Once a riddle is solved, you start seeing clues everywhere.
In Little Garden, the origin of the Divinity of the pure-blooded dragons, one of the three strongest species, had always been a mystery.
According to the mainstream belief in Little Garden, this life form was not "born" but "occurred."
At a certain moment, without any warning, it was formed by the sudden condensation of some powerful force.
Standing at the pinnacle of phantasmal beasts, an ultimate life form without an evolutionary tree—that was a pure-blooded dragon.
To be honest, the very definition of a pure-blooded dragon was extremely suspicious. Before Su Mo pointed this out, Lamia had accepted this unique characteristic as common knowledge in Little Garden.
But after Su Mo's revelation, she finally discovered the bizarre aspect of this "common knowledge."
Such an obvious problem, yet no one had ever pointed it out. Apart from Su Mo, almost everyone in Little Garden actually believed that a life form could exist in this world without any reason, without any warning, and completely unrelated to other observers.
And this life form had even been involved in the construction of Little Garden since its dawn.
Thinking back, Lamia herself found it incredible. How could a life form so deeply involved in Little Garden be considered a complete outsider?
This not only contradicted scientific theory but also magical theory and was completely illogical.
If such a causeless existence really existed, wouldn't it mean that no matter how Little Garden developed, a random, incredibly powerful pure-blooded dragon could appear at any time and destroy everything, completely ending Little Garden's mission?
After all, if the birth of a pure-blooded dragon was reasonless, then even more reasonless things could happen.
Clearly, not even a gag manga would have such an illogical setting. Yet, the people of Little Garden had believed in this setting for hundreds of thousands of years. Even she herself had only just awakened to it.
Su Mo's theory completely explained the reason for the birth of pure-blooded dragons.
They were not some incomprehensible life form born without reason or warning, but rather the "correct answer" for humanity, summoned from the future to the present by the center of Little Garden, using the characteristics of an independent third-party observation point and conflicts in the timeline.
From the very beginning, the answer to overcoming eschatology had been revealed, but everyone had failed to realize it, turning a blind eye to the correct answer.
Only then did the center of Little Garden have to summon the vampire clan, presenting the correct answer and then highlighting the wrong one, afraid that humanity would take a wrong step.
The terrifying thing was, without Su Mo, no one would probably have understood the meaning of the existence of the pure-blooded dragon and vampire races.
But after Su Mo revealed the answer, everything became clear.
Lamia quickly realized the connection between the vampire clan and the pure-blooded dragons. As a member of the Demon Species, the vampires were actually created as retainers by a certain pure-blooded dragon.
Because of this relationship, the vampire clan possessed the racial talent called "Draconic Remnant." Even in the curses triggered by the vampire rebellion, Leticia had been called a "child of the dragon."
Lamia also remembered the mission passed down through their clan.
It was said that after creating them, that carefree pure-blooded dragon had entrusted them with the duty of monitoring and guarding the System Tree, while it itself flapped its wings and roamed the sea of stars, completely shirking its responsibilities.
The reason the vampire clan became Knights of Little Garden, a part of its guardians, was related not only to the Firmament but also to this mission.
Thinking back now, if vampires, with their deep connection to dragons, were a future form of humanity, then the conjecture that pure-blooded dragons were also a future form of humanity was easy to arrive at.
"In other words, in the distant future, everyone will be like a dragon?" If the future was really like that, it would be a spectacle beyond Lamia's imagination.
Of course, it was too early to talk about that now. After the excitement subsided, Lamia quickly understood why Su Mo was so calm.
If pure-blooded dragons were the evolutionary form of humanity, then the gap between the two was a chasm wider than the distance between heaven and earth.
Pure-blooded dragons did not have an evolutionary tree, which meant that no one knew what method or path humanity could take to evolve into them.
Even knowing that the key factor was the Third Stellar Particle, the vampire form showed that there were still many wrong evolutionary paths after humans fused with it.
Finding the evolutionary path that could truly overcome the apocalypse was by no means a simple matter.
Realizing this, Lamia bit her lip, glanced around, and boldly lifted the hem of her skirt slightly. "Master, although I can't be of much help in the evolution of pure-blooded dragons, if you wish to study the physiological structure of vampires, I may be of assistance."
