Chapter 645: A Dream of a Thousand Years
Clocks, sundials, hourglasses.
All kinds of time-keeping artifacts floated in this special space, some suspended in midair slowly rotating on their own, while others lay quietly in corners, their surfaces covered with a thin layer of dust.
Garoth’s expression was grave as he scanned every inch of every corner.
“Audothos might have left other things behind.”
“At the very least, he could have told me what that ring was and what its effects are.”
The red iron dragon thought to himself.
He was still uneasy about the ring that had sunk into his wrist.
Although he felt no discomfort from it for now, the fact that it had simply vanished without a trace, leaving no mark behind—such a thing happening to one’s own body would leave anyone unsettled.
But, things did not go as he hoped.
Garoth meticulously inspected the entire space, but aside from the ring, he found nothing else unusual here.
No notebooks or journals, no diaries of any kind. The Gold Dragon King, Audothos, had left nothing behind.
A great dragon of the Mandate tier.
And just like that, he had vanished without a trace.
Garoth stretched his right claw, looking down at his wrist, his eyes lost in thought.
Based on the information he had gathered, he leaned toward this conclusion:
Audothos, just as he had told the Silver Dragon King in his final words, had succeeded.
But it seemed he had not fully succeeded.
On the verge of success, some unforeseen accident had occurred, causing him to disappear without a trace from his own domain, not even leaving a single message behind.
And the mysterious ring from earlier was likely one of his research results.
Perhaps it was even the very culprit behind his disappearance.
As for where Audothos had gone—whether he was dead, whether he had traveled to another plane of existence, or whether, as he had dreamed, he had actually crossed into another timeline whose existence was unknown...
Garoth could not determine that.
“I know too little. Thinking more is useless.”
“I hope he isn’t dead. I hope he simply went to the ideal timeline he dreamed of. I wish him the best.”
He thought silently in his heart.
Garoth had never been narrow-minded.
For beings who had no conflict with him and who, like him, were resolutely advancing toward their goals, he would not hesitate to offer his blessings.
Audothos had not interacted much with him.
But in Garoth’s impression, this dragon, who had poured all his heart and soul into the mysteries of time, was stubborn, focused, willing to give up everything else for his goal.
A being like that at least deserved a blessing.
As for this space...
Garoth glanced again at the special space he was in.
He noticed that without the Gold Dragon King, the flow of time here was still different from the outside. It seemed that the space no longer relied on the Gold Dragon King to maintain its operation; it had formed an independent system.
However, Garoth had no interest in such a space that would slow down his growth.
What he sought was strength, evolution, reaching higher levels in the shortest possible time.
At the Cold Sacred Spring.
The Silver Dragon King, Nereus, was still coiled on the massive reef, her body half-curled.
The silver dragon tilted her head slightly, looking at the returning red iron dragon, a hint of confusion in her eyes:
“Why are you back so soon?”
Garoth had spent a considerable amount of time in the time-slowed space, carefully examining every corner, but because of the difference in time flow, from the outside, only a very short moment had passed.
Before he could answer, the silver dragon continued:
“Is Audothos fine?”
“Is he just so deeply focused on his research, completely immersed in his own world, that he forgot to respond to the outside?”
After she finished speaking, a look of expectation appeared in her eyes.
After all, this was not without precedent.
When Audothos was absorbed in the mysteries of time, he could treat even urgent messages as if they were nothing but wind. Such a thing was something he was absolutely capable of.
Garoth was silent for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
“I didn’t find Audothos’s figure in the space he occupied.”
“......”
He lowered his eyes and glanced at the wrist of his right claw, then raised his head and told the Silver Dragon King about his findings one by one.
“That’s about the gist of it.”
Nereus listened in silence until the end.
The scales between her brows furrowed deeply.
The Silver Dragon King rarely showed such an expression. On her usually calm and serene dragon face, this was an extremely rare and significant change in expression.
“You mean, Audothos created a strange object and then went missing at the same time?”
“That seems to be the case, for now.”
Garoth said, raising his right claw and extending it slightly toward the Silver Dragon King.
