Chapter Fifty-Eight

“Modify the eyes?”

Ding Xuewen was startled. “Mr. Huang, you can actually change the structure of your own body at will?”

“Yes, is that so surprising?” Heilong replied indifferently. “It’s just a matter of adjusting the spacing and angle of the cornea and retina. Anyone with a basic understanding of optics could do it.”

“After my modifications, my long-distance vision is at least twenty times better than before.” Heilong opened his eyes and gazed into the distance, electric sparks faintly flickering in his amber pupils.

“This bit of enhancement…it’s really nothing to make a fuss about.” Heilong seemed somewhat dissatisfied and sighed. “Not to mention compared to a radio telescope—even compared to an ordinary astronomical telescope, I might not be better.”

“To a true master, my eyesight must still count as nearsightedness…”

“After all, their eyes do more than see objects; they can peer across the river of time, unveil the truths of the past, and pierce the mists of the future…”

“Compared with them, I clearly have a long road ahead and much work to do!”

Everyone was left speechless, quietly watching Heilong indulge in his humblebrag.

Dragons’ vision was already far superior to that of humans, and now Heilong had given himself a +20 upgrade…

Which meant his long-distance sight was now at least several hundred times that of an ordinary person!

“However…” Heilong withdrew his gaze, looked around, and continued, “In focusing on strengthening my farsightedness, I’ve actually sacrificed my nearsightedness. Now I’m clearly a bit presbyopic and can’t see things up close very well.”

“Sigh… This is, after all, my first attempt—lack of experience, rough technique. The eye modification is obviously incomplete. I can’t even manage automatic focus. Looks like I’ll need to study this more thoroughly later.”

“…Mr. Huang, what made you suddenly think of altering your eyes?” Ding Xuewen couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.

“That…” Heilong replied, “Just now I was stargazing, trying to see what Freya’s divine realm looked like.”

“Then I realized my vision just wasn’t up to the task—I simply couldn’t see clearly. So I thought, why not strengthen my eyes a bit…”

“Mr. Huang, that’s extremely dangerous!” Ding Xuewen’s face changed, and he spoke solemnly. “Deities are not to be gazed upon directly. Staring at Them for too long can easily lead to their will corrupting you!”

“There’s such a rule?” Heilong was momentarily taken aback.

“Yes!” Ding Xuewen’s expression grew grave. “In the past six months, over fifty thousand people in our country have suffered inexplicable corruption simply from viewing the stars through telescopes. At best, it’s led to nervous breakdowns or mental disorders; in severe cases, there’s been direct brain death!”

“The divine power of these native deities may not yet reach into our territory, but if one recklessly gazes upon their true form, it’s still quite easy to be struck down by Their dimensional might.”

“That’s outrageous!” Heilong grew indignant, recalling that Lu Fan had told him about their other friend, Pan Weiming, who had been corrupted by an evil god after observing the stars through a telescope. By any measure, this was infuriating.

“When did we humans lose even the right to gaze at the stars? These so-called gods hang themselves in the sky, monopolize public resources, have not the slightest sense of moral responsibility, and still have the gall to talk about privacy—won’t even let people look at them?”

“…Mr. Huang, careful with your words,” Ding Xuewen said with a wry smile. “Blaspheming the gods is a serious offense.”

“Though the world’s laws protect us and those native deities cannot yet direct Their attention here, our country has been exposing Their hypocrisy and ugliness, criticizing them often…”

“But you’re different. You’re a descendant of the Dragon God, Their blood runs in your veins. If you show too much disrespect, you might easily earn Their enmity.”

“Hyperion?” Heilong scoffed, about to say he didn’t fear or care about Him, when he suddenly reconsidered—after all, he was a civilized, courteous dragon, and Hyperion, whatever else, was still his elder. It would be best to maintain some level of respect.

Yes, that’s right. This is just me carrying forward our tradition of respecting elders and caring for the young—not because I’m afraid!

Thinking thus, Heilong couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Which star is Hyperion’s divine realm?”

“No one knows.” Ding Xuewen shook his head. “Hyperion is a very ancient deity, and His faith is not widespread—limited to the dragonkin and a few intelligent races. Very few know the location of His divine realm.”

“Our researchers have joked that perhaps the reason we can’t see Hyperion’s divine realm is that He is too stingy and too lazy—uninterested in spreading His faith, too idle to manage His own realm…”

“After all, making one’s divine realm shine in the night sky must cost something—probably at the expense of burning one’s own divine power. Hyperion’s stinginess is legendary; He likely can’t bear the expense.”

Heilong was left speechless. Wouldn’t even pay the electricity bill, wouldn’t even manage His own divine realm… With such an ancestor, no wonder the dragonkin were in decline.

How did Hyperion ever reach high godhood…

“How powerful is a deity’s strength, really?” Heilong pondered and asked curiously, “Are They all ninth-level…or even higher life forms?”

“We’re not sure at this point,” Ding Xuewen replied. “So far, our country hasn’t had any direct, substantive conflict with any deity.”

“But from what we’ve learned, deities of higher divine power should indeed be ninth-level life forms, without a doubt.”

“There are records showing that the God of Light has, multiple times in history, brought down divine punishment, destroying so-called dark or evil city-states or nations. The strength of these punishments, by conservative estimates, reached tens of thousands of tons of TNT equivalent.”

“And that’s with His power being severely weakened in the material world. If it were in the Outer Heavens, in His own divine realm, His power would be even greater!”

“That terrifying?” Heilong felt a chill. The ‘Little Boy’ bomb had a yield of only about fifteen kilotons, yet it devastated Hiroshima completely.

The God of Light could casually unleash divine punishment at the tens of kilotons level. Even if it wasn’t a nuclear weapon and had no radioactive fallout, it would still be a huge threat to their nation.

“Yes, it’s truly that terrifying.” Ding Xuewen sighed, then added with some relief, “Fortunately, divine punishment of such magnitude isn’t so easily unleashed. It requires at least several hours, even days, of charging and preparation. In terms of both power and practicality, it’s far inferior to our nuclear weapons.”

“The Russians managed to create the Tsar Bomba at a yield of over a hundred megatons back in the sixties. If we’re really pushed to the edge, our nation still has the capability to retaliate against Them.”