“Hmmm…”

“What is it, Granny? Is there something wrong?”

“No need to worry, little frog child. It must have been someone just passing through.”

“Hm? Okay, then.”

We were on our way back from the Illusion Seeking Sect and Granny had wanted to throw a special party. Well, obviously because we won!

It was a lot quicker walking down the mountain than it was walking up. We made it back before midday. Everyone was cheering and clapping. Little Brother was starting to wave his gift around, making more cheers erupt.

Hehe, some more people tried to pass off their daughters to me, and this time, the girls were actually willing to be wed to a frog.

I ignored them.

Little Brother declined as well, only because he already had Little Sister.

Oh, here comes Granny.

“Thanks be to the Spirits of our Ancestors and the Spirit of our Guardian!”

Massive amounts of cheers erupted from the tribe members.

“We would like to ask the Ancestors to bless the five warriors here and all other young men of age with names!”

Eh? Why are Little Brother and I included?

“This little one has been affectionately called Boulder Crusher due to his strength, what shall we name him?”

A familiar booming noise came up, and I had half a mind to run away, but the name didn’t sound all that bad.

“Crushing boulders sounds pretty strong, but why stop there? Why not crush the sky? Go, Gui Ya, and flatten everything under the stars!”

Soon, all the other kids got their names. Then it was Little Brother’s turn.

“Oh, Great Guardian, this one was not born in our village, but he will be treated like any other of our tribe! Can he be named?”

“Of course! What a powerful warrior! And so stubborn, too! Born from the river, you shall hereby be known as He Wu!”

Ooh…I wonder what mine shall be.

“No need to tell me about this one. He comes from the river as well, so his family name shall also be He! And for his name…Zhi! He Zhi! The Ambitious River!”

Oho! Wait, ambitious?

Haha, everyone is having a great time. Oh well, it’s about time we

BOOOOOOM!

Eh? Isn’t that…the pond?! No!

>>><<<

This was the moment He Zhi’s story stopped revolving around himself and started focusing on others for once. However, before we find out what happened, let’s return to a week ago, back in the Illusion Seeking Sect.

Two figures were huddled together in a guest room. Both were blond, however one spook in an authoritative voice, while the other sounded like his nose was pinched. The middle aged man with a scar on his cheek was trying to think when his younger brother interrupted his thoughts.

“Brother Derik, I can’t believe Brother Richard would resort to such lowly methods! We should remove those pests permanently!”

“Hush, Brother Neil. We can’t move, Father won’t let us. That is why he stationed these bodyguards on us. However, the frog has proven to be so strong that he can easily deal with regular barbarians. But…can he stand up to true wizards of great and powerful Sects?”

“Brother?”

“I happen to know of several Sects that need new test subjects. Father would never move against them.”

“But what about Brother Richard?”

“Don’t worry, he can’t get involved, remember?”

The middle-aged man had a gleam in his eyes as he creepily laughed at his younger brother and smiled.

It took a week for the members of the various Sects to mobilize. However, they only sent several Apprentice Mages, two Beginner Mages, and one Intermediate Mage.

From what He Zhi learned from his reading, there were 10 different stages of Mages.

There was the Level 0 Apprentice, the ones that were more like servants or even slaves in some cases. Maybe even test subjects. If not, they are usually referred to as Scholars.

The Level 1 Beginners can use basic magic like the children can. Normally it would take several years for a child to activate their blood and learn to cast advanced spells. Once they reach this point, however, they could actually join low-rank Sects or participate in the Academy.

Level 2 Intermediates could easily take on several full grown men that did not have magic. The spells they know and the gifts they receive from their bloodlines deal more damage and can be enough to wipe out the simple tribal village. However, usually, every tribe has at least one person at this Level, so actually destroying the tribe itself would prove difficult.

Level 3 Advanced Mages can raze a large town if they tried hard enough, destroying people’s lives in an instant. This would be the rank the butlers and escorts of the eight Lords and Ladies.

However, the Level 4 Adept Mages can destroy a small city and can help lay siege to a large city, forcing them to use their soldiers to try and stop the Mage. This is the stage at which most of the Young Masters are at. Richard, of course, still needs practice, although he is technically a Level 4.

Level 5 Expert Mages can take on large cities and lay siege to capital cities of small kingdoms. Just being one meant that you could be king. They can create the lowly 4th Rank Sects if they so desire.

