Brass Dragons in the Dragon World

It was a golden vertical child, whose eyes seemed to hold the changing landscapes and the cycle of the seasons. But the next second, all the changes were locked away, and a world that no longer changed appeared in the vertical child.

That was the vision of the god; he wanted to create a green world where there was only him, and where there would be no more change.

With the appearance of the gods, the magic network of the entire world is twisted. In the material world, flames and ice and snow fall from the sky together, turning the world's ecosystem into a mess.

The warlocks knelt on the ground, their magic vibrating violently as the magic net went out of control. Flames spewed from their seven orifices, transforming into various elemental creatures that roamed the earth.

The nuclear submarine rose from the Arctic Ocean, its missiles carrying nuclear warheads soaring into the sky toward the doomsday sanctuary, but disintegrated into a pile of fragments mid-air.

How can human weapons possibly defeat a god?

The next moment, a terrifying blackout swept the globe. Due to the disappearance of the World Tree and the disappearance of the dragons, the world's already limited magic power entered the magic network and was stored by the newly born gods.

But at this moment,

The awakening of the gods unleashed this magic, and a terrifying tide of magic swept across the globe, destroying the world's entire power system.

People were lost in the darkness, clutching their throats as something twisted and writhed there, causing them a sharp, stabbing pain.

The next second, a black worm was spat out of their mouths, burrowed into the ground and disappeared. It was the dragon bloodline hidden in the bodies of ordinary humans, which was taken back by the gods in a physical form to achieve the gathering of bloodlines.

Those superhumans known as hybrids fared even worse. Black worms writhed beneath their skin, burrowing through it to form a black river, leaving their former hosts lying helplessly convulsing on the ground.

The dragon's bloodline was taken back by the gods, making him even stronger. The roots of the World Tree in the material world stretched out, and branches grew from the roots. The branches grew larger and transformed into offspring of the World Tree.

With a deafening roar, smaller World Trees rose from the ground and spread into the icy sea in an instant, with a few even reaching as far as Siberia.

The Doomsday Faction's icebreaker was lifted up by a World Tree, and from among the leaves radiating white light, monsters emerged and pounced on the weakened Doomsday Faction members.

At this moment, flames surged from the ship, forming a wall that blocked the monster's attack. Lu Li leaned against the side of the ship, barely suppressing the rampage of the flames, and looked up at the sky weakly.

At that moment, Ander's magical clone moved, and the artifact body in the magic net also moved. Under the gaze of all the dragonborn, the bronze dragon slapped the god and then engaged in a fierce battle with this creature that could rule the world.

The clouds above the Arctic were torn apart by the trembling aftershocks. The two gods, who held power, fought without any beauty. The World Tree stretched out countless root-like tentacles to entangle the dragon, while the dragon relentlessly burned the god's body with its limbs, teeth, and dragon breath.

They were stuck there, and that was exactly what Ender wanted; at this moment, he had more important things to do.

He transformed into a nimble fish, evading the gods' probing, and swam deeper into the magic net.

There, the gods have hidden something.

Deep within the magic network, in a world devoid of even light, the surrounding magic is as it was in its primordial state, revealing the weight and solidity of the earth.

In this world, which is like the depths of the earth's crust, a soul sleeps.

"So he really is here." Ander looked at the sleeping young man in front of him, stuck out a finger and poked the other's butt: "Hey, wake up, time to get up."

Lu Mingfei, who had been sleeping, opened his eyes. Ander observed those bewildered eyes and nodded in satisfaction; they were human eyes.

Looking at the somewhat ethereal figure of Ander in front of him, Lu Mingfei coughed twice and asked, "Uncle Ander... has the world been destroyed?"

“No, but it will be soon.” Ander looked Lu Mingfei up and down. The other man was completely naked, his body appearing semi-transparent like a ghost. Then, with a touch of wicked humor, he said, “Congratulations, you’re about to become a god.”

"So now everyone's going to turn into orange juice?" Lu Mingfei looked at the pitch-black world around him: "There will be many naked versions of me hugging people, and the people I hug will turn into a puddle of orange juice?"

"Stop using the old EVA trope," Ander rolled his eyes and said irritably, "The fact that your soul is here means that your body is about to be taken over."

Lu Mingfei possessed a human soul, but to the gods, this soul was a dispensable impurity. Therefore, he imprisoned Lu Mingfei deep within the magic network so that the plan could proceed smoothly.

“He will be resurrected in your body,” Ander said with a sly smile. “And we will strike at that time and give this god a little gift laced with poison.”

Chapter 648 Reinstallation System

The moment Ender clashed with the gods, he found himself at a disadvantage. The authority he held was merely a branch of the World Tree, no match for the entire trunk of the gods.

But battles are never a simple arm wrestling match. Faced with the power of a god, all he could do was to find his own way to forge a suitable path.

