Times Change

According to the memories she had seen in her dream, this so-called empire did not refer to some Beastkin Empire.

Instead, it was the Human Empire.

The so-called forbidden technology of the ancient beastkin was actually developed by the Human Empire, which had spent over a hundred thousand years slowly climbing the technology tree to rebel against the oppression of the otherworldly gods.

Yet now, in the history recorded on the Arlesk Continent, it had become the Beastkin Empire uniting with the half-beastkin to rebel against the gods.

In the end, the gods emerged victorious, banishing the beastkin and half-beastkin to the God-Forsaken Land,

and delivering an eternal divine punishment upon them.

There was no doubt.

The history of this world had been distorted.

Irene, who had accepted the memories of her “past life,” immediately realized this.

She lifted her head, her sharp dragon eyes piercing through the ceiling made of off-white quartz and glowing gems, as if she could see the dazzling divine kingdoms of the gods hanging high upon the world barrier.

The hand holding the parchment tightened involuntarily, crumpling the entire stack.

Her mind was filled with questions.

But obviously, with her current strength, she was not yet capable of exploring the truth behind all of this.

Perhaps, once her faction developed to a certain level in the future, she could figure out what happened after the gods were overthrown.

She would find out what exactly had transpired back then,

and why the world had turned into what it was today.

There was no doubt that at this moment, Irene had completely accepted her identity.

She understood her past and present lives.

She—or rather, he—

had not transmigrated at all.

Instead, she had been reborn.

During the Great Upheaval of Earth, he had survived the disaster, witnessing humanity slowly gather its strength and rise again from the depths.

As the Arbiter, he had thrown Gungnir, which symbolized an absolute hit, in the final moment,

falling into eternal slumber along with the gods.

Now, because a soul fragment had somehow landed in a dragon egg, he had been reborn as a black dragon.

And likely because her soul was too fragmented, she had lost most of her past memories,

believing she had simply transmigrated.

As for why she had witnessed her past experiences again in the form of a dream during her slumber...

Irene lowered her head, feeling the power of faith surging within her to the point of overflowing, and the prayers ringing in her ears at every moment.

Her eyes dimmed, and she let out a soft, melancholic sigh.

“So... my homeland has long ceased to exist...”

Irene slowly closed her eyes, lost in thought.

After a long while, she opened them once more.

At this moment, she was once again Irene, the Queen of the Black Dragon Empire, and at the same time, the Arbiter who bore the mission of saving the world.

It was likely that... those troublesome vassals had done something again over the years,

which had caused her to acquire a massive amount of the power of faith.

Once accumulated to a certain extent, this idealistic power—which could even interfere with the real world and leverage its underlying laws—had somehow helped her recall these forgotten memories that originally belonged to her in the form of a dream...

Thinking of the instructions she had left before going to sleep, Irene shook her head helplessly.

“What a bunch of... troublesome guys.”

“Sigh... I can't slack off anymore. How troublesome.”

Despite her words, she stretched her body with satisfaction, skillfully utilizing this newly acquired power.

Then, she vanished on the spot.

In the next moment, the gates of the dragon nest were violently burst open from the outside.

A group of Imperial Guards, having noticed the commotion, rushed inside.

They were all clad in pitch-black power armor, carrying chainswords on their backs and holding strange firearms, looking completely ready for battle.

But when they saw the completely empty dragon nest and looked around without spotting even a trace of a dragon, they couldn't help but exchange bewildered glances.

...

On a bustling street, a figure appeared out of thin air.

It was Irene.

The people around her seemed completely oblivious, ignoring her sudden appearance as if nothing had happened. Even when they walked right in front of Irene, they showed no sign of noticing her, their bodies merely dodging her out of subconscious instinct.

These pedestrians didn't even realize they had just avoided someone.

It was simply because Irene had used the power of faith to erase her presence.

To the passersby, she did not exist.

This was the true strength of the power of faith.

Forcibly interfering with reality.

As long as one had enough power of faith, they could achieve almost anything.

This included igniting the divine fire and becoming a “god” who controlled the laws.

Feeling the power of faith in her body—slightly depleted but slowly recovering with the prayers ringing in her ears—Irene couldn't help but marvel, “What a powerful, yet idealistic force.”

In her dreams, she had watched her “past life” use the power of faith from a first-person perspective more than once.

But that was ultimately not a personal experience; it was like watching a movie.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time Irene had used the power of faith in this life.

She couldn't help but feel amazed by this spiritual power that could so easily interfere with reality.

Taking a step forward, she walked down the bustling street.

Watching the steam-powered locomotives passing by her one after another.

Irene suddenly felt as if she were in another world.

In her memory, Black City still looked the same as it did before she went to sleep.

Although barely considered prosperous, compared to the Eastern Kingdoms of humans, it was merely an extremely ordinary medium-sized town.

But now, the city before her eyes had expanded in area by more than tenfold.

It had transformed from a medium-sized town into a truly grand city.

Looking up, at the edge of her vision stood a towering black wall at least fifty meters high, encircling the entire city.

It kept the endless sandstorms at bay, protecting the peace within the town.

The strangely shaped creations resembling alchemical cannons mounted on the city walls made it perfectly clear that this wall did not merely serve to block sandstorms.

Should any foreign enemies invade, it could transform into a merciless war machine at any moment, reaping the lives of the invaders.

Irene couldn't help but feel gratified.

With these thoughts in mind, she continued walking forward.

Soon, she arrived beside a massive statue.

The statue depicted a giant dragon spreading its wings and roaring.

Beside it stood a slightly smaller, chibi-style little dragon.

Both dragons were carved from black ore.

The craftsmanship was so exquisite that they looked as if they might come to life at any moment.

Especially the golden gems embedded in their eye sockets, which gave the two statues a marvelous finishing touch.

Beneath the statues was a pool of water.

The water was crystal clear, revealing scattered fish swimming inside, as well as... gold, silver, and copper coins that almost completely blanketed the bottom of the pool.

A sign was also planted beside the pool, with a sentence written on it.

It read: “One silver coin per turn.”

This scene inexplicably reminded Irene of the wishing wells on Earth.

Her lips twitched.

After holding it in for a long while, she finally muttered, “Whatever, a wishing well is fine. It's better than being sent white funeral wreaths.”

Just then, a commotion nearby caught Irene's attention.

She turned around and saw a little human girl of about seven or eight years old wearing a red hat. She was holding a large stack of newspapers, raising one up as she walked, shouting in a childish and slightly excited voice:

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Today's World Daily! Don't miss out as you pass by!”