182: Sky Giant

On that ravaged land, plowed over by the aftershocks of battle, the half-step legendary warrior Gareth leaned on his greatsword and struggled to stand upright from the icy mud.

The indestructible Douqi armor on his body had already dissipated, and a deep sense of powerlessness filled his heart.

He looked up at the spotless silver-haired girl floating in mid-air. In his eyes, there was not only fear of her power, but even more confusion about the unknown.

“Human Federation...” Gareth repeated the unfamiliar term, his tone filled with incomprehension. “Just which continent is that kingdom located on? Is it the ice fields of the far north? Or the mysterious continent across the legendary Storm Sea? Why is it that I have traveled half the world, yet I have never heard such a name, nor have I ever heard of a powerhouse like you... who transcends common sense?”

In the traditional understanding of Mana Star, the names of powerhouses often resounded far and wide through the songs of bards. For someone like Ilya, who possessed crushing strength yet remained unheard of, it was inherently irrational.

Ilya looked at Gareth's inquisitive eyes and tilted her head slightly.

Facing that fire-breathing big lizard, she might have needed to play the mystic to establish authority, but with this Mana human whose appearance and physiological structure were no different from Earth humans, she felt there was no need to fabricate any myths.

“Your perception limits your imagination, Gareth.”

Ilya's body slowly descended, her toes lightly touching a protruding rock as she brought her gaze level with Gareth's.

“The Human Federation is not on any continent, nor is it on the other side of the Storm Sea.” She extended a slender finger and pointed at the azure sky above, and the invisible darkness beyond it. “It is up there.”

“Among the stars.”

Ilya switched into science-popularization mode. Although she knew the other party likely wouldn't understand, she still phrased it rigorously: “Our Human Federation is an interstellar civilization that spans star systems. Our territory is not just the land beneath our feet, but encompasses two stars and several planets.”

“As for population...” Ilya still remembered the census data from the Solar System before she departed. “Currently, the Federation has approximately 15 billion human citizens... If you count the indigenous Kari People of the Kari Star colony, the total population is close to twenty billion.”

“Twenty billion?”

Gareth's originally calm expression could no longer be maintained. His eyes widened as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world.

“That's impossible! Absolutely impossible!” the battle-hardened warrior instinctively retorted. “As the most powerful empire on the southern continent, the Ailan Empire has a population of only over seventy million! Even the legendary ancient magic empire that unified the entire continent only had a population of two or three hundred million at its peak!”

“Twenty billion... that is a number that simply cannot be imagined! Even if you covered all the land in the world with people, it wouldn't hold that many!”

Gareth shook his head. His previous guesses about Ilya's identity now became even firmer; she had to be some hidden demigod or a descendant of an ancient race. In his view, this powerhouse was clearly unwilling to reveal her true origins and had fabricated such an outrageously exaggerated lie to brush him off.

“Believe it or not.”

Ilya shrugged and didn't dwell on the issue. She understood better than anyone that one cannot speak of ice to a summer insect.

“I'm telling you this just to make you understand that I don't belong to any faction here, and I have no interest in your pathetic territorial disputes.”

Her crimson electronic eyes activated scanning mode again, her gaze roaming over Gareth as if inspecting a precision instrument.

“I am very interested in you, Gareth.”

“And that assassin currently playing dead in the pit.”

Ilya pointed to the nearby bushes. “The energy circulation system within your bodies called Douqi, as well as that assassin's short-range space-folding technique, are very unique samples in my view.”

“This is different from magic. Magic uses mental power to leverage external energy, whereas you seem to use biological energy simulated by psionic energy to trigger macro-effects at the quantum level.”

Gareth was completely lost, but he understood that the other party seemed to have taken an interest in their abilities.

“What do you want us to do?” he asked warily.

“Simple, work for me,” Ilya said straightforwardly. “I want to conduct a field investigation of the peak magic technology of this planet's humans in that place called Stedwick in the north. I might also establish a temporary research institute there. I need some Navigators who are familiar with the local customs and can help me resolve some troubles.”

