Chapter Forty-Eight: The Dragon’s Soul Interred in the Valley, Claws Ascend Toward the Light of Heaven!

I have great admiration for the first person who ever ate a mushroom, for who could have known whether it was poisonous or not. But Su Yi was luckier; he must have been the first to taste the unique fruits of the Miasma Valley.

“Mmm! Sweet and tangy, absolutely delicious. Aibo, try one!” Su Yi handed a fruit to Dewleaf.

“I want to taste it, meow!” Dewleaf eagerly peeled back the skin and popped the flesh into her mouth.

“Meow!” The cat said nothing, lost in the fruit’s peculiar flavor. The dark red flesh was crisp, with a delicate sourness that accentuated the sweetness, immersing the taster in a delightful blend of flavors that tempted one to savor it slowly.

“Is it really that good? What a shame I can only feed on electricity, Loto!” The Rotom Phone said regretfully.

“Let’s pick some for everyone to try later. Good things are meant to be shared!” Su Yi gathered all the fruits—what he presumed were miasma fruits—and stored them in the [Items] pouch.

“Alright, now we need to figure out how to climb up,” Su Yi said, gazing skyward.

Countless rocky spires and slender peaks jutted upward from the Miasma Valley, supporting the land coral plateau above. Through the swirling miasma, one could just make out the layered, uneven platforms that formed the land coral plateau.

“There are vines here; we can climb a ways up, meow!” Dewleaf pointed to some tough vines growing from the rock wall at the edge of a tidal flat.

“Let’s climb up a bit first,” Su Yi said, using his grappling hook to ascend quickly.

...

Ding!

Before long, Su Yi hooked onto a massive fan-shaped bone and clambered onto a gently sloping path leading upward.

“These must be the remains of the Serpent King Dragon.”

The path beneath Su Yi's feet was entirely formed by the elongated bones of the Serpent King Dragon, which had, over countless years, collected and solidified soil and rock. Only the fan-shaped blade bone hinted at its former grandeur.

As Su Yi admired the ancient bones, the guiding bug at his waist floated over to a patch of black oil wrapped around a bone.

“Tar-stained bone fragments—is that from a Bonehammer Dragon?” Su Yi followed the path, noticing the hollowed-out tracks left by some heavy, wheeled creature.

The Bonehammer Dragon, clad in bones from head to toe, was always roaring around on the remains of the Serpent King Dragon.

Moreover, Su Yi never found this creature appealing, either in the game or now, and had no real desire to capture it.

“Come out, Grimclaw Dragon.” After a moment's thought, Su Yi released the Grimclaw Dragon.

“Huff!” Grimclaw Dragon exhaled, sniffing the familiar scents in the air, which grounded it with reassurance.

“You must know the way from the Miasma Valley to the Land Coral Plateau, right?” Su Yi asked.

Unlike the Greatjaw Dragon and Bonehammer Dragon, who spent their whole lives in the Miasma Valley, Grimclaw Dragon needed lots of meat to sustain its highly mobile body and rapid metabolism. But food was scarce here, and competition among carnivores was fierce. Relying on the occasional carcass falling from the plateau above was too uncertain, so Grimclaw Dragon often ventured up to the Land Coral Plateau to hunt.

“Aw!” Grimclaw Dragon nodded.

“Then please take us up to the Land Coral Plateau,” Su Yi said.

“Huff!” Grimclaw Dragon exhaled, then crouched down, inviting Su Yi to climb on.

“Thanks!” Su Yi grinned as he swung onto Grimclaw Dragon’s back.

“Hiss!”

But the hardened ridges along Grimclaw Dragon’s spine were a little uncomfortable, pressing into Su Yi and making the ride less than pleasant.

“Meow!” The cat, clever as ever, clung to Su Yi’s back.

“Rooaaar!” With a low growl, Grimclaw Dragon tensed its powerful muscles and leapt up the rock wall.

Grimclaw Dragon bounded and climbed swiftly along the cliff, Su Yi clutching tight as the scenery flashed by. Every outcropping and ledge became a springboard under Grimclaw Dragon’s nimble leaps. After a spurt of climbing, they landed atop one of the stone pillars; by now, they were already halfway up the valley.

“Let’s take a break. You’re still injured, Grimclaw Dragon.” Su Yi called for a pause.

Grimclaw Dragon panted for breath, then lay down to recover, while Su Yi took out some grilled meat to restore its energy.

“We’re so high up, Loto! Ah, look at those massive bones—what kind of Pokémon could they belong to?” The Rotom Phone flew from the bag, peering down at the valley below.

The weather on the Land Coral Plateau must be splendid at this moment—perhaps even blazing—since the bright sunlight pierced the miasma, casting rare clarity over the valley that was usually shrouded in gloom. The sweeping view and clear visibility finally let Su Yi and his companions glimpse the true face of the Miasma Valley.

Colossal skeletons wound their way from the rocky cliffs, curling and stacking within the gorge. Huge bones lay scattered everywhere—some fused with bizarre rocks, becoming part of the cliffs and domes, others sinking into the yellow springs, only their tips visible above the surface.

This dragon graveyard seemed to hum with the lingering echoes of the elder dragons’ final elegies.

“It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. In any case, let’s take a picture to remember it by,” Rotom’s voice softened, as if not to disturb the slumbering dragon spirits.

“From time immemorial to the present, the ‘whale fall’ of ancient dragons has nourished this fantastical, teeming world—a land worth exploring for a lifetime,” Su Yi said, full of awe.

Just like the research commission that came to this continent, they had, until the recent arrival of the Fifth Fleet, accumulated forty years of strength and settlement here, all for the sake of unraveling the mysteries of this new world.

But how many forty-year spans does a person have in their life?

Those who had come in their twenties had already spent most of their lives on this land, all for the sake of discovering the secrets of the elder dragons’ passage and the new continent’s ecology. They were true adventurers and pioneers, worthy of epic ballads.

“And our adventure has only just begun, aibo,” Su Yi said.

“Su Yi, I just feel so happy, meow!” Dewleaf gazed with sparkling eyes at the strange yet sorrowfully beautiful landscape, just as she had when climbing with Su Yi to look out over the Ancient Forest for the first time.

Just as Su Yi said, the adventure was only beginning. Though the view was breathtaking, their destination still lay above.

Once rested, Su Yi and Dewleaf mounted Grimclaw Dragon again.

Scaling the sheer cliffs along the canyon’s outer walls, Grimclaw Dragon moved with careful steadiness, step by step ascending toward the bright world above.

That ascent, bathed in light and ever closer to the sky, was like Icarus reaching for the sun.

But unlike Icarus, whose wings melted and who fell into the endless blue, what awaited Su Yi as he climbed ever upward was a dazzling, vibrant sea of land.

Clack!

Grimclaw Dragon gripped the edge of the Coral Plateau, gathered its strength, and made a final leap into the blinding sunlight.

“Land Coral Plateau! Here I come!”