“Take a look. Use your perception, or any method you’re good at, to see if you can find any clue. I’ve already checked, but I can’t sense anything. Maybe you can find something I missed.”
Nereus did not refuse.
She rose from the reef, her long body stretching out, and moved closer.
Under the gradually darkening sky, the red scales shimmered with a dull luster. The silver dragon studied them for a moment, then lifted one of her front claws and gently rested it on the red iron dragon’s wrist.
The moment the claws touched, a chill emanated from the silver dragon’s claws.
The cold air seeped through the gaps in Garoth’s scales like a living thing, like countless thin needles of ice threading beneath his skin, bringing waves of stinging pain and cold.
The sensation was not pleasant, but Garoth’s expression did not change.
Nereus narrowed her eyes slightly, focusing intently on her investigation.
Her perception scanned inch by inch.
From scales to skin, from skin to muscles, from muscles to bones... The examination was extremely meticulous, leaving no tiny detail unchecked.
The north wind howled low between the two Mandate great dragons.
Time ticked by, second by second.
A long while passed.
The Silver Dragon King released her front claw. She shook her head.
“I sense nothing out of the ordinary.”
“This part of you is perfectly normal. There is no trace of any foreign object. If what you say is true, and a ring did disappear into your wrist, then its concealment has exceeded the range of my perception.”
She paused, lifted her eyes, and looked at Garoth.
“It seems as though it doesn’t even exist on the material plane.”
“A thing that even a Mandate-level being cannot detect—if it truly holds some hidden danger...”
She did not finish her sentence, but the warning and reminder in her words were clear.
Garoth retracted his right claw: “Since that’s the case, I’ll just have to wait and see for now.”
As the one directly involved, he didn’t react much.
Garoth believed that even if this thing was harmful, unless it could kill him in a short amount of time, if it remained on his body for a long time, no matter what it was, it would sooner or later only be something he would adapt to.
The Silver Dragon King said nothing.
But the wrinkles between her scales deepened even more, and a shadow of gloom settled in her eyes. Clearly, she was having difficulty accepting Audothos’s disappearance.
The atmosphere was heavy.
The red iron dragon tilted his head slightly, looking at the silver dragon.
“Look on the bright side. Maybe Audothos got what he wanted.”
Garoth said: “He spent so many years of his life’s work, wasn’t it just to go to some other timeline? Maybe he finally succeeded in his last experiment and happily ran off to the perfect timeline he had in mind.”
“And before leaving...”
“He was grateful for all the evolutionary materials I provided him over the years, so he specially left some treasure for me, as a thank-you gift. He just left in a hurry and didn’t have time to leave a manual.”
Upon hearing this, Nereus barely managed a faint smile.
But it vanished in an instant.
“That doesn’t sound like something he would do.”
“Audothos’s mind was entirely on time. Everything else was merely secondary and dispensable in his eyes.”
“If... he really did succeed.”
“Facing his ideal timeline, he would probably just charge out excitedly, forgetting to even look back, let alone leave something behind intentionally. That’s the real Audothos.”
Garoth listened, nodding thoughtfully.
But one thing puzzled him.
He knew that the Gold Dragon King was obsessed with time, but he had never known where that obsession came from.
What had caused a Dragon King to pour all his life’s work into the mysteries of time?
There had to be a reason.
He thought for a moment, then asked: “Why was Audothos so obsessed with time? Did something special ever happen to him?”
The Silver Dragon King hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.
“When he was young, aside from his innate special talent, Audothos’s personality was no different from a traditional Gold Dragon’s.”
“Righteous, enthusiastic, tough... The standard Gold Dragon way.”
“But one day, he suddenly changed.”
The Silver Dragon King said in a deep, ethereal voice: “He said he had a completely real dream.”
“In that dream, he discovered that it was a completely different history. The great Nine-Faced Dragon God had never fallen, the Platinum Dragon God and the Chromatic Queen had never been born, the Dragonfall War had never happened, and the Dragon Lords of all colors had always carried glory and honor.”
“The strangest thing was, he said he lived for a thousand years in that dream.”
