanted to know. Now you have to tell me your background and purpose, or I'll have no choice but to take action."

Winona looked down at her hands. This body, created with cloning magic, was not as powerful as her former Seraph descendant body, but it made her feel much more at ease.

Unfortunately, Moxi, who possessed the True Dragon Battle Armor and controlled all things earth, water, wind, and fire, did not witness this scene.

Otherwise, Moxi would have discovered that the original source and template of his armor came from the armor worn by Winona.

The Golden Empire sought core influence and strong control, thus making the empire's domestic operations a top priority.

Especially after the recent introduction by the Comet Prince, the idea of ​​building an instant communication system covering the entire empire's territory was born, and a more rigorous system was also put on the agenda by the Golgmora dragons.

Based on the empire's powerful territories, the Golden Empire will create a 'law net' that covers the entire empire's borders.

Its purpose is to unify all magical elements, and all spells must be approved by the Empire before they can be used and controlled by foreign spellcasters.

It was only in the empire's homeland that the True Dragon Life Battle Armor, which was later born, was able to possess the power to defy destiny.

(End of this chapter)