On a certain unsuspecting day, the peace within the Land of a Hundred Rivers was broken. The land itself, technically, had not seen a day of peace for centuries. Whether it was the alliance, the orcs, the wild beasts, and the more recent Abyssals, they were all fighting night and day.

Sometimes the fights were harsher, fiercer, and other times the fighting was less intense. Yet there was never a moment without it. So why, then, did this day seem special?

Because on this day, the entire land itself bore witness to an epic fight. Foundation realm cultivators were far from strong enough to have a fight that could affect a piece of land large like the Land of a Hundred Rivers. However, they could tip certain balances!

When the wyvern was baited over, the allied armies trembled in fear as they retreated, and the orcish armies cheered. Yet the script went askew from that point onwards, for a formation appeared out of the very ground, raising pillars that reached into the sky, trapping the wyvern within a cage. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The daring team appeared, and baited the wyvern some more, pulling it deeper into the formation rather than clashing against the pillars that trapped it.

The orcs realized that something was amiss, and ran to save it. The allies realized that this was their chance, and ran to protect the pillars. Pearl ignored both, and focused on controlling the formation.

This formation had been something designed by Cliff, not her, so its functions were far beyond what any of them could hope to replicate on their own. Yet to ensure that the formation actually behaves as intended, she had to be the guiding hand.

In front of her stood River, holding a shield in each hand, his face solemn. So long as he was alive, nothing would reach Pearl.

The fight that ensued was dangerous, and legendary. This was no ordinary wyvern. No, it was an Armored Wyvern, making it immensely powerful, not to mention giving it unmatched defensive capabilities. The only reason that the team wasn’t eliminated by the wyvern in the very first clash was because the formation was suppressing it, and strengthening them.

For the young chaps, it was a long and difficult battle that would surely be remembered by them for the rest of their lives. For Lex, it was like watching a bunch of kids playing in the sand.

He yawned, and then suppressed the urge to reach out and steal the wyvern’s reverse scale before it actually died.

After many desperate hours, the team’s secret purpose was fulfilled, right as they were on the very verge of failing. They had run out of strength to fight back, so the timing couldn’t have been any better.

The pillars that had risen into the sky had closed in around the wyvern, locking it in a very small piece of land while the team ran out of the formation. Then the pillars tapped into the massive, underground volcano that had not erupted for nearly two hundred thousand years, and caused it to explode.

A super volcanic eruption occurred, causing not just the Land of a Hundred Rivers to shake. In fact, at the borders of this land was a barrier, and outside it were other territories housing other race groups, just like it was doing in this section.

Each territory had its own unique culture and history, yet today they all shook as the very ground beneath them trembled.

The force of the eruption quickly killed the wyvern, after which the formation protected the wyvern’s body, using the energy released from the eruption itself to power it. The volcano and ash that came up from the eruption were carefully controlled by the formation and spread in the surrounding areas in a manner that did not directly kill any of the innocents.

The landscape of that area would change forever, and the scale of the eruption would surely cause other dormant volcanoes in the region to wake up.

None of that mattered, because the group was busy dividing up the spoils of their gain. There was no scene of any of them backstabbing each other, simply because Pearl was still at the peak of her strength since she hadn’t actually fought. Who would try to rip her off? They were grateful she wasn’t trying to kill them while they were weak.

Besides her, all of them could not help but look at River warily. That man had tanked the wyverns attack again and again, and even his hairstyle wasn’t ruined! If it weren’t for the ash covering him now, he would look as good as when the fight began.

Obviously the both of them were quite abnormal.

The duo did not care. They simply took out the wyverns’ reverse scale, a tooth, an eye, a nail and some blood. The rest was left for the group. In exchange, the two of them received many spirit stones as payment for taking so less.

Everyone was happy with the split, so they all went their own way, wary of getting backstabbed.

The couple didn’t care about any of that. They simply fed the reverse scale to the necklace and waited to hear what it was that they had been overlooking.

"The Sunborne family is not dead, you already know that. Your ancestor found an immortal legacy, you also know that. The Oolin think it’s a token, and you think it’s a necklace, but in truth it’s a ring, and it’s being worn by one of the remnants of your family.

"You better go find it quickly before someone else does and realizes what that ring can do, because then the ring and the last few remnants of the Sunborne family besides you will be gone."

To offer a little more help, Cliff even told the couple which region of the land of rivers to look in.

The couple was, once again, shocked! Just how lucky was the Sunborne ancestor to encounter so many treasures?

They wasted no more time. They redeemed more rewards from the necklace, helped Pearl grow stronger, gave River more feedback, and started to run towards the remnant family. At this rate, they would be able to leave these lands even sooner than the ten year deadline.