“He said that in that dream world, he achieved immortality, had his own mate and offspring, and fought alongside the dragons of that dream to protect the world. Every day was fulfilling and happy.”
“Until... the dream ended.”
After hearing this, Garoth showed a hint of surprise.
To be honest, he was somewhat taken aback.
He had guessed many reasons for Audothos’s obsession with time, but he had never imagined it would be related to a dream.
He had thought Audothos had an accident while studying his talent or had a natural, special affinity for time.
But a dream?
The Dream World was something Garoth was also familiar with.
He had visited Cerora’s constructed dreams countless times.
No matter how many times he entered, he could clearly distinguish the difference between a dream and reality. No matter how real the things in a dream were, they always had a feeling of illusion. The difference between the two was enormous.
But Audothos seemed different.
Garoth looked thoughtful, then said slowly:
“A dream of a thousand years—that sounds like some little story made up by a bard.”
The Silver Dragon King nodded: “Yes. When Audothos first woke up, he couldn’t accept reality at all. He did many crazy things. Other dragons even thought he had gone mad or had been hit by some kind of curse.”
“Later, his emotions gradually stabilized.”
“But he still felt that he hadn’t been dreaming.”
Garoth took over the conversation and said: “So, he thought he had gone to another timeline.”
“Probably. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so obsessed with exploring time. He truly believed that world existed and that he had a chance to return there.”
After learning the truth, Garoth fell silent.
A dream. It had caused a Dragon King, who should have broken through to Immortality long ago, to trap himself at the Mandate level for years, and then vanish without a trace.
Perhaps some listeners would think he was a little crazy, that giving up everything for a dream wasn’t worth it.
But Garoth didn’t think so.
“Audothos’s ‘dream’—just how wonderful must it have been for him to be willing to give everything, to stake it all?”
He thought instead.
Silence fell again.
Nereus’s gaze crossed the surface of the Sacred Spring Lake, looking toward the gray-white horizon, the defense line of the Everbright Dragon Domain.
“Sheffield was lost to the Abyss, his fate unknown.”
“Audothos disappeared from his own domain, without leaving even a single farewell.”
“The Bronze Dragon King, the Gold Dragon King... Suddenly, among the Metal Dragon domains, only three Dragon Kings remain.”
Nereus could feel it clearly.
The era in which the Dragon Kings protected the dragon race seemed to be heading toward an unstoppable end.
Garoth could understand how Nereus felt.
But times were constantly changing.
No matter how powerful an individual was, no matter how long their heritage, they could not stop the flood of such change.
Old orders collapsed, new ones rose.
Those caught in the middle could only adapt—or be eliminated.
Or... personally create a new era.
The red iron dragon’s eyes were as steady as cast metal, and his voice was resolute: “But Bernardo now has one more empire and one more emperor.”
He paused, looking straight at the silver dragon.
“And this emperor will eventually achieve immortality, and the empire will last forever.”
Nereus was slightly stunned, staring intently at the red iron dragon.
Then, she let out a sigh.
“Perhaps this is fate.”
“We Dragon Kings will eventually fall, one by one. This is the era of Aola now. And I sincerely hope that the Sacred Aola will go even further.”
With that, Nereus slowly withdrew her gaze.
She curled back up on the reef, her dragon wings spreading slightly wider, like a silver-white cloak draped over her side, her posture more relaxed than before.
“I’m a little tired.”
“I want to get a good sleep.”
She closed her eyes, the luster of her scales gradually dimming in the twilight: “Garoth, if you ever get news of Audothos, whether it’s good or bad, remember to let me know.”
“Alright.”
The red iron dragon gave a brief response.
He turned around, his wings spreading slightly.
Before leaving, he cast one last glance at Nereus. The silver dragon lay quietly on the reef, the tip of her tail dipping back into the lake water, hanging still without even a single ripple, as if she had fallen asleep in the blink of an eye.
She really did look tired.
And it was an unprecedented exhaustion.
Garoth withdrew his gaze.
The north wind howled past, and the crimson figure tore through space, vanishing from where he stood.
The shores of the Sacred Spring fell back into silence.