Now with a weapon in hand, Wu and Lera finally decided to get back to their current order of business. He added a few more additional features like a small gun holster around his hips and pieces of leather around the gun handle. "Now we are speaking the language of freedom!" Wu said, pumping his arms in a front double bicep before saluting as an eagle chirped overhead. Lera watches in confusion before ignoring him and pretending that he's a stranger that happened to walk the same path as her. The streams that Wu took advantage of when building the aqueducts for the Dwellers originated from the branches of a river far upstream, and the two of them backtracked the dried up creeks and rocky beds all the way until a massive string of mountain peaks started creeping from behind the treetops of the Endless Woods. That is the Titan's Spine. Fitting for its name, the legends from Kingdom of Varous have it that it's the final resting grounds for a Titan, and when it curled up, its very spine transformed into the mountain range that neatly splits up the entire Northern side of the Eastern continent. Catching the rains from the seas that sit on both sides of the Eastern continent, the mountain range provides the Endless Woods with a source of water that nourishes not only the vast boundless ecosystems but also powers all of the kingdoms on this side of the world. As they moved further and further upstream, their specific branch of the stream eventually merged as a massive opening suddenly revealed itself behind an overgrowth of bushes. Wu and Lera sneakily found themselves walking right up past the bushs as a foul stench of the rotten was blown their way. "Bubble Bubble." Lera murmured, quickly conjuring up a shield that envelops the two as Wu split the branches of the bush and looked into the massive opening. A scenery that belonged only within legendary adventure stories was laid out in front of them as a massive lake presented itself like a mirror dropped from the heavens, surrounded by grasslands, mud, and decorated with scattered groups of water-seeking animals. From Wu's position, its calm surface reflected the white peaks of the Titan's Spine and the layers of trees on the other side. He looked down, noticing the long stretches of darkened mud that appeared to be the source of the Stench. In any other scenario, Wu would have been completely captivated by what looked like the national nature reserves equivalent of this world, though he couldn't help but notice how low the water level is as parts of the mud patch near them had even dried up just to the other side of the bushes. "This...What is this place..." "I am honestly surprised that nobody has come this far from Varous," Wu said, stepping over the bush as Lera followed. However, their shoes immediately sunk into the mud, and Lera cringed briefly as the mud water squeezed into the gaps between her toes. The dry patches aren't that dry after all. "CAR! CAR!" Lera said, jumping up and hopping onto the chariot as Wu did too, "I was hoping to save this for later, but...!" "I gotta agree here." Wu said, trying to ignore the squish from between his toes. As Lera drove the chariot around the outer perimeter of the Lake, the true extent of the drying lake became clear. Worse yet, with the pond of still water stuck in place, they couldn't even tell where the upstream of this lake is. "At this point... just go somewhere that is higher than here." At last, Wu threw out a suggestion. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the other side of the Lake and continue journeying towards the Titan's Spine. However, Wu and Lera immediately spotted some unusual occurrences around them. Among the forest, there were trees that were snapped in half, chopped up, and paths that were cleared in the middle of nowhere. There were no tracks nor any footprints, but the two of them are no way near being the first people here. Setting down behind a set of bushes and out of sight from the path, Lera then sent out her Scouting Eye as Wu kept watch of their surroundings. Rising higher and higher into the air, sets of barracks set up hundreds of meters away immediately drew her attention. Then, as she slowly pilots it forward, she spotted something rather odd on the ground. It is as if the same Titan that was laid to rest at the Titan's Spine picked up its foot and left behind a massive footprint here in the forest. The footprint was located dozens of meters away from the edge of the Lake, oriented to be parallel with its edge and preventing any flow of water into it as some of the displaced mud went as high as three meters off the ground, forming a temporary dam of sorts. Turning her attention away from the bizarre scenes, Lera then looked towards the barracks when the Scouting Eye picked up the abnormal flow of the Wave in the air and stopped dead in its tracks. There was a shielding established around the barracks, and her eye nearly tripped its alarm. "What did you see?" Wu asked as Lera leaned back and dispelled the Scouting Eye. She turned and looked at him with the slightest hint of fatigue before pointing to the small uphill near them. "That looks like a footprint from up there. Somehow." Lera said, and Wu blinked a few times and slowly nodded. "Let's keep