"Aren't these dragons a little too arrogant?" Bridget asked out loud. "The universe is at war, and here they are, causing unnecessary trouble. They should go find the owner of the dome if they have a problem, why are they threatening the universe?"

When Bridget asked the question, she expected everyone to agree with her. It was almost common sense. The dragons weren't even Sages and yet they were threatening to challenge the universe.

That was not the response she got. Instead, everyone just looked at her awkwardly, while the golden dragon in attendance simply smirked, satisfied with the response.

Ballom coughed to fill the awkward silence, before explaining.

"The dragon race is in a unique position in the universe," he explained. "No one wants to mess with them."

Ballom was attempting to be tactful in his answer, but with a dragon in attendance, that was not so easy.

The golden dragon snorted, as if dissatisfied with the answer.

"Why are you being so shy, little devil?" he said with a sly grin. "Tell your wife the truth. Dragons are the original overlords of this universe - the original owners. Even now, the universe bends to our will. Back during the Primordial Age, we were the owners of this universe just like some plebians now act as owners of realms.

"For various reasons, we gave up that ownership back then, but the mark of our ownership is forever engrained within the laws of this universe. Even the mighty Primals have tried, and have failed, to claim the throne that was ours, but we can reclaim it whenever we want."

Bridget gasped as she stared at the dragon, and even Lex was dumbfounded by what he heard. This... didn't make any sense. A dragon giving up on treasure was already unbelievable, so for them to give up on the whole universe seemed simply impossible.

"Actually," Eclipse cut the silence to add a correction. "Techncially speaking, this universe has never had an owner - dragons included. The situation back then was pretty complicated, but yes, the dragons came about as close as anyone ever has to achieving that."

The golden dragon growled, angry to be contradicted so directly and so quickly, but he restrained himself. There was no point in arguing with Eclipse. She was alive back then, not to mention that he did not want to pick a fight with her. Eventually, he just snorted and looked away.

"I just find it hard to believe," said Bridget. "Everyone knows dragons hoard their treasures with their life. I would soon find it easier to believe that they would have died defending that near control of the universe than wilfully giving it up."

Eclipse paused for a moment, as if considering something, but then shook her head.

"I could tell you, but I think it's for the best if we don't discuss the Primordial Age right now. With the ongoing war, you lot have enough problems on your plate. Learning those things would only attract unnecessary problems for you all.

"What I can tell you is that the dragons are definitely acknowledged for their past strength - but past strength does not equate current prestige. Right now, the dragon race is even more powerful than they were back in the Primordial Age. Don't let the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum fool you into thinking otherwise."

Lex reflected on Eclipse's words. She seemed to be indicating that either the list wasn't totally accurate for some reason, or that there were ways of hiding from it. Maybe there was a kind of strength and power that the list did not take into account. Whatever the case, this latest information made it so that he needed to be careful of a few more races.

Actually, it made sense. The Henali had a cultivator above the Dao Lord realm, and yet they were not considered a Sage race. Maybe the truly top races of the universe did not want the unnecessary attention caused by that list.

"We are getting sidetracked," said one Dao Lord impatiently. "What's the latest status of the war? Has the disappearance of those Dao Lords caused a change in the battle lines?"

Many of the Dao Lords were actually quite interested in the history of the dragons. They could be said to be powerful, and yet it wasn't like they were the most powerful. Many races were even born stronger than them! So then, why were they given such a wide berth?

Even if they almost took over the universe, they never actually managed it, so what was the big deal? Why did Eclipse say they were more powerful now than before? Yet it seemed they would not get these answers now, so they let the matter lay.

"The intensity of the invasions have indeed picked up, but not in Major realms. Now, many of the forces traveling across the Void through known paths are being attacked. The scope of the war is spreading, though no serious fights between Dao Lords have occurred."

From that point on, the questions devolved into the Dao Lords asking about the exact status of their own specific organisations or powers, and Lex learned no new specific information that was interesting to him.

He simply took a back seat, and limited his interactions as much as possible. While this was a great opportunity to learn more secrets about the state of the universe, he limited his interactions so that he would not be overwhelmed by interacting with so many Dao Lords so quickly.

After all, this was merely the first activity. There were still two more activities left, and they were the ones that required a karmic bond. While Lex did not even remotely attempt to imagine that he could peek at the secrets of karma through how Dao Lords used them, it still counted as exposure. One day, when he reached such a realm himself, this experience might help him then.

The question and answer session continued for half an hour, until all the Dao Lords were more or less satisfied with what they had learned. Since the situation was somewhat stable, they would not retreat from the tavern so soon to return to their organisations.

Though the situation outside was perilous, the opportunities inside the tavern were worth leaving their organisations slightly short handed for a while.