"Get ready, now you need to face the gods as a mortal." Ander said calmly to Lu Mingfei, "Whether the world can survive depends on this."

“I feel like Uncle De is trying to fool me, just like you said back then, using the promise of saving the world to trick adventurers into helping you slay dragons.” Lu Mingfei scratched his head: “Although I don’t hate it either.”

"Stop talking nonsense," Ander grabbed Lu Mingfei's shoulder, "Look up, what do you see?"

Lu Mingfei looked up, only to find himself in complete darkness: "Uh, the night gave me black eyes..."

"Oh right, I forgot you can't see." Ander sighed, then snapped his fingers, and a scene appeared before Lu Mingfei: two colossal beasts locked in combat within the magic net above. Lu Mingfei, watching the bronze dragon tearing at a god, exclaimed in bewilderment:

"Uncle De, you're so big!"

"Don't make dirty jokes," Ander smacked Lu Mingfei again and said irritably, "Look at that glowing giant radish, that's the final boss."

Lu Mingfei looked at the deity who resembled a tentacle monster, nodded, and asked, "So..."

“You have to understand that different species have different perceptions of time,” Ander said, pointing to the god. “Look at that guy, he’s shaped like a piece of wood, and trees are extremely insensitive to external stimuli.”

The novel *Xiaoyao You* states that in ancient times there was a great tree called Chun, whose spring lasted eight thousand years and whose autumn lasted eight thousand years. For powerful tree-type creatures, time always seemed to pass slowly, giving them ample time to experience even the slightest external stimuli.

“But you are human, and you always use eighty percent of your brain to do things that don’t really matter,” Ander tapped Lu Mingfei’s translucent little head: “like remembering the scent of your first love’s perfume, or remembering a song you heard in the supermarket one day.”

“Your mind is filled with too many things that the guy doesn’t need, which will disrupt his pure sensory organs,” Ander spread his fingers and covered Lu Mingfei’s head. “So he will delete those useless things and only keep the purest feelings and emotions.”

“That would cause a huge commotion, so we could take the opportunity to return to your body,” Ander analyzed with a smile. “Changing humans for the better is not an easy task; it’s a delicate job for him.”

“This is your opportunity. You need to distract him as much as possible and create opportunities for me.” Ander withdrew his hand and patted Lu Mingfei’s shoulder earnestly.

"This is what you need to do. Like an ancient god in a game, you need to whisper in his ear constantly, making him experience feelings he's never felt before, until he eventually goes mad..."

Ander smiled somewhat sinisterly, but Lu Mingfei pointed to his own face: "Uncle Ander, are you sure? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to find someone with an octopus face for this kind of thing? I'm not Yogg-Saron."

"Believe in yourself, because I'm right beside you." Ander's playful expression vanished, replaced by seriousness. With a thought, both the material world and the brass dragon in the magic network began to relax their resistance.

The gods stretched out countless roots, binding the dragon tightly. Meanwhile, in the material world, a black fruit on the World Tree was gradually growing larger, where the body chosen by the gods for themselves lay.

Within the womb-like fleshy walls, Lu Mingfei's body was entwined by tree roots. His lower body had become woody and part of the tree, but his eyes were still half-open, staring blankly at the roots on the ground.

Suddenly, golden light shone in his eyes, and the god seemed to descend upon him. In the blink of an eye, black scales began to spread across his body, and Lu Mingfei was being transformed into a suitable husk.

But the next second, his mouth opened, and a lazy voice came out: "See, I told you, he'll make a big fuss."

Just like performing a double-yellow magic trick, Lu Mingfei's own voice came out: "But Uncle De, are you sure this will work?"

At this moment, in Lu Mingfei's mind, Ander and Lu Mingfei stood together, looking at the "giant radish" radiating light in front of them.

Although Lu Mingfei was reluctant to describe it this way, he had to admit that Ander's description was quite vivid, except that this radish had too many tendrils, so it seemed a bit too old.

They were on a snowy plain, where the voice of a deity, as loud as a giant radish, connected heaven and earth in the distance, its roots swaying wildly around them, and only the face on the tree trunk occasionally made a subtle expression.

That thing was even more expressionless than Chu Zihang; Lu Mingfei couldn't even tell whether the slight tremor at the corner of his mouth represented joy or sorrow.

"But why isn't he coming over? Is he scared?" Lu Mingfei asked, looking at the god in the distance, showing no respect whatsoever.

Ander brushed the snowflakes from his feet: "Because he's modifying your brain, clearing out some non-existent drivers, and reinstalling the system while he's at it."

As the snowflakes were cleared away, Lu Mingfei saw the ice layer beneath, with countless exquisite gems locked within, radiating a captivating luster—that was the feeling Lu Mingfei had experienced in that brief moment.

