Ronan instinctively took a step back, when the light chuckle of "Schiper" reached his ears.
"Don’t be nervous, it’s greeting you."
Only then did Ronan make out that the shadow leaping out of the sand pile was a pitch-black dog, but it had no facial features.
It affectionately rubbed against Ronan’s pant leg, and despite its peculiar appearance, it seemed quite tame and docile.
Ronan crouched down, trying to stroke the back of the black hound, his touch met with a cool hardness, like that of metal.
The strange black dog seemed to enjoy Ronan’s affection, stretching so comfortably that it suddenly opened its mouth wide on its face.
With a mouth resembling shark teeth, it suddenly opened in front of Ronan, which startled him but also made him think of the Giant Magic Box Monster he saw in the Mechanical Heart Ruins.
The shapes of their mouths were almost identical.
"It seems to like you a lot..."
Schiper chuckled, saying, "Its name is Titanium."
Ronan was taken aback by these words, but quickly Schiper corrected him: "It’s Titanium."
Ronan had read about it in an ancient Wizard Book.
In ancient times, when the Wizard civilization was just emerging and the types of Free Energy Particles in the world had not yet been fully understood by the Wizards, they would routinely refer to those unfamiliar Elements as ’Ether.’
Once the Wizard system became fully established, the term ’Ether’ gradually got left behind and buried in old books.
Ronan wondered if the name "Schiper" gave to the black dog had any connection to the ’Ether’ he knew about.
But the name also confirmed Ronan’s prior speculation that the odd black dog might just be a kind of "metal"... life form?
The two humans and one dog continued to wander in the desert.
This time, they walked for so long that by the time Ronan turned around and could no longer see even a hint of the shadow of the Golden Apple Tree they’d left behind, Schiper suddenly said, "We’ve arrived."
Ronan turned sharply around.
And then he saw a majestic, colossal, indescribably magnificent Golden City appear abruptly before his eyes.
For a moment, it felt as though Ronan was struck hard by something.
Even though he had prepared himself mentally beforehand, upon seeing the grandeur of the Golden City, he still felt a deep, soul-deep stirring.
"You said... it was just a story, didn’t you?"
Standing atop a tall dune of golden sand, Ronan looked dazedly upon the Golden City before him, murmuring.
Schiper walked past him with a smile, and as he walked, he spoke softly, "Indeed, it is a story.
But I didn’t finish telling it...
Once upon a time, there was a boy who, when he was very young, heard this tale. A golden seed was planted deep within his heart..."
Schiper stood in front of Ronan, with a faraway look in his eyes as he gazed toward the distant Golden City, with golden light blossoming between his fingers.
"Later on, that seed took root and sprouted, growing bigger and bigger..."
"The boy grew up, he became capable, and at last..."
Schiper slowly stretched his hand shimmering with golden light toward the distance as if trying to grasp something.
"He could turn those daytime fantasies into reality, one by one."
Schiper’s monologue stopped, and it seemed his story had finally come to an end.
In a certain moment, Schiper suddenly pulled away from his reminiscences.
He turned abruptly, standing against the backdrop of the Golden City and facing Ronan, he spread his arms wide and smiled with the innocent and bright joy of a child.
He shouted to Ronan, just like the many calls Ronan had heard countless times before in the Wanxiang Treasure Pearl Space.
"Successor, welcome to... the Golden Country of Schiper!"