Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

“The task is arduous and the road ahead is long,” Menek said in somewhat broken Chinese.

"If I succeed this time, perhaps I can eliminate the threat of the Black Dragon, or at least... gain an opportunity," Lu Mingfei said slowly.

“Alright, you haven’t answered my friend’s question directly yet.” Menek’s expression was strange. “Who exactly are you? I thought that the one who ultimately killed the black dragon should be the best dragon slayer, and possess the most extravagant and fantastical scientific weapon, but you…”

"If someone starts from humble beginnings, grows rapidly in a short period of time, and defeats one powerful figure after another in a chaotic world, what kind of person do you think he is?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“The child of destiny is like a terminator sent down to earth by the god of destiny who is tired of the world,” Menek said, following his heart.

“With unstoppable momentum, after a few stages, everything is easily resolved.” Lu Shanyan, who had been silent all along, added, “These kinds of people often appear in chaotic times when social order is collapsing. They generally possess the talents of both strategists and leaders, and are the founders of a nation.”

“What if fate doesn’t exist? What if the war isn’t a civil war between different races?” Lu Mingfei continued, “There will always be a winner in wars between humans, and that winner will always be human, but wars between different races are different.”

“Your conditions are too harsh and demanding. If you really want to put it that way, then it’s a miracle, isn’t it? Are you saying you are that miracle?” Menek frowned.

“It’s not a miracle, nor is it anything that represents glory or prestige,” Lu Mingfei said. “He is an agent, a force that perseveres in the struggle to the end, even if the ending is full of regrets and hard to accept. As long as life has not stopped struggling, such people will eventually appear, shining in the darkness, burning in the embers, one after another, never stopping. I prefer to call it the will to live.”

He took out a glass bottle covered in thick frost and crushed it with a gentle squeeze. Golden flames roared and devoured the flesh and blood that contained power.

“Life goes on and on, and who knows what the future holds? Nidhogg was once the embodiment of the will to live in His time, but now He is the enemy of all life. But at least for now, I am willing to fight for a chance for humanity!” Lu Mingfei was enveloped in golden light. “I made this promise, and I did it.”

His divinity was revived by resisting the correction of the timeline, and almost instantly assimilated Deadpool's body, restoring his original appearance.

The time beacon was triggered, and the world instantly crumbled. Endless snow pierced through the gaps in the darkness, dazzling and noisy. The cold wind swept across the rugged ice plains, the ice layers flowed, squeezed, and cracked, and fish, shrimp, birds, and wild beasts... It was a vibrant world.

Nothing seemed to have changed, but everything about Odin had vanished.

Lu Mingfei hovered high in the sky, watching as Nidhogg once again solidified its Nibelungen and retreated to a corner of the seabed. Nidhogg needed time to fully develop its physical form, but Lu Mingfei had no intention of starting a war immediately.

He was confident of victory on his battlefield, but he also needed to make other plans.

The spatial passage connects to the central control room of Kassel College. Lu Mingfei steps out and arrives at the bustling command center without attracting anyone's attention.

"Falsifying satellite data is useless; a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft observed the explosion!" The screen showed a scene of the Doomsday Haven exploding.

Chapter 297 Expedition

Lu Mingfei came here only to modify the commands he left in the EVA's underlying command library, and left without disturbing anyone. The control room remained noisy; to the mid-level managers at Kassel College, the world hadn't changed much, and they were still dealing with the dragon crisis everywhere.

Lu Mingfei looked at the earnest, tired, excited, and worried faces, watching them chug espresso while rapidly typing on their keyboards, with people from other departments occasionally coming over to hand over files and documents.

The world hasn't really changed much, except that dragon-related events have become more frequent, and the Academy's diplomatic policy toward secular countries has changed slightly.

Overall, the world remains peaceful and has not yet reached the point where dragons are flying everywhere. Or rather, even if dragons were flying everywhere, it would be the time for the elites of Kassel College to don their armor and become knights.

They weren't ready yet, Lu Mingfei thought to himself. But that day was coming.

Lu Mingfei left.

