Chapter 1 A Special Angle

Reviewers always have a special perspective on a world because of their unique vantage point. The details they focus on are often distinctive. Hao Ren hadn't been surprised at all when facing the Chaos army and corrupted demons in the desolate wilderness, but when he saw the sun of Koro, he immediately recognized it as extremely important information.

This world was still being illuminated by a star.

This meant that within this anomalous spatial domain called "Koro," there was at least a complete star-planet system. If Veronica's descriptions were accurate, then the planets here might be replaced by a series of fragmented, floating space continents, but at least the sun in the sky was real: it was a complete and normally functioning celestial body.

The power of Chaos had clearly not spread to the sun.

Hao Ren squinted. His enhanced physique allowed him to look directly at the light of the star without worrying about burning his eyes, but human habit made him perform the action nonetheless. He looked at the sun and began to reassess the situation of the Chaos War in the world of Koro.

The millennia of war were probably only continuing on the ground. All the dark forces in this anomalous space were confined to one place. At least as far as he could see, the star was not affected by the distortion of laws. So what had caused the land of Koro to be shrouded in this dark power?

Sir Moriarty noticed where Hao Ren was looking. His eyes changed slightly, and he couldn't help but think of the man's identity as an "ancient guardian," so he said, "Please don't stare at the sun like that. The light of 'Uro' will burn your eyes. You haven't seen sunlight for many years, have you? ...No, have you ever seen the sun before?"

Hao Ren was taken aback, realizing that "Uro" was probably a religious name for the sun in this world, and Moriarty's question confused him a little: "Why would you think I haven't seen the sun?"

"It is said that the Chaos Tide ten centuries ago was unprecedented. Half of the world, except for the Holy Domain, was plunged into eternal night. For a hundred years, Uro was obscured by thick clouds, and humanity relied on the power of magic and faith to survive in the darkness. In the places shrouded in eternal night, an entire generation, or even several generations, never saw sunlight with their own eyes."

Hao Ren understood. He said calmly, "Of course I've seen the sun, and many times."

And personally blew one up—he added quietly in his heart.

"I was impolite," Sir Moriarty immediately bowed slightly in apology, his attitude very sincere.

"It's okay," Hao Ren waved his hand, his gaze continuing to fall on the distant land.

The airship was faster than he had expected. Although its creators had not yet developed fully enclosed cabins, there were runes distributed around the ship that could control the airflow. These runes not only blocked high-speed airflow, but also reduced the drag on the aircraft to an incredible degree during flight, thereby increasing their speed. Soon, the Western Mountains had become an indistinguishable dark shadow at the edge of his vision, and the land before Hao Ren was getting closer and closer to a "normal world."

They were flying over a plain, where vast areas of vibrant vegetation were freely distributed across the land. Two glittering rivers crossed the plain, eventually flowing into a crescent-shaped lake. On the banks of the rivers, cities and towns could be seen—seen from such a high place, they looked like a pile of small wooden blocks laid flat on the ground, with fields and pastures surrounding the "wooden blocks."

Interlacing roads connected the cities and villages. With Hao Ren's eyesight, he could even see the cargo carts and pedestrians walking on those roads.

All of this was bathed in the light of the sun "Uro," full of vitality and order.

Hao Ren turned to look west. The Western Mountains were almost completely invisible, but the pillar of light from the Western Fortress was still clear. It stood like a bright silver thread at the end of the black-blue sky, and beneath that black-blue sky was the boundary of Chaos.

If he hadn't just come from the Chaos Domain himself, he would hardly have believed that the vibrant land below was the world under the shroud of Chaos. Inside and outside the barrier, the world was divided into two completely different parts.

"No matter how many times I see it, it's a sight worth marveling at," Sir Moriarty seemed to talk more after returning to the kingdom, even taking the initiative to strike up a conversation with Hao Ren. "Look, this is the reason and the result of us keeping Chaos outside the barrier. This peaceful and serene place is our home. We only need to risk our lives on the border for ten years to allow our descendants to live in peace on this fertile land for nearly a century."

