Somewhere within the Upper Continent...
Across a land that seemed to bear upon its shoulders the legacy of countless ages, there stood a vast city amid that half-dead world.
The city was like an island of vibrant life in the midst of an ocean of desolation.
Its buildings stretched across vast expanses of land, while its districts and roads were densely packed together, extending so far from the heart of the city toward its distant outskirts that their end could scarcely be seen. Towers and stone structures rose throughout various parts of the city, while broad streets, plazas, and markets spread between its districts, forming an immense network filled with activity.
Although the land surrounding the city was barren, and most of the Upper Continent was shrouded in silence and death, this city was completely different.
It was alive.
Alive to such an extent that it was difficult for anyone to imagine that they were living on a planet where life itself was gradually approaching extinction.
The voices of humans echoed through the streets.
Merchants called out to attract customers, cultivators moved between the districts, families crossed the roads, carriages traveled from one place to another, and groups of young people gathered together, talking among themselves.
Millions of humans lived within this city.
Millions of souls had been born, lived, and died within its boundaries, knowing little about the vast world beyond its borders and having no idea of the true nature of the land beneath their feet, nor of the countless secrets that had been buried beneath its soil since the ancient ages.
Daily life proceeded as usual.
Yet behind that bustling appearance...
There was a mysterious history.
A history known to very few humans.
And in the center of the city stood a plaza of enormous proportions.
It was far too vast to be considered an ordinary plaza. Its grounds stretched across an immense area, large enough to accommodate enormous numbers of people without making them feel crowded.
And on that day...
The plaza was filled with tens of thousands of young men, young women, and adolescents of both genders.
Nearly one hundred thousand young men and women had gathered there.
They sat upon the ground in orderly rows, their bodies stretching across a vast expanse of the plaza, until the scene, when viewed from above, resembled a boundless sea of humanity.
Despite the enormous number of people...
Silence prevailed.
One hundred thousand eyes were directed toward the center of the plaza.
There, a long platform rose above the ground, clearly visible to everyone, allowing every person in the plaza to see whoever sat upon it.
And upon the surface of the platform...
Sat an old man.
His back was slightly bent, his hair completely white and falling gently around his head and shoulders in calm strands, while a long white beard extended down across his chest.
His face was covered in wrinkles.
Deep wrinkles had accumulated across his features, as though time itself had left its marks upon him, as though the man had lived through countless years filled with burdens that had weighed heavily upon both his body and soul.
At first glance...
He appeared to be an old man standing upon the very edge of life.
A man who might be laid into his grave at any moment.
But...
His eyes were something else entirely.
Sharp.
Piercing.
They possessed a depth that was utterly inconsistent with his withered appearance.
And deep within those eyes burned a calm yet frightening gleam—the gleam of someone who had spent countless years within a world that showed no mercy to the weak.
As for his body...
A powerful, ethereal aura emanated from it.
The aura was neither violent nor ostentatious, and its owner did not need to deliberately release it for others to sense it.
It simply existed.
Calm...
Deep...
And imposing.
As though the withered appearance of this old man were nothing more than a mask concealing a man who remained at the very height of his strength.
This old man was no ordinary person.
He was...
Lord Aldous.
One hundred thousand young men and women looked upon him with admiration and reverence.
His name alone was enough to inspire awe in many of them.
Whispers began to spread among the rows.
"That's Lord Aldous."
One young man said it while staring at the platform with widened eyes.
A young man sitting beside him replied in a hushed voice,
"Someone like him actually came here himself to give us a lecture... I didn't expect that."
Another said while observing the old man carefully,
"Look at him... Even though he looks as if he could die at any moment, his aura is incredibly powerful."
Another young man smiled.
"Of course his aura is powerful. He's the strongest cultivator in Human City Number 17."
"The strongest cultivator?"
A girl sitting nearby joined the conversation excitedly.
"Doesn't that mean Lord Aldous knows things that ordinary people could never know?"
