Carrying a stash of preserved meat, Jarius made the rounds, questioning the eagle beings who'd already finished their missions.
Then, gripping a bone spear and cloaked in a bear skin, he masqueraded as a royal guard, leading his clansmen into the sky. They soared out of the camp in broad daylight, bold as brass.
The flight was a rush, but uneventful—too many teams like theirs buzzed around for any eagle being to care.
Royal eagle warriors marched out with fifty tribal fighters in tow, yet only a handful returned, dragging back a dozen or so survivors.
It was always the scouts who took the heaviest hits before the real fighting even kicked off.
In this sky, the eagle tribe warriors were the bottom of the pecking order. Forget the dragon hybrids tearing through the clouds—sub-dragons, wyverns, and all their ilk—even a lone griffin could square up against a fifty-man eagle scout squad and come out even.
Just as Jarius neared the camp's edge, a royal eagle guard swooped in, brows furrowed, and blocked his path. His voice was flat, emotionless.
"Who are you? I've never seen you before."
"New guy. Started today,"
Jarius replied, cool as a breeze.
His poker face was flawless. The guard scrutinized him, found nothing off, and gave a curt nod to let him pass.
Behind him, his clansmen's hearts thundered loud enough to wake the dead. Relief washed over them as the guard waved them through.
Only for their pulses to spike again at Jarius' next move.
Instead of bolting, he stepped closer, slipped a chunk of gold into the guard's talon, and leaned in.
"Big brother, I'm fresh meat here. Where's the sky war raging hardest?"
Gold held weight even in these ancient times, a prize Jarius had snagged from wiping out a snake people tribe.
The guard's beak twitched into a pleased grin.
"Got it. East's been a bloodbath lately—even some high-and-mighty transcendent eagle nobles bit the dust. You're new, little brother. Head west. Safest bet."
"Thanks, big brother."
Jarius flashed a grin, nodded, and led his clansmen west.
Right beside the eagle camp sprawled the goblin setup. These scrappy critters, destined to be a washed-up race in future days, were a big deal under the Titans in this ancient era.
Tens of millions strong, they dotted the Felander world—even the ancient dragons had a few in their ranks.
Smart as whips, too. Jarius clocked their camp: massive catapults rigged and ready, wooden arrow towers, squat tents—all neat as a pin compared to the eagle camp's tangled mess.
Next door were the trolls, their setup as sloppy as the eagles'.
Jarius figured the ancestors of those fancy, graceful elves of tomorrow might be hiding in that chaos somewhere.
Beyond them stretched camps of centaurs, dwarves, orcs, and more.
A wild patchwork of the world's brainy races.
Leaving the camp behind, Jarius took his clansmen further west, scouring the land for small lakes, ponds, or trickling streams.
That big river slicing through the forest? Not the spot from the old turtle's childhood tales, no way.
By nightfall, he'd shuttle his crew back in shifts.
This dawn-to-dusk routine kept anyone from noticing his clan hadn't shrunk much.
Days of hunting west turned up nothing on the old turtle's hideout.
On the fifth morning, as they headed out, the gate guard stopped him cold. "Can't keep drifting to the cushy west forever."
Out of options, Jarius steered his clansmen south.
They dodged the dragons' wyverns and griffins like pros, but a wyvern still sniffed them out.
A few clansmen fell before Jarius hurled his spear, nailing the beast square in the eye.
It screeched in agony, but the wound only pissed it off more.
It went full berserk.
No hesitation—Jarius split from the group, drawing the wyvern off solo.
They tore through the forest skies, a mad chase that rattled other airborne brawlers. Jarius' flying chops held up, and with the wyvern down an eye, it couldn't snag him—yet.
Mid-duel.
The sky went black.
He craned his neck up. A blue dragon, wings spanning five hundred meters, blotted out the sun.
The Ancient Blue Dragon King crackled with blue lightning that could shred the heavens, its steel-scaled bulk radiating raw majesty.
The wyvern behind Jarius let out a shrill, triumphant cry.
Its dragon lord!
But the celebration was cut short.
A roar ripped from the north, shaking the world.
"Alileitos! I haven't hunted you down yet, and you dare come looking for death?!"
Jarius whipped around.
A two-hundred-meter Titan strode forth, purple lightning dancing off him. A hide of some mystery material hugged his waist, and his silver spear gleamed, wreathed in apocalyptic thunder. Each step quaked the earth.
The blue dragon bellowed back, undaunted.
