Alex walked out of the Azure Dragon’s palace and onto the stairs that led to it. He stared at the massive void that surrounded the floating islands, and the rest of the land that lay beyond it.
The hole itself was dozens of kiloters wide, and one could only imagine how deep it went.
Pearl was next to him, staring at the sight just the sa.
"How did this hole co to be?" Alex asked, his question directed to a young Azure Dragon nad Qing Yunlie. The young beast was a 5th Generation Azure Dragon, and thus one of the youngest Azure Dragons in the entire palace.
At that mont, he was Alex and Pearl’s guide in the palace.
"The hole was always there," the Azure Dragon said. "I don’t think even the Patriarch could tell you how it ca to be, really."
"Oh?" Alex looked back down. His Demon Eyes activated for a second as he searched for what he could find down there, but the amount of Darkness aura made it impossible to see anything.
"Are we allowed to go down there?" Pearl asked.
The young Dragon quickly shook his head, rather vehently at that too.
"We’re not allowed there. No one is allowed there, except for so of the older ancestors," the Dragon said.
Alex grew curious. "Does it have to do with the aura down there, or is there sothing valuable you don’t want us to see?"
The Azure Dragon grimaced a little. "Both, I think?" he said. "Most of us aren’t allowed down there for the simple reason that it is dangerous. Apparently, you can’t go down there without going mad within monts. Only those strong enough to keep off the madness can go there safely."
"Madness?" Alex asked while staring down at the void. "The previous Godslayer would’ve surely loved this."
"Godslayer?" the Azure Dragon asked.
"Nothing," Alex said. "You said both. So there is sothing valuable down there?"
"I... can’t exactly say if it is valuable or not. Just that it is important," the beast said. "You could even say it is sothing sacred. Our ancestors go down there once in a while. It’s a tradition at this point."
Alex nodded slowly. "Do you think we could ask for permission to go check what’s there?" he asked.
The Azure Dragon gave the most astonished stare, and Alex quickly gave up on the idea.
"Never mind that," Alex said with a slight chuckle. "Can you tell how this place is floating? Is there a formation sowhere that does that?"
"Not a formation, but an artifact," the Dragon said. "It uses artifacts made using our Progenitor’s Dragon scales. It allows the land not just to levitate but to float away if needed. The chains were later placed to keep the land in place."
Alex scratched his chin in thought. "Must be an incredible artifact to keep so much of this land afloat," he said.
"Is there a reason why these lands are floating?" Pearl asked. "Why dig up this land just to have it hover in the air?"
"You’re mistaken," the Dragon said. "The islands the palaces are built on are not the sa as the land that was cleared below. These islands used to be mountains that were taken away from the east. As for the hole, I couldn’t tell you if it was made or if it always existed."
"Fascinating," Alex mused.
They left the area, moving to check on many more places around the palaces. In one of the palaces, Alex and Pearl were shown a massive library that had so many stories of shelves that Alex couldn’t even count them properly. The space inside it had been elongated in a way that the library was many tis taller than the size of the actual room.
In another place, there was a giant fighting and training arena, where hundreds of fighters were gathered and training at the mont. The space within this room had been widely expanded as well to accommodate the many beasts inside.
Every location within the palaces that was of so importance had space carved within it, sotis to expand it, or sotis to separate it from the outside world.
And every single one of these tasks was done by an artifact or a formation created using Dragon scales.
Alex was now fascinated with Dragon scales. "Can I ask so questions about the scales, or am I not allowed to?" he asked.
"It’s perfectly acceptable for you to ask any questions you want," the Azure Dragon said. "We have no reason to hide anything."
Alex gave a nod in thanks. "Are the Dragon scales directly involved in the spatial manipulations done by the artifacts and formations?" he asked.
"No, not at all," the Dragon said. "They are rely tals used to craft them. Although, they do have a high compatibility with Space aura, which makes them the perfect material."
"Ah! And how do you gather the scales exactly?" Alex asked. "Do they regrow? How do they work?"
"There is a tradition we have to follow," the Azure Dragon said. "Each year, we have to provide so of our scales to the family, barring years when we break through. The donations can be anywhere from a few scales to dozens. It depends on the person and how much they are willing to give up."
"And they regrow, I assu?" Alex asked.
The young Dragon nodded. "They take so ti, anywhere from months to years depending on how much we gave up, but they regrow. Of course, pills and healing techniques help speed it up."
"I see," Alex said. "And with so many Azure Dragons living here, there must be tens of thousands of scales gathered each year."
The Azure Dragon nodded. "Each year, we gather anywhere from between 500 to 800 tons of Dragon scales," he said. He looked at Alex and added, "I’m sorry, but you can’t get any. It’s exclusively for our family."
Alex smiled.
"In that case, would you mind taking sowhere to see how they are turned into artifacts?"
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