Chapter 153: The Dragon Maiden Vya and the Propagation Rights of Idith

Chapter 153: The Dragon Maiden Vya and the Propagation Rights of Idith

Vya trudged along the street, her head hanging low.

She didn’t dare go home.

She even wished this path would stretch on forever, never reaching its end.

She feared her mother’s scolding.

Because today, her salary had been docked by six copper coins—her boss claimed she’d sold too much wine, and the money didn’t add up.

She didn’t dare tell her mother. If she did, it would only invite baseless curses and berating.

Her mother would call her useless, a heartless wretch, accuse her of sneaking off to buy snacks, and dismiss it all as an excuse.

She might even curse her to die a miserable death.

This world praised maternal love, but who knew hers would look like this?

“Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling…”

The crisp sound of a mechanical bell made Vya instinctively step aside.

A young man sped past on a luxurious bicycle, his figure dashing and carefree.

This metal construct had suddenly become popular in the city a month ago, selling for an exorbitant price—tens of thousands of copper coins per bike.

Vya watched the bicycle disappear into the distance with envy, wondering what it would be like to not be poor. Could she ride a bicycle freely then?

Vya had striking pale golden vertical pupils, like a white cat perched on a rooftop.

It was the mark of a Dragon Descendant.

In the Edith Empire, only Dragon Descendants were considered citizens—everyone else was just commoners!

Vya’s mother was one such commoner.

Even as an adult, doing the hardest labor, her salary was less than underage Vya’s.

But even so, Vya wasn’t particularly noble.

At best, she barely qualified as a Dragon Descendant!

Her draconic traits were too faint, her pupils nearly colorless. Such diluted blood meant she could never awaken her lineage or master the Draconic Magic of the Dragon Clan.

In short, her life had no future.

Rumor had it that east of the Edith Empire, beyond the vast Dark Moon Wasteland, lay a Magic Kingdom called Keville!

They said people there could cultivate Magic—though Vya wasn’t sure if it was true.

She suspected it was just a story made up by hopeless commoners to comfort themselves.

In this world, how could humans wield Magic without the grace of the mighty Dragon Clan?

Still… wouldn’t it be wonderful if such a place really existed?

Lost in thought, Vya almost didn’t notice when her pupils suddenly dilated.

She froze, instinctively turning toward a nearby alley.

Inside the dim passage, a brilliant light erupted.

An intricate magic circle bloomed like a radiant flower in the shadows.

As the Portal’s glow faded, two figures emerged—one tall, one short.

The tall one was a black-haired man in white training sword attire;

The short one was a child who looked three or five years younger than Vya.

Vya stood there, stunned. She had never seen anything so miraculous.

For a moment, she was paralyzed, unsure what to do.

"Little girl, is this Hillier, the Capital of Edith?" The black-haired man looked at her with a warm smile and asked.

"Y-yes."

Vya nodded nervously, unable to resist another glance at the young man's black hair.

Even though Hillier bordered the Olly Great Forest, humans with black hair were still a rare sight.

After all, the Edith Empire was adjacent to the vast Olly Great Forest, stretching hundreds of thousands of miles—a veritable gene pool of species from across the multiverse.

It was home to all sorts of bizarre and wondrous intelligent races, including but not limited to humans, elves, goblins, dwarves, trolls, orcs, troglodytes, ogres, centaurs... and so on.

If one was lucky, they might even catch a glimpse of a dragon.

In fact, the Golden Dragon Ulysses, who protected the Edith Empire, hailed from the Olly Great Forest.

The Olly Great Forest was also one of the few places on the Azarea Continent not ruled by gods.

Even among the Five Great Righteous Gods, only the God of Life had a preaching zone here—the Duchy of Rolly—with an exclave known as Olly Elf City.

The reasons were twofold:

First, the forest was boundless, sparsely populated, and mostly organized into tribes, making it of little value for preaching.

Second, most of the intelligent races living here belonged to low-intelligence, chaotic species.

Take goblins, for example—they had no concept of faith whatsoever. One day, they might strut around under the banner of ogres, and the next, they might grovel beneath the hooves of centaurs. The cost of ruling them was exorbitantly high.

Additionally, the Dragon Clan residing there was another major reason the gods dared not easily intervene.

"Deserves to die! Just how long have I been asleep? Has the Dragon Clan fallen to such depths?"

The child beside the black-haired man cursed with an air of aged authority, his nose wrinkling at the thick scent of mixed-blood dragons permeating the city.

