Chapter 6

The tumors Lady Mercury spoke of were every god now worshipped in the Bicolor Realm.

The Bicolor Realm had never possessed gods; it was never meant to.

The moon that hung overhead, the human face growing from a giant’s chest, the emerald great tree rooted deep in the earth—

All of them were revered as divine, and the people drew power from them.

Yet in truth they were nothing more than parasites clinging to the realm’s body.

They had not existed in the Bicolor Realm from the start; they came from the Alien Star.

Beyond this world lay unknown stars, and the things that fell from them were seeds dropped into fertile soil, sprouting and spreading without end.

Now they had grown so large that the ignorant took them for objects of faith.

Only a handful knew the truth—among them, the Dragon Race.

But as natives of the realm, they could not destroy the tumors that had burrowed into its marrow.

The gods eroded the Bicolor Realm in ways no ordinary mind could grasp, stealing its various authorities until they had become, in a sense, part of it.

Those born and raised here could defeat many things, but they could not defeat the realm itself, because they were the realm.

For that reason the Ten Sages, using the theory of parallel possibilities, summoned people from another world. Luo En was one of them.

Their idea was simple: let outsiders excise the tumors.

Otherworlders had no ties to the Bicolor Realm; they could do what natives could not.

They were untouched by the Ring of Truth, and no doom would fall upon them.

Reality, however, diverged sharply from the plan.

The summoned had neither motive nor ability to help.

Even after painstaking cultivation, the results were far below the Ten Sages’ expectations.

Now the System had begun grooming the next Otherworlder, and this one looked as fragile as the rest.

Lady Mercury could detect no spark of lofty ideals in Luo En.

Tell him he must someday uproot the gods and he would probably bolt.

She was not surprised. In her long life she had seen the noblest and the basest of men.

She was only an ancient dragon guiding one Otherworlder after another.

Another had arrived, and her enthusiasm had thinned with the years.

She merely hoped this one would survive a little longer—perhaps even offer her a surprise.

Once people learned Luo En stood against their gods, he would become the realm’s common enemy.

Almost no one would aid him; even dragons could do little.

Nine-tenths of the realm believed those tumors were gods, and the “sacred” powers and knowledge they wielded were proof.

Lady Mercury and her allies preferred to call them Outer Gods.

She had hoped Luo En could keep a low profile, avoiding premature discovery as the Outer Gods’ future foe.

That way he might grow strong enough to challenge one of them.

“Then why tell him nothing?” the flying dragon asked after a pause. “You haven’t even explained the basics of this world. I can’t imagine how he’ll survive.”

Luo En knew absolutely nothing about the Bicolor Realm.

“Dumping everything on him at once isn’t wise,” Lady Mercury said.

Overloading a newcomer could make him shut down.

“We once told a previous Otherworlder too much too fast. He panicked and defected.” She gave a weary sigh.

After his betrayal the System detached from him, and he lasted only a week. Their side lost nothing.

“You don’t need to worry,” she added. “I’ve sent someone reliable to help Mr. Luo En. She’ll teach him everything he needs to know.”

“The last question is the person you sent,” the small, delicate silver dragon said.

“Why choose Lilian to watch the human? Anyone else would do—anyone but that restless little dragon.”

The dragons had accepted many missions from the Ten Sages, among them the surveillance of Otherworlders.

Though the travelers themselves were weak, they were bound to the System created by the sages.

If they lost control, the realm would face catastrophe; oversight was essential.

Normally they would assign a calm, seasoned elder. This time Lady Mercury had sent a newly adult white dragon.

Lilika’s mind was scarcely more mature than a teenage human girl.

How could she judge what was right?

“Perhaps a lively youngster suits the task better than us old lizards,” Lady Mercury replied. “Don’t underestimate the young.”

“I disagree,” the flying dragon said quietly. “What she has isn’t vitality.”

Lilika spent her days studying useless human trivia.

To him it seemed like wasted time, not energy.

“Besides,” he continued, “she belongs to the faction that despises humans. If she kills the Otherworlder, we start over from scratch.”

“That child doesn’t truly hate humans,” Lady Mercury said, stroking the small dragon’s head.

She had watched Lilika hatch; she knew her well.

Lilika had simply expected too much of humanity and been disappointed by its ugliness.

“And how do you know this new Otherworlder won’t disappoint her again?” the dragon asked with a sigh.

He had seen far more wicked humans than good ones; he could not place much faith in them.

He had often wondered why they summoned humans at all. Why not bring in a dragon from another world? Surely a dragon would be stronger.

“You’ve forgotten something important,” Lady Mercury said.

“He once saved a Witch who was trapped in Black Slime.”

This time, the flying dragon said nothing more, as if it had accepted something.

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