In the midsummer of the 199th year of the Red Moon calendar, the previously quiet Haber's village in Haike suddenly became lively. Amy and her Uncle Chi returned after two months away, and accompanying them were two other people and a rather strange animal.
Leading the group was an old wizard clad in a brand-new blue magic robe, adorned with a symbol indicating his rank as a wizard. As he walked gracefully, the robe emanated a powerful magical aura. He carried a tall staff topped with a large green magical crystal, which rippled with green waves whenever the staff moved, clearly sealing powerful magic within. On his head was a new pointed magic hat, its tip embedded with a small piece of a rare milky-white crystal, which, if nothing unexpected happened, was a magical hat with strong protective abilities.
If the society of that time had a custom of printing manufacturers or origins on items, undoubtedly, these extremely rare magical objects would bear the inscription: MADE IN Green Dragon Terrace.
Behind the old wizard walked a tall boy, slightly taller than Amy, dressed in black leather armor. Perhaps due to the heat, he had removed his outer garment, revealing strong, sweaty arms. He carried a steel crossbow on his back and held a long spear meant only for knights, with a large piece of fish tied to its tip.
Underneath the spear tip was an animal resembling a small dog, but larger. It kept raising its neck, staring unblinkingly at the piece of fish, trying to jump up every few steps to grab it. The knight's spear was four meters long, and despite its frantic flapping of wing-like appendages behind it, it couldn't reach the fish.
"One, two; come on! One, two; go for it! Good job, Green! Jump higher, 1 meter more, no, 2 meters, oh, it seems like you need to jump 3 meters to reach the fish!" As the heat intensified, flies emerged, and one large fly buzzed on Xiaobai's back. Xiaobai's eyes sparkled with tears, perhaps recalling his own tragic experiences from long ago.
Chi Hanfeng never intended to mistreat Green, although it was indeed his idea.
After being released from his seal, Green had been nothing but trouble. Upon spotting a rabbit, he excitedly bounded after it and, with a mouthful of flames, "poof," he unleashed a long fiery breath that not only reduced the rabbit to ashes but also set the entire forest ablaze, forcing everyone to go put out the fire.
On the continental highway, he curiously bit at the clothes of passersby, frightening their horses and dogs into a frenzy. He often lost control, joyously spewing fire or ice breath when he got excited.
Whenever he spotted something delicious, he wouldn't hesitate to snatch it. At a roadside grocery store, he enacted a tragic scene titled "The Evil Dragon Ransacks the Grocery Store." Seeing lizard jerky hanging on the counter, Green immediately pounced on it, attempting to stuff it into his mouth. When the shopkeeper saw he hadn't paid, he tried to pry it from Green's jaws—what a foolish move! Thankfully, Green emitted ice breath instead of fire, freezing the shopkeeper's entire lower body. Before Reger thawed him out, he carefully examined the shopkeeper and asked if he had children. Upon receiving a positive answer, Reger said, "That's good, that's good. Sigh…" He patted the shopkeeper's shoulder and quickly slipped away.
It was said that six months later, the shopkeeper's wife filed for divorce…
Unable to endure such hardships any longer, Reger and Chi Hanfeng began to employ various measures. Reger first cast a magic seal on Green, creating a field that could absorb magic, capable of nullifying any spells cast within it. This magic worked against high-level magicians and could typically last three hours without a priest to dispel it. However, here, Green showcased the dragon family's advantages—resisting all sorts of magic. The sealing power faded in just half an hour. After a day and a half of trying to maintain the seal, Reger finally ran out of magical energy and decided to give up and think of another plan.
Chi Hanfeng bought a steel muzzle, hoping to put it on Green—surely, he couldn't breathe fire with his mouth shut? However, to his surprise, dragon breath was a natural skill. Even with his mouth shut, the flames shot out of his nostrils, melting the muzzle back to its original state of iron in less than a minute.
Chi Hanfeng, being quite clever, after summarizing his years of valuable experience in repairing others, finally devised a brilliant plan—he would simply not feed Green until he was hungry.
Although Big Green felt sorry for him, after reflecting on the inconvenience Green had caused everyone in recent days, he had no choice but to endure.
Thus, Green proudly made his way from the Dragon Tooth Mountain to Haike village—rumor has it that during the Dragon God's Conference, other dragons were puzzled as to why Green dared to hold his head high in front of the Dragon God Palot without bowing. The root of this audacity was planted at that time.
