The world is unpredictable. Shajina and Sona probably never imagined that they would be swept into such an extraordinary event. They had always lived ordinary and unremarkable lives, exploring the Lost World, mining, hunting, collecting herbs, excavating, doing anything to sustain their livelihood, living a poor but relatively stable life. The only disturbance perhaps stemmed from the occasional discrimination and rough treatment due to their "Lizard Man" identity. They hadn’t pondered too deeply about the far-off future; being warm and full in the present was the only concern for these two half-dragon girls accustomed to hard days.

Who could have foreseen that their fate would change overnight? Thus, the ancient saying goes: When the heavens bestow a great task upon you, they don’t necessarily notify you.

Shajina and Sona have decided to leave Sen Tu and travel with us. Firstly, they now have a compelling reason to be with Lin. Secondly, they need to undertake Lilina’s round-the-clock training. On the road to becoming representatives of the Dragon God, they still have much to learn. Many things aren’t as simple as they seem; two poor girls who had never received formal education, with literacy as their sole cultural asset, suddenly have enormous responsibilities. Establishing religion and leading the race is virtually an impossible task—a fairy tale. It can’t be like "the plot demands it," so Shajina and Sona instantly learn to lead a religious group, right?

Besides these reasons, Sen Tu is now an unsuitable place for the two half-dragon girls to live. Lilina had the Cat Lady remaining in the Secret Magic Meeting investigate and found out that the entire city’s Mage Corps and City Guard are searching for Shajina and Sona, with commotion everywhere. They’ve confirmed the identities and addresses of the two half-dragon girls. At the Dark Alley District, their little home is surrounded by at least a hundred Knights. Of course, the soldiers’ intent might be to accommodate these two living ancestors with incense offerings morning and night, lest the Giant Dragon return and melt the city, but Shajina and Sona aren’t grateful for such a life and have long had animosity towards those City Guards and similar folk. To accept their "protection" now is impossible. Moreover, quoting Bingdisi, the two half-dragon girls now bear a "sacred mission" and have no time to "indulge in mortal pleasures."

After all, that female hooligan spews nonsense by the yard, and as a veteran scammer, she and Lilina are master-level figures in the realm of deception.

Shajina and Sona have lived in Sen Tu for five or six years, and now they’re suddenly leaving, possibly not returning for many years. To say there’s no nostalgia is impossible. Before departing, we gave them half a day, with Lilina accompanying them, to secretly return to the city and bid farewell to their few friends. With the help of Lilina, that crafty being, plus the assistance of the Divine Technique, they three wandered under the noses of the city’s soldiers, returning with the Cat Lady named Rabi: I almost forgot about that cat; her presence is really too low.

Shajina and Sona’s friends, naturally, are impoverished ones they know in the Dark Alley District. Half are explorers they’ve collaborated with. These folks find it hard to believe that the two lowly girls they’re familiar with have suddenly transformed into Dragon Descendants and can chat so affably with a Golden Giant Dragon. However, the city-wide stirring caused by soldiers and nobles forces them to accept this earth-shattering fact. Shajina and Sona’s sudden presence among these old friends shocked them. Learning of their departure to embark on a journey to "reclaim the Dragon Descendant’s glory," these generally struggling explorers and the poor all offered what they deemed most useful, insisting Shajina take it along, saying it’d be handy for the adventure. So when Shajina and Sona returned with Lilina, they were loaded down with all sorts of stuff: simple swords, common herbs, spare clothing, whetstones, food, and water—piled high.

The two don’t have Personal Space yet, so these packed into their huge backpacks, the half-dragon girls carrying big backpacks—which are almost their classic image.

Bubbles watched Shajina and Sona sorting items and calmly mocked: "The protagonist sisters, who have started the main quest, leave the Newbie Village, accompanied by the initial weapons, armor, and items presented by Villager A, B, C, and D, embarking on their journey of slaying monsters, leveling up, and traveling the map—the game says so. But in games, adventurers don’t carry such large backpacks upon leaving Newbie Village."

I glanced at this nerd girl living her days as RPGs: "What does that make us?"

"The junior mercenaries hired from Newbie Village," Bubbles pointed to us, then swept her finger across Lin, Bingdisi, Lilina, and herself. "And after starting the main quest, someone who doesn’t appear until the final Chapter gets two CGs—certain Goddess, advanced adventurer A responsible for resurrections after the protagonist falls, carrying an adventurer’s guide and external strategy book."

Clearly, she’s gone seriously overboard.

"Alright, we’re ready to go," Shajina confirmed there were no forgotten items, then shouldered her backpack again, holding the Dragon God’s golden scale (Lin really attached a handle on the back for them, so Shajina and Sona have now used the Dragon God’s Scale of Oath as a Shield), and asked us, "Where to next? If we’re going to the Sky Tower, we’ll have to wait two days; its entrance hasn’t opened yet, and the Sky Tower’s entrance won’t appear directly on the continent. It can only be accessed through another Lost World."

