Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 436 World-Class Crisis

In the face of crisis, large countries generally have the advantage, with abundant manpower, massive resources, and advanced technology. The strength of a powerful country should be demonstrated when facing disasters, crises, and challenges.

No world-leading nation would be preoccupied with internal strife when facing economic, military, climate, or even war crises.
"Yes, the desert countries are one."

A powerful mainland nation possesses abundant military strength, but this also makes it a prime target for its adversaries. Furthermore, its strong internal forces can further fuel the rise of ambitious individuals and separatists.

A group of states is a rather unusual form of government. It is similar to a federation, but each part is a feudal kingdom with complete and independent sovereignty.

This is determined by the unique structure of the Hansir Desert. The oases, canyons, and karst caves are scattered throughout the desert, making travel extremely inconvenient. In addition, the desert is rich in various magical creatures, including blue dragons, which makes communication and transportation very costly.

Over time, strange little countries emerged, even though the two oases were not too far apart, and they had different languages, writing systems, and even ethnicities. There were more than three hundred such countries in total. Each oasis or cave could be a small country. They developed independently over decades or centuries, creating their own independent systems and even combat cultures.

Yes, the combat culture and the environment of the Storm Kingdoms are extremely harsh, a battlefield of countless clashes in the Prime Material Plane.

However, it is also a place rich in resources, and various extradimensional miasma, dimensional barriers, and dimensional gates are quite common. Sandstorms, which have transformed into extraordinary factors, can easily isolate everything.

This is a world where survival depends solely on oneself, a storm-ridden nation independent of the rest of the world.

Growing up in such an environment, weakness is the original sin. The incompleteness of "Rean Sudar" and "Mina Sudar" is unacceptable to the Sudar family.

After all, although he was nominally an earl, the territory he actually ruled may have exceeded the current Kingdom of Aetherylin.

"Recently, the Sudar family's territory has also been on the verge of war. If nothing unexpected happens, it may be another hundred-year war."

The other side in the battle is a sub-plane of the "Earth Element Plane". In fact, it is also because of the long-term connection with it that the region has become uncontrollably "desertified" and "scarce with water resources".

However, from another perspective, it also brought more wealth and treasures, and even many branch races with otherworldly characteristics, indirectly shaping the Desert Kingdom into a powerful nation across the continent.

"Civil war, dimensional war, and the largest dimensional dust storm in a century—the situation is dire."

On the other side of the battlefield, monsters comparable to gods, such as the Elemental King, have appeared.

Incidentally, the layered, isolated terrain of the desert kingdoms is actually the situation of the earth element plane, which is also a "honeycomb-like" world group composed of countless divided "honeycomb worlds".

Let alone unification, two small worlds that are very close to each other may be hostile races.

The desert kingdoms could not possibly be dealing with the entire elemental plane, but they could be enough to directly destroy the main plane. They should only be attacking one of the "honeycomb planes".

However, the elemental creatures and semi-elemental beings among them are also quite difficult to deal with. Generally speaking, those earth-elemental semi-elemental life forms actually crave the prime material plane more. For example, the famous petrified lizards and Medusa snake people prefer the living environment of the prime material plane.

They formed an alliance and attacked the nearest dimensional rift, which is probably an inevitable step in every war of demonic tides.

That kind of battlefield is not the small-scale skirmish that Radiant City is currently facing; the outcome could mean national annihilation and extermination.

But it was precisely because of this that the desert kingdoms became a top-tier power on the continent.
"But what's even more frustrating is that the change in the elemental tides has altered the original storm walls. It's hard for outsiders to understand, but it's like two kingdoms that were originally very far apart can suddenly pass through each other, and former allies have become very distant countries."

It's not a big deal if the terrain is forcibly reshuffled, but if strong and weak countries are grouped together, resource-rich countries are grouped together, and old enemies are grouped together, then things get really interesting.

The fact is that civil war has broken out. Some kingdoms see this war as an opportunity, while others have already become victims of the war.

You want to talk to them about the big picture? About racial crises? Those vassal kings and chieftains will only laugh at your foolishness and then devour you clean. Civil war has become the most painful reality of the interdimensional war, and even the kingdom where Sudar's family resides is facing a crisis.

"The chances of the Sudar family surviving this crisis are not high."

This is perhaps one of the main reasons why the delegation brought Kane and his men along.

Establishing a new branch is their real mission. Count Blue Dragon also has his own mission, but Mina is clearly not qualified to know, though it is probably related to the war currently facing the nations.

Request aid? Call in a coalition? That's out of the question.

When countries face war, the only one they can truly trust is themselves.

The battlefield on the other side of the desert is an endless, massive quagmire; only those who are willing to climb out can escape.
"I heard they're collecting and offering bounties for certain divine artifacts across the entire continent."

As a "relative," Mina still revealed some information to Salim.

When a major war breaks out, sending one's own children and descendants abroad to avoid being wiped out is shameless in a sense, but it probably happens in every world war.

This has become one of the unspoken rules among the nobility on the continent, and many powerful noble families with multiple branches have come from this lineage. The local kingdoms are also willing to accept such "immigrants" because they bring resources, technology, and even bloodlines. The bloodline inheritance of many nobles is itself a high-quality resource that can stably produce combat power.

In reality, the Sudar family sent Kane with the intention of replacing Rean and establishing a branch family here. But now it seems that this was an extremely foolish decision.

This is also the main reason why Mina had to come and test the waters; she didn't want Rean and Suliman to be the first to come and sabotage her once the family split up.

Suliman made no promises; Rean's attitude is the most important factor in this matter.

At this moment, Sallyman's expression as she looked at Mina was somewhat subtle, a mixture of pity and sympathy. She didn't know what Rean was like in the past, but now, how could she talk to him about compromise? About reconciliation? About letting bygones be bygones? About the unspoken rules of the nobility?

"My personal advice is that you should separate from your brother as soon as possible."

Mina remembered this subtle suggestion, but she didn't pass it on.

At least Kane's brother is still quite confident that he can easily figure out how Rean did it back then. Even if he has improved, human nature will not change easily; he can just change his methods.

“His heart isn’t hard enough.” Kane had already calculated this along the way.

"He's not qualified as a nobleman, but in this situation, it might not be a bad thing." After all, they haven't completely broken ties, and they're still relatives. A little apology and some nice words can resolve the issue.

Rean's political abilities are practically nonexistent. Those businesses shouldn't be wasted.

Kane brought quite a few "gifts," which he planned to use as needed.

As for Rean himself?

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Having completely transformed into a war demon, he finally blended perfectly into the front lines of the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)