In the Name of Empress

Chapter 716 400: Fish That Drink Milk (Part 2)

Sitting across from him, Catherine's eyes emitted an unusual brilliance, looking at Roland with disbelief.

Roland was right; although these two generations don't look different from the outside, their thinking modes are as different as fish and humans.

The older generation of Sea Demon People and Sea Demons don't like being called fish, but at their core, they are just talking fish.

The younger generation is different. Most of them have very vague memories of the ocean. They grew up eating the delicacies of human civilized world, living in buildings made of concrete and steel, and even traveling by train or car.

This is just the first generation of those who came ashore, and there is still a bit of the ocean's scent in their lifestyle.

The second and third generations are even more outrageous.

It's said that cow's milk helps children grow strong, so many affluent Sea Demons trendyly buy milk for their young ones.

Even Roland, who had a strong capacity for acceptance, found this scene magical.

The offspring of egg-laying ocean residents being fed cow's milk.

Unmammals nurturing their young with mammalian milk because they heard it was good for children.

Both mammalian and non-mammalian beings were silent at this scene.

Yet, this magical and absurd image is just a small glimpse of the strange realities of the Seventh Era.

With more and more powerful beings winning the resurrection battles, returning to their familiar homelands only to find that while things have remained, people have changed, Roland has many problems to face.

It's not just powerful beings of various races winning the resurrection battles but also the technological tree.

Originally, due to the depletion of oil, the industrial technology tree had a massive gap between steam engines and electricity.

Although Roland pointed scientists toward the development path, jumping directly from steam engines to generators, his conjecture was sneered at by scientists, and he was subsequently barred from participating in high-level natural science conferences.

Just in the second year after the Academy banned Roland, a Magic Crystal Ore Vein was discovered in the Death Desert, and scientists delightfully found that magic civilization could fill this gap.

The gap left by internal combustion engines was filled by Magic Crystal technology, finally leading humanity into the electric age.

Roland was extremely excited watching the first light bulb that shone for only five minutes before going out.

Others didn't understand the value of those five minutes of light, but he certainly did.

The Age of Gods is an era where technology and superpowers developed in parallel, a period of a hundred flowers blooming.

Although the Ascension to Divinity of the Three Goddesses had nothing to do with technology, Roland believed that only a brilliant civilization could nurture the opportunity for divine ascension.

Under Roland's guidance, the people of the new era were moving toward the broad avenue, albeit with some detours but heading for the same endpoint.

Meanwhile, remnants of the old era clutched the winner's medals from the resurrection battles as they returned.

The time they won the resurrection battle roughly corresponded to when they exited the stage.

The Sixth Era's powerful beings were the first to return, followed by the Fifth Era, and then the Fourth Era.

The returnees of the Sixth Era were not the many mighty monarchs of the Magic Empire's history but their enemies.

The warriors were labeled as barbarians by the Magic Empire.

Returning to their homeland, they were shocked to find that the land was still familiar, but their nation was gone.

Their former countries had all fallen on the path of the Magic Empire's conquest, becoming the cornerstones of magic civilization.

Having barely escaped from Hell, they had hoped to enjoy a beautiful life with their fellow countrymen, only to find out that all their kin were gone, a feeling not easy to bear.

If that were all, perhaps they would have felt bad, but not lost control.

However, they soon jubilantly discovered that the Magic Empire still existed.

Although the New Magic Empire is strictly speaking a different nation from the former Magic Empire, they didn't care; they sought revenge.

Their people and nation turned to dust in history, yet the Magic Empire thrived; why should this be?

The returning strong of the Sixth Era, driven by common foes, banded together to form the Law Breaker Alliance, rallying a batch of marginalized small countries to stand against the Magic Empire.

To pacify the emotionally charged Spellbreakers, Roland made every effort to mediate but was bluntly rejected by the Law Breaker Alliance.

"Was your country and people destroyed by the Magic Empire? If so, join us. If not, shut up."

Faced with the Law Breaker Alliance's righteous questioning, even Roland, with his thick skin, found it hard to refute.

One shouldn't urge others to endure suffering without having suffered themselves.