watching." Wu said, and Lera agreed before plotting out a route to one of the vantage points a bit further away which looks over both the barracks and the footprint. It wasn't long before they spotted groups of Wave users wearing identical uniforms carrying wooden barrels and moving materials in and out of what looked to be a warehouse. Lera also pointed out an enhancement-style Cast that was casted on the ground which allows for them to push along the barrels easier. The roles of those workers were clearly divided. There were those responsible solely for moving the barrels, and the rest were working with the soil in the bottom of the footprint. "What...is that...the granules?" Lera asked, looking through her Scouting Eye as one of the workers turned around with a handful of semi-transparent shiny rocks. A bucket is then brought close as he dropped those rocks within. In the meanwhile, a chariot was constructed by one of the Casters, and it took off, carrying at least six full barrels. "Damn." Wu said, ducking his head under as the chariot whizzed away from this part of the forest, "And here I thought I am ahead of the curve." "What do you mean?" Lera asked, and Wu reached for the jar containing granules that he had collected while on their way here. "They are mining the granules because other people also realized its potential." Wu said, before he also pulled out his One-Shotter Pistol, "In fact, somebody a long time ago seemed to have figured that part out too." "And they are the cause of the drought downstream?" Lera turned her attention back towards the footprint and pushed her Eye straight up to the edge of her control. When looking from this height, there is no question that the footprint was placed squarely in the way of the upstream river which feeds into the lake. Sets of additional barracks and blockades were also set up along the way to pool the water, creating a makeshift reservoir just beyond the barracks on the other side. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting to encounter problems of sustainability when isekaied..." Wu chuckled and scratched the back of his head when he suddenly spotted one figure dressed in a white uniform with patches of blue patterns over her body. She has long white hair that's tied into a ponytail behind her, and her skin is golden under the morning sun. Compared to the workers in dark uniforms, she looked more like a Queen bee to the worker bees. As she yawned and walked towards a pool of water, her eyes suddenly turned and locked onto the Scouting Eye, and a cryptic smile is what Lera saw last. Before her mind could fully process what has happened, her body already reacted. Feeling her heart almost jump out from her chest, she immediately dispelled the Cast, reached over and pressed Wu's head down behind the bushes. "Lera?" Wu asked with a look of concern, and that was when he noticed how much paler Lera looked now than ever before. "No way..." She murmured, her eyes filled with fear, "That's the uniform of a Sky Guardian Corp member." "That sounds familiar..." Wu held onto his chin when Lera flipped her Book of Casts all the way until the last page where she had the power level table, "Right..." There it is. Sat square at the second and third row from the top of the power scale, the majority of the Sky Guardian Corp members are River-Bending levels and above, which is surprisingly accurate as how that single footprint of hers literally bent the river, assuming that she's the one to do it. For Wu, Ver's already one of the strongest individuals that he has ever seen, and that's without him seeing her rampage at the main camp of the bounty hunters. To think that all of the Sky Guardian Corp members are whole orders of magnitude stronger than her strongest state is simply incomprehensible for him. In the meanwhile, Lera would have had a better sense of the true power of those beings if she had not been such a bookworm, picking only the bare minimum work for her External Rotations. "So, what do we do?" Lera asked, "There is no chance we fight into her..." "No, and we probably don't have to deal with them at all." Wu said, breathing out slowly, though the first hint of nervousness had finally arose within him, "I mean, it makes no sense why they will set up camps here. Clearly, the granules must have come from somewhere near the origin of the streams. Far up in the mountains." Lera nodded along, and she only partially got what Wu's saying. "I thought so too." A charismatic low feminine voice came from right behind the bush, and Wu and Lera both jumped up and screamed. Then, they turned around to see the woman in the Sky Guardian Corp uniform standing with hands on her hips. Her eyes seemed relaxed, and a smile lingered on her face. She's an absolutely stunning woman, and the sleeveless white and blue dress fits around her body flawlessly. Her eyes are big and green, and her round and luscious lips had drawn countless men to her, yet none was able to satisfy her so far. "What are a Sky Guardian Corp doing here?!" Lera asked, stepping in front of Wu despite her shaking voice. "Well, what are you two doing here?" She asked back, her hips slightly shifting to the other side as an atmosphere of menace poured out from her body, "Are you lost?"