Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 315 The Trial of the Dragon Bearer Ends

"Right? That's what we thought too. We always felt that he was different from any of the gods we had met before..." Paimon said helplessly, spreading his hands.

"Then?"

"Actually, it's nothing. Later, he wanted to take Kong as his follower, but Kong didn't agree. The reason he made us heat the mushrooms at high temperatures under the guise of a trial was just a scheme he came up with to regain his power. Unfortunately, those mushrooms were destroyed by us as soon as they grew."

"After hearing what you've said, I'm tempted to try that mushroom."

"It's a pity that all those mushrooms have been wiped out now. If you want to eat them, you'll have to wait until they grow back."

"That's it."

The captain sighed regretfully. To be honest, he wanted to take some mushrooms back for Kiana to eat, but unfortunately, there weren't any left. However, the captain quickly recovered.

"Forget it, let's hurry up and head to the volcano."

"Yeah, that's true."

So the three of them set off towards the volcano, and under Iansan's guidance, they encountered no unexpected incidents along the way.

As for why Ianshan was in the group, it was because their deeds were learned by Vulcan Mavica, and just in case, Mavica decided it would be better to have Ianshan along.

Mavica originally intended to send Ginitch, since Ajo himself had intricate connections with the dragons. Unfortunately, Ginitch had been sent to Liyue and was not in Nata. Therefore, she had to settle for having Iansan, who was more familiar with volcanoes, help her instead.

With Ianshan's help, the group successfully found the entrance to the Dragon Clan's Holy City, located inside the volcano—the crater of the volcano. After preparing themselves mentally, they jumped down from a high place, passed through a strange cloud layer, and finally landed in complete darkness.

It was vaguely visible that this was the interior of a building. The captain guessed that the power supply had been cut off due to years of neglect, which was why the surrounding buildings responsible for lighting were not working.

Just then, the little guy seemed to have discovered something and started moving in a certain direction. Everyone, worried about the little guy, chose to follow him.

Led by the little guy, the group discovered a large number of phlogiston channels. It was easy to deduce that these were the energy supply channels, so the group began to study how to guide the phlogiston to flow through these channels.

After some commotion, the primordial began to flow, and the group moved forward in the direction of its flow. They then discovered a very familiar dragon-shaped secret source mechanism not far away. Since the primordial had passed beneath it, the mechanism was slowly activating.

Although this secret source mechanism is about the same size as Paimon, it is, after all, a product of dragon technology, so no one knows how powerful it is.

As the other person moved their body, sounds soon came from their mouth as well.

"The sound module seems to be working properly. Alright, distinguished guests, I have been waiting for you for quite some time... What's wrong?"

"So you mean you were waiting for us to come here on purpose?" The captain gestured for everyone to lower their guard.

At this moment, the captain remembered that he had seen this secret mechanism when they were heading to the crater. It had been snatched away by the Velvet Wyvern and flown into the crater, which was why everyone had noticed something was wrong with the crater.

"Yes, I thought I was being ignored because you didn't react at all..."

"So, you are...?"

"You ask who I am? Well, this body's name is Ercatel, you can call me that," said the secret organization that called itself Ercatel. "However, names don't mean much here..."

It then went on to explain the origin of its name.

"The name of the individual, the request to change, is... through records... 150 years after that war... to be changed to, the list of the fallen—Eucartes..."

"ah?"

The little guy looked at Ercatel with a puzzled expression.

"But there's no need to rush. Let Ercatel clear a little darkness for you first... I know there's another group in Xinzhou, but come with me first."

Following Ercatel's footsteps, the group arrived at a massive mechanism.

“I must clarify beforehand that it wasn’t originally this dark… although, this is undoubtedly the interior of a volcano.”

"War?" Paimon asked.

“It’s probably referring to the war between Hebarak, the first god of fire, and Prometheus, the dragon king,” Ianshan replied, and Ecatel’s reply confirmed her guess.

"The master of this city is dead, leaving only the city to eke out a living... But who knows, maybe the city itself is already dead. Or perhaps many things that once existed were just an illusion."

"Hmm?"

