The explosion crater, full of scars, showed the magnitude of the disaster that had just occurred here. It seems that historically valuable ruins have been blown to pieces, mixed with black decay, and in a hundred-meter radius, no plants can be seen, all torn apart and buried by the shock wave. As we were guessing whether the humans Sandora sensed earlier had perished in this explosion, a black dirt pile in the distance suddenly moved, and two people covered in dirt emerged from it.

This is such a tenacious Life Force—according to ordinary standards.

The humanoid beings that crawled out of the dirt, although still lively looking, are so changed by the explosion that their appearance cannot be discerned. All that’s visible is their clothing, almost turned to rags, and some strangely shaped tool, broken in their hands. Just a glance, I could generally judge from their shapes that they seemed to be two females... uh, suspected females, because I suddenly noticed two large tails behind them, similar to those of lizards, and these tails have such a strong presence that you can see them at a glance.

"Cough cough, @#!#@￥%#&...#%#@" The first humanoid that got up (please forgive me for using such rude words to describe them since their Race seems a bit peculiar) started coughing heavily, muttering something vaguely. Her voice carried a hissing sound, and she sounded as if she were complaining. Then she (I think I can temporarily refer to her as "she") bent over and helped her companion, and for once I could finally hear what was being said: "Look what you’ve done!"

Please let us remember, for us folks, language issues are never a problem, especially when connected to the Empire’s database, which can instantly decompose any communication information. So don’t question why we could understand what they were saying. Moreover, even without this setting, everyone should not forget that someone ensured that Chinese would rule the Multi-universe ages ago...

"Hey, at least we survived. Do you want to go head-to-head with that Stone Human?" The one being helped seems to have been more severely affected by the explosion, as her steps seem unsteady when she stands up. But her voice sounds casual and unconcerned. Like her companion, she also speaks with a hissing echo, "Quickly, leave this place; heaven knows if there’s another Stone Human, Ancient City..."

Their words were cut off abruptly as they looked up and suddenly saw a large group standing by the explosion crater’s edge.

I looked innocently at them, just getting ready to explain that I was merely passing by, unexpectedly, they had already assumed a highly vigilant stance, holding their damaged tool or weapon horizontally in front of them. They hunched, as if ready to attack at any given moment, which took me aback; I didn’t think they’d be so aggressive. I had to prepare for a not-so-friendly first contact. Still, before I made any move, the somewhat nonchalant female suddenly dropped her stance and patted her companion’s shoulder: "Forget it. There are more of them. I’ll surrender first."

Her companion was stunned: "How do you know we won’t win? We’re Half-Dragon People..."

"What Half-Dragon People," the nonchalant one tossed aside the weapon that had become so broken it served no purpose, "we’re nearly half-dead now, and the others are wandering in the Ancient City; do you think they’re ordinary people?"

"But just surrendering... The Glory of Half-Dragon People..."

"Hey!" I finally couldn’t stand it anymore. I hadn’t done anything, yet they’d independently taken so many steps, "I say, we don’t have any hostility. Isn’t it a bit too much for you to be so tense?"

The two dirty-faced strangers seemed to be taken aback, then looked at each other: "Makes sense, perhaps fighting isn’t a given." Then they turned their heads, and the one with the nonchalant personality asked loudly: "What’s your deal? Explorers?"

"Passing by," I looked at the group I’m leading and found that it included all age groups, even a little girl biting her finger (Little Baobao), so I honestly felt embarrassed to say it was an Exploration Team, "I’m taking my family out to enjoy some leisure time. Happened upon this... uh, ruins, then heard explosions inside, so I came over to check the situation. Look, we’re not hostile."

"Leisure time?" the calmer one glanced at us skeptically, casually sweeping her hair, letting soil pelting down, "Coming to the Ancient City for leisure? The most dangerous places in Mysteries are typically the Ancient City."

"Wait, Sona, they might have come from the Ancient Garden," before I could think of a reason, her companion actually provided one for us. "We’ve been in this Ancient City for almost half a month; it happens to be the time Ancient City and Ancient Garden are close to each other."

"Uh, yes, we came from the Prairie," I felt like the misunderstandings between us were mostly cleared by now, quickly nodding, "The Floating... Ancient City is quite near the Prairie, not too difficult to visit, and I’m a pretty skilled Mage too."

Having heard Vanilla recount that this world has a Magic System, and Mages are relatively respected professions, I hastily concocted this identity for myself. Of course, it’s fine without such an identity, but considering staying a couple of days in this world, it’s better to make a good impression with the first encountered natives: besides, can’t waste the local cultural outfit prepared before departure, right?

"Mage?" the strangers seemed surprised for a moment; not sure if it was my illusion, but a hostile aura briefly surged from them again. However, they quickly relaxed, though their tone became stiff, "Okay then, Mage Master, that explains some weird hobbies. Apologies, we have matters to attend to, can’t stay with this esteemed group any longer."

"Wait a minute!" Seeing them about to leave, Bingdisi suddenly shouted, "What do you do?"

