Clang!
Between the rising and falling hammer shadows, N'bel's calloused hands were as steady as a rock. With each strike, the metal moved closer to the shape in his mind.
The old blacksmith's breathing maintained a rhythmic harmony with his hammering. Sweat beaded on his graying temples, evaporating into white mist before it could even drip onto the red-hot metal.
The orange-red steel billet on the anvil gradually lost its scorching color, revealing the initially formed sharp edge.
"Smithing is like this." N'bel wiped his sweat, using iron tongs to slowly immerse the red-hot dagger blank into the water. The moment the scorching metal entered the water, rolling steam hissed outward.
The blacksmith turned sideways, his gaze falling on the youth. "Caelan asked me to teach you, but truth be told, I don't have many skills. Besides smithing, I know nothing. If you truly want to learn, I won't hold anything back."
Vulkan's voice carried a composure beyond his years, "Father instructed me to learn from you. I myself am always drawn to the forge's sparks."
Half a standard year had passed. The little child had grown into a tall youth. The residents of Hesiod had long grown accustomed to this family of three.
The father was a powerful Great Earth Shaman. The mother was the ancient Salamander King. The child was so dark that one couldn't help but wonder if he was really Caelan's biological son.
This family of three was completely pieced together. It was truly curious how they ended up together.
On Nocturne, Great Earth Shamans were highly revered guardians.
They possessed extraordinary wisdom, could foresee disasters, and shelter the people during the Time of Trial.
The birth of every Great Earth Shaman was enough to fill their city with ecstatic joy.
Hesiod also had its own Great Earth Shaman, but his power was nowhere near as strong as Caelan's.
Caelan was the kind of formidable person who could take the Salamander King as his wife. In Nocturne's long history, there was only one such person.
Since Caelan sent Vulkan to N'bel to learn smithing, there must be reasons N'bel couldn't understand. Mortal wisdom could not fathom the profound and inscrutable thoughts of a Great Earth Shaman.
"Then you'll learn from me. You can call me Master, or not, it doesn't matter."
Vulkan's voice fell crisply and decisively, "Master."
....
Amidst the people's awed gazes, Juno's mountain-like body soared into the leaden sky.
Though Hesiod's residents had prepared fat livestock for her enjoyment, Juno still chose to fly alone to Mount Deathfire.
For her, hunting was not only a way to obtain food but also an instinctual enjoyment inscribed in her bloodline.
Juno flapped her wings over the Cindara Plateau, then accelerated into a dive upon entering Mount Deathfire, letting the howling wind surge and roar among the cliffs.
All the salamanders in the volcano fearfully retreated to their lairs, trying to hide from the Salamander King.
This was the survival instinct etched into the beasts' genes.
Even the fiercest would instinctively cower and tremble before Juno.
It wasn't just the difference in size, but the suppression from a true apex of the food chain!
Juno folded her wings and dove like a meteor.
Her claws easily pierced a giant beast's throat. Hot blood spurted from the wound, scorching wisps of smoke on the scorched earth.
But just as she lowered her head to enjoy her prey...
BOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the silence.
Juno suddenly raised her head. Her crimson pupils reflected several dark shadows.
They glided like ghosts across the crimson sky, letting out piercing shrieks as they broke through the thick clouds.
In her long life, Juno had also witnessed these strange beings. Nocturne's mortals usually called them Dusk Ghosts.
In the child's father's eyes, these inherent evils were also the enemies of the Seven Shields Alliance.
The boy's father had also warned her that if she encountered these abhorrent beings while hunting, she must avoid confrontation.
Otherwise, a single mistake could allow these shadow-dwelling creatures to capture her and drag her back to their depraved nests.
Juno's snout emitted a low growl. This was the Mount Deathfire, her territory for millennia!
Now these things had invaded her territory, and she was supposed to avoid their edge for now?
She was the Salamander King! He had underestimated her!
She had lost to him, yes. According to the law of the jungle passed down in the beast's ancient bloodline, the victor had the right to possess the vanquished's body.
Whether eating the vanquished or mating with them was up to the victor.
For millennia past, the Salamander King had always been the victor, so she always ate the vanquished.
The only time she lost was to the child's father. Although he neither ate her nor mated with her, which was very strange indeed.
But she was still the Salamander King, the undisputed overlord of Nocturne!
'Me, avoid them?'
"ROAR!"
Juno raised her ferocious head. The deafening roar echoed through the volcanic range.
Juno suddenly unfolded her wings and took flight under the crimson sky. She would make those who dared invade her territory pay with their lives!
Juno was about to give chase to the things streaking across the sky, but as she took off, she keenly caught movement down among the cliffs below.
Several ghostly dark figures moved through the volcano, clearly hunting something.
From her vantage point in the air, Juno could see clearly: being hunted by the Drukhari was a dirty, disheveled human youth.
Their pursuit forced him to flee, but his flight wasn't desperate. He kept looking for opportunities to strike back.
But the difference between them was too great.
The Drukhari possessed advanced technology. The rods in their hands could rapidly spew some kind of flashing crystal.
