The next morning, after final goodbyes with sister Iris, Carlos spread his crimson-gold serpent wings and hauled ass out of Rock Sand City...

About half a month later, on the vast endless grasslands, a pair of badass skeleton guard units appeared, protecting a bronze palanquin as they kept pushing forward...

The blazing sun was overhead when Carlos opened his eyes, emerald pupils gleaming as white dots appeared in the distance.

"Samana eastern region!"

Today's Samana Grasslands were lush and green with white, rough-hewn buildings scattered all over.

Unfortunately, after the future dark mist invasion, life would bite the dust and it would become a wasteland.

As they got closer, Carlos ordered:

"Go raise the Ember City banner!"

In Samana Grasslands' eastern region lived a bunch of centaurs—human bodies with horse heads, one of humanity's variants.

Those white buildings were their settlement.

Variants, also called human subspecies,

Often came from accidental special mutations that got passed down, eventually forming populations through breeding, becoming special small groups under humanity's big tent.

After countless eras of getting their asses kicked, many human subspecies types had made it to the present.

They often had certain special abilities, becoming more powerful after awakening—humanity's elite forces.

For example, the half-elf clan was also a human subspecies.

With crazy high spiritual affinity and formidable strength, they were one of humanity's upper subspecies, shouldering the responsibility of guarding the Sacred Fire.

The centaur clan, though not cranking out powerhouses like half-elves, were mid-tier subspecies whose power couldn't be fucked with—their clan definitely had Controller-level heavy hitters.

A shield guard up front raised Ember City's banner. The front showed a mysterious radiant flame burning—unclear in full but inspiring automatic respect.

The back showed a winged sacred greatsword, symbolizing the Valois bloodline among half-elves.

In the distance, centaurs spotted the no-bullshit formation. The banner flapping in the wind caused quite a stir.

Soon, weird musical sounds rang out—centaur welcoming ceremony.

Ember City's banner wasn't just Ember City's symbol.

For human subspecies, the upper subspecies half-elves it represented were the real reason for respect.

"Master, it's centaurs!"

Beside the palanquin, Ginya was blown away—her first time seeing centaurs.

"Don't do anything stupid—centaurs are pretty xenophobic."

Carlos said coolly.

He wasn't sweating Purple Vortex and other shield guards—without his orders, they wouldn't cause trouble.

But Ginya, with human smarts, might go exploring and possibly cause unnecessary bullshit.

"Got it!"

Ginya held back her thoughts, only staring at the centaurs ahead, looking them up and down like she was figuring something out.

The white building cluster gradually got clearer. Carlos lightly tapped the armrest, related memories surfacing in his mind.

"Yeah, identical to the recorded images."

In his previous life, when Carlos reached here, this area had already become a monster playground.

Centaurs got their asses handed to them, nearly going extinct, with only ruins left of the white buildings.

Vast, long weird music accompanied the shield guard formation radiating killing intent, approaching step by step.

Carlos tapped the armrest, thinking over his upcoming words. His gaze swept over nearby centaurs coming to greet them.

Though called horse-headed human-bodied, centaurs' human bodies were way different from ordinary people, covered in thick hair providing decent defense.

Due to this distinctive look, centaurs had a hell of a time living in ordinary human settlements, only able to stick together, eventually forming xenophobic customs.

"Attention... no... should be wariness."

Carlos playfully checked out the frontmost centaurs.

Their gear clearly stood out from ordinary centaurs—fully armed, holding spears, expressions showing rejection.

These were centaur guards—only strong centaurs could serve, responsible for the whole settlement's security.

Clop clop!

Shield guards protecting Carlos stopped in front of the centaurs.

Without deliberately targeting anyone, their naturally radiating fierce aura still put centaurs on high alert.

Especially centaur guards, gripping spears tight with grim expressions.

Killing intent filled the air, weird music stopped, silence dropped like a hammer.

Carlos's finger stopped tapping.

"I represent the Valois family, investigating centaur Roderick's betrayal of humanity!"

A cold, noble voice rang from the bronze palanquin.

Roderick—a centaur who joined the Twilight Cult. This area's future downfall was tied to him.

Carlos came here specifically to see if there was a chance to deal with this on the side.

When Roderick's name came up, centaurs got pretty worked up, but quickly chilled out under centaur guard control.

"May I ask who you are..."

Among centaur guards, an incredibly jacked centaur stepped forward.

"Master's name is Carlos Valois."

Ginya beside the palanquin spoke, eyes showing mad respect when mentioning her master's name.

"Roar!"

Purple Vortex wasn't about to be outdone, roaring several times. Only Carlos understood Purple Vortex was busting its ass to introduce itself.

However, its roars made already alert centaurs even more jumpy.

This incredibly jacked centaur guard tensed his muscles, quickly looking away from the two monsters beside the palanquin—they gave him seriously threatening vibes.

"Lord Valois,

I don't know where you heard about Roderick's business—he's already been executed..."

After pausing a few seconds, he continued:

"Even if he wasn't executed, this is our centaurs' internal business..."

Carlos's expression stayed stone-cold as he cut him off:

"You saying

The half-elf clan has no right to stick its nose in centaur affairs?"

Dead silence.

The centaur warrior clammed up.

The half-elf clan, as one of humanity's four strongest subspecies,

Though stuck with Sacred Fire protection duties, with clan powerhouses rarely leaving Ember City,

This didn't mean Samana Plains weren't in their patrol territory.

Power meant authority. The half-elf clan, controlling humanity's strongest northern forces, naturally had interference rights.

However, maybe because half-elves hadn't shown up on Samana Plains for ages, centaurs had other ideas.

"Centaur business should be handled by centaurs!"

The centaur warrior's voice was muffled, nameless anger rising as his eyes went wide, high-tier powerful momentum exploding—the target was obvious.

Carlos's mouth curved up. Facing the centaur warrior's powerful momentum, he said coldly:

"According to the Sacred Fire Covenant, the half-elf clan has northern patrol rights!"

Boom!

Wind and clouds went crazy.

Two great companions' terrifying auras started spreading. The centaur warrior's momentum got immediately squashed as he seemed to see mountains of corpses and seas of blood, his mind scared shitless.

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