[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela":3,"chapter-exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-82":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Exiled from the Start and Dominating the Wasteland with an Intelligence System",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1688682,2155,"Chapter 82 : Chapter 82","exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-82",82,"\u003Cp>Chapter 82. A Hundred-Year Dream (Double Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mana... can no longer be guided!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shock and gravity in Irene’s voice, unlike anything he had ever heard from her before, instantly chilled him to the bone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mana could no longer be guided?! What did that mean?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It meant that this unfathomable elven princess had, at this moment, lost her greatest source of strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s mind went blank, but he had no time to be stunned or to question her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hold your breath!” Eli practically roared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He drew “Silver” from his waist, and a flash of cold light swept out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shhk—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without the slightest hesitation, the sharp blade sliced off a large, relatively clean piece of linen from the inner lining of his leather armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thrust the still-warm strip of cloth into Irene’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cover your mouth and nose! Even if it only helps a little, it’s still better than nothing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Irene instinctively caught the cloth, still carrying the scent of sweat and dust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at Eli’s anxious face, her lips moved slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, she still obeyed and covered her mouth and nose with the rough cloth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment he was done, Eli turned and charged toward the massive obsidian doors that had just slammed shut on their own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a low roar, battle aura burst from him. The muscles across his body bulged like stone as both palms struck the cold, heavy doors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Open—aaaah!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Veins bulged across his forehead as he shoved forward with all his strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The enormous stone doors did not move in the slightest. Not even a speck of dust fell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bang! Bang! Bang! Unwilling to accept it, Eli threw himself against them again and again with his shoulder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s useless... that is... obsidian Dragon-Severing Stone... once it falls... it cannot be opened... by human strength...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Irene’s muffled voice came through the cloth over her face, weak and bitter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s heart sank straight to the bottom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, I cannot die here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned, his bloodshot eyes sweeping wildly across the hall in search of any possible path to survival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The walls, the ceiling, the floor...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aside from the huge, cold obsidian coffin in the center, there was nothing else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no time left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn it!” Eli cursed fiercely and looked toward the giant coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not hesitate any longer. Right before Irene’s shocked eyes, he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, he yanked out Gulu, who was nearly scared senseless in his pocket, and shoved it into the inner layer of his leather armor against his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding Irene, Eli rushed to the massive obsidian coffin in just a few strides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grinding his teeth, he gathered every last shred of strength in his body and drove it into his right leg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he kicked viciously at the seam where the lid met the body of the coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Open for me—!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A heavy, muffled blast rang out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The weighty lid actually slid backward from the force of the kick, opening a narrow gap barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get in first!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without giving Irene any chance to react or resist, Eli shoved her inside while holding her, as roughly as if he were stuffing a sack into storage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forced both of them into the coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he braced his shoulder hard against the edge of the shifted lid and, with the last bit of strength he had left, slammed it back into place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Creeeak—bang!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lid closed again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It did not seal perfectly tight, but it at least blocked most of the gray-white poisonous gas from pouring in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The interior of the coffin instantly sank into a darkness so thick it felt suffocating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hah... hah... hah...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli leaned against the cold, smooth inner wall of the coffin, gasping violently for breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That explosion of effort had nearly exhausted all his strength and battle aura.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, his whole body felt limp. Even moving a finger was difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Irene, whom he had forcibly dragged inside, finally came back to herself from the extreme shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She broke free from his arms and fumbled her way to the opposite side of the coffin wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing could be seen in the darkness, but her hurried breathing was just as audible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When had the elven princess ever been treated in such a... rough manner?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Highness!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Inside here... is there less of that gas? Can you... guide mana now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the darkness, Irene remained silent for several seconds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She seemed to be trying, but soon a suppressed sigh, heavy with frustration, escaped her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No... the coffin... blocks the outside... but it has also... formed a smaller... anti-magic field... Mana... is still being suppressed...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their last hope... shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli felt his vision darken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could no longer hold himself up. His body slowly slid down the cold wall of the coffin until he collapsed helplessly onto the bottom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s over... I never should have gotten the urge to come play archaeologist...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Obsidian Territory had only just begun to take shape. Lucerne City was still waiting for him to return. Aila... and all those people who trusted him, who followed him...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not die here! Absolutely not!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bitterness and regret gnawed at his heart like venomous snakes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the weakness overtaking his body and the increasingly obvious dizziness reminded him, with ruthless clarity, of reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wuuu...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gulu struggled out from the inner layer of Eli’s leather armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lord Gulu... is going to die... the continuation of the elves... is gone too...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s all your fault, you damned human... wuuu...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the darkness, Irene’s breathing seemed to stop for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A moment later, a choked sound filled with deep pain and crushing guilt broke out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came broken, intermittent sobs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m... I’m sorry...” Irene’s voice was utterly shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It... it was I... who dragged you into this...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The proud elven princess was crying in front of others for the first time, and saying “I’m sorry” for the first time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s consciousness grew blurrier and blurrier, and even his thoughts began to break apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With difficulty, he shifted his eyes. Using the faint sliver of light leaking in through the gap in the lid, he finally made out the inside of the coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no decayed bones inside, as he had expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the bottom of the coffin, there was a thick layer of... gold bricks?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And above those cold gold bricks, there was even... a bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had been carved from some unknown kind of warm, lustrous white jade, and it was covered with dark red velvet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gold grave goods, clay soldiers standing guard, a white-jade bed...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a setup like this... it was not the worst place to die...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bitter, self-mocking smile tugged at the corner of Eli’s mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Struggling with the very last of his strength, he crawled a short distance, turned over, and rolled himself onto the cold white-jade bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had to die, then rather than lying on the freezing gold bricks... he might as well die in a little more comfort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instant his body fully touched the white-jade bed—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hiss—!