Chapter 106: The Cold-Blooded Race

The Star-Bearer's fleet set sail from the Golden Land. Ships of all kinds, blotting out the sky and sun, followed in its wake, representing the power brought by gold and precious metals. Many reports have even stated that this is likely the largest fleet to enter the top thirty in the history of the Old World.

Although its quality remains unknown, several large organizations, such as the Empire, the Dwarf Peaks, and even the Chaos Dwarfs, Skaven, and some even more distant powers, have begun to pay attention to the movements of this fleet.

Although the Star-Bearer's Wizard King claims that this fleet is purely intended to explore the world for potential Chaos pollution, who in the Old World doesn't know that the greatest characteristic of Chaos pollution is the accusation itself? If they say you are Chaos pollution, then you are Chaos pollution; even if you aren't, you are. If you aren't now, you will be in the future.

With countless prophecies and possible futures, there is always one that suits you. Therefore, when this massive fleet sailed out of Ulthuan and began to spread out at the southernmost tip of Bretonnia, the Knights of Bretonnia even nearly thought that the other side was taking the opportunity to declare a war of annihilation and blockade all of Bretonnia's ports. But as it turned out, it was just a false alarm.

However, looking at those large warships exceeding two hundred meters, with their countless gun ports and the burning Psionic Beacon at the very peak, everyone felt a sense of awe toward this large organization.

Especially the player ships, which were as chaotic as the guards around a beehive, and the cold Elf guards on the mothership, all served as proof of this Wizard King's chaotic thinking. He could accept the arrogance of the Elves and allow the players to accompany the fleet; he was an irreproachable realist.

At least this was the image he hoped everyone would believe. As for whether it was true, no one could say for sure.

At the very least, when that golden fleet arrived, everyone felt a sense of awe.

It was as if a giant that had been asleep for a long time had begun to wake up, reaching out its hands and feet into a child's playground. That sense of confidence, derived from countless Wonders and supernatural phenomena, made all who witnessed it feel fear.

Most importantly, people have eyes. The golden light in the distant corner that never extinguished at night, piercing through the entire Old World, has now left the leaders of countless factions unable to sleep. Especially since this faction calling itself the Star-Bearer never communicates with other forces, this makes it even more terrifying.

For a month now, the Star-Bearer has never dispatched any diplomatic missions.

Like a giant shaped by machines, after sealing off the Chaos Sea, he occupied Albion Island and established the Golden Land. Moreover, he generously designated the entire area as open territory.

Although players are not exactly good people, they know how to choose when faced with such goodwill. The Star-Bearer's strength has expanded as if it were inflated, and coupled with the inexplicable Elf troops, this has left all the factions in the world feeling uncertain about this sudden behemoth.

It has only been a few months, as if it had just popped out of the void.

Norscans, defecting Bretonnians, and a group of Elves—this bizarre combination is the Star-Bearer. And no one has ever truly gone to question what the Silent One Olivien is actually thinking.

Being sarcastic at meetings is a privilege granted to them by their race and laws. But to actually go and question him would be to challenge the Phoenix King's decisions. The large-scale disappearance event in Ulthuan has not yet been properly handled, and it is clear that those leaders do not want to become cases of disappearance themselves.

So the nations of the Old World are watching, just watching that terrifying, countless fleet advancing across the sea at an impossible speed.

And among them, there are not only Vampire Pirates with strange expressions, but also the Doom Ark of the Dark Elves, and some Bretonnian fleets that make a living on the sea. There are even species that, for the vast majority of people, should not exist.

In the Lustria continent, covered by mist and jungle and almost deemed an area where humans cannot operate, the scaled and horned ones are observing from the Star-Observation Room in the jungle that fleet which casts a huge shadow even in the Subspace and the stars. The light of the Psionic Beacon always accompanies the fleet, ensuring they never lose their way.

But from another perspective, a fleet carrying a Psionic Beacon can also become a coordinate for other entities in space. This becomes very conspicuous within the Psychic Network.

Or rather, exceptionally conspicuous.

In the first settlement left behind by the Ancient Ones, countless figures sat on floating silver discs.

They imitate the images of those great beings of the past, and they follow the will of those great beings. They record the most authentic history of this world, incorporating everything into the scope of the Great Plan.

Their skin-covered eyes blinked as countless cold-blooded ones in the cold, damp room looked at the Psionic Beacon shining on the area marked as the Landing Site on the psychic sand table. The light, like a sun, is constructing a large-scale psychic guidance network completely different from that of Lustria.

Only the Lizardmen realize how terrifying this Star-Bearer is. And only they realize what this force is doing.

Young races never hide their actions when they do things.

The direction taken by the fleet dispatched by this arrogant Wizard King is so conspicuous in the eyes of many cold-blooded ones.

