"Slow down a little. Don''t startle it." Yihan said when he noticed the Gharial slightly elerating in response.


    "Alright." Xuna reduced the thrust produced by her rockets, tailing the Gharial from thirty metres away as they followed it.


    Two hourster, she shuddered as it became cold all of a sudden, wondering aloud as she noticed the Gharial still swimming as usual, "Wait, howe it''s still swimming? Aren''t lizards coldblooded or something?"


    "Hmm…" Yihan dipped his hand in the water, thinking for a moment as he jumped in the water, shuddering in the cold as he swam a bit under to reach the depth at which the Gharial was swimming through.


    He stayed there for a couple dozen seconds before surfacing, condensing a pair of wings that carried him out of the water and helped him blow off all the water on his clothes. Hended on the boat and touched Xuna.


    "Wait, why are you warm now?" Xuna was surprised.


    "The freshwater stream is actually warm now. Pretty mystical, right?" He spoke. Immediately, he and Xuna made eye contact with one another, "Are you thinking…"


    "Let''s go!" Xuna said as Yihan condensed his armour and created a container out of that. Xuna coated it with her petrifying beam, giving it ayer of instion. They made a bunch of such boxes before Yihan jumped into the water, swam deep a little and filled the boxes with the warm water.


    He then surfaced and ced the boxes on the boat safely, repeating the same for the rest of the boxes. As they were insted, they retained the heat of the water within.


    "Ahh!" Xuna moaned as she ced her hands in the warm water, "This is the best against the cold!"


    "Why are you acting like an old man?" Yihan stared at her as if she was weird, but he too was doing the same. The two bantered to curb boredom as they followed after the Gharial that continued to swim nonstop, as if it would never tire out.


    This typically wasn''t the case with lizards of such types, confusing Xuna. But soon, she got her answer, observing that the Gharial was simply floating while strange creatures, only the size of her nail had gathered in the tens of thousands underneath the Gharial''s body, carrying it through the sea.


    They were cleaning the Gharial''s sales, eating the moss growing there while carrying it in the process. And during this time, the Gharial rested.


    An hourter, these tiny creatures vanished as it began to swim once again, having rested enough. Soon, the ocean became colourful as coral reefs came into the picture, blooming like sprawling underwater flowers.


    As some of the corals were luminescent, they caused the sea waters to glow, creating a beautiful sight.


    And at the end of this sight was a gigantic mountain, highlighted by the light cast by the enormous stretch of corals.


    The Gharial arrived on shore and rested there by digging into the sand a little to feel the warmer portion underneath, protecting itself from the cold.


    Yihan changed course, bringing the boat to a secluded location on the beach, and cing it behind arge boulder.


    He then looked around, asking, "Where is this ce?"


    "I''m not sure. I''m not a traveller." Xuna said, condensing her rocket as she flew to the top of the three-hundred-metre-tall cliff, staring at the massive mountain stretching beyond. It reached at least a height of eight kilometres.


    And in this ocean region, it stood out like a celestial object capable of piercing through the heavens.


    "This cliff surprisingly forms a teau to live on," Yihan said, pping his wings as hended beside her at the top of the cliff, staring at the vast nds that were covered by grass, shrubs, and trees alike.


    It wasn''t a forest, but the vegetation wasn''t sparse either.


    The teau stretched for at least a couple of kilometres in length before reaching the base of the mountain. And a short distance up along the mountain base, there seemed to be a building.


    Made of stone, seemingly carved into the mountainside itself, sportingrge rocky beams, somewhat crude, it resembled a temple of sorts.


    Just as they nned to investigate the ce, Yihan''s ears pricked as he heard some sounds; his wings burst into action as he grabbed hold of Yulna and flew to the side, watching a spearnd on their previous location.


    Xuna turned around, staring at a group of men dressed in light garbs rushing at them with spears. One of them threw a spear, causing it to whizz in the air and m right at them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Yihan condensed a shield, defending against the spear throw as he grunted, "It''s heavy."