While the youth was only flesh and blood, relying on the jagged cliffs for cover.
Juno's extraordinary intelligence allowed her to assess the situation.
The Drukharis were certainly together, but they seemed to be hunting different targets.
The flying Drukhari's target was very fast, or perhaps they were wary of something; otherwise, they wouldn't have been unable to catch it for so long.
And the youth, for some special reason, had dozens of Drukharis hunting him from all directions.
The child's father had taught her: the enemy of my enemy is my friend!
Juno's pupils contracted into thin crimson lines. She suddenly folded her wings amidst the sulfurous clouds and plummeted straight towards the cliffs.
Just before hitting the ground, scorching dragonflame erupted from her ferocious snout, instantly engulfing three Drukharis.
They didn't even have time to scream before they were reduced to smoking molten metal in the heat capable of melting metal.
"ROAR!"
Juno roared. Her thick tail swept like a giant whip, slamming two Drukharis hard into the cliff.
Her sharp claws tore another to shreds. A string of viscous blood flew with each swipe of her claws.
The last Drukhari lunged with a glowing whip. Juno's gaping maw suddenly opened wide. Her sharp fangs clamped down like a guillotine. The spirit bone armor lasted only a moment before it burst in Juno's mouth.
The Drukhari still unwillingly swung the whip, lashing fiercely across Juno's face.
Though it didn't wound the flesh, the welt brought intense burning pain. Juno shook her head in agonized roar, vomiting the remains of the Drukhari from her mouth.
What was chilling was that even with its body shattered, the Drukhari still struggled, crawling on the ground.
Just then, a human appeared in her vision.
It was the youth being hunted.
He deftly stabbed his dagger through the Drukhari's head. With a sticky popping sound, the tenacious creature finally stopped struggling.
The youth glanced at Juno, still roaring in pain, then agilely disappeared among the cliffs.
For whatever reason, the salamader had, in fact, helped him.
He wouldn't take advantage of the distress.
Shortly after the youth left, other Drukhari squads arrived, following the traces of the fight.
But they didn't mourn their compatriots' deaths for a moment. Instead, they erupted in cruel cheers, discussing in a language Juno didn't understand how to capture this rare and exotic beast. They immediately shot countless shining crystals from their rods.
Juno forced herself to ignore the intense pain from the welt on her face and suddenly raised her head.
A blinding light burst from her throat. A scorching stream of dragonflame, like a lava flow, erupted. The deadly poison crystals made sharp popping sounds in the flames, turning into sparks of crimson starlight.
The Drukhari shouted excitedly, "Keep firing! Aim for its wings!"
"I want it alive, but it doesn't have to be intact!"
Juno's thick tail slammed heavily against the cliff face. Using the recoil, she suddenly folded and turned her wings, rounding a cliff corner at the critical moment.
Behind her came the dense impact of poison crystals against the rock, corroding countless honeycomb-like holes.
The Drukhari squad immediately pursued, but at the corner, they met an unexpected and deadly ambush.
A cold gleam erupted from the shadows like a venomous snake. The dagger precisely pierced the chest of the leading Drukhari.
The youth's movements were nearly a blur. Gripping the shoulder of the dying Drukhari as a pivot with one hand, he snatched the poison crystal rifle with the other; the xenos' finger was still on the trigger.
A deadly barrage of poison crystals immediately swept the Drukhari squad. Three Drukharis fell in agony before they could even raise their weapons.
Though the remaining xenos fired back wildly, the supposedly deadly crystals all struck the corpse the youth was using as a shield.
The poison crystal fragments corroded the Drukhari's exquisite armor into sickening honeycomb-like holes, but never truly harmed the youth.
Unlike their cousins, all Drukhari weapons were designed to torture enemies in battle.
Their whips were poisoned. The ammunition for their poison crystal rifles was crystals formed from solidified poison.
The rapidly spewing poison crystals could easily kill. Even if the enemy didn't die from the shots, they would die painfully from the poison's corrosion or lose the ability to resist.
"ROAR!"
Juno's roar tore through the sulfur-laden battlefield. She dove again, spewing scorching dragonflame from her ferocious snout.
The hot flames swept over half the Drukhari, burning the xenos into twisted charcoal and molten metal.
The surviving Drukhari let out piercing shrieks, rapidly dodging among the jagged cliffs like ghosts.
Juno's claws suddenly swiped down, smashing a protruding volcanic rock along with the xenos hiding behind it into pieces.
Rubble and splattered flesh and blood flew in the smoke, but more Drukharis were already flanking them.
The youth seized the opportunity, discarding the long-perforated Drukhari corpse. He rolled and grabbed a poisoned blade from the ground.
Though the poison crystal rifle was a better choice, Drukhari weapons all had genetic recognition. He couldn't use them. Carrying the xenos corpse around was too cumbersome. A melee weapon was better.
Species and language barriers separated the youth and Juno, but at this moment, they achieved an astonishing tacit understanding.
He wasn't familiar with the terrain, and the xenos were in hot pursuit.