“And of course, the most important point: I want you to cooperate with me for some non-destructive physical data testing.”

“In exchange...” Ilya snapped her fingers.

“I can custom-build a set of equipment for all members of your Dawn squad.”

“Not the scrap metal you're wearing.” Ilya glanced disdainfully at the chipped steel greatsword in Gareth's hand. “Real high-tech equipment.”

“For example, a High-frequency vibrating particle blade that can easily slice through dragon scales, a tower shield that can automatically generate a Deflection shield to block high-energy matter bombardment, or a magic staff with excellent energy conductivity and auxiliary aiming equipment.”

“Besides that,” Ilya pointed to the sky, “I will also give you a vehicle.”

“A carriage that doesn't need to be fed grass, doesn't need rest, and can carry your whole team flying freely in the sky at supersonic speeds... which is to say, faster than sound.”

Gareth was even more confused now.

A weapon that could cut dragon scales? A shield that automatically generates something? And a flying carriage?

Any one of these conditions would be enough to drive a large number of nobles or even kings into a frenzy in the outside world.

Yet now, this mysterious girl spoke as easily as if she were saying, 'I'll give you a few apples.'

“Are you... serious?” Gareth's Adam's apple bobbed as greed and reason fought within him.

“I never lie; it's an inefficient way to communicate,” Ilya said indifferently.

Gareth fell silent. He looked back at his teammates lying unconscious on the ground: Rogge's tower shield was shattered, Alice was suffering from mana backlash, the assassin's dagger was broken, and the priestess had also fainted.

If he didn't agree, looking at the consequences, they would likely find it hard to leave this wasteland alive today.

This Red Dragon looked docile now, but he had no doubt that at a single command from this girl, it would instantly tear them to shreds.

Moreover, if that equipment truly existed, the strength of the Dawn squad would skyrocket; upgrading equipment was also part of the path to becoming a legend.

“I need to discuss it with my teammates,” Gareth finally said.

“Fine, I'll give you ten minutes.”

...Ten minutes later, with the help of the efficient medical spray provided by Ilya, the other four members of the Dawn squad gradually woke up.

When Gareth told them everything that had just happened and Ilya's conditions, their reactions were a sight to behold.

“She's joking, right?” The assassin rubbed his aching neck, staring at Ilya with dark eyes. “What Human Federation, what twenty billion people? This is simply the ravings of a lunatic.”

“But she did indeed defeat us in one blow just now.” Alice leaned weakly against a tree trunk, her eyes flickering with fear and curiosity. “And there's no mana fluctuation on her body at all, which is the biggest anomaly in itself. If she can really provide that kind of equipment...”

“I think she's some kind of high-level magical beast in human form, or... or maybe truly a divine envoy?” The priestess was trembling slightly. “We offended her, and it's already very merciful that she didn't kill us.”

“I don't care about all that!” Rogge said in a muffled voice, looking heart-brokenly at his shattered tower shield. “As long as she can compensate me with a better shield, what's the harm in working for her for a while! I still need to save up money to go back to my hometown and build a house!”

After a heated debate, faced with absolute power and the temptation of immense benefits, the adventuring squad finally reached an agreement.

They walked up to Ilya, and with Gareth representing them, they knelt on one knee.

“The Dawn squad is willing to accept your employment, My Lady,” Gareth said in a deep voice. “During the term of the contract, our swords and shields are at your disposal.”

“A wise choice.”

Ilya nodded with satisfaction. She didn't care about the so-called loyalty of these natives; in the face of an absolute technological gap, whether they betrayed her or not was irrelevant.

“Since we've reached an agreement, let's set off.”

Ilya turned and walked toward the Red Dragon that had been lying by the river playing dead.

“Big lizard! Get over here and get to work!”

“Co... Coming!” Although Klaus Difan was a hundred times unwilling in his heart, his body crawled over very honestly. He even had to carefully restrain his dragon aura, for fear of scaring these 'new colleagues' who had wanted to kill him just moments ago.