"Yatri, you dumb, cocky Titan brute! Today, Lord Alileitos will gift you eternal oblivion!"
The gap between them looked huge, but for giants like these, it vanished in a heartbeat.
Boom!
The ancient titans clashed in brutal melee.
The ground shuddered, the sky split, forests flattened underfoot, and howling winds whipped up endless dust storms.
As the big shots threw down, the battlefield erupted.
Ground and sky swarmed with clashing races from both sides.
Down below, minotaurs swung trees like battering rams, goblins lobbed stones from backpack slings, trolls hacked with stone axes, stone men body-slammed the earth, goat-heads charged with their horns, centaurs thundered across the plains, snake-folk fired wooden bows, dwarves bashed with stone hammers, and boar-men gored with their tusks.
Up above, eagle beings swarmed in packs, two-headed wyverns shrieked through the air, firebirds torched the heavens, griffins slashed with fangs and claws, and dragon eagles carved the sky with razor wings.
This was a mythic war straight out of legend.
And Jarius? He was smack in the danger zone, closest to the two titanic brawlers.
A chance to grab treasure from the flames—win or bust.
He steeled himself in a split second.
The wyvern, hyped by the chaos, lunged at him with feral glee.
Flames roared overhead, battles raged all around. Jarius didn't dodge this time. He yanked a bronze short sword from his chest, and as the wyvern dove, he sprang onto its head, drove the blade into its skull, and twisted hard.
[You have slain a wyvern, EXP +100]
The beast's massive corpse dropped like a stone.
Jarius clung to its back, riding it down, playing dead for all he was worth.
He'd already spotted it—a crescent-shaped lake below.
The old turtle's future pad was a giant crescent lake too. This had to be the place.
They hit the water with a splash.
The wyvern bobbed on the surface, and under its shadow, Jarius dove deep.
A few strokes later, he found it: a tiny, adorable pink turtle sprawled on a smooth stone glowing with green light.
Jackpot. His heart skipped.
He swam hard, reached the turtle, gave its little head a pat, then scooped it aside to a corner of the stone. He plopped down on it himself.
A cool, soothing vibe flooded through him instantly.
Outsid.
In the Vast Sea Forest, the two-hundred-meter Titan loomed, scars crisscrossing his hulking frame, golden eyes glinting with icy fury.
"Hmph! The world belongs to the Titan god race! You dragons? Just filthy thieves!"
"God race? Arrogant pricks! The astral realm barely knows your kind—you're begging to die!"
The blue lightning dragon sneered and lunged again.
His tail, dozens of meters long, snapped with bursting electric sparks.
The Titan roared with laughter, thrusting his three-hundred-meter spear.
"We Titans shift mountains, fill oceans, flip the damn sky! Calling ourselves gods—what's the problem?!"
"Pathetic!"
Their taunts crashed with them, kicking up a skyful of dust. Thunder met thunder in a savage slugfest.
Golden blood raining down as they tore into each other.
Demigods both, their veins ran with gold.
Then it happened—the dragon's claw ripped the Titan's shoulder open. A gush of golden blood sprayed straight into Jarius' crescent lake.
In a blink, the water turned gold, swallowing him and the turtle whole.
Pain hit like a furnace blast, scorching every inch of him.
It was like swimming in the sun, roasted by a hundred thousand degrees.
The system chimed in real-time.
[You have bathed in Titan blood, all attributes enhanced!]
It hurt like hell.
Even his iron will buckled under the agony.
Beside him, the little turtle turned red-hot, thrashing on the stone.
A sudden coolness surged through them.
Jarius glanced down—the stone blazed with green light, shielding them both.
But it didn't last. The Titan blood kept pouring in.
And worse, they were too close to the demigod showdown—blue dragon king blood splashed into the mix.
The burning waves crashed back.
[You have bathed in Titan and Dragon King blood, all attributes enhanced!]
Now he got it. No wonder the old turtle clammed up about his awakening. This wasn't pain—it was torture, over and over.
Time blurred.
[You have bathed in Titan and Dragon blood, all attributes enhanced!]
[You have bathed in Titan and Dragon blood, awakened the power of thunder!]
[You have bathed in Titan and Dragon blood, your bloodline has changed!]
[Your will has been enhanced in Titan and Dragon blood!]
[You have awakened the talent, Champion's Will!]
...
The golden blood's essence drained into them, and the torment finally stopped.
They weren't the same.
The turtle's shell gleamed purple-blue, electric sparks dancing across it, its tiny eyes sharp with newfound smarts.