The young man answered,
"Of course. People at his level can access records and information that ordinary people aren't even allowed to approach."
Another young man said,
"I heard that Lord Aldous has read ancient records dating back to extremely distant ages."
Another girl quickly interjected,
"Really? Do those records contain information about the ancient world?"
"I don't know, but I've heard that he possesses extensive knowledge of our world's history."
A young man sitting in the back rows said,
"I just hope he talks about something we haven't heard before. Most of what we learn from books are merely incomplete fragments of history."
One of his companions replied,
"Be quiet. He's about to begin."
The whispers continued among the young men and women for some time.
Curiosity.
Anticipation.
And an excitement none of them could hide.
Everyone was waiting to hear what the old man before them would say.
Then...
A calm voice rang throughout the plaza.
The voice was not excessively loud, yet there was a distinct strength within its tone—a sense of authority that made it impossible for anyone to ignore.
At that very moment...
The whispers vanished.
The entire plaza fell silent.
As though an invisible hand had sealed the mouths of one hundred thousand people at once.
One hundred thousand pairs of eyes turned toward the platform.
Everyone sat upright, their gazes fixed upon the old man.
Aldous raised his head slightly.
His calm eyes swept across the crowd before he spoke in a deep, powerful voice:
"Our lecture today is about the history of our world."
Complete silence descended.
Yet the eyes of the adolescents and young people shone with even greater interest.
Aldous was no ordinary person.
He was one of the high-ranking figures among humanity, a cultivator whose strength had reached an extremely formidable level compared to most of the city's inhabitants.
Because of his status and strength, he was able to access records and information that ordinary humans could never obtain.
Therefore...
Every word that came from his mouth might contain a rare piece of knowledge.
Information that perhaps had never been written in the books these young people had read.
Perhaps it contained a fragment of the truth behind a history that had remained mysterious for countless centuries.
After a moment, Aldous said,
"Ask any question about our world, whether it is something mysterious or simply something you do not know, and I will answer to the best of my ability."
The moment his words ended...
The eyes of the adolescents lit up with excitement.
Hands shot into the air everywhere.
One here...
Dozens there...
Then hundreds and thousands of hands rose at the same time.
Some of the girls raised their hands with obvious enthusiasm, while some of the young men nearly stood up from sheer excitement, desperately trying to attract Aldous's attention.
But the old man remained calm.
His gaze swept across the crowd for several moments.
Then...
He raised a finger and pointed toward a young man sitting among the rows.
The young man froze for a moment.
His eyes widened before he realized that Aldous's finger was indeed pointing at him.
His face lit up with joy.
He hurriedly said in an audible voice,
"Lord Aldous... What was our world like in the past?"
The question was simple.
Yet hidden behind its simplicity was a profound desire to learn about something that no one of this generation had ever experienced.
Aldous remained silent for several seconds.
He looked ahead as though the question had momentarily transported him to a distant era.
An era that no longer existed.
Then he said,
"Our world, many years ago, was a prosperous world."
He paused briefly.
Then continued,
"Its energy was dense and spread throughout every corner of the world."
The expressions of some of the young people changed.
Aldous continued in a calm voice,
"The lands were covered in vast and magnificent green forests that stretched across immense distances. Ancient trees rose toward the heavens, while rivers flowed endlessly between the lands."
"Vast lakes were scattered everywhere, their waters clear and pure, reflecting the light of the sky above them. Green plains stretched across enormous expanses, filled with plants and flowers, while the mountains were covered in dense forests that made them appear as though they were part of an endless sea of green."
Then he added,
"Life was everywhere."
"The barren land you see today was not the image our world once possessed."
"Our world was far more vibrant..."
Aldous paused for a moment.
"And far more powerful."
Upon hearing his words...
The eyes of the young people gleamed.
Their imaginations began to run wild.
Some imagined endless forests.
Others imagined vast rivers flowing between the mountains.
Still others imagined crystal-clear lakes stretching toward the horizon, reflecting the sky upon their surfaces, and green lands utterly unlike the barren landscapes they had known since birth.