Even this girl before him carried a faint trace of dragon blood in her veins.

To the mighty Dragon Clan, this was nothing short of an insult!

The black-haired man paid no heed to his grumbling and casually tossed a mithril ring toward her. "Thank you, little sister!"

With that, he beckoned the child and strode away.

Vya clearly saw the disdain in the child's eyes as he passed her.

But that wasn’t the main point. The real shock came when, as he walked by, the thin dragon blood in her body suddenly surged to life, and the color of her pupils deepened.

A fragment of knowledge awakened from the depths of her soul—a fragmented bloodline inheritance.

That boy… was a pure-blooded dragon?

Vya trembled violently!

Only pure-blooded dragons had the power to awaken the latent potential hidden within dragon bloodlines.

In the Edith Empire, the only pure-blooded dragon was the sole Father God—the Golden Dragon Ulysses!

Vya could clearly sense that the child was absolutely not the great Father God.

So… was he a mysterious and noble Sacred Dragon?

And if he was a great Sacred Dragon…

Then who was that black-haired man?

Before she could fully comprehend her awakened power, Vya hurriedly raised the ring the black-haired man had tossed to her.

Her vertical pupils dilated as a wisp of awakened Soul Power seeped into the Mithril Ring, causing a Virtual Scroll to unfurl slowly before her.

The moment the scroll began to unfold, Vya, like a thief caught in the act, hastily deactivated it.

Her pupils widened, her breath quickened.

She had seen noble lords summon such mysterious Virtual Screens before.

Panicked, she glanced around, confirming no one was watching, before finally exhaling in relief and hurrying away.

By the time she returned home, half an hour had passed.

She slipped inside guiltily, no longer as dejected as she had been earlier. Instead, she braced herself for her mother’s scolding.

She even felt indifferent to it now.

Because she had obtained the most precious thing in the world.

So the Keville Empire truly existed!

So the Keville Empire was under the protection of the Internet God, and with his aid, everyone could practice Magic!

So Magic wasn’t exclusive to the Dragon Clan!

"You wretched girl, why are you back so late? Huh? Are you trying to follow in your deadbeat father’s footsteps and abandon me too? My life is so miserable—"

The hysterical tirade cut off abruptly.

Vya’s mother, a pure human, stared dumbfounded at her daughter.

Suddenly, she lunged forward, trembling hands cradling Vya’s face as she gazed at her golden irises, lips quivering with excitement.

"When… when did this happen?"

"On the way home."

"Good, good… hahaha, good, good… Our family can finally live a good life now…"

Vya stared blankly at her ecstatic mother, her mind inexplicably recalling a phrase she had seen on the internet:

Are kings and nobles born great?

Was bloodline truly that important?

……

……

"Tsk tsk, this is practically one person—no, one dragon—creating an entire race! Hey, wasn’t the Dragon Clan supposed to have low fertility?"

Yu Sheng’an couldn’t help but marvel at the streets teeming with Dragon Descendants.

He was none other than the black-haired man who had just gifted Vya an Internet Mithril Ring.

"That bastard Ulysses is utterly disgusting! He’s shaming the noble Dragon Clan!" Dillon Adam, now in the form of a nine-year-old boy, spat with an air of aged disdain.

"Disgusting? This is every man’s dream!"

"You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you?"

Yu Sheng’an wasn’t offended. Instead, he smirked and patted Dillon Adam’s head teasingly. "Jealous? If your body can’t handle it, just use a clone! Want me to make you a Flesh and Blood Clone? Guaranteed 100% realism!"

Before Dillon Adam could explode in fury, Yu Sheng’an chuckled triumphantly and strode into a nearby tavern.

The Dragon Clan was truly a powerful yet bizarre race!

Their history stretched back to the era of the Ancient Titan Gods.

The might of the Dragon Clan was difficult to summarize in just a few words.

They were the darlings of the multiverse.

Their bloodline inheritance granted them innate knowledge, allowing them to wield formidable Draconic Magic from birth.

Their Magic-Affinity Bodies made even their excrement a rare and top-tier magical material for mages, let alone other body parts.

With lifespans rivaling the gods, a mere nap for them could outlast their opponents' entire lifetimes.

Their only flaw was their low reproductive rate.

Yet, bizarrely, when they transformed into other species, they could inherit those species' fertility—leading to the proliferation of countless Dragon Descendants.