There was no one in the academy with whom Lu Mingfei could reminisce. Angers was leading a diplomatic team active at the United Nations. Finger had taken leave to go to Greenland. Su Enxi and Jiu Demai were ordered by him to go to Europe to deal with the remaining forces of the Medical Holy Palace Society.

Even the vice principal has left the college after a long absence.

After freeing Lu Mingze's body, Lu Mingfei told his mentor Flamel about the ancient ruins that Lu Mingze had revealed, and entrusted him to investigate the clues.

Lu Mingfei arrived deep within the ice cellar. The alchemical materials he had previously exhausted had been replenished, and Angers had drawn upon the resources from the other four Doomsday Fortresses of the Secret Party. Without hesitation, Lu Mingfei melted these precious materials with a wave of his hand, manipulating them to form a three-dimensional matrix in the air.

This matrix is ​​a hundred times more complex than the guardian matrix of Kassel College, yet its size is less than one percent of the latter. This matrix is ​​similar to the matrix that incubates Chu Tianjiao's spirit, but its core is not a dormant spirit, but a complete and active soul.

There are four core members in total: Melina, Lu Mingze, Caesar, and Percy.

After doing all this, Lu Mingfei briefly visited the Hebi-hachi family in Japan, had a short talk with Genjiro, and then set off to meet up with his mentor, Flamel.

The ancient abode of the gods, the Himalayas.

At an altitude of over 7000 meters, the snow on the ground never melts, and the wind makes snowstorms almost endless.

This is a mountain that has never been climbed by humans. Around the year 2000, an expedition team attempted to reach the summit but tragically perished halfway up the mountain, and no one has followed them since.

According to Lu Mingze, 4000 million years ago, this mountain was a religious site for a certain Eocene civilization. The Black King Dragon Clan refers to it as the "Pre-Convergence Civilization" because it perished before Nidhogg was even born.

Even in the more ancient era of the Dragon Clan, only a few high-ranking members knew the secrets of that civilization, and in the former Dragon Clan Elder Council, it was referred to as the "Ancient Sages".

The ancient dragons revered its wisdom and glory, which also sowed the seeds of future disaster.

The ancient sages were the last civilization to give rise to gods before the dragons. During their time, human ancestors were still very primitive primates.

It was because of the departure and extinction of the ancient wise men that the extraordinary race of dragons was able to be born on Earth.

The ancient dragon race also explored the ruins left by ancient sages before finally choosing to ascend to heaven in the Himalayas in an attempt to emulate them. After a disastrous failure, they began the Black King Era, which is now known to the dragon race.

When the ancient sages left, they left behind a large number of precious relics. The first ancient dragons to come into contact with these relics all showed signs of genetic rewriting. The ancient dragons' alchemy at that time had reached the point where they could explore the microscopic world. They built a temple next to the ruins to study religion, genes, and ancient relics.

After a series of cruel, bloody, and repetitive experiments, the ancient dragons finally determined that relics would have two effects on organisms: one is the disordered rewriting of genes, and the other is the assimilation of the soul.

Among all the test subjects, two ancient dragons skilled in mental incantations briefly regained their senses from madness. They came into contact with the relics in different batches of experiments, were strictly isolated from each other, yet both claimed to have seen a god.

It was those experiments that confirmed the existence of "gods" that changed the ancient dragon race's development trajectory of elementalism and alchemy, leading them to develop mysticism instead.

Lu Mingfei trudged through the wind and snow, pondering the stories of the mountains beneath his feet from ancient geological times. Before long, he spotted his mentor Flamel's campsite.

"Principal Lu!" The vice principal almost jumped up to hug Lu Mingfei.

"Isn't the current principal Angers?" a young student in the expedition asked the geology professor in a low voice.

"Once a principal, always a principal!" The vice principal put his arm around Lu Mingfei's shoulder. "We've been trapped in this godforsaken place for days. We've finally been rescued by you!"

They claimed to be trapped, but they didn't look distressed at all. The diesel stove around them was simmering hot pot broth. The ingredients had been blanched and preserved before they set off. The aroma of hot pot had never wafted through the year-round snow and wind of this snow-capped mountain.

