A week later, Blue Maple finally reached Level 59. His XP also reached the maximum. He only lacked Old Man Fang to help him in carrying out his third class advancement.

Blue Maple’s new partner – Feather – had also successfully slain wild monsters beyond his rank with Blue Maple’s help. He successfully promoted to Rank 30 and was ready for his second class advancement.

At the same time…

Feather adopted a human form. He was a young and delicate teenager who seemed to be about 13 or 14 years old. He looked quite similar to Blue Maple but didn’t have the long fringe that Blue Maple sported.

He was also very handsome. Perhaps it was his blood lineage. After all, he was now the King of the Spirit Birds. While there was a distinctively menacing aura about him, he wasn’t impudent. His cold exterior revealed his composure and it did felt like he was a little out of his age.

With his all-black attire, he did appear to be much more indifferent that Blue Maple. He also barely spoke.

Both of them were resting under a huge, ancient tree at this moment. They were leaning on two separate but equally thick tree stems.

Feather was quietly cleaning his new sword and seemed to be uncaring towards any other matters.

For some reason, Feather could use Blue Maple’s Skills. Although they were weakened versions, it didn’t take away the fact that he could still use them.

He also discovered something different about his body.

For example, his eyes. Compared to before, they were much more sensitive and sharp now!

Blue Maple wasn’t too bothered about this. He reckoned that it was due to the equal contract, Feather’s innate ability, or the superiority of his blood lineage.

Blue Maple was munching on a wild berry while playing with a platform of his Airborne Somersault. The platform was a miniature version and resembled a circular disc in his hand. He was controlling the platform in his hand.

Blue Maple conjured a spark of blue fire when he felt that his control was there. He burned the wild berry. Although there wasn’t the need to deal with the berry in such a manner in this forest, it seemed like it had become a habit for Blue Maple.

“When I return to a city with humans, surely you won’t present yourself like this, right?”

Blue Maple looked at Feather and asked, but his tone didn’t sound like he was asking.

He still decided to return to a city. However, he didn’t know where he was going to go in the city…

Feather immediately stopped cleaning his sword after he heard Blue Maple’s words. He lifted his head to look at Blue Maple as he swiped his hand. The satin cloth that was originally in his grasp disappeared along with his sword. He kept it in his personal storage space.

The game could contain more than a thousand extraordinarily large storage spaces!

“No, I’ll go as the Black Eagle.”

The way that Feather responded to questions was exactly the same as Blue Maple.

Fortunately, they were dressed differently. It was still easy to differentiate them since one was decked in blue while the other was in black.

In addition, it was fortunate that the system had an automated cleaning function. Otherwise, Blue Maple’s trench coat would certainly not appear to be blue at all…

He had been living in the forest for more than a month. No matter how clean his coat was originally, it would still be extremely dirty by now…

“Try this. Stand on top.” Blue Maple flung the platform that he controlled earlier into the air after he finished speaking.

Feather didn’t utter a word. Seeing what Blue Maple did, he simply reverted to his Black Eagle state.

“Jump on top.”

Feather naturally went on top of the platform. He had seen Blue Maple doing this before and was aware of how he controlled it.

While Feather could use Blue Maple’s Skills, he couldn’t use those that were related to the Heavenly Fire. The Airborne Somersault and Spatial Fiery Chop were examples. Even the Hidden Attack wouldn’t be relevant as it would lack the concealment effect.

Of course, Feather couldn’t use the Skills that Blue Maple learned from Old Man Wen either.

Blue Maple controlled the movement of the platform after Feather jumped atop of it. He realized that he could slowly shift it. Feather also shifted along with the platform.

Blue Maple stood up and moved the platform to a spot that was parallel to his left shoulder. He left the platform drifting by his side, while Feather quietly remained above it.

After this, Blue Maple proceeded towards a thick tree stem. The platform also dragged Feather along. The parallel arrangement still remained. Seeing this, Blue Maple quickened his footsteps. The platform managed to keep pace with Blue Maple.

Finally, Blue Mapel decided to leap towards a different tree stem seeing that it was about time.

“Hoo.”

“Plop plop…”

However, the platform didn’t manage to follow Blue Maple’s movement this time. It broke and Feather also started fluttering his wings to remain adrift in the air.

Blue Maple wasn’t surprised by this. He only formed another platform for Feather to land on.

It was possible to use his Skills like this in this semi-real world. But it wasn’t temporarily possible to control his platforms freely. However, the good thing was that this didn’t deplete Blue Maple’s storage of platforms.

“Let’s go.”

Blue Maple coldly said. Then, he retrieved a pure, green crystal.

It was an advanced-tier spatial crystal. The old man had secretly stuffed it into Blue Maple’s backpack along with that dagger after he finished his second class advancement. When he was ready for his third class advancement, Blue Maple could crush the crystal and it will teleport him to the required location for the advancement.

This crystal was supported by Blue Maple with his Heavenly Fire. Then, Blue Maple mimicked a gripping action.