In fact, after over a thousand years of rule by the Golden Dragon Ulysses, the Edith Empire had developed an utterly peculiar social system and culture centered on bloodline supremacy.

Though magic and Battle Aura still existed among its humans, what truly mattered was the purity of their Dragon Clan lineage!

They no longer pinned their hopes on diligent cultivation of magic or Battle Aura but instead yearned to awaken their draconic heritage.

Because once they unlocked even a fraction of that bloodline legacy, they could swiftly gain immense power.

To put it bluntly, society had grown far too impatient!

If someone spent ten or twenty years mastering magic, only to be outshone by a neighbor’s kid who suddenly awakened their bloodline, such a psychological blow might be bearable if it were just a few isolated cases.

But when the entire society operated this way, who could endure it?

Naturally, everyone pursued purer bloodlines, and social hierarchy was determined by lineage.

Entering a tavern, Yu Sheng'an booked a private room.

“Was that Dragon Descendant special?” Dillon Adam huffed, following him inside.

“Special? Not at all,” Yu Sheng'an shook his head.

“Then why give her a Mithril Ring?” Dillon was stunned, utterly baffled. I even wasted mana stimulating her bloodline for nothing!

“I’m a businessman. Promoting my products anytime, anywhere—is that a problem?” Yu Sheng'an spread his hands, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“……” Dillon Adam was speechless. You’re a god, for crying out loud!

“By the way, call your companions over.”

Legends spoke of the Dragon Clan’s unique communication methods.

Historical records often described wondrous scenes like “a single signal arrow summoning an army from afar.”

Naturally, Yu Sheng'an was curious.

“No. Call them yourself if you want.”

Dillon Adam sat across from him, casually summoning an internet screen and browsing on his own.

Truth be told, when he first met Yu Sheng'an and heard the title "Internet God," he’d been completely bewildered.

He assumed it was just another case of gods changing names over time—nothing unusual in Dragon Clan history.

A nap later, and old rivals would inexplicably perish. Such things happened often.

But he never expected the internet created by the Internet God to be so… entertaining!

Yes, entertaining. Unbelievably entertaining.

Had he known the internet existed, why would he have wasted time sleeping? Diverting a sliver of consciousness to browse would’ve been far more fun!

Most importantly, killing beastmen could even earn Source Essence?

Times had changed way too fast.

His bloodline legacy explicitly warned him that Source Essence was the gods’ reverse scale—never to be touched unless absolutely necessary.

It was a death sentence.

So even though it was inherently deficient, it didn’t dare ask Yu Sheng’an for Source Essence.

The Dragon Clan was powerful, but not brainless.

It was still a baby—what if it angered the Internet God? Where else would it find such a thick thigh to cling to?

And then, to its surprise, Source Essence could actually be exchanged?

Damn your old mother dragon! If it had known earlier, why would it have wasted time sleeping? Beating up beastmen would’ve been way more fun!

"Hey hey hey, are you gonna call or not? If not, I’ll cut off your internet—permanently," Yu Sheng’an rapped his knuckles on the table.

Dillon Adam glared at him indignantly, then looked down at the Virtual Screen flickering with static. Reluctantly, it opened its mouth and let out a low growl:

"Awwooo…"

The sound was childish, like a puppy’s bark.

Yu Sheng’an’s eyes widened in shock before he burst into laughter.

"Laugh all you want, asshole! I’m not doing it again—you try it!"

Dillon Adam bristled, mana surging around it as it glared daggers at Yu Sheng’an.

This bastard was nothing like a god!

What kind of god acted like this?

Honestly, if it weren’t for gratitude over him saving its life, it would’ve left long ago.

Every time it recalled the scene of it crawling out of the Dragon Egg, Dillon Adam wanted to burrow into the ground from sheer embarrassment.

"Alright, alright, no more laughing," Yu Sheng’an quickly soothed.

Before he could finish, his expression suddenly shifted as he glanced toward a corner of the private room.

A Portal silently lit up there.

Amidst its shimmering light, a middle-aged man with sharp horns on his forehead stepped out.

His gaze swept past Dillon Adam and settled on Yu Sheng’an. "The Internet God?"

Yu Sheng’an nodded. "Let me introduce myself—I’m Ajef. And you are?"

"Ulysses!"

"It’s you?" Dillon Adam slammed to its feet. "You’re Ulysses?"

"Is there a problem, child?" The Golden Dragon Ulysses looked faintly puzzled.

