Something's wrong with my undead

After this extremely informative statement, Hermonia told a story that the players had never heard before.

The story takes place before the 10,000-year clock calendar was abandoned, when MacKalla was jointly ruled by the Seven family and the McDuck family.

There was no doubt that these two families came from Solace's magic advisor Ivan McDuck and the captain of the guard Grandio Seven.

Unlike Alan Gittier and another hunting captain who chose to leave, these two chose to settle on the former site of Everlasting Castle after leaving Deathclaw Mountain, and slowly emerged over a long period of time, and eventually became the managers of the kingdom.

The personalities of these two family members are also very similar to those of their ancestors.

The McDucks are gloomy and sinister, and they have more schemes than humans.

The Sevens are reckless and stubborn. They go straight ahead and don't even turn when charging.

So in an era that even Hermonia didn't know, the two families each chose a different future.

The former decided to leave, while the latter decided to stay.

This led to the establishment of Veritas and the shift of focus of the McDuck family.

The reason why they were forced to make a choice was that the expansion of the four countries' religious territories caused serious oppression to Macara.

The exact time is unknown, perhaps it began from the moment the old empire collapsed and the gods ascended the throne.

Faith has an inherent tendency to expand.

Therefore, Macara, which is surrounded by four countries, Macara built on the capital of the old empire, and Macara that has never had a religious affiliation, has become the last piece of cake that can be eaten.

For example, when Iphini McDuck was born, Barry Gittier could not accept the fact that his mind was constrained by faith, so he fled from the Shadow Temple and settled in Macala.

But why did he still have the chance to refuse?

Because when Alan Gittier was choosing a location for his family, he chose the land closest to Macala, the city of Godro.

Therefore, it is the last piece of soil assimilated by faith.

To give another example, why did Barry Gittier suddenly disappear when Ifini was growing up?

Because he was captured by Saberia and taken to the Whispering Forest to experiment with transfiguration in his quest for immortality.

Although the Whispering Forest at that time nominally still belonged to the Kingdom of Macara and was the king's hunting ground.

But the elf refugees who fled from the Mourning Wood Valley don’t care whether your hunting ground is there or not. If they occupy it, they will occupy it. If you have the guts, you can take it back!

The Seven family can't take it back.

Therefore, the kingdom's territory was further reduced and it was downgraded to a principality.

Things like this have happened before.

As for what happens next...

We all know the story that followed. The Veritas abandoned the 10,000-year clock calendar and took the lead in formulating the Four-Power Treaty.

As for more of the inside stories, they are still shrouded in the mist of time.

For example, no one knew what Lord Seven was thinking at the time.

He always refused to resist, refused to leave, and refused the help of his only allies, the Veritas.

It was from that time that the McDuck family established a strict system, even though Veritas's situation was getting better:

Important members of the family must be born and raised in McCalla.

This is considered a hard threshold for becoming the patriarch's successor and is also considered an honor.

Iphigenia was born into such an environment.

Even though she was not a candidate for clan leader, she was still an important member of the direct bloodline and enjoyed this privilege.

But she was born in McCalla and was a complete outlier.

First of all, she has a rebellious personality, unconventional thinking, and she hates intrigue.

Secondly, her talent does not lie in necromancy, but in genuine necromancy.

Thanks to the good atmosphere in Mackala, necromancy is not considered a taboo here, so she has the opportunity to ask the Gittier family for advice and go further and further on this path.

Until she discovered her true talent——

She could sense the presence of the void.

There she saw countless abnormal and twisted "corpses" of the elementals.

It's not the silver raw material, but the black spiritual ashes.

They drifted in a vast, desolate world, which seemed like a dead place compared to this vibrant real world.

She clearly felt that there was something in the void spying on her, but she couldn't detect it and didn't dare to respond.

She was just delighted with her new discovery.

At that time, Iphigenia did not know the significance of this matter.

Later, she was no longer satisfied with her family's arrangement and fled from Macara to Veritas, where she met Vega, who was also privately studying necromancy. Then their inspirations collided and they came up with the "Void Capsule", a great invention across the centuries.

Then, the story continued with what Huihui and the others were familiar with.

The family separated the two and then stepped forward to found Opry.

As "compensation", Vega got the opportunity to study in the Institute of Truth.

And as a "punishment", Ifini was taken back to Macalla.

She was originally abandoned by her family, but because of her outstanding contribution, her status was restored and she became a tool for marriage.

And because Macara's spirit purified the pollution in her soul, she suddenly woke up and realized the dangers of the void, so she advised Vega to stay away from undead magic.

All of this is what Vega knew and believed in.