“Get up.” Ilya pointed to the broad back of the dragon.

"What? You want us to ride a dragon?" Alice exclaimed. "This is a Red Dragon! It'll shake us off and eat us!"

"Would it dare?" Ilya glanced at the Red Dragon.

Klaus Difan immediately forced a smile that looked more painful than crying. He even proactively lowered his body, spreading his wings on the ground to form a ramp. "Everyone... brave warriors, please take your seats. Everything before was just a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..."

Watching this legendary, ferociously cruel dragon act like a lapdog, the expressions of the members of Dawn were quite a sight to behold.

They climbed onto the dragon's back with trepidation, except for Rogge, who excitedly stroked the dragon scales, muttering, "This stuff would definitely make a sturdy shield."

"Sit tight."

Ilya stood on the dragon's head, her silver hair fluttering in the wind.

"Klaus Difan, fly up. Keep flying up."

"Up? My Lady, where are we going?" the Red Dragon asked in confusion. "Stedwick is to the north."

"We're not going to Stedwick yet." A mysterious smile curled at the corner of Ilya's mouth. "Since I've recruited new employees, I have to take you to see your workplace and pick up your onboarding benefits while I'm at it."

"Take off!"

Boom—

The giant dragon flapped its wings, and its massive body carrying six people soared into the sky.

The wind howled, and the scenery on the ground rapidly shrank.

At first, the adventurers were still immersed in the excitement of riding a dragon, but as the altitude continued to climb, they began to feel discomfort.

The air grew thin, the temperature plummeted, and the cold wind cut into their faces like knives.

"My Lady! It's too high! we can't breathe!" Alice shouted, casting a shield on herself.

They had already passed through the clouds and reached the edge of the stratosphere—a forbidden zone for life and the limit of mortal vision.

"Stick this on your necks."

Ilya casually tossed them several small silver discs; they were simple life-support field generators.

Everyone did as they were told, and immediately felt a warm membrane form around them as the air became plentiful again.

"Keep flying! Don't stop!" Ilya commanded.

Klaus Difan bit his teeth and flapped his wings desperately. He had never flown to such an altitude; the sky's color had changed from azure to a deep, dark blue, where even the faint glimmer of stars was visible.

"My Lady... any higher is the Astral Wind Layer... that is the domain of the gods..." The Red Dragon's voice trembled slightly.

As the altitude climbed, the air thinned to a dangerous critical point. Klaus Difan, who had been flapping his wings vigorously, gradually felt his strength failing. Every beat of his massive membrane wings captured exponentially less airflow.

“Huff... huff...”

The Red Dragon's breathing became as heavy as thunder. The lack of oxygen caused the efficiency of his internal biological reactor to plummet, and his once-powerful wings now felt as heavy as lead.

"My Lady... I can't do it..." Klaus Difan roared in despair, his voice laced with the pain of suffocation. "This is the Astral Wind Layer... a forbidden zone for life... no wind elements are responding to me... I'm going to fall!"

His body began to tremble violently out of control. Gravity, like a greedy ghost, dragged his massive frame downward.

The members of the Dawn team on his back turned even paler. Although Ilya's life-support devices protected their breathing, the sensation of weightlessness as they prepared to plummet into the abyss with the dragon still terrified them.

"It's over! We're going to fall to our deaths!" Alice gripped the dragon scales tightly, closing her eyes in fear.

"What a useless thing, failing after flying only this high?"

A cold scolding voice rang out in the freezing wind.

Ilya, who had been standing on the dragon's head, flickered and vanished instantly.

The next moment.

Klaus Difan, who was falling in despair, suddenly felt an incredible, gargantuan force coming from his belly.

That force was so steady and immense, it felt as if the broad earth had suddenly risen to support him from below.

The downward momentum stopped instantly.

"This... this is?"

Gareth barely managed to keep his eyes open, leaning over the edge of the dragon's back to look down. He then saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Beneath the belly of the giant dragon, which was over twenty-five meters long and weighed dozens of tons, that silver-haired girl was holding her hands high.

