Chapter 1 The Black Egg

With a soft crack, a web of cracks spread across the black egg in Tang Yao's hand. Then, the shell shattered into pieces, and a black eagle appeared before Nie Yan and Tang Yao. It was still small, just the right size to stand steadily on Tang Yao's arm.

Nie Yan examined the Nether Lightning Eagle. It looked like an ordinary eagle, its feathers pure black, smooth and unblemished.

The Nether Lightning Eagle flapped its wings and preened its feathers with its sharp, hooked beak. Its eyes were clear and sharp, giving it a lively feel.

"I think I'm starting to like this little guy," Tang Yao said, stroking the Nether Lightning Eagle's head. The Nether Lightning Eagle closed its eyes, seeming to enjoy the sensation, and rubbed against Tang Yao's hand. Tang Yao produced a piece of meat, the kind he usually used to feed the ghost wolves. The Nether Lightning Eagle stretched its head forward, snatched the meat, and swallowed it in one gulp.

"It'll probably take some time for it to grow up," Nie Yan said. The Nether Lightning Eagle was still small and probably didn't have much combat power. It would have to grow up slowly.

"It can get bigger, into a giant flying mount!" Tang Yao said.

Nie Yan was surprised. Didn't flying mounts have a growth period?

"I'll keep studying its attributes page," Tang Yao said. The Nether Lightning Eagle's attributes were complex and required in-depth study. "The Nether Lightning Eagle's agility and strength are well-balanced. Agility increases flight speed, strength increases attack. Which attribute should I focus on?"

"That depends on how you plan to develop it. As a mage, I think you should have the Nether Lightning Eagle focus on agility," Nie Yan said. Tang Yao's attacks were already unparalleled. If the Nether Lightning Eagle had a high movement speed, it would become a perfect mobile turret.

Tang Yao was silent for a moment. "Sounds good to me. I'll listen to you. Focus on agility, with strength as a supplement."

"You'll have to figure some things out for yourself. After all, I haven't had any experience with flying mounts," Nie Yan said. His knowledge of flying mounts was limited.

"Flying mounts are divided into tiers, from Tier 1 to Tier 9. Each tier advancement increases their strength several times over," Tang Yao said. He had read some information about flying mounts and compared it to the Nether Lightning Eagle's attributes page.

"What tier is the Nether Lightning Eagle?" Nie Yan asked. He really didn't know. When he was assassinating Cao Xu, flying mounts had just come out, and few people owned them. For Nie Yan at that time, flying mounts were an unattainable luxury.

"Tier 1. All newly born flying mounts are Tier 1. Their tiers will gradually increase later. This Nether Lightning Eagle can get bigger. Let's go out into the wild and see what it's like," Tang Yao said. He was still unfamiliar with some aspects of flying mounts, but he would gradually understand them as he gained more experience.

"I'll come over and take a look later." Nie Yan suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a ranking list for flying mounts. All flying mount pets would be entered into this list, but the names of the flying mount owners would not be displayed. This list was for the entire Good, Lawful, and Light alignment. He checked the flying mount list and found Tang Yao's Nether Lightning Eagle was on it.

Currently, Tang Yao's Nether Lightning Eagle was the only one on the entire flying mount list.

"The summoning time for a flying mount is five minutes, and the recall time is also five minutes. If it dies, you'll need a resurrection crystal or something to revive it," Tang Yao said. This setting was a bit chilling. If a flying mount died in battle, it would be difficult to revive. The recall time was too long, and it would be difficult to recall it in a dangerous situation during a fierce battle.

"I think flying mounts have a life core," Nie Yan suddenly recalled.

"That's right, flying mounts have a life core. If they die, you can cut open their heads and find a life core inside. Flying mounts eat this stuff to advance in tiers," Tang Yao said. He understood the rules of the flying mount game. In the future, as more and more flying mounts appeared, anyone who wanted to upgrade their flying mount would have to constantly hunt other people's flying mounts and obtain their life cores.

As Nie Yan and Tang Yao were chatting, they heard voices at the entrance. A group of more than twenty players walked into the pet store, making a lot of noise.

"Leader Extinguish, I heard that the most expensive pets in the pet store cost tens of thousands of gold coins," a Level 50-something Thief said to a Warrior in silver-white armor beside him.

"Tens of thousands of gold coins are nothing. My team can earn several thousand gold coins a day from the City of Gold. If we get a good piece of equipment, selling it for a few hundred or a thousand gold coins is no problem," the Warrior called Extinguish laughed.

This Warrior was Level 66 and had a set of Level 65 Dark Gold equipment, putting him on par with Shao Bing and the others.

Extinguish's words caused the players around him to show expressions of envy.

Extinguish was quite pleased with himself. He was the most successful of this group, so he couldn't help but want to show off.

"Someone's coming, let's go," Nie Yan said, putting on the Shadow Walker's Cloak.

