Fang Hong took a moment to realize that he had already reached Cloud Harbor, inside an inn called 'Seagull of the Dew Sea.'

He lay on a wooden bed, quietly observing the small room on the second floor of the inn, where the quiet afternoon air was filled with the faint scent of Luxury Honey Flowers. Bright sunlight filtered through the clean glass window, casting patterns on the wooden floor, where dust motes danced. The light passed through the green window lattices, the jars in the cabinet, a coat on the rack—a little farther, on the desk rested a vase with a Fenris Yellow Chrysanthemum, beneath which a card bore a delicate elf script with the innkeeper's message.

It was the flower language of the Fenris Chrysanthemum, 'dreams and travel.'

He turned his head and finally spoke, "Baihua, is he your brother?"

Standing by the bed, Miya nodded, "He's my half-brother from the same father," her back to the sunlight, draped in a white robe and wearing cold silver chainmail that hung over her shoulders like drooping leaves, her demeanor somewhat ethereal, "You can call him Little White, that's what I usually call him."

Fang Hong felt a sudden clarity. He didn't care much about how to address him, but from the first time he saw Baihua, he felt a special connection, as the siblings seemed incredibly alike.

"Baihua was still at Traveler's Rest a month ago, your brother wasn't actually a member of the Rain Listeners before, right?"

Miya nodded again, not intending to conceal this fact, "Little White joined the Rain Listeners just for the Obelisk."

"So he saved me because...?"

"He wasn't that proactive; it was I who instructed him to do so."

Fang Hong looked at Miya unexpectedly.

A somber silence enveloped the two, born from past misunderstandings. Day after day, he recalled the events of that time, yet now he was uncertain whether he should act mature and politely refuse her help, or should he inquire about everything that had happened?

Outside the window was the square of Cloud Harbor, facing in the direction of Milaila Temple, where people were constructing a new statue on the ruins of Tower City.

The statue was only a rough outline, and the distant clinking sound of tools drifted from outside.

Fang Hong felt somewhat dazed for a moment.

But unexpectedly, it was the young woman who broke the silence first.

"I have been looking for you ever since we left the Golgon Ruins,"

"I learned of your whereabouts from Little White," Miya quietly, with a crescent of silver light reflecting in her deep eyes, only gazing at him, "I had some matters to deal with in Tarun at the time, but I managed to get here three days ago."

"I asked you to wait for me at the resurrection point at Concealing Spring, but I waited there for several days and didn't see you—"

Fang Hong opened his mouth, but the words retreated back inside.

He remembered the final words Miya spoke to him in that endless darkness, though he couldn't hear them clearly.

"So, Miss Miya, do you intend to use me again?"

With a thousand words in his heart, what Fang Hong voiced was just this one sentence.

Such thorny words ultimately hurt himself—

Miya's quiet gaze fell on his chest, causing his heart to momentarily jump, as if the cold sharp blade from that day had pierced right there—and more painfully, it was the betrayal of the soul. "Does the wound still hurt?" the girl's voice was very gentle, like a sister comforting her brother.

Fang Hong held his breath, his emotions too complex to describe.

"Let me tell you a story," responded Miya.

Fang Hong looked at the young woman.

For some reason, his heart suddenly calmed.

And the beginning of that story went like this...

After the Stargate Era, the first and second generations of Pioneers paved the way for the later generations, and the advent of Glow Objects made the appearance of common Summoners possible.

Capital flowed into the Stargate afterward, and the Super Competitive League first showed its embryonic form in that era, though the China Competition Region had not yet established the foundation for today's renowned top ten guilds, nor was Silver Weslan known at the time.

In that distant era, the three recognized guilds of the China Competition Region were Vici Gaming, Elf, and Moonlight. While the former was akin to the Twelve-Colored Iris from the Ancient Era, an e-sports club, the latter two were famous Free Summoners Guilds of the time.

What followed is a well-known part of history— the European Union, America, the South Indo-Pacific, and the Commonwealth of Independent States competition regions were established one after another. To enhance the competitiveness of the national competition region, on government advice, and with capital participation, Vici Gaming, Elf, and Moonlight reorganized with a series of guild clubs into the new Guild Alliance.

This later became the well-known name,

The V.E.M Alliance.

The V.E.M Alliance, together with its associated clubs, formed the basis of the China Super Competitive League at that time, marking the first peak period in the history of the China Competition Region. The V.E.M Alliance dominated globally, creating a decade-long Chinese dynasty.

However, as all dynasties prosper and then decline, the V.E.M Alliance also went through this process of prospering and waning. Due to disagreements between investors and senior guild management, in one conflict, a large number of top Summoners left the V.E.M; later, scandals about player salaries and withheld bonuses were exposed.

About ten years before the Battle of Bain, the V.E.M went through this turning point from prosperity to decline, after which the V.E.M Alliance gradually waned, and the domestic competition region also entered its first Ice Age.

Yet, as misfortune and fortune go hand in hand, the dissolution of V.E.M naturally led to the emergence of new guilds such as the Rose Cross Army and the Godslayers, laying the groundwork for the top ten guilds in that era.

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