This information undoubtedly came from the McDucks in the House of Truth.

However, he didn't know that the truth was quite the opposite.

Ifini was brought back to Macalla, which was not a "punishment" at all, but a reward.

She got a chance for "promotion".

...

"The so-called 'promotion' means taking us to Dragon Island and merging with the soul of an adult dragon. After that, our will will dominate the dragon and gain all its power until it is 'digested' by the dragon's huge soul and becomes one, indistinguishable from each other."

At this point, Hermonia's tone had completely turned into that of Iphine.

Even Olaf understood what was going on.

But he simply couldn't understand.

"Why is the dragon doing this? Are you being coerced?" he couldn't help but ask.

"No." Ifini shook his head and said, "This is a cooperation. The dragon needs the appearance of a human, and we need strong power, so we reached this cooperation.

“It was only later that I understood why the McDucks were able to successfully build a magnificent city like Veritas in addition to Macara, where spiritualism was more restricted.

"Those islands that are now inhabited by millions of people are undoubtedly the result of dragon magic. Just like the spells they once cast on Dragon Island, they were just replicas."

The doubts he had when he landed on the island were answered, but Olaf still scratched his head and asked:

"But why did they become human?"

"For better observation," Iphini replied, "Although they are nominally a society, the social structure of dragons is actually not perfect. From the root, they always show a 'mechanical' quality, that is, they lack 'creativity'. For example, the isolated islands you see now are actually derived from Drakons."

...

Teacher Xia: "Where is Drakons from?"

Da Huang said unhappily, "What kind of memory do you have, Jibadao."

Teacher Xia: "Oh, I see..."

...

Ifini continued, "Similarly, the dragon's magic is the same. The reason why they maintain communication with humans is because they cannot create new magic on their own. The so-called improvement is just standing still and cannot make any breakthroughs. Therefore, they can only gain new knowledge by contacting humans.

"But the birth of the kingdom of faith prevented the dragon from visiting. This behemoth would cause fear among believers. This fear stems from physiological differences and is innate and cannot be eradicated. Collective fear would lead to resistance, and God must respond to the resistance of believers, so the communication between the two sides is blocked.

"In order to break the barrier, the dragon has used many forms, such as magical beasts, elemental creatures, and even machines, but none of them are as convenient and quick as the human form. The problem is that not every human soul can bear such a fusion. Believers are the first to be excluded."

"I understand that!" Olaf: "Because believers will make you believers too."

"Yes."

Iphini nodded: "Faith has a strong 'polluting' nature, so the object of the dragon's fusion cannot be a believer."

"Kubzina merged with a Nice person."

Teacher Xia said, "Besides, she was from Nice hundreds of years ago. She can't be a believer, right?"

Ifini: "I've heard about that. In fact, she merged with a purified evil spirit. The child is no longer a complete 'human'."

...

Da Huang: "That's no problem. Even if the one being fused is not a believer, then Buqina is not a dragon, but the Nice person herself. She is obviously not a dragon."

Teacher Xia: "Then isn't this a problem? It can't be that only the souls of the Macara people can maintain their own identity, right?"

Da Huang: "Uh...why don't you think about Lloyd and Cayetano?"

Teacher Xia: “Hiss…”

...

Not only Teacher Xia thought so, Olaf also scratched his head and said:

"Then why is she still a dragon, but becomes a human when she gets to you?"

Ifini shook his head:

"I can't answer this question, at least until now, no one can answer this question for you.

“As I said before, for human souls who are not believers, but are carefully selected, calm, and strong enough, there is actually only one choice left - the Macara people.

“We don’t know why the soul of the Macara people is so special, but it is strong and solid enough.

“So at some time no one knew, the first fusion of dragons and humans began.

"In the dragon's cognition, or all the principles of magic, it is indicated that the tiny soul of human beings will eventually dissolve into the huge soul of the dragon, so every dragon believes this from the beginning.

“It’s still like this till now.

"In other words, ever since the birth of the first giant dragon with human form, no one on Dragon Island has ever mentioned that 'the dragon eventually lost its own will'.

"Any dragon that attempts to break this collective silence will be labeled a 'traitor' and hunted down.

"So, they are not 'traitors' from Dragon Island, but 'traitors' from humans."

...

"Holy crap!" Teacher Xia exclaimed, "I thought Ifini was a special case, but it turns out that every one of them is like this?"

Da Huang: "Fuck, this is too exciting. Dragon Island can't be full of traitors now. There can't be a single clean dragon, right?"

Teacher Xia: "I think it's possible. No wonder the Veritas and Dragon Island are secretly colluding. It turns out they have been in the same group for a long time!"

