Chapter 1068 — The Envoys of Tarongde

"Nothing," Metzen shook her head, gathering her thoughts completely. "I was only thinking of the last time I left Xuanyao City. Back then I never imagined I would return in my present identity and form... I doubt Gao Yang Cecil ever imagined what would happen after that either."

Cassandra was briefly silent, as if unsure what to say, but she soon broke the quiet again. "Ah! Something seems to be rising over there—is that a welcome for us?"

Metzen raised her head to look into the distance, and the kin behind and beside her lifted their heads almost in the same instant. In the slowly sinking sunset, they saw what was happening in the sky above that distant city—

They saw the city's lights come on layer by layer from the edges inward, and beneath the gradually dimming sky, those advancing tiers of artificial light seemed like starlight fallen to earth, guiding the way forward. Several flying devices with blinking lights rose from the city's center into the sky—flying machines with inverted-cone bodies and dragon-wing structures. Then, a moment later, two directional beams of light rose from near the mechanical bridge over the Whitewater River, while the flying machines hovering in midair spread outward to either side—the bomb racks beneath them had been replaced with enormous crystal devices, and beneath the glow of the lights on the ground those crystals gradually filled with a hazy radiance, and then suddenly a holographic projection fully a hundred meters tall appeared in the sky above the city.

The content of the projection was not complicated—only two words written in both the dragon tongue and the common human tongue: Welcome, friends.

Metzen stared at the spectacle in the sky in astonishment, for a moment forgetting to speak, and the dragons around her were equally dumbstruck—they had not expected so solemn a welcome in a human realm, nor to see the writing of their homeland so far from Tarongde.

Instinctively, Metzen blinked, wanting to record the scene before her, but then she remembered that the Omega Network was offline and that most of the implants in her body had ceased to function or been removed—she shook her head, feeling rather regretful about it—and almost at the same moment, the lights from the ground changed as well:

As the dragon flock entered the airspace above the city, the surging layers of light on the ground began in part to go dark or dim, while other lights grew brighter, tracing clear lines and arrows across the darkening land; the craft that had made the holographic projection in the air buzzed in closer, circling near the dragons and flashing simple light signals.

This was the landing guidance assistance provided by the humans.

Metzen blinked, and then out of the corner of her eye noticed one of the craft approaching from the side; sensing the ripple of a messaging spell, she connected instinctively and heard the transmission from the craft: "Welcome to Xuanyao City—this is Sujina, commander of the Dragonblood Special Operations Brigade. We will be providing you with navigational escort from here."

It took Metzen half a beat to react. "Dragonblood... you're dragonblood?"

"Yes," the voice on the other end of the spell seemed to carry a hint of a smile. "But here I'm just a soldier carrying out a mission. A pleasure to meet you, dragon lady from Tarongde."

"I... am glad to meet you too," Metzen said, and found herself strangely flustered. "In any case... thank you for your help, Miss Sujina."

The craft collectively dropped altitude, and behind them the small flock of seven dragons slowed as well, following them down toward the landing grounds within the city.

Within the city, countless eyes were raised to the sky, and every gathering place permitted was full of shifting figures. When the dragon flock at last appeared on the horizon in the dusk, gasps of wonder rose district by district.

The people of Cecil, who had seen so much of the world, gained yet another piece of insight today that few other nations could ever hope to replicate: they witnessed with their own eyes pure-blooded dragons from beyond human civilization fly into a human city in flocks for the first time—and not as the "wicked dragons" of minstrel tales, coming to plunder treasure and land, but as "ambassadors" representing another civilized realm, bearing the friendship of a nation.

Of course, the people of Cecil had seen dragons before; dragonkin exchange students clad in steel wings could often be spotted practicing flight even in the imperial capital. It was precisely for this reason that the citizens of Xuanque City merely gasped when the great dragons appeared, rather than descending into greater panic. But on the other hand, these "pure-blooded dragons" from Tarongde were vastly different from the dragonkin they saw every day—any human with normal powers of observation could tell that the dragons now sweeping over the city possessed far more massive bodies, far more majestic bearing, and far healthier wings.

Those were true dragons.

Gao Yang stood before the largest square in the heart of the city—Pioneer Square—on a raised platform, watching the dragon flock slowly draw near. The sky had already edged toward the last light of dusk, and so those overlords of the heavens, as though flown straight out of legend, were gilded with a pale golden sheen. They came from the northern horizon, and guided by a series of beacon lights and an escort squadron, they arrived smoothly above the square, then one after another began to descend.

Around the square, reporters and photographers from every newspaper and from the aetherweb broadcast programs bustled furiously, straining every skill they possessed to capture every detail of the dragons' arrival, while the citizens fortunate enough to be present at this firsthand spectacle had already begun waving the flags in their hands, adults and children alike caught up in excitement and tension.

Gao Yang drew a deep breath, then widened his eyes and searched carefully among the dragons for a certain figure. After sweeping his gaze across them several times, he finally caught sight of that somewhat familiar form.

The blue dragon descended, its posture rough but reasonably steady, and almost the instant it came to a halt, the great dragon also turned its head, its gaze meeting Gao Yang's eyes.

She nodded toward the platform.