After the black dragon’s figure vanished, at the highest point of Water Tower Nation, Yvette, Ice Rain, and Abella all stared at the still-spinning transparent vortex in the sky, momentarily lost in thought.
However, while Yvette and Ice Rain shared similar emotions, varying only in intensity, Abella grew increasingly cheerful at the realization that finally no one would compete for her master’s affection. If she worked a bit harder, perhaps she could become a student of her master just like that wretched dragon.
Unfortunately, her master was not planning to participate in the destruction of the new world, and so vast merits slipped away right before her eyes, which was truly disappointing.
Moreover, her master was being too languid. With this attitude, how did she manage to become a leader-level powerhouse?
Abella inwardly grumbled.
At that moment, a violent wave of energy rippled through the sky. Before the three could react, the aurora abruptly vanished, along with the countless rifts in the sky, as if wiped away by an invisible giant hand. The entire event lasted less than an hour.
The blinding, long-awaited sun once again poured down unobstructed, and the clouds resembled massive white billows, as if brushed by an invisible pen.
“Ah?” Abella was stunned, and Ice Rain also opened her mouth in shock, both caught off guard by this sudden twist.
Why did the aurora suddenly disappear? Wasn’t this the goddess opening the door to the new world? Had they misunderstood?
Yvette was equally surprised but, after a moment of thought, she immediately realized something important and displayed a worried expression.In her judgment, the door opened by the End Sorceress wouldn’t just vanish for no reason. It couldn’t have been a technical malfunction, could it? Clearly, the opening of the door had been interrupted by some power, and most likely, it was due to external interference.
The question was, who applied this external force?
The three true gods of the Glimmering Continent?
The mysterious demon gods of the Abyssal Continent?
Or perhaps…
Was it you, Rosalyn?
…
The sunlight once again became scorching and overwhelming, and the chirping of birds and insects sounded particularly clear, even a bit noisy.
The three remaining on the ruins were shrouded in a strange silence, only the wind wailed through the broken steel.
Finally, it was Ice Rain who spoke first, hesitantly asking, “Uh… what’s going on? Where did the aurora go? Good-hearted lady, Abella, do you know why this happened?”
Abella instinctively shook her head, indicating that she was confused too. Yvette contemplated for a moment and then voiced her guess: “It seems the arrival of the Day of End was disrupted… most likely by the opposing world.”
“Oh, I see.” Ice Rain sighed in relief, feeling pleased at the thought that the evil invasion plan of the aberrations had been thwarted. Wouldn’t that mean that Mr. Dugrabi would be much safer in the past?
Abella also found this acceptable—not because she was happy for Dugrabi, but simply because she lacked the capability to participate at the moment. Now that the Day of End had abruptly been canceled, it likely meant it was postponed for later, which was naturally better for her.
Perhaps influenced by her master’s cautious nature, she felt that an attack on the new world with vacancies still present in the monarch’s position wouldn’t guarantee a victory for the goddess.
After all, divine offspring had no natural enemies; wouldn’t it be better to continue developing for a while until all nine monarchs were born?
Only Yvette, after concluding her thoughts, still felt somewhat troubled. She believed that someone as powerful as Rosalyn, existing at the pinnacle of the human realm, would certainly be involved in such a significant event as the arrival of the End Sorceress, and perhaps she was one of the main executors in destroying the aurora gate. The current outcome was positive, but who knew if she had been injured or even sacrificed in the process?
However, until she had concrete facts, she would try to think positively.
…
Thus, with the Day of End ending abruptly and unexpectedly, life in Water Tower Nation returned to a semblance of calm.
Those lower-level aberrations summoned to the nests returned to the submerged city, losing their targets, and resumed becoming regular visitors beneath Yvette’s fishing rod.