Level 6 Master learn to utilize the elements and can fly in the air. These people can easily take over a small kingdom by themselves, except that finding a free one will be a hard task. Masters can start their own 3rd Rank Sects or Learning Academies, passing on their knowledge of the past.

Level 7 Sages have reached the ability to fully control an element, creating their own Domain. These powerful forces can even lead their own 2nd Rank Sects. If a Sage wants something, they usually get it.

Level 8 Sovereign Mages have completely mastered many different elements and can even influence an entire continent with their 1st Rank Sects. Unfortunately, if they don’t have a Level 9, they aren’t True 1st Rank Sects.

Level 9 Magister Mages are extremely rare. Probably so rare that you only need one hand to count them. Completely capable of using all elements, these individuals can affect the entire world.

Luckily, the Sect members were all from other 3rd Rank Sects like the Illusion Seeking Sect. However, they still needed to not let others know what they were doing, or a war would begin.

It seemed that everything was going alright. They all grouped together, even if they didn’t want to. This was to make sure that no one took more than they needed.

Four different Sects, each with their own students.

There were three different groups in each Sect. The Outer, the Inner, and the Core Students.

The lowly Apprentices didn’t even count as Outer Sect members.

So sending one Inner Sect member was enough for everyone. They didn’t think that it would be dangerous since Master Derik Marshall himself said it would be quite easy. He couldn’t get the Drifting Dragon involved, so he decided to use others.

Four strong young adults stood around the marshlands, searching for strange froglike humans. However, they found nothing.

A beautiful lady, with long flowing purple hair, managed to finally get over the strange smell of the surroundings that was the outdoors. She was a member of the Healing Lily Sect and was wondering how frogs would help their Sect out.

One man, a strange person with a smoky smell coming off of him, plucked the frogs by their legs. He would quickly break their necks before stuffing them inside a bag that never seemed to get full. He had frizzy black hair and was always scratching it as if he was perpetually thinking…or just had lice because he never took care of himself. This man was a member of the Immortal Cauldron Sect pursuing alchemy and potion making.

Another man was getting angry and just stepping on the poor things, watching as their guts were shoved out their mouths, disgusting the first girl to tears. He was a proud member of the Twisting Terror Sect that focused on combat prowess.

The last girl was not graceful like the purple haired one, but she was elegant. She held herself in a way that seemed to draw others in. Her fluttering brunette hair twisted even though she was standing still. Her Sect was the Dancing Leaves Sect, one that specialized in tricky and skillful attacks or movements.

They were having enough, just about to leave when the neck breaker noticed a solitary frog hopping madly down the river.

“Hey, where do you guys think he’s going?”

He had a slow way of talking and refused to acknowledge the others, choosing to instead talk to his fellow Sect members waiting patiently behind him. They weren’t there to help the Mission, they were there to make sure that the other Sects didn’t strike. Because of this, they were bored.

The four groups began to move on, following the unfortunate frog as it led them to the small pond.

Upon noticing the Mages, the Big Siblings hopped out and began preparing their techniques. However, that was all that showed up.

“They’re bigger, but they aren’t humanoid. What gives? Did the little Master lie to us?”

The impatient man was about to just head home when a whirlwind descended from above. Thankfully, the frog people were out practicing with Elder heron when they spotted the destruction of the marsh. They had gone back to get help, so that was why they were late.

“You little brats! You mess with my friends, you mess with me!”

Elder heron couldn’t communicate like He Zhi did, so his cries went without a response. However,

“Shit, this bird is strong! But, at least he looks tasty!”

After finding something that interested him, the impatient Mage jumped out, preparing to fight Elder heron. Their collision created a loud crash that shook the area, alerting the nearby tribe as to their whereabouts.

From the trees, seven humanoid frogs and one humanoid bird walked out. Everyone’s eyes began to shine and the battle started.

Every one of the animals could easily fight against the Apprentices and were on equal footing with the Beginners, but only Big Brother, Hu Lao, Love-struck Little Sister, and the other Little Sister could actually defeat them. Unfortunately, they may have had the upper hand power wise, but they didn’t have the experience.

Instead of outright joining the battle, the Level 2s began talking about which one they wanted. However, they all made the same decision that they didn’t want the large frogs. Just as some more figures jumped out of the trees, He Zhi’s Big Siblings all died in an instant due to the large magical attacks such as wind blades, fireballs, and ice spikes.

He Wu and He Zhi both stared in shock at the sudden and shocking predicament. Then He Zhi snapped, causing him to lose consciousness.