"But they will return in a hundred years."

"Then we'll fight them again. Some of us will die, but our descendants will definitely continue to fight."

Hao Ren turned around and looked at Sir Moriarty seriously for a while. He hadn't interacted much with the old knight in the past few days of the journey, because the other party's seriousness and rigidity always gave people a feeling of being difficult to get along with, but this time he seemed to feel the other party's deep intentions, or rather, touched the intentions of many people in the world of Koro.

He couldn't help but nod in salute: "You are truly worthy of respect."

"We?" Moriarty was a little strange. "Why be so emotional? Weren't you also a warrior who fought on the frontier between Chaos and Order a thousand years ago—and you should be an even greater warrior than us. After all, not everyone has the merit of defending a sanctuary to the last moment."

Hao Ren coughed awkwardly: "Cough, cough..."

But he immediately continued, "You're not wrong—I am indeed a guardian. I protect many things, including the peace and order of Koro. So, knight of a thousand years later, I wonder what your views are on 'Chaos' in this world? How do you think it came about?"

Hao Ren's role-switching words really had an effect. Moriarty immediately became serious, and he almost blurted out a lot of things without thinking: "All the sacred scriptures record that the evil giant Lokmardon is the culprit who led the world into the dark side. After shattering the earth, he forcibly broke free of his shackles, but he himself was injured by the warning measures left by the Creation Goddess. The ancient jailers pierced Lokmardon's head with weapons bestowed by the Goddess, causing the evil giant's thoughts to burst everywhere. Those corrupted thoughts fell into the Karnos Sea and became the dark side of Karnos, while his sinful body was scattered on the earth, his flesh and blood turned to ashes, and the ashes were scattered by the wind, becoming the original Chaos and monsters. The so-called Chaos Tide is actually Lokmardon's eternal nightmare after his death: although he is dead, his thoughts scattered in the Karnos Sea are still constantly running. Every hundred years, his mind will produce a dream, in which he thinks he is still alive, so his body left in the mortal world will start running again, and the Chaos Tide is produced. But dreams are always dreams. The power of order left by the Goddess will not allow the power of distortion to exist for a long time, so the Chaos Tide will always dissipate—and so it repeats."

Hao Ren listened to this long passage in a daze. He didn't expect this Knight Moriarty to have so much to say in one breath. Then he became very interested in this "myth" he heard.

He didn't expect the people of Koro to explain "Chaos" in this way. It was a mythical story full of mythological colors, but it wasn't without parts worth thinking about and suspected of being the truth.

He thought of the First Born: the adult First Born did possess the power to tear apart an entire planet, and their souls could still operate independently for a period of time after their bodies died. They could even complete the act of destroying all living beings in the world with just their souls. From these points, the First Born fit the Koro people's legend about "Lokmardon."

But the details didn't quite match: at least as far as Hao Ren knew, the souls of the First Born couldn't survive for such a long time as ten thousand years after leaving their bodies, and they had never manipulated such a bizarre power as "Chaos."

While thinking in his heart, he didn't leave the old knight aside: "You're reciting a book. Of course I know what you're saying, but I want to ask what your personal views are on the Chaos in this world."

"Me personally? My personal view is that it's the enemy, a life-or-death enemy," Moriarty shrugged. "Scholars and monks are the ones who think about problems. The task of a warrior is to eliminate problems."

Hao Ren suddenly felt that the old knight was quite right!

And during this conversation on the airship, they had almost crossed the western plains. At the end of the plains, a strange geological landscape suddenly came into Hao Ren's view.

His eyes were instantly attracted.

He saw a large number of towering giant pillars standing on the ground. Those dark stone pillars were surrounded by clouds and light, and the power they emitted was particularly familiar:

The divine power of the Creation Goddess.