Adrian was utterly shocked."Dragonking? How is this possible? Didn’t the Gost Emperor kill him? What's he doing here?" Adrian said in disbelief."He was, and that was right before I fell into deep sleep. I have no idea how he ended up here.""Where was his corpse kept?""There was none. The emperor chained him up and threw him into an alchemical furnace after killing him, which is why I never expected him to be in here." Adrian fell silent. If Rozi was right, Dragonking should have been reduced to ashes, so what was he doing inside this coffin? There were two possibilities—either Rozi was lying, or the person in the coffin was indeed Dragonking. Given their history, Adrian was sure that Rozi would not lie, which meant that the person in the casket was truly Dragonking."According to your memories, there should be nothing left of Dragonking. Yet he's now here in this coffin. Is this a coincidence or an orchestrated plan?" Adrian contemplated all the possibilities.Rozi inhaled
Now, Adrian was faced with his biggest question, and Dragonking's appearance became a major point of the matter. Neither of the pair knew what Dragonking had experienced or whether he was still alive or not. If he was, would his existence spell disaster for the world or would he bring hope to it? These were distinct issues, each with varying outcomes. Rozi asked, "What should we do now?"Dragonking's appearance made Adrian and Rozi feel uneasy. They could not even determine if this was the same Dragonking they knew.Adrian remained silent for a very long time. He knew he could not allow the corpse to be left unattended in their current situation. He needed to know whether this Dragonking was the same one from Gostia and whether he was still alive."We don't have the luxury to dwell on him right now. We have to seal his coffin and revisit the issue once we get out of Partingia.""All right, let's do that."After all, Dragonking was not their prime objective. Their goal right now
Bam! Bam! Bam!Cracks began to appear on the ice. As the pair continued to hit the ice, the area surrounding the coffin began to sink in, but the coffin remained stationary. A giant hole was being made.Rozi said in delight, "You're right, Adrian. The area beneath the coffin is hollow. You’re such a genius!”Adrian smiled.Now that they had determined that the area beneath the coffin was hollow, there was hope for them to locate the Partingian ruins."The lava melted a lot of the ice, so it isn't as thick as it used to be. Otherwise, we’d never break through this. This should be the place Dragonking was buried. If he has any connection to Partingia, we should be able to find Partingia's entrance underneath," Adrian said."Let's hurry up and get down there then."Seeing Rozi’s eagerness to proceed, Adrian nodded, and both of them leaped down. They descended for about fifty meters and landed on a rocky surface. This underground space was vastly different from the icy landscape abo
"This is a Partingian-style altar. This was done by my people," Rozi said."It's a meteorite," Adrian noted after observing the altar a little.Rozi was initially puzzled but then noticed the resemblance between the altar and the meteorites. The stones embedded in the heads of the monsters and the altar's material were similar, but the altar did not have those strange runes engraved on it."It does look like meteorites that have been forged and shaped to make this altar. After the Gost emperor was sealed away, the Partingians used the meteorites to do this after I fell into a deep sleep," Rozi said in astonishment.Adrian surveyed the area and commented, “And it's not just the altar. I've also noticed that Dragonking's coffin is made from meteorites as well, and so is everything in here. This is a literal meteorite crater."Rozi was stunned by this revelation. She began observing her surroundings closely. Aside from the wall paintings, she had not noticed anything peculiar. Given
"The truth is that the meteorites originated from here, from Partingia!" Adrian exclaimed as his eyes flew open and fixed on Rozi. He was absolutely certain about his deduction.Rozi stepped back several paces, disbelief all over her face. "H-How's that possible? How could Partingia be the source of the meteorites? I lived here for decades. I would’ve known.”"Do you not age because the emperor forced you to take those elixirs you made? Did you verify this?""The emperor consumed those elixirs himself.""And what did the emperor turn into? If the elixirs were the source of your eternal youth, you should've become something like the emperor after ingesting the meteorite elixirs, but nothing like that happened.“Also, you developed a cure for the worms. How did you derive that cure? The raw ingredients you used probably originated from Partingia, am I right? Before returning to Enigma, you visited Partingia and met with your father, didn't you?” Adrian inquired.Rozi nodded. "You'r
Adrian's theory left Rozi utterly stunned. She had lived in Partingia for many years, completely unaware that beneath the land lay an enormous meteorite. This might reveal the origins of Partingia.Gazing at the craters at their feet, Rozi fell into deep contemplation. After some time, she said, "Everything you've said so far is possible, but do you think the Partingians were involved in Wonder's plan? And if that is so, my father never told me about it. I didn't even know we were coexisting with meteorites." Adrian smiled, thinking that things were getting interesting. It was like a game of chess among the people of the ancient era. And now, he was walking down a path based on the board.He explained, "I thought he was the one who brought the meteorites into existence so that we’d live our lives according to his wishes. But now that I know he had nothing to do with them, I'm more certain that everything that has happened revolves around these meteorites." Rozi thought that Adria
After hearing Adrian's words, Rozi's face lit up with a realization. She was unable to refute Adrian's theory as everything was very plausible. She asked, "Do you mean all these catastrophes were caused by the meteorites and that they've existed since ancient times?""Everything we've seen so far indicates that he's after the meteorites, which means they’re precious to him." "What makes you say that?" "Simple. There were meteorites in Wonder's world, and he used them to forge many artifacts. The Creator also uses them to control the monsters, which proves how multi-functional the meteorites are."Rozi agreed with everything Adrian had said thus far. "If all of this is true, then what role does Partingia play in this?""We’ll have to look up your ancestors for this answer. But at the moment, we don’t have any evidence to make up a solid theory. One thing is for certain though. Your father was one of the people who was guarding this secret. In other words, the Partingians were p
"Looks like my guess about Partingia being built on top of meteorites was correct." Adrian could now verify his first deduction.He said, "It's all very clear now. Partingia disappeared because he found out about the meteorite's existence, so he conjured an entire snowy mountain to bury the country.""But why didn’t he take the meteorites instead? Why did he only freeze them within the mountain?" Rozi asked curiously. Adrian shook his head, not knowing the answer to her question. Still, he speculated, "There are two possible reasons. First, he did want to take the meteorites, but couldn't. So, he buried this place using the snowy mountain as he didn't want anyone else taking the meteorites. The second possibility is that he had tried to reset Partingia but failed because of the meteorites' powers. Hence, he could only seal this place.”Rozi wanted to find answers as soon as she could. She stood up from the altar and said, "Speculation is of no use to us right now. You should inste