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the seams at the base of the bed, a large amount of even denser pinkish-white gas burst out without warning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Urgh...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A violent wave of dizziness shot straight to Eli’s head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not even have time to cry out before everything went black.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside him, Irene seemed to notice that something was wrong, but it was already too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She only had time to let out a short, muffled groan before her body went limp and collapsed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their consciousness...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>fell toward an endless abyss like kites with snapped strings...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Warmth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A long-lost warmth wrapped around his entire body, as though he were soaking in heated water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What met his eyes were wooden roof beams, at once familiar and strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath him was a heated kang bed covered with thick cotton bedding, soft and comfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where... was this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sat up blankly. He was dressed in a clean coarse cloth shirt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking around, he found himself in an extremely simple but spotless peasant hut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a creak, the door was gently pushed open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A woman in a plain cloth dress, her hair pinned up in a bun, walked in carrying a steaming bowl of porridge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her features were delicate and gentle, and around her brows and eyes lingered a familiar outline...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Irene?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But her entire bearing was completely different. That ethereal detachment was gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Awake?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You must have been exhausted yesterday. Hurry and drink some porridge to warm yourself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She naturally reached out and lightly touched Eli’s forehead with the back of her hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her eyes were full of concern and... love?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Memories surged into his mind like a tide, but they were not memories of Obsidian Territory or the mausoleum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were memories of this village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the woman before him, Irene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the two of them growing up together as childhood sweethearts...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of their parents arranging their marriage when they were still young...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the two of them marrying naturally once they came of age...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of their plain, happy life together...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The memories were so real, so vivid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli parted his lips, and a strange sense of belonging rose in his heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Drink up before it gets cold.” Irene smiled and urged him on, her eyes curving brightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so the days flowed on like the clear stream beside the village, calm and joyful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They rose with the sun and rested at sundown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They sweated together in the fields and shared simple meals amidst the drifting smoke of the cooking fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At night, they squeezed together on their crude but warm bed, talking in low voices about the small happenings of the day and looking forward to the next harvest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before long, Irene’s belly began to swell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten months later, accompanied by a loud and healthy cry, a baby boy was born.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two years after that, a lovely baby girl joined their little family as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli became the father of two children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He awkwardly learned how to hold them. After a day of labor in the fields, he would drag his tired body home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the first thing he always did was scoop up the son and daughter waiting eagerly at the doorstep, making them burst into laughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Irene would watch from the side with gentle eyes full of happiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was nothing earthshaking about their life. He watched his children grow up day by day, from tottering first steps to running as swiftly as the wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From babbling nonsense to calling out in clear voices, “Father,” “Mother”...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time slipped quietly through their fingers, and wrinkles slowly climbed into the corners of their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Together they supported one another through spring plowing, summer toil, autumn harvest, and winter storage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Together they saw their children grow, watched their parents pass away, and lived through the joys and sorrows of their neighbors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had argued. They had flushed with anger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the end, they always fell asleep holding each other on the kang bed at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The years piled up one ring at a time, like the growth rings of the old locust tree at the entrance of the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When their children had grown up, married, and formed families of their own...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Eli’s back was no longer straight, and Irene’s dark hair had turned completely white...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no vows that shook heaven and earth, only... day after day of staying by each other’s side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last, on a quiet night, like an oil lamp burning out,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli held Irene’s wrinkled hand and felt their breathing and heartbeats gradually weakening together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the soft sobbing of their children and grandchildren, the two of them slowly...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>closed their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mm...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A violent sense of suffocation yanked Eli out of that warm, lingering dream and back into reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The same cold darkness still surrounded him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But... that century-long life just now... that unforgettable love, that warmth of staying together through all things...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every last bit of it was as vivid as if it had only just happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the darkness, another pair of eyes opened at the same time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her gaze was just as full of bewilderment, shock, and... a depth of feeling that could not be put into words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The memories of that hundred-year life as an ordinary married couple struck at her understanding like a tidal wave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In her long elven life, she had never experienced such real, such soul-deep mortal love.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their eyes met.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In absolute darkness, on the edge of life and death, beneath the impact of that immense century-long dream powerful enough to reshape the soul itself,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the boundary between reality and illusion blurred completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emotions left behind from that life surged like a breached flood and, in an instant, smashed through every barrier of identity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s breathing turned rough. He suddenly reached out\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and yanked Irene, who was still lost in that overwhelming emotional shock, into his arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Irene’s body stiffened violently, and those starry eyes flew wide open in the dark. She seemed about to struggle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But... it was too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next moment, Eli’s burning lips were already pressed against Irene’s cool, soft mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mmph—!” Irene’s pupils constricted instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That familiar yet unfamiliar sensation, that racing throb born of all the tenderness they had shared countless times in the dream,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>ignited the frozen lake of her heart that had lain cold for centuries like a prairie fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sigh, almost like a sob, slipped from between her lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only did she fail to push him away, she instead responded to the kiss with clumsy yet unmistakable urgency, like a drowning person clutching at driftwood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her slender arms rose of their own accord and looped around Eli’s neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s arms tightened further, as though he wanted to knead the elf in his embrace completely into his flesh and blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Panting, he kissed her fiercely while fumbling with his hands,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>slowly lifting the soft, burning body in his arms\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>onto that white-jade bed spread with dark red velvet...\u003C\u002Fp>",2370,"2026-06-06T13:50:45.844Z",1,"novelbin.me","11d6af596d87588cc5f9cad7381727fa8654aeefa445b67e738d1ec5042bb913","exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-83","exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-81",112,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fexiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-cover.jpg"]