He looked at a warm orange gemstone, the aroma of chicken soup wafting around him—a dish his mother used to cook, a tiny, insignificant part of his precious memories.

The red gemstone represents the memories that stirred his heart back then, the white one represents the insights he gained from his books, and the purple one represents ambiguous memories. They are all just small microcosms of Lu Mingfei's life, but he is unwilling to forget them.

"To put it simply, your computer has a good configuration, but unfortunately, it has too many random programs installed, causing excessive memory usage. So it's reinstalling the system and deleting all your treasured movies along the way."

Ander described it vividly, then said, "Now, start recalling your most precious memories; perhaps this will buy some time for the world to be destroyed."

Lu Mingfei looked down at the ice layer, where the gems glittered, but deeper down, black roots were growing and spreading, destroying these gem-like memories one by one.

"So, good luck," Ander flapped his wings and flew up. Now he would use his soul to fight against a god who was also in a soul state.

The brass dragon flew into the distance, but its voice still echoed in Lu Mingfei's ears:

"I'll buy you some time, you'd better hurry."

Chapter 649 Battle of Souls

In Lu Mingfei's mental world, Ander flew towards the soul of the god.

For this newly born god, compared to his world-destroying power and authority, his soul was actually the most vulnerable part.

For a long time after its birth, the World Tree, this powerful deity, lacked wisdom and acted solely on instinct, which led to its current dullness and indolence.

Perhaps he didn't care, because he was powerful enough to ignore this small problem, but Ander was happy to seize this flaw and give the god a surprise.

That's how battles are: a standoff, followed by exploiting each other's weaknesses and delivering a devastating blow.

The god also noticed Ander charging towards him, and his body shone brightly as countless roots coiled towards Ander. Unfortunately, in the world of consciousness, battles cannot be won by brute force alone.

Ander's body gradually became ethereal, passing through the tentacles. With the experience of countless generations of dragon predecessors in his mind, he naturally knew how to fight in this situation.

Because the world back then had hell and purgatory, many dragons studied how to fight in their soul state in order to avoid having their souls taken away by demons and monsters.

The best course of action would be to quickly call for help and, through their own faith in Bahamut, hide in Heaven Mountain. However, the soul of a dragon is very valuable, enough to tempt some devils and demons to take the risk.

Therefore, learning how to fight in the spirit state became a compulsory course for some dragons. Spirit battles are different from battles in the material world; they are a confrontation between wills and between thoughts.

To win in the battle of souls, besides a firm will, the most important thing is to be flexible enough, even to the point of being able to find loopholes in the devil's contract.

In the world of thought, there is no concept of up and down. The thoughts of living beings are in a discontinuous state. Just as humans may suddenly remember something they have forgotten, the memories of the soul will also profoundly affect this battle.

Therefore, Ander's figure began to appear in various places, as if he were a million clones floating around the god. These were not only his soul, but also memory bodies created with the power of his soul.

On the battlefield of the soul, everything can be used as a weapon: thoughts, inspiration, memories, reason, desires—these substances constitute parts of the soul, and therefore can also kill each other.

But the god remained calm and unhurried. With a wave of his orange-yellow tentacles, Ender's memory shattered like a bubble, turning into sparks that drifted in the air.

Just as the god thought Ander had disappeared, the sparks in the air transformed into silvery-white flames, which drifted aimlessly and clung to the god's roots, burning fiercely.

"The flames of desire are burning within you." Ander's voice drifted over, as if whispering in the ear of a god, even though the other party didn't have ears at all: "The greed of a dragon is terrifying."

As Ander spoke, flames rose and engulfed the god's body. Wisps of white mist drifted from the god's body, and a dragon head emerged in mid-air, swallowing the white mist whole.

“Meaningless memories…” Ander felt what appeared in his mind. It was the memory of the World Tree. The content was unremarkable, and could even be said to be unchanging. The only thing in the memory was the World Tree’s crown swaying in the breeze, and nothing else.

As the white mist was released, the god's body shrank, and his roots struck at Ander once again. Ander chuckled and disappeared into the air, but the roots stretched out at their ends, turning into a large net that enveloped all of space.

“You learn fast, old man.” Ander’s figure appeared in mid-air, and some huge phantom began to appear around him: “But you still lack creativity.”

As Ender spoke, the surrounding phantoms began to solidify, and a dragon-shaped mechanical creature enveloped Ender's body, blocking the large net:

"You didn't expect that, did you? You ate my Gundam!"

If Lu Mingfei were here, he would definitely complain that the dragon-shaped robot summoned by Ander was more like Beast Wars than Gundam, but Ander could call it whatever he wanted; in this soul space, he was free.

More free than the gods.

Flames and water mist spewed from the mechanical dragon's body, and two laser beams shot from its brass-colored eyes, piercing through the god's shell.