The image Aldous had painted with only a few words was completely different from their current world.
A prosperous world...
Filled with life...
And apparently, far more powerful than they could possibly imagine.
A girl quickly raised her hand.
Her eyes shone with obvious longing.
Aldous pointed toward her.
She spoke excitedly,
"Lord Aldous, are we humans the only race living in our world? Or are there other creatures living alongside us?"
A faint smile appeared upon Aldous's face.
He said,
"We are not the only race living in this world."
The girl's eyes widened.
Aldous continued,
"There are countless races living just as we do in other parts of the world."
Her astonishment was obvious.
Then she asked with innocent excitement,
"What are these races, Lord Aldous?"
Aldous smiled, seemingly enjoying the girl's enthusiasm and innocence.
He said,
"There are far too many races living in this world to name them all."
He paused briefly.
"Therefore, I will mention only the important races that rival us humans."
He took a calm breath before continuing,
"Aside from us..."
"There are Dragons."
Silence fell for a moment.
"And Phoenixes."
The astonishment on the faces around the plaza deepened.
"Qilin."
"Giants."
"Elves."
"Dark Elves."
"Demons."
"The Divine Clan."
"Beasts."
"Dwarves."
"Merfolk."
Then he said,
"Vampires."
Aldous paused.
Then continued,
"These are the races that rival our human race in strength and influence."
"There are also countless other races, but they are of lesser standing than those I have mentioned."
At first...
The adolescents could not comprehend his words.
They stared at Aldous as though trying to make sure they had heard him correctly.
Then their astonishment turned into utter shock.
And after a few moments...
The plaza erupted into chaos.
The whispers transformed into overlapping discussions, and voices spread throughout the rows.
"Dragons? Are they real?"
One young man asked while staring at his friend.
The other replied,
"I don't know! I thought they were just myths!"
A third young man exclaimed excitedly,
"I wish I could see a real dragon!"
A girl interjected,
"Isn't a Phoenix that enormous fiery bird that never dies?"
A young man quickly answered,
"Yes! I once read a story about a Phoenix."
Then he said excitedly,
"The book said that a Phoenix is an immortal bird that cannot die. When it approaches death, it burns itself with its own flames, then is reborn from the ashes of its former body!"
Another young man, looking utterly stunned, said,
"Wait... Giants?"
Then he added,
"And Demons? Elves? Vampires?"
He shook his head in disbelief.
"All of these races were only ever mentioned in myths!"
A girl beside him said,
"I thought those stories were nothing more than ancient tales invented by humans."
Another young man replied,
"If they're actually real... then that means our world is far larger than we ever thought."
Another said,
"Where do they live?"
"Could one of them be living somewhere near us?"
"Has any human ever seen a real Dragon?"
"What about Phoenixes? Are they really immortal?"
"Do Elves look like humans?"
"And are Vampires really like the stories describe them?"
The questions came one after another from every direction.
One hundred thousand young men and women were speaking at the same time, their curiosity blazing with an intensity none of them could conceal.
As for Aldous...
He remained seated upon the platform.
Calm.
He looked at the crowd before him, a faint smile appearing upon his face, difficult to interpret.
There was no sign of astonishment in his expression.
Nor surprise.
As though the words these young people had just heard were, to him, nothing more than a very small fragment of a history far older than they could possibly imagine.
And while the commotion continued throughout the plaza...
The names of those races continued to echo from the mouths of the young people.
Dragons...
Phoenixes...
Qilin...
Giants...
Elves...
Dark Elves...
Demons...
The Divine Clan...
Beasts...
Dwarves...
Merfolk...
And Vampires.
Names that most humans had believed to be nothing more than remnants of ancient myths.
But now...
The strongest cultivator in the city had told them that they were real.
And in a half-dead world, those words were no longer merely tales of a forgotten age.
They had become a small window...
Revealing, for the first time, a world far vaster than anything these young people had ever known.