Her petite frame formed an utterly absurd visual contrast with the massive Red Dragon, like an ant lifting an elephant.

But it was this "ant" that was steadily supporting the entire dragon!

The miniature dark matter reactor inside Ilya's bionic body made no sound, yet it outputted an immense amount of energy. The power of the anti-gravity field continued to increase, forming a visible blue halo around her.

"Hold on tight!"

Ilya gave a sharp cry.

"Next, I'm going to accelerate!"

Whoosh!!!

Like a human rocket, Ilya hoisted the behemoth and, with brute force, smashed through the "Astral Wind Layer" that blocked mortals from ascending to the heavens.

The surrounding airflow ignited from the intense friction, forming a brilliant ring of fire, but it was perfectly blocked by Ilya's expanded individual shield.

The people on the dragon's back only felt the scenery blur. The deep blue sky instantly turned into pure black, and countless brilliant stars suddenly seemed within reach.

Gravity vanished.

When their vision cleared again, they found they were no longer in that storm-filled atmosphere.

They had arrived beneath the Wanderer.

Ilya looked up at the canopy of sky that was gradually turning pitch black.

"Navigator, deactivate the cloaking field."

"Understood, Captain."

The next second, the world changed before their eyes.

A massive ripple suddenly appeared in the previously empty void.

It was as if a giant curtain had been slowly pulled back, and a behemoth that took everyone's breath away emerged without warning directly above their heads.

It was a silver-white giant ship.

It was so large that it blotted out half the sky, so large that the twenty-meter-long Red Dragon looked like an insignificant fly in front of it.

It floated quietly at the peak of the heavens, its streamlined hull reflecting the sun's glory like a city in the sky forged of pure silver. Pale blue energy flows moved slowly across the hull's surface, a glow of energy that transcended this world's understanding.

A massive shadow cast down, completely enveloping Klaus Difan and the adventurers on his back.

"That... that is..."

The broken greatsword in Gareth's hand fell onto the dragon's back with a 'clang,' but he was completely oblivious.

He looked up, his pupils shrinking violently, his mouth hanging open so wide it was almost dislocated.

He tried to use his meager vocabulary to describe the scene before him, only to find he couldn't find any words.

Was it a flying mountain of steel? A chariot of the gods? Or the legendary Sky City?

Alice slumped on the dragon's back. As a mage, she knew better than anyone how much terrifying magical power was required to keep such a massive object floating in the air. That was absolutely not something a mortal could achieve; it was a great power only a god could master.

"Is this... the creation of the Human Federation you mentioned?"

The assassin's voice trembled uncontrollably. Looking at the giant ship, the sliver of doubt and disdain he had originally harbored vanished in an instant.

If there was a nation that possessed such a creation, then the description of a population of twenty billion might truly not be a lie.

Even Klaus Difan forgot to flap his wings, his dragon eyes filled with dull shock.

The massive hangar bay doors slowly slid open to both sides, revealing a brightly lit landing pad inside.

Ilya supported the Red Dragon and flew gracefully into the hangar.

As a blue curtain of light swept past, the surrounding hangar was quickly filled with air.

"Landing."

Ilya let go, and the anti-gravity field slowly dissipated.

Klaus Difan's limbs went weak, and he slumped onto the metal floor like a pile of mud, panting heavily. He had never flown this high in his life, nor had he ever been lifted like a dumbbell.

The members of the Dawn team tumbled off the dragon's back, their legs so weak they couldn't even stand.

They looked up at the silver-white metal walls filled with sci-fi flair and the spherical robots busily zipping through the air, unsure of what to say.

Ilya slowly drifted down before them, her white robe—transformed from nanoliquid armor—swaying slightly.

She looked at the group of natives who had yet to regain their senses, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly.

"Welcome aboard. From now on, call me Dr. Illya. You will be my employees and test subjects. Of course, if anyone is very interested in science, you can also become my student. The number of people on Earth who want to be my student might be more than the total population of your empire."