A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

If it weren't for the touch, Bray wouldn't even have felt anything on his shoulder.

“What you said makes a lot of sense, but you still managed to fool me,” Bray said expressionlessly.

“Hmm.” Nicol Bolas made a cute humming sound, seemingly quite proud of it.

“How about I have Favarona restore your prosthetic eye?” Nicol Bolas suggested.

“My ally, your prosthetic eye is severely damaged. Even if I store magic power in it, it will dissipate very quickly.”

Although Bray's Magic Eye was "recharged" by Nicol Bolas, battle damage was inevitable.

That is, Bray rarely opens his left eye, but when he does open his left eye to fight, he almost always has to use his prosthetic eye beyond its capacity.

As a result, the lifespan of a prosthetic eye is naturally short.

Even if this was something produced by the Demon Sage, it couldn't withstand the way Bray used it.

Bray touched his blindfold and thought for a moment.

He knew the condition of his prosthetic eye, but he didn't want to owe a favor to someone like "Spring Wolf," a Silver-ranked individual.

"Never mind... I'll think of another way." Bray sighed.

Favarona healed Naruko's weakened body, treated Levy's father, and helped herself many times when she was seriously injured.

Even if Alvarona didn't say anything, Bray could tell that the proud Silver Saint was growing dissatisfied.

"A mere Dark Iron race." That's probably what Favarona thought. Even though Bray was considered Favarona's ally, she still looked down on Bray's Dark Iron race identity from the bottom of her heart.

This is inevitable, after all, the creatures of the world do not become more enlightened with the passage of time.

On the contrary, long-lived people tend to become more persistent in their attachments as time goes by.

Nicholas, a Silver Being, is an anomaly. He is a Silver Being who puts aside all concepts and instead studies magic and other things.

Well, although Nicolaes currently seems more like an immature girl than a scholar.

“Okay, okay.” Nicol Bolas shrugged and snapped his fingers.

The surrounding scenery seemed to be covered by a film, making it slightly blurry.

Nothing special. Nicol Bolas simply placed himself and Bray in a virtual space of his own making, so that their conversations wouldn't be known to too many people.

The outside is currently surrounded by illusions, and no one can detect anything amiss.

Of course, I'm referring to people.

As for the outside world, I reckon Naruko is probably the only human there.

Xiaoxue and Xiaoyou realized that Nicol Bolas had created an illusion, but they didn't say anything.

Xiao You continued to stand, and Xiao Xue continued to hold Xiao You; in a way, it was quite harmonious.

Levy saw through the illusion directly; from her perspective, Bray and Nicol Bolas were whispering to each other.

However, she didn't care much about the conversation between the human and the dragon.

Levy grabbed the fire cat from her head and put it in her arms.

Then I started petting the cat.

Nicol Bolas didn't expect the illusion to be that powerful; he didn't intend to bother deceiving the twin dragons and the lion in the first place.

Naruko also acted normally, because she hadn't seen through the illusion at all; she only saw Nicol Bolas flirting with Bray.

"Tsk, those are just dead fish eyes," Naruko muttered resentfully.

Levy looked at Naruko with some confusion, wondering why she was so unhappy about Nicolas and Brap chatting so casually.

But Levy quickly returned to her cat-petting mode, whatever~

---

This wasn't the first time Bray had dealt with Nicholas, so he probably knew what He had to say.

“Is it necessary?” Bray asked.

“Once you hear what I have to say, you will find it necessary,” Nicol Bolas said slowly.

"I intend to take you to meet our newly acquired allies in the Eastern Continent."

Bray was a little surprised and couldn't help but glance at him sideways.

Although he knew that Nicol Bolas was forming an alliance, he always thought that the total number of members in the alliance could probably be counted on one hand.

Unexpectedly, Zu Long himself found an ally.

"Although I'm a little curious about what the Silver Seed is, I only went to the Eastern Continent to set up a location this time. I'll be right back after that," Bray said. He teleported back immediately after setting up the location, not wanting to cause any trouble at all.

"If you want, how about I send Naruko straight back to her hometown?"

“No need.” Bray simply shook his head, refusing Nicol Bolas’s offer.

“I’m not taking advantage of such a convenient opportunity. You’re really hard to understand, my ally.” That’s why Nicol Bolas found it so amusing.

“I just don’t want to owe anyone favors, there’s no other reason,” Bray replied.

"But why do you want me to meet your new ally?"

"Because it's necessary, my ally."

“The Eastern Continent is about to face disaster.” Nicol Bolas glanced at Bray.

Bray paused for a moment, then looked at Naruko outside the virtual space and fell into deep thought.

"What kind of disaster?" Bray asked directly.

"The calamity caused by the silver will be."

"..." Bray remained completely unmoved, even staring at Nicholas with lifeless, dead-fish eyes for a moment. "Ally, I can see the words 'it's always like this' in your eyes." Nicholas patted Bray's head.