Roland also detested those who talked while standing painlessly, so he said nothing.

Since he had nothing to say, he could only firmly stand with the Magic Empire.

In a harmonious society, one could support reason over kin, but in these turbulent times, everyone sides with kin over reason; he is no exception.

Fortunately, the Law Breaker Alliance's homeland and people have perished; they cannot destroy the Magic Empire through secular warfare, only rely on individual power for attempts.

After years of a tug-of-war, the Law Breaker Alliance finally realized that if the current Magic Empire had a power level of ten, at least half resided in their Emperor.

Enlightened, they changed their tactics.

The Law Breaker Alliance's final showdown with the Magic Empire unfolded in the form of a relay duel on stage.

Each of the seven-nation alliance of the Spellbreakers selects a champion to represent their respective former countries and tribes.

On the Magic Empire's side, the Magic Emperor and the Executive Officer entered the fray, with an equal number of participants.

This world-renowned confrontation took place at the Arena of Truth's ruins.

At the peak of the Magic Empire's years, this Arena of Truth had seen the burial of countless renowned figures.

At least four emperors, over fifty Central Level executives, hundreds of scholars, and countless more generals walked the final leg of their lives in this arena.

This arena likewise bid farewell to hundreds of barbarian kings and chieftains.

Conducting a "debate of truth" there was indeed fitting.

Glancing up at the clock as the "debate of truth" was about to begin, Catherine flicked her fingertips, and the live scenes of the duel appeared in the illusion.

While waiting for the start, her thoughts drifted far away, falling into contemplation.

In the past few decades, the world outside Rodinia Continent was very chaotic.

A Magic Crystal Ore Vein was discovered in the Death Desert of the Northern South Continent, surpassing the Magic Empire's peak scale, and the mining difficulty was low.

Magic crystals are the bedrock of magic civilization, more important than oil is for industry.

Without oil, there's at least coal to leap directly to the misshaped technology tree of electricity.

Without magic crystals, magic civilization couldn't exist at all.

These magic crystals turned the Death Desert into a cradle of life, making the Northern South Continent the backyard of the Magic Empire.

Magic civilization filled the gap from steam engines to electricity, blending magic and technology in an awkward yet harmonious manner.

An ugly yet exquisite technology tree.

This is Roland's appraisal of this rapidly developing world.

Of course, he only kept these thoughts to himself; in public, he would speak seriously.

Having been Prime Minister for so many years, he naturally knew how to speak the official talk.

The conflict between the Magic Empire and the Law Breaker Alliance had existed for too long, already an inextricable mess, beyond resolution.

No one could mediate.

Even if one wanted to trace back to the origin, people don't know from when to start tracing back.

Should it start from the Magic Empire's large-scale conquests of surrounding regions? Or when the Magic Empire rose? Or even earlier, from the Seven Nations Struggle of the former Magic Empire era?

Their conflicts resembled this world greatly.

The hatred had prolonged for so long that people only remembered the hatred but forgot where it originated from.

There were too few like the Elves and Earth Spirits, who, due to dwindling to the point of just maintaining their tribe, had to abandon their hatred.

Most of the time, forgetting was only physical.

Lisa accepted the duel invitation from the Law Breaker Alliance, but she sought no help; instead, she publicly announced that no matter how many people the Law Breaker Alliance had, she would face them all.

Although this had been their intention, Lisa's provocation made the Law Breaker Alliance even more determined to kill her during the debate of truth.

Despite their prior intentions, Lisa's challenge had left them with not a trace of hesitation.

Even before this, that was their intention, but Lisa's provocation intensified their resolve during the truth debate.

As the debate of truth was about to begin, Catherine glanced at the clock.

She then pointed her fingers at the strongest Spellbreaker.

"He can be immune to almost all magic and increase the caster's consumption through mental attacks. Is Miss Lisa going to be okay?"

"Sure to win. People can be magic-immune, but the environment can't. As long as you shatter the environment, you can slay the magic-immune; that's basic operations for a Mage."

A battle between the magic-nullifying Spellbreakers and Mages—indeed, a fight to behold.