Ten years. It is a blink in the life of a world, but for humanity, it is an epoch.When the last embers of the beast wave cooled and the fires of the Fire Dragon's skull became legend, the City of Beginning did not rest on its laurels. Instead, it became the kindling for an age of civilization the likes of which the Douluo continent had never seen.
Fifteen great cities now rose across the continent—each born from the courage, knowledge, and unity forged in that first crucible. From the sun-drenched ports of New Tide in the east, where ships began to ply their trade along rivers and coasts, to the proud stone towers of Skyreach in the mountains, every city bore the mark of the Library of Wisdom. Every plaza, every guildhall, every classroom echoed with the ideas first seeded by Ye Caiqian and his companions.
Between these cities sprawled an ever-thickening web of towns, villages, hamlets, and homesteads. Like shoots from a sturdy trunk, they sprang up in the shadows of their parent cities, each new settlement easing the burden on the heart of civilization and promising hope for those still daring to chase new beginnings.
A continent once ruled by silence and fear was now alive with the pulse of humanity.Merchants led great caravans over roads that gleamed with packed clay and crushed stone—roads built by hand and spirit alike. Farmers coaxed grain from fields irrigated by new canals, dug under the direction of water evolvers and mapped by the Academy's scholars.
The network of cities became a living body, each organ with its own character and purpose.
Ironmist in the north, famous for its smithies and the first forges of true steel, its air tinged with smoke and the song of hammers.
Verdant Haven in the south, where gardens sprawled up city walls and healers tended both people and plants.
Sunspire, capital of the central plains, seat of the first Grand Council of Humanity—a gathering of delegates from every city, town, and wandering tribe.
Stoneveil, on the western cliffs, whose sentinels watched for signs of beast migration from the wild borderlands.
Villages clustered near these cities, each with their own stories:Some founded by pioneer families who claimed the land, others by bands of former adventurers seeking peace after a lifetime of danger. Every year, new settlements appeared, their names inscribed in the Library's records for posterity.
No one could have imagined, even in the wildest days of the City of Beginning, that humanity's numbers would swell to three hundred million in a single generation. Yet so it was.
Population booms followed the first years of peace. With beast threats tamed and food stores overflowing, children grew up strong, elders lived longer, and migrants came from every wilderness.Academies flourished in every city and large town. Literacy, once a rare prize, now became the birthright of every child. The culture of shared knowledge—the gift of the Library—spread as quickly as roads and harvests. Traveling teachers, many trained by Ye Caiqian himself, became revered figures, their words carrying the weight of ancient wisdom and new possibility.
Healers—especially those bearing the rare Life element—transformed infant mortality and the care of the wounded. Artisan guilds blossomed, their members experimenting with beast materials and elemental forging, giving rise to new crafts, tools, and even music.
With abundance, however, came the challenge of order.The elders and founders remembered the chaos of old: the struggle for food, the terror of beast attacks, the confusion of rule by strength alone. In the new age, every city adopted written laws and councils, many modeled on the original City of Beginning's charter and refined by debate and necessity.
Public squares became places of open assembly, debate, and, sometimes, protest. When towns grew too large, new ones were founded by offshoot families or guilds. Disputes were arbitrated first by city elders, then by representatives from the Library itself—whose mediators gained a reputation for wisdom and incorruptibility.
Crime never vanished, but it changed: from raw violence to the sly arts of theft, fraud, and intrigue. In response, the first city watches and investigators appeared, using both elemental gifts and reason to protect the peace.
Festivals became both celebration and teaching moment.Each year, the "Founding Day" was marked in every city with lanterns, tournaments, and public recitations of laws and values. Even in the smallest hamlet, children knew the story of the Fire Dragon's skull and the rise of the Library.
Yet not all was simple. The world itself changed as it filled with human ambition and spirit.
New wonders appeared—spirit-forged bridges, sky-high towers crowned with wind element spires, parks where Life and Water evolvers made deserts bloom.Trade boomed, and news traveled faster than ever—sometimes by messenger, sometimes by the rarest wind evolvers who could cross leagues in an afternoon.
But new dangers simmered beneath the peace:
Border towns sometimes vanished, their people fleeing in terror or never heard from again, the marks of ancient beasts or rival human factions left behind.
The first whispers of crime syndicates emerged, taking root in the confusion of rapid expansion.
Cities vied for influence in the Grand Council—old rivalries flickered behind polished words.
Some saw the elemental gifts as cause for arrogance, breeding envy or fear among those with lesser affinity.
There were mysteries too:Artifacts unearthed in deep woods, ruins found by pioneering towns, inscriptions older than any human city, and spirit beasts with cunning that defied ordinary hunting.
And yet, at the heart of this vast new order, the Library of Wisdom stood as a beacon, its light undimmed.
Its branches now graced every city, while the original building in the City of Beginning became both museum and living institution.Here, all were welcome: the most learned scholars, the humblest child, even beast evolvers seeking to record their own legends.
On quiet nights, Ye Caiqian often walked the marble halls—reading the annals, listening to students debate, smiling at the courage and curiosity that had carried humanity from the edge of extinction to the dawn of empire.
But even as he looked upon his world with pride, there remained a restlessness within—a sense that every victory carried the seed of new struggle.
On the tenth anniversary of the City of Beginning's founding, all fifteen cities joined in a shared festival.Bonfires crackled from coast to mountains.Banners bearing the Library's sigil flew above every square.Children recited poems of peace and struggle, and the old told tales of darkness and the rise of light.
As the sun set on the festival's final night, Ye Caiqian stood atop the Library's spire, gazing over a continent transformed.
Yet even as the city's lights shimmered in the dusk, he wondered:What storms will the next ten years bring?What will it cost to protect all that has been gained?And how far can humanity go before it must reckon with the power—and peril—at its heart?