He was sitting on Bray's shoulder, and it would have been easy for him to pat Bray on the head.

“Otherwise, we’re used to it,” Bray said.

Anyone would get used to it.

Every now and then you have to face off against silver-level enemies, and occasionally you even have to deal with bronze-level enemies. Anyone would find that annoying.

Bray just wants to make some money and then live a mundane, ordinary life.

The good news is that his younger sister will soon become a professor-like figure, which will greatly reduce the financial burden on him.

After all, professors in the magic department also receive salaries, and often quite substantial ones.

Sorry, I accidentally went off-topic when I mentioned my younger sister.

In short, Bray was utterly exhausted by all of this.

“Yes, you should get used to it.” Nicol Bolas patted Bray’s head like an elder.

Bray's hair was messy, and his right eye was lifeless; he didn't look like someone who usually dealt with such troublesome matters.

Instead, he seems more like a somewhat vicious adventurer who's just getting by.

Nicolaes had grown accustomed to many things over the long years, and Bray naturally had his own habits as well.

A monster appears somewhere, so Bray goes to kill it.

This isn't the first or second time this has happened.

Although many incredible things will happen during the process, and there will be clashes between people.

But for Bray, these were just seasonings.

The method for handling the incident itself remains combat.

“But this time is different from the past, my ally. You need to take this seriously.” Nicol Bolas’s tone became a little more serious.

The usually composed Nicolaes adopted a serious tone, which was uncharacteristic of him.

"This time, it's not just about one or two Silver Seeds."

"They are my kin, and I must face the arrival of my fellow dragons."

The Eastern Continent is about to face not just a simple threat from the Silver Race, but the Dragon Race as a whole.

“…” Bray looked silently at Nico Bolas, who was perched on his shoulder.

"Why?" he asked simply.

However, Nicholas understood that Bray was asking why. If he couldn't even grasp such a simple question, he wouldn't be worthy of being called the First Emperor.

“The Wall of the World,” Nicol Bolas uttered a single word.

"Originally, did you think I could stay in the Black Iron Clan's city so casually?" He said.

That's right, that's why Nicol Bolas only recently moved to the capital; before that, he had to live in remote, even inaccessible, caves.

Silver species are confined within the realm of cause and effect due to the "wall of the world".

If Nicholas wanted to settle in the capital, he would be forced to leave due to various unforeseen circumstances.

The Black Iron race certainly poses no threat to Nicol Bolas.

But the world itself can.

For example, the surrounding natural environment might inexplicably go berserk; for example, one might inexplicably get into a dispute with another Silver species and be forced to relocate; or for example, one might have to leave due to some suddenly added tasks.

No matter how powerful the Silver race is, it can never be the master of the world.

Born into the world, how can one have the right to dominate it?

Everyone believes that the world has no will, so they always talk about dominating the world.

But in reality? Everything can be destroyed if nature requires it.

Even higher species are no exception.

Even the gods were expelled, let alone other races.

The reason why silver seeds cannot appear in the world is also due to these causal relationships.

Only in very rare cases will the Silver species appear in the field of vision of the Lower species.

In recent years, not only bronze-grade items, but also silver-grade items have been appearing more frequently.

The "World Wall" is becoming less and less restrictive to higher species.

The power of the "World Wall" is so weak that even Nicol Bolas can live peacefully in the human capital.

This applies to other silver types as well.

The emergence of the silver species onto the surface of this world was merely a matter of needing a trigger.

“Then, the dragons are coming.” Nicol Bolas slightly raised his chin and said to Bray.

The Eastern Continent will certainly not be facing the entire dragon race; after all, it would be very difficult for the entire dragon race to emerge.

But there will be at least ten dragons.

"Was it a coincidence?" Bray looked at the magical artifact in his hand and glanced at Nicol Bolas.

"That's right, it was a coincidence, a coincidence so unsettling it's chilling."

“This might be the consciousness of the legendary world, or it might be the plan of the ‘Unity of the Gods’,” Nicholas said.

After Bray returned from the past, he also discussed the matter of the world's will with Nicol Bolas.

Unfathomable, yet the path of destiny has been silently paved.

Everyone's path is like this, especially for those who uphold the precepts; everything will happen in such coincidences.

“Troublesome…” Bray had to admit it was annoying.

Well, as the mother of all living beings, the world's will cannot be criticized.

“This is quite troublesome; it concerns the survival of the Black Iron race throughout Kapras,” said Nicol Bolas.

He was not concerned about how many Dark Ironborn died, but he understood that the Dark Ironborn were indispensable to the entire Kapras.

Numerous in number, they are the carriers of all civilizations.

If the Black Iron race did not exist, civilization would revert to chaos.

Bronze Age civilizations also existed, but they were different from those of Iron Age civilizations.

The Bronze Age civilizations are quite noticeable – they are too monotonous.