Chapter 963 — Echoes

"Broadly speaking, yes," the Dragon God nodded. "The Pioneers' legacy... it was far too advanced for a species still bound to the earth, especially a million years ago, in an age when much of that 'legacy' still possessed tremendous power. That mortal civilization suddenly obtained knowledge and power far beyond their understanding, and their rulers could not explain to the people the principles behind such things, nor could their scholars reproduce the logic underlying that legacy. So deifying it became inevitable.

"People attribute things far beyond their understanding to divine miracles—that is a trap many mortal civilizations easily fall into.

"The dragon race and the Reverse Tide Empire went to war... precisely because their act of 'deification' was generating new, uncontrollable products of thought, and the war itself... was in truth inglorious for both sides."

"Inglorious for both sides?" Gaoyang instantly scented gossip and instinctively leaned forward a little. "What do you mean?"

The Dragon God glanced at Gaoyang and said unhurriedly: "Simple. Because the ones who first cultivated the Reverse Tide Empire and guided it into contact with the Pioneers' legacy... were none other than the dragons themselves."

Gaoyang: "...The dragons themselves?!"

"It was an unsuccessful attempt, a reckless and bold 'breakout plan,'" the Dragon God said mildly. "It happened very, very long ago—back then, the 'eternity cradle' had not yet been fully stabilized, Tarrond had worn its chains for only a short time, and many dragons still retained a fierce free will and hope for the future. Driven by that impulse, the dragons began to seek a way to break the deadlock from without."

Gaoyang raised an eyebrow: "Cultivate a mortal power independent of Tarrond, let them absorb the strength the Pioneers left behind and grow swiftly strong, and then break Tarrond's... 'cradle'?"

There was something strange in his gaze as he said it, for both he and the Dragon God knew well what "breaking the cradle" meant. Yet the expression on the Dragon God's own face was calmer even than Gaoyang's, and so this strange topic continued.

"Looking back now, it was hardly a mature plan, but they carried it out full of hope nonetheless," the Dragon God said, shaking His head. "The Reverse Tide Empire was still very weak then—weak enough that any adult dragon could easily steer its development—so the dragons grew careless... They believed everything could be controlled, that for a long stretch of time at least, everything could be kept in the dragons' hands.

"And what happened afterward you can easily imagine—pride is the greatest of sins. The Reverse Tide Empire, which the dragons believed was 'entirely under control,' was from the very beginning unwilling to be another race's tool. The dragons' interference and guidance only intensified their spirit of resistance and rebellion, and caused the situation to deteriorate far faster than expected. The Reverse Tide slipped from control. They were secretly developing many technologies, secretly fostering many sects, and they cracked the secret arsenals the Pioneers had left upon the earth, growing strong by leaps and bounds.

"Before Tarrond could react, the Reverse Tide had already completed its metamorphosis. They swiftly became an empire of extreme xenophobia, hostile to dragons, and formidable in arms—and, most crucially of all, they were a theocratic empire.

"Overreliance on the Voyagers' legacy, together with the act of deifying them, drove the entire Reverse Tide Empire into an uncontrollable theocratization. Even the few clear-sighted among them who recognized the danger could not halt that process. The Reverse Tide Empire styled itself the faithful of the Voyagers, and regarded the dragons of Tarrond as heretics who had betrayed and stolen the Voyagers' legacy—and all of this... was the exact opposite of Tarrond's original plan.

"And so the War of the Reverse Tide broke out."

Gaoyang opened his mouth, and it was several seconds before he found the words: "...You permitted all of this?"

"You could say that."

"Why?" Gaoyang could not help asking. "Did you not see the risk in it?"

The Dragon God's voice was low and deep: "The dragons of Tarrond did not see it, and so I did not see it either—and even had I seen the risk, so long as the dragons' cultivation of the Reverse Tide Empire did not itself violate Tarrond's 'traditional zeitgeist,' did not trigger a 'transgression,' I could not stop it."

Gaoyang thought of the "two stories" the Dragon God had just told him—and in that moment, he gained a deeper understanding of the rules those two stories concealed.

"That war destroyed the entire Reverse Tide Empire, ended an age of civilization before the Magic Tide arrived, and dealt Tarrond a severe blow," the Dragon God continued. "The losses the war brought were not in themselves the terrible thing; what was terrible was the blow to confidence and faith—the whole society of Tarrond was profoundly shaken, and that shock was reflected almost at once in the dragons' 'collective zeitgeist'..."

Gaoyang reacted in an instant, his eyes going wide: "That formed a new 'Lock' as well?!"

"In an ordinary civilization, such a brief collective emotion, lacking any accumulation, would amount to little. But the dragons' gods had already become one, and the mutual influence between god and people was stronger than ever before, so that any intense, collective psychic fluctuation would swiftly produce a wide-ranging echo in the zeitgeist—and then the echo became a new Lock.

"For more than a million years since, the dragons have never again interfered in the world beyond Tarrond; they even strictly limit the number of dragons who leave Tarrond each year.

"They cannot reveal too much about the War of the Reverse Tide to other civilizations, cannot casually disclose the Voyagers' secrets, and must, the moment another civilization comes into contact with the Voyagers' legacy, find a way to recover those 'dangerous objects'... All of these were 'echoes of reflection' produced by the dragons as a people after the turmoil of the Reverse Tide. These echoes became compulsory 'Locks,' and every dragon must obey the constraints they impose unconditionally—even after ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, a million years... even if the Voyagers' legacy is worn away entirely by time, even if no one remembers what the 'Reverse Tide Empire' specifically refers to, the dragons must still obey them forever."

Gaoyang listened in astonishment, then suddenly could not help saying: "But when Metzen spoke to me of recovering certain dangerous objects or sealing certain information, he only said it was an order from above, a 'corporate regulation'..."

"That way, at least it sounds a little nicer."