The vice principal immediately realized the exaggeration in his statement and tried to cover it up, saying, "If you hadn't come soon, we would have been left with only the liquid version of sauerkraut stewed pork knuckle made by the Equipment Department. It's just stuff stored in vacuum bags. The people from the Equipment Department actually said that their products can be eaten normally in space, and there's no need for special food packages on a mere snow mountain!"

“The people in the executive department said that the rescue team arrived at the latitude and longitude you reported, but there was no trace of you,” Lu Mingfei said. “So I came.”

"Our positioning and communication devices have failed, and it's also possible that our eyes and brains have malfunctioned," said the professor in the expedition team. "We keep going in circles, no matter which direction we go, we always end up back where we started, like ants on the surface of a sphere, always returning to the same spot after going around in circles."

“You are indeed going in circles, because you have encountered the Nibelungen. The last expedition that got lost and perished may have encountered the same situation,” Lu Mingfei said. “You are only one step away from the secret that can change the course of civilization.”

The group followed Lu Mingfei out of the tent and into the snowstorm. The snowstorm intensified, and the thick fog severely impaired their sense of direction. The expedition members had no idea how Lu Mingfei had found them, nor how he planned to lead them out.

To their surprise, Lu Mingfei did not head in any direction, but instead looked up at something high above the snow and ice.

As the golden eyes of the expedition members were activated by a domain and their bloodlines were strengthened several times, they finally saw the colossal object in the sky.

It... no, it should be called Him. He is like a giant god dwelling on a mountain peak, larger than any legendary atmospheric creature, with the earth as his mat and the sky as his canopy!

“You will enter His influence range in less than a hundred meters. Long ago, the dragon race established Nibelungen here as a defense,” Lu Mingfei explained.

"My God!" A young member of the expedition team collapsed to the ground, the enormous creature in the sky causing him severe dizziness. "Is that the Dragon King?"

Chapter 298 Conversation with the Old Gods

“The Dragon King is probably just a child in His presence,” Lu Mingfei said. “At least half of the Dragon Clan’s civilization was built under His guidance, and humans may not even be qualified to come into contact with Him.”

"God!" The old professor was almost in tears. "He will overthrow everything, and the dragon race will no longer be a shadow of despair."

“No, even dragons cannot digest His gifts. It’s like throwing a piece of bread at ants. The ants might worship you as the Mother of Bread or something, but they cannot understand complex agricultural production or industrial chains. Biological and social foundations determine this.” Lu Mingfei shook his head.

"At the very least, we must organize a larger scientific expedition!" The professor took a deep breath. "Concealing His existence is a crime!"

No one answered him.

The professor looked around at everyone, who were all silently watching him. The vice-principal, unusually serious, shook his head slightly at him.

"No." The professor lunged forward, stumbled, and fell into the snow.

One moment he was passionately defying authority for the sake of truth, the next he was trembling and prostrate on the ground, his movements almost convulsing. Around him, the light was torn apart by some force field, as if a curtain of night had been lowered and fallen upon him.

Combat Technique: Dark Wave. A combat technique that manipulates gravity, releasing dark waves to suppress surrounding enemies.

Lu Mingfei walked alone, passing the crowd and entering the Nibelungen. A few seconds later, he and the "god" completely disappeared into the snowy night.

The professor broke free from the shackles of the dark energy and immediately followed Lu Mingfei's steps, stumbling into the Nibelungen territory, but nothing happened. He didn't enter the legendary "world of the dead," nor did he come into contact with the gods. Snowflakes pelted his windproof suit, and he pressed his throbbing temples, trying to find the entrance to the Nibelungen in the darkness.

"Don't waste your energy, Fritz," the vice-principal said calmly. "Nibelungen has already been rebuilt."

The student, who had been acting naively and reservedly the whole way, stepped forward. Before the professor could react, the black muzzle of a Glock 19 was already pointed at him. This weapon was clearly not designed to deal with dragons.

