City of Zantia, now.

"You heard my master. I can't stay here a second longer." Deraniel had packed everything so fast that when he was ready to depart, Pelion had yet to complete his Warping array.

With the strength of the four remaining Awakened, it was powerful enough to at least Warp him past the storm they had previously fueled and were now unable to control.

"I would leave in a hurry if I were you. If the Wyrmling contacts his master, both Pelion and Ailia are in danger. He has seen your faces. The Ranger must have powerful connections with magical beasts to summon the aide of the Lord of the region."

All of those present shuddered at the memory. If both master and disciple were capable of using Origin Flames, there was no telling what Forgemastering marvels they had access to.

"I don't care about the Church of Madmen, nor about Zantia. As long as we are alive, there's always next year." He walked through the Gate, leaving them to wonder if their plan of using the Ranger as their main ingredient had actually been a mistake.

***

A cave near the southern border of the Kellar region.

After receiving the apologies from the two Awakened humans of the Blood Desert, Xedros the Wyvern, the Emperor Beast ruling over the region immediately called his dear friend, Faluel the Hydra.

"I just heard the strangest thing. It seems a Wyrmling is protecting my territory, yet all of my children have long since left and it's been decades since I've mated with a human. Is him one of yours?" He asked.

She was the only other draconic Emperor Beast he knew in the Griffon Kingdom who could have spawned such a powerful creature.

A Wyrmling was the offspring of a dragon or a lesser dragon with a member of another race. A hybrid who was forced to choose the race he would belong to before reaching the twenty years of age.

One of the Hydra's seven scaly snake heads squinted her eyes, trying to remember when it was the last time she had copulated with a human while her other heads kept sleeping like logs.

Among the various species of Emperor Beasts, Hydras were considered part of the lesser dragons.

They had a stocky lower body with four short legs and a heavy tail. Both were necessary to balance their long, serpentine necks ending with a snake-like head the size of a muscle car.

Hydras' number of heads varied with their power and age. A newborn had two, whereas the most powerful of them could grow up to seven heads. Each head was capable of independent thought and casting its own spells.

Ancient Hydras were almost unbeatable thanks to the explosive attack strength they could achieve by alternating physical and magical attacks from seven different sources. Their weakness and strength overlapped, though.

Seven heads also meant seven times the energy consumption. No matter how many heads they had, they all belonged to a single Hydra, after all. If not careful, they would exhaust their mana and stamina in just a few seconds.

Unlike Wyverns, they weren't able to use Origin Flames nor to fly without a spell, so they were considered among the weakest of the lesser dragons.

Faluel was still half asleep, so it took her a while to understand what the Wyvern was saying. She hated cold in general and winter in particular. She lived in the Distar Marquisate, yet even its climate was too rigid for her tastes.

She liked to spend the cold season asleep unless it was strictly necessary otherwise.

Her nest was located under the Black Scar, one of the rare mountains in the south of the Griffon Kingdom which took its name from the obsidian rocks covering most of its surface.

Once it had been a volcano, whereas now the steaming hot springs heating Faluel's lair were the only legacy left of the mountain's fiery core. The rest of the underground cave was decorated with enough riches to put the Ernas Household to shame.

Piles of gold and precious gemstones were mixed with small mounds of magic crystals. The more precious a pile, the nearer to Faluel it was. All the artifacts she had collected and Forgemastered over the centuries were carefully stored inside a crystal case only she could open.

"One of mine? In the north?" She said.

"It's possible. Most of my hatchlings hate me because I haven't Awakened them. Can you describe him to me?"

Xedros, the first Wyvern, and father of the late Gadorf was a master of light magic, so instead of speaking, he showed her a hard light construct of the recording Lesalia had sent to him. His scoundrel son had inherited his talent, but none of his wisdom.

"By the Great Mother!" All the seven heads hissed in unison.

"I knew he was one of yours! Don't worry about him, I told them he's my apprentice. I don't give a shit about humans, but if they so much touch one of us, I'll Warp a whole mountain above their heads!" He roared.

"Well, thanks for your concern but actually no. He used Origin Flames and he has wings, so he's not a Hydra."

"What a shame. I was hoping you had found the right partner to further evolve your species. Why that reaction?" All Emperor Beasts strived to overcome the bounds separating them from the purest races, like Griffons and Phoenixes.

Unfortunately, none had ever succeeded.

'Because even though he is still in the embryo stage he already has seven eyes.' She thought. There was a reason if Hydras had seven heads and more than one for not sharing its secret.

"Because I know him." She actually said.

"He's a friend of my latest disciple and he asked me to watch out for him. I might need to send him over to you." Emperor Beasts had no Warp Gates, but by conjuring a Warp Array each, two of them could obtain the same effect.

Xedros nodded and ended the call. He spent several minutes watching the construct between his claws, trying to figure out what Faluel was hiding from him.

'If that old fox sends her disciple here, it might be a show worth watching.' He thought.

***

City of Zantia, the next morning.

Lith had spent the night sleeping to reset the effects of Invigoration. If he was right and there were still five Awakened on his tail, he couldn't afford to be the first one to run out of gas.

According to Solus, with her deep blue mana core, the woman was the magically strongest among those he had already met, while the two meters (6'7") guy was physically almost on par with him thanks to the gap in height and build.

'Unless they are geniuses on par with Manohar or much older than they look, I'm confident I can take them out one on one. With Friya or Solus I can take two of them out at once, but three or more would be potentially lethal.

'Not to mention that I should introduce Friya to Solus and things could get really awkward.' He thought.

'I don't get it. You have no qualms asking her to risk her life for you yet you are afraid of introducing me to a friend? It wouldn't be the first secret she keeps for you. I think Friya is a woman wise enough that she can accept my existence.' Solus said.