"We each get what we need, little one. You've come again with a need, and we hope to rely on your strength to solve some problems... Although that sealing power seems to me like a thin rope that can only bind a child, according to the oath, only humans can open it..."

Heh, it's always like this... Just like the tyrant's followers are driven out by heroes, and after a long period of time, their descendants bring an end to the tyrant of another kingdom...

"That's a long story. Come on... start it, let this dying city struggle one last time. Now, at this moment, only you have the right to do so."

Then Ercatel gestured for the little guy to stand next to the central mechanism. As the little guy stood there, a device that looked like the sun rose from below and released a huge amount of energy, illuminating the entire space in an instant.

The once pitch-black interior of the volcano now reveals its true form: a cluster of peculiar structures beneath a clear blue sky. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, the bridges connecting them have mostly collapsed.

"Have I formally introduced its name to you? It seems not... but that's alright, welcome, welcome to the initial holy city of Turan."

"Wow, I never imagined the inside of a volcano would be like this..." Paimon exclaimed, his tone filled with disbelief. "Is this really inside a volcano? Could it be that we were secretly transported to another place while passing through the crater?"

"This is undoubtedly within the Holy Mountain, but even I... don't know when I last saw such a sight... Ah... when the light shines upon you again, I realize you have already decayed..."

"Eucartel?"

"..."

After a period of silence, Urcatel responded: "Oh, sorry, I was just indulging in unnecessary sentimentality for a moment... Low energy storage... about to go into hibernation, please replace or connect immediately... energy storage medium..."

"Oh no, could it be that Urcatel is... is going to die?"

"Paimon, I think it just means it's running out of energy and about to shut down. How can a machine die in a physiological sense?" the captain complained.

"Is that so?"

"Because activating Turan might consume a lot of power, it can't be wasted. To make a long story short, you need the other two phallus stars to break the seal on one of them... and the other... in order to truly open the celestial axis of the end... uh..."

"Are you alright?" Kong asked.

"It's alright, we'll... meet again... Sigh... Move forward, gather your strength... Ah, the pain of a lifeless body, even after so many years, I... still can't get used to it..."

After saying that, Ercartel lost its power and fell to the ground without moving. The group looked at each other and finally decided to move forward first. Of course, they also put away the secret source mechanism on the ground.

In the time that followed, the group completely restarted Turan based on the clues they had gathered. They also learned from the other machines that looked like the Ercatel that their specific name was Secret Source Dragon Servant.

In short, it is a mechanism created by Prometheus, the Fire Dragon King, to manage and repair the phosphating region. Of course, most of the machines the group encountered along the way were not the prototypes or were not the secret source dragon servants created by Prometheus himself.

These are merely mass-produced models imitated and manufactured by other high-ranking members of the Dragon Clan, solely for the purpose of managing the Holy City of Turan.

Of course, this wasn't the only discovery along the way. The group also discovered the secret to why the dragon race was able to maintain a powerful technological civilization while the Fire Dragon King was still alive: it was related to the mechanisms they had previously repaired.

There exists a sacred pool created by the Fire Dragon King to preserve civilization. As long as dragons enter it, they can connect with the source fire and quickly learn any knowledge.

However, this also has its drawbacks. Firstly, this method is highly dependent on the power of the Fire Dragon King. Secondly, because the process of acquiring knowledge is so simple and quick, the dragon race has stopped pursuing new knowledge, just like Sumeru, who had the Void Device in the past, lost his thirst for knowledge.

In this way, as soon as the Fire Dragon King dies, the dragon civilization will quickly lose its inheritance and be interrupted. Especially since at that time, a large number of dragons have already degenerated into dragon lizards and other dragons without intelligence. Without the power of the sacred pool, there is no inheritance of knowledge, which is the reason why the dragon civilization has completely disappeared.

As they carefully advanced, they cleaned up the remaining traces of the abyss inside the Holy City. It was only then that the captain understood why the abyss was able to break through the barrier set up by Kiana and appear in the Jade Valley in that form.

It's entirely because the Abyss power left over from back then still remains inside the Dragon City. The will of the external Abyss used this remaining Abyss power to break down the barrier from the inside and eventually return to Teyvat in that form.

But is Kiana really unaware of these things?