"Mm," Tang Yao nodded. He and Nie Yan really weren't suited to be in the public eye, so he also put on a cloak.

"Who's that Warrior?" Nie Yan asked in a low voice.

"Seems to be from the Dark Ranger's guild, the leader of a twenty-man team. A small fry," Tang Yao said. People at their level naturally wouldn't pay attention to such a small character.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao walked towards the pet store entrance together.

"Leader Extinguish, what kind of pet are you planning to buy?" someone next to him asked curiously.

"I'm going to get a Horned Rhinoceros. They're pretty good for Warriors," Extinguish said loudly. He looked at the two people walking towards him, both wearing cloaks, and couldn't help but smile. Why were these two wearing cloaks? So mysterious.

"A good Horned Rhinoceros will cost at least 30,000 gold coins." The surrounding players gasped, their hearts filled with jealousy.

"30,000 gold coins are nothing," Extinguish said with a nonchalant smile. His gaze landed on the Nether Lightning Eagle on Tang Yao's hand, and a look of disdain appeared on his face.

The Thief next to him saw the Nether Lightning Eagle and said mockingly, "That palm-sized bird, is that a pet too? How does it attack?"

"I heard some bird pets can fly up and peck people's eyes," an Arcane Mage laughed.

"Peck people's eyes, haha, that's hilarious. The other day, I ran into a palm-sized bird pet that tried to attack me. I slapped it to death," Extinguish laughed arrogantly. "How much is a pet like that worth? It must be really cheap."

"Maybe ten or so gold coins," the Thief said jokingly.

"Ten or so gold coins apiece. You get what you pay for. What good stuff can you buy for ten or so gold coins? Like my Horned Rhinoceros, it'll cost at least 30,000 gold coins," Extinguish looked at Nie Yan and Tang Yao with contempt. His voice was loud, echoing throughout the pet store. It seemed that mocking Nie Yan and Tang Yao made him feel very important.

The discussions of Extinguish and his group in the distance could be heard loud and clear. Tang Yao, who was quick-tempered, got angry instantly. "Damn it, I really want to teach him a lesson."

"Don't bother with these people," Nie Yan said calmly. He had seen many people like this in his previous life.

Tang Yao suppressed his anger, and the two of them walked silently towards the door.

Seeing Nie Yan and Tang Yao swallow their anger, the laughter of Extinguish and the others became even more unrestrained and arrogant.

"They probably haven't even seen what a 30,000 gold coin pet looks like," Extinguish laughed loudly.

"Can you ride flying mounts in the city?" Nie Yan asked Tang Yao.

"I think so," Tang Yao said, stunned after hearing Nie Yan's words, but he quickly understood what Nie Yan meant.

"Damn, so a 30,000 gold coin pet is a big deal, huh? Let me show you what a 300,000 gold coin pet looks like!" Tang Yao sneered.

The two walked to the entrance of the pet store. Tang Yao chanted something, and the Nether Lightning Eagle suddenly increased in size several hundred times, standing on the open space in front of the pet store. A violent gust of wind swept through, pouring into the pet store and blowing Extinguish and the others off their feet.

"What's going on?" Extinguish couldn't open his eyes in the strong wind. He looked towards the entrance of the pet store and saw that the Nether Lightning Eagle, which had been only palm-sized on Tang Yao's arm, had suddenly turned into a behemoth over three yards tall, majestic and full of powerful strength.

Any pet in the pet store was nothing compared to the Nether Lightning Eagle!

The players in the central plaza of Calore City suddenly saw such a behemoth and cried out in alarm.

"It's a flying mount!" the Thief next to him exclaimed.

Extinguish was stunned. He hadn't expected that the Nether Lightning Eagle he had just mocked was actually such a powerful flying mount, so its owner...

Nie Yan and Tang Yao sat on the Nether Lightning Eagle. The Nether Lightning Eagle's broad back could carry five people. It flapped its wings, stirring up a powerful whirlwind, and soared into the sky.

"Flying mount, could it be Mad Rogue Nie Yan?" the Thief next to him said, his heart trembling. They hadn't expected that the person they had just mocked was the most untouchable person in the city.

"Leader Extinguish, what do we do? We just..." the players next to him panicked.

"I heard that Mad Rogue Nie Yan is very difficult to deal with."

"Yeah, there was a player from the Victorious Return guild named Liu Rui who offended Mad Rogue Nie Yan and was chased down to Level 0 by the people from the Ni Ren Guild. He ended up deleting his account and hasn't been seen since."

The more this group talked, the more afraid they became.

Extinguish hadn't expected to cause such a disaster. Hearing what they said, he was also a little scared. "Let's go to the Ni Ren Guild and apologize together. If Mad Rogue Nie Yan is willing to forgive us, we should be fine. If he doesn't forgive us, we'll have to leave Calore City." If Nie Yan really wanted to make things difficult for him, he and his team wouldn't be able to survive in Calore City.