With two new people and a dragon added to the mix, the original small wooden house was no longer sufficient. They spent money to build another small house. Mr. Chi naturally had another heart-to-heart with Green, and in the end, Green left his mark on the investment contract—incurring a debt of 2 gold pieces (dragons still counted gold pieces in "pieces" as the unit of measure at that backward time).
Amy had graduated from her apprenticeship under Chi Hanfeng, so in the remaining time, she mainly learned magic from Reger. Meanwhile, Big Green took over Amy's task of running errands in the forest.
Witnessing such a pathetic scene, Reger finally understood how Amy had developed her agility. Even someone as cold-hearted as Reger felt a pang of sympathy when he saw Big Green, who had been frozen and stabbed, barely hanging on, silently praying, "Oh God, please spare this poor child. Heaven, punish this wicked man!"
In order to see his "beloved" disciple riding soon, while torturing (or rather training) Big Green, Chi Hanfeng turned his gaze back to Green.
"Come here, Green, good boy, let me give you a hug." The Big Bad Wolf Granny showed a flattering smile. "Let me lift you a little higher, oh, a bit higher."
"Bam, thud." As the proudly held Green looked around, he suddenly noticed that the hands holding him had disappeared, and he fell to the ground, landing face-first in the mud. "Wuu… wuu…" Tears filled Green's eyes from the pain.
Unexpectedly, the one crying more sorrowfully and pitifully was the nobleman from the empire. Sniffling and gasping, the nobleman lamented, "Green baby, do you know? Dragons are magnificent, especially gifted dragons like you. However, the future is bright, yet the path is also fraught with difficulties. If you want to learn to fly, you must endure hardships. Only through hardship can you soar as a dragon. You see, I threw you from a height, but that's not how it is. You need to learn to flap your wings constantly during this descent. In this process, you will learn to fly. Wuuuuu, I truly feel for you; do you know how much I hate to do this? But in order for you to become Big Green's mount, oh no, I mean to let you soar in the skies, I must help you… Come, let me hug you."
One month later.
"Come, let me hug you, good boy… Let go, quickly let go." Chi Hanfeng kept twisting his neck. "It's not that high; I was just standing on the roof. It's only about 4 meters at most. You… come down!"
Two months later.
"Come, let me hug you, good boy… Let go; don't glare at me. I've had Reger seal your magic, so it's useless to open your mouth; just accept your fate. It's really not that high; we're just standing on a 10-meter-high tree!"
Six months later.
"You know what I'm going to say, right? You also know what I'm going to do, so why don't you jump down yourself? It's not that high; we're just at the edge of a small cliff! Hmm, I see it's at most… boom—" Chi Hanfeng brushed off his shoes as he spoke, "You're all grown up now, but still not aware? It's only over 200 meters high! Must I wait until I kick you down? What's wrong with you?"
Diligent training indeed brings extraordinary rewards—after a year, Chi Hanfeng proudly announced that Green could fly.
He took Reger, Amy, and Big Green to the highest mountain near Haike Village and commanded Green to fly. Green, feeling helpless and with tears in his eyes, bid farewell to everyone as if it were his last. Then, he stretched his legs and performed a 720-degree flip followed by a 180-degree roll, jumping off the cliff, and miraculously not dying from the fall—this fully verified the truth: dragon skin is thick; small cannons cannot harm it.
It is said that for the next 20,000 years, if any child from the Green Dragon family misbehaved, as long as the elder dragon said, "Chi Hanfeng is coming," all the little dragons would become obedient. It's as if there's a saying in the human world: "Good people don't live long; evil deeds last for a thousand years." In truth, it means that the reputation of bad people can last over a thousand years.
In the year 199 of the Red Moon calendar, due to the unusual surge of magical spirits across the continents, a wizard who had just reached the ability of an apprentice mage could casually cast a level 1 fireball spell and summon magical spirits that previously required a level 3 fire wall spell, with the fireball's power rivaling that of the previous fire wall.
In light of this bizarre phenomenon, the Holy See and the major nations across the continents agreed to officially change the calendar to the first year of the magical era at the beginning of the 200th year of the Red Moon calendar.
Later generations designated this year as the beginning of the gods' war.
This year happened to be when the mercenary king Amy and his companion Big Green stepped onto the stage of history.
—Niel Haber's Research Notes