Seed of Titan-Chapter 129: Intro to Siyeun Mountains

After regaining his bearings, Max asked, "By the way, you haven’t told me how you ended up all battered like that."

Drai proceeded to recount his encounter with the massive apes.

After listening to Drai’s story, Max nodded. "I see... No wonder you were almost burnt to crisp."

"You know that ape?" Drai asked.

"Yeah. He’s the Lightning King."

"Lightning King..." Drai muttered, engraving the title to his memory.

"That’s what I call him anyway. He’s one of the Eight Kings of Siyeun Mountains."

Drai’s brows furrowed. "Eight Kings?"

Max didn’t answer immediately but stood up and walked over to the leaf bed. After rummaging around, he returned with a long, rolled-up piece of leather.

"Here," Max said, handing it to Drai.

Drai grabbed the leather scroll and unrolled it, revealing a crudely drawn map.

"It’s far from accurate," Max admitted, "but this is most of what I’ve gathered over the years."

Drai studied the map. He could see that the land was separated into eight segments of different shapes and sizes. Many small drawings marked the landmarks and notable features. Tiny notes were also written all over the map, along with various notations that Drai couldn’t understand.

"Don’t worry about the details," Max said. "You don’t need to memorize all of this unless you’re planning a grand tour across all these areas."

Drai nodded and focused on the bigger words instead.

"’Snow Cliffs’, ’Poison Swamps’, ’Grassy Hills’..." His eyes widened. "How are there so many biomes here?"

Max shrugged. "No idea. That’s just how this place is. I guess most people think that Siyeun Mountains is just that—mountains. If any of the expeditions that came here had succeeded, the diverse ecosystems wouldn’t be such a shock."

Drai agreed with Max’s words. Like most, he had assumed Siyeun Mountains was purely mountainous terrain.

As his eyes scanned the map, a certain label caught his attention.

"’Bigass Jungle’? Is that where we are?"

Max shook his head. "No, that’s where you were."

"Huh? This isn’t the jungle?"

"Nope," Max confirmed, pressing his finger to the map. "We’re around here."

Drai looked at the area Max was pointing at and saw that it was right beside the Bigass Jungle, in a region called "Funky Valley".

’I guess it’s because of how the creatures here taste,’ Drai immediately thought, unsure how he felt about Max’s naming sense.

"So, based on your story, you must’ve been sent flying all the way here. You were in a huge crater when I found you," Max mentioned.

"Yeah, I must’ve blacked out mid-flight. I don’t remember ever crossing into this area."

Examining the Funky Valley area, Drai spotted something.

"’Swarm King’? Is that the ruler of this area?"

"Correct. And if you haven’t noticed by now, every biome has its own ruler—or ’king’, as I like to call them. Eight biomes, eight kings," Max explained before shifting his finger. "There’s also the ’guards’."

Drai followed Max’s finger and saw that it was pointing outside the eight territories. He only saw one word there, ’Guards’.

Seeing Drai’s puzzled expression, Max explained, "Surrounding these eight regions is a vast strip of barren land, even worse than this dry valley. That’s the main reason I’ve never been able to escape."

"Because of the guards?"

"Yep. That term actually refers to all the creatures living in that strip. I didn’t name them one by one because I never had the luxury to note them down or memorize them. I just know that they’re absurdly strong. Compared to these guards, the ones around here are practically trash."

"Even the Lightning King?"

"Duh. I used to spar with the Lightning King whenever I was bored, you know?" Max said.

"You what?!" Drai yelped, doubting his ears.

"I said, I used to spar with him," Max repeated. "At first, he’d fight me one-on-one. We’re quite an even match, but he had always been stronger, so I always ended up retreating. But eventually, he brought his whole group to gang on me. I guess he got sick of me constantly bugging him.

"I thought it wouldn’t be wise to fight all those apes at the same time since they’re pretty nasty. They have this weird tendency to explode when they’re really desperate, and the white ones really make a huge mess when they do it. So, that’s when I stopped bothering him and his bunch. Fighting them all just to kill my boredom wasn’t worth the risk."

For the umpteenth time since he woke up, Drai’s jaw dropped. He had assumed Max was strong, as he was able to survive here for so long. But to hold his own against the Lightning King? That was something else.

Noticing Drai’s expression, Max waved dismissively and remarked, "No need to make a big deal out of it. Anyone can get this strong after spending countless years here. It’s nothing special."

Drai doubted that. Even he had nearly died on his second day here. Had he not assimilated the Siprootberry essence, he would’ve probably been dead—or at least seriously injured.

’I bet his class is overpowered too,’ Drai thought.

"Anyway," Max continued, "that’s what we have to deal with if we want to escape. But before you get too optimistic, let me tell you that I don’t actually know what lies beyond that dangerous strip. It could be freedom, another cluster of biomes, or even a way more dangerous area.

"Wait, didn’t you come from outside the strip? How come you don’t know what it’s like out there?" Drai asked, visibly perplexed.

"About that... We seem to have a lot in common," Max replied vaguely.

Drai thought of this statement briefly before raising his brows in realization. "You were unconscious too?"

Max chuckled. "That’s right. Last thing I remember, I was searching for Siyeun Comets on a cliff when a massive bird attacked me. Next thing I knew, I was hanging from a tree in the forest biome."

"Wow... You’re lucky you didn’t end up as bird food."

"Heh. It wasn’t luck," Max replied as he reached into his messy beard and pulled something out.

Seeing the object Max was holding, Drai raised a brow.

"A pendant?"

"Not just a pendant," Max corrected. "The Velles pendant. Everyone with the surname Velles has one—unless they’re an impostor or coincidentally has the same surname."

Max held the pendant up, letting Drai see it clearly.

Drai noticed that amidst the cracks, there was an engraving of a bull’s face. It was adorned with leaves, with a rapier positioned behind it.

"This thing saved you?" Drai asked, realizing why Max had disagreed with his statement earlier.

"Yep. It’s a family emblem, but it also functions as a protective talisman. Most of us don’t know how it works, as it’s made by our family’s artificers, but it activates when I’m in mortal danger.

"Not sure if it still works, though," Max added, inspecting the cracks. "It hasn’t activated once since I got here."

However, Drai barely heard Max’s last words as his heart had just sunk. He frantically patted his chest, but there was nothing there.

Christo’s pendant was gone.