"... Another madman who wants to end Chaos. His search and efforts are destined to be meaningless, but that huge Psionic Beacon is very likely to interfere with the Great Plan. Should we eliminate this organization called the Star-Bearer? The power it possesses is very likely to rebel against the will of the Ancient Ones."

In the dark and damp room, a murmuring voice rose from all directions, vibrating the eardrums of the cold-blooded ones.

"Moreover, the place of the Ancient Ones' sorrow has been occupied by him, and even utilized to a certain extent. If this continues, he is very likely to cause unspeakable influence. What do you think?"

"..."

A silence, and then, countless voices began to sound from all directions.

"The Great Plan cannot be changed; we must follow the will of the Ancient Ones and continue to observe. What those warm-blooded species do is of no significance to us."

"But this time it also involves the Elves, and we cannot sit idly by. It seems that a very drastic change has occurred on the side of the Elves."

"That is merely friction and conflict from the young races."

"The Phoenix King is committed to cleaning up the trash within his own race, but he does not care that he is dragging the Elves into the abyss. Perhaps in a few thousand years, we will have to take over the management of the Great Vortex and take back the main control center that suppresses demons. As for that Star-Bearer, he is just a lucky wizard. He cannot understand his enemies at all."

"Perhaps he understands, but even so, he cannot do anything. There is no name of this person in the Great Plan of the Ancient Ones. Just a Wizard King; we have seen stories like this many times."

"But his speed is too fast, and the power of his psychic mastery is too strong..."

The voices of the cold-blooded ones did not have much emotion.

Although it sounded like a noisy argument, in reality, every cold-blooded one was calmly analyzing the problem from their own perspective and trying to reach a consensus with all the members in the Observatory.

This is the way they learned to understand each other, passed down by those illustrious saints long ago when the Ancient Ones were still in the world. The cold-blooded ones understand that their own vision can often become narrow, but the vision of many can well make up for each other's loopholes, ultimately achieving the perfection of the plan.

They are the most loyal servants of the Ancient Ones, the most trusted attendants of the Ancient Ones.

Long before the Elves appeared, and even long before they first walked out of the world, the Lizardmen became the assistants and servants of the Ancient Ones, accompanying them to create all the races in this world.

They even witnessed the scene of those great structures rising from the ground into the sky to become stars to protect this world, and they also witnessed the scene of those great products falling from the sky and the world gradually closing off. The Lizardmen have seen far more than those Elves.

But they are also equally confused. Although the existence of the Great Plan is real, and the Ancient Ones once set a direction for this world, the Lizardmen will ensure that the plan, which has spanned countless years, is implemented. However, after the heavens fell and the world was closed off, a considerable number of Lizardmen chose to self-seal their consciousness and walk out of the jungle to wander to all parts of the world. They chose to integrate into this world in another way, leaving only the Lizardmen of Lustria to continue to maintain this broken world over tens of thousands of years.

As the first Landing Site, they used psychic technology to create a psychic network, hiding all the greatness of Lustria in the rainforest.

They witnessed the rise and fall of the major races of the Old World, and even used the genetic instincts of some Lizardmen outside the realm to begin recording the dynamic changes of the entire planet. The psychic network operates in every corner of the world, suppressing the demons in Chaos, making it impossible for them to descend into the world in their true form.

But there is a limit to doing this; in the face of the overturned geological disasters at the edges of all realms, their psychic network has little effect. So it can only be used for suppression, but it cannot be the only answer.

Yet it was at such a time that the Star-Bearer appeared before the Lizardmen like a meteor.

In fact, the Lizardmen have recorded many such conquerors who rose suddenly like Li Ang in their long history. There are always some brilliant individuals who master powerful forces and build a great empire in a short period of time. They are always able to accomplish great feats that others would not even dare to imagine.

There are also many talented spellcasters who are always able to come up with unimaginable whims. Even the Lizardmen often have to admit that these short-lived species are always able to solve everything in an unconstrained way.

However, these two rarely overlap, and as far as the current situation is concerned, there are fewer than twenty people in the history of the Lizardmen who have overlapped.

And among these twenty people, there are only seven individuals like Li Ang who have occupied the Ancient Saint Relic.

Although the number is still not too small, according to the observations of the Lizardmen, this is also something that must be recorded. The countless changes of civilization and tens of thousands of years on the vast planet have only produced seven people. And as for this Star-Bearer who is so furious and wants to target demons, there is not even one.

Most conquerors only think about how to expand their population and territory, how to become a more powerful empire, and begin their great conquest toward all areas they can conquer. It is truly rare for someone like Li Ang to hold back a fleet to explore.

As for why the Star-Bearer was able to build an entire fleet that transcended the era in a short period of time, the cold-blooded ones have no thoughts on this. He occupied the Ancient Saint Relic, so it must be the great power of the Ancient Ones.