...

"Wait, I need to think about it."

Olaf squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, thinking hard as if he was taking a shit.

After more than ten seconds, he seemed to have really figured it out.

"But how do you know this?" he asked.

"All the clues before were confusing, until I became a traitor, and then I figured it all out."

Ifini glanced at Ottonoeh, who had been sitting quietly by the side with the potion in his mouth since a while ago.

"About six hundred years ago, the souls of Xiao Ao and the prince of the Kaloba tribe merged..."

"Wait, wasn't he still a child at that time!?" Olaf exclaimed, "You didn't even let the children go??"

"When an adult human merges with an adult dragon, it's a collaboration. But when a young dragon merges with a newly born child, it's a transaction, or a 'healing project'."

Ifini explained: "The Kaloba tribe is the royal family of orcs on the Zanluo Plateau. Most of its members look like humans, except that they have an extra tail. But there are exceptions. For example, deformed fetuses born from close relatives will revert to the original beast form, such as the steel-backed war ape you see now.

"This kind of fetus often cannot grow up healthily because its soul is too weak to become a believer of the God of War. Therefore, it cannot be nourished by the 'Holy Land' and will gradually dry up. But in order to keep the child alive, his parents decided to ask Dragon Island for help."

"No, aren't you just observing and not taking any action?" asked Teacher Xia.

"It is said that it was indeed like that in the past." Ifini said self-deprecatingly, "I don't know since when, Dragon Island has many cutting-edge customized services, and has maintained contact with the royal families of various ethnic groups. You can even have a high-profile conversation with God's servants without being expelled... Don't you think that there are too many aspects of 'human nature'?"

Teacher Xia: "Then how did he become a traitor? Are all the 'goods' that were traded like this?"

"No... slurp."

As soon as Ottonoeh opened his mouth, the potion spilled all over the floor.

Ifini glared at him, and the guy grinned, then slid away on his hands and knees.

Ifini then continued, "Although this is 'rescue', it is actually also a business. As the second party, Xiao Ao must stay in the Kaloba tribe with 'his' parents until he reaches adulthood and becomes completely independent before he can return to Dragon Island."

...

Teacher Xia was shocked and said, "What the hell, a baby who should have died young relied on the powerful soul of a giant dragon to prolong his life, stayed with his parents for a while and then 'left'. What kind of soul-chasing technique is this?"

Da Huang: "Indeed, they are so good at doing business. This must be that the Veritas people have taken over the dragon. It's no wonder she thinks so."

But it's not over yet.

Ifini: "But this kind of life did not last long. The Zanluo Plateau underwent a drastic change... As the incitement in the magic network became more and more blatant, the Zanluo slaves began to rebel against the orc nobles, followed by wars everywhere, and the Kaloba tribe was not immune.

“Although Xiao Ao cannot use the power of the dragon to directly participate in the battle, referring to previous cases, he can protect his relatives and make them ‘disappear’, that is, stay away from the Zanluo Plateau, which is equivalent to ‘dying in battle’. In fact, he did so.

"But at this critical moment, he was recalled to Dragon Island for... no reason."

The three of them were all shocked.

This is so similar to Buzina being recalled...why is that so similar?

"And then?" Olaf asked.

"The Kaloba tribe is one of the four guardian tribes of the ancestral city of Tayaga. Xiao Ao's departure caused it to fall first. His parents were beheaded and displayed to the public. Their heads were hung high on the flagpole, forcing the city's defenders to leave the city in anger. Then the rebels attacked Tayaga from that road..."

She sighed, "Then, the giant dragon we stationed on the plateau also disappeared. Xiao Ao tried to escape from Dragon Island but failed. I rescued him and he became a traitor since then."

After a pause, she looked at the three people:

“As for Ms. Buzina you mentioned, I have heard of her. She assisted the people of Nice in guarding such a vital place as Delmines.

"Since she was 'recalled' for no reason this time, it must be for the same purpose. The Nice people must have angered the Veritas people in some way, otherwise they would not have resorted to such means.

"I think... maybe you should go back and help over there."

"That's not the case."

Teacher Xia waved his hand nonchalantly.

The project that Buzina was in charge of was not very important, and the people of Veritas could not cut off the source of the problem even if they wanted to.

However, Iphini looked serious and said, "Do you think this is the only method they have? This is just the most difficult way to associate with them. The real crisis is undoubtedly lurking in Delmines, ready to give you a fatal blow at any time."

Being stared at by her like this, Teacher Xia suddenly became less confident.

Speaking of sheep...

it should be no problem?