System's POV
chapter-258

"Tell me, how did this happen again?" Thirteen asked his sister, who was seated beside him.

"I'm not so sure either." Shasha blinked innocently. Just like her brother, she had no idea why Kane suddenly decided to bring his people to merge with her own group of Wanderers.

Only a day had passed since Kane had come to see Shasha and left. But the very next day, he came back, and he didn't come alone.

He brought his entire team with him, which made the cave where Shasha and her team were staying quite crowded.

All in all, there were over fifty Wanderers inside the cave, and all of them were looking at the ten-year-old with great curiosity.

"Brother, what are we going to do today?" Kane asked in a respectful tone.

"For now, I'm thinking of stocking up on food supplies," Thirteen replied.

"I see." Kane nodded in understanding. "So we're going hunting today."

The young man then called out his subordinates who specialized in fighting and told them that they would enter the forest to hunt.

Taiga, who didn't want to be left out, walked toward the exit of the cave with brisk steps.

Clearly, he also planned to go hunting since that was what his Master wanted to do today.

Also, he would make sure that he'd hunt more than Kane's group so that Shasha would think of him as a very dependable person.

The Tigerkin's and the Heir of the Stallard Clan's gazes met.

Both of them smiled at each other. But deep inside, the two of them understood that they were about to compete for Shasha's attention.

Thirteen watched this exchange with an amused expression on his face.

How could he possibly not know what these two fools were thinking?

But he didn't do anything to stop them. After all, being productive was better than being unproductive.

Right now, he was waiting for Vassago and Poca to come back to give their report.

He didn't want to wander around the islands blindly, not wanting to encounter the Lord of the Arcadia Archipelago.

Cranky was the current Lord of the Valbarra Archipelago, and according to the letter sent to him by Taiga's mother, Briella, the Rank 8 Sovereign had made Thirteen's monument his den.

Whenever Cranky wasn't hunting, it would rest a few meters away from the boy's statue, which was often visited by Pilgrims from all over the Valbarra Archipelago.

Barbarians, Tigerkins, Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, as well as the other races, would go there to pray and make their wishes.

When their land was in danger, there was no Deity who cared about them.

However, Thirteen did. So instead of praying to Forneus, who no longer cared about them, or Mammon, who only wanted their Gold, they decided to make the young boy their spiritual pillar.

Thirteen didn't know if he should be happy or not at this turn of events. He didn't even know if there would be another opportunity to return to the Valbarra Archipelago.

Of course, the other races knew this as well.

But since even the Lord of the Warsor Plains protected the pilgrims who visited the Heroes' Monument, their desire to worship the boy only strengthened in their hearts.

Just as Thirteen was thinking along these lines, two birds descended from the sky and landed on the log where he and Shasha were sitting.

"Welcome back, Vassago, Poca," Thirteen said before taking out four wooden bowls from his spatial storage.

He filled two bowls with nuts, and the other two with water.

The boy knew that the two Pocopocos were tired from their mission, so he decided to let them eat and drink to their fill before hearing their report.

Shasha, who recognized what kind of birds they were, looked at them with great curiosity.

"Brother, are these Pocopocos?" Shasha asked. "Aren't they very mischievous birds? But these two seem different somehow."

"They are indeed mischievous," Thirteen replied. "But without their help, I would have a hard time surviving in this world."

Vassago's agreement with him had already come to an end.

However, the Pocopoco chose to remain with him and even stated that he would wait until Thirteen had returned safely to Pangea before returning to visit his friends in the birthplace of the Pocopocos.

Poca, who didn't have a contract with Thirteen, decided to continue tagging along on the journey as well.

Perhaps after participating in the epic battle against the Majin Prince, Arundel, she thought that being with the younger boy would be very exciting and entertaining.

So, just like Vassago, she said that she would wait until Thirteen had completed his last mission before she went with Vassago back to their Birth Place.

Half an hour later, the two Pocopocos started chirping.

Since Thirteen could understand any language in the world, it was more convenient for them to talk in this manner.

Aside from that, it allowed them to keep their cover as well.

After listening to the report of the two Pocopocos, a frown appeared on Thirteen's face.

According to them, there were two Rank 8 Sovereigns present in the Arcadia Archipelago.

One of them was a Rank 8 Unicorn, and the other was a Rank 8 Beholder.

The Beholder was actually a Majin who ruled the fourth Island of the Archipelago called Alkaid.

The Unicorn, on the other hand, lived on the first island, Dubhe.

Currently, Thirteen and the other Wanderers were in the second island, Merak.

The Unicorn was the closest to their location, and Thirteen had no plans to meet with such a powerful beast that could easily annihilate his people one by one.

But he didn't plan on meeting the Beholder either. As a Majin, it was very fond of eating Wanderers.

Of course, not all Majins ate Humans. Some even liked to socialize with the latter to a certain extent, allowing peaceful co-existence with each other.

When he asked the two Pocopocos if they saw any gate-like structures or any structures for that matter, the two replied that they saw two pyramid-like structures in the place where the two Sovereigns lived.

After hearing this information, Thirteen couldn't help but groan, knowing that this was the worst-case scenario possible.

He didn't have to deal with one Rank 8 Sovereign, but two.

Both were equally dangerous and posed a serious threat to their lives.

"I should have brought the Grand Ballista with me," Thirteen muttered helplessly.

After the battle with Arundel ended, Arthas, the Tigerkin King, and the Ogre King asked if he could leave the Grand Ballista behind as a relic of the war.

Since he had a feeling that the Ogre King would eat him if he refused, he decided to agree and allowed the three Kings to take the Grand Ballista to the Third Island for safekeeping.

Although Forneus had already abandoned them, the Third Island was still a sacred place to them, and they wouldn't desecrate it no matter what.

'How should I handle this?' Thirteen rubbed his chin as he pondered his next move.

He didn't doubt that the information he needed could be found inside the two Pyramids, which definitely held a special purpose in the Arcadia Archipelago.

"One last thing, Zion," Vassago chirped. "I also found dozens of teenagers on each island."

"I saw them too." Poca joined the conversation. "There are many kids here. On the first Island, I estimate that there's around a hundred of them."

"The Third Island and Fourth Island may not have that many, but I think there were around fifty of them. There could be more though. I only counted those who were actively hunting monsters."

The more Thirteen listened, the deeper his frown became.

Usually, the more Wanderers there were in the same place, the more difficult the mission was.

Shasha didn't know what her Brother and the two Pocopocos were talking about, but she could tell by the frown on his face that the situation was serious.

"Zion, what's wrong?" Shasha asked. "Are we in danger?"

"Not yet," Thirteen replied in a heartbeat. "I still need to investigate a few things first to better understand the situation."

Aside from the two Rank 8 Sovereigns, there were also several strong monsters in the island that they were currently on.

However, unlike those two threats, Thirteen could deal with the monsters here easily since he had enough manpower to do it.

For the time being, he decided to come up with a plan that would allow him to meet with the other Wanderers on the other islands. Only after accomplishing that would he start checking out the two Pyramids, which were being guarded by two powerful monsters.