Chapter 805: 556, Ten Years of War

The anomaly occurred in the third summer.

The weather was scorching, and the team members were all hiding beneath the cargo hold to cultivate.

Suddenly, Taige shouted, “I’m gonna eat you!”

Her eyes reddened as she lunged at Bailuo, gnawing on Bailuo’s cat tail until it started bleeding.

Bailuo, infinitely close to the Law Tier, was far beyond Taige’s ability to contend with and knocked her unconscious with a single slap.

Lin Da stepped out from the captain’s quarters. After questioning the situation, he finally got to the bottom of it.

It turned out Taige had hallucinated Bailuo’s tail as a ham.

“I’m so hungry; I don’t want to eat fish anymore. I want meat! Give me meat!”

Taige lay weakly on her bed, her face gaunt, her red hair dull, and her expression filled with utter despair.

Lin Da secretly observed the other team members. Though their symptoms weren’t as pronounced as Taige’s, they were all more or less dispirited. Morale had dropped significantly compared to when they first embarked on this voyage.

The land was nowhere in front; the coastline unretrievable behind.

No one knew the current state of the Mystic Continent.

The repetitive scenery, the repetitive food, the repetitive days… Even the most strong-willed adventurers would inevitably suffer under such torment.

Taige was the first to break.

Lin Da himself had also become muddleheaded, his thoughts hazy and unclear.

Seeing Taige’s pitiful state sent a chill down Lin Da’s spine, jolting him awake.

“If this goes on, it’ll be dangerous.”

“Everyone’s morale is almost completely eroded.”

“We have to find an island soon!”

Starting that night, Lin Da led the team in daily recollections of the happy times back on the Mystic Continent and their promises with Lia and the others. He repeatedly emphasized that the Mystic Continent had not fallen, and the others were still waiting for them to return.

They absolutely could not give up hope.

In addition, Lin Da took proactive action by hosting a grand party to breathe new energy into the crew.

The results were very positive.

Over the next month, the ship regained its vitality.

However, Lin Da knew this was merely a temporary solution.

If they continued failing to find an island, the team’s spirits would collapse, with even more severe consequences to follow.

Monica’s silly laughter, Taige’s random outbursts about “eating people,” Bailuo reminiscing endlessly about the Primitive Adventure Team and retelling a single anecdote hundreds of times…

Wendy who was starting to grow fur, yearning for her “cellphone” and wanting to read “online novels”…

Even Lin Da himself had become abnormal, incessantly recalling scenes from another world.

Sometimes, upon opening his eyes, Lin Da wondered if he was trapped within a game screen, with everything he experienced merely a false set of numbers coded into reality.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Was searching for an island the wrong decision from the very beginning?

If Lia and the others lost the battle, would they resent him, accuse him of being a deserter who pretended to search for an island but was in fact fleeing for safety?

These anxieties, Lin Da couldn’t afford to reveal before the team.

…

Unknowingly, another month had passed.

Autumn. The skies were clear, with not a single cloud.

“Captain, quick, look! What’s that?”

Suddenly, Taige’s excited shouts resounded from the deck.

Lin Da set down the helm and rushed over in a flash.

The entire crew had gathered.

Their previous gloom disappeared, their eyes ignited with astonishing brilliance.

“That, that’s…”

Lin Da stared, dumbfounded.

“Waaah, we’ve found it, we’ve finally found it.”

“Hahaha, now we can eat meat!”

“Teacher, this is amazing!”

The team members cheered, leaping and hugging each other in joy.

Even Wendy stopped feeling sleepy, gazing forward with electrified energy.

At the edge of the sea lay an island shrouded in clouds and mist.

The massive clouds spiraled, stretching upwards into the heavens.

Within the mist, colossal dragons could be seen flying around the island.

They were vivid and multicolored.

From the Five-colored Giant Dragons below, to the Metal Dragons at mid-level…

To the pristine, jade-like Holy Dragons above.

Except for Lin Xi’s kind of Dark Demon Dragon, all Dragon Species appeared in the mist.

Even more majestic was the depths of the mist.

A gigantic shadow of a dragon could be seen, with all the other dragons circling around it.

Their difference in size was like ants compared to tigers, or mantises compared to eagles.

Though Lin Da had mentally prepared himself, he was still stunned: “Ten thousand meters tall, or a hundred thousand?”

“Captain, where have you brought us?” Taige exclaimed in excitement, wagging his tail. “Is dragon meat tasty? Will it refuse to let me eat it?”

Bailuo glanced curiously: “The books say dragon territories vanished ten thousand years ago, leaving only scattered dragons across the continent. Did they move their domain to the edge of the ocean, that mysterious island within the mist?”

The little cat girl proved the most knowledgeable.

Lin Da nodded his head in approval.

In the ancient days, dragons once ruled the continent as the most flourishing race, their numbers exceeding millions.

But after the “War of Myriad Races,” adventurers became the dominant force on the Mystic Continent.

Dragons, Titans, Abyss Demons–those powerful mythical creatures–had all vanished without a trace, occasionally reappearing in twos or threes, becoming stepping stones on adventurers’ paths of glory.

The Magical Dragon popped out of Lin Da’s pocket, blinking its eyes: “I’m also a dragon. They won’t attack me, right?”

“Probably not.” Lin Da smiled. “This island is called ‘Sanctuary.’ Regardless of race, origin, or even if you’re an unforgivable sinner, you can safely land here.”

“Sanctuary?”

The group looked at Lin Da with curiosity.

There were too few records about the mysterious island; even its existence was only learned through legend.

How did Lin Da know about it?

“Yes, Sanctuary.”

Lin Da’s gaze flickered as he pointed at the island in the mist: “It all starts with the ancestor of dragons…

…the Time Giant Dragon, who once reached level 100, attaining ‘Divine Rank.’

It greedily absorbed too much Magic Power from the continent, causing spatial collapse and devastation.

At that moment, the World Tree Goddess ‘Tricia’ was born to meet the calamity.”