"They can make you stronger," Yu Jin said to Durin, pointing at Bayeta and Alex not far away.
Alex bent down upon hearing this, carefully observing Durin.
"A dragon?" Alex said with a mix of surprise and uncertainty, looking at the distinct layers of pristine white scales on Durin's body, and then at the pair of wings curled behind him.
In his impression, there didn't seem to be creatures like Durin in Teyvat. Although there was a species called Vishap on the ground, they were worlds apart from true dragons.
"Hmm..." Alex pondered for a moment, then asked Yu Jin, "Where do you get so many strange creatures? I haven't seen a single one?"
"Can I be the same as you?" Yu Jin pointed to himself, then to Alex, implying that people are different.
"How... how to become stronger?" Durin heard Yu Jin and Alex's conversation, speaking in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"How to become stronger, you ask?" Alex listened to Durin's question but didn't rush to answer him.
He took out some instruments from nearby and began to take measurements around Durin.
"Such high mental strength?!" Bayeta also came to Alex's side. She looked at the data on the instrument and couldn't help but exclaim.
Durin's mental strength was the greatest she had ever seen among all creatures, and it was far, far ahead of the second-place contender!
Alex, however, was much calmer. He had long anticipated Durin's uniqueness.
"Hoo—" Alex put away the instruments and let out a long breath. He said eagerly, "With such high mental strength, it seems we don't have to worry about any restrictions."
"You mean, build a mechanical dragon?" Yu Jin asked casually, looking at Alex's eager demeanor.
"What else? I only know how to do these things. If you ask me to build something else, I can't," Alex said, spreading his hands, indicating that this was the only idea he could come up with.
"Then what do you think, Durin?" Yu Jin turned his head and began to ask Durin for his opinion.
"I... I don't want a body," Durin's eyes began to flicker. He recalled his experiences as a demonic dragon before.
The giant size of the dragon made all his actions extraordinarily terrifying. Even simple flying and running, the hurricanes and tremors he stirred up, were enough to destroy any house.
He had unknowingly taken away many beautiful things in this way. Durin was afraid of that scene happening again.
He was a life that was not permitted to be born; he should not have appeared in this world.
Thinking of this, Durin's body curled up into a ball again. He tucked his head into his belly and said weakly, "Forget it, I'm fine like this. I won't hurt anyone."
When Yu Jin saw Durin starting to wallow in self-pity again, he immediately pulled him apart as he was about to shrink into a ball.
He grabbed Durin's head with his hand and stared directly into Durin's flickering dragon eyes, saying, "What is this? This is worse than me chopping you down with a single blow!"
"I didn't pull you out here to be a case study for depression. So many people died by your hand, and you show no remorse at all. Have you lived enough?!"
With that, Yu Jin released his hands, and Durin's head drooped again.
Durin listened to Yu Jin's words and remained silent for a long time. Just as Yu Jin thought he had come around and was no longer depressed, Durin unexpectedly spoke:
"Uncle, you're right. I shouldn't have lived in this world in the first place. Kill me, just kill me."
After saying that, Durin closed his dragon eyes, looking as if he was waiting to die on the spot.
This rendered Yu Jin speechless. Before, it was always Yu Jin who rendered others speechless, but now, unexpectedly, it was the other way around.
Yu Jin looked at Durin, reached out and tapped his dragon head, saying to him, "I prefer people to call me 'Brother,' or just my name. Calling me 'Uncle' makes me sound very old."
Durin opened his eyes in surprise upon hearing this. He had expected that saying such words would either result in a furious scolding or a direct farewell to this world.
But he didn't expect Yu Jin's reaction to be so calm, even calmer than when he had admonished him earlier.
"I know what you're afraid of. Are you afraid of falling back into that muddled state again? Afraid that the beauty in your eyes will once again turn into others' despair?"
"Let me tell you this, don't compare me to your mother. There's no comparison," Yu Jin said, shaking his head.
"Mom is the best!" As soon as Rhinedottir was mentioned, Durin inexplicably became more assertive. He uncharacteristically refuted Yu Jin's statement, because in his heart, his mother was the strongest.
"Is that so? Then why didn't your mother fix your flaws?" Yu Jin retorted to Durin.
"This... this is because I am a life that was not permitted to be born in the first place," Durin paused for a moment, but quickly found a reason.
"Who said that? She said that?" Yu Jin placed one hand on Durin's body and said to him, "Are you interested in seeing something that is truly not allowed to be born?"
"Something truly not allowed to be born?" Durin silently savored Yu Jin's words, pondering what Yu Jin meant.
However, Yu Jin no longer paid attention to Durin. Instead, he turned his head to look at Bayeta, who was not far away.
"You said the Abyss here is too stable, like a sheep? You said you crave the forbidden? Then come, if you can bear it, then study it, though it's destined to be futile."
As Yu Jin finished speaking, ripples appeared in the space in front of him. Amidst the distortion and vibration of space, a large opening was torn.
"Those who want to follow, hurry up. Once this village is passed, there won't be this shop again. Most people want to see me, but I don't let them!"
After leaving these words, Yu Jin was the first to walk in, leaving Alex and the others looking at each other in dismay.
"The forbidden? I want to see what it is!" Soon, Bayeta calmed herself down and then followed.
"Let's go, little fellow named Durin. Are you really going to stay here?" Alex looked at Durin, who was still in a daze, reminded him, and then followed.
"Wait... wait for me!" Durin looked around and found that, apart from the robots, he was the only living being left in the entire factory.
In a hurry, he also followed... After a moment of dizziness, everyone once again stepped onto solid ground.
"Cough, cough, cough!" The ashes that had settled on the ground for a long time surged up due to everyone's arrival, forming a large mist. This caused everyone to cough.
"Hehe, few people come here. It's a bit dirty, but it'll be fine in a moment," Yu Jin said, scratching his head when he saw everyone coughing.
As he said, there were so many ashes here that the entire land was covered with a thick layer of white frost.
Once the ashes slowly settled, everyone began to carefully observe the scene here.
The most striking thing that caught their eyes was the unique Eclipse in the Sky.
An Eclipse hung in the Sky, with a faint red halo swirling around it. This red halo was like water flowing from the Eclipse, forming a slender red pillar of light between the Eclipse and the earth.
Upon seeing this scene, Bayeta and Alex involuntarily widened their eyes. Khaenri'ah's current dynasty was known as the "Eclipse" Dynasty.
Alex and Bayeta had not expected to actually see the Eclipse, and such a different Eclipse at that.
Alex looked around. He couldn't see into the distance because various broken walls and ruins had filled his vision.
He looked at his thigh; the pale ashes had already covered above his knees.
"How do we walk?" Alex tried to take a step, finding it extremely difficult.
"Didn't I say it would be fine in a moment?" Yu Jin said to Alex, then spread his arms.
"Boom! ! !" Yu Jin's arms closed, and an unparalleled storm gushed out from the gap between his palms.
The storm swept the ashes, the debris, and everything that stood in Yu Jin's path forward.
Behind the storm, there was an open expanse!
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