Chapter 68: History

Riven stayed in Zandrel’s residence building for the whole week that led to the monthly assessment. It was the first week in his life that he didn’t have to fight for survival.

He ate good food and slept on fresh, soft beds. His clothes were clean and he had water to bathe. It was almost too much to be true, but it was.

Riven swore silently to never be poor again, although right then he didn’t even have one coin to his name.

The only thing that broke his ’enjoyment’ was that Zandrel was actually true to his words and began to teach him the next day. But Riven didn’t mind. He was hungry for everything.

The other fact was that he felt like someone was staring at him always. At first, he thought it was Tong trying to get back at him, but he had searched the whole place and even asked Zandrel, but the man told him that the defensive formation in his place would reveal anyone that shouldn’t be there.

At least the feeling lessened as the days went by. During the last day of the week, Zandrel focused on history.

“We can’t tell the history of this place without touching everywhere else. To start with, the world is made of seven continents…”

Riven knew all about that, but only the North, West, East, and South were well known. The rest had been lost. At least that was what Riven was told.

“…the rest are said to be lost,” Zandrel said.

Riven frowned as he caught the meaning behind the words. “Are you saying they are not lost?”

Zandrel smiled. “Do I? I don’t know, Riven. Maybe when you are at enough rank. If you can reach certain ranks, then maybe you will know.

“Since we are in the West, then we will focus on it. Hundreds of thousands of years of the West were known as the ’Death Land’ because it’s where Practitioners go to die. Every inch of the Western continent then was covered in Shadowwood and the monsters were the true rulers.

“But of course, we are Practitioners and will always go where the resources lie. Practitioners came here in the thousands and the monsters, for our stars combination, is always important. The West was known as the land of opportunity then.”

Riven’s eyes widened. He didn’t imagine that the continent started out that way. “There was no one living on the continent then?”

Zandrel smiled. “We are Practitioners. Of course, we had ancient sects and Clans living here then. They were very powerful and could even be said to have been sprouted here. They kept to themselves and protected themselves, almost as if they had some pact with the monsters.”

Zandrel drank from the cup in front of him. “But that all changed about one thousand years ago when one man came directly from the cold north. His history was unknown but he walked well with death. He was known as Wandering Death.

“The Necromancer King. He began the conquest of the West with his Skull Lords.”

Riven swallowed. He was getting more and more interested. “The Skull Lords?”

“Yes. They were the Lords that served directly below the Necromancer King.

“Anyway, it was a bloody war. You might ask what was he fighting to make it into a bloody war? Monsters, of course! You know when monsters reach certain ranks, they begin to gain intelligence that’s even higher than some humans.

“And surprisingly enough, some ancient sects and Clans joined the monsters in pushing back against the Wandering Death.”

“Anyway, as you must have guessed, he won the war and pushed the monsters back.” With a smile on his face, Zandrel was gesturing. “But some might disagree that he won it since the monsters retreated deep into the Shadowwood with some Clans.

“But either way, he called himself the King of the West and there was no one to stand against him and say he is not. He even called himself the king of Necromancers. And he ruled this continent with his Skull Lords.”

Riven nodded. “What happened then?”

Zandrel’s eyes flashed. “He fell. Don’t ask, I don’t know how he fell too, but he did. And his death once again reshaped the West. His Skull Lords couldn’t agree with each other so they broke away since there was no one to unite them now that their Master was gone.

“The sects and Clans that were Skull Lords but followed the King also broke away. At the end, the West was divided into three parts.”

“Let me tell you that as big as this continent is, the space that the Shadowwood holds is seventy percent while the other thirty percent is divided among others.

“So from the back, we have the Shadowwood, also called the Untamed West. In the middle is the Old West where we are right now, and then we have the Unified West, also known as the unification of sects. These three parts are what the empire of the Necromancer King is right now.

“The Old West, where we are, is made up of five regions. Each region has at least four to five states, and the states have their own provinces too. Each region is ruled by a Skull Lord.”

The sheer scale made Riven’s head ache, but he knew he didn’t even really comprehend it. “Then which province are we in right now?”

“None! This is the free province. It’s the free land between the Old West and the Untamed West. But we still like to refer to this place as the Old West.”

“To tell the truth though, we in this place also obey the law of the closest region. This place is the gold mine of free Practitioners, the unaffiliated. They can go into the Shadowwood to find resources while they still maintain their own business. In fact, many sects like to start out here, especially sects without backing.”

Riven slowly digested everything. He didn’t know that the place where he was born had such an impressive history and was far bigger than he expected. “The Necromancer King didn’t leave any heir behind?”

Zandrel’s eyes shone at this as he stared at Riven.

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