"?" Su Mo was slightly taken aback. Is this... a proper kind of research you're talking about?
As if sensing his doubt, Lamia lowered her head shyly. "Although I am not qualified to be your concubine, if it is merely to fulfill the duties of a maid, I am still capable." As she spoke, her skin flushed slightly.
"Besides, I now have a special constitution that only reacts to you, Master... Although I endured the curse just now, it's not something I can endure forever. I boldly request your help, Master..."
With that, she boldly looked up at Su Mo, her crimson eyes misting over even more intensely than before. "Or does Master want my sister to join us?"
---||---
Late at night, in a dark and secluded forest shrouded by a visual perception barrier, Lamia leaned forward slightly, her hands pressed against a tree in front of her.
At her height, she couldn't reach the ground even on tiptoe, so she was actually in a state of levitation.
"Sister?! No, Sister can't see..." In the midst of the girl's incoherent and contradictory cries of pain, Su Mo gained a clearer understanding of the vampire clan's constitution.
As expected of a bloodline that could turn an entire pillow into a water-soaked sponge, their bodies were indeed made of water.
---||---
The Fire Dragon's Birth Festival ended successfully. Afterwards, at Canary's invitation, the Pale Flame Demon Willa, Pumpkin Jack, and Su Mo's party all came to Arcadia's headquarters as guests.
As expected, Kasukabe Koumei, the leader of Arcadia, was nowhere to be found, having gone missing as usual. Fortunately, during non-combat periods, he wasn't particularly important in Arcadia.
His pregnant wife, along with members of Arcadia's logistics department, warmly and tremblingly welcomed Su Mo and his group.
With Su Mo's current status, he was mostly met with awe from outsiders, so he didn't go out much in Arcadia. Most of the time, at Lamia's insatiable request, he studied and analyzed the structure of the vampire clan.
"Ugh, Sister, look this way... no, don't look this way..." Lamia, who was usually very well-behaved, seemed to live up to the curses on her Divinity in this regard.
After becoming addicted, she became extremely interested in challenging moral and ethical boundaries, always teetering between the heaven of wanting to be discovered by her sister and the hell of hoping she wouldn't be.
Thanks to this, Leticia had been run ragged by her sister these past few days. She had no idea what kind of curse her sister was under, that she could only open the door a crack and poke her small head out to talk to her.
What she couldn't understand even more was the maid Kāla's expression—a mix of complexity and relief, relief and sighing, sighing and regret—before she shook her head at her. Did I do something wrong to disappoint Kāla?
Amidst Leticia's clueless company and Lamia's constant experience of a blend of heaven and hell, a week later, an uninvited guest suddenly burst into Arcadia without even knocking.
If anyone else had done this, it would have been either a malicious provocation or a lack of manners.
But when this particular person did it, not only did the members of Arcadia show no hostility, but they all shook their heads and sighed, as if faced with a difficult troublemaker.
"Hahaha! Everyone in Arcadia, did you miss me? Seeing your troubled faces, I feel happy for some reason! Hahahaha!"
The white-haired loli, laughing with one hand on her hip on the roof of the living room, was none other than Shiroyasha, the Star Spirit of the Sun and the White Night, one of the Floor Masters.
"Lady Shiroyasha, welcome... although you're already in, even if I said you weren't welcome," Canary said, rendered a little speechless by her infuriating words. Looking up at her, she asked, "So, what brings you here this time? Though I feel there's no need to ask."
In the current Arcadia, if there was any existence that could attract Shiroyasha, there was only one possible answer.
Hearing Canary say this, Shiroyasha shook her head. "No, no, no, I didn't come specifically to see Su Mo this time. I'm here on official business. The Moon Rabbits asked me to deliver an invitation."
"Oh? Your purpose is just to deliver a message in person?" Canary naturally didn't believe a single punctuation mark she said. "So you'll leave after you've delivered it?"
"Of course not!" Shiroyasha shook her head righteously and then asked, "Where's Su Mo?! I've waited for seven days and he hasn't come back. Where have you hidden him?!"