Birds of various shapes and sizes soared across the wide, azure horizon. Their wings flapped against the wind, but their eyes remained determined as they all had one goal in mind.

From the southern lands came small and quick pigeons, carrying scroll letters strapped to their legs.

From the western lands came large hawks, with letters held within their beaks.

From the eastern land came owls, letters wrung around their necks.

From the north came swift doves with notes attached to their feet.

And from the center lands came crows with scroll letters held in their mouths.

Communication across Ainsveld seems to have begun swiftly.

Within the Ovalantis Capital, King City; a group of seven individuals sat around a round table.

A knight to the side stepped forward and read a message outloud that came from a dove.

“Greetings, king and kingsmen of Ovalantis. We spread this message urgently to all empires within Ainsveld. There must be another Continental Meeting held…”

The knight placed the note to the side, straightening his posture with a loud stomp.

A man at the very back middle of the round table sat with his elbows on the table and his mouth covered by his interlocked fingers.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the giant table before him.

Across it was sprawled a realistic and geological map of the entire continent, with its mountains, valleys, kingdoms, and all–all carved from wood.

All 6 other members stared at him from the left and right sides of the table as he finally spoke:

“That’s the last of the letters. Each empire wishes to hold a meeting over this dragon.” The man had a rough and powerful voice.

As soon as he said the word ‘dragon,’ a small dragon carved from wood was summoned from the air and fell onto the board.

It was to the bottom right of Ovalantis.

“The dragon was brave enough to declare that it was still a child. That gives us time to prepare for it… from what we know, it will grow to its natural state of ‘full power’ in around 3 years. From there, it will gradually grow in power until the end of its life…”

Another voice added at that moment:

“We must be prepared by then.” He was a man wearing all-white robes. He was large, with muscles bulging out from his clothing and his long white hair flowing to his shoulders.

Another man with a less impressive, rather scrawny physique exclaimed at that moment: “We should just butcher it while it’s young. Who knows how powerful it will become.” He wore a green and black robe.

“Hmm…” The man at the back middle of the table exclaimed, “That shall be decided at the Continental Meeting. Send the crows again to each of the empires.”

The knight saluted, stomping as he exclaimed: “When is the date, Your Superiority?”

…

After a short pause, and anticipation growing in the room, the man said: “One month.”

***

“My goal in this empire is to get to Expert Rank,” Tyr said as he rode atop Rudra.

Right now, the group was inside an immense mountain range. Rudra was jumping from one steep ledge to another–hoping not to fall to his sure demise.

They were thousands of feet up in the air, with clouds sometimes waving by them.

It was misty and cold up there, with no one being able to see more than 20 feet ahead of them.

As cruel winds continued to howl, Tyr thought of how he could get to Expert Rank the quickest.

Hanzo wasn’t so sure of Tyr’s goal, however: “Expert Rank? Increasing in Rank depends on genetics, mental ability to stabilize your body and senses, and much more. You need a lot of skill to be able to cultivate proficiently as well… it takes years if not decades for most people to achieve that Rank starting from Adept.”

“You’re Expert Rank, right?” Tyr said at that second.

Hanzo immediately replied: “Yes, but just because i’m Expert Rank doesn’t mean everyone else will be able to–” He was cut off.

“Then you should aim for Virtuoso Rank…” Tyr said with a straight face.

“W-what!?” Hanzo exclaimed in confusion.

“We should all aim for one Rank higher than we already are.” Tyr smirked.

Noa looked to the side, “Rank huh… well before that, I need to get a weapon back for myself. My gun was confiscated when they captured me and the villagers.”

While the group spoke about what to do with Noa’s gun situation, Malon thought to himself:

‘Increase by one in Rank…’ He didn’t seem to be happy as he thought this, ‘I know Noa said that she would drag us down, but if anything, that person would be me. Her seal-removing powers are something else, but I on the other hand am still nowhere near strong enough to support Hanzo and Tyr if real combat were to break out.’

He stared at his own wrist, ‘I need to get stronger… even though I am also Adept Rank, I am still much weaker. Expert Rank will be my goal as well.’

Just then, Tyr shouted aloud: “Then it’s settled!”

Malon was jerked back to reality at that moment, his head facing the young man on Rudra.

“Malon and I will become Expert Rank, Hanzo will get as close as possible to Virtuoso, and Noa will build her weapon back, along with cultivate until she’s at least Adept Rank!” Tyr smiled with excitement as he said this.

Hanzo shook his head with closed eyes before yelling: “Hell yeah! Let’s do this!”

Malon smiled as well on seeing this, “Lets get stronger, team!”

Noa chuckled, slightly flush with embarrassment. However, as he stared at the people yelling with joy in front of her, she couldn’t help but join in:

“Yeah!” She raised her fist.

‘These are my people now… my friends.’ She thought to herself.

*Crack*

The small ledge beneath Rudra’s feet suddenly broke apart into two lodged pieces.

The tiger looked down with nervousness.

‘Master…’

‘Yeah…’

‘Brace yourself.’

‘Okay…’

The ledge cracked several more times before suddenly crumbling to pieces right beneath Rudra’s feet.

Rudra immediately began to fall straight downwards.

“Oi!” Hanzo yelled in shock, turning his flying jetski-like vehicle around as he and Malon swiftly zoomed downwards: “What the hell!?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep