They had only managed to collect one fragment so far, and it was uncertain whether they could obtain the next one. Seven more fragments awaited them beyond that.
At present, the two only knew that the Theocracy and the Dragonborn gathering each held one fragment, but five fragments remained missing. Time was of the essence.
Their next scheduled destination was the Dragonborn gathering located at the westernmost part of the Northern Continent, adjacent to the Beastmen Kingdom. After securing that fragment of the Celestial Shard, they planned to head to the Theocracy in the Southern Continent.
The origin of the Dragonborn gathering stemmed from the fact that most pureblood dragons refused to acknowledge the Dragonborn’s status within dragon society. However, instead of being exterminated, the Dragonborn were driven into exile on the Northern Continent.
There, the Dragonborn occupied a territory and formed a loosely structured community.
Some Dragonborn settled down there, but others, dissatisfied with the status quo or simply bored, chose to venture elsewhere. However, those made up only a small fraction; the vast majority of Dragonborn remained in that area worldwide.
Zhang Cheng’s map permissions had all been unlocked by Lai, and at this point, Lu Qiuchen had already disconnected from the system, using Zhang Cheng as a manual navigator instead. Upon receiving coordinates from Zhang Cheng, he rose and flew straight westward.
After leaving the Dwarf Kingdom, they would enter the territory of the Beastmen Kingdom, flying over its lands for a long time before reaching their destination.
The Beastmen Kingdom was the largest country by land area on the Northern Continent, with vast territory covering the southwestern corner and extending toward the continent’s center.
This kingdom accounted for 40% of the Northern Continent’s total area, an expanse greater than half of the entire Southern Continent.
To the north lay the Dragonborn gathering and vast uninhabited zones, with the Red Agate River—the largest river on the Northern Continent—forming the border; to the northeast, it bordered the Dwarf Kingdom, though the two, ancient enemies, were separated by mountain ranges, and large-scale conflicts had not erupted for a long time.
To the east, it shared a border with the Elven Kingdom. Relations between the two were poor but not hostile, so they coexisted in uneasy peace. The entrance to the world’s largest underground city, Zhaers City, was situated along this border.
Despite such a massive nation, land was not abundant for the Beastmen. This was because the kingdom was home to a diverse range of races—nearly a thousand in total, with tens of thousands of tribes. Even the Beastmen King could not remember all their names.
Although the races were distinct, most Beastmen possessed powerful reproductive capabilities, leading to rapid population growth year after year. This steadily depleted what was once ample land and resources.
The vast land, large population, inconvenient transportation, and slow communication all contributed to poor internal governance.
Coupled with mutual distrust among major races, except for areas around the royal capital, most of the kingdom was controlled by local powers acting independently.
This created a situation where dominant races or tribes could unite and secure better land and resources, while weaker or smaller groups were forced into harsh environments.
Among these, the half-dragon race born thousands of years ago was one of the most unfortunate.
After being recognized by the Beastmen Kingdom, and alongside their matriarch, they settled in the western coastal region of the kingdom.
Though they had a pureblood dragon as their father, the half-dragons rarely received help from him and mostly had to rely on themselves.
While the matriarch was alive, her formidable presence allowed them to hold fertile lands. But after her death, the then-weak half-dragon tribe was immediately pushed out by surrounding tribes into harsher survival zones.
Perhaps because of their dragon heritage, the tribes refrained from doing anything too cruel and merely expelled them without extermination.
Naturally, the half-dragons could not see the efforts their silver dragon father made on their behalf.
With no means to resist, the few remaining half-dragons migrated north, toward the kingdom’s northwest border near the Dragonborn gathering, seeking refuge.
They chose that area because it was adjacent to the Dragonborn gathering; other Beastmen tribes were unwilling to settle there, so it had remained uninhabited—a perfect refuge for the half-dragons.
Out of shared bloodline, the Dragonborn there accepted them, providing shelter and kind Dragonborn who taught them the use of Dragon Language magic.
(Note: Here, “Dragonborn” refers not to the “Dragonborn” from Elder Scrolls but a subspecies born from Dragonborn mixed with other species, appearing more draconic than other races.)
The half-dragons settled here and gradually grew stronger over thousands of years. Now, they continued expanding within the Beastmen Kingdom along the Dragonborn gathering, occupying vast lands and playing a crucial role in the kingdom.
Lu Qiuchen noted that the distance between their destination and the half-dragon tribe wasn’t far and decided to make a detour. After all, this body had originally been a half-dragon.
This was a sort of triumphant return home, wasn’t it?
The two arrived at the half-dragon tribe at dawn during wheat sowing season. The hardworking half-dragons had just begun their day’s work. Concealed by clouds, Lu Qiuchen observed the half-dragons below.
Scanning the land, a male half-dragon walking along a road caught Lu Qiuchen’s attention.
Silver dragon horns coiled atop his head and a thick silver-white tail hung behind him, contrasting sharply with the female half-dragon beside him, whose horns were slightly curved and tail slender.
Only now did Lu Qiuchen realize just how different male and female half-dragons appeared.
After circling in the air for a while, he found that the half-dragons’ lives were much like humans and lost interest in further observation.
Using the sun’s position for navigation, he flew northward.
You ask about his manual navigator? Still sound asleep in a sweet dream.
Though Lu Qiuchen, a legendary dragon, could go long without eating, drinking, or sleeping, a mere Saint-level half-elf like Zhang Cheng could not endure the same.
It wasn’t that Zhang Cheng couldn’t stay up late—in his current strength, he could remain alert even after three days without sleep—but old habits died hard. If he could sleep at night, he naturally wouldn’t choose to stay up voluntarily.
Upon entering the Dragonborn gathering, Lu Qiuchen gradually lowered altitude, searching for Dragonborn on the ground.
The Dragonborn’s organizational structure was extremely loose—or more accurately, nonexistent.
Top-tier powerful individuals each claimed their own territory and did not interfere with one another. Beneath them were many weaker Dragonborn and Dragonborn hybrids.
As for bloody conflicts or emotional disputes, unless they were extreme, the lords were too lazy to intervene.
Isn’t it better to sleep soundly in one’s lair?
As for the title of Dragonborn King, it was not recognized by pureblood dragons. It was simply awarded to whoever was the strongest.
But since the powers of the top Dragonborn didn’t differ much, the title lacked authority and carried no real weight.
For many years, those powerful Dragonborn had lost all interest in this hollow title. Because of this, it had become a festive event among epic-level Dragonborn, with the holder changing unpredictably. Lu Qiuchen had no idea which Dragonborn currently held the honor.
He found a Sapphire Dragon buried in a sandpit, its outer layer cloaked in illusion magic.
Shaking himself, Lu Qiuchen woke the sleeping Zhang Cheng, lest his snoring image undermine his own dignity.
Lu Qiuchen descended slowly before the Sapphire Dragon, his gaze piercing through the illusion and sand to scrutinize this small, crystal-clear subspecies.
Sapphire Dragon—a name and details Lu Qiuchen had seen in the memory inheritance.
Among dragons, they were an extremely rare subspecies. Though small, with full body length including tail only about 7 to 8 meters, Sapphire Dragons ranked among the top in combat power among all Dragonborn.
Their size maxed out in youth; their age could be gauged by the color of the crystals on their bodies.
When young, their crystals were small, growing in number as they matured until covering the entire body.
The brighter the crystals, the older the dragon—correlating with higher defense and mana reserves.
These crystals also served as their source of power.
The inheritance also mentioned several close relatives of the Sapphire Dragon, such as Amethyst Dragons and Crystal Dragons, collectively called Gemstone subspecies dragons.
Though called subspecies, these gemstone dragons possessed strange talents. Some special abilities allowed them to rival weaker pureblood dragons, differing only in having a slightly lower potential.
Consequently, within pureblood dragons, there had been discussions about expanding the recognition criteria to include some powerful Dragonborn, thereby strengthening the dragonkind.
However, this proposal was ultimately rejected, mainly due to bloodline issues.
While some Dragonborn’s strength and potential were only marginally lower than pureblood dragons, those powerful Dragonborn were mostly mutants, resulting in unstable bloodlines and strange offspring.
This was unacceptable to the conservative majority of pureblood dragons.
They believed the very term “pureblood” was due to noble bloodlines.
When the proposal was denied, the progressives suggested a “sub-dragon” classification, advocating for these Dragonborn to be managed under Dragon Isle’s jurisdiction.
But considering that since ancient times many dragons had mated indiscriminately, producing a vast number of Dragonborn subspecies—including crossbreeds like Dragonborn hybrids—the selection process was complicated.
Many species appeared briefly and vanished, making it unnecessary to catalogue and classify all bloodline-bearing species meticulously.
It was more convenient to lump them all into Dragonborn. If such a system were to be implemented, the conservatives supported it but insisted the progressives carry out the work.
After consideration, the progressives gave up, preferring to sleep instead.
Though these two proposals failed, for the sake of protection and research of these mutants, pureblood dragons occasionally dispatched dragons to the Northern Continent’s Dragonborn gathering, bringing valuable or novel Dragonborn back to Dragon Isle for study.
However, with the current lockdown of Dragon Isle, new species had not appeared for a long time, and Dragonborn species on the isle were now few.
Lu Qiuchen gazed at this fully blue adult Dragonborn, unable to imagine how she had mutated.
Had some dragon coupled with a huge sapphire, and by coincidence, a crystallization formed?
Or perhaps a female dragon, during incubation, had consumed too much sapphire, causing unforeseen effects?
“Using the sun’s position for navigation, he flew northward.”, etc. Wrong pronoun for Lu Qiuchen