Chapter 1203 — Ominous Signs

"It is indeed mana erosion, and it happened while they were still in the egg," Enya said slowly. "But you needn't be so anxious for now—I've already examined both little ones. The erosion won't affect their health, and in the long run, this innate magical imprint may even be somewhat beneficial."

Listening to the exchange between Enya and Mei Cen, Gao Yang realized something might be going on. He immediately stepped forward two paces and crouched down beside the two wyrmlings: "Mei Cen, is there a problem—er, by the way, are these two little ones boys or girls?"

Only then did he realize he still hadn't sorted out this rather crucial question: in human eyes, the sex of a dragon's true form was truly hard to distinguish. In fact, sex aside, if he didn't hear their voices, he couldn't even tell the dragons' faces apart. Once Mei Cen shifted back to her original form and flew into a flock of dragons, he could never pick her out...

At that, Mei Cen gave Gao Yang a surprised look, her tone utterly matter-of-fact: "Two pretty little girls—can't you tell?"

Gao Yang was perfectly candid: "How could I possibly tell—to me all dragons look the same, at most a slight difference in color..."

"Well... all right, I suppose I can understand that," Mei Cen seemed about to make some retort, but the words never left her mouth; she only sighed helplessly and then turned her attention to the two wyrmlings. "They look fine, no major problems. The two little ones probably were affected during the egg stage by drastic changes in the external environment, and were born with some traces of mana erosion..."

Before she could finish, Enya quietly added from the side: "Dragons are a race extremely sensitive to magical environments; changes in the surroundings during the egg stage easily leave marks on them. In ancient times, this sensitive reaction gave rise to many dragon subspecies or 'special individuals'—crystal dragons, wind dragons, thunder dragons, mountain dragons, and so on. Such changes could be good or bad: some gave rise to extraordinarily powerful dragons, while others led to severe deformities and shortened lifespans.

"But later, with the advent of intelligent hatching technology and factory-style management, this phenomenon gradually faded away—newborn dragons were uniformly 'standard healthy individuals,' carefully protected and meticulously selected under strictly controlled conditions."

"Now that Omega and the hatching factories are gone, this kind of 'subspecies change' that only existed in ancient times is happening again—is that what you mean?" Gao Yang raised an eyebrow, feeling he had gained yet another piece of utterly useless trivia. "Then the administrators of Tarond will have to watch out from now on. Traditional hatching methods really do seem less reliable than the factories. And with Tarond's environment so complicated now, who knows what might affect the newborn wyrmlings and the unhatched eggs..."

Enya gave a casual "Mm." Whether it was his imagination or not, Gao Yang felt there was something absent-minded in her response—this former god of the dragons seemed to have thought of something worth worrying about, and was pondering and weighing it.

Soon, Gao Yang's feeling was confirmed.

"I... may be overthinking it, but the magical imprints on these two wyrmlings make me a little worried," a slightly hesitant voice came from within the giant golden egg. "Of course, I'm not worried about their health—they look very healthy. What worries me is the reason behind this change..."

"The reason behind it?" Gao Yang spoke instinctively. "Isn't it simply that after that great war, Tarond's environment was filled with all kinds of chaotic mana..."

"On the contrary—only pure magical stimulation, close to the source, could have caused this kind of mutation in the two wyrmlings," Enya said before Gao Yang could finish. "The chaotic magical environment after the war could never produce this kind of harmonious 'magical imprint.'"

Gao Yang caught the strange undertone in Enya's voice, and his expression grew serious: "Only pure magical stimulation close to the source could cause this kind of mutation? You mean..."

"In my memory, something similar has happened only in a very, very ancient age... nearly two million years ago, long before the Voyagers visited this planet, when dragons were still just one of the many ordinary races on this planet," Enya's voice sank low. One hatchling had clambered onto her eggshell using hands, feet, and wings, and she had deftly swept it off with invisible mana. "Back then dragons still relied on primitive means to preserve and hatch their eggs. For a time, many hatchlings like these two little ones appeared in concentrated numbers in the northern regions..."

Gao Qi raised an eyebrow and instinctively exchanged a glance with Meitzen, then turned to Enya. "What happened at the time?"

"Nothing happened at the time—but shortly afterward, we discovered that an enormous surge had occurred in the 'Deep Blue Netway' that runs through this planet. Pure mana coursed and leaked between the various realms, and afterward exerted a profound influence on the global climate. A worldwide rise in mana and extreme climate change lasted for a full ten years."

The hatching chamber fell silent for a time. Gao Yang's expression turned unusually grave, and after a few seconds of pondering he said softly, "The Deep Blue Netway..."

This was a new concept that had only recently entered the eyes of scholars in the mortal nations, and one that Gao Yang had heard not long ago from Verodai/Ophelia. It referred to a vast mana system that ran through the planet beneath Gao Yang's feet and through multiple realms, like the magical equivalent of an artery for this planet, supporting the circulation of magical energy across the entire planet.

In Gao Song's understanding, it was somewhat like a planetary power system, akin to ocean currents, monsoons, and the geomagnetic field—a natural megastructure unique to this magical world. Perhaps similar things existed on other planets as well.

In the distant Gondor era, the Well of Deep Blue that had once supported the pinnacle of human civilization was in fact a large vent through which this vast system was exposed to the material world. Humans had drawn planetary-level energy directly from it, and even a fraction was enough to carry an entire civilization to its peak.

It was for this reason that, after recalling just how vast and astonishing the Deep Blue Netway was, Gao Yang instantly grew tense about what Enya had mentioned.