"Just Independent Explorers, living hand to mouth," the stranger with the bold personality seemed a little impatient now. "Do any of you have other questions?!"

"So, you don’t have any fixed itinerary, right," Bingdisi’s eyes shifted, then she smiled, "Right now, only the Ancient City and Ancient Garden are available to visit. And it seems you’ve finished exploring the ruins. How about we set off together? Anyway, we’re wandering aimlessly, no issue tagging along."

They looked at us with evident skepticism and distrust, talked in whispers back and forth, before finally Sona nodded: "Pretty strange, are there really Mages among you? Mages wouldn’t do this... Fine, for now, we have nothing to do these days. If you wish to join, then join. But let’s be clear, we are only ’coarse’, ’unruly’, ’reckless’ Independent Explorers. If you truly are Mage Masters, hope you can tolerate it."

Somehow the impression the strangers had of us all seemed to drop rapidly, especially for the word "Mage," appearing irked. But I didn’t really mind, just gave a friendly smile; my curiosity about this peculiar world was growing, eagerly wishing for an exchange with the locals. Originally, I intended to shake their hands once they approached, but couldn’t resist reminding first, "That, um, don’t you need to address that?"

The explosion just now was quite powerful, and the strangers’ clothing had long become tattered, though undergarments remained intact, without revealing too much. However, their vast swaths of skin were exposed, almost seventy-eight percent, body lines clearly visible. Plus, they were covered in forest humus; you can hardly make out their true appearance. To be honest, I was really reluctant to direct my gaze at them...

The strangers seemed to finally notice their status, instantly covering up and retreating a few steps. Upon realizing several males in our group had turned their heads elsewhere long ago, they seemed mildly surprised. Their tone softened a bit, "Give us a moment."

Two sprang quickly towards nearby bushes: truly sprinting and leaping like animals until they disappeared into the vegetation. After a while, I said to Bingdisi, "Did you notice some spots on them seem to have scales?"

"What’s strange about that," Bingdisi smacked Lin heavily, "there’s a girl here, fully covered in scales, named Lin."

Me: "..." Lin: "..." Sister Bing is always so sharp!

Qianqian glanced at the sky as she thought, "Their tails look so strange. Are they lizard-like? Or dragon-like? They even seem to have scales. Their pants must be custom-made..."

Qianqian’s attention is always on unexpected things; later, we better make sure this girl doesn’t say anything that might hurt someone’s pride. Just as we were discussing these two strangely-shaped Otherworld women, light footsteps came from behind the bushes opposite us. The two new "companions" had cleaned up and changed clothes, each carrying a huge bundle as they came around.

Those ragged clothes that had become works of art seemed to have been discarded; both had changed into simple brown outfits: fur vests made from some animal hide, with beast skin shorts that reached their thighs, which was all they wore — quite wild-looking. They seemed to have just wiped off the dirt from their faces; still a bit dirty, but clear enough to see their appearance. I was surprised to find that they were quite young girls, with features resembling a mix between European and Asian, high nose bridges, thin lips tinged with a natural purplish-red. Although their looks might not be considered stunning, after cleaning their faces, they could fit into the youthful category. Besides their tails, the most striking feature was their eyes: golden-yellow vertical pupils like snakes. One girl had chestnut-red wavy long hair, the other had a shoulder-length bob of the same color. I identified the girl with long hair as Sona, slightly more mature, while the short-haired girl seemed a bit more impulsive: she had surrendered in an instant earlier.

My gaze involuntarily wandered over certain places on them: arms, necks, and the outer thighs... I swear to Dingdang, my gaze was pure — the reason I noticed these areas was that I saw slight patches of pale bluish scales covering their arm sides, neck sides extending to near the ears, and outer thighs, but they blended seamlessly with the surrounding skin, almost like wild tattoos if not closely observed. Finally, my gaze fell on their gently swaying tails, the only area on them heavily covered with scales. With narrow tips and sturdy bases, I imagined getting hit by them would be painful.

The short-haired girl looked at me displeasedly, seeming finally fed up with the stranger’s rude gaze, emitting a threatening "hiss" sound: "Hiss—how long are you going to stare? Mighty Mage ’Master’? Hiss—"

I suddenly realized my staring was truly impolite, especially towards two young girls, so I quickly apologized, thinking to myself that despite seeing various strange races in Shadow City, I still lack self-control. But just as I thought this, Qianqian suddenly bounced over, her claws hesitating beside their tails: "Um, can I touch it? Can I touch it?"

As it turns out, with such a silly companion by my side, I’ll never have to worry about being the most improper one...

The two lizard girls (?) were already impatient with my gaze, let alone with Qianqian’s overt teasing; both immediately jumped back two meters, adopting a defensive stance while glaring at us: "Respect us! We are Free People!"

I quickly pulled Qianqian, holding her head down while apologizing: "Sorry, sorry, she’s my wife, she’s got this problem, particularly excitable at times. Anyway, let me introduce myself; my surname is Chen..."