"Don’t call me ‘child’—you have no right! Look at what’s become of the outside world! You’re a noble Dragon, not some stud in a breeding farm!"

Dillon Adam roared.

Yu Sheng’an’s brow twitched.

Well, there goes the plan to use Dillon Adam as a social lubricant—now they were outright enemies.

Then again, the dragon bloodline inheritance was terrifying.

If he hadn’t personally witnessed Dillon Adam’s birth, he’d never believe this was a Dragon less than a year old.

The Golden Dragon Ulysses’s gaze sharpened slightly. "I haven’t heard words like that in over a thousand years. You… must be a lost Dragon Egg?"

"So what if I am?"

"Tell me your parents’ names!"

"Dillon Harith and Dorton Yi Wenni!" Dillon Adam declared proudly, a glimmer of hope flashing in its eyes.

Ulysses’s pupils trembled, his expression softening further.

"How wonderful… that Dillon’s bloodline still remains in this world."

"What do you mean?"

Dillon Adam’s pupils contracted sharply.

Since the time of the Ancient Titan Gods, the Dragon Clan had already existed.

Their low reproductive rate ensured their genealogy could record every single dragon, including those exiled for grave mistakes.

"Welcome back to Dragon Island. There, you'll find all the answers you seek," said the Golden Dragon Ulysses, his tone growing even more genial, warm, and radiant.

Dillon Adam fell silent.

Ulysses seemed to realize something and turned to Yu Sheng'an. "Was it you who saved Adam? Internet God."

Yu Sheng'an nodded. "More or less."

"Thank you for your aid. Name your reward, and the Dragon Clan will spare no effort to fulfill it!"

So straightforward?

Yu Sheng'an was taken aback. After a moment's thought, he replied, "I want the propagation rights in the Edith Empire. Of course, I won’t build churches—I’ll only spread the internet."

Ulysses nodded. "No problem! I’ve seen the internet—a creation worthy of the gods. It would be an honor for the Edith Empire to experience it."

Yu Sheng'an was stunned.

Was this really the same Dragon Clan known for being domineering, tyrannical, and obstinate?

If he’d known they’d be this reasonable, why would he have waited until today?

Or was it because he’d saved Dillon Adam?

"Please leave a token. I’ll send someone to liaise with you."

"Thank you for your generosity!"

Yu Sheng'an placed a hand over his chest in salute and exchanged contact information with Ulysses.

Dillon Adam hesitated, glancing at Yu Sheng'an.

"Go. That’s your home. If you don’t mind, you can always come find me," Yu Sheng'an said with a smile.

He had long known that bringing Dillon Adam to meet Ulysses would likely result in his departure.

But he did it anyway.

Because once Dillon Adam recovered, he would probably leave to search for Dragon Island and his parents—just like the goal Yu Sheng'an himself had been striving for.

"I’ll come back for you. Don’t forget, we still have a contract!" Dillon Adam suddenly said, his voice tinged with melancholy.

"Contract?"

Ulysses' golden slit pupils abruptly narrowed into thin lines, locking onto Yu Sheng'an as if ready to strike at any moment.

Dragon eggs and young dragons lost in the outside world were highly susceptible to deceitful humans tricking them into signing servitude contracts.

Such incidents were not uncommon in history.

However, nearly all creatures who attempted to enslave the Dragon Clan met grim fates.

Dragons lived far too long.

A single nap could outlast any enslaver.

And when the contract holder died, their descendants would face the Dragon Clan’s bloodiest vengeance.

"Don’t worry. It’s just a Life-Sharing Contract. I nearly died inside the egg—he saved me with it," Dillon Adam explained.

Ulysses' golden eyes softened instantly.

With solemn respect, he placed a hand over his chest in salute.

The glow of a Portal then enveloped him and Dillon Adam.

In a flash of light, the private room fell silent.

Yu Sheng'an exhaled, his spirits soaring!

A perfect start!

One path secured, with two more remaining—the Kaman Union and the Primary Domain of Azerai.

Securing either of these would drastically shorten the time needed to accumulate Source Essence.

So how to persuade the Kaman Union?

Or rather, how to persuade the Wisdom Goddess?

Perhaps offer a few more bicycle production lines? After all, I’m already planning to upgrade to steam locomotives anyway.

Just as he was pondering this, the images seen by his divine projection left in Vilia to monitor the Dragon Factory sent a violent shock through his body—his pupils dilated, and fury burned in his heart!

Plans could never keep up with changes after all.