All Ancient Artifacts Collected!

The Library of the Exiled.

Mei suddenly appeared, startling the great serpent. She then walked to a wall and kicked it.

"Open."

Bang!

Mei's kick expanded the space. A section was ripped out of the Library of the Exiled.

Through simple words and descriptions, the great serpent understood Mei's meaning.

Simply put, she wanted the great serpent to expand its body and create another room.

After the expansion of a new room was complete, the great serpent also created a door and countless shelves. It also carefully decorated the walls and floors.

Dark green is the best!

ꉂ (ˊ ᗜ ˋ*)

Mei looked at the green room and frowned. "Ugly."

Great Serpent: "…"

"Change it to another color."

Mei didn't like this color, so 024, the great serpent, tearfully changed it to black.

"That's better."

Then, Mei began tearing open fissures, taking out Ancient Artifacts one by one, and displaying them on the shelves.

All 214 Ancient Artifacts, neatly arranged. Only one, the Unripe Apple, had a bite taken out of it, slightly ruining the aesthetics.

After arranging everything, Mei clapped her hands. "Not bad. This is much more spacious. Later, if there are complete sets of items, I'll expand a few more rooms."

"Then you can change your name to the Museum of Ancient and Modern Treasures."

Great Serpent: "…"

Mei's expression suddenly turned strange.

She rummaged through the crack space and pulled out a Golden Trident. "Why is there another one?"

The stone tablet didn't mention this Golden Trident. All 214 Ancient Artifacts were accounted for. Why was there an extra one?

Could this not be an Ancient Artifact?

Mei checked with the Treasure Map. It showed that it was an Ancient Artifact. But it wasn't listed on the obelisk.

Mei carefully examined the Golden Trident and discovered a series of winding characters on the tip.

These characters looked very similar to the ones she'd seen in the Old One's Temple.

In a flash, the characters on the Trident's tip transformed into English.

Again?

"Do these things have built-in translation?"

"Or is this actually my innate trait?"

Mei wasn't sure. Whenever she saw characters she couldn't understand, they would instantly transform into characters she could read.

She looked at the words on the Golden Trident. There were only one:

"Atlas."

"Hm?"

Mei swirled the Trident and suddenly thought of the statue outside the Old One's Temple, the one holding a golden trident.

"Is it referring to that person?"

"It feels like there's a hidden storyline. Should I try and find it?"

...

Asia, in the sky above a certain city.

Dark clouds gathered. A massive, blurry figure floated above the clouds.

Naira Sorkin took a deep breath. "If something goes wrong, with my speed, no one can catch me except for The Centaur."

"Come on, show me your true form, dragon!"

Hoo!

The clouds churned. A pair of enormous vertical pupils suddenly appeared before Naira Sorkin!

Naira Sorkin gulped. This oppressive feeling…

"Hello?"

He looked at the tiny Naira Sorkin before him. He wasn't even as big as Ye Long's claws.

"Hmph…" Ye Long opened his mouth and let out a heavy sound.

The sound was strange, like a guttural vibration, then exhaling through his nostrils.

But, is this considered a response?

Naira Sorkin couldn't figure out what this meant.

"Sea…"

Ye Long opened his mouth and roared. Naira Sorkin quickly covered his ears. This sound was incredibly loud, like someone shouting into a megaphone right next to his ear.

"Sea?"

Naira Sorkin didn't understand what Ye Long meant.

Or perhaps, even Ye Long himself didn't quite understand what he meant by that word.

As for why…

He'd lost some of his memories.

And his mind was in chaos, fragments of memories intertwined.

He could remember some things clearly, but then become completely confused.

This change started after he drank the potion.

From when he collapsed in the temple for some unknown reason, to when he transformed into a dragon, he couldn't remember what happened in between…

The only things he could clearly remember now were to save his mother, and the date and location of the next great flood.

That was probably implanted in his mind when he was still a Fish-Man.

The Sea King's next target for the great flood was Asia.

And the Sea King had always been cautious about Asia. His plan was to start from the periphery and perform reconnaissance, to see how many forces and monsters were there.

So this time, he wouldn't personally act. He would temporarily command all the Deep Ones in Asia to launch a surprise attack.

A suicidal bait tactic.

The date was three days later.

Ye Long's mother, as a Deep One in the coastal area of Asia, would obey his orders and participate in this suicidal mission.

This couldn't be stopped.

Even if Ye Long took his mother away, as long as she was a Fish-Man, she would obey the Sea King's commands and charge toward the designated location like a madman.

Even if Ye Long took her out of Asia, to the other side of the world.

If the Sea King discovered this, he would immediately order her to commit suicide as punishment for betrayal.

Ye Long had already thought of this half a month ago.

That's why he had been searching for an Ancient Artifact that could dispel the Fish-Man curse, the Silver Thread Needle.

But he was too late.

The Silver Thread Needle had been offered to a more mysterious being by the Sea King.

This being, some Deep Ones and Priests, call her the God of Gods.

But it didn't matter who she was. Ye Long didn't care.

Even after losing hope of obtaining the Silver Thread Needle, Ye Long still didn't give up.

He continued searching, until he met the Serpent's Hand and saw that thing in Adam's book.

The Old One's Temple, the Golden Trident.

The Golden Trident was the key to sealing the things in the sea.

After getting this clue, Ye Long changed his mind.

If he couldn't avoid the problem, then he would solve the source of the problem.

Use the Golden Trident to seal the sea monsters. This, to Ye Long, who was still a Fish-Man at the time, seemed like a distant dream.

Or perhaps, a delusion of grandeur.

But he had to do it.

Because it involved his mother. Even if it was impossible, he had to try!

"Remember, the only dreams you can't achieve are the ones you're afraid to try, Ye Long."

All of that, Ye Long had forgotten where it all began.

His memories were jumbled, some completely lost. Only his mother's words remained clear in his mind.

But he couldn't remember his mother's face, or her name.

Everything was becoming blurry, only a gentle voice remained.

"Ye Long, if you can leave, don't come back…"