“No thanks, keep them for yourself.”
Irene waved her claw, walked over to the large pit she had just dug, and pulled out the last space gem.
Under Daviel's pained gaze, she pulled a single gold coin out of it.
Then she popped the space gem into her mouth.
Since they planned to face the future together, they would inevitably share all kinds of dangers.
It would be safer and more binding to make an oath under the witness of the gods.
Following the records in her Draconic Inheritance, Irene began to sketch on the ground with her claws.
Stroke by stroke, the holy symbol of Auntie Tiamat, the Mother of Chromatic Dragons, was quickly drawn.
Looking at the single gold coin in her hand, Irene thought about it and bit it hard, snapping it in two.
She tossed one half into her mouth.
And placed the other half at the center of the holy symbol.
Glancing back at Daviel, who had once again put the women's underwear on his head, Irene took a deep breath.
She solemnly channeled her mana into the holy symbol on the ground and spoke:
“By Tiamat,”
“On the Material Plane of Arlesk, the black dragons Irene Afra Christina and Daviel Greg Christina request your witness.”
Perhaps knowing the greedy nature of her chromatic dragon children all too well, Auntie Tiamat actually responded to the ritual, even though she was only offered half a gold coin.
Of course, it was also possible that she had set up an automated response system using her divine power. Many deities liked to do this, as they would otherwise be far too busy to handle everything.
The magical holy symbol began to glow.
Seeing this, Irene quickly pulled Daviel over to her side and continued:
“From this day forward, we shall watch over each other, stand together in advance and retreat, and share both fortune and misfortune...”
After reciting the thousand-word contract, Irene let out a long breath.
The holy symbol on the ground stopped glowing.
The half gold coin had also vanished.
With that, the contract was sealed.
The term would last until the moment the two dragons reached adulthood.
Until then, Daviel had to defer to Irene's leadership and could not act against her interests.
Otherwise, he would face divine punishment.
“Let's go.”
Irene spread her wings and took to the sky first.
“Oh, okay!”
Daviel quickly followed. Right now, only being beside his powerful and wise sister could give him a shred of security.
“Sis, where are we going to build our nest?”
High in the air, Irene spoke without looking back.
“The God-Forsaken Land.”
...
The night quickly passed, and the darkness was gradually illuminated.
Watching the crescent moon slowly sink below the horizon, Irene turned her head just in time to witness the rising dawn.
Splashes of green began to light up the dark forest.
A new day had arrived.
“Farewell, Great Gana Forest.”
Flapping their wings, Irene and Daviel disappeared into the horizon without looking back.
Leaving behind only a single white stocking, which drifted back on the wind.
And caught on the branch of a towering tree...
...
Flying in the opposite direction of the sunrise, Irene and Daviel traveled for two days and two nights before finally reaching the border between the God-Forsaken Land and the Great Gana Forest.
A rushing river named the Ersencielo River flowed between them, dividing the two regions.
Dense herds of beasts were drinking water along both banks of the river.
Massive magical beasts occasionally surfaced from the water.
None of these creatures were of a low rank.
Irene and Daviel prudently flew a bit higher to avoid drawing their attention.
If they were dragged into the water by a leaping beast, they would undoubtedly be torn to shreds by the countless ferocious monsters hiding beneath the surface.
Soon, the two dragons flew over the hundreds-of-meters-wide riverbed and reached the opposite bank.
Compared to the lush and vibrant Great Gana Forest, Irene's first impression of the God-Forsaken Land was desolation.
Yellow sand, gravel plains, and large exposed rocks were the dominant features of the landscape.
Separated by only a river, the temperature differed by at least a dozen degrees.
Irene looked up at the scorching sun overhead, estimating that the temperature in this area was at least forty degrees Celsius.
Although dragons had an extremely high resistance to heat and cold,
as black dragons who preferred damp environments like swamps, they felt an inexplicable discomfort in this dry climate.
It was like eating 'husband-and-wife lung slices' and finding neither husband nor wife,
or eating 'wife cakes' and not getting a wife.
It just felt like something was missing.
As they flew deeper into the God-Forsaken Land, Irene could clearly feel the temperature rising.
Night soon fell.
In contrast to the scorching day, the night temperature in the God-Forsaken Land plummeted to near freezing.
Sheltered inside a relatively warm cave, Daviel shrugged his neck and complained:
“This place is seriously weird. It's hot one minute and freezing the next.”
As he spoke, he pulled down the only remaining pair of panties on his head, warming up his entire dragon face.
“Why do you think it's called the God-Forsaken Land?”
Irene lay at the cave entrance, gazing up at the starry sky of this foreign world.
“As the land of exile for the beastkin who lost the divine war, the extreme weather here is meant to be their punishment.”
“I really don't get why those green-skinned guys wanted to wage war against the gods. Even when we dragons were the overlords of the continent, we never thought about challenging them.”
Daviel's voice sounded muffled, coming through the panties.
“Maybe they just had nothing better to do?”
“Perhaps.”
Irene shook her head, turned around, and lay down next to Daviel.
“Let's sleep. Tomorrow we'll keep looking around for a suitable place to settle down.”
...
The God-Forsaken Land.
Beside a modest lake,
an old beastkin and a young beastkin sat on a large boulder.
The young beastkin looked up at the starry sky and asked the elder beside him:
“Grandpa, why did our ancestors wage war against the gods?”
“If they hadn't, would our lives be less difficult now?”
Hearing this question, the old beastkin was in no hurry to answer.
Instead, he took a drag from his homemade pipe, his cloudy eyes staring at the starlight reflected in the lake.
“Silly child, our ancestors did it so that our people would no longer be oppressed... and enslaved by the gods.”
His voice was hoarse, yet exceptionally firm.
“But didn't they fail?”
The young beastkin turned to look at the old beastkin.
“No...”
The old beastkin took another drag and exhaled a plume of white smoke, looking up through the rising vapor at the starry sky.
Through the smoke, only the brightest stars were visible.
There lay the divine kingdoms of the gods.
His cloudy eyes seemed to clear slightly.
“They succeeded...”
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