    Only now did he notice the people rushing at them, noticing that they were all ripped to the extreme, possessing fluid muscles that were full of power, something that couldn''t be achieved through simple fighting alone.


    "Do they not listen?" Yihan cursed in response, hearing their roars as he pulled out his scythe des, intending to chop up their weapons first before forcing them to listen. But just as he was about to do so, Xuna patted his shoulder.


    "I''ll take care of this." Saying so, her figure transformed into the Klock as she expanded, turning into a monster that spanned forty metres in size, causing the rushing people to stop in shock.


    Her five heads roared in response before unleashing violent gales that forced the people to the ground, forcing them to desperately grab hold of any tree or shrub to not be blown away.


    Three secondster, just as the shrubs were uprooted, the Klock stopped unleashing the violent gales as Xuna reverted to her human form, walking towards the group of people as she said, "We''re not your enemy…"


    "Wait…who are they?" She muttered in shock, "They''re…not human?"


    At first nce, the group of people appeared to be humans thanks to their humanoid physique. But, they didn''t seem like humans.


    Longer ears that were somewhat pointy, a smaller nose that seemed to be covered by a gtinous substance, resembling a gill, and a mouth twice a human''s in length. And the most shocking of all was their tail, long enough to reach the ground when they stood.


    Swoosh!


    Xuna was just observing them when one of them picked up a spear from nearby and thrust it in her direction. Though, just before he could impale her, his legs slipped a little, throwing his aim off, and causing him to barely miss her.


    ''No, I don''t think I''ll be able tomunicate with them.'' Xuna thought, reflexively punching forth, sending the other party flying a good distance. She was worried that she had killed him, surprised to see the man getting up immediately in response, as if he wasn''t affected much. ''That punch would have knocked an adult man unconscious…''


    The man simply patted his cheek where he had been punched, not caring about it beyond that as he charged at her once again. But this time, a rope swerved around like a snake, coiling around all the humanoid creatures, binding them.


    Xuna carried them with her as she and Yihan approached the structure that resembled an ancient temple, entering it as she condensed her Healing Rod, lighting up their surroundings when she circted Nacre through it.


    The light was enough for them to see around as they noticed worn-out carvings and words on the wall.


    There was no sign of life in the ce as Yihan approached the closest mural, staring at the scene that depicted a group of people, seemingly pirates based on their attire arriving at this ind to seek refuge from a storm.


    Following it, they all contracted a strange disease, falling sick as a majority of them died following that. The survivors had be too weak to leave the ind and brave the storm to reach the maind and hence decided to live here.


    They gradually adapted to the ce and gave birth to the younger generation when they realised an issue. It seemed that even though they had survived that strange disease, their bodies had taken a toll.


    After all, their newborn was born with defects—ack of intelligence.


    Afraid that they would lose all signs of their humanity, the first generation used all the tools and equipment from their pirate ships to build this temple and inscribe the murals here.


    Generation after generation appeared on this ind. Even though their numbers were small, they adapted to the ce, despite their defects. Eventually, their defects umted due to in-breeding when something seemed to spark, resulting in their bodies growing strong following that.


    They became tough, barely fell sick, and could even move better through the waters. It turned them strong. Though, they also took a severe hit to their mental department as a result, making them dumber than an average human.


    And for more than a thousand years, they had been living on this ind. As Yihan finished reading through everything, the sounds of footsteps resounded as a humanoid creature entered.


    Upon staring at them, he asked, "Can…you…talk?"


    "Yeah," Yihan nodded, realising that there should still exist at least a few on the ind whose brains hadn''t been damaged so much. He retracted his transformation, watching the humanoid creature sigh visibly before walking into the temple, allowing his appearance toe into view under the light.


    "What?" Xuna was shocked to stare at the humanoid creature, "What the heck is that?"