Based on the captain's current understanding of Kiana, this is certainly impossible. So why would Kiana choose to leave these abysses behind?

At this moment, the captain began to have a chilling thought. Kiana had changed without his knowledge, and he didn't know whether this change was good or bad for him or Kiana herself. All he knew was that Kiana was still the Kiana he knew, but she had shown a hint of divinity in some major issues.

Finally, the group arrived at a plaza in the very center of the holy city, which was the final trial.

With the start of the trial, the captain and Iansan were isolated outside, leaving only Kong, Paimon, and the little guy inside to undergo the trial.

Then a huge secret source mechanical dragon appeared in front of Kong and the others, which was undoubtedly the mechanism for the final trial.

Without saying a word, Kong silently took out his prototype Rock Slash and faced the Mystic Dragon with the little guy. It was a difficult battle, and even though Kong had now gained the power of fire element, he was still fighting the Mystic Dragon to a standstill.

Suddenly, the Secret Source Dragon shot out a matrix that trapped Kong and Paimeng inside. The little guy wanted to rescue them, but his strength was too weak to cause any effective damage to the barrier in front of him.

In a moment of desperation, a powerful force erupted from the little guy, and then a flash of bright light appeared where the little guy had been standing.

It's obvious that this raptor is the little guy, because it has the scarf that Sora and Paimon tied to its tail tied around its arm.

Although we don't know what the little guy went through, in the next second, he shattered the barrier that was trapping Kong and Paimon with a single charge.

The trial continued, and with the help of the little guy whose strength had greatly increased, the trial was naturally a piece of cake. Kong and the little guy defeated the Secret Source Dragon in no time.

The trial was over, and a voice from an unknown source told Kong and Paimeng that the blessing of the Flame Lord had been lifted. But before everyone could rejoice, the little guy suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground, his body rapidly shrinking until it reverted to its original juvenile form.

Although they still wanted to figure out what had happened to the little guy, the volcano was shaking violently, so to ensure their own safety, everyone had no choice but to quickly take the little guy away from the volcano.

Meanwhile, inside an unnamed space within the volcano, Kukulkan stood beside a mechanism, surrounded by enormous skeletons—the remains of the first Fire Dragon King, Prometheus—and in the distance, the extinguished Origin Fire Greatsword could be seen.

"Your skills have reached their limit at this point. I thought you could hold on a little longer with your abilities. Now I... finally understand how you feel, my great brother Prometheus."

Before the end of life comes... one really craves to see the outcome of something, or to get a clear answer, and is even willing to do anything to achieve it.

If it were you, you would surely scold me for always saying one thing and meaning another. If I wanted a dragon to truly activate that system, I should have raised it from a young age in the Holy City, letting it hate this world. Why send it to humans instead?

But look, it has made the same choice as I, and as Ochikan. My king, my brother, the master who gave me birth on the day of your birth, you said that in your final moments I would understand your vision… Hah, but on this one point, I cannot agree…”

"Because you are different from Prometheus, you still love this world, and deep down you believe that this world is not beyond saving," Kiana's voice came from the side.

“It’s you.” Kukulkan turned to look at Kiana, then looked at her pregnant belly. “It seems the rumors were true; you’ve returned to give birth to your child.”

"So, are you satisfied with the choices made by the two candidates you deemed worthy of being chosen by the dragon?"

"How much do you actually know?" Kukulkan asked, staring into Kiana's eyes.

"Everything, including what happened when you guided that little guy to make a choice."

"Aren't you afraid it will choose to activate Viclopochtli?"

"As you saw, even though it had nearly a thousand years of memories in its mind that squeezed out its own memories, even though you deliberately made it forget the existence of Kong and Paimon, it was still able to remember them at crucial moments. The connection built on emotion is not as easy to destroy as you think."

"Haha, never mind. Anyway, with you in charge of this world, the Abyss is no longer a threat. I can now follow my sovereign with peace of mind," Kukulkan said with relief.

After speaking, Kukulkan's body turned into specks of light and scattered with the wind. Kiana took one last look at Vichilopochtli's condition and, after confirming that he would soon completely lose his functions, left.

Only the skeleton of Prometheus remains here to prove that something once existed here.