Bubbles crossed her arms and spoke in the tone of an experienced person, "Girl, go look for traces of the Slime in the nearby bushes first... Hey! Child’s father! Put me down, you can’t play like this, are you going to let two level one newbies directly challenge the Great Demon King..."

Bubbles, who had entered a state of delusion, was tossed aside and muttered like a grumbling woman, while I took the opportunity to understand what this so-called Sky Tower was all about.

"The Sky Tower is one of the latest discovered ruins," Shajina listed the names of these strangely named Lost Worlds like a treasure, "There are two types of Lost Worlds. One can directly connect to the Mother Continent, periodically projecting teleportation zones onto it. These were discovered first. The other type comprises about a third of the Lost Worlds. They never intersect with the Mother Continent, but instead interlink with other Lost Worlds. To reach them, you must hop from one Lost World to another, greatly reducing the chances of discovery, and it’s hard to summarize any rules. Such Lost Worlds have barely been mastered by anyone, and it’s uncertain if there are any undiscovered New Worlds — some Worlds require three or even four jumps to reach, and with only one path to follow, you’d need to be extremely lucky or willing to spend tens of years checking each branch point one by one to find one of these Worlds. The Sky Tower is one of those places needing a jump to access, but it’s relatively easy, as you only need to jump once to reach it. People usually go from the Transversal Canyon, but since you’re in a hurry, depart from the Hanging River. However, let me warn you that the Hanging River leads to the back door of the Sky Tower, where there are many Guards, and you might need to fight your way through, which is why ordinary explorers dare not take that route."

Sona added, "Some Scholars speculate that there are Worlds that will never be discovered; they never connect with the Mother Continent in any way, whether directly or via jumps."

"Theoretically, it’s almost a hundred percent possible," Sandora nodded, "Though they haven’t all been checked, the fragmentation of the external space of this World is much worse than what you see, with countless fragments drifting far from the main space. Who knows what lies within those."

They’re probably ruins that can never be reached... Anyway, the strongest impression this World gives me is the word "ruins".

"If you want to go to the Hanging River, there will be an opportunity in three days," Sona pulled out a little booklet from beside her. It was somewhat battered and filled with notes, "Head south until you reach the Xuya Plain; there’s a teleportation point leading to the Hanging River. It’s quite far, but I think with your skills, distance doesn’t matter, does it?"

Lilina ran to Sona’s side, hopping and holding onto her hand, "Let me see, let me see... Ah! Xuya Plain! Hey, isn’t our Holy Capital next to the Xuya Plain?"

Lilina was speaking to the timid Cat Lady next to her, who was daydreaming with her head down. Startled by the question, she carefully looked up at us and said in a low voice, "My name is Rabi — the Holy Capital is indeed on the Xuya Plain, and that teleportation point is next to a big town nearby, I know. But I’ve heard that teleportation point isn’t very safe..."

"There’s no unsafe place in this world," Lilina waved her small hand, pulled out a tree branch from her pocket, and summoned a twisted teleportation gate in the air, "Ultimately, we have to head south. Boss, you’ll see the Holy Capital soon!"

I casually asked, "Holy Capital? Where?"

"Oh, it’s the place where the Little Bird preaches," Lilina said excitedly, "Didn’t I tell you, that little town next to the mine, I renamed it Holy Capital. That’s what the books say, all the inns opened by God in the various Worlds are uniformly called Holy Capitals, though that place is still a small town now, one day it will become a Great City. Let’s go, let’s go, or we won’t catch the teleportation gate..."

Lilina chatted away, then pulled me into the teleportation gate. Moments later, we arrived at another unfamiliar vast plain. It was a landscape utterly different from the Northern regions: all around were rocks and barren grass, with dark red soil, the air heavy with the scent of dust, giving the impression of the edge of a desert.

The Southern lands of this continent are barren and the soil rich in metals, not suitable for growing crops, as Lilina told me.

"Oh, so this is the South, huh? The air doesn’t seem very nice." Sayaka was the last to step out of the teleportation gate, muttering with a frown. Next to her, Shajina and Sona were bent over, retching.

Monina glanced at Lin: "You need to put enhancing the physiques of these new bishops on your schedule."

"There’s a lot for you to get used to in the future," Lilina patted the dizzy half-dragon girls, instantly dispelling their discomfort, "like divine techniques and magic, for instance. You’ve never used those things, and the first time you channel divine power into your body, it definitely won’t be more comfortable than this teleportation."

"Magic?" Shajina took a breath and curiously asked, "We can learn magic? Aren’t half-dragons..."

"You’re no longer restricted," Lin quietly explained on the side, "the restriction was lifted four hours ago. Now, all the half-dragons in the world can learn magic. Well, it can’t be called magic; it should be various abilities similar to magic brought by faith power. Slowly, you’ll discover these potentials within yourself. If mastered skillfully, believers of Dragon God can even transform into giant dragons."