Li Ang himself is just a lucky one, but whether this luck is allowed by the Ancient Ones is what the Lizardmen are considering.

The huge torch on the psychic map does not look like something an ordinary person could light; even on the world's psychic map, the magic level currently possessed by the Landing Site has reached the top ten. And it is growing at a terrifying speed; the World Scar and the Psionic Beacon are rapidly siphoning the power of the Subspace.

This is why many cold-blooded ones have begun to evaluate where this Wizard King stands. Is he a member of the Great Plan? If so, how will he guide the Great Plan?

Because of the hasty departure of the Ancient Ones and the fall of the final palace, the Lizardmen do not know what the full picture of the Great Plan is.

They merely strive to maintain the primitive appearance of Lustria, upholding the production facilities and equipment left behind by the Ancient Ones, and endeavoring to use the most primitive methods to ensure the Great Plan is carried out without interference. Thus, the current problem always arises. Now, another force capable of influencing the entire world has appeared; is this within the scope of the Great Plan? "... Observe. Just as we have done in the past."

The final cold voice locked an anchor point for all the arguments.

"Let us observe the future of these fleets, let us observe the end of this Star-Bearer. He possesses the power to suppress Chaos, and in this already crowded Old World, he will inevitably move toward the ending we desire."

"He will be arrogant, he will be haughty, and he will view all demons as objects to be trampled upon. But he will never understand that demons can never be destroyed. Until one day, when the gods of Chaos begin to sneer and launch an attack on his world, we might be able to obtain his technology from it."

"All of this takes time, and we only need to wait. The Great Plan cannot afford any mistakes; we cannot take more risks to act."

"As for all singularities and Ancient Saint Relics, dispatch teams to guard them. All intruders, kill without mercy."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

The cold voices in the Observatory rose and fell, and finally returned to silence.

Demons are an incomprehensible natural phenomenon. As long as the will of living beings exists in the Sea of Souls of the Subspace, demons will exist. Therefore, attacks on demons are often completely ineffective.

When the Ancient Ones departed and the world gradually fell apart, culminating in the tide of demons, no one understood the existence of these demons better than the Ancient Ones. In fact, these cold-blooded ones did not intervene little in the establishment of the Elf Great Vortex. According to the crude psychic level of the Elves, the Great Vortex would have exploded shortly after being built.

It was the countless years of maintenance and help from the Lizardmen that ensured the Phoenix King's genius idea did not completely disappear. This Great Vortex, which utilized a simple principle of positive and negative pressure, drew out the Winds of Magic from the world, then sent them into the Subspace, throwing the vast majority of demons into the Subspace along with them. However, it allowed the diffused power to overflow at the Arctic and Antarctica; this was a very natural choice.

Because demons cannot be killed at all, one can only ensure the normal operation of the vast majority of regions.

And after that, the Lizardmen became convinced that the Phoenix King might be an important figure in the Great Plan.

The Great Plan did not write it down at all, which must be because the Lizardmen's own interpretation was unfavorable. As the humblest servants of the Ancient Ones, they knew where the problem lay, but they would absolutely never admit the cause of this problem.

Therefore, the Lizardmen ultimately chose not to actively interfere with the activities of the short-lived races.

In the cold and damp Observatory, the cold-blooded ones were very satisfied. They had once again maintained the existence of the Great Plan, once again putting the reckless short-lived and young races on the right track.

Death is always the most straightforward way to protect a secret. Although the Star-Bearer's fleet was massive, the Lizardmen did not care at all. They were the successors of the Ancient Ones, and they possessed such rights. They knew better than anyone how difficult demons were to deal with, as well as the importance of those secrets.

Therefore, they swore to guard the secrets to the death, and sat waiting for that Wizard King to completely lose his life.

Meanwhile, on the flagship of the exploration fleet, the Indomitable Crusade, Li Ang was staring blankly at the map in his hand.

He was thinking about a very serious problem.

"It doesn't matter if the demons in Antarctica are eaten directly, but if too many players die, won't I be unable to hold up?

Over a hundred thousand players, throwing themselves into the front lines with no desire to live, can be treated as millions of laborers. If a million people go looking for some suspicious plots of land, damn it, they could turn the whole earth over, right? Do I have enough precious metals?

If it's not enough, can I temporarily use accounting audits as an excuse to keep a little more preparation time..."

Glancing at the precious metal storage at his Landing Site, then looking at the wing-like massive fleet of players and small ships behind the warship, Li Ang couldn't help but mutter to himself.

(Sorry everyone! Five thousand words for now, count it as me owing you fifteen thousand! I really can't hold up anymore; I've been sitting for several hours, my brain is shattered and my head is splitting with pain. I'll try my best to adjust!) (End of chapter)