In the following leisurely times, sitting by the riverside, watching the fishing floats rise and fall on the surface of the water, Yvette would inexplicably think of Dugrabi. That dragon had had a phase where it picked up trash all day long to bring to her, and at that time, she had been quite exasperated, giving it a stern warning. Now, after not seeing it for a long time, she found herself a bit nostalgic for that.
To her, the feeling of Dugrabi was completely different from that of Rosalyn. If Rosalyn was her cherished little darling nurtured by her own hands, then Dugrabi was like a little pet dog, happily bounding about each day. If she was in a good mood and reached out to pet it, it would be thrilled; if she was in a bad mood, it wouldn’t mind entertaining itself.
Now that the dog was away, despite having three magical tomes as a safety net and being a dragon with a lifespan of up to 2000 years, she still felt some worry about whether they would meet again in the future.
But it should be fine, right? If Rosalyn could become the strongest in the human realm even in human form, then Dugrabi, as the dragon prince, had no reason to falter midway.
Additionally, she would continue compiling the next Tome of Earth Magic and the final Tome of Heavenly Punishment. However, without the impetus of “writing textbooks for students,” her motivation would be considerably less, much like living in a home without a deadline—progress would slow down even further.
…
In December of the same year, which marked the fourth winter since Yvette and the others arrived in Water Tower Nation, she finally grew tired of the local scenery and began to entertain the idea of departing.
During these four years, she had occasionally gone to the mountains to devour a small portion of aberrations, and now she had barely cleared away less than a third of their numbers.
The reason for this slow and low-key approach was due to another matter.
When they first arrived, eager for immediate results, she had made too much noise while devouring aberrations, which shocked the local governor, Ed.
He quickly borrowed the Shrine’s divine altar to communicate with the main headquarters of the Black Tide Continent’s shrine and summoned a divine observer to investigate the matter.
This divine observer was named Elliot White Dove, known in the circles as “White Dove Detective.” He was said to be quite professional, having participated in on-site investigations of similar “Agarsha Aberration Demise Incidents,” and was rich in experience.
At that time, in Agarsha, he concluded, “This must have been done by some high-level aberration passing by,” which relieved the local magic puppet citizens, allowing them to restore their peaceful lives.
Now that he had come to Water Tower Nation, he maintained the same principles, promptly ruling out the suspicion against Yvette, Ice Rain, and Abella, and after further investigation, concluded—“It was again that high-level aberration.”
This made Yvette admire him greatly, thinking that even though it was obvious to anyone with a glance, he still diligently followed through with the reasoning process, proving that Mr. Elliot was indeed very professional.
Afterward, in pursuit of the mysterious aberration’s trail, the concerned White Dove Detective did not stay long before leaving.
He had assigned a code name to the mysterious aberration—“Blood Demon”—believing that when this creature grew strong in the future, it would certainly become a threat to the living environment of the mechanical race, thus requiring early capture and eradication while it was still in the cradle.
Once the White Dove Detective departed, Yvette immediately engaged in self-reflection due to this incident.
She thought that if even the mechanical race, devoid of conflicts of interest, could notice something unusual amid her large-scale devouring, then what of the aberrations?
Wouldn’t the nest forces, higher-level monarchs, and even that End Sorceress notice her because of similar occurrences?
Previously, perhaps distracted by preparing for the Day of End, the End Sorceress had not detected her, but now that the Day of End was over, she might have time to carefully examine the situation in the End of Days… If she stood out at this moment, wouldn’t it be easy for her to attract unwanted attention?
Thus, based on the above complicated concerns, Yvette ingeniously summarized a “vegetable theft theory.”
She planned to treat the End of Days as a large vegetable garden. However, she was not the garden’s owner but merely a petty thief. She intended to steal a little from each place and then move to another position to continue stealing.
At worst, she would take less at a time and slowly grind away. As long as the garden’s overseer did not discover her, she would surely become strong enough through stealing that one day she might even seize the entire garden.
What a flawless plan! She secretly marveled at her own ingenuity.
The only drawback was… it might take a bit of time.