“Pop!”

The Heavenly Fire squeezed the crystal until it finally broke.

A familiar stream of spatial undulations followed. Blue Maple only saw that his surroundings started to become blurry. Then, he descended into darkness. Everything was pitch-black around him.

Blue Maple didn’t panic even when he witnessed something like this. This was instinctive. He knew how to keep calm even when faced with such an uncertain situation!

Furthermore, Blue Maple roughly guessed this was Old Man Fang’s doing, as he sensed that his connection with Feather had been cut.

Only Old Man Fang could so easily and was bored enough to do this.

As Blue Maple was being transported, Feather had already reached a place.

It was where Blue Maple went during his second class advancement – Old Man Fang’s residence.

The place that resembled a paradise…

“Hi, little fellow. Do you remember who I am?”

Old Man Fang tried his best to look as friendly as possible. He was close to Feather, who had already turned into his human state by now.

However, no matter how one looked, Old Man Fang seemed like a baddie who kidnapped young, little children.

“Yes.”

Feather coldly replied. After this, he stepped back a little.

“Aiya, it’s great that you remember. Seems like my sprightly personality leaves a deep impression!” Old Man Fang was delighted as he exclaimed with his chest out.

“Hmm, I have an impression of the Old Gangster.”

Feather didn’t give him any face. In this short time, he also stepped a few steps back.

“Er…cough cough, I was just doing it for your own good then.”

Old Man Fang coughed as he awkwardly explained. When Feather was still an egg, he went to the Rocs and took a look at him. At the same time, he gave a nurturing, heavenly treasure.

But then…

……

Old Man Fang said that he wanted to help to incubate the egg in front of many of the powerful Spirits.

“Come, let me help incubate him. Let’s see if he can hatch sooner.” Old Man Fang was very passionate about helping back then. This made many of the Roc elders curious and they asked him.

“You have a way of speeding things up?” The Golden Roc was the one who asked back then.

“Of course. Don’t you know who I am?!” Old Man Fang pounded his chest as he delightedly exclaimed.

“Take a step back and watch me!”

As he said, Old Man Fang ran in front of the nest where the egg was being incubated.

As the Spirits trusted him, they allowed him to do what he wanted. They also wanted to see how he was going to make the egg hatch faster.

Then…

Old Man Fang unleashed a blue fire that engulfed towards the egg…

Feather was already sentient then. He was so afraid that he trembled inside of the egg. He started to squeak for help…

All the Spirits were also frightened when they witnessed this!

The Golden Roc rushed forward to stop the old man and protected the egg. The other Spirits glared at Old Man Fang. They were even ready to fight him!

Old Man Fang also stiffened up. He didn’t dare to move a single step from where he was…

“Er…guys, please calm down…didn’t you hear that a strong fire can help in incubation? I was using the purest and strongest Heavenly Fire to lend a helping hand.” Old Man Fang seemed very indignant as he tried to explain himself.

The Spirits were all stunned. The Golden Roc was the first to react and he started to curse at Old Man Fang.

“Old Gangster, are you stupid or an idiot?! This isn’t the Holy Phoenix King’s egg! Who told you that all Holy Kings’ eggs can be incubated using fire?! Are you trying to roast the egg?”

It wasn’t just the Golden Roc. The other Rocs were also glaring unkindly at Old Man Fang.

But some other Spirits were secretly amused. Some of them were even more daring. They were laughing their guts out.

“Er…I’m just joking. Of course, I know. I just wanted to infuse the Thousand Year Earth Lotion into the egg using fire. I was trying to roast the egg.” Old Man Fang didn’t dare to joke around any further and quickly explained himself.

“Thousand Year Earth Lotion? Seriously?”

Some of the Spirits were doubtful, while some believed Old Man Fang.

It was a heavenly treasure that was extremely nourishing. It could help in the incubation. It could even strengthen the foundations.

“Also, have you seen anyone roast an egg? If I wanted to eat it, I’ll boil and fry it!” Old Man Fang added.

This frightened Feather then, who shuddered inside the egg.

“You!”

The Spirits’ expression changed again…

……

Although Old Man Fang still managed to infuse the lotion into the egg…

He was watched by many of the Rocs. They were monitoring every step. Even when he finished, the Rocs were still doubtful.

Feather was also on edge the whole time…

This was why Feather was still slightly scarred as he looked at Old Man Fang…

If Old Man Fang didn’t do it for his sake then, Feather wouldn’t have agreed to follow Blue Maple to see him. Also, Blue Maple was nowhere to be seen now.

If Old Man Fang wasn’t strong and trustworthy, he wouldn’t have left safely.

As for Old Man Fang’s method of helping…

It was already a blessing that he wasn’t given a good beating…

But they were still grateful to him eventually…

……

“I know that you did it for my own good. But can you be more normal?”

There was a slightly discontented look on his delicate face.

“Cough…”

Old Man Fang felt really awkward by this…