Afterward, I introduced my group to them, only mentioning names. As for identities, aside from stating that I was a traveling mage, I said everyone else was travel companions with me. Once I finished, the short-haired lizard girl impatiently waved her hand: "Alright, alright, I can’t remember more than three names, I’ll just ask whoever I talk to later. I’m Shajina, my partner here is Sona, a somewhat stiff-minded person — you’ve seen our identity, explorers, roaming around, with no fixed residence. You people are interesting, though, with even a kid among you? And a mage leading such a crowd on a journey... you’re quite an odd guy."

Just as Shajina finished speaking, Sona suddenly emphasized with a serious tone: "We are pureblood Half-Dragon People, and moreover, Free People. So please remember that."

"Half-Dragon People?" Bingdisi looked at them with interest, poking Lin’s arm, "Hey, smell them if they have their own scent." Lin perplexedly scratched her head: "That’s not the same concept, okay."

Shajina tightened the big backpack on her back, ready to depart, glancing at her companion: "I told you, Sona’s mind is a bit slow—hey, why aren’t you reacting?"

"Other reactions?" I’m completely puzzled.

"When others hear us call ourselves Half-Dragon People, they usually laugh... Oh well, you look strange anyway. Let’s go, let’s hurry out of the forest. According to the Cycle Calendar, the overlap time of the Ancient City and the Ancient Garden is just one day. I don’t want to stay in this creepy place for another half month."

Suppressing my doubts, I led the family following behind them. These two Half-Dragon Girls are obviously much more familiar with the forest environment than us. They are able to find a path that barely qualifies as a road in this chaotic environment. Although I really wanted to tell them that there was actually a direct path to the edge of the Floating Island that appeared here just an hour ago, hacked out by a certain Shorty horizontally and vertically, I still didn’t say it in the end, because it seems that their chosen path is also a shortcut.

"This road has already been traveled by several batches of explorers, so it’s relatively safe; in other places, there might still be Stone Humans, and encountering them would be a big trouble. By the way, it looks like you should be able to handle the Stone Humans," said Shajina, who seems to be quite talkative despite always showing an unpleasant expression, and she quickly started chatting by herself. The Stone Humans she mentioned, I guess, should be a type of Guardian or perhaps Magic Puppet within these ruins. "By the way, the little girl sitting on your shoulder, did you create her Magic Puppet? Only you Mages do this kind of stuff, geez..."

Mercury Lamp immediately roared outraged: "Who’s the Magic Puppet! Who’s saying Magic Puppet! Magic Puppet is who!"

I quickly soothed the furious Rose Maiden, and with a chuckle, I explained, "No, this is my daughter, who for some reasons is an Alchemy Doll, and she does have a soul. She’s quite naughty but definitely not a Magic Puppet." Just as I finished speaking, Mercury Lamp yanked my hair hard, trying to rip it out; however, she did not deny her daughter’s identity, seemingly only dissatisfied with the "quite naughty" remark. Can’t this girl sense the pride of fatherly love in my tone...

"Oh, looks like you’re quite a capable Alchemist." Shajina casually murmured while continuing to lead the way.

Before leaving, I had considered whether to take such a 92.3 cm long-winged little creature like Mercury Lamp outside, and consulted Vanilla about it. Vanilla didn’t have much insight but thought it wouldn’t be an issue. The world she lived in reportedly had a large number of bizarre races, and some eccentric Mages and Wizards would even privately modify other creatures. Mercury Lamp might make people curious but wouldn’t be a focus of interviews. Hence, this time Little Light came out with the family without being packed into a travel bag, apparently proving Vanilla right. The Half-Dragon Girl named Shajina only muttered a few words and no longer cared about whether it was a Magic Puppet or Doll.

Soon, we reached the edge of the Floating Island, facing a boundless prairie once more. Shajina and Sona took out a strange "rope" with many roots at one end from their large backpack, threw the root-ended part on the ground, and the roots quickly grew and dug deep into the ground, while the other end of the rope started extending swiftly—it turned out to be a plant.

"We can’t do magic, so we can only leave in this crude manner." Shajina grumbled, throwing the growing end of the rope off the Floating Island, watching it grow to nearly sufficient length before sprinkling some pale powder onto its aerial roots to stop its growth. It seems they use this method to leave the Floating Island. Our descent method is obviously more audacious: with Qianqian leading the way, a large group of small ones cheerfully jumped directly down, followed closely by the Tiaozi Five of the Divine Clan, Linn Xue and Sandora gave me a smile and also jumped down... Eventually, only Sayaka was left hesitant to jump. However, she now knows a floating technique learned from school and gently flew down with the wind.

Shajina and Sona were stupefied by the sight of a dozen people jumping down from the Floating Island like dumplings, especially when they saw even Little Baobao, who was just a Little One, jumping down with the adults, they exclaimed. When just I was left without jumping, Shajina finally organized her language: "Are your kids raised on Human Demon Potion?"

"Those Naughty Kids get bold when excited," I helplessly shrugged, "Would you like me to take you two down?"

As I spoke, the two Half-Dragon Girls immediately grabbed the rope and slid down themselves, only then did I finish the latter part: "I actually wouldn’t just jump down..." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for recommendation or monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)