Shajina and Sona’s eyes lit up, both immediately imagining how cool it would be to transform into a giant dragon. Meanwhile, Little Crow was happily running in circles around me before joyfully pointing toward the distant, vaguely visible black mountain range: "There!"

"Transform into a crow!" Qianqian spontaneously suggested, rubbing Little Crow’s cheeks, "Then fly us over there!"

"Caw!" The Silly Bird nodded happily, and suddenly, the sound of static electricity crackled in the surrounding air. Countless blue-white sparks began to gather from all directions, quickly forming a large storm cloud. Then, gusty winds, thunder, flames, and black hurricanes enveloped an area half a kilometer around us. Fortunately, I foresaw this and knew that silly bird was a reckless fellow. Just as she "cawed", I raised the energy shield. Shajina and the others were still asking Lin about dragon transformation, and suddenly they were dumbfounded, not knowing what happened, only able to watch and exclaim at the doomsday-like lightning storm outside the shield. A few seconds later, the wind and storm instantly concentrated, forming a giant storm crow a hundred meters high in front of everyone.

The giant crow looked down at us, letting out a thunderous call: "Caw!"

This time, it finally wasn’t a duck quacking...

As usual, "Little" Crow first pecked at the ground, swallowing her entire human half in one go, then contently burped and happily flapped her wings. She accidentally failed to control it, momentarily forming two tornado columns carrying lightning and magma two hundred meters away. I hurriedly suppressed these two apocalyptic tornadoes: well, this guy is really a mobile disaster generator.

"That’s why I gave her the strict order," my sister pointed to the magma lake two hundred meters away and said helplessly, "forbidding transformations in crowds. Little Crow gets overexcited after transforming and has especially poor control."

"What... what is that!" Shajina and Sona hugged each other, looking dumbfounded at the giant bird, speaking in unison.

In terms of how cool, Lin’s golden two-headed dragon form is more eye-catching, but in terms of how frightening, the Silly Bird’s transformation is unmatched, with shadow intense flames and lightning storms ever-flowing over her feathers, accompanied by various energy currents that spell death upon contact. Standing beside Little Crow is akin to staring directly into Hell’s surface; the psychological impact is not ordinary.

"Crow God, of course," Lilina said matter-of-factly, "Didn’t I tell you, Medivh is the Crow God? Or were you fooled by that girl’s harmless appearance, thinking I was joking?"

Shajina and Sona, their faces full of shock, looked at the Crow God above with sparks falling from her and then glanced at the weak-spirited Lin beside me, who was daydreaming and humming an off-tune melody. They finally accepted this bizarre setting, then pointed at the stormy back of the giant crow, once again speaking in unison: "We aren’t really supposed to ride on that, are we?"

"It’s fine, we have a shield, won’t die." Bingdisi waved her hand, picking up one half-dragon girl in each arm, and amid a series of screams that disappeared into the sky, jumped onto the giant crow’s back. By the time we climbed up, we found this female hooligan had already set up a steady holy light barrier using divine techniques. The barrier spanned at least fifty to sixty square meters, furnished with carpets, tea tables, sofas, rocking chairs, and even a row of bookshelves. The more I looked, the more familiar it seemed, and then I finally realized: It appeared that Lin had the same setup on her back after transforming into a dragon...

At that moment, I felt that the huge transformation of the Divine Race’s true form was truly a miserable thing. Not only could one be used as a means of transport, but also potentially turned into a DIY vehicle in the company of troublesome teammates, and it was certainly better for one’s true form not to change much. Although it’s not as impressive as dragon or crow gods, at least you wouldn’t be used as a picnic spot.

As I was thinking this, Dingdang suddenly popped out of her pocket with a heave-ho, holding a mini tea set and a small cloth, then flew to the top of my head: it was her afternoon tea time.

Me: "..."

Alright, it seems that if you’re with troublesome teammates, your fate is beyond your control.

Riding the storm crow, we quickly reached the "Holy Capital" Lilina mentioned, a dilapidated, chaotic-looking small town situated near an abandoned mine.

Looking down from the sky, the town’s most striking feature is, of course, the "Holy Tree" covering a third of the Central Square, as well as the nearly transparent barrier covering the outskirts of the town. These two things, filled with supreme energy and mystic aura, are entirely out of place with the dilapidated and chaotic buildings below; the town below looks like a slum.

"The town is being rebuilt. With mortal speed, it certainly won’t be completed so quickly," Lilina explained to us, "The foundation of the Holy Capital should be laid down brick by brick by the hands of ordinary believers. This is important, as it brings the first batch of believers a sense of belonging, and over the years, this sense of belonging gradually permeates into the bones of every resident of the Holy Capital and becomes a part of their faith."

Many times, I can’t help but admit, Lilina’s little brain is indeed very thoughtful, and——exceptionally far-sighted.

The giant crow landed in an open space far outside the town, and as we jumped down, we found a large group of people had already run out of the town, seemingly a welcoming party. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation.)