“You…” the professor quickly realized, “You are… the ones you promised! Flamel! This is an operation free from factional infighting! You promised! This is the Gate of Truth, and you cannot stop me.”

"I only promised I wouldn't engage in factional infighting, but necessary preparations are still needed. The academy is a mixed bag right now, a real mixed bag, so we have to be careful." The vice-principal shrugged. "Don't be so hard on yourself. This isn't a territory you should be in. Remember Principal Lu's analogy? I'm not interested in the principles he was trying to convey, I only gleaned one thing... We're like ants, old Fritz. You've only seen the bread in front of you, you want to peek into the truth of human society, but the ant's most pressing need is to deal with the impending downpour, isn't it?"

Fritz looked at everyone's faces, his breathing gradually calming down. Then, he slumped to the ground like a deflated balloon. "We've searched for so many days, are we just going to give up here? Leave our fate to some empty god? We should use science, use science to analyze gods and demons..."

“I understand your feelings. I’ve spent the first half of my life searching for the Land of the Dead. I believed that the wealth within the Land of the Dead could bring alchemy back to life. But what’s the reality?” The vice principal patted Fritz on the shoulder. “In reality, the Land of the Dead is just a luxurious villa for dragons. We’re just trying to use human building materials to crush human ants.”

"Can we please stop talking about ants..." Fritz sighed.

“It’s good that you can understand, but those old guys in the Elders’ Council can’t. Their greed is like lard covering their hearts,” the vice principal said. “I have a feeling that by the time they realize it, things may have already reached a point of no return.”

"Is this your philosophy?" Fritz asked.

"Pretty much, to paraphrase Principal Lu..." the vice principal said softly, "The flames of war will forge them into one."

……

The ruins of the ancient dragon clan had long been destroyed by the Black King, with only the "divine body" remaining.

The style of Nibelungen of the Ancient Dragon Clan is very different from that of Nibelungen during the Black King's era. Apart from the mountains within the area covered by Nibelungen, the rest of the area is a pure white space, with no discernible depth or breadth. The light from all directions makes the snow-capped mountains quite dazzling.

Lu Mingfei attempted to contact the consciousness of "God" with his mental power. In Lu Mingze's account, the ancient dragons would establish some kind of connection simply by entering its sphere of influence, and some even collided with it using mental incantations, resulting in a more severe impact.

So far, all of Lu Mingfei's released spiritual power has gone unanswered. He is unsure whether the "god's" spiritual essence has been exhausted over millions of years, or whether the other party has perceived his true nature.

"You've become younger," a voice suddenly said.

“You do indeed have your own consciousness,” Lu Mingfei said. He couldn’t see the other person’s presence, but he could feel the fluctuations of mental energy; the voice was projected directly into his mind.

“I have always been conscious, but you cannot understand,” the voice continued. “Communicating with you is like communicating with single-celled organisms using chemical signals.”

"It doesn't sound too difficult?" Lu Mingfei said.

"What if you're trying to convey a Hamlet?"

“I understand.” Lu Mingfei nodded. “Now, back to the main topic, you have witnessed the rise and fall of dragons and humans, and possess a higher status than Nidhogg. What role do you play on this planet?”

“There is a slight error. Nidhogg, the middle-aged one among you, his status is actually higher than mine. The will of the planet is a special destiny. You can also see the Sea of ​​Destiny, but you cannot yet understand that destiny. Its only direction is... no matter what happens in the process, the victor will always be Nidhogg.” The voice said, “As for me, I am just a redundant part abandoned under the starry sky. My original self has long since left.”

"Humanity and divinity?" Lu Mingfei asked after a moment of contemplation.

"Stepping into the starry sky is destined to be a journey with no end in sight. On an extremely expanded scale of space and time, any possible flaws will be magnified infinitely. So-called humanity and redundancy are just concepts. What is truly discarded are the unnecessary parts."

Lu Mingfei detected a hint of loneliness in His tone.

“In that case, please refrain from interfering in my destiny,” Lu Mingfei said calmly. “I have no other requests.”