He couldn't run forever, and he had been looking for opportunities to counterattack. Even without Juno's intervention, he had originally planned to ambush them among the cliffs.
With Juno, the giant beast, joining the hunt became even more unstoppable!
As Drukhari frantically reloaded their poison crystal rifles, the youth was already upon them like a ghost.
The poisoned dagger precisely entered the gap in the xenos' armor, wounding his flesh.
The potent poison immediately seeped into the wound, causing the Drukhari's body to spasm uncontrollably.
The youth's speed and strength weren't exceptional. He could tell this wasn't his physical peak, yet he could still easily slaughter this group of Drukharis.
When the last Drukhari corpse stopped twitching, the youth slowly raised his face, stained with xenos blood. He saw Juno, still enraged, repeatedly tearing at the Drukhari corpses with her claws, as if venting her anger.
Her scales were damaged in many places, blood still seeping from the wounds.
Those Drukharis hadn't fatally wounded her, but the pain they caused far exceeded ordinary attacks.
The youth hesitated for a moment. Instead of leaving, he cautiously stepped towards the giant beast.
This giant beast was completely different from any he had encountered before.
The giant beast was clearly an intelligent being. It ambushed, it avoided the enemy's sharp edge when injured, and it cooperated with him in ambushes.
Most importantly, it had saved him.
Though he didn't know why it saved him, it could have stayed out of it.
The youth could see that the giant beast wasn't bloodthirsty. Since it was intelligent, it wouldn't attack powerful Drukhari just because its territory was invaded. Its intervention must have been to save him.
The youth guessed the giant beast might be a protector spirit for a human tribe, protecting him because he was human.
So the youth wanted to try communicating with the giant beast. It was his only chance.
Either convince this intelligent being to fight alongside him, or face dozens of times his own enemies alone.
Moreover, he had a mission. He had to survive.
The youth stopped dozens of meters from the giant beast, slowly raising his hands to show he meant no harm.
"I need your help."
The giant beast stared at him, its nostrils snorting hot breath.
The youth thought the giant beast was scrutinizing him, but Juno was merely puzzled.
Having spent so long with the child's father, she could now understand human language.
'What was this person babbling about? Was this Nocturnean?'
Communication failed, unsurprisingly. The youth felt utterly foolish.
He actually tried to communicate with a giant beast!
Though the giant beast had never shown aggression towards him, though his reasoning was clear and meticulous in logic; if the giant beast couldn't understand, nothing he said mattered.
"What now?"
The youth frowned. There were still many Drukharis in the volcano. Running was impossible. He had to kill them all.
And that giant beast, he had been tracking it. He had to end it!
...
Ting Ting Ting!
On the watchtower of Hesiod's wall, a guard sounded the alarm. Residents panicked but skillfully fled underground.
"Vulkan."
On the main road connecting the mansion and the blacksmith's shop, Caelan and Vulkan, heading towards each other, met midway.
A rare note of urgency crept into Caelan's voice: "Come with me."
"Father, where are we going?"
"Mount Deathfire. Your mother might be in trouble."
Juno had never spent this long hunting before. Coinciding with the Drukhari invasion, Caelan was worried for her safety.
Vulkan silently clenched the hammer he had brought from the blacksmith's shop. A flicker of unease crossed his dark face.
He should stay and protect the town. But his mother was in danger.
Who should he save?
Thousands of innocent townsfolk, or his mother, a monster hunting alone?
Vulkan's heart was torn and struggling. But his steps followed Caelan without hesitation.
The answer was always there. People just often refused to admit it.
Caelan reassured him, "Do not be ashamed of selfishness. There is no absolute selflessness. Even the noblest sacrifice is often selfish."
Vulkan asked, confusion in his eye, "Father, what is selflessness?"
"To transcend personal interest is selflessness. Even selflessness has degrees. It is a noble virtue, but do not let it control you."
The Emperor could be called selfless, for he never considered personal gains and losses.
But selflessness is not fairness and justice, nor is it universal harmony.
The Emperor's selflessness is directed first towards humanity as a whole. In the matter of selflessness, he is very selfish.
He would selflessly sacrifice himself. He would also selflessly sacrifice others, no matter who they were, no matter if they were willing.
Even when doing these things, he would feel sorrow, feel reluctance, but he would not regret them.
Because it has always been him using selflessness, not selflessness using him.
Vulkan asked softly, "What kind of person do you want me to become?"
"I taught you long ago."
"Compromise?"
"You can be a selfless selfish person, or a selfish selfless person."
"And what kind of person are you?"
"I don't know which kind I am, but I am very selfish. I judge matters by importance, and people by rank. I have never believed in equality for all. Individual differences determine inherent inequality among people."
"If you asked me to choose between saving you and your mother or the world, I would choose you."
Vulkan fell silent. If he faced the same choice, what should he do?
"I'll teach you one more thing." Caelan's voice was deep and low. "A servant must be loyal, a master must be detached. This is morality."
The Emperor is a